Symbolic colours

The other day I followed a link on Cath Sheard's blog to Mind Games.    The challenge on the blog was to come up with names for colours, then create the colours to match them.  Not names of objects that would have colours associated with them, but more abstract phrases that would make you think hard about what colour would represent it.

I've spent some time coming up with ideas and working on some colours around them.  The list seems to grow and I'm creating swatches of colour and seeing how they live up to their namesake.

Hot shower, disbelief, luscious, roadtrip, never ending, out of my depth, bbq on the beach, bleak house, 6 am......the list goes on as my my whirls around it.  Its a good exercise in colour mixing and a wonderful jumping off point for inspiration.  Why don't you give it a try and see what you come up with?

I used watercolour in this sample, but may switch to acrylics or oils for the next group.  The colours when scanned and tweaked still don't give perfect replicas of the hue and perhaps a photo may do better.  Next time.

Sunday catch up

 
Yes, I have a number of pieces at varying stages of completion in the studio and work on them as time and mood allows.  Some are more portable than others, like the coyote, who I took on a little road trip to the living room this afternoon to work on while I waited for bread to rise.

He's coming along and I'd like to have the piece finished this week if I can.  Meetings and work and other commitments may make that difficult, but you never know when I'll find time to add a bit more.

Meanwhile, today was the last day of the Recreational Food Fishery here and I went to the harbour in Flatrock to watch the boats and gulls.  Although the sun was warm, the fog lurked on the horizon and nudged the shoreline bringing a chill to the air but more cod for the freezer.   I took this little video with my cell phone to give a sense of the colour and sound of the ocean at my doorstep.  The quality is poor unfortunately and small, but you get a sense of what I was watching. This still photo gives a better view.

 

Untitled from Jeanette Jobson on Vimeo.

Cliffs of Moher - in progress

Many years ago, I lived in Ireland for about a year.  During my time there, I visited most of the country with the exception of Northern Ireland. At that time, 'the troubles' were in full force and it wasn't a wise move to go there.

One of the places that I visited was the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare.   I had almost forgotten about them until a random wander down one of the many rabbit holes on the internet, led me to a site about them.  They are truly magnificent chunks of rock rising some 214m above the sea and are home to many nesting seabirds.   They remind me very much of the shore line here along with the seabirds, rock and ocean.

I knew I was led to the Cliffs for a reason and it was to paint them.  I pulled out an old canvas that had been sitting in the basement 39 x 31 (I don't know why its such a strange size - perhaps age explains it) and started laying on colour last night and throughout today off and on.  The mist and fog is as common there as here and softens both the rock faces and the sea. 

I'm adding more definition to the nearest cliff and there will be many layers to do yet.  The old canvas has relaxed a bit and the pressure of the brush against the stretchers shows a little of their outline in places.  I will tighten the canvas when it dries a bit more to eliminate that in the next layer.

This is being done in oil and its giving my biceps a good workout!

Pea soup

The summer of 2011 has been a complete and utter washout.

In the last 70 days, there have been 10 only in which is has not rained.  In August so far, it has rained at some point every day with no sun.  And there is no warmth to it either.  The high today?  13C.  Not exactly balmy.

Now I know I shouldn't complain as other parts of North America are sweltering under a blisteringly hot sun.  But come on weather, just a little heat and a little sun, even one day a week?  Please??

So, given lemons - or in this case fog - I will paint the world as I see it today. Shrouded in low lying cloud, misty, damp and cool.  Actually, I rather like fog.  It gives a sense of mystery to the world and softens outlines and colours.   This is the hazy view of the meadow in today's dense fog - and driving home it was dense, the original 'pea soup' fog, as I've always heard it named when it closes in low and thick.  The term actually referred to a thick yellowish smog that was prevalent in London and caused by the burning of soft coal from industry and thousands of home chimneys.  Being a British colony until 1949, the term translated to Newfoundland and referred more to sea fog, as there is little if any pollution here.

This is painted in oils on an 8 x 8" gallery canvas.

Observing light

The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice there is little we can do to change until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds. (Ronald David Laing)  

The patterns of light or reflections in water really interest me.  They're so subtle and it becomes a real challenge to try to recreate them. Its what art is all about isn't it?  The ability to observe acutely and translate what you see onto paper or canvas without your brain turning it inside out is a challenge artists conquer in varying degrees.

