Chasing jelly

Yes, I'm still on my quest to conquer the elusive jellyfish, or at least a decent painting of one.

I started with a loose study in watercolour a few days and have now advanced onto a mixed media piece.  This is a 15" x 30" canvas panel that I gessoed then put scrunched up tissue over, with more gesso embedding it further.   Once dry, I started adding washes of watercolour.  I liked how the rough surface would catch the pigment and intensify it in pockets.

I threw in a little oil paint on tentacles last night but wasn't really happy with that so tonight I formed more texture over it with modeling paste.  I love that paste, its like making mud pies, such fun to use with a flexible palette knife.

So here is its current state, waiting to dry and have more colour added.  Where will it go from here?  I really don't know.  The painting will guide me I'm sure.  Does anyone else feel that what you paint sort of pushes you in different directions?  I wanted to move to a looser style and this is definitely loose!

Did I show you the jelly fish self portrait photo I took a couple of weeks ago?  I went to Salmon Cove and there were a number of jellyfish washed up on the sand.  I tried to save some, but they'd been out of the water too long and just kept washing back in.  The colours in them were beautiful - gold and purple I believe they are lion's mane jellyfish. When I uploaded my images, I found this one - a self portrait in a jellyfish.

Sketches on the move

 Toronto to Vancouver

I've spent the last week travelling and working, which gives me little time for drawing or painting.  However, while trapped on long flights, on on layovers in airports, it does give me time to sketch.  I've found it fairly easy to sketch in these situations as people aren't usually moving around as much as they normally would.  Even then, the same positions are taken over and over again, so if someone moves, I move on to the next person and wait for the first to move back into position again.

Here are a few sketches of faces along the way.  The last fellow wasn't on a plane : ) only in my head.

St. John's to Toronto

Vancouver to Calgary

Airport heads - Vancouver

Stars, clouds and night flights inspired this fellow

Jellyfish experiments

I worked on a jellyfish image previously in oil paints and still am not happy with it and its at the 'trash it' point.  I have some ideas about reviving it but perhaps through multimedia, not just oils. 

Jellyfish speak light, colour and texture to me.  The smooth bell and long rippling tentacles give many possibilities, but maybe need a looser treatment and more watery medium to bring out the subtle colours and shapes. 

This is a small study in watercolour that moves me into the direction I'm thinking of.  I need to get away from the tightness while painting and just let my brush flow.   I have ideas for a larger piece using paintings, physical texture either through modeling paste or additional textural objects to achieve an almost abstract feel.  It just feels right to do this, I can't explain it any other way.

I'll also try a small piece to explore the textural idea before translating that onto a much larger support.  Long flights  lately give me lots of time to think and repaint things in my mind.  Now I'm anxious to get some painting done.

Christmas card decisions

Its time to choose a design for the 2011 Christmas card!   Which of these two images do you like best?  Click 'Like' on my Facebook page to comment on your favourite and to enter the draw to win an 8 x 10 reproduction of the one that is chosen.

You have until October 23rd to make your choice.  On the 24th, I'll choose a name randomly from those who've made their choice.  But you have to be a subscriber on my Facebook page to enter the draw!

 

Fish Light

watercolour

Circles

Coloured pencil

Rorschach VIII

 Rorschach VIII

Oil, stretched canvas    8" x 16"

I worked off and on today on a painting that I started yesterday of rocks and the sea.   At 8pm I wiped the painting.  It looked insipid and boring.  Very, very boring.

So left with a smeared, stained canvas, I played with a palette knife and the contents of the oil palette and this is the result. The Rorschach Test VIII.  A sprinkle of minute green/gold glass beads complete the piece and add more texture as they embed into the paint. 

Test # VII seems the closest in form and colour of the ten inkblots that make up the test and the commonly found characteristics of the original inkblot have determined this:

People often express relief about card VIII, which lets them relax and respond effectively. Similar to card V, it represents a "change of pace"; however, the card introduces new elaboration difficulties, being complex and the first multi-colored card in the set. Therefore, people who find processing complex situations or emotional stimuli distressing or difficult may be uncomfortable with this card.

