The Art of Painting, produced by Liliedahl Video Productions, is the best art DVD featuring David Leffel that is currently available. One of the first things to point out about this DVD is that, unlike other Leffel still life demonstrations, David develops a level of finish in the painting which illustrates many of his signature characteristics. The DVD presentation consists of David painting while casually talking about painting and taking questions from an audience.
In
The Art of Painting David talks about two approaches when learning to paint. One is getting the painting to look like the object(s) that are in front of you. The other involves gaining a sense for the “paint quality,” how the paint handles, laying down each stroke, gaining a feel for the paint in terms of what it looks and feels like so you are able to control it. He recommends focusing on the paint, first, and secondarily trying to make the image look like your subject. This is not to suggest one is to be neglected or prioritized. Instead he is suggesting that the feel for the paint is something that one should remain aware of while developing a likeness of the subject matter.
David advocates defining what you want before you begin rather than winging it and going with the flow hoping you can find something somewhere in the process. Having the finished idea in mind as you work leads you to a successful painting whereas making it up on the fly leaves you open to multiple opportunities for failure. “If you do not know where you are going, you usually wind up someplace else.”
“Painting is a series of relationships.” ...........thick and thin paint, hard edges and soft edges, color against colorlessness, foreground and background. You need something to establish one thing over another aesthetically and in terms of the picture plane. So the most important thing in achieving a successful painting is determining where you are going which includes what you ultimately want the viewer to look at and what you want them to ignore. "You are conducting the painting" getting people to view it the way you want them to.
David’s palette is fairly simple. Initially there is an overhead shot with text describing each paint daub around the palette. Once David begins painting the text follows his brush creating a sort of mathematical equation describing the mixture but this is abandoned early and we only see the palette activity without text descriptions for the majority of the demonstration. It is still easy enough to follow the colors used in mixtures. David’s palette remains organized and he does not allow things to become a mess.
Had the production continued with the accompanying graphic description throughout the process it would have been redundant and cluttered the screen. In either case the viewer needs to pause the film periodically in order to comprehend color selections. Pausing, rewinding, and replaying segments is an essential part of viewing an art DVD. It is important to mention here that actual percentages of each color used in a mixture and details of the evaluations and decisions involving color choices are not articulated in most art DVDs including this one.
One of David’s signature strengths is his depiction of space and atmosphere in a painting. Although you may think he is painting fruit, vegetables, flowers, and vases in a still life he is actually using those objects as devices to depict light and the space and the character of the air between them. In
The Art of Painting, the reference objects appear to be more of a pile of objects than what ultimately ends up in David’s composition. Instead of arranging the objects by physically moving things to create space he is able to use them as a loose reference and places them where he wants them and how he wants them to behave in his composition. He does this by having that destination in his mind from the beginning. He seems to have an imaginary skeletal structure that winds in a graceful spiral within the space of his composition. There is also a visual rhythm in this skeletal structure. He strategically places individual leaves and flower pedals on this spiral so they express this graceful and rhythmic spiral.
I have not found anyone who can articulate the topic of
edges in painting better than David Leffel. In print there are two books where Leffel has been quoted or has written on the topic.** When I listened to Leffel talk about light and edges as he worked on this painting I related what he was describing to the flow of water. He was speaking about manipulating the eye of the viewer through the composition using light, shadows and edges. He did not reproduce edges as they appeared in his reference. Leffel seemed to open up a canal of light that flowed around the arrangement. Figuratively speaking, he opened up this canal by adjusting the edges of different objects in the composition. It made sense to me that thinking of light as water would be a key to making the decisions encountered when selecting how to handle any particular edge in a composition.
Within this demonstration painting the light behaves like a stream of water flowing over and around the objects in the composition. Whether David consciously thinks analogously of streaming water or not is unknown to me but one could deduce from this DVD that many decisions could be made doing so that would lead to a composition with an interesting pattern of light similar to what he achieves in his work. In the end, the viewer’s eye has a gentle path to follow the light flowing over the objects throughout the space within the painting. David does not merely copy what is in front of him. In a sense he uses what is in front of him to clothe the rhythmic skeletons he sees in his mind’s eye. He sets the pace of this rhythm that the viewer’s eye takes through the path within the composition by carefully varying textures, size, color, edges, values, reflections of light, distances between solid forms and forms of light, shadow and space. This demonstration shows Leffel elevating a mundane scene to the level of fine art.
David Leffel is a seasoned master. It is evident in the way the paint is applied to the canvas and the results he achieves. He looks like he could do it blindfolded. David is human. He is not a machine devoting 100% of his words to instructive information. He is casually talking about whatever comes to mind while he is painting. He takes questions from the audience and gives a human answer not a dry dissertation. He is a kind and gentle man. His warmth comes through. This warmth is what he is all about as a painter. It is how he relates to the world through his art.
With any subject even when you bring it down to the lowest common denominator there will always be a percentage of people who are unable understand. Sometimes his words are imprecise. For instance David uses the word "painting" switching between the noun and the verb while expressing one idea yet he is actually describing a very evolved idea of painting and making perfect sense. He could choose his words carefully to make the same point and he would successfully communicate with a greater number of people. The viewer also bears some responsibility to meet their instructor on the path and should not expect everything to be fed to them perfectly.
If there is any question about Leffel’s ability to be very clear and on purpose, simply watch the clip of the forthcoming *Leffel DVD series being produced through the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art. Leffel flawlessly expresses his ideas on the topic of making brushstrokes. In
The Art of Painting David gracefully handles a brush with skill and finesse. Each stroke counts whether it is an initial underlayer that will be covered or whether it is a finishing touch. Each stroke describes a tiny piece of an object with definite character. There is an individual expression descriptive of the subject suggested in the application of each note of paint. David Leffel walks the walk he talks.
Running Time: 3 hours
Rating: Art
Summary: This is the best art DVD of David Leffel available to date. He speaks about a wide range of topics centering on the process of painting. The demonstration painting is rendered to the highest level of finish out of all the Leffel art DVDs available thus illustrating his signature
chiaroscuro. Most significant, this demonstration shows a master painter elevating a mundane scene to the level of fine art.
*
In the future the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art will be releasing a David Leffel art DVD series filmed in high definition digital. Since July of 2009 there has been a clip on the internet showing David speaking about making brushstrokes. The clip was originally made as a preview of the series for a 2009 ComiCon. David is in top form eloquently describing his ideas on handling the brush. As of April 2010, the series is still in production with portions being edited and additional segments yet to be filmed at David’s home:
**
1. Oil Painting Secrets from a Master (Leffel) by Linda Cateura
2. An Artist Teaches by David Leffel
Images © David Leffel, Liliedahl Video Productions and LAAFA respectively.
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Had the production continued with the accompanying graphic description throughout the process it would have been redundant and cluttered the screen. In either case the viewer needs to pause the film periodically in order to comprehend color selections. Pausing, rewinding, and replaying segments is an essential part of viewing an art DVD. It is important to mention here that actual percentages of each color used in a mixture and details of the evaluations and decisions involving color choices are not articulated in most art DVDs including this one.
