Getting ready to get ready

Having a full, well almost a full, bucket of acrylic gesso I decided it was time to gesso some wood and masonite in anticipation of putting some paintings on them.  Somewhere I had read a small sponge roller works well with gesso and I did think it worked very well.  Although being new to oil painting I'm not really sure what texture I should be looking for to paint on ... so this looked great to me after I gave the supports three coats.  I had one masonite piece and forgot to paint the back or at least put an X of gesso on the back.  I also had two 9" x 9" wood panels and 8 small 3.5" x 3.5" wood supports.  On one of the 9" x 9" I did adhere some canvas to it and the other I left just gessoed.  Now I think I'll put a coat of gesso on the canvas as well as the back of the masonite I forgot.  So being I'm new at this ... do any of you have tips or thoughts that I should do next time?

Some painting exercises ..

I have found too many things to occupy my time lately and have not been doing as much oil painting as I had hoped to.   Here are some of the exercises I have completed since I last worked from the book "Oil Painting Develop Your Natural Ability" by Charles Sovek,.  The next assignment will be working on exercise 16.  I had just glanced at this exercise and for the last week or so assumed it needed me to observe a subject out of doors. Thinking I needed a lot of sun, I have not progressed further.  Having read a little today I see I can work without bright sun. Good. I won't need to wait for three or more months until we see summer.  Lesson learned, 'don't assume' anything. 

Beach Grasses

Small study on paper 6" x 8"

This started out approximately 8" x 8".  After completing the painting I looked at it for awhile and I wasn't happy with the foreground so I decided to  cropped it in Photoshop.   Now I like it better - cropped.  In the cropped out foreground I had attempted to put in some wet sand  that was partially in shade and had some of the  grasses, but I couldn't pull it off to make it look realistic.... crop, crop, crop.

So, what do you see?  

• What time of day is it?  
• Whats the overall feeling, mood? 
• Summer, Winter, Fall, Spring?

I'll give you a clue. This doesn't look anything like the photo reference I worked from.

Today, I'll attempt to paint another.  Today, I'll do a value sketch.  Today, I'll put in my shaded areas first.  Today I'll start out with a list of things I must remember as I work.  Todays a new day.

One more time...

I think this will be my last 10 minute sketch photos that  I share with you all for awhile.  I  have really enjoyed these exercises and do see the value in them, but, for the next couple of oils I'm going to work on something besides these exercises.

The top two apples were painted yesterday and this morning I did the last two.  I toned the square in #4  and found I enjoyed seeing the orange some through the paint in different areas.  Also, I think this exercise turned out the best ... even it I did have to cheat and add a minute or so.  I think my green values could have been a little closer to each other than I was able to mix this time.

I found time today to mix some green color charts.  I have it all written down as to how I mixed these and when the oils dry I'll write the color combinations on the canvas.

More 10 minute exercises

Number 1 is starting at the top left, number 8 bottom right.  I'm thinking I like number 7 the best and yet none of them turned out as I had hoped.  I couldn't get the color of the perfume correct.  

It is very pale with hardly any color to it. And my shadows .... huh, what was I thinking?

 I think I would have done better to put it on something colorful instead of something white. 

 Having said all that I enjoy these 10 minute exercises.  You really don't have time to dwell on anything. Think about it and move on.  Things I know I'm having issue with is not thinning my paint when I should then having to stop and thin some, forgetting that dark is usually thin, light paint is usually thicker.

So what do you think, was my first mistake not putting the perfume bottle on something with more color?  Also that I should have thinned my paint before I started the painting?

I have one green apple and before it is eaten or dies a shriveled death I think I will try the 10 minute exercise with it.

Fun times ... I'm enjoying this journey.

The 10 minute challenge

10 (?) minute glass float painting exercise

Hey, I did it.  Well, somewhat did it.  Carol Marine challenged us to set our timer for 10 minutes and paint an object ..... 8 or so small square paintings (I was nervous and thought I'd just attempt painting 4) and choose one item to paint.  I chose a small Japanese glass fishing float.  (I bet you're glad I told you what these were suppose to be, huh?)

