Changing the subject

When I first started selling and marketing my art, many years ago in the UK, my bread and butter income was from animal portraits.  I have evolved (or should that be devolved?) into fish and water, but I still keep a soft spot for painting and drawing animals.

I've been painting water steadily for a few weeks and needed a break so this little pug face was fun to play around with.  Its on a 7 x 5 panel in oils left over on the palette from another painting.  I started too far down the panel for some reason, but the dog was resting its chin on a surface.  Then there's the nose that just won't do what I want it to... If it was a commission, this would be a study and I'd fix the composition on the main painting.  But as it was practice sketch, I'm not worrying about perfection.

And pugs.  Haven't they got such sad little faces, but simply adorable?

Empty

 Available for purchase on my website

 This boat may look slightly familiar to you if you're a regular reader.  It's the same image that I used for a painting done in watercolour previously. I laboured over the original piece, abandoned it, refreshed it, cropped it and set it afloat finally.  And it sold.  

I used oils for this version and a palette knife.  I do like the simplicity I can achieve with a knife.  It takes away my ability to fiddle to much.

This is 8" x 10" on canvas panel and ready to sail to a new owner.

Heating up the beach

Funny how the eye is attracted to bright colours, isn't it?  No wonder they're used so much in advertising, the brighter, the better.  Its often the case in paintings.  It may be just a little shot of colour or something very bold that pulls in the viewer.  No doubt there is some science behind it or intuitive rationale that preys on our inner primitive being.

I am no different and while I had a couple of spare hours when I was in Winnipeg, I hunted down an art supply store that I'd been in previously.  They didn't have what I was looking for, but I was drawn to a carousel of Jack Richeson soft  pastels.  Stubby handmade sticks of pigment in every colour, just waiting to be bought.  I'm not a frequent user of pastels, and not as proficient in them as I would like, but enjoy their immediacy - and the feeling of getting hands dirty while producing.  No, I'm not a worrier of pastel dust or dusty coloured clothes, its all part of the experience of creating.

One of the colours I was drawn to was this luscious orange.  It was so vibrant, like a fresh orange had been condensed into a stick.  Another shot of colour in red, a few neutrals and an assortment of my 'water' colours came home with me.  Tonight I played around with a twilight image of a beach.  It let the pastel flow like paint without much blending and turned the beach into a firey glow of orange and red.  No realism in colour, or is there.  Is the realism in shape and value or in colour?  Contrasts and values set the shape and show the eye where to look.  If that is correct, everything else is believable.

This piece is about 6" x 10" on Canson paper. I'll take a better photo in natural light tomorrow that should give a better idea of the intensity of the colours.

* Image updated 2.6.12

Tapper's Cove update

It seems that nearly every time I travel, I get sick.  This is no exception and in addition to allergic reaction to some shellfish, I have the mother of all colds that is wiping me out, so not a lot of art is getting done.

Dosed on medication, I came to the studio tonight to add a little more to the painting of Tapper's Cove.  The colours aren't right, even with tweaking and lighting the image causes glare from the wet paint.  however, colour is blocked in and now I'll begin to pull some detail out of it.

The light is unusual in this piece, coming from behind the boat and wharf, casting a heavy shadow over the structure and water.  Even in the heavy shadow there is still a lot of detail, but in muted colours that makes the eye strain to pick it out.  I love those areas of a painting, the mystery corners that pull you in and make you study it more.

Juggling mid year

I'm still working on Tapper's Cove painting, but had completed Weekend Warriors.  I just didn't have time to post it before heading west for some work.  So here it is now.  10" x 20" in oils and available through House of Diamonds Art Gallery and can be seen in more detail on my website.

I'm now at the point where I have to do some juggling with paintings.  Some to galleries, some to exhibitions, some to swap around and more to produce.  The investment in framing becomes challenging at times and it is a skill I do need to learn to do effectively, especially for oils or acrylics.

I also need to revisit my art marketing plan, not that there really was a concrete plan with tangible outcomes.  This year, I went more with the flow than the structure and I rather miss the structure.  Laying out objectives and planning methods of reaching them provides direction and deadlines, both essential for me to progress.

