Colonial Building

Even with snow squalls and a bitter wind,, I stopped to take some photos today.  I switched over to a 'real' camera a couple of months ago and wished I'd had a long time ago as there's much more possibilities with it.

It was overcast today even though glimpses of blue sky appeared now and then, they didn't last for long.  I stopped at the Colonial Building in St. John's as the columns caught my eye.  The brief shot of sunshine didn't last long enough to capture the shadows the columns threw, but I decided to go for it anyway.  Even though the image is shot with colour, it still comes out as shades of grey with the weather and the building setting the values.

The Colonial Building was created to be the seat of Legislature in Newfoundland and was constructed from 1846 - 1848, complete with its own time capsule buried under the cornerstone of the building.   It's facade was constructed of imported white Irish limestone and is neoclassical in design, with six ionic columns, and a pediment sculpted with the Royal Coat of Arms.

The painted ceilings of the building were painted in 1880 by a Polish fresco painter named Alexander Pindikowski. Mr. Pindikowski had come to Newfoundland to teach art in the community of Heart's Content. However, he became a famous character in Newfoundland history, not through his teaching, but rather through his arrest for attempting to cash forged cheques.  After being arrested for his crimes in March 1880, Mr Pindikowski was sentenced to 15 months in the Penitentiary.

The government were aware of his skill at painting frescoes and had him put to work during the days of his sentencing to complete the painting.  Even after his work as a painter, his sentence was only reduced by a month.

There were nine different colours used in the original ceiling work, and an inlay of 200 books of gold leaf. Pindikowski's work was carefully restored in 1940 by a local painter named Clem Murphy. Current restoration work is planned for the building which is anticipated to finish in 2013.

Meanwhile I continue on with the crow, but not a lot of progress today.  More tomorrow I hope.  It seems my weekends are as busy as my weekdays.  Sometimes my body and mind just shut down and make me nap on the sofa by the fire.

I have tried  putting a a couple of pieces of art on Ebay, besides the Purity Kisses prints, which seem to becoming more popular. You can click here to view and bid.

Corvids

 

I've started this watercolour of a crow and its in the early stages, where I've laid down some colour and am starting to go back into the first washes to define shapes and values.  There are so many colours in what is initially seen as a 'black' bird. Purples, reds, blues and browns all come into the plummage to give the illusion of black.  Even in the darkest areas of this piece so far, such as the eye area, contains no black.  It consists of nothing more than indigo, prussian blue and a touch of payne's grey.

Its not a large piece - about 9 x 12 and may be the start of several in the corvid family of birds.

 

I have a fixation with the corvidae genus of birds.  The common English name used is corvids (more technically) or the crow family (more informally), and there are over 120 species. The genus Corvus, including the crows and ravens, makes up over a third of the entire family. I think they are the most amazing, intelligent birds on the planet.  They have become the early warning system for predators here on the farm and we feed them mice that are caught or occasional dead chicks.  Its a bit like paying for mafia protection but without the threats.  Of course if eggs are out in the open such as in the duck pen this summer, crows think they are fair game and swoop in to take them.

Crows have an inbuilt dislike for owls as was seen a few months ago when a great horned owl killed several ducks in the summer pen in the meadow.  The crows were my early alarm system that something wasn't right that morning and they continued to join forces and dive at the owl, eventually driving him into the trees.

Here are a few crow facts:

• Crows are among the most intelligent of birds. Experiments indicate that American crows can count to three or four, are good at solving puzzles, have good memories, employ a diverse and behaviorally complex range of vocalizations and quickly learn to associate various noises and symbols with food.
• Crows can mimic sounds made by other birds and animals and have been taught to mimic the human voice.
• Crows begin nesting in early spring (February to May, with southern nests starting earlier than northern ones) and build a nest of twigs, sticks, and coarse stems ranging from 18 to 60 feet (5 to 18 m) above ground.
• Crows usually partner for life.
• The female incubates the eggs and is fed during incubation by the male and nest associates. The young leave the nest at about five weeks of age and forage with their parents throughout the summer. Later in the year, the family may join other groups that in turn may join still larger groups. The larger groups often migrate in late fall or winter.
• Few crows in the wild live more than four to six years, but some have lived to 14 years in the wild and over 20 years in captivity.
• American Crows congregate in large numbers in winter to sleep in communal roosts. These roosts can be of a few hundred, several thousand, or even up to two million crows. Some roosts have been forming in the same general area for well over 100 years.

