It's Santaaa!

You Gotta Smile if you Paint Santa

To know me is to know that I adore Christmas and all the warm wonderful associations of the season  - from songs to Christmas cookies. Santa is a big part of Christmas; who doesn't feel like a kid again around Santa?

It's Santa  12 x 16 Oil

My friend knows Santa and arranged to have him "pose" for our art group one day. Aren't we so lucky? When I pulled into the studio parking lot, I met Santa in his full get-up: white beard, rosy cheeks, glasses, red suit trimmed with white fur. Big black boots, big black belt around a belly like jelly! Such a warm and wonderful Santa.

I really loved the hat and the way the red ribbon ended in that big white furry ball. I also loved Santa's face. He had bushy brows and bright blue eyes with pink cheeks, just like all the story books. He also had that teeny cherry lip pushing out from the white beard.

 The hardest part to paint was all the white! White fur was everywhere from the hat to the collar to the jacket trim and Santa's beard. The only color break in the white that I saw was the shadow between the beard (right side) and the collar. Also there was a bit of shadow from the mustache curls over the beard.

Santa painting was so much fun, a must for any artist this time of year. My art group is planning a December Art Exhibit next year, so look for a whole display of Santa's -what a wonderful idea!

I have to say that I especially loved this Santa's kind disposition. When given his "modeling money" from our group he asked to which charity we would like him to donate.We let him choose and his money is going to the Salvation Army. I love that Santa is a good person, paying it forward this season.

SANTA, I BELIEVE!

Happy Holidays!

Art Field Trip

Inspiration at the Art Museum

Diego Rivera Mural at the DIA

Looking to recharge and get more art inspiration? Grab your purse and head out the door, absolutely nothing will compare to to a trip to the nearest art museum for some visual stimulation.

My art group had a week off from the studio which meant extra time at home (Meh!). I am so glad that we planned an Art Field Trip to the museum downtown (Yeah!). What a great idea! Never before have I had the experience of walking through an art exhibit with other artists - it was so much fun. We stopped and looked and shared insights with each other, what an experience!

We had the great fortune to visit our art museum for a special exhibit - works of Master Painters on paper (drawings, etchings, lithographs).Wow! The work was amazing and the Artists all absolute Masters including: Degas, Renoir, Bonnard, Lautrec and more! My favorite drawings were those by Renoir, lovely little portrait drawings that looked like charcoal sketches, they were whimsical and sweet. What inspiration! Sadly we could not take photographs of the special exhibit - otherwise you would see some here.

Monet. Painterly and colorful.

After viewing the exhibit we found further inspiration in the Impressionist & Post Impressionist section. Just a few of the works that spoke to me are pictured left and below (permanent collection meant we could take photos). Now I am  art-inspired, it's time to sketch and paint!

Gauguin. Bright color, fun graphic shapes.

 

Renoir. Painterly with a lovely face.

Nothing Precious

Kindred Spirits

Nothing quite beats a good book except maybe reading a good book while wearing a cashmere sweater drinking a glass of wine and sitting by the fire on a cold day (ah atmosphere).

Kindred Spirits, 12 x 16

This was a cold and dreary day, but our model dressed in bright white was surrounded by nice shapes and colors even though the light was blue and overcast.

My first attempt at painting this model was a failure, a real struggle (not pictured). Initially I tried to paint a Portrait, getting the eyes, hair and shoulders. I did not like the look that I created. I ended up wiping that painting out hence the "nothing precious." I had painted for 5 hours, but it was not happening for me; I used Gamsol and a big brush to wipe out what I had which left me with a nicely toned light orange-ish canvas.

The next day I took another look at my reference photographs. I liked the shapes and colors around the figure. This time, I would not take the painting too seriously and perhaps I would paint more than the face. I decided to include the whole figure and the shapes around it. My goal was to be loose and fresh and not too detailed. I approached this painting as a still life and think it is successful in composition. The sunflowers to the left above the model's head appeal to me. And I love the little orange on the table next to the model. Her eyes are downcast to the book in her lap, but note that the light blue book almost matches the folds and shadows of her dress. I left dark outlines the way Cezanne does oranges in his still life paintings. I am surprised that I like the shadow outlines and I will leave those in.

