Peggy's Cove

I thought I'd quickly put this piece up online before I head out the door.  This is a quick watercolour sketch of the lighthouse at Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia.  The viewpoint is from Peggy's Point Road and done for the Virtual Paintout for November.

Seems no matter the time of day, I still can't get a decent image but this one is close.  However, the final piece is slightly different than this as I have added more pen work on the rocks, as indicated below.

Portraits and lighthouses

I've been fighting with a portrait for a couple of days, but hope that I'm conquering it now.  I decided on a fresh start and hope that will work wonders.  We too often second guess our first instincts and that often has bad results.  And sometimes the transition from small to large doesn't always go as planned.  But it only paper.  And if I have to start over 10 times, that is 10 lessons learned.

As a little change of scene, I thgouth I'd try my hand at this month's Virtual Paintout which is the Halifax region of Nova Scotia.   I know the area to some degree, or at least the more scenic parts and chose the classic tourist destination - Peggy's Cove.   This little lighthouse is perched on the edge of the Atlantic with surf worn rocks surrounding it.  Seas can be very rough at times there and tourists often stand on the rocks to watch them.  Bad idea.  A number of individuals have been washed out to sea by standing too close.  Rogue waves are notorious on the east coast.  Be warned!


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I made a little start on a watercolour sketch. I still have to finish the rocks and intensify values.  However, that will have to wait for a few days most likely, as I head to Toronto tomorrow on business for a few days.  I'll be back late Sunday night so will unlikely be posting to the blog until Monday.

I ordered a new camera that should arrive next week.  I have a couple of cameras, an old SLR Minolta and a little Canon point and shoot.  They provide reasonable photographs but the megapixel size of the slr is tiny compared to what is available now, so I figured it was time for something new.  A Canon Rebel EOS with an 18-55 and 75-300 telephoto lens should fit the bill for current needs without breaking the bank entirely either.

Now I just need to learn how to use it properly!

People's choice

Decision making always leaves me second guessing when it comes to art.  Its true that gut reactions are often the best ones.  There is some intuitive sense that seems to know best, whether its art or other decisions in life and often paying attention to those feelings stands you in good stead.

I'm in the process of deciding what images I want to print for greeting cards.  I want four images at the moment that will be available in packages of four cards and envelopes.  This is where you come in.

I would love you to help me choose which images that you believe are the most appealing or saleable. I've chosen 12 paintings that I think have appeal , at least to me. Simply choose four images that you believe are most suitable for greeting cards and write their appropriate number,  i.e., 1, 5, 8, 11, (they are in descending order #s 1 - 12)  in the comment section.  If you like you can also add why you like those images or, if there are other images on my blog that you think would be better suited, then link to them in your comment post.

The person who picks the same four that I finally choose to be printed will get a  package of the cards. In the case of a tie, the person whose comment is posted first will be the winner.  I will announce the winner on November 30th and you have up til November 29th to make your choices.

 

 

 

 

The last kiss

I worked a little more on the watercolour of the candy and am calling it done for the moment in terms of showing work in progress.  I still have to firm up the lettering and deepen folds in spots but that's not a large job. I have enjoyed the process of painting these, but there are challenges as well in all those folds and creases.

I have a few other projects looming on the horizon and some preparation to get some prints and cards into being.  Its a task I've been putting off and putting off, but now I simply have to get moving on it.

There is so much I could do with my art if only I had more time to market and produce.  I will have to seriously look at time management and see what else I can fit into my day. I have a feeling lunchtimes will have to go by the wayside to give me time to make visits to galleries and other businesses.

I have a bonus of having November 11th, Armistice Day, off work.  Everything else is closed on that day too, but I can catch up on some projects.  Then on Thursday I go to Toronto for a few days on business.

Is life really meant to move at this quick pace?  Some days I feel as if I'll never catch up.

Doing studies

I look at creating a study before a major painting purely as practice and a way of working out colours, values, composition, and background.  Its no different than a pianist practicing a piece before a recital or knitting a swatch before starting a full sweater.

I like working out my palette with a study before I tackle a full piece. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of things if I can work out my mistakes on a small scale before committing them on a large scale.  Its cheaper also, as I'm not wasting materials.

My studies generally don't take more than an hour or two to complete.  They're not finished pieces and never will be, but they provide the template for the painting that will take place next. The study acts as a guide when I do my full piece in terms of colour placement, values, etc. 

I don't do a study for every painting that I create, as I don't want to lose the spontanaiety that comes with starting fresh.  I do use studies when I have an important painting to create or a commissioned portrait that must be correct.

Often beginning artists want to achieve results in the least amount of time so completing a study doesn't appeal to them.  It is a time saving exercise in the long run.  It also relaxes you by letting you work out potential problem areas ahead of time in prepartion for the painting you'll do.  And once, your painting has been sold or delivered, you still have a study for your files.