10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes

When in between projects, I still keep my hand in and draw and paint daily.  They are usually small pieces in a sketchbook of something that captures my interest in terms of lighting or form. Or it may be an idea for a future piece.  While looking for inspiration some raspberries that caught my eye.  The fresh colour reminds me of warmer weather and I adore raspberries to eat, so before I knew what happened, they appeared on the scrap of paper beside me.

Whatever the time frame, I know that I need to and have to draw and paint to ensure I stay focused. I need to spend time creating, as no serious artist has ever made a mark by just thinking or reading about art.  So whether its 10, 15 or 20 minutes a day, 3 hours or a whole weekend, I know that I need to make that time to enable me to achieve my goals.

Its so easy to sit on the sofa and nap or watch mindless television if its on or get pulled into non essential events and put off what I need to do.  I only end up frustrated if I do because I'm behind in the creation process and have only myself to blame.   Art makes you selfish and it should.  Everyone who wants to be an artist needs to take that side of their life seriously and make sacrifices and time for it.

I started a portrait of my mother a few weeks ago and it still needs more work on it.  Last night I was looking through a cupboard and came across an old photo album that I had rescued from my mother's house with plans to scan and catalogue the photos.  In it were photos of my mother when she was perhaps 17 or 18.  The thought crossed my mind that perhaps a ghost of her image at that stage in life might be interesting to have in the current drawing.  I did a value sketch of one of the images and will work out size and composition potential in the current drawing before I commit to anything.

Final poppy on masa

I'm calling my experiment with the poppy over for now and moving on to planning some new pieces.  That is after I finish up what's on my plate right now.  I act as if I have A.D.D. at times, jumping from one piece to another, but ideas just have to be put on paper as soon as they gel and other pieces will always wait.

I wasn't thrilled with the colours in the poppy.  I felt it didn't have enough definition and still isn't going quite where I want it to.  I added some touches of pastel to bring back some lighter sections that I lost.  I was anxious to experiment with the concept of this paper and didn't plan my drawing well enough.  The next one will have a roadmap attached to preserve the whites better.

However, I love the veining that the process creates in the masa paper and the potential for experimenting. I wish I hadn't rushed the piece but there is always next time and lessons learned.  Isn't that what its all about?

Poppy on masa - update

I've slowly added more layers to this poppy and am not sure if I like it or not.  I think its getting overpowered by blues and may be schedule for a do-over. But I'll continue on for awhile yet and see what definition I can pull out of it.

The piece is 19.5 x 21 inches so fairly square and looks much better in real life and from a distance.  Its one of my bug bears about displaying pieces of art on a computer screen.  They tend to be closer views of a piece which never shows it at its best.  Yes, we all peer at close range hoping to see the secrets of the art universe unearthed in a brushstroke, but in reality, standing back to view you get the true effect of a piece.

Islands

Piana, Southern Corsica, France

Watercolour 6 x 12

I have been meaning to do a little sketch of a view in Corsica this month through The Virtual Paintout, but haven't had much time lately.  I've wandered around the island and it has many similarities to Newfoundland in terms of topography - well just not the weather perhaps.  Islands tend to be rocky outcrops with links to the sea and land for income. Corsica has the benefit of warm weather for citrus and olive crops and the fame of being Napoleon Bonaparte's place of birth to aid tourism.