I started in the lower left corner.  That was #1 and I forgot to set my timer but it was counting and when I stopped painting I had painted for 13 minutes.   I'm a slow learner and did the same thing with the second painting, the lower right.  I had forgot to set the timer to stop again and when I realized it, I stopped at 12 minutes.  #3 is the upper left hand corner and I finally had set the timer for 10 minutes.  Yeah, I can learn! theres hope after all *giggle.  And, last, but in my case not least is the upper right, #4 10 minute painting.  And I think the best.

I'm not sure there were any rules about pre-mixing your paints, which I did, or if you were to mix as you went.  

It was such a fun challenge.  I can see where it would benefit an artist to warm up for your painting session this way.

Evening Sky ...

Evening Sky ~ 7" x 5"  

I love the paintings I see with a hugh sky showing and just a sliver of land at the bottom of the canvas.  Big billowing clouds.  Wispy clouds.  Threatening thunderous clouds.  They all make for a beautiful painting and I've always wanted to paint a large canvas filled with sky.   This is as far as I got today.  One 7"x 5"   calm and peaceful sky.

Wrapping up the Thomas Kitts workshop ....

As I was leaving the workshop and discussing what I should work on at home to improve, Thomas thought I needed to work on the transition between objects.  He could tell that I stalled when I got to those areas.  

The room we painted in really did not have the best lighting for us to work from, as you can see in the above photo.  We had light from the window as well as overhead florescent lights through out the room.

When I left the workshop the above painting is what I went home with.  I really was having trouble grasping the idea of blocking in my objects ...  ah ha.... finally I understood, but by then the workshop was over and time for me to be going home.  I have let the painting ... the blocked in piece ... set on my easel since the workshop day, wondering if I should just leave it alone (like Thomas suggested) or work to complete it.  Finally today I decided 'nothing ventured, nothing gained'.  An so below is my finished piece.   Now that I'm finished, of coarse, I can see that the folds in my cloth could be improve upon.  I think I've got the idea about the transition areas, though I still need to think about these areas.  I would like to have less detail in my work as I progress.  I could have less hard edges and I'd certainly like to paint in a looser style, but, for now, considering that was my first workshop/class I think I am pretty happy with this one. 

Finished painting from Thomas Jefferson Kitts one day workshop.

Thomas Jefferson Kitts Workshop

Last Friday, February 4th, I attended Thomas Kitts one day workshop in Portland Oregon.  

Being new to oils I had a lot of questions about the medium.  I found it very helpful to watch Thomas paint while standing near-by and being able to ask questions as he demonstrated.

Thomas had about 4 still-lifes set around the large room we were using in the Oregon Society for Artists building and we were able to pick which ever one we wanted to try our hand at.  

He chose the one above to use as his demo.

Below you can see he has most of his painting blocked in.

When it came time for the rest of us to choose our still-lifes I did not choose the one he had used as a demo ... Can you say  intimidating? *grin.  Instead mine had grapes, melon, wine bottle etc.   

It was a very long day for me traveling 3 hours there and 3 back home, but I knew I had made the right choice in attending Thomas's workshop at the end of the day.  We were busy the whole day and I found the time just flew by as I  was busy trying to comprehend all that was being shared and painting my still-life.  Although I wasn't able to complete my painting Thomas was very generous with his critique on my work for the day which was very encouraging.

I've been busy every since the workshop but am looking forward to getting some time in at the easel and put into practice what I've hopefully learned. 

If you are in the Portland area don't hesitate to attend one of Thomas Kitts workshops.  He's a very generous and helpful teacher.

In the Yard

Before the first of the year, a friend gave me a box of blank greeting cards for oils or acrylics.  I was so excited about having these that I thought I'd paint her a picture of a type of boat she use to own and send it to her as a Thank You.  As you know, the best laid plans, etc.  The above painting is the result of that attempt and needless to say she deserved better.

I've signed up for a workshop in Portland, OR, about 3 hours away from here, this coming Friday.  If all goes well I will come home with some basics and more confidence in my oil painting tries.

I'm in the middle of some painting exercises from a Charles Sovek book and I'll post these later this week.