I'm taking part in a portrait swap on WetCanvas, which has become a bit of a ritual for this time of year.  You add your name and are paired up with another person whose portrait you create and they in turn create one of you.   They can be anywhere in the world which adds to the fun of it.  

This year, I was paired with someone in Newfoundland, the same town more or less.  So we decided that we'd take the opportunity to do some drawing from life and take some photos then work from there.  This morning I sat for him and tomorrow he will come to the farm to sit for me.

We had exchanged photos previously and I did a warm up sketch which then turned into a study in skin tones as I most likely will do a watercolour portrait. Of course, I didn't use watercolour paper for the intial drawing so the water buckled the paper.  That's ok as its only a study.

Starting from scratch

When ever I clean out my studio I find things that I have forgotten about.  This time it was some hand made paper.

Occasionally in the summer I get the urge to make paper.  Its time consuming and very messy so I take it to the garden.  In involves newspapers, water, screen frames and lots of mess.  The home made screen frames that I use aren't large, perhaps 9 x 5.  A warm sunny day helps them dry quickly which wouldn't happen as easily indoors. 

The basic principle is to dip the screened frame into the paper slurry so that a layer is deposited on the screen.  The frame is left in the sun to dry until you can peel off the resulting layer of paper.

This paper is neutral with a greyish tinge from the printers ink in the papers.  It can be bleached or coloured and additives mixed into the slurry.  I like to use flower petals and herbs that give texture with an added bonus of seed heads.  I make them into gift tags or cards which can then be planted directly into the garden and grow into herbs or wildflowers.

There is no sizing on the paper so it is very absorbent and the texture is rough.  I played around with a quick sketch of a crow using pen and wash.  The water soaks into the paper like a wick and I may try some oils or acrylics on it for the next piece.

There is something satisfying about being able to create the surface that you paint or draw on.  It gives me a sense of history.  This is something that others have done years ago and in this modern age I still like to become familiar with what has gone before. 

I will be creating some tags from some of this handmade paper and making them available on Etsy.  Keep an eye out if you're looking for something unique to add to your Christmas presents this year.

Kisses update and clean up

I haven't had a lot of time tonight to work on this piece, but have added some layers of colour and made a start on the lettering.

I wish now that I'd added an unwrapped or partially unwrapped candy but there's not room on the sheet to do this without it looking strange, so I'll leave that concept for another painting.

I've made a half hearted stab at cleaning up the studio tonight as I can't find anything on my table anymore. The surface is literally covered with things. I regained some more floor space and my drafting table is clear - more or less.  But the table still is a bit littered with stuff.

It was about a year ago that I claimed this space as my studio and looking back it was so clean and tidy then.  Amazing how things build up and collections of supplies and finished work start stacking themselves against furniture and walls.

When I can't walk around easily, I know its time to make a change. What's that saying?  A clean desk is the sign of a boring mind?

Kisses - update II

I'm pushing on slowly with more layers for these candy wrappers.  I haven't drawn or painted paper in some time and forgot how complex it can become in terms of folds and shading.  Its a good exercise in concentration!  I've barely touched the third piece on the left, but will get there.  For some unknown reason I started on the right and worked left instead of the other way around.  Either way it does work, I just need to to be more careful not to damage the work already done.

I've even pulled off some sketches during my bedtime ritual of drawing.  I tried one wrapper from memory, one from a piece of candy sitting on top of my sketchbook.  The other, a piece of unwrapped candy.  Sorry Purity, but your molasses candy doesn't taste like molasses...

Kisses update

Time changes screw me up for several days, similar to jet lag, so this morning, even if the clock said 5:30, my body clock said it was 6:30 so I got up and put down the initial layers on one of the pieces of candy that I drew last night.  Because I have to photograph the piece under artificial light, the paper has a yellowish/tan cast to it.  I'm not able to photograph in daylight until weekends as I'm at work all day and its dark either end of the day for a few months yet.

I signed up for the annual portrait swap at WetCanvas and should hear by tomorrow who I will  be painting and who will be painting me.  I joined for the first time last year and ended up doing two portraits, one of which was for someone who thought their initial partner dropped out.

There is a 4 week time limit on the portrait swap with the intention that people receive them in time for the holidays.  Last year, my original partner's piece didn't turn up until this summer!  I know life kicks in for some, but I believe that if you join something where there are specific expectations, you either notify people if problems arise or you don't sign on in the first place.

Candy and awards

There is a factory in St. John's that produces a variety of baked goods that are unique to Newfoundland.  One of these are a sticky, chewy toffee type of candy, called 'kisses' which come in several flavours and are wrapped in waxed papers of different colours.  I had a bag of these and was playing around with composition and shapes and decided to start a painting of a trio of them.