So I will be reassessing where I want to go with my work and how to get there.  I analyzed my artist statement and it gave me insight into why I do what I do.  Water is a constant theme, and boats, but reflections are the common thread and show my interest in glass objects or reflective surfaces.  Pulling it all together and finding the right market is key.

Then there's workshops.  I've been so busy this year, I've only had time to provide one workshop and there is a constant stream of people asking when the next one will take place.   Time management is crucial when one has a day job as well as an art career.  I need to plan and manage carefully to get to where I want to go.

Tapper's Cove in progress

There is a little cove not far from where I live that is reached only by a very narrow, steep road and open only in summer.  A few fishing and pleasure craft are moored there in the warmer months, a far cry from years ago when it once was a hub of fishing industry.

Last summer, I drove down and took a few photos of some of the small vessels moored at the wharf.  Glimpses of fish heads and entrails signaled the recreational cod fishery and the sunlight shimmered on the water where I could see thousands of tiny fish fry swimming in the clear green water.  The green was what enticed me.  Water on a sunny day is usually so blue, but this was emerald green in places with the pale rocks beneath the surface appearing to be glowing turquoise.

So after a week away on business, I return.  Sick, as I always seem to be when I travel.  The bugs and viruses sit in wait for me at airports and on planes I am sure.  But this painting makes me forget that and remember that summer day last year when the water was clear. the sun warm and the boats sitting waiting by the wharf in Tapper's Cove.

This is 10 x 20 on stretched canvas in oil.  I've begun to block in colour and shape and then the refining begins to bring it to life.

The secret lives of eggs

The Secret Lives of Eggs

Available for purchase from my Etsy shop

This painting reminds me of the Sesame Street character, Elmo.  Big eyes, big nose, all it needs are irises and pupils.  Not the right colours for Elmo of course, but shapes create forms that remind us of other shapes.  And it makes me smile each time I look at it.  This painting is 5" x 7" on stretched canvas in oil.

Eggs are such a part of life now as the 'ladies' in the barn produce more than could possibly be eaten and there is a steady stream of people lining up wanting fresh eggs.

Eggs are quite remarkable creations and the original convenience food.  Here are a few things you may or may not know about chickens and eggs, based on questions that are often asked at the farm.

1. You do not need a rooster with a flock of hens for them to produce eggs.  The hens produce infertile eggs without a rooster present. And roosters are usually pretty nasty birds. Or so I think...perhaps its the scar on my leg that influences me...
2. Fertile eggs look and taste no different than infertile eggs.  
3. The application of heat on eggs less than 10 days old, if fertile, will start the growth within.  A hen usually lays up to a week's worth of eggs before sitting on them for hatching.
4.  It takes 21 days for a hen's egg to hatch.
5. Brown shelled and white shelled eggs are no different in taste or nutritional value.  The colour of the shell comes from the breed of bird.  The yolk colour can be affected somewhat by the food that the hen eats.
6. Want your own Omega 3 eggs? Toss the hens a handful of flax seed each day.  Voila!  It takes a hen approximately 24 hours to produce an egg.
7. Hens occasionally lay double yolked eggs.  This is usually from a young hen just starting the laying cycle and doesn't continue often.
8. Hens lay according to length of daylight.  In natural light they lay most in spring and summer then trail off to nothing in winter.  To induce laying, timed artificial light is used to imitate longer day length.
9. Chickens are vicious killers.  If they see another bird in distress, they will attack and kill it, including their own chicks.
10. Like most birds, chickens share a great deal of DNA with their lizard ancestors, however, according to a July 2010 story in the Times & Transcript, recent DNA analysis shows that T-Rex and chickens are such extremely close cousins biologically that “science has no choice but to acknowledge that birds are, in reality, dinosaurs, not just critters evolved from them.” 

This is the last post til early next week as I'll be away for a  few days, going to Manitoba for work. Hopefully I'll find some time to become inspired by some new things while I'm away.  Fitting in sketching is a challenge as the schedule is so hectic, but I'll try to take advantage of some quiet moments to capture a sense of the place.