Another oil attempt

So as not to give up and get too discouraged I thought I'd try another oil.  I started out by blocking in the shapes and did not remember once to look for shapes after that.

I need to write myself notes and put them on my easel.

This is pretty small ... 6" x 4".  Still, it was fun.

Oil Painting Practice #3

No apologizes ... I'm still learning.  *grin
I had an orange wedge as well as a whole orange that I set up on some white card stock and had a light shinning on the two.  I drew the two (I use the term 'drew' lightly) on my support which happened to be another piece of card stock taped to some plexiglas and sitting on my french easel .... whew, so far so good.  Now comes the hard part.  I thought I'd mix my colors first so all I'd have to do is put the color down where needed.  Well, that didn't work out too well as I kept having to mix more colors to match what I was seeing.  I found I was thinning my paint too much at times and not at all other times.

Having said all that I realize I'm still learning and I'm pretty happy with the results.  I've made notes to myself as to what I want to focus on with my next attempt.

• don't thin the paint so much ... so frequently
• look more closely at shapes 
• for now less blending
• keep having fun!

Any suggestions you can offer are appreciated.

I'm just sayin'

Is this a coincidence?

This top photo is of  an oil painting  that I cut out of an art magazine years ago.  I think it was an ad for a gallery as I remember it.  I liked the colors, the subject, the design. 

In the bottom picture on the right hand side you see the original photograph that I had cut out of a magazine ...see my start at trying to copy the photograph on the left?  So what do you think, is this just a coincident that the first oil painting I had cut out of a magazine years ago looks just like the photo of the same place I had torn out of an old magazine?

Anyway as you can see  I'm still puttering around with oils.  Not sure what I'm learning if anything.  I'm forgetting to thin my oils and end up with such a thick mess.  I'm not really trying to mix the proper colors, then get frustrated at the mess that I've created.  Even with the down sides I'm still loving the oils. With a workshop coming up I'll learn some guidelines and have something to go on.

Oh and..... how do you guys ever make a straight line.  My poor deck in the above photo was big then small and the pilings were so fat no one would know what they were.  I'm thinking part of my problem was that I had too much thick paint I was trying to paint on instead of thin paint.

WARNING, do not try this at home ...

Color charts, when done slowly and done well can not only be beautiful, but, so helpful.  I love mixing color, but wow can you create a huge mess attempting to make one of these charts.  I had oil paint on my face, up my arms all over my hands ... and I was being careful, LOL.

I started out with the original color right out of the tube, or mixed with another pigment right out of the tube, gradually adding white to each square going down.  I mixed white with the color in the top of each column to progressively get a lighter value of that color.  The bottom 5 rows I added a trace amount of black, or yellow or blue etc.   I'm using a very limited palette of Cad Yellow Light,  Permanent Red Medium and Ultramarine Blue.... plus black and white.  Even with this limited palette the color combinations can still continue on.

I'm sure there was an easier less wasteful way to mix my paints.  I feel when I was done I had way too large of a pile of brownish muck left over.  See the pile on the left front of my palette.  Also see my medium and turp cup open on my palette (Am I talking like one of the big kids now?) I did not thin or use medium with any of todays project,  I just used some thinner to clean up a mess I had made on myself.

And finally,  the above photo is my finished charts for today.  
I had read that the tape you use to section each square off with should be taken off soon after painting the charts ... thats where most of my face and arms got into the project.

Don't try this at home or else you could end up with paint where you least expect it.
Oh what fun I had!

Paint Tube, Palette Knife and Medium

Whew, finally I've put some pigment to canvas and now can say I've started ... officially!

I apologize for the glare.

I'm still getting use to the consistency of oil paints and how I want to handle them.  For me I'm using the trial and error method.

I had put these three items that I sat on some white paper inside a cardboard box.  For more controlled lighting (?????), then proceeded to paint.  The problem was I just forged ahead and didn't go any preplanning.  Next time I will plan, I'll do a value sketch.  I always love to do value sketches but I think I just got caught up in the excitement of finally getting some pigment to canvas that I forgot.  And, next time I'll plan my colors better.

Lets hope that next time I enjoy painting as much as I did this time.