To those who don't live on an island, island life seems idyllic and in some ways it is.  In other ways it is problematic with services not as easily accessible as on a mainland.   The isolation of an island creates unique cultures in the arts, whether visual, music, literary or theatre.  Islands usually have flourishing artistic communities and tend to be welcoming places to those who want to become involved.

I wandered through parts of Corsica and found this vantage point overlooking the Mediterranean.  The rocky outcrops of cliffs and the sea stretching out to the clouds on the horizon remind me that all islands are connected to each other no matter where they are.

Masa poppy in progress

I have done some preparation with Masa paper to put it through its paces and see if I can achieve something that resembles what I envision in my head.

I started by roughly sketching my idea on the shiny side of the masa, crumpling and soaking the paper briefly then smoothing it onto a drawing board.  I added loose washes of pigment onto the rough side of the masa, letting colours mingle and flow into the fibres and creases.  The work is done on the smooth side of the paper and has a more subtle patterning than the rough side.

The still damp reverse side before it is mounted and rolled.   The top side is a much paler version of the reverse.

I left it to dry overnight and early  this morning used a wash of white glue and water on the back of the masa to mount it on a piece of 140lb watercolour paper.  I went to work and let it dry all day so it would be ready for me tonight.

So now I'm starting to gently add layers of watercolour to my paper.  Masa becomes pretty fragile when wet, so I can't manipulate paint as I could on regular watercolour paper.  That has good and bad aspects.  I need to think about colour, value and placement before I put down a brushstroke and if I need to change anything I wait til my layer is dry before going back over it.

I used a couple of different references for this piece, the main one being a lovely old fashioned poppy that I grew.  I love the crumpled tissue like texture of poppy petals and this paper and technique seemed like a good choice for rendering it.  I want the overall image to be fairly pastel, making you look more closely to see the image.

So why a flower, when they are the objects that I paint the least?  Because the pattern and colours simply said floral to me.  It could be nothing else. Its still in very early stages, but so far, so good.

Negative space painting

I don't have a huge number of art books and the ones I do have are technique specific in most cases.  I like some reference manuals around to refresh my brain cells and provide inspiration. I don't have a lot of books because I find that its easy to spend more time reading about art than actually practicing it.

I've been more involved in watercolours lately and I enjoy the challenge of using them and am always looking for additional inspiration and insight into how other artists use the medium.  The tricks of the trade I guess.

I came across The Watercolorist's Answer Book a couple of days ago, while returning a really god-awful watercolour book that I'd bought online.  It rots me that I paid $10 more for it instore than on line, but that's life sometimes.  I have to say that this book is quite good.  Its filled with tips, techniques and solutions for watercolour artists.  From theory into practice, I think it was a good buy and will join my little band of mini advisors on the shelf.

Are you a collector of all and any art books or are you selective about what's in your personal library?

One of the demos in the book was a negative space painting which appealed to me.  I did a little study getting a feel for it and plan on seeing what happens when I translate this to masa paper on a large scale.  Yes, I'm a glutton for punishment.

This is a limited palette of phthalo blue, quinacridone gold, yellow ochre and raw sienna.  Salt was added to the wet surface to add texture and interest.

Squeezing the day

I have a very busy life, like many people.  I have a full time job, out of hours meetings, private art lessons to teach, chores, etc etc.  At this time of year, I see images as I go about my business that I store away mentally for future use.  I always forget to take the camera with me, or its just not convenient to stop in the middle of the highway and snap an image without other drivers getting VERY upset with me.  But I need to find time - or make time - to capture some of these images.

Within the city there are lots of little places and things that I glimpse in passing.  The colour of light on snow.  A clump of bushes.  Ancient trees holding up the ice and snow to the heavens.  Early morning pinks and yellows on blue, blue ocean water.The night sky against the trees and fields on my way home.

So I have decided that at least 3 times a week I must get out at some point in the daylight hours to capture some of what I see.  It may be simple sketches, photographs or colour studies, but it needs to be done. I need that body of live work to gain inspiration from.