I've often wondered why observing comes more easily to some than others.  Is it a trained eye over time or do some people simply lose interest in an object and never really take time to see the shapes, colours and values, presuming that their brain will feed them the correct information based on past experience?  What makes me see the subtle tracery of the lines of light going from faint to strong when another sees only a solid line?  Is it down to training and practice or is it an innate process?  Perhaps a combination of the two.

The art of drawing seems to be dying in some ways, but I believe it is the most important tool that an artist can own.  My background training was drawing. Constant, repetitive, technique over and over and being forced to see what was in front of me without an option of bailing out or slapping paint on to hide my inability as a draftsman.  Maybe that is why I find detail so appealing and see the minutia in life.  This morning on my drive to work, I was stuck in roadworks and spent my time studying weeds on the side of the road, thinking what a wonderful painting a section would make.  Others see the larger view.  I see the ant's view.

I can't resist adding more light traces to this watery piece, even though I know I need to wait until its dryer.  There is an advantage of having the paint slide on easily into a wet layer, but it also lifts up the initial layers that I put down.  So I must be resolute and ignore this painting for a few days and perhaps begin a new piece.  I'm just not sure what that will be yet.

Gone fishing

In Newfoundland you can't simply go out and randomly catch an ocean fish, you have to wait til the government sets the Recreational Food Fishery sets a date for a few weeks a year to fish.   The dates in 2011 are July 24 - August 14th withs another couple of weeks later in September/October.

So with the chance of some fresh cod for the freezer, a trip out in a boat was taken.  Not by me I might add.  I don't do small boats on the ocean unless the big one has sunk and I have no other choice.  Some cod were caught for the freezer and I obtained my small printing cod to play with.  I haven't done a lot with cod, as they're difficult to come by.  It sounds strange saying that, as cod was the staple of everything Newfoundland for so long and is what drew many countries to the shores.  People find gyotaku a strange thing and the concept of sacrificing a fresh cod to use for printing is almost sacrilege.

I did a half dozen prints of this cod before I popped it into the freezer for another day.  I don't find them wonderful fish to print with.  They're a bit soft fleshed and the skin tends to wrinkle easily, making it difficult to get a strong image.  The fish I used was about 14 inches long and I printed it on several different papers to find a suitable print.  I still have to add eyes and decide if I'll take it further or not with colour.  I may try one of the prints as a wax batik and see how that turns out.

Recycling water

 I'm in recycling mode again and pulled out an old canvas to use.  It had a light/dark base on it and I didn't give it a base coat of gesso before starting this painting so the initial coverage isn't complete and I see the demarcation line dividing the previous painting's colours.  Also another painting was resting against this canvas and there is a slight indentation.  However, these things should resolve themselves, otherwise it becomes a study!

The weather this summer has been beyond miserable.  It has to be the coldest, windiest, wettest summer on record with day after day after day of relentless grey.  So I decided one way to beat it was to create some tropical looking water so I could at least pretend it was warm.

This will be a view of a lovely turquoise sea with the sunlight rippling across the sand on the shallow bottom, stretching out into deeper water.   This is the start of the piece in oils, 14 x 18" I think - I didn't measure it - on gallery canvas.

Eveline - complete

  Eveline

8 x 10  

oils on canvas panel

Update:  I've added this better image now that some of the shine from the oil has diminished.  This is truer to colour and value of the original, though still a little light.

I've finished the final glazing and touches on this piece and am calling it done.  Well I may still tweak that left hand curler a little more, but aside from that I'm not touching it.  Because there is fresh oil on it, its difficult to get a decent photo, but this may be close enough for now.  Its a little darker and browner in real life.

Although a grisaille is usually the underpainting for a colour piece, I'm leaving this one alone as I like the sepia-like colour.  I used burnt umber for the base with some titanium white then glazed with Transparent Oxide Brown which I adore.  It adds such warmth to a piece.

I used poppyseed oil and a little turps for the final glaze then softened the strokes with a broad fan brush.  It needs to dry and sit for a few days, meanwhile onto a new piece.

