When I study an old photo I think about what the process would be to create an illustration using the photo as reference. For me it wouldn’t began by using just computer software. I would find reference of water,clouds,historical swimsuits(this scene took place in the late 1940′s) dogs and pose models in a similar position as the people in the photo.I would create a drawing then I would paint it in color.

As I age I think about time and have come to the conclusion that there is just past time, for in a blink of my eye the present is the past. I think the future is an abstraction and a mystery. When I look at old  family photos my minds eye sees the scene more clearly than the faded scratched photo. Now almost everyone has a camera on them to take photos of family members. Back in the 40′s,when this photo was taken, most photos were black and white and for my family taking photos was a rare occasion saved for vacations and special events. Now, I think that in a life time of a recently born baby, they will have every moment of their life recorded.

Eating watermelon

Eating watermelon photo cropped

Blustery- collage art by Chris Burton

The Fiber,collage and paint art of Chris Burton, a friend of my wife Carolyn and I, will be featured at the Webster Groves Christian Church art gallery from Nov.18,2011 until Jan.8,2012. The opening reception will be Friday Nov. 18,2011 from 6 pm to 8 pm and refreshments will be served. All are welcome. The address is 1320 W. Lockwood Ave.,Glendale, MO 63122    Gallery hours are M-F 8:30 am to 12:30 pm and 1:30pm to 4:30 pm

Statement of her art by Chris burton

Collage by Chris Burton

painting by Chris Burton

fiber collage by Chris Burton

unfinished painting of State Patrol Trooper

About ten years ago I started a portrait in oil on canvas of a state patrol trooper that is a friend  of my oldest daughter and her husband. I don’t want to mention his name at this time but will share that he is a brave and decent man. This is another unfinished canvas that I recently found in a storage closet. I did complete a smaller portrait of him in a different technique. This unfinished painting does show part of my process painting in oil on canvas.

Step one in this process is to have the subject pose for photographs which will be used for reference. In this photo shoot I used slide film and print film taken with a film camera. I selected a pose for the trooper and selected a difference photo for the patrol car. The second step is to project the image with a slide projector on the canvas and draw an out line of the subject in graphite pencil. I than begin to establish light an dark areas in acrylic paint. This is as far as this painting progressed. Had I completed this painting I would have covered the canvas with a thin wash of acrylic paint and then begun applying glazes of oil paint  completely covering the pencil drawing.The size of this unfinished canvas is 24″wide by 30″ high.  Below are details of this painting and a finished oil painting of my youngest daughter when she was ten that was painted using this same process.

detail of hat and head

shirt

Audrey at Ten

oil painting study of a model 0743

Painting from a model is a lot of fun for me. The next two posts will be examples of my oil studies which were painted in the 1980′s and early 1990′s.

oil painting study of a female nude 0755

When painting these studies I focus on the design and color shapes.

oil painting study of a woman's head 0740

oilstudy of a male nude 0765

Bat out of Hell

This image of bats was my post for last year on Halloween and will probably be repeated next year. Have a fun and safe Halloween.

This illustration is done in pen and ink on bond paper. The size is 10.25″ wide by 13.25″ high.

illustration of St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Baseball Digest cover 1985

During the 1980′s I created covers for the magazine Baseball Digest which featured various St.Louis Cardinals players. I enjoyed watching the amazing 2011 Cardinals. Go Cards!

Baseball Digest 1983 Annual Guide 1982 World Champions

I created pencil portraits of all the coaches and players from the 1982 World Champion Cardinals. I still have the originals which I would sell as a set. Each portrait is about 8.5″ wide by 11″ high.

Ozzie Smith

WILLIE MCGEE

MVP Dizzy Dean 1934, Marty Marion 1944, KenBoyer 1964 Baseball Digest Annual Guide 1984

Stan Musial

This oil on canvas painting of Stan Musial hung in the Baseball Cardinals Hall of Fame for many years. It was returned to me when the new stadium was built.

Zebra

I created this image of a Zebra last week while I was recovering from a medical procedure. I have been working on this style for about three years and feel I am ready to display this direction to clients. I took a picture of several Zebras at the St. Louis Zoo several years ago and use one of the Zebras as a starting point for this image. I used the photoshop filter cutout as an underlay for this digital painting,but that was just the very beginning. I used a mouse and the paintbrush tool to refine the many shapes and was still refining this morning and will refine some more later today.

My computer didn’t create this, it was a tool; like a traditional paint brush or pencil or ink pen is just a tool. Putting a filter over a photo and then stopping is for non professionals.

The turning point for me was adding the word to the image.