Tonight, inspiration came from refinding an image of the northern lights.  We don't often see them this far south in Newfoundland but at times the sky lights up and dances in reds and greens.  I tried to take this photo quickly before they disappeared.  I didn't have time to think about a tripod or long exposures but the colour is there.  And so is my memory of them.  I translated that onto paper, using a slightly uncooperative frost outside to swirl the sky, combined with an ancient set of rock cliffs against a snow covered field. 

Two days to bid - Kisses for Haiti

I'm thrilled and amazed at the bidding that has taken place for the print that I put on Ebay last Thursday.  As of writing this, there are 31 bids and the final bid is $255!  With two days left to bid, I hope the bidding heats up a bit and brings even more money for the Haiti disaster relief.  All proceeds of this fundraiser will be donated to Doctors without Borders.

Please click here to bid.

My sincere thanks to all those individuals who have bid so far and to the radio, television and newspapers that have interviewed me and provided coverage on this initiative.  Your help is appreciated more than you know.

Today's The Telegram printed the piece above.

VOCM
NTV
The Telegram

As the Canadian government also matches donations to charities for this cause, it makes it even more important to bid.  Its like doubling your contribution.  The winning bidder receives an 18 x 12 print of my watercolour Purity Kisses and knowledge that the funds will go to help the people of Haiti.  Bidding ends January 21, 2010.   Be generous, this is the pain you are helping to alleviate.

Moving ahead and back

I'm frustrated with being unable to get the watercolour/ice mix just right to work on some planned images.  The weather is cold enough, but its just not working for me.  I just end up with sludge.  So I'm leaving that for a bit and concentrating on some more work with the masa paper and this portrait.

Here's another version of the clementine done on the coloured masa.  The shadow took over and I made the mistake of trying to correct it on the paper which then turned to tissue consistency.  But it makes for interesting shapes and lines within the piece.  Its looking like a very old clementine now! Well worth playing with later. For now, I've turned this little piece into a greeting card that will go onto my Etsy store soon as an original and print version.  I used a thinned glue to put the masa onto a black card then rolled it with a brayer to eliminate the wrinkles in the paper.

Its still in early stages of washes so is  looking rather pale.  I don't want to overdo it, but I do want some life in it.  I think I am being too controlled in it. It looks a bit precise right now and I want a looser image, yet still keeping the likeness.

 

I have a concept for a sheet of masa but will experiment first then show you.  I sometimes rush ahead and like a five year old, throw my work online saying 'look, see what I made!' before its ready.  My first experiments with masa were just that experiments, but I have a better idea now of how it responds and what to do with it to make it respond accordinly.  Its quite strong when dry, but fragile when wet, so once the background colour is in and dried, you can paint on the smooth side but its pretty much a one shot deal, especially if you usually tend to apply lots of layers. 

Masa experiments

On Saturday I gave a private lesson in watercolour basics and used an orange for a demo.  That piece stayed with the individual to study, but I liked the colours and wanted to try it again at home.  I used a clementine and put down loose washes of colour, letting some hard edges form and losing other edges within the shape.  I think oranges or their cousins, tend to be one of the nicest still life forms to paint.

On to the experiments...last week my order of paper from my art supplier arrived, but I haven't had a chance to experiment with it until today.  I had ordered some Masa paper, as well as three other Japanese papers in addition to my regular supplies of watercolour and drawing paper.  I have been reading about using Masa paper to create batik-like effects, as well as its use for prints, and wanted to play around with it.

I tore up a small sheet to see what I could produce with it.  Masa has a smooth side and a rougher side, apparently the smooth side is the side to use for painting.   I crumpled a piece of the paper and put it in warm water for perhaps 20-30 seconds.  I gently squeezed the water out of it, then smoothed it over a wooden drawing board.  While it was still wet, I dropped pigment into it and watched as it spread out, intensifying in the creases and mingling with other colours that I dropped on the paper.