Flow

Last year I completed a large painting in acrylic of a wave that I watched at Middle Cove beach - Landwash.  The piece now lives with someone else and I have meant to try it in another medium for some time.

A long weekend and some time to myself gave me a chance to try it again, this time in oils.   Its a much softer image with the palette muted into pale blues and turquoise with that ever present silvery grey of the Atlantic ocean on overcast days.

In this piece I've left the foreground without any spattering, tying it in with the softer overall feel of the piece.  Scumbling the colours of the course sand/gravel gives all the form that is needed.

This is 10" x 20" on stretched canvas.  I've found these Apollon, Canadian made canvasses and have to say that I really like them and especially this size. Not too large to be unwieldy or take forever to paint, but not so small as to become a frustration to fit subjects into at times.

I'm not sure if the company is wholesale only or open to consumers, as I've only bought their canvasses from art supply stores.  This is the second Quebec company I've located for high quality art supplies, the other being Kama Pigments.  Their oil paints are professional grade, excellent quality and hand made.  The prices are very competitive.

Water Line

Available for purchase through Etsy

Last weekend I went on a little expedition to get some new reference material and ended up on a wharf in Petty Harbour, about 15 minutes outside St. John's.  Its a lovely, snug harbour with lots of boats lining the wharves and few more on land, some for sale, some in the midst of preparation for the fishing season.

While exploring I came across the multi layers of paint on the hull of a boat.  The waterline and outlet above it showed years of use and rust making a path downwards.  It looked like a good image to play around with as an abstract.

I started with a 5 x 7 panel and laid modeling paste over it, sculpting it a little to mirror the lines of the boat stripes.  When the paste was dry, I added layers of oils on top which let the surface texture show through.

Weekend Warriors update

This is an update on the Weekend Warriors and while I'm still refining the boats, I'm working on the water to anchor them and show movement of current and wind.

Painting a water surface involves layers of colour and glazes to achieve the sense of depth and movement in the water.   Its interesting how a turn of the brush can create a completely new feeling in a piece.  Manganese blue, ultramarine deep, pthalo turquoise, indigo and titanium white are creating the water and work well against the brighter colours of the boats. Once I have more layers and glazes on the water, i can move onto the tiny details that pull it all together, then on to the next piece.

 

Weekend warriors

Small, colourful boats litter the water, moored together and reminiscent of the streams of small children from child care you sometimes see all hooked together so they don't go astray.  These are the boats of the weekend warriors. Those souls who secretly are adventurers in their heads and on the weekend, while confined to less adventurous lives from Monday to Friday.  On the weekend, they take to the land and water, each trying to outdo the other in technology, ability and sheer nerve.  It gets them through the next week.

This is about the half way point for this piece with more work on all elements required after this layer dries a little.  I like the strong sunlight creating shapes within the boats and eventually on the water surface too.  This is on stretched canvas, 10" x 20".

Wax tulips

I offered a spring challenge awhile ago and agreed to take part in it.  Why I'll never know as I really dislike painting flowers in any form.  I know I can create form and colour but for some reason flowers just don't appeal to me at all. I put up this mental block against them. But because I'd agreed to join in, I figured I'd better show willing and have a try with the tulips.

I wanted to try a wax batik again and the contrasts in the colours of these flowers should work with this technique  I used unryu paper, a mix of beewax and paraffin and watercolour to build layers.  The process itself is quite quick to produce, as it seems once you get going, you want to see it through to the end to see the final result.  The layers of wax,  as they build, mask the final piece which isn't revealed until all the wax is removed.

Because I'd run out of ginwashi paper I tried the unryu but its a bit more fragile and doesn't take to scrunching as well before the final application of pigment and there are a couple of tears in the surface.  This is an easy fix as once its on a backing paper of the same surface its not noticeably.  The distinctive patterning that is batik isn't as strong as a result of less cracking in manipulating the paper less.  But the effect is there and does read batik.  The fibres in the unryu also help achieve the pattern.