The Roschach test is a visual test used by some psychologists to determine personality characteristics and emotional functioning of subjects by reviewing their reactions to inkblots of varying shapes.  There is controversy around its use and In the 1959 edition of Mental Measurement Yearbook, Lee Cronbach (former President of the Psychometric Society and American Psychological Association) has been quoted as saying, "The test has repeatedly failed as a prediction of practical criteria. There is nothing in the literature to encourage reliance on Rorschach interpretations."

Despite the misgivings about the test, the reaction to this inkblot rather sum up my painting "a change of pace".  What do you see in it?

Rocks

A fine day and a walk along a favourite and pretty much deserted beach last weekend led me to some on site sketching and the start of a study back in the studio.  I want to go much larger and likely will if time allows me to do so.   This is done with watercolour in a kraft paper sketchbook with a small addition of gouache to add a little solidity to the rockface.  The paper in this Daler Rowney Earthbound sketchbook isn't designed for watermedia, but it seems to stand up to it very well.

Rocks jutting out of the ocean always interest me.  On this beach they become an obstruction for waves that break around them and the resulting lines of water that cross on the shore is fascinating.  This 8 x 16 is the start of a painting of more of the rocks on this beach.  Its difficult to show the scale, but they are very large, more like mountains.

I took a number of photos in my explorations and a lot of them of rocks.  Its hard to go far here without them and I love the formations and how sometimes it can almost seem as if I'm in a different world in the barren landscape that they form.

Head in the Clouds

 On a cold, wintry day last January I looked out the window at work just as the sun was setting and the sky was full of gold and pink and blue.  I grabbed a quick shot of it with my cell phone camera, but it isn't til now that I've had a chance to try to put it down onto canvas.

Clouds are fascinating to draw or paint and they are forgiving too.  You can rearrange them a little and still have them appear quite cloud like.  On the other hand, clouds do have form and values and those need to be taken into account when painting them just like any other object.

And, of course, a closer view above, for those who like to see how the strokes are put down.

This study is painted in oils on a 6 x 12" canvas and I'd like to translate it onto a much larger canvas.  Concentrating on the sky alone with no land allows the eye to really see the cloud formations and colour.

Etching - the print

 
I spent most of the morning being frustrated with the printmaking process, but believe the 'aha' moment has arrived and most of it is to do with paper choices. After yesterday's etching process, today was the printing.  I do not have a printing press so need to use a baren/brayer to achieve a decent image.

I started out with Rives BFK paper. Its fairly thick and strong, even when well dampened.  I perhaps overdampened and ended up with some blurred images.  The inks I used were Graphic Chemical oil based inks and initial prints were with Intense Black, a commonly used ink for etching.   I'm not sure if it was the ink or the paper or me, but the results were pale, the lines weak and soft.  However, with initial prints, it is a bit of a test to see what works and what doesn't.

1st print on BFK Rives paper

After a coffee and a think, I had an interlude of printing a linocut that I had recarved and used a lighter Okawara Japanese paper, perhaps half the thickness of the original Rives, using a mix of the Intense Black and Phtalo Green Caligo inks. The lino print worked beautifully.  Buoyed by success I tried another of the etching and am reasonably pleased with the result.  The lines are crisper and the colour darker.  It may be down to some more experimenting with other papers and inks.

2nd print on Okawara paper

From left to right:  BFK Rives paper, 1st print on Okawara, 2nd print on Okawara

I've enjoyed the etching process and would like to continue.  I would like to access zinc or copper plates and a decent etching needle as well.  That will have to go onto the next mail order shopping list.

Come up and see my etchings

Well, they're not quite ready yet, but I'm heading there.

I was reading The Printmaking Bible and learning more about the process of etching, drypoint in particular which does not involve acid baths.  Perhaps that will come at a later date.   Since the concept of the idea the other day, I've been trying to find suitable materials to test with and in this town, that's never an easy task, so one learns to be inventive.