Grisaille portrait update

I haven't had a lot of time this week to do much painting.  House guests and still not feeling 100% with this cold, limits what I can achieve.  However, I do a few minutes here and there and it builds over time.

I'm adjusting shapes as I go, especially the hair, trying to get the curlers in the right place then block in the values.  The face is more or less as I want it, with more shading to be glazed to intensify the shadows.  I did wipe and redo the eyes several times before I was satisfied with them.  Most likely because I didn't do a drawing on the canvas first, instead went straight in with a brush and drew loosely from there.  I need to follow my own advice.  It saves time.

There's something about monotone images that brings me back in time.  The sepia tones are the trigger and the sense of painting as it was done hundreds of years ago.  Traditions are steeped in time and never lost.

Grisaille painting

 Eveline

8 x 10  oils

Grisaille painting isn't seen often these days.  It was a classic technique favoured by the masters and students to produce a monochrome version of a painting before colour was added through glazing.  It was very similar to a drawing, or a sculpture, but done in paints.

With the advent of 'alla prima' painting, grisaille has dropped from favour.  Adding another step to a painting seems wasteful of time if you're creating a painting all in one sitting.

I have to admit that I haven't used grisaille for a very long time either and my prompt to try it again is this portrait.  It is being done from a greyscale image, as there was no other available from the individual.  So the time seemed right to work up a grisaille image then see if I wanted to move it further with colour glazing, or simply leave it as a monochrome piece.

This is about the half way mark.  I've got the shapes and values it, now to deepen the values and tweak the shapes.  I'm using oils here, burnt umber and titanium white and need to let the layers dry a little before refining it more.

Berry spoon

I'm still working out ideas for some of these old spoons and, quite simply, just enjoy drawing them.  When I have some down time, I like to take my sketchbook and work on some quick drawings, sometimes with half an eye on the news.

This is a more intricate spoon that the previous and I don't think I've given it justice.  I believe its a berry spoon with its scalloped edges, I could be wrong.  I also made the bowl of the spoon too big, then ran out of room for the handle, so I shortened it to allow me room to add the design.  Perhaps I've invented a whole new spoon!

Again, this is graphite and white pastel pencil in an Earthbound sketchbook by Daler Rowney.  The book is made of recycled paper and is one of my favourites to use for the paper colour and quality, as well as the environmental aspect.

I'll get around the painting them soon.  Really I will!

Bramleys

 
When I was expecting my eldest daughter I had cravings for anything sour, mostly fruit, and would stop by the greengrocers on the way home to buy a variety of fruits that I would then eat for supper.  I guess things could have been worse, I could have craved cakes.  Supper would also consist of sliced cucumbers in vinegar some nights.  That craving for tart had to be fed!

The apples that I always chose were Bramleys. These were big, mis-shaped  apples that were very sour and usually used in cooking when sugar would be added.  They were often termed 'cooking apples'. I haven't seen them in Newfoundland, and may just have to grow them if I want them. 

This little painting I did in about 30 minutes while clearing off the remaining oil paint off my palette before starting fresh.  Its 5 x 7 on canvas panel and a memory painting which are good to try now and then as long as you don't expect perfection.

After supper tonight I looked out the window and saw Tripod.  Do you think he needs to go on suicide watch or is doing his version of a Tiananmen Square-type protest over something?  That cat concerns me...

Beginnings exhibition - the opening

The opening went off seamlessly yesterday, with great food, wine and people wandering through the exhibition all afternoon.   I was the photographer and spent my time mingling and alternating with taking photos as unobtrusively as I could.  A task to delegate to another for the next show!

Many thanks to all who came to the opening, friends old and new.  Thanks too to Spirit of Newfoundland for hosting the event in such a beautiful location.  If you didn't make it to the opening, you still have lots of time to see the work, as the exhibition runs daily until August 13th.

Now that this is in place, we can take a little while to regroup and think, but not for long as we have another exhibition coming up in early October.  Time to get back to the easel again!

 

 

Sneak preview

 Little Heart's Ease

Shhh, don't tell anyone I let you see, ok?  Here is a sneak preview of some of my hung work that will be in our Arts Northeast exhibition, Beginnings, that opens tomorrow at Masonic Temple in St. John's.  I'd encourage you to come down tomorrow and see all the pieces in person as a computer can never capture the true light and colour of art.