Motown Blue

A Portrait of a City Woman on a Dreary Day

Motown Blue oil on canvas, 14x18

Typically this model is a fierce Detroiter whose big eyes convey an "Mmm-Hmm Just Challenge Me" attitude. She is a Survivor, having lived through much heartache and turmoil in her life. Her eyes are full and large, a lovely facial feature. In this session, she had learned some bad news about a family member and the sadness showed in her eyes.

The model brought the orange dress which harmonizes nicely with her Orange-ish skin tone. I mixed Cad Red Light, White and Light Yellow Ochre to create her mid-tone skin. For the shadow side of her face I added in some light purple-ish while for the light areas I mixed in Naples Yellow. She is also wearing a blue patterned scarf which is is the true complementary color to orange.

The light from the left was a pale blue grey, which is why her lower lip, left eyelid and some of her neck are a pale purple. Notice how the orange dress reflects off her arms and under her chin.

FALL CHAOS PAINTING

a Blue Monday Still Life

Q: What to does an Artist do on a Blue Monday when her Still Life Group is Cancelled? 
A: Set up her own 'Chaos' Still Life at Home

One of my favorite Art Instructors does this at her workshops -creates a Still Life in Chaos! She gathers a garbage bag full of leaves, sticks, and rocks and dumps them on a table! Sometimes she has dirt at the bottom too! Add a pumpkin and some apples and you have a wonderful Still Life paint challenge. I call it the Chaos Challenge! At the workshop all artists gather round the table and focus on one area to paint. It is a good challenge and an artist can always find these materials and recreate the challenge at home.

My leaves were a little wet, so I placed parchment paper on top of the table before I dumped the rocks, leaves, acorns and sticks on top! Dump!  Then I placed the pumpkin and apples and then randomly dropped more leaves and sticks on top. I put my black presentation board up and then placed my stand light to left. I wanted the pumpkin to be the focus. I went back in and adjusted the stick in the back and the stick arching behind the apple. See setup below:

The Setup!

An Up Close Pic of the Chaos!

Getting placement/composition onto canvas.

Mid Tone Colors and darks in...

Fall Beauties: Final Painting! (A little blue because the day was grey).

Chaos painting is always a challenge as it is hard to focus; there is so much going on! I do not want every leaf or thing to gain importance.

For detail I tried to focus on the apple, pumpkin and the leaves in front of the pumpkin. The pumpkin shadows are purple-ish and orange-ish. The leaves were all wonderful Yellow Ochre, Bright Green, Orangy-Red and Pink/Purple, an amalgam of Fall Fantastic!I filled in the colorful shapes and tried to determine the light areas (without using too much white). I like the Radiant Pink and Naples Yellow on the leaves as highlights.

 I love color (and Fall) and this was a fun happy painting on a dreary rainy cold Monday! Please share your 'Chaos' Still Life setups and paintings, I know you will enjoy it!

Veil of Yellow

The bright yellow outfit conveys an energy and light while the model keeps her calm cool gaze away from the viewer. The yellow outfit is the model's own from Pakistan, it shines bright in color and is enhanced with beads and rhinestones.

Veil of Yellow, oil, 12 x 16

I enjoy painting this model, she has lovely features which are enhanced by her Pixie haircut. Her mouth is full and wide and her eyes are deep and dark, she is altogether elegant. She radiates a calm energy in the studio.

As I face the model, the light is falling from the upper left and hitting the bright yellow veil brilliantly. The veil has a tiny edge of grey as it lays close to her face and there is a greenish shadow between the veil and her face. The ear under the veil is hidden but I could see a bit of earring. Note how the chandelier earrings sparkle, even from the shadow.

Modigliani and the Dancer

Ballet Shoes

I thought about wiping this painting out as it does not accurately represent the beautiful model. However, as an artist I need visual reminders in order to review and move forward as an artist.

If I were to do this painting again I would:

Ballet Shoes 12x16 oil on canvas

1. Make her skin tone more caramel/orange-ish
   It was such a grey lugubrious day, the light on the model was very blue. The blue washed out the orange in her skin tone, and yet I still made her skin too light, in reality there would be more orange and sienna.
   
2. ah Modigliani! When I placed the figure on the canvas, I liked the composition. However, toward painting completion I realized that I made the neck and left arm too long. I (as many do) tend to make necks and limbs too long. I will have to work on this.
   
3. Get the mouth and nose to match the model. I had to let this go a bit because I could rework this painting forever. Once I got a nice face in, despite it not looking just like the model, I had to let it go.

