Studio Seeing

Michael Torlen is a visual artist, author, and Professor Emeritus of the School of Art+Design, Purchase College, State University of New York, where he taught painting and drawing, and received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. He earned his BFA at Cranbrook Academy of Art and his MFA at The Ohio State University. Although known for his seascapes of Maine, he also has a body of semi-abstract work about family, cancer, love, and death. Torlen maintains a studio and lives in Westbrook, Maine, with his wife, author and educator, Eleanor Phillips Brackbill. For more information: www.michaeltorlen.com www.michaeltorlenauthor.com

Figures



Foreword



   Julian Kreimer



   A Practical-Meditative Lineage XVII



   Teaching XVIII



   Learning to “See the Ground”



Preface



   Learning to See



   The Brick



   The Lineage



Introduction



1. The Fear Factor



   The Bare Canvas



   Into the Void



   Course of Action



   Fear’s Tyranny



   Mistakes and Accidents



   Part-to-part



   Recap



2. How We See It, How We Don’t



   The 3D Cues



      Perspective



      Binocular Vision



      Light and Shadow



      Relative Motion



   Recap



   Exercises – Two or One Eyed



3. The Artist’s Vision



   The Monocular Cues



   Constancy



   2D Visual Cues



      Position



      Shape-Size



      Overlap



      Value Contrast



      Color Contrast



   Hierarchy and Interaction



   Recap



   Exercises – 2D Cues



4. More About Seeing



   Parts and Wholes



   The Gestalt Contribution



   Think Ahead



   Arnheim



   Where and What



   Figuring the Ground



   Object-Directed vs. Ground-Directed Seeing



   Past Experience, Purpose, and Action



   Recap



   Exercises – Parts and Whole



 5. Beyond Face or Vase



   Head First



   Figure-Ground



   Not Negative and Positive



   Edge-condition



   Yes and No



   Intentions, Meanings, and Context



   Recap



   Exercises – F/G



6. Forces in the Field



   Inner Necessity



   Closure



   Coincidence of Edge and Continuity



   Locales



   Recap



   Exercises – Three C’s



7. Line



   Positioning Line



   Contour



   Gesture



   Blind-contour



   Cross-contour



   Recap



   Exercises – DYI



8. Value



   Positioning Value



   Reserving the Light



   Adding and Subtracting



   On Readymade



   Adding Wash and Brush



   Elegance or Clumsiness



   Recap



   Exercises – Plus and Minus



9. Brush, Paint, Process



   Shape Paint, Don’t Paint Shapes



   Color Studies



   Bridging Triangle



   DLWCDI



   Recap



   Exercises–DLM



 10. Muscles and Marks



   The Body Against Itself



   Four Variables



      Pressure



      Tempo



      Duration



      Direction



   Deliberate Practice



   Recap



   Exercises–PTDD



 11. Figuring Where



   Plumb, Level, and Square



   The Frame



   Sighting and Measuring



   2D to 2D



   Linear Perspective



   Aerial Perspective



   Sfumato



   Recap



   Exercises–Devices



 12. Unmediated Response



   Focal Point



   Approximation



   The Great Law



   Recap



   Exercises–Focal Point



13. Fixing



   Jumping Parts



   Add More of It



   Build a Bridge



   Reverse the Overlap



   Adjust the Scale



   Do Something Else



   Recap



   Exercises–Ground-Directed



 14. The End is The Beginning



   Limits of Language



   Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes



   Meaning, Metaphor, Myth



   Last Words



Endnotes



Bibliography



Acknowledgments



About the Author



Index