I usually put a piece of parchment or wax paper behind the paper to make peeling it off easier but grabbed a cutoff of foam core board instead this time.  The board has a slick surface, and releases the wax easily.

What I found when I removed the piece was the ghost of the original painting on the foam board.  It seemed too good an opportunity to waste, so adding more paint to the surface gave version two of the tulips. I wasn't respecting rules or shapes a lot in this piece and let water and pigment run and mix on the surface, which acts much like yupo.

The batik is about 12 x 15" and similar size on the foam board.

Four Elements - Fire

 The Burn - SOLD

6 x 12

The four elements, Earth, Air, Water and Fire are classic and open to much interpretation.  I am toying with an idea for my own interpretation of them, using Newfoundland themes.  Of course on this island, all elements are very much in abundance, so there is a lot of room for experimentation.

There are some common sights in the province that spark off ideas for this little series of four pieces. They usually depict small slices of life in Newfoundland that spring from activities which encompass each element.

The first that came to mind was fire.  On the island, fire is a common heat source, but a woodstove burning was too mundane.  During the winter and early spring, especially after cutting wood, the limbs and boughs are heaped up and burned to make space when clearing ground - a burn.  This painting is in the woods on my property, the wet boughs sending up a plume of white/ochre smoke into the still air as the fire crackles underneath.  The embers of this type of fire is where I produce my own charcoal.

This is in oil on a 6 x 12 stretched canvas.  The smoke and fire still need work on them and another session should do it.  I have a number of ideas to populate the remaining three elements but haven't decided on specifics yet.  Ideas are always welcome.

Sleeper

Sleeper 

Available for purchase on my website

“Why do cats sleep so much? Perhaps they've been trusted with some major cosmic task, an essential law of physics - such as: if there are less than 5 million cats sleeping at any one time the world will stop spinning. So that when you look at them and think, "what a lazy, good-for-nothing animal," they are, in fact, working very, very hard.”
― Kate Atkinson

I am guilty of over tinkering the self portrait in the previous post.  After frustration and hateful adjustments, I conceded defeat and wiped the portrait from existence.  And I don't feel bad about it all.  I captured a moment in time and now its gone as moments do.  I will try again. We learn from each mistake and each failure.

What I have learned and continue to learn is to trust my gut feeling in painting.  I have learned that the first strokes, put down fresh and without thinking too much are the best ones.   I have learned that adjustments are very tricky and seldom add to a piece.

So despite what I learn and know, I will continue to make mistakes and kick myself for them.  I will continue to solicit advice and input from other painters and continue to ignore that and let the little voice in my head fool me into taking yet another step towards the precipice.  But I will continue to try.

So replacing the portrait on the same canvas is this snoozing cat.  Still in oils, loose and I WILL NOT make any adjustments.  10" x 10" canvas panel

May Self portrait

I don't know why I decided to do a self portrait this morning, it just seemed to fall into place.  Its been awhile since I did one and time has a way of improving technique - and altering the subject matter too. Creating the planes of a face is always interesting and trying to match colours to shapes even more so to make a 2 dimensional image breathe life.  Self portraits are such good learning experiences

So here is the portrait as it currently sits.  There is still lots of work to do on it to refine it further.  The mouth is making me crazy, it just won't do what I want it to do, but I'll keep modelling it until it submits.   The whole piece a is pretty high key right now and I want to increase the shadow as the lighting for this is fairly strong, with that bright light coming from the right.

Its worth tweaking it til I get to where I want it to be, but not over tweaking so that it still has that 'painterly' look to it and isn't too stiff or contrived.

This is on a 10" x 10" panel in oils.

Tomorrow the local art group that I am involved with will hold a one day exhibition and sale of small works. For some strange reason I'm not running around like a mad thing tonight finishing up loose ends and all stressed.  That probably means that I've forgotten something major!

The exhibition will be held at Admiralty House, 365 Old Placentia Road, Mount Pearl and will be open to the public from 11am to 5pm.  Lots of original work, super affordable prices, and nothing larger than 8 x 10.  Do drop by if you want to escape the fog and cool breezes, I'd love to say hello and share some of my work with you.