This will be watercolour and I've started the drawing for it on a half sheet of 140lb Arches cold press. I may also work on another in graphite or charcoal, perhaps a single piece to get a feel for the piece.  The folds and shapes of the paper wrapped around the roundish filling along with lettering, makes for a complex piece so it may take awhile to produce.

Billie Crain of Art by Crain has kindly bestowed the Kreativ Blogger award on me. Thanks Billie! In return I must pass it on to seven other artists and provide seven tidbits about myself that others may not know.  I have done this before so I'm not sure if I have new information about myself but here goes.

1.  I really dislike going to a hairdresser.  I just want to get it over with as quickly as possible and I go as infrequently as possible.
2.  I love jelly beans and as result buy them rarely, as I have no control over eating them.
3.  I have to be alone to draw and have to have silence, but I can paint in oils with music playing
4.  If I find a sweater or cardigan that I really like, I buy several of that style in different colours.
5.  I sleep with an electric blanket as I'm always cold.
6.  I could exist on cheese and crackers forever. But it must be good cheese.
7.  I have absolutely no sense of direction.

As I have done this previously, I think I'm wearing out my welcome passing it on, so I won't do that.  Instead I'd encourage others who would like to participate to pass on the award, share information about your self and know that your work and you are appreciated by me and many others.

Halloween

Halloween is pretty much a non event at my house.  With no small children at home and living pretty far off the beaten track to tempt trick or treaters, Halloween becomes just another night.

However, I had bought some miniature pumpkins a couple of weeks ago as painting material and took one of them to sacrifice as a seasonal decoration.  A little carving and a small tealight and this was the result.  I always find jack o'lanterns appealing and the variety and skill levels of carving that is around, each one out does the last one I've seen. 

Keeping seasonal, this is a small drawing of a lit pumpkin and reflection that I played around with a few weeks ago using coloured pencils on black Artagain paper, about 4 x 8 inches.  It is sooo difficult to photograph anything on black paper!

And what is Halloween without a cat in the mix? After rushing around this afternoon dealing with personal issues, I took some time to start a portrait of Tripod on a last piece of watercolour paper that I had in a pad, 12 x 16.  I've just laid down some washes and will see how the colours and washes work to depict fur without getting too heavily into detail.

And finally, some little stories to spook you before you venture out into the night...

Excerpt from St. John's Haunted Hike website:

This story concerns an odd phenomenon at Coaker's monument in Port Union South, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. The site is the private Coaker graveyard, and to my knowledge only four people "reside" there. As a youth I noticed that on days where not the slightest breeze was blowing, a sudden gusty wind would spring up upon entry through the gates to the graveyard....

Finished

The last couple of days have been quite hectic and I haven't had much drawing or painting time, so early mornings and late nights I played a bit more with this portrait and am calling it done for now.  The piece is on a half sheet (15 x 22) of 300lb Arches hot press watercolour paper.  Its fun to work portraits that are larger than life, but challenging too as features become almost abstract when done on a much larger scale until you step back from the painting.

I'm not completely happy with the hair, but will let it sit for awhile and see if it needs tweaking.  Hair is something I don't particularly like doing. Its a complex thing, even when broken down into basic values and shapes.  I don't want to get into too much detail and loose the impressionistic feel of the piece, but it needs to look like hair.

I worked layers of pastel over the watercolour on the hair.  Its forgiving and works well on the paper surface and has the element of quicker coverage.   For some reason, hair in watercolour alone I find particularly difficult, probably why I revert to pastel when I can for it, even if I can get the same speed of coverage with watercolour too.  Just one of my quirks.

With my mother currently in hospital, I'm to-ing and fro-ing to town and to feed her cats while she's not there.  With a hectic work schedule and added trips, it becomes a bit of a juggling act at times.  Hopefully I can have some downtime this weekend and get some more drawing and painting started.

With Halloween tomorrow, it should be fairly quiet here.  The advantage of living in a more isolated spot is that there are rarely kids trick or treating as the road to the house is long and dark and scary.
Perhaps tomorrow its time to tell a ghostly tale or two...

Edit:   I've taken a couple of photos of the piece in daylight.  During the week, I never seem to be around when its light. This gives a truer impression of the reality of colours in this portrait  which are much cooler than under incandescent or florescent lighting.

 

Moving ahead

I'm pushing my way through this, taking the good with the bad and trying to both anticipate and resolve problems as they arise.

I've reworked the mouth endless times and in the end the paper, even at 300lb, was protesting so I resorted to watercolour pencils to get some shape and colour down and a wash to blend them.  The mouth still isn't complete, but I'm moving in the right direction now.

