"Painting is directed by the heart through the eye. Photography is directed by the mind through the eye. But desire and love for the subject direct both mediums." Man Ray We’ve always said in f8 that it was important to look at and understand all forms of art…not just photography. To that end Charley introduced us to a local painter Roderick Smith. The narrative below is courtesy of Charley (edited by Bill) Today, Charley brought f8 Pasadena to the studio of Roderick Smith. Smith is a versatile visual artist working in a variety of mediums in drawing and painting. He has exhibited work in galleries in Southern California and Oregon. Rod received a BFA degree from Rochester Institute of Technology and studied painting and design at the Art Students League in New York and at the Instituto Allende in Mexico He and wife Linda Miller, collaborated to create a doll design studio from 1982-2006 making world renowned fabric dolls known as “Cadena Dolls” They received countless awards for their designs and creations in and in 1984 received the prestigious “Doll of the Year Award.” Today Mr. Smith is working in printmaking and painting and teaches art to students at risk in high schools in Los Angeles through ArtworxLA. His current exhibitions: “Positively Fourth Street” at the Don Huntley Gallery / Cal State Poly, Pomona (until 4/12/18) and El Portal Restaurant here in Pasadena where he is Artist in Residence Rod Smith engaged the f8 Pasadena Salon members as he covered everything from the origin of his historic 1905 Baker House to his incredible art career, sharing his journey through various art institutions to his beautifully explained vision of what it is like to conceive of and render drawings and paintings of many subjects from landscapes to near-abstracts. Rod places himself clearly in the Plein Air painting movement. He discussed how his color palette has evolved to subdued colors from stronger colors in his early days and also transitioned to palettes with fewer choices. He emphasized the importance of learning to draw first and exercising that skill prior to adding finishing touches with colored pencils, pastels, watercolors, oils, or other media to complete the painting. He also stressed how it was very important to draw and paint quickly, almost allowing the work to drive the hand. He also spoke about always going back to “Beginnings” in your art. Rod was generous enough to conduct a brief tour of his artist home and talk about many of his images that we saw there. ...see below Indeed, all f8 members came away from the encounter with renewed motivation for capturing creative images by allowing the image to form before placing the camera to the eye.
Below is a single Smith "plein air"painting …
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