All critiques and comments welcome.

Lets talk

I'm probably one of the few people who is confused by the fact that I have three (is there more) choices as to how to receive someones latest blog post.

• I can subscribe to their blog.  Sign up on the opening page of their blog if they have a subscription box.  
•  RSS feeds ... come right next to my mailbox.   or 
•  become a Follower.  

The problem I see is that if you don't become a Follower, fellow bloggers can see who is 'following' them and will wonder why isn't 'so and so' following me.  Unless I go to my blog and look to see what fellow bloggers are up to the new blog posts can be missed.

When you subscribe to a blog that means you receive e-mails in your box.   If you don't get too much mail already this might be a good way to get the updates.

Then there's Subscription through rss feeds.  They are there right beside my mail box and yet easy to ignore until I have the time to sit and enjoy them.  This is my favorite way to be updated.

• Does anyone else feel confused by the choices like I do?   
• Which is your chosen method of blog up-dates? and, 
• What if  someone would rather subscribe by rss feeds and drops the other way of receiving your update... no one can tell if they are followed by rss feeds as I understand it.

Wanna talk?

How fun ...

I've been going through Charles Sovek's book "Oil Painting Develop Your Natural Ability" chapter by chapter.  I had been stuck on Chapter 2, Looking At The World Through Colored Glasses. Some of what he was telling me was not making any sense to me.  Finally after re-reading it many times, then, leaving it alone for awhile I think I'm understanding it a little better.

Here are some exercises I've done from both Sovek's book as well as Macpherson's Fill Your Oil Paintings With Light & Color.

 

The above exercise was from Chapter 2 exercise 8.  Lightening & Darkening the Home Value of Color

This was my favorite exercise, from Kevin Macpherson's book.  I was to match the color at the top.  Looking at the color, figuring out was it lighter than the blue from the tube, cooler, warmer etc.  Lots of fun.  I think this will require a lot of experience before it comes easy.

I am using a very limited palette.  Ultramarine Blue, Cad Yellow, Permanent Red Medium, plus black and white, so the above exercise didn't take long at all.   I was to make a value scale from black to white, then add my colors under the value that matched my pigments.

I love the challenge of a limited palette and learning to mix just the right color.  I also spent some time   mixing a bunch of different greens but I couldn't get a photograph to show all the wonderful differences.  I did take notes but not as detailed as I will next time.  Next on my list of things to do is color charts ... yippee, more color mixing.

Good-bye to 2010

A collage of oil painting practices  - Click to enlarge

 Recently I've been busy with thoughts of what the new year will produce, but I quit making resolutions some time ago and if I make goals I usually keep them to myself.  I seemed to never be able to complete the goal once I said it out loud ... jinxed from the get go.

I guess just to wrap this year up I'll say I hope to create better art in the new year.  Learn to 'see' what I haven't been able to see before and produce art with a passion.

Happy New Year,  Cheers!!

Have Yourself a Merry little Christmas ...

Red, Red, Red  ~ watercolor

This watercolor painting is so pretty in its gold frame and inner gold matting.  Red and green could have easily made this a cold painting but with the pink of the under leaves and the gold surrounding the painting it warms up a room.  Red, Red, Red is soon to be living in a new home.

Its been busy around here with Christmas soon to arrive and lots of socializing going on.  I'm still in the process of learning something about oils.  I've recently purchased a dvd to see how the big kids paint.  I've purchased some new oil painting art supplies ... an early Christmas gift to myself.  I'm reading the books I own on oil painting and also trying to learn to mix my oil paints to achieve different  colors.  I have a lot to learn but I'm enjoying the journey.
Merry Christmas ...

Wow, this is harder than it looks.........

  

I'm still attempting to work in oils.  My, but this is much harder than you oil painting bloggers make it look.  You can see by the photo's above - the photo I took of the pumpkin and some fall leaves on a white background, then I turned it into black and white after I had completed my painting to see if I as close in values.  Not so good ...