Zebra walk painting by Nick Bantock

This Friday post is for my students at Meramec Community College but I hope other viewers will enjoy viewing the work of visual artist Nick Bantock. Bantock works often  in a assemblage technique. This is how he describes his recent work “-After 44 years of learning techniques and understanding materials, controlling line and color,thinking about subject and meaning I’m now finally letting go and allowing myself to simply enjoy the process. My job description has moved from creator to facilitator-a role that has become so much more interesting because I have no idea what is going to emerge.

Business card of Michael M. Smit Associates

Michael M. Smit died Friday ,September 23,2011. Mike was a valued client and friend and  had fun illustration assignments  that I worked on with him. He was a pilot, race car driver and loved Vizsla dogs. I googled his name and got 0 results ,which is a shame because he was a great graphic designer. Below is a thumbnail sketch for a project we worked on that he signed as joke. I have kept it for many years.

signed thumbnail sketch by Michael M. Smit

The folowing are assignments I worked on with Mike. Some were posters and some were client brochures and they were all fun to work on. Mike created the theme logos for some of his clients and selected the art and type fonts.Mike was also the concept artist for these projects. Graphic designers are the glue that hold visual projects together.

client, St.Louis University, designer Michael M. Smit and illustrator of Gateway Arch is John Dyess

client, personal Performance Consultants,Michael M. Smit was the graphic designer and John Dyess was the illustrator. Year published was 1986

client,inter Access,graphic designer was Michael M. Smit and illustrator was John Dyess

client,inter Access,graphic designer was Michael M. Smit and illustrator was John Dyess

art for client information binder,graphic designer Michael M. Smit,illustrator John Dyess

Mikes’ interment was 11:30 a.m. today at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

Cecioucela ?

Colorie Et Dessine

Last week I checked out ,from the Meramec Community College library, the book “iron fists branding the 20th century totalitarian state ” by Steven Heller and while browsing through the chapter “the soviet avant-garde” saw examples of  Russian constructivist designer and illustrator Vladimir Lebedev’s art and decided I wanted to search for more of his work on-line. Above are two examples of his work. I like his work.

No painting by John Foster Dyess

One day I was taking a walk, when I lived in Glendale,MO.; I had my camera with me and as I was looking down while crossing a school  parking lot  I took notice of the words and markings stenciled on this parking lot. I took digital photographs of these markings and several years later  created this painting based on these words and marks.

This painting is on plywood that is 32″ high x 42″ wide. I used enamel paints purchased a hardware store and a product called 1st Step Block Filler for Concrete blocks to add texture.

Terror ,created by John Dyess

I created this image in 1998 and it was one of a series that I labeled defining images. Was this a prescient act of creation by me or did I see too much into this image after 911. To me the right side of the image reminds of the collapse of the twin towers .

Peter Bruegel etching titled Pride

Pieter Bruegel (1525-1569) lived for only 44 years but created ,I think, out of this world images. This image,Pride, is one of the Seven Deadly Sins that he drew and then were etched by craftsmen on copper plates and printed and sold throughout Europe. I like his work because of his incredible imagination and drawing ability.

Return from the Hunt

This is one of the first images I remember seeing of Pieter Bruegel and is my favorite.

digital-painting-of-beach-umbrella

This is a digital painting I created today which is based on a photograph I took August 7,2011. Below is the photo this image is based on. I will probably refine this painting.

photograph-of-a-beach-umbrella

I hope Hurricane Irene heads out to sea. Friends and relatives live near the coast of North Carolina.

Pastel study of a man wearing a hat 2011

A study in pastels on colored paper of a male model wearing a hat. 2011

detail of a pastel study of a model named Robin

Pastel study of a model named Robin

I returned to a drawing class which is held at the St.Louis Artist’s Guild on Thursday evening, several months ago. A model is hired and local artists,men and women pay a fee to draw or paint from a model,mostly nude studies ,but also clothed models. I hadn’t drawn in this class for about 15 years,which is sad because I and two other artists,Richard Bernal and Jason Dowd started this class about 20 years ago. I enjoy the class and I think it is important to draw from life. This study is drawn with Alphcolor,Weber Costello Pastels which I have owned for about 40 years. They are rectangle in shape about 2.75 inches long by 3 eights of an inch in diameter. I usually work on Canson paper of various colors. I start by blocking in large colored shapes and then begin to refine these shapes.The paper is 19.5″wide by 24.5″high. The class goes from 6:30 until 9:30 with about 20 minute poses and five to ten minute breaks for the model.

