Here’s episode 2 of my Exploring the Masters series.
Jeremy Mann (though you might know him as Red Rabbit)
He's an artist’s artist. Intricate drawing, dexterous brushwork, and always willing to push the creative boundaries.
Many know him for his semi-abstract cityscapes, but his seductive portraits and impressionist landscapes are equally stunning.
Watching all that goes into his paintings was a real eye-opener for me. He seems open to any tool or process needed to get the job done. Not bound by conventions or rules. For example, he often uses household paint rollers to apply unique strokes of broken color. He also makes interesting use of old-school, barely working cameras to take reference photos.
Here’s a video of him discussing his work and philosophy. It's a goldmine of ideas and information. I paraphrased some key extracts from the video below:
On painting for yourself rather than others, “When you do something for yourself, it’s the best… just the best. But it’s so hard to do.”
On inspiration and ideas, “You also have to not paint. You have to experience things, feed your brain, see theatre, see films, just go sit at a park, just sitting out in nature where it’s peaceful and quiet.”
“Go do nothing.”
On progress, “You should always see an artist’s garbage. That was the reason why I made the sketchbook. I left the (bad) ones in the beginning and I don’t think I edited any pages out. The point was that by the time you go from here to here, they get better. It’s sort of like a silent educational book for young artists… just “do this” amount of art, drawing, and you will get better.”
On doing what you enjoy doing, “If you like something, keep doing that. If you don’t like something, stop doing it.”
“Somewhere in the world people will love what you do.”
You can see his work on his website. I should also note I have no affiliation with Mann or any of the other artists in this email series. I'm just a fellow artist and admirer. At some point their work has inspired and helped me on my own journey. Hopefully it will do the same for you.
Want more painting tips? Check out my Painting Academy course.
Happy painting!
Kind regards
Dan Scott
drawpaintacademy.com