What I like about this painting:

Ballet Shoes, close up of shoes

1. The Pointe Ballet Shoes. I am happy with how those came out and the way the ribbon falls off the table. Success! I think this is due to my comfort level with Still Life and the shoes read like a still life.
   
2. The top hand. I have been working on painting hands which are very complex. I did not want to overwork these but I did want to include them in my painting. I am happy with this hand that almost seems to be falling off the table, relaxed.
   
3. The eyes. The eyes look like the model's eyes (shape size color). I did not like the eyes that I had initially painted so I wiped them out when I got home. Then I pulled my reference photo up on the computer and zoomed in on the eyes, it helped to look closely at the eyes as I repainted them in.

Now go Google Modigliani! Look for "Young Girl, 1918". Hey, it is a BEAUTIFUL long neck work!

Gestures: Loosen Up!

Get out the Charcoal!

Materials: Soft Vine Charcoal and Newsprint or Drawing Pad (18 x 24)

My favorite, a fast loose gesture, 20 seconds!

 I recently took a Gesture class, in which we created gestures based on models frequently changing poses (10 seconds, 20 seconds, 60 seconds, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes etc.). Our instructor preferred our drawings “once we (the students) were tired" because thinking too much gets an artist in trouble. I ended up agreeing because I actually prefer my short 20-30 second gestures to the 2 minute or longer pose gestures!

The purpose of my gesture class was not to create a beautiful work of art, but to get the motion, the movement of the body. Of the hundreds of Gestures I produced in the class (exhaustion), these are a few sample favorites! We had a different model for each of our classes. Two models were trim lean muscular women, one was a lean (yoga posing) man, one was a heavyset woman. All were wonderful and fun to gesture sketch. I highly recommend a Gesture class as a refresher or just to get yourself to Loosen Up, and it was so much fun. With the models and poses changing, you will never get bored and you will be surprised at what lovely figures and motions you can make in 20 seconds.

Some Sample Gestures:

Fast, 20 seconds, note the indication of movement!

Fast, 20 seconds, lithe movement

3 minutes, solid but less exciting.

2-3 minutes, love the triangle in this pose (too long limbs)
but really just working to get shapes/movement.

Yoga poses, wow! 2 minutes, great pose!

Yoga Poses, very fast loose, I view these as successful!
What a great model!

En Plein Air: The Apple Orchard

A 2- Day Plein Air Workshop Experience

I wanted to paint a lovely Michigan scene, the tall green trees against a blue sky. HA HA HA said the weather to my plans (and therein lies the first lesson of plein air painting – the weather will never cooperate).

White Barn, Grey Day

Attempted Plein Air Painting

The first day the skies were grey and angry threatening and the orchard was full of mud (lesson two wear good boots). But I was determined to paint en plein air, so I set up against the wind. I found a white barn against the grey sky. This work is unfinished and will probably remain that way. I am unhappy with the results. I liked the light path against the grass, but my painting is too lugubrious, my husband said it looks like “English Countryside”. Hmmm, I know that there were more colors in the white barn than I have depicted.

Day two, started as a stormy overcast day (although later in afternoon a bit of sun popped through the clouds). In the afternoon we were set free in the Apple Orchard to paint. I struggled to find a view; I wanted a horizon with trees and sky –but the orchard was hilly and we were standing lower than the horizon line. I walked around for 20 minutes eventually settling on painting a branch of apples. I was a little disappointed in this as I knew this would be like a still life (which I have experience painting).

I found a nice J-shaped branch that was filled with apples and leaves. I liked the way there were two apples that gleamed in the light while the other apples seemed to recede. I composed the work based on the J-motion from the top right corner down to the left corner. This painting is also incomplete, but I think it is much more successful as I feel it has more depth with the darks and lights (and yes, more color). The image and my setup are pictured below:

I highly recommend you plan your initial Plein Air painting session in a workshop or with an instructor/art group. It was very helpful to have a supply list, handouts, demos and guidance. Also, it was nice to have camaraderie with other artists. 

My only caveat is that the next time I try Plein Air it will be a mild and sunny day! I'm going to get that sky and horizon!

All That Glitters

Finally, A Portrait

If I could have painted a full length portrait I would have (think Sargent and those long gowns). Oh to see this full outfit, a lovely formal Pakistani dress of coral and grey with many rhinestones. Sadly I didn’t have a big enough canvas. My art group decided that all ladies should own and wear dresses as flattering and colorful as this.