Sleepless

Insomnia can become a useful thing.  At least for a short period of time before fatigue sets in.

My inability to sleep provides me with extra studio time in the wee hours of the morning.  Its quiet then without interruption and I can achieve a lot.  This morning, blues and greens appealed to me in this little painting of the bow of a boat. The rich, dark colours seemed to work and match the dark, rainy mood at 4:30am.

5 x 7" on canvas panel in oil

And this song played over and over in my head.  Why I have no idea.  Now I'll pass it on to you.

Stone angel - in progress

I've made a little more progress on the stone angel.  I had added pumice stone and a little modeling paste to increase the texture and make it more stone-like.  Adding glazes of oils over that surface take time and lots of drying inbetween glazes.

While the body, head and wings are stone, the face is made of marble and is giving me angst to get just right.  Marble is so subtle and as well, weather has taken its toll with moss giving a shield almost like armour over the forehead and nose, tracing the path of water as it runs off, catching the top lip and chin.  All these little changes in shape and colour play tricks with my brain and eyes.

I still need to work more on the eyes and the mouth needs to widen a little I think to give the impression of a face in repose more fully.  Its getting there, but slow going.

Pluot

Pluots are delicious. 

At my favourite prop store, also known as the supermarket, I found them, and thought they were plums.  They look like plums, big, purple with a lovely grey/blue bloom and the inside is plum like as well, but apparently they are a cross between a plum and an apricot with many variations in colour.

Very meaty, sweet and delicious.  This was my last one and it was difficult to paint it fighting the urge to eat it all the time.  Eaten it was and soon I must take a trip back to the supermarket to get more. 

While waiting for the stone angel to dry, I thought I'd try a watercolour as I hadn't done one for awhile and this fruit seemed to be a good candidate.  Its on a remnant of 200lb paper which is lovely as I don't have to stretch it and it takes all sorts of abuse.  I love that heavy paper!  Its about 6 x 7" perhaps give or take a bit.

Stone angels

Its not water and its not fish, so how did I end up with stone angels?  I'm not really sure, but you know how one idea sparks off another, etc., etc.?  In my flurry of ideas that were spinning through my head I had one for a project that I'm starting to explore that involves sculpture in cemeteries.   On the Avalon Peninsula there are a number of cemeteries going back to the 1700s and likely beyond, but markers are long gone, likely victims of weather and nature reclaiming them as they fall over.

Cemeteries have always held a fascination for me.  Even as a child I remember wandering through them as the adults visited relative's graves, exploring headstones and monuments.  I used to take my own children when small on excursions to cemeteries, the older the better.

So turning to local cemeteries which are full of both simple and ornate monuments to the dead, I find areas of interest in every part.  From the overall view of towering trees that create shadow and disrupt the ground, to ancient gravemarkers leaning precariously and finally the sculptures of angels, cherubs, urns and crypts in varying stages of age, a cemetery could provide a lifetime of inspiration.


Of course I get odd looks when sketching in a cemetery but as I'm respectful and usually in an older part where few people go, I'm generally not disturbed.  And some do think its rather morbid, but I think its more a place of history and beauty.

The sketch at the top is done in marker to capture the strong contrast of shadows in the sun.  The blue sky brightens a somber scene of this child angel.

The pencil sketch is another child angel, perched on top of a gravemarker.  I loved the profile view and again the strong shadows is virtually essential for the sculpture to have impact as a drawing or painting.

I've been working on a few sketches and have started this painting of a stone angel.  This is in oils on a 16 x 20 stretched canvas.   The initial colour and shape has been blocked in and I've added a helping hand in the form of pumice paste to obtain a better texture for the stone.  The face hasn't had much work yet, and I need to wait a day or two to let the paste and oil dry a little before I can do more work on it, but you can see the general direction its heading in.

High Tide at dusk

 In one drop of water are found all the secrets of the oceans.  ~Kahlil Gibran

And there are many secrets.  And colours.  And shapes.