Masa is quite strong paper, but very flimsy when wet.  I did a quick relief print of the little seastar that I had found last month on the beach and the paper takes the print cleanly and very well.  The painted background of the paper can be used on either side it seems.  The side I dropped pigment on is bright and clear, but when I reverse it, the colours come through as pastel and muted.  It is recommended to backpaint on the rougher side, let it dry, then paint on the smooth side.

I think I could have smoothed my paper more or crumpled it less but the effect is interesting all the same. There are a lot of possibilities with this paper and I will be exploring it more in the next week.  I am considering its potential for a future larger project.  As the paper is inexpensive, I don't mind if a few sheets don't work as I want.  Sacrifice in the name of art!

As an update on my Ebay art auction to raise funds for the Haiti disaster, I was interviewed by a local radio station, and the information placed on their website.  When I last looked there were 20 bids and the amount being raised for Haiti very encouraging.  Thank you to everyone who has bid to date.   There are four more days left before the auction finishes.  Please circulate this information to your networks and consider bidding.  The winning bidder receives a beautiful print and knows that the funds will go to a very worthwhile cause.  I will donate all funds from this to Doctors Without Borders.

Shell Game - the real part 2

I've struggled with the filming of this tutorial and thank you for bearing with me.  This section is upside down and may not be worth showing in terms of lighting but I did promise it so I guess I'd better share it. The next should have all the bugs worked out in terms of lighting and video positioning.  I jump ahead of myself sometimes.  Ok, lots of the time.

My apologies in advance for the poor lighting.  Think of this more as a little conversation with me in my studio with you sitting next to me as opposed to any kind of tutorial.  Here it is, warts and all.  The image above is the watercolour in its current state.  Final stages will be detailing and adding deeper values to give it more definition.

The Shell Game - Part 1.1

 

I've been trying to work on the second part of the video demo for the watercolour shell and am being dogged by bad luck with battery failure.   What I thought were good batteries, obviously weren't so the next piece will be short then followed by a longer session later this weekend. 

I've named it Part 1.1 because I wanted a longer piece to show you.  However, things don't always work as we hope, so next time definitely Part II!

Did I mention that technology wasn't my forte??

I am also pleased to say that as of writing this, there have been 12 bids for the print that I put on Ebay last night, with proceeds going to relief funds in Haiti.  I will be donating the final amount to Medecins sans Frontieres/Doctors without Borders.

Katherine Tyrrell of Making A Mark wrote a great post yesterday about artists contributing to the Haiti cause in a variety of ways.

Kisses for Haiti

The devastation in Haiti weighs on my shoulders, even if it is far away.   I watch the news and see the anguish and despair in people's faces and can barely begin to imagine how they feel.  Complaining about a bad day is so trivial.  Nothing is bad compared to this.

I wanted to do something.  Something concrete.  Something from the heart.   So I decided I would auction one of my prints - Purity Kisses - on Ebay and donate the resulting funds entirely to the Haiti Relief Fund.

This is an 18 x 12 professional print and is up for auction tonight, running for seven days.   Please be generous and bump up the bids.  The final winner will receive this beautiful print and the knowledge that they have helped provide some aid to Haiti.

Bid now!  Bid often!  Haiti needs our help!

The shell game

And it really is becoming a bit of a shell game as I'm trying another video as part of a tutorial.  I still need to get lights right and sound.  Its being recorded with my Flip video, which is beautifully simple to record with and to upload.  I need to get a larger tripod for it and a suitable viewing spot.  Next time I hope everything will work as I plan.

You may need to adjust the sound to hear my voice.  I am conscious of the fact that I need to keep talking and to do that and paint really is quite challenging.  So forgive me when I trail off or babble, its beyond my control at this point.

I still had some of these lovely shells sitting on the table in the studio and thought I'd play around with another watercolour sketch of one, combined with some footage as well.  This is part one.