The hair still needs a lot of work and although I blocked in a dark background, it may be too stark against the lighter hair.  This image really shows all those earned grey hairs!  I have added some pastel to the hair as a first step, over the watercolour and see where it goes.  The two media seem to work well, as does coloured pencil with watercolour.

I played around with an a painterly approach for the skin tones, laying down colour in an pointillistic way so that the eye blends the colours.

Its heading down the home stretch now.  Keep your fingers crossed and thanks for keeping me company on the journey.

At times like this...

Yep, its officially making me crazy.

I know its early stages, and I know its the ugly phase, and I know I can do this, but I keep going over and over the same sections.  Scrubbing, repainting, scrubbing, repositioning - thanking myself for using 300lb paper that I can actually scrub.

I think -maybe - that I have conquered the eyes. Or mostly.  There's still some deepening of shadows to happen but that's reserved for later.

The mouth is making me really crazy.  I think I've gotten it, then it escapes me again or the colour is wrong.  So for now, I'm speechless. :)  Stepping back from this I see that I need to adjust the hairline and bring it lower.

At times like this I wish I'd just used a pencil...

So why do I post it and share it?  Because it pushes me on and makes me do it right.  Or as right as I can.  The degree of accountability, if only to myself,  gives me momentum.  The perfectionist in me makes me crazily look for exactness in form, colour and likeness. Voice in my head...don't we all have them?

Self portrait start

I'm still working in watercolour and with another self portrait. that I set up today.  This piece is 15  x 22 on 300lb Arches paper.  The skin tone is very pale in this and I'm using a reference image. I wanted to see how I could capture that colouring, yet still have elements that draw the view in. 

I also like the drama of a face that fills the space.  That, in itself, creates impact.

So I'm thinking carefully now about brush strokes and placement.  Watercolours do tend to be a planner's tool as they aren't very forgiving.  I'm still going fairly loose with this but patience isn't often my virtue when it comes to waiting for layers to dry, so there may be some lost edges.  However, part of the appeal of watercolour is not knowing exactly what will happen.

And a couple of closer views for those who like to see technique and detail.

Puttering

Work and life have taken up my time over the last few days and there has been little time for painting or drawing.  Spare moments seem to have been spent catching up on sleep more than anything.

I am puttering around in the studio tonight within nothing much inspiring me.  I've pulled out a few prints of a trout and started added some colour to new cards. 

 

A quick study in watercolour of eyes in preparation for a new portrait possibility.

And a halfhearted dab at a painting that sits waiting to be finished.

All while listening to Leonard Cohen ' A thousand kisses deep'.  In his more current performances he speaks the words to this song and it feels very different, almost personal.  Art in a pure form is this song and this man's voice. Which do you prefer?

Portrait complete

I've tinkered with the portrait and added mroe layers and am calling it done for now. 

I'll let it sit for a week or so then have another look and see if any needs tweaking.  The other portrait is niggling away at me now as this is one of a pair.  I may end up doing the first portrait over again to make a softer, less graphic version to go with this.  Yes, it could go on forever.

This boy has the most amazing eyes and lashes.  They seem almost artificial when painting them but they are unique and people comment on his eyes constantly.  I see a heartbreaker in the future...

Ramblings about direction

 
I have been thinking lately about the artistic direction I want to move in.  I have worked on many subjects for the last few years and while they all appeal to me at various times, what I always fall back to are portraits as my comfort.  There is something exceptionally challenging and satisfying about creating a human face - or an animal - out of a blank sheet of paper or canvas.

So where is the push off point that makes me decide to devote the bulk of my time to portraiture?  I'm not quite sure yet.  Maybe I need to think more about my goals.  Portraiture can take many forms from commissioned pieces to a less personal range of portraits that appeal to a wider audience.  From a financial point of view, portraiture is a hard sell.  It is very much a luxury item and often thought narcissistic by those commissioning works for themselves or a confusing option for those thinking of portraits of family members for gifts or remembrances. 

During the current recession, can portraits still sell? I know in Newfoundland, where they say the recession hasn't hit hard, selling any kind of art can be challenging.  A small population with less disposable income makes it difficult to consider luxuries like commissioned art.  Of course, I do have access to the world through the internet and that increases my options.

There are those who say that it doesn't matter if art sells or not, it is in the process and creation.  Yes, to a degree.  But we create pieces so they can be shared with the world and to be compensated for time and effort to share that product with the world.  I know commissions can get old when they are subjects that don't hold your interest intently and you look upon them as a chore.  But if the subject is one you love, then there shouldn't be a problem.  Each one is a new challenge and pleasure to produce and learn from.

So I sit and think about whether to push into an area that is more speciality or to continue to work on a broader range of subject matter. Meanwhile this little 4 x 12 capelin print, a left over from Saturday's workshop, has received its final washes of colour, ready to swim off to a new home.