Landwash

 

The artists and assistants worked diligently this morning and hung the show in about two hours.  There was lots of wall space available in the building and the final view looks good I think.   People attending dinner theatre at Masonic Temple will get a pre-opening view tonight and with shows and functions happening at that venue over the coming weeks, there should be about 800 people going through a week who will have a chance to see our art.

 View from the bar across the street to the Cathedral

I love old buildings and this is no different.  They don't make buildings like they used to.  Tall windows and deep walls, wooden floors, plasterwork, its all my idea of heaven to spend time in an old building. I think I was born 200 years too late.  The Masonic Temple is right across the street from the Anglican Cathedral, which is a very impressive building in its own right.  Located in the heart of old St. John's, the area is full of history and ghostly tales.  Willicott Lane is on the back of Masonic Temple and is one of the oldest lanes in the city.

But you won't see any ghosts tomorrow, just lots of great art.  The opening begins at 2 and runs til 5pm.  A great way to spend a little time on a summer Sunday afternoon.

Born with a silver spoon...

I wish that old saying were true, but I can't tell you that it is in my case.  The silver I have I had to work hard for.  However, I have always loved sterling silver, both when its shining brightly and when it has that gold/umber sheen to it when tarnished.

I have wanted to paint some silver for awhile, a spoon in particular.  But wanted to wait til the right piece inspired me.  Luckily I have a friend with an antique shop and was able to browse and borrow a few pieces to work with the other night.

This is a study of one of the old spoons I chose, the right done early this morning, back down, the left in the last light of this evening showing the reverse of the spoon.  Graphite with a touch of white pastel pencil was used on kraft paper sketchbook and gives that background of gold that comes through as a tarnish that the spoon has.

In a couple of days, I'll work out what I'll do for a composition for them.  I'll need to take some photos for reference as I have to return the spoons, but those plus my life sketches will give me enough information to create a painting from I think.

A bit of everything

I'm up to my neck in last minute details for the upcoming exhibition that opens on Sunday.  We hang the show on Saturday and - touch wood - all is going as planned. So while I do publicity and wrap and label paintings, I'm also working on two others alternately in oils.

While waiting for the first layers of the iris bud to dry a bit, I started another water piece.  This is my year to concentrate on water and I'm doing ok so far in progress, but do get sidetracked sometimes. This will be a view of the water surface of the Atlantic, off Pouch Cove.  Right now, its not much more than a sea of blue, but you have to start somewhere.  Initial stages are never very interesting, unless they are the skeleton beneath of the initial drawing.  With this type of water piece, it becomes abstract and I usually don't do an underdrawing, but work my way by intuition and frequent trips to the water to confirm what's in my head and in a photo.

So I may well be absent for a few days while things whir around me, layers dry and the coyote stares me down from across the studio, waiting for completion.  Please do join us for the opening reception of Beginnings on July 24th from 2 - 5 at Masonic Temple, we'd love to see you.  If you can't make the opening, the exhibition will run until August 13th.

Impending - in progress

  

 Impending

oil on canvas 8" x 16"

I own thousands of wild blue flag irises.  Each July, the wetland which is part of my property is a sea of blue as these flowers bloom from the tree line to the road on both sides.  The blooms aren't long lasting, but the show is spectacular. 

 

And each year I promise myself that I will paint one of these flowers, but never get around to it for a couple of reasons.  The short life of the flowers that fade over hours some days and the fact that I'm not a painter of flowers.

initial drawing/value study on canvas

However, this year I was determined to do so, and here is the start of an oil painting of one of the tightly curled iris buds.  Buds of flowers intrigue me.  How can all those petals curl upon themselves so tightly, yet unfurl to perfection?  Its like waiting for an impending birth to see when the flower opens and blooms.

This is an 8 x 16 piece, and while I wait for the first layers to dry a little, I've started another piece, of water.  More about that another day.

Fishwife - complete

Everything is a learning experience and its good to go outside your comfort zone and just let creativity flow.  I found that doing this batik on paper hit all areas.   The original sketch was done from an idea in my head, no references, just thoughts flowing.   I decided that I'd try my hand at batik using hot wax on paper instead of the faux batik that I'd used previously.