When light starts to fade, the ocean takes on a different colour.  The brightest lights are pulled out of it and replaced by softened shades that make you strain to see them.  Purple, turquoise, blue, green, grey all blend together.


Its easy to see why dusk and dawn are perfect times for capturing light.


This is 6" x 12" on stretched canvas, painted in oil.

The laundry room

I've been working my way through some colour exercises lately, under the tutelage of a variety of books from Kevin MacPherson to Stephen Quiller.  This exercise is from Lori Putnam's workbook, Exploring Color. This is about exploring colour and any two of yellow, orange, red, violet, blue, or green may be used.  The concept is to use the two colours to create light and shadow, but still make the hues identifiable no matter how you combine them.

I used ultramarine blue and cadmium orange for this, along with titanium white and was fairly conservative in colour mixing with a little mud thrown in for good measure. This is the view from the door of my studio out into the laundry room.  Not the most beautiful view but the shapes were interesting and the light coming from a half bathroom was all that was illuminating it.

Interior scenes are not something I've done a lot of, but the appeal is there if the lighting is right and simple scenes can become glimpses into intimate life.

The study is 5 x 7 in oil on a canvas panel.

Specimen 18437

Because capelin sexes have different shapes, they are often posed together classically for comparison.   I came across a 1948 black and white image showing a similar pose and its sparked off ideas for a whole series of capelin paintings.

Now I know looking at fish is not everyone's idea of pretty pictures, but if you're looking for flowers, you're in the wrong blog.  I always seem to root for the underdogs of the world.  Stray animals, the mangy dog at the pound, some half dead cat who turns up on the doorstep and all those creatures that people look at and say 'ewwwwwww'.  Fish being one of them.

Like most things, the more you examine something, the more intriguing it becomes. You see all kinds of shapes and colours that you wouldn't have seen at a cursory glance.  This is how I feel about fish.  They are quite remarkable creatures with an amazing ability to live underwater.  Just think about it!  What a world they must see!

For this painting I started out shapes with a brush then switched to a palette knife to complete the pair. Meet Specimen 18437.  In oil on canvas panel and 7 x 9, I think.  Its on an old unmarked canvas and I'm too lazy to find the measuring tape.

The male is on the top, the female on the bottom.

Green water

I seem to be all over the map in terms of painting lately.  My mind won't settle into one track and stay there.  As soon as I get a piece started, another idea kicks in and sends me off in a different direction.  Maybe it is the season that does it, stirring up ideas and growth after a long winter.

Yesterday I started a couple of paintings and ended up wiping both of them then reverted to my old standby of water.  Each wave is similar but different.  Light changes, shapes change, and capturing all the elements becomes a challenge.

The initial stages of blocking in shape and colour lets some of the undercoat peek through.

This is the current stage of the painting I'm working on.  Its 6 x 12 in oil.  The wiped surface was a very dark greenish orange and it gives the painting a somber light.  While I work on the mid-range values, the light will become stronger until I can reach the point of pure highlights to help bring it to life.

And of course there is another painting on another easel as I work on this; more sketches and thumbnails of ideas and the urge to do a large, detailed drawing is in my head too.  Yes, it must be spring.

On ice

I love using palette knives for speed and freedom in painting.  Using them makes work take on a whole new looseness, letting me concentrate on shapes and values instead of getting bogged down in detail, which I have a tendency to do.

These fish, mackerel I believe, sitting on crushed ice, were perfect candidates for going under the knife.  The image wasn't perfect, which takes away the detail and forces concentration on the important elements.  I seem to be bolder in colour when using the knives and the strokes with those delicious dollops of paint refuse to let me lean towards any detail work.  

Small size allows satisfaction in a shorter period of time, meaning I can usually finish a piece in one session.  This is on a 6 x 6 gessoed masonite panel using oils.

People comment that the technique uses a lot of paint.  Well, not really, not a lot more than I would use in a painting using a brush and traditional use.  Of course, a larger piece will take more paint and I did a 16 x 20 to test to see how much I would use and get good coverage.  I was surprised that this technique is not as lavish in paint use as many believe.  I'd say that you would use perhaps double the amount of paint that you would you use if you paint modestly with a brush.