As copper or zinc plates weren't available, I decided I would try plexiglass and actually ended up with some acrylic blanks used for glass painting practice.  Then not having an etching needle, I tried a scratchboard knife which seems to work well on the softer surface.

I decided I would use an old drawing of a circle of fish that I had completed last year and have pretty much completed etching the drawing onto the acrylic sheet.  Tomorrow I'll test the printing. This may be a challenge as I don't have a printing press so I'll see what weights and a baren or rolling pin will do.  Stay tuned!

Terry's portrait continued

I am slowly working my way through unfinished pieces.  My goal is to have them all complete before the end of the year.  What is it about my inability to complete paintings sometimes?  Easily distracted perhaps.  I always see something else that I want to get down on paper or canvas and think 'I'll just start this and finish the other later.'

This is a portrait of Terry Rielly, a gifted musician and entertainer.  I've known Terry for....oh more years than I remember.  We recently became reacquainted and I promised him this portrait after seeing the image of Mikaela's Rock online.

I started the portrait in watercolour and then, with other things overtaking it, it was put aside.  Now I've pulled it out and have started adding more layers of colour and am probably about two-thirds near completion.  I thought the beard would be my undoing, but instead it may be the rock!

I promise Terry that you'll have the final piece soon!

Idioms and exhibits

My painting time has been limited this week, as I prepare for the exhibition which opens on Thursday.  This evening after work, all the pieces were hung, ready for the opening on October 6th.  If you're in the area, I'd love to meet you there.  Great art, nibbles and drinks will be on hand from 5 - 7pm at MUN Botanical Garden, 306 Mount Scio Road, St. John's, NL.  You can read all the details here.

Here's a little glimpse of one of my pieces that you can see at the exhibit.  Its a gyotaku ocean perch, or red fish, as they are often called here.  Reflections are part and parcel of pieces framed under glass unfortunately.  Drop by on Thursday and I'll tell you how these unique gyotaku prints are created.

Meanwhile I've had a few minutes here and there to add a bit more paint to the carrot & stick painting that I began a few days ago.  It set my mind off on lists of idioms  or common sayings that could generate paintings...its endless how one idea sparks another, isn't it?  Which one would you choose to paint?

The Carrot and the Stick - in progress

Ideas for paintings come to me at odd times.  Driving to or from work, in the shower, or when I wake in the middle of the night and can't sleep.  In my internal struggles in art there are rewards and setbacks.  Paintings that didn't go the way I want, paintings that sell, rejection and acceptance, on and on it goes.  For each stick blow, there is a carrot to reward.  Sometimes it goes in the opposite direction too.  I prefer the stick first personally.

So this thought of the carrot and the stick idiom stuck in my head in one of those random times of thinking too much and I knew it had to be put on canvas. 

The concept has sprung, literally, from the ground up.  I dug some carrots from the field, trying to find just the right one and then a quest for a stick that would meet my needs.  With so many trees around and lots of damage from last year's hurricane, there was no shortage of dead branches to choose from.  I finally decided on a piece from a laburnum.  The pale smooth branch with small pieces of golden brown bark still clinging to it and little knots adding interest worked well.  I also harvested more branches from other species such as larch and maple then headed to the studio to work out composition.

I played with a number of compositions with dominance from the stick or from the carrot, but finally decided that equal representation worked best. 

This is the start of the layout of shapes and values and I'll start getting into more depth and detail with it soon.  Its being painted on 16 x 20 gallery canvas in oils.

Night flight

I love flying when its dark or the sun is just setting.  Its as if you're suspended between two worlds, with a perfect sky above and hints of life seen below the clouds.

This little painting was from memory, flying over a headland, getting ready to land.  Little breaks in the cloud allowed glimpses of the lights of a town below, looking like pins of light on a map.


This is 6 x 6 on gesso board in oils.

Jellyfish

I keep trying with this jellyfish and am very slowly making progress with glazing and layers of colour.  The head of the jellyfish still isn't the right shape, but its moving into the place I want it.  Its in oils on gallery canvas and looks so much different in real life.  I know I always say this, but photographs, especially ones taken at night never do justice to images.  And why this decided to turn on its side, who knows??!

