James Abbott McNeil Whistler.

About two weeks ago, I went to the museum to start drawing dinosaur bones for that weeks project, however Chris also took us all on a journey of discover, by stating a brief history of 18th Century painters such as the brillant James Abbott McNeil Whistler (Whistler, as reference).

At first I wasn't very interseted in all the history of art, on the other hand, after researching Whistler's work on the internet I realised that the style in which he mark makes is similar to mine. I looked at a selection of his less-known works, such as the one to the right.

I noticed, aswell as the mark making, that the tone of his sketches are very dark and he is'nt afraid to leave a picture unfinished, which is a particular method I tend to do when I'm coming up with ideas/concept thumbnails.


The majority of his work, however, is landscape paintings which are more precise and not anything like the brilliance which you see hear in these two images.

I do value any artist who shows sketches aswell as the final finished product, because it shows how his right side of the brain works, in terms of thinking of composition, mark making and shadows and if you can see if he made any mistakes, deliberate or not.


And as you can see in the image to the left, the amount of dark colours is second to none. Overall I find the style of his etching a joy to observe, purely for the method in which he creates the peices, can be there for all to see, if you choose to look closer.