2014
By: Robert D Jinkins
Advisor – Bruce Howdle
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This report follows the artistic journey of Robert Jinkins as he navigates the processes of his art and attempted to create large scale regional themed paintings. The paintings within the project are all original paintings of drawings of friends or myself. Each work is 2x6 foot and took over two hundred hours to complete.

May 7, 2014 [ ROBERT JINKINS PURF REPORT ]
Introduction
My name is Robert Jinkins and thank you for reading my PURF final report.
My work represents a personal connection with the Midwest and with Iowa and Wisconsin in particular.
The paintings for this show exhibit a respect for farm life and the beliefs and lifestyles of those who are connected with the earth. I created this body of work out of respect for the land and the people who work it. To symbolize the connection of my people and the land, I paint with a limited palette of umbers, siennas, and ochers to emphasize the earthiness of human beings. Unlike most artists with rural subject matter I do not idealize or hide the brutal aspects of farm life, but instead show an honest picture. My general locus of operations is focused in southwestern Wisconsin and all of the works are based on places within 35 miles from my family’s farm.
Budget
For this project I placed a custom order for 10 2x6 foot Aquaboard art panels. This cost around $595 to have shipped to me ($390 for the board, $30 for special handling fees, and $175 for shipping). I addition
I spent a nearly equal sum on backing the thin ¼ thick panels. I used a system of plywood and aluminum edging to make for a sleek and durable (if heavy) backing for the panels.
Media.
Graphite : I generally use HB .05 mechanical pencils for nearly all of my work- however I may resort to standard 2B pencils if there is too any layers.
Acrylic Ink : Basically ink with Acrylic binder instead of a gum Arabic binder typical for water media
Acrylic Pain: My basic palette for paintings is Burnt Umber, Burnt Siena, Black (lamp or Ivory), Raw
Umber, yellow Ochre and whatever color I need to add touches.
Fluid Acrylic Paint –Basically a cross between Acrylic paint and ink.
Technical pen—archival acid free and very fine a point.
Acrylic mediums—Sometimes, for textures, matte medium, and a raw pigment is the best solution.
Fixatives and finishes –I use Krylon workable fixative to prevent smudging, Krylon Matte Finish for a coat before the varnish and a good archival varnish for final protective, non-yellowing, and archival layer
Alcohol (Rubbing) – Don’t all artists, like man, use alcohol? Well I may not drink but I use it as a kind of eraser for paint as the alcohol dissolves the acrylic binder.
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Working Method
May 7, 2014 [ ROBERT JINKINS PURF REPORT ]
For each work I followed a basic form of the following step by step process. Keep in mind though the probable and contingent nature of art means that there was much adaptation from this “ideal” method. There is a lot more drama in the real work. But as a general rule this is the method I followed:
1. Do thumbnail studies: This step involves planning an approximate layout of the piece from a formal point of view and making sure there is a good composition.
2. Take photos: This step means going out taking photos of person or place I am planning to paint.
This necessitates adapting to the contingencies of the mood and often means ignoring all the thumbnails I completed.
3. Sort through reference: Depending on the project this step can take up to a week(but which I don’t count as part of the working time) but it is time well spent. If you are going to spend three hundred hours on a painting you don’t want the layout to be wrong
4. Do Studies: This means making sure layout is right, practicing the general proportions, and making sure I can do the face right
5. Prepare board: I sand the Aqua board carefully and wash between sandings. I want a really smooth ivory like surface that doesn’t act funny when I work.
6. Layout with pencil: This means getting the drawing right and refining the drawing.
7. Fixative often: Like saving a file you are drafting in word, fixative(an clear acrylic spray) allows me to save the drawing and protect it in its current state so as to not smudge as I progressively build layers of graphite.
8. Start with paint: If it is a painting as soon as the graphite drawing is fairly good and provides a good skeleton for the paint, I will start building up color in thin washes.
9. Work for months : Kind of self-explanatory.
10. Look deranged…. Let’s just say I have a talking Bronze opossum skull….. who provides advice and guidance upon the artistic process.
The works
Each work as noted took over 200 hours to complete. The works will be present in order of completion starting with the drawing “Lady in Green” and ending with my” self-portrait. I started Lady in Green during July of last year and finished my self-portrait this latte winter in January. Each will be presented with a detail of the final painting so as to better approximate the kind of detail one can experience if viewed in person.
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May 7, 2014 [ ROBERT JINKINS PURF REPORT ]
Lady in Green, Ink and Graphite, 2013
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May 7, 2014 [ ROBERT JINKINS PURF REPORT ]
Harvesting the winter wheat, Mixed Acrylic Media, 2013
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May 7, 2014 [ ROBERT JINKINS PURF REPORT ]
Symphony in Sepia, Mixed Acrylic Media, 2013
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May 7, 2014 [ ROBERT JINKINS PURF REPORT ]
Self-portrait, Graphite, 2014
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May 7, 2014 [ ROBERT JINKINS PURF REPORT ]
Final Results and Dissemination
During the course of this project I presented the work I completed in multiple settings. I presented a poster at the Wisconsin Undergraduate Research Symposium in Milwaukee. At this event ,my poster was well received and even mistaken as actual historical regionalist paintings from the 1930’s -1940’s
(show me a Grant Wood painting with the detail of any of my paintings and I will show you a forgery). I also presented at The URCES event here on campus. In addition to these more academic venues, I also presented at gallery events. These events included two shows at Rountree Gallery at Platteville (at one of which I won a Wisconsin Regional Art Program Award). I also presented three of the works at the
Senior Show in the Harry Nohr gallery on our campus at which they were fairly well received.
The final result of this project was 4 large rural regionalist themed paintings or drawings. I was personally hoping to only complete two because of the time involved in production of the work. Each necessitated over two hundred hours to complete (two were closer to four hundred hours). So a conservative estimate for time spent working on the project was around a thousand hours(no I am not kidding). In addition I am about halfway through another painting as well.
In addition, my working method as described above was greatly refined and I greatly increased the amount of detail I could achieve in a painting. Also I didn’t mess up a single painting for this project and wasted not a single board. I also learned better methods for preparation (and, yes, repair) of the boards so as to preserve the works as best as possible. Going forward, I’ve realized that it would be most helpful to have a backing method which would stabilize and strengthen the fragile boards without adding such weight. I’m looking into different materials which could serve this purpose yet weight substantially less than the wooden structures I currently use without sacrificing the integrity of the presentation.
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May 7, 2014 [ ROBERT JINKINS PURF REPORT ]
Andrew Wyeth Dry Brush and Pencil Drawings. (1963).
Andrew Wyeth Dry Brush and Pencil Drawings. (1963). The Meriden Gravure Company and the
Stinehour Press.
Brandywine Conservancy, Inc. (1987). An American Vision Three Generations of Wyeth Art . Boston:
Bulfinch Press.
Corn, W. (1974). The Art of Andrew Wyeth. Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society Ltd.
Meryman, R. (1968). Andrew Wyeth. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
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