Some of us in the Guild of Aviation Artists gave ourselves a challenge recently to do a painting or drawing from one of our favourite aviation books. You might think that this is actually quite easy but when you start to list all the different books that you might have read that relate to aviation and have proven to be inspirational in your life, either as motivation for art work or just increasing your knowledge of aviation, it proves to be quite a difficult task.
Once I put names of books down on paper I found that the list was far longer than I anticipated and that it was going to be very difficult to choose a single example to be getting on with. You'll just have to wait for a while to find out which one I chose but suffice it to say that it has proven to be a little bit more of a challenge than I thought it would be at the very beginning. The shot below is a taster of the work in progress. Any ideas of the title?
Part of a work in progress: Memorable Aviation Book. Mixed media on A4 watercolour paper.
That particular exercise segued into a remembrance of the way that I used to do research back in the age of the dinosaurs, when I was in High School and University. Nowadays we just Google or search for something online and we can have access to virtually the sum total of human knowledge (with certain caveats obviously). We certainly can find just about anything we want to without leaving our desk or studio.
One of the things that I recall most of all, especially during my early teenage years was going time and time again to public libraries in search of information and research, not just on school topics, but other things that interested me (usually involving aviation). I was lucky in the fact that I lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the time. The Carnegie library, located on the eastern side of town was and still is a vast source of information, if you would take the time and effort to search. This was quite a distance away from where I lived in the South Hills and involved several trolley rides, about an hours worth of transportation. (A fact that also points out the advantage of a well run and inexpensive public transit system. Green too, as the 'streetcars' were all electric. But that's another story.)
I would spend hours wandering through the stacks, which you could do in those days, and finding books or magazines with any sort of information that might pique my interest. I think I must've read every issue of 'Flying' magazine going back to World War II as well as every issue of 'Life' magazine, an unbelievably rich source of photographs and other sorts of research into aviation in general.
There was something quite attractive to me about spending hours on a Saturday afternoon in the back corner of the library with a pile of old aviation magazines on my desk, or just wandering through the stacks at leisure looking for anything that seemed of interest. It's a part of my life that recall with fondness.
It's not the same somehow just sitting here at my desk and 'Googling' a particular squadron's history or the story of a particular aircraft. It's all right in front of me, to be sure, but there is something missing and I think that is the effort that it used to take me to do the same research.
One of the things that I remember most was being conversant with the Dewey decimal system. if you wanted to go find a book, you had to have the know-how to read the card catalogue, then traipse through the stacks to find it. I know we can do this on our computers now without even a second thought and there are times that I am extremely grateful for that, but I do miss the ritual of finding the card and going back into the stacks and looking around. Sometimes there would be a book on the same shelf which would prove to be far more interesting than the one I was actually looking for and and that sort of serendipity added to the magic I used to feel when I was wandering around in the library all by my lonesome. While I suspect that might be possible nowadays I don't think it's practical anymore. We have become so used to instant gratification that the thought of spending a couple of hours searching for something (not to mention the actual act of leaving the house to do so) is not something we relish. (nor is the cost of the train fare to London)
I have never been to the British library and I don't know exactly what the form is for getting out something to look at as far as research goes. I doubt that you can just wander through the stacks at random looking for things that catch your eye.
The one library I have ready access to that takes me back to those old days is the one we have at the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum. It's not big, just one room, but the shelves are crammed with books of every sort relating to all elements of aviation whether it's Military or civilian.
I do think that whatever the means, research is vital to the kind of detail and historical accuracy that we strive for in Aviation Art. Whether you do it online, or hop on your bike and head to the nearest library, the main thing is to get it right. (Though there is always room for some artistic licence, to be sure.)
On another note, I’m still pottering along on another gouache experiment illustrating a night supply drop at the besieged Special Forces Camp at Dak Seang in 1970. Not sure where I’m headed with this one, but that’s half the fun.
Work in Progress: Night Drop, Dak Seang 1970. Gouache on watercolour paper., A4
But enough of all that. What’s happening art-wise online these days:
Stella Grace Lyons continues her talks on various art subjects here: https://www.facebook.com/stellagracelyonsarthistory/
David Young has his Aviation Art web site up and running here: https://www.davidyoungartist.co.uk/?fbclid=IwAR13tDnebdnf9Y-TSGvZUbMXiPCRG-YBq6Ul9pSbXqYxj-egrlxyCIIC5rY
Aviation Art World has some interesting paintings here: https://aviation-art-world.com/html/world_war_2_-_various_artists.html
Doug Cargill has some fine Aviation artwork here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.706482936576128&type=3
Here’s hoping we actually get let out of our cages in the next few weeks.