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| Join David Rankin in May as he sends field reports directly from the headwaters of the Ganges river in the foothills of the Himalayas.
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David James Rankin
SAA, AFC, OWS
Transparent & Plein Air Watercolors - Birds, Tigers, India, |
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David Rankin is a professional watercolor painter. He is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art and a successful author and lecturer. His watercolors have been featured in numerous watercolor books & magazines and in many one-man exhibitions and over 60 museum exhibitions across North America as well as in Japan and Sweden.
David is one of the true modern-day masters of transparent watercolor and he exudes a dynamic passion for the medium in his lectures, demos, and class instruction as well as in his own studio or field work.
He is one of the most effective watercolor teachers in the world today. When teaching, his main emphasis is to get watercolor painters to pay more attention to developing good sound watercolor technique in order to rapidly upgrade their skills.
As he states in his lectures, "The artists I meet and train do not need more "passion." They don't need to "free themselves up." And they don't need to come up with "new ideas for paintings." They in fact already have more ideas than they could ever paint in one lifetime. And they all come into classes & workshops with hundreds of dollars worth of equipment and loads of enthusiasm.
But the problem I see the most and that keeps them from progressing is that most have simply never been taught precise watercolor brush handling techniques for creating washes, blends, values, and textures using correct technique. So they do not possess the ability to create perfect washes, or build an image using correct values. And they resort to over-using "frisket" to create effects that should normally be created with "better brushwork." What this means is that they tend to make the same simple mistakes a thousand times over and over, year after year."
It has been David's experience that what these artists do need, is to rapidly upgrade some of their basic imaging skills that they already have. With just a little precise training in correct procedure & technique they are then better able to actualize the creativity and ideas they do possess.
David's painting style is based on what he calls "natural abstraction," in which he likes to develop realistic subjects using abstract design principles that he finds in Nature.
"I perceive the world around me through a type of mental watercolor filter. I see a wet reflection on a street, the fractured glint of sunlight on water, sunlight off the surface of a peacock's neck or grasses in a field and I instantly try to visualize how I would recreate that effect on paper… with the fewest possible strokes. If you study my paintings closely you will see that what may appear as complex detail from a distance, is in fact created from very simple brushstrokes using the natural impressionistic roughness of the painting surface to create the illusion of detail and form."
His book "Fast Sketching Techniques," published by North Light Books, is one of the top books of its kind in the country. He is presently working on a series of 3 new unique instructional books detailing his approach to transparent watercolor.
MAJOR AREAS OF PROFESSIONAL FOCUS
• ANYTHING INDIA - David is considered to be one of the most celebrated American Watercolor Painters to ever focus such a major professional effort on India. David has traveled all over India and used to live all summer in Kashmir until the political trouble between India & Pakistan got worse. He has been travelling in India regularly since 1970, speaks a little Hindi, is a life long practioner of Yoga ( was co-founder of the American Yoga Association and author of books on the subject), and has been a strict vegetarian since 1967.
In 1985 he began a major ongoing artistic project to paint India's remarkable diversity of wildlife beginning with her birds, (the world's 2nd largest variety of species), especially her magnificent storks & cranes. And this soon led to another major effort to paint all of India's big cats, ( the world's largest diversity). His unique theme is try and paint these species in their most natural habitats.To achieve this he and his wife, Deanna, have traveled extensively throughout India on a regular basis studying all of India's wildlife.
• LANDSCAPES- It is realy David's love of nature that keeps him painting, whether it is landscapes or animals. He now has numerous landscape themes that he pursues, not only in India but here in America as well.
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Support for Conservation:
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Special Achievements:
- 1999 - SAA/Ellliot Liskin Memorial Award for Painting
In the Heat of the Day
- 1998 - Featured Artist at the Smithsonian Institution Conservation & Research Center
"Animals of the World: the Artist's View" was a fine art exhibition coordinated by Elizabeth Dubenitz of the Sporting Gallery, Middleburg, VA. It featured original paintings and sculptures by renowned wildlife artists to benefit the Conservation & Research Center, a world leader in the study and propagation of many of the world's endangered species.