I may try this subject in another medium and see what happens.  I'm thinking that it may make a good candidate for a wax batik piece or perhaps a watercolour on paper textured with tissue.  A little study to test the waters may be in order.

I'm just about ready for the next exhibition which opens next week.  Deep breath.   I have a number of smaller works in this exhibition as well as some larger pieces too.  Keeping up with production to ensure there is something new is challenging, but doable.  A couple of the new pieces framed up beautifully.  I'm almost loathe to part with them now!  But I'm hoping they'll find new homes to go to during October.

Dabs of paint

 

A pale self-portrait looked out of the mirror with the serious eyes of all self-portraits.  Vladimir Nabokov

A few more dabs of paint while I experiment with a looser style and a simply laying down of colour as opposed to blending paint.  Pointillism to a degree, but larger.  There is no perfection here and none is strived for.  Its painting, pure and simple.  Thinking has been banned.

Exhibiting virtually

I've toyed with the concept of virtual exhibitions for a few months and it is available is several forms of software at varying levels of sophistication and pricing. Its a step up from static websites or blogs, going from two dimension to three dimension views.

VirtualGallery.com is a meeting point for art buyers and sellers; we play a mediating role to facilitate the purchase and sale of works through a system that guarantees:

• A reliable environment for both parties.
• The authenticity of the works on sale.
• The opportunity to return them.

I'm starting with Virtual Gallery for a trial to see how a virtual gallery performs and what interest it garners.  The gallery performs as a three dimensional room or rooms, depending on how many pieces are displayed, with art on all walls which can be viewed as the mouse (viewer) turns right or left.

Closer views of the art can be seen by clicking on a piece, as well as information about the piece, pricing, etc.  The software works as a cross between a website and a gallery , with a commission paid on sales and future development into on demand printing being researched by the organizers.  The commission rate for the free version is 20%.  If you buy the package, it drops to 10% with more options available.

There is an option to link updates and events to Facebook or Twitter and to have an opening event for the gallery. I haven't really looked at the sales option for this trial, as I'm not sure if I want to go this route in this environment or not yet.

I'm using some of my gyotaku and fish paintings for this gallery view.  If you take a peek at the virtual gallery, I'd love to know what you think about the concept and how you think it compares to blogs, websites and online gallery options for potential exposure and sales of art.

Jeanette Jobson Fine Art - The Gyotaku Project

Colours and shapes

Its been another really busy weekend and only tonight that I've had much time to concentrate on any painting.
Today the exhibit at Masonic Temple was taken down and now another one is looming which opens on October 6th.

While I deal with the flurry of things that must occur to make the next exhibit work, I'm still considering where I want to go and what I want to do with my art.  Sometimes just painting without thinking too much about it helps.  I know I always overthink my art and that can be the downfall.  Those first strokes are often the best ones, only to be obliterated by other strokes that take away the freshness.

I was determined to let the paint lie as it fell in this start of a self portrait.  Its oil on an 8" x 8" canvas panel.  Nothing serious, no under drawing, no thinking, just me feeling my way through the world of colour and shape.

I want.

 

Woods Road 

6 x 12 oils

More and more I find myself dissatisfied with what I am producing in art.  Yes, the pieces are technically sound, but really quite boring. I create snapshots of the world around me on canvas or paper but inside I want more. They gyotaku moved me into different directions and helped break some of the boundaries but I need to push further. 

I don't want to join the realms of chocolate box painters.  I want my work to speak for itself.  I want to break the rules.  I want to create stories on canvas.  I want to create mysteries in paint.  I want, I want. Wanting isn't good enough.  I need to turn that into action.

Its easy to point out the shapes that are missing, but not as easy to find the missing pieces and make them fit into a slot.  Even writing in this blog becomes stale.  It seems like deja vu so often.  Here is X, done with Y, size of P, blah, blah, blah.  Who really cares?

So what to do? 