And as I always say, supplies are made to be used, not hoarded.  So be generous with your paint and let it work for you.

Spring Challenge

Today was a beautiful spring day.  The air was warm, the sun was shining, people were happy.  And I needed some colour in the house.

While shopping at the supermarket, I was drawn to a pot of orange/yellow tulips.  The intense colour ensured they went home with me and I could see possibilities of photos with the sun at the right angle really lighting up those colours.

I posted one of the photos on my timeline on Facebook and Rose Welty mentioned that it would make a good painting subject.  I suggested she'd be a lot better at it than me, as anyone who knows me knows I hate painting flowers.  But the gauntlet was thrown down as she said she would do it if I would.  I took it a step further and said I'd put it on my blog as a little spring challenge for anyone who wanted to play around with the image.

So here are the guidelines:

Click on the image to view it full size and save to your computer.
Paint, draw, etch, whatever with the image and provide a link to your finished piece on this post.
There is no timeline, simply enjoy and share the process.
Please use the image for this challenge only.

Pea Green again

The previous painting of the pea green boat niggled me a little and Sue Pownall, from Art of a Nomad, put her finger on it in a comment that the end piece didn't read well and she was right.  Its always good to have other eyes skim over work as the artist often can't see what's right in front of them.

So I removed the motor and then changed the colour to a yellower green that fit the description better for the pea green boat.  So here it is again.  I'm hoping it won't morph again, but you never know!  I've put it on Daily Paintworks and hopefully it will find a good home before I have another change of heart.

Backwash II

This piece is pushing towards the completion of a demo that I started at the workshop I delivered on Saturday on painting water.  Weather had postponed the previous workshop this one was placed in a different venue that wasn't the best place in terms of acoustics, equipment and layout.  However, you work with what you have.

The original demo piece was painted a month or so ago. This piece is in a lower key and is a smaller version, measuring 8" x 10" in acrylic.

I painted the beginning shapes and blocked in colour, trying to create some values to give the piece form while I had time.  I never seem to have enough time to really develop a piece at a workshop demo, perhaps because I was created a more detailed painting, so I lay the traditional path on canvas, then encouraged participants to create their own pieces based on that direction.  I continue to circulate to provide feedback and assistance and take more time at various points to develop my demo piece more.

I know participants at workshops like to get down to the business of painting, and theory exercises becomes a bit tedious for them, no matter how valuable.  Finding the balance between providing technical knowledge and putting that into practice on a piece can be a challenge sometimes and may have to do with the level of experience of individuals and where they want to go with their art.

...in a beautiful pea green boat

One of my favourite childhood poems was The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear, written in 1871.  Full of nonsense that makes perfect sense to every child, its appeal lingers on. You can listen to it, if you care to, in the animated clip below.

This little pea green boat looks to be just the ticket for fowl and feline to set sail in.  5" x  7" in oils on canvas panel

Urbay Decay

There is something interesting about texture and decay.  While we can find it distasteful in some situations, it still has the connection to life, often from neglect in man made structures.  Natural objects, which still decay, don't seem to have the roughness to them or stand out as strongly visually.

This wall, along the side of a canal shows all the elements of age, decay and neglect.  Iron in water pipe exits stains the concrete surface with shades of orange rust.  Water stains seep upwards from tide or lock lines.  Metal erodes, concrete crumbles.  Nature reclaims its space.

This is a multimedia piece on 4" x 12" gallery canvas. I used coarse pumice paste for the top third to add roughness, molding paste for the rest with a little firm gel in places.  Oil washes, a bit of palette knife work and here it is. 4 x 12 on gallery canvas.

Pastes and gels are wonderful for adding texture to paintings, and any number of effects can be created using them.  They break up the surface and leave under colour showing through as additional layers hit the high points.

Burning

After my flurry of palette knife paintings, I've gone back to a more sedate pace.  At least for now.