A few issues I'm having is that:

• To thin the oil paint I find that I have more than once used turpentine to thin the paint instead of my  medium.
• My brush strokes are bazaar at best, I'm not use to seeing shapes.
• Not knowing what brushes to use and when.
• I'm also wondering if this set-up with the fall leaves was too much for me at this stage of my learning oil paints.

Those issues above really have nothing to do with the poor drawing skills I've shown, but non-the-less I'm going to continue my oil painting journey.

I'm open to all suggestions and advise ....( except 'quit while I'm ahead').

Exercises in oil paints

I'm still attempting to go back to the basics.  For now I'm trying my hand at oil paints. So far I am omitting color from each sketch, focusing on form and value. In the photo above you see where I massed in all the objects into one using only burnt sienna. In the photos below I also used white and where I'm not only trying to make recognizable shapes but also trying to show where my light source is coming from.

  I have started keeping some notes and questions I have as I use them and assume I will learn as I go.

I was using a canvas pad for my support for these exercises then decided the work wasn't worthy of the canvas and switched to card stock.  For now that's fine. I didn't paint on yellow canvas or blue canvas or card stock.  I'll attempt to correct the lighting and camera settings next time I photograph the work.

more Back to Basics

More sketches with markers.  Fun work, trying to see the dark, middle and light values.  

Getting back to basics

Getting back to basics.... using 3 values using the white of the paper, a 50% cool gray marker and a black sharpie.

Studio update

I thought it was time I updated you on my studio. A little over a year ago I came up with a few ideas that has really helped keep my space organized. I had a few of these storage bins but they were more or less just in the way. Then I decided to purchase more and store my art supplies in them in a way thatI could tell what was in each one and still give them a look of being organized. By lining them up along a wall (this wall is a sloping wall) and placing a label in the front of each bin I can tell what is in each one. I also can use the top of these storage bins for items that I might want to use immediately and since this wall is sloping I can use the space behind for large sheets of mat board, easel ... things I don't use everyday.

In the second photo I used an sheet to cover up items that I store under this table. Nothing fancy, but it works to keep it looking neat and tidy. It was an easy solution with some hot glue.

You can see some photos of the messy unorganized 'before' space by looking here and here .

If you click on the photo's you can probably read how I have the bins labeled. The row on the left is labeled "Misc. #1, #2 and #3 from top to bottom", the next bin in the center "Bazaar #1" and on the far right "Bazaar #2".... Now, those labels are funny, BAZAAR..... but I was just finishing up selling at a local Bazaar and so it sounded appropriate. Now it just seems bazaar! When I do sell at a Farmers Market, a holiday bazaar etc. I just pack both bins and I'm ready to go. I have two bins labeled "Frames #1" and Frames #2" that holds nothing but small frames. One bin "Oils" and one "Other Mediums".

Maybe you can use these storage ideas ... better yet, share with us some storage ideas you've used.

What happens when you don't think your paintings through.

A pair of Oystercatchers...

Cropped to see the Oystercatcher on the right. Still not a strong painting.

Cropped to see the Oystercatcher on the left. Still not good.

After doing a few sketches (I posted the sketches earlier) I still didn't catch how boring this composition was. Its just all wrong.

On the other hand, what I do like is the 300 lb. cold press paper I used. It had been such a long time that I had forgotten how nice it is to work on. The surface stays nice and flat while you are working on it. Also it is so easy to do corrections on 300 lb. paper. Also, I like the bright colors.

In one of the artists group I attend occasionally one of the artists said it looked like an illustration. You think after all the illustrations I worked on for the children's book they might have become a habit?

A first for me...

on the back of a large piece of paper folded to 10" x 8.5"

Once a long, long time ago I started to draw a self portrait. I didn't finish it ... it was a miserable attempt and soon realized it. Today I decided while sitting at my desk with some scratch paper (very unthreatening to use paper you don't care about- know what I mean?) and used a ball point pen and proceeded to sketch my portrait. I'm not sure it's even a decent likeness (my face can't be that fat and my eyes surely can't look like that) but I'm happy to have finally done a self portrait. So many artists paint/draw themselves numerous times a year... that way they always have a live model around who doesn't complain. I think I'll try this again sometime.