I need a plan.  I know the direction I want, more or less.  I want looser, broader, more colourful.  I want structure without structure.  Not abstract, though that may appear, but forms that are recognizable that have life and brightness to them.  I won't know what they are until they appear.  And I won't know if it will solve my quest and frustrations or just make them worse.

I pulled out this oil, called Chocolate Road, that I had done last year.  I'm currently looking at old pieces and trying to revitalize them and give them some more life.   I added colour into the trees, glazed the dark muddy water and rutted road and am happier with it now.  The original piece is below so you can see the difference. Better or worse?

Original

Art and its production is almost a living thing.  It grows and changes.  Accepting that and allowing myself to grow along with it instead of fighting against it is something I need to learn.

Motivation and sketches

On the long, traffic ridden drive home today I listened to a podcast as I often do.  This was a Conversation with Dan McCaw by Leslie Saeta and Dreama Tolle Perry on the Artists Helping Artists Blogtalk radio site.  I really have to recommend that you take some time and listen to this conversation.  His insight into making art had me saying, yes, yes, yes as I drove.  He has a strong grasp on the world of art and some profound statements to make.  Its one of those keeper pieces that you'll listen to over and over I think.

If you have many pennies, you can purchase a copy of his out of print book A Proven Strategy for Creating Great Art.  And three more new books are in the works he says.

I'm still snowed under with work and art but there are always sketches on the end of my pencil and always a sketchbook within easy reach.  These two were done while lounging on the sofa, perhaps 10 minutes each.  Its a kraft paper sketchbook, a fading felt tip pen and the blunt end of a white pastel pencil. 

A new member of the Rodent Wall

I break rules.  Like the one that says you're not allowed to paint on the walls.

In my studio, over time, various little rodents are appearing in various mediums on the wall next to my work table.  This wall has been classed as the 'Rodent Wall', though other species may appear eventually.  They're a little like thinking out loud.  I don't know when one will take up residence around the telephone socket, they just appear randomly.

This little field mouse came in today, scouting out a home for the chillier nights of autumn.  I think he may hang around for awhile.  I hope the other residents adjust to sharing their space.

Portrait study

Ever the frugal artist, I was at the end of my palette after finishing up a few oil paintings, and used what colours were  left to do a quick study of my youngest daughter when she was 3 or 4 years old.

I'd put out a tub of blackberries to thaw on the kitchen counter and found young madam tucking into the frozen berries with a spoon.  I found the photo while looking something entirely different.  It was meant to be.

This is the progression with no initial drawing.  Sometimes quick studies are the easiest and most accurate as I tend not to over think them.

 

Vertigo - complete

 18" x 24"

oil

I've spent some time finishing up details on a few paintings and Vertigo is one of them.  This is the final view of a Northern Gannet soaring over the ocean.  They dive like rockets, straight as an arrow, into the water to catch fish and its quite amazing to see them.

The feathers on the wings were the most difficult part of the bird.  It was a matter of breaking them down into small parts and just working steadily through them to get the task finished.  Some more glazing of the water surface and working on additional details of the head and overall values and I'm calling this complete.

I ran a segment of video while I was finishing some details of the bird.  Its quite difficult for me to talk about what I'm doing and paint at the same time, so there are gaps or stumbled words that didn't come out as I wanted them to do.

Iris - continued

Anyone who follows my blog knows that I don't paint flowers.  I try now and then, but lose interest in them very rapidly.  Why?  I have no idea.

Painting animals, fish, water, rocks...I tackle them all happily.  But present me with a flower and my mind instantly thinks 'yuck'.  I guess we're all drawn to different subject matter for a variety of reasons and maybe some of it is where our journey in art began.  There are so many good flower artists out there who make blooms look fresh and alive.  I just don't think I'm going to be one of them.

However, in my bid to finish a number of paintings that are sitting on my drafting table, I am determined to do battle and win with this flower.  The iris bud.  Simple form, complex form.  There are many subtle variances in colour and value that give this form and getting just the right colour is challenging, but I finally think I'm moving in the right direction.  Conquering the greens...oh that is a story for another post entirely.  Why do I find greens so daunting?  Is it just me or does anyone else have issues with greens?  Maybe its just because green is one of my least favourite colours.