The build up from the drawing transfer, applying layers of wax over pigment had me doubting that the mess in front of me would ever turn into something salvageable.  The final layers of wax over the entire piece after I had cracked the wax and applied a dark indigo wash to seep in the fissures really left me thinking this was only fit for the trash can.  I didn't take a photo of it at that stage and should have as it really was not a pretty sight.

However, I made my batik sandwich of white paper and newsprint and ironed it to soak the wax out of the piece.  When I changed newspapers to blot more wax, the transformation was appearing.  This is the final piece.  It will need some more tweaks and there are some things that I will  be careful of in future batik work.

• I didn't use enough wax on the face of the fishwife, so the darker colour seeped under vital sections, darkening it more than I wanted.   I think I can fix this with a light wash of acrylic, well watered down or perhaps a touch of pastel.
• I was too enthusiastic about cracking the wax and ended up with too much of the crackled effect.
• I need to go in and add more detail to some of the small fish.  Their small size makes waxing detail difficult, so it may be simpler to wax them completely after a first wash then work on detail later.
• Now I want to do more!

Wax batik fishwife - WIP

I've enlarged my drawing and put it on a piece of Japanese paper - I can't remember what kind it is right now.  It was a piece left in a pile and not labelled so I'll have to hunt to figure out the type of paper it is.  The piece is about 10 x 15.

I've decided to try a batik piece with it, using wax and watercolour.   I've done faux batik before using masa paper and that turns out well.  Now armed with and old griddle, a tiny cast iron pan and a chunk of beeswax that I had (it smells sooooo good), I'm off to the races. 

Well races doesn't really sum it up, as batik is a slow process and I don't even know if I'm doing it correctly or not yet.  Basically, its a bit like using masking fluid, adding it layer by layer over areas that you want to save as you add progressively darker layers.

Its early stages yet and I have some initial layers in place that I've put pigment washes on and have now added a layer of beeswax over that to preserve it before my next layer of paint.  

The Fishwife

I've been doodling the idea for a new painting over the last few days and think I've more or less got what I want. You'll need to click on the image to see a better view of it.  Now I need to enlarge it, then decide what the medium will be.

Creating a new piece from a variety of sources, reference images, life and imagination test ability and creativity.  I'm not a graphic designer or illustrator and envy their ability to come up with what seems like endless ideas for images.  Mine take blood, sweat and tears from start to finish usually. 

Elements may change as the piece transfers and as it is painted, but the concept will remain the same.
Now on to the painful part - enlarging.  I like the process of creating, but sometimes want to speed up the boring parts!

Can you hear me now?

 
It really really is the end of the palette now and I'm ready to move on to a new piece.  If only I can decide which one and in what medium.  Sometimes there are just too many choice to make a decision and then nothing happens!

So to finally finish off the remains of the paint on the palette, I did a quick 20 minute study of this crow who is obviously trying to tell me something.  Probably something along the lines of  'Just get on and do it!'  Setting time limits works well to free up brush strokes and decision making in painting otherwise I can get swept up into detail and fiddly changes.

Lavender road

 

This view is very near my house and I've painted it several times over the last couple of years.  The track leads into the woods to a marsh and not much goes there beyond all terrrain vehicles or snowmobiles in winter.  There is no lavender growing there. The path is usually filled with water as it is a wetland, but with the warm weather over the last week or so, its dried up a lot, so its down to pale lavender/grey earth with a few puddles remaining.  The colour is what attracted me this time and I enhanced it a little above the natural colour in my paints.  Its part of the appeal of being an artist.  I can turn reality into fantasy or vice versa by simple use of colour.

I don't know why this little track fascinates me so much.  I find myself looking up it each day as I pass it, noting changes in the landscape, sky or path and take mental notes on colour and shape.  I often stop to grab a quick shot with my cellphone camera if I want to capture a particular light.

There is benefit in revisiting the same spot and  painting it over and over.  Each time, there is something new to learn.  I was using up the end paint on my palette to create this piece.  I hate throwing away paint and always create something out the the remains of colour left from creating other pieces.