The concept of instant art

I taught a private art lesson tonight, concentrating on the basics of watercolour.  I found these shells, not on an exotic beach, but in a store and bought them because I loved the shapes and pale colours, so used them as the subject for painting.

I often find with beginning artists that they want perfection without realizing the work that has to go into moving to a higher level of competence.  Individuals want to jump all over the board in different mediums and subjects and each new thing they see, that becomes their new goal.  Its difficult to pull them back to earth without breaking the bubble of excitement.  I want that excitement to stay and stay with the hours of practice and learning that still need to come.

I did this little piece alongside my student and it isn't complete, but it was wanted to take home and practice with, so I let it go.  I think we all have that level of enthusiasm when starting something new.  The difference between continuing on to learn a skill, learning part of something or abandoning it altogether is each person's need and determination to succeed.

Also in an 'instant' consumer society, people expect everything to happen quickly, including art.  The practice of art - or art done well to be more precise - is not served up, double sized in 3 minutes.

The little things

Often what are considered the simplest things become the most interesting subject matter.  In this case, popcorn.

I was eating some lovely warm popcorn and started studying the shape of one of the popped kernels.  They are quite interesting shapes and I thought it could be challenging to paint it.  I haven't had time to do so yet, but I've played around with some digital images to get me into painting mode and give me an idea of where I want to go with this. 

I am thinking something large.  A macro shot of a piece of popcorn.  It might put me off popcorn forever, but I somehow doubt it.  And popcorn is good for you - provided you lay off the butter and salt.  Ok, just a bit...

More portrait update

I've been making slow progress with this portrait, as I have a few other pieces on my plate at the same time.  A couple of commissions, a drawing class to teach next week and I'm busy setting up some watercolours for a series of frozen pieces. 

I've blocked in some background with charcoal and think that I'll use a reductive technique to put the pattern in place, using a kneader eraser.  Or that is the plan so far.  Its interesting to note how the values of everything change once more of the white paper in the background and hair is covered.  Another good reason to complete the background prior to or along with the figure in a drawing or painting.   This image is taken in natural light as well, so is not sepia coloured as the previous drawing appeared.

I've also started on the hair.  Hair with curls is not something I enjoy drawing as it takes time and is complex with its various shapes and values.  I don't know if hair is anyone's favourite thing to draw, but mostly because it is time consuming.  Its one of those things where you just have to grit your teeth and tackle it bit by bit.

For those who listen or watch video podcasts, there are some short tutorials on drawing that I came across including one on hair.  It and others can be found at Drawing Tutorials Online. They can be downloaded onto iPods or listened to/watched online.

Blog stoppers?

Tripod's box

While entering a piece into a local juried competition, I noticed that they had included some restrictions on electronic visibility of entered pieces.  A piece could not have been shown previously on a blog, website, Facebook, etc. or it would be disqualified.  This seems to be a fairly new restriction and I wonder what situation prompted it.

Perhaps they are eliminating any potential for jury members to have previously viewed the piece, as all pieces are presented anonymously, especially as the art community in the province is relatively small and artists known.  However, does this restrict what I put on my blog in future for readers to view?

I don't plan a piece for any particular exhibit or competition.  Out of 50 paintings, perhaps 20% will be suitable to go further, but I won't know that until I have completed the piece.  At that point, I may have shared the creative process with my readers.

Juried exhibits and competitions are tightening up entry rules significantly in the last couple of years, and often for the appropriate reasons.  It protects the artists and ensures that  work presented is original.  Restrictions on work produced in art workshops is often refused as well as work that has been critiqued in online art forums.

So where do I draw the line?   Do I only show pieces and construction of pieces that I believe don't make the cut, even if I don't know what is or if the cut exists until its complete?  Do I show process only and not the final product?  Do I show sketches or studies only and tutorials?  Do I write about art only and show no pieces?

Who is making the rule book for visibility of art pieces in the electronic world and the real world?  Do juried competitions or exhibitions that you submit work to have restrictions on the electronic exposure of a piece prior to submission?