- 1992 - SAA/Activities Press Print Award
"Queen of the Marsh"
- 1991 - Society of Animal Artists Award of Excellence
"The Green Pool"
- 1990 - Society of Animal Artists Award of Excellence
"Sarus Cranes at Dawn"
Collections:
- 1994 - Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum
"Morning Bath" Sarus cranes, 17 3/4 x 28
- 1993 - Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum
"Last Light," 28 x 38, black necked stork
- Private & Public Collections: including
Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, Wisconsin
Air India Air Lines, Bombay, India
Beijing Light Industrial Co. Ltd., Beijing, China
Bennington Center for the Arts, Bennington, Vermont
Bernard Technologies, Chicago, Illinois
Cleveland Artist Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland OH and Naples, Florida)
Cleveland Metropark Zoo, Cleveland, Ohio
Creative Flavors, Chagrin Falls, Ohio
Dana Corporation, Toledo, Ohio
International Crane Foundation, Baraboo, Wisconsin
Al Lerner, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland, Ohio
The Honorable Maharana Arvind Singh, Udaipur, India
Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
Rossburg Group, Hong Kong, Singapore & Vietnam
The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio
Publications:
- "The Pencil Box: A Treasury of Time-Tested Drawing Techniques and Advice" (2006)
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Author: Editors of "The Artist Magazine" and North Light Books
Published by: North Light Books
- Genesis of a Painting (2005)
Author and illustrator - The article is about my working style and shows sketches leading to finished paintings.
Author: David Rankin
Published by: Wildlife Art Magazine
- Fast Sketching Techniques (2000)
author, illustrator and designer - how to book on sketching
Author: David Rankin
Published by: North Light Books
- Watercolours in a Weekend (2000)
Illustration -- uses Rankin's paintings to demonstrate water and reflections and the vital role of brush work, color and composition. -
Author: Hazel Harrison
Published by: David & Charles, UK
- A Love Affair with Cranes (1999)
illustrator -
Author: George Harrison
Published by: Life Today
- Animal Artists (1997)
illustrator -
Author: Barbara Cotton
Published by: Sports Afield
- A Guide to the Cranes of India (1996)
Illustrator: David Rankin -
Author: Prakash Gole
Published by: Bombay Natural History Society
- Jewels of the Tropical Tapestry (1996)
illustrator -
Published by: Wildlife Art Magazine
- India: Rajasthan (1996)
Illustrator - A guidebook to Rajasthan
Author: Edited by Editions Didier Millet
Published by: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
- Wildlife Painting Step by Step (1995)
illustrated the steps in painting "Morning Bath" -
Author: Patrick Seslar
Published by: North Light Books
- Ideas & Inspiration, Splash 3 (1994)
one of the watercolorists selected to tell how they find ideas and inspiration-- - featured the painting "Last Light" which was purchased by the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum
Author: edited by Rachel Wolf
Published by: North Light Books
- Wildlife in Watercolor (1994)
- Article is written about 4 artists in Birds in Art national tour. It includes a number of paintings by David and information about his works and travels.
Author: Pat Van Gelder
Published by: American Artist Watercolor '94
- Down the Road from the Taj Mahal (1993)
an article about Rankin and his paintings -
Author: Susan Milius
Published by: International Wildlife Magazine
- Artist with a Vision of India (1992)
Artist Vignette: David Rankin -
Published by: Wildlife Art Magazine
- Winged Glory (1990)
Co-author and illustrator - An in-depth 14 page article detailing the birds of India, especially those that can be easily seen in various regions where there are hotels in the Taj Hotel chain all across India.
Author: David & Deanna Rankin
Published by: Taj Magazine / Bombay (Mumbai)
- Artist in India (1989)
This in-depth 14 page article detailing David's long working relationship with India; in Minolta Camera's world reknowned magazine–"Minolta Mirror", marks the very first time in Minolta's long corporate history that they devoted so much space to a watercolor painter. -
Published by: Minolta Mirror Annual Magazine
- Art Scene (5)
- About the opening of Visions of India: The Watercolor Travels of David Rankin
Author: Diane Jones, curator of the Genesee Museum
Published by: Wildlife Art Magazine
Organization Membership:
- 2005 - National Academy of Professional Plein Air Painters
http://nappap.org
- 1990 - Society of Animal Artists
Board Member of The Society of Animal Artists, the world's most celebrated association of animal and wildlife painters and sculptors from around the world. Founded in 1960, SAA is a non-profit organization devoted to promoting excellence in the portrayal of the creatures sharing our planet and to broaden public recognition of animal art through education, demonstration, and exhibition.
- Ohio Watercolor Society
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