Shooter

 

Shooter

5 x 7 acrylic

Available for purchase through my Etsy store

I'm calling this painting complete.  The shooter marble is the larger one, used to propel other, smaller marbles in various adaptations of the game. 

Adding the details to a painting gives me the same feeling as curling up with a favourite book or sampling a food I love.  There's a level of satisfaction in adding the final glazes and tiny details to a painting and seeing it move to a different level of dimension.  The act of creating something that looks 2D from a flat, white piece of canvas  provides me with amazement and interest all the way through.

Something shiny - half way

Marbles seem to have a universal attraction for artists and non-artists.  The hard, semi transparent, reflective surface give so many possibilities.

For some reason I have marbles in my head (yes I know...) and I need to paint them to get it out of my system.  Of course finding marbles is not as simple as anticipated, not the ordinary cat's eye marbles anyway.  Everything these days seems to be extraordinary swirls of colour in opaque glass with exotic patterns or designs.  I just want plain old marbles that I remember from childhood.

Stage I - blocking in values

But all is not lost.  I found this creative commons image to practice on and am quite enjoying the process so far.  The painting is at about the half way point, so more work on it tomorrow.  Its a small piece again.  Smaller studies let me work out the issues that I come up against and the marble is no different.  This is in acrylic, I think a larger work, once I find marbles will be in oils.

Beachcombing

I can't resist a beach and come home with pockets bulging with finds each and every time.  This time was no different.

A broken whelk shell, bleached by the sun, the wormholiest (if that is a word) piece of wood I've ever seen was added to the collection, along with half a jaw bone of an unidentified animal, the femur of a seagull, rocks, mussel shells and anything else that took my fancy.  I like to think the piece of wormy wood that the sea placed at my feet was from some ship from hundreds of years ago.  Its certainly not recent, and I haven't seen worms in wood for many many years.  Whatever its origin, it becomes mine and I can weave stories in my head about 16th century pirate ships now sitting on the bottom of the Atlantic.

Either way, the pieces make good references for drawing.  This is graphite, in a 9 x 12 sketchbook while the news was on tonight.

Salmonier River finished

 Salmonier River

5" x 7" acrylic

Detail has always appealed to me.  I can spend hours creating tiny strokes with a pencil or brush to make minute progress. So completing this little painting of a curve in a tributary of the Salmonier River held endless interest for me.

The process of creating something from broad strokes of colour down to individual forms is a challenge and very enjoyable.  I'm looking at the next challenge for  a new piece that will test my patience and ability.  I came across the art of Sadie Valeri.  Her still life pieces with exquisitely painted glass and paper fascinate me and also inspire me to try my hand at a similar composition.  It may take awhile for me to find the right composition and props (having a friend in the antiques business helps). 

I would like to film the process.  Of course I anticipate the painting will take time to produce so a speeded up version of the process would be required. A little experimentation is required before I jump into this, so stay tuned.

More coyote

I am over run with ideas for new paintings and drawings.  Its an odd sensation, making me want to furiously put it all down on paper before the ideas disappear or the urge leaves, as we know it can do.  But I have other things to do first, such as finalizing pieces for our upcoming exhibition and completing a few pieces in progress before I dive into the ideas.

I will put down some thumbnail sketches however so I'll have something concrete to go back to later and the ideas aren't lost in day to day life.

Here is an update on the drawing of the coyote that I started in pastel.  Its coming on slowly and I'm in no rush.  Without the snout built up  the face looks too broad,but that should rectify itself as the shading becomes apparent.  I always love how pieces start to move forward out of the paper. 

Salmonier river

The tall grasses that grown on the edges of rivers are a rich source of inspiration in terms of shapes and colours.  Some rivers are flanked by reeds which I'll be working on in another painting for the future.  The texture and colour found in these grasses was a little daunting initially but as I'm getting into it and seeing the form develop, it becomes rhythmic to create the lines and arches that they form.

The water, too, has depth with submerged rocks and grasses that add interest.  I love how the movement of the water makes the grasses float in that direction, almost like hair blowing in the wind.  I'll continue to develop this small piece as a prelude to larger piece.  I like how the water leads me into the painting, wanting to see what is around that corner.

This is 5 x 7 on stretched canvas in acrylic.