 This piece is in oils on an 8" x 16" canvas panel.  I began this painting a couple of months ago and its sat there taunting me ever since. Bear with me for another few days and I'll whip it into submission.  Or burn it.

Balancing Act - complete

 8 x 10

oils

Here is my fuzzy friend again, complete this time.

It a bit unnerving studying insects very closely, but fascinating at the same time.  The construction of insects, like humans, is quite remarkable and never truly appreciated until an intimate study is completed.

I've been working on other paintings today, finishing details and getting them ready for the framer later this week.  Decision making is the challenge of what to put into an exhibition, especially when I have 10 or 12 choices to make.  I'm narrowing it down, but may need your help with the last couple soon.

Today of course is the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and the attack on the World Trade Center in New York.  Newfoundland played a role in assisting aircraft and passengers when air traffic was closed over New York and directed to airports across the island.   In small towns, not equipped with hotels for large numbers, people were put up wherever there was space, including people's homes. In Gander in particular, Newfoundlanders brought people home with them, fed them, looked after them and developed new friendships along the way.  Its always been that way.  Now, 10 years later, those who were stranded here, are returning to remember the day and the kindness of strangers and present the town with a piece of the fallen WTC.

The Globe and Mail

Balancing act - in progress

I am toying with which paintings I will put into the next exhibition and what needs to be framed - or created.  Waiting for layers to dry on one piece, I played around with this bumblebee balancing on a flowerhead.  I've not done many insects close up and, truth be told, I do have a fear of insects.  So examining one closely is a bit daunting for me. 

I chose the least menacing of them, a loud, round, furry bumblebee.  We have lots of them around here and uncovered a nest of them at the edge of the woods by the meadow the other day.  They're large and not as fast moving as honeybees, looking more like flying teddy bears I think. 

I'm still wondering how that weight balanced on the flowerhead...precariously of course.

This is an 8 x 10 piece in oils on gallery canvas.  The first layers are down and detail will pull it together over the next couple of days.

Coming out from under the pile

  Flatrock

14 x 21

watercolour

There really aren't enough hours in my day to fit in everything lately, but I'm trying.  As a result some things have gone by the wayside, such as the blog.  But I haven't forgotten you!  I'm just behind the scenes working furiously and getting ready for the next exhibition on October 6th.  Yep still finishing paintings for it and deciding which pieces will go.  Oh and framing,  I need to get that done too quite soon.

And there's commissions that I'm working on as well.  And day to day life and work.  So I'm up at 5:30 fitting in a little painting and doing more in the evening.  I haven't touched housework and laundry's piling up.  This weekend I will tackle the house for a few hours and get that under control.

Am I the only one who does this?  I mean work in spurts at this frantic pace then collapse in a heap when its complete?  Instead of things slowing down, they seem to be speeding up - or I'm getting older and it just seems that way.

So while I work away on some paintings, here's an update on one that I was working on this winter.  Its the amazing rocks of Flatrock that I started in watercolour.  I picked it up again the other day, needing a change of scene, and added some more washes to it.   Its about 90% complete now.  A few more details and its on its own in the world.

Classic Martini, ready for consumption

 Classic Martini

8 x 8 on masonite panel

acrylic

I think I deserve a martini after trying to photograph this predominantly black painting.  It really does look much better in person, despite my best efforts at adjusting in my ancient PS program. Although I did use Payne's Grey for the background, the resulting light reflected makes it look a lot bluer than it actually is.

Another piece to be the companion for this is in the works, but first I need to make a start on another commission and get that blocked in.  Its great to have things flowing, but it sure can take time to fit it all i n.

In situ

I've shuffled though some of my half finished paintings, trying to decide what I will put in the next exhibition in October and spent some time today adding colour and texture to a watercolour of the Flatrock rocks.  It may be overkill and the whole thing could be dumped.  We'll see.

Now where's that martini?