Wicker Basket

I just finished this still life painting of a wicker basket with apples and pears last week. The process began over a year ago but I put the unfinished painting away for a while. The process began by setting up a still life and taking a series of digital photographs of the still life from different angles and selecting one point of view to use for the painting. I have used this “birds eye” view on other still life paintings because of my interest in the shadow the objects create. The next step is to work on the photo digitally and when I am satisfied with the results I make ,usually, a black and white print to mount down on a heavy art board ,but in this painting I printed a color photo. I then draw and  paint on the the print until I am satisfied with the results. The first area I painted was the blue on the table the wicker was setting on. I used a technical black pen to add texture to the fruit and basket and acrylic paint to the fruit to add depth. I like the look of this digital and traditional technique.  Is it a painting or a photograph? To me it is a tangible object to look at that  doesn’t just  exist  on a computer screen.

"Orange and Brown leaves 2"

This is a cropped version of my previous post.

crop – cut the edges of ( a photograph ) in order to produce a better picture or to fit a given space.

I cropped to create a different picture not a better picture.

Orange and Brown Leaves

Change is good! Sometimes I like to experiment,try new ways of seeing and working, just to have some fun and not worry about pleasing anyone but myself. I will be presenting for a few days recent work created using a digital camera and computer software. As with all my work this style was a process and just didn’t “happen” but took many steps. Enjoy or question or ignore this work. I had fun creating this style.

oil painting of Devon by John Dyess

This painting is a portrait of my grandson Devon and is painted with oil paint on canvas. I shot many photos of Devon in his yard and selected this pose for the portrait.

Sophia and Nana Lumetta

Yesterday was a family celebration for the first birthday of my granddaughter,Sophia Lumetta. I took this photo of Sophia sitting on the lap of her great grandmother, Nana Lumetta,who is a member of the “Silent Generation”, which is described as people born between the years of 1925 t0 1945. Above these two generations ,one named and one yet to be named ,was the space shuttle Atlantis. Here are my memories of what I was doing during various space flights, from Mercury through space shuttle missions.

May 5,1961 –  Students from Washington University School of Art and I went to Peter Shank’s house to watch the lift off of Alan Shepard’s sub-orbital flight in Feedom Seven.

July 21,1961- Gus Grissom pilots Liberty Bell 7 which sinks after splash down in the  Atlantic Ocean.I was in army basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and didn’t watch or listen to this flight.

February 20,1962 John Glenn orbits the earth in Friendship 7. I had an interview with an illustration studio called Bob Ruether and Associates on this date and parked my car near where the Gateway Arch would be built . I didn’t get hired but in March of 1966 I was hired at this studio.

Project Gemini 1965 -1966 was a two man space craft which developed techniques necessary for Apollo ,whose objective was to land on the moon. During this period I was working at Scott AFB as an artist and in 1965 began dating my first wife Mary Keen,who also worked there. I was married April 30 1966.

Apollo 1 was scheduled to be the first manned mission of the Apollo lunar landing program .A cabin fire during a launch pad test killed all three crew members,Virgil “Gus ” Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger Chaffee. I was working  at Bob Ruether and Associates and heard the news on my car radio while driving home from work. This happened about a month before my first daughter ,Christine, was born on February 24,1967.

Apollo 8,December 21,1968 -December 27 1968 was the first manned space craft to leave inner space and orbit the Moon. A Christmas Eve television broadcast from the space craft ,at this time ,was the most watched TV program ever.  I watched it on a black and white TV with my wife Mary. My sons Mike and Mark were five  months old.

Apollo 11, July 16,1969 – July 24,1969 was the space flight that landed men on the Moon. First man on the Moon was Neil Armstrong,second man was Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and the pilot ot the Command Module was Michael Collins. I was working at Maritz Motivation Company as an illustrator . I remember my father helping me repair a window air conditioner during the flight. I watched the landing on a black and white TV. During the Apollo program I continued to work at Maritz.

Columbia was the  1st flight of a Shuttle on  April 12,1981. My wife Carolyn and I became parents with the birth of our daughter Audrey on April 5,1981 which was seven days before the first shuttle mission. I had been self employed for seven months as owner of John Dyess Illustration. After 30 years the last Shuttle fight  is flying in inner space while Audrey’s daughter is celebrating her first birthday.

Stars and Stripes

This scrapbook page was created digitally and was intended for various American holidays,including Independence Day.

My illustration of a Tiger was used for scrapbook paper distributed by  Sugartree. The printed size is 12″ by 12″ on uncoated paper.

Butterfly Circle by John Dyess

Sometimes my ideas are derived from other artists, and in the creation of the digital painting of Butterfly Circle,it was M.C. Escher.

Fort Worth layout

This image is the beginning of my layout stage of Creating a Visual Image. I have chosen the City of Fort Worth ,Texas as my subject matter. I visited friends in Fort Worth several Years ago and took a series of photos of the downtown area and of the Stock Yards. I am creating the layout digitally and have placed my photos on a layer over my thumbnail sketch. This is just the beginning stages of the layout.