Speaking about my work and my critiquing of this ball point pen sketch, I'm wondering how you handle your self-critiques. Can you be objective and move on ... maybe you can continue on with more sketches, but what about a more important piece of work that you are really trying to complete for a show etc. Do you have a trusted person in your art life that can give you an honest critique? and possibly tell you what would have made your painting better? Fortunately I do have someone who is willing take a look at my work and if asked will offer suggestions to help me improve the work ... my husband. He isn't an artist yet he can take one look and more often than not give me a suggestion that makes the painting so much better. What about you?

A new site to help artists

I have found a new web-site to help us artists. Its so exciting. A Live Talk Radio For Artists with hosts Leslie Saeta and Dreama Tolle Perry. These two artists who live across the country from each other (one lives in Kentucky and the other lives in California) have a live talk radio show each week. You can listen to these programs live or download them to your iTunes and listen to them over and over like I do. Also on the web-site you can join in on a monthly painting challenge ... and in a year you will have enough paintings for a calendar. You can check the web-site out here . Also on the left hand column here on my blog you can click on one of the recorded radio programs and listen. They share some wonderful information with us fellow artists. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Annual Fall Open House

Each year here on the Island the owner of Arts & Flowers Nursery opens her home to the public where she has invited numerous vendors/artisans to display their wares in her home. The cost to the vendors is only to bring a batch of cookies to share with the public. Last year was my first time to attend and I had a great time. It was so nice to meet a few new local vendors and see some folks from the island I hadn't seen in awhile and always enjoyable to meet new people who stop by my booth.

If you live near by please stop by and say hello or if you know of anyone who lives in the area please send them a link to this invitation. Hope to see you there.

Is there hope?

You won't believe what happened... Last night I was sitting down at my computer thinking I'd do what Toni suggested. That is, play with my blog layout designs. Get comfortable with them. Oh My Gosh ! With-in two minutes I had completely changed my blog, losing my original template layout (yes, I did save the original template). What a shock. My all white blog was completely black. I about fainted. Deep breath, calm down, see if you can't get this under control. Finally I was able to get it to what you see now... white. I'm feeling better now. I'm still not sure how to do a few things, but before I beg for more help, I'm going to see if I can't resolve some of the issues myself.

Lets leave the blog issues for a minute and go on to some (non) painting issues:

• I now have my seal drawing on my watercolor paper.
• All whites have been masked out.
• Now I can't go any further... A classic case of 'white paper fright' !

So in attempt to get past the white paper issue I've done a value pencil sketch of two Oystercatchers. Also, a color sketch. Just trying to move on to something other than the large seal painting. I figure I can fool myself into thinking none of the work is really important. Pathetic logic I know.

So, what do you think is there hope for me and my blog ...

My apologies ...

I can't believe how long it's been since I updated my blog. I shouldn't have neglected it but I felt after working on the illustrations for the children's book for so long I was in need of getting away from any pressure I might put upon myself to get something accomplished. I've had a wonderful two months and am now ready to get back to painting.

Below you can see two preliminary sketches I've done for my next project. You can see the original photo I am using as a reference in the archives on the right side of the blog, dated July 23, 2009, (More on this subject in the next paragraph). On the left of this photo is a color sketch - using watersoluble crayons...CARAN d'ACHE. I haven't used them much and they will take a little getting use to, but, they did help me get a sense of color value for the project. Then there is a pencil sketch and also some watercolor test swatches. I need to get busy with this as there is a show coming up in October I'm hoping to enter.

Preliminary work for painting

Something I hope to run by you other bloggers ... As you may have read here before, I have the old classic blogger template and I keep thinking I need to update my blog. Such as having my archives listed differently.... geesh this is such a pain to have them listed this way. Also making other changes to the sidebars. I just don't want to have to go in and fiddle with this blog, I want an easier way. Can any of you coach me? I'm a nervous Nelly thinking of the things I could lose. I'm not sure completely starting over is really a bad thing, you know, getting rid of some things I wish were not here, but, I'd rather be the judge of that instead of randomly lose stuff. So, can any of you help me?

Again sorry to have been away for so long. But I'm back now and I hope to be posting a lot more often.