Watching the fire burn in the woodstove the other night, I wondered about painting flames.  Like water, there are very subtle shifts of light and values, always moving, always leaving me to sear memories of colour and light onto my brain and pull out later in a painting.

Like a firestarter, I lit match after match in the studio til the place smelled like hell fire's sulphur, watching the movement of the flame and the process of burning.  I need more practice and ability with the camera to photograph a match in the process of lighting to catch the quick flare of the initial burn and curl of smoke as it burns itself out.  Practice and a good clamp with a flat base to avoid burned fingers.

This is a tiny gallery canvas just 4" x 4" and the painting is in oil.  It is available for purchase on Daily Paintworks.

Making water

One of the best ways of learning about the palette of colours you choose for a painting is to create a colour swatch that you can keep as  reference for future use. As artists, we often tend to use the canvas as the palette, mixing colours there and experimenting til we get it right.  Sometimes that works, sometimes not so well and we end up with mud.  That's not always a bad thing, depending on the shade of mud you end up with and if you know how you created the mud.  This is where we fall down when we mix a colour on the support.  We often don't mix enough then spend ages trying to recreate that same colour to continue a passage of the painting.

One exercise I use in classes to familiarize participants with their colours and how they perform is to create a swatch of colour mixes, labelled with the original paint names and showing the changes as colours are added. We're always so anxious to get on with the painting process, we don't take time to do a little prep work that will save us time and frustration in the end.

I start out with primary colours, usually cad yellow light, ultramarine blue and cad red light. Titanium white is added to the palette to lighten colours as needed. Write the name of the colour over the blob of paint for reference. In this case, I used indanthrene blue in this image simply because I'd run out of ultramarine.  And yes, I spelled it incorrectly too.  That's fixed now. Most of the blues will provide a similar effect and each should be experiemented with to see how the colour changes in hue.

Starting with  one of the colours,  pull down some from the squeezed out pile and simply add one of the other primaries to it mixing it on the paper or canvas.  Continue down smoothly, adding white to the mix til a smooth gradation of colour from dark to light is achieved.  This provides a good idea of the range of colours that can be achieved with the three primaries and white.

I add a variety of additional blues and use the same process, adding yellow or red to the mix, then white to achieve a range of colours and understand how the initial colours are different from each other to acheive the 'formula' for painting that I need.   This colour swatch is looking more at blues and turquoises and variants of them.  Another layer can be added using just reds and blues to achieve varying shades of purples or reds and yellows to find those sunset colours.  

There can be no secret formula for any particular painting.  There are too many variables to predict success.  The only way forward is to create your own formula and that will come with experimentation, a little homework and a lot of practice.

This palette, in acrylic, consists of colours that I use in painting water.  The addition of extra colours will depends  on light and if there are other objects such as shore line in the composition.  Additional tubes of paint aren't really necessary and I view them often as shortcuts.  They can be a bit of the 'formula' that buys some extra time or less thinking about what paint to mix to achieve a particular colour.  However, I don't think there is any one colour, besides white that I ever use straight from a tube without mixing it with another colour to adjust it to suit my needs.

So have some fun creating a swatch of colours.  Create your own formula, document it, use it, change it, share it and enjoy the process.

Easter fish

Whatever you believe in or not believe in during Easter, fish play a common role in this holiday. Whether eating fish on Good Friday or buying chocolate fish in Paris, the fish is the symbol of fertility of spring and also the original symbol for Christianity, pre-dating the cross.

Not having either in mind, these fish made an interesting composition.  8" x 8" in oil on canvas panel.  I painted over another piece that hadn't gone well.  Its a bit eerie seeing the partial painting and eyes peering through the oil sketch.

Perhaps in many years time, someone will analyze the painting and find the ghost of the initial painting behind the fish and wonder about it.

Its been difficult to get a good photograph of the final piece, the reflections from the wet paint just aren't cooperating.  I hope to re-photograph it in a day or two when its dryer.

PS  I edited last night's text as it didn't seem to make sense at all.  And I hadn't even had a drink!