From Pakistan, this model was lean and beautiful, my favorite feature was her hair – short and cropped perfectly about her face. The light in this portrait was from the right front (blue) so there were not many face shadows (typically the light is from the upper left creating a shadow and interest on the face). I  had to show a bit of the top of the dress. Wow, so many rhinestones! The top of the dress was glittered with patterned rhinestones and the chandelier earrings fell perfectly against the dress’s collar. The cropped hair and chandelier earrings looked so “Wow!” together. I had to hold back from painting the full sparkle, choosing to focus on the chandelier earring and lighter side of the top of the dress.

I will have to ask around for art opinions on painting rhinestones and sparkles. I know there is a John Singer Sargent where one diamond earring in a portrait is a white bright blob and it reads “diamond.” Anyone know the name of that painting?

 12x16, oil on canvas

Poetic Background

 Flowers Add that Special Something

Sunflower Rhapsody

Wow, I love flowers! I walked into art group last Friday and there were two huge beautiful sunflower bouquets set up behind the model chair. Kudos to my friend “M” who did the set up, it was amazing!  She had the flowers set up above and behind the models chair--which was covered in a moss green cloth. The set alone would have led to a lovely still life painting!

I enjoyed painting loosely and wildly adding dashes of floral colors, not defining or spending too much time on the flowers or background. The yellows and oranges really stood out, just yummy! 

I loved the yellow orange patter from the flowers on the left to the orange shawl and then over to the flowers on the right, in a “V” pattern (red line).  I also like the upside down “V” (green line) created by the left hand to the chin to the right hand. (See lines below). I think it flows quite nicely.

The model has on a red-orange head scarf, orange shawl and a green blouse and skirt (complementary colors again). I loved the relaxed pose of the hands and have been challenging myself to paint hands lately. Because most of this painting is loose and fresh I did not want to overwork the hands. The hands because they were so small and delicate are the last things I painted. I used my reference photos to capture the hand pose and shading.

Sunflower Rhapsody 12X 16, oil on canvas

A Struggle And A Smile

Pommes D’Orenge

My husband said it best, “you smile when you paint, even if you are struggling with the painting.” Even if I have a bad week with my painting, it is still a good week because I get to paint!

I would love to do a Portrait (just neck and head) which would mean larger features on the canvas, but then I get to art group and there is this sweet couch pose; I have to paint more than a face! Once again I lay out the composition on the canvas. I love the arms around the bowl of oranges and the complementing colors of orange and blue. But the face, oh I do not get a likeness. After 3 hours of painting, I carry my canvas home, unsatisfied.

Once home I decided to wipe out the face in my painting and redo it, just the face (I used a Viva paper towel and a teeny bit of Turpenoid). Then I pulled up my reference photos and zoomed in on the face to recreate it. This model had small eyes, full cheeks and a nice mouth. I decided to paint the mouth slightly more orange than reality. Then because the orange colors on the blanket and in the bowl were so bright and lovely, I decided to lighten the blue robe a bit. I used a Cerulean Blue mixed with Naples Yellow to create the light. Also, from the photograph, the shadowed cheek is more orange and less blue than I had originally painted. Lastly, I added some light orange (orange mixed with light yellow) to the hair for highlights. Now the painting has a greater likeness and is more successful.

Pommes D’Orenge 12x16 oil on canvas

Too Pretty to Paint?

The Perfection Challenge

Ah the caramel skin, perfect and luminous to go with a beautiful face .Why is it so hard to capture a likeness?

In our art group we have a variety of models – from young to old and from thick to thin --we wouldn’t have it any other way. So when we had the opportunity to paint a beautiful young lady from France we welcomed it. My art group consists of a variety of artists and mediums. I love oil paint but our materials are vast from Acrylics to Conte to Pen and Ink with Watercolor.

What I have noticed though, is that my experienced art group struggles when painting young beautiful models. Why is it easier to paint imperfect than the beautifully perfect? With beautiful models it is difficult to get a likeness. I don’t have an answer as to why. Is it because the measurements need to be more exact or that we all strive to capture that perfection? I have at least 3 failed paintings from when models were young and beautiful, paintings which I stopped painting due to frustration in not capturing a likeness. Conversely some of my favorite paintings are those which capture the heavy, or the wrinkled…This painting of perfection is the closest I have come to capturing the lovely French model.

I have to admit that I like this painting but knowing the model, I know I’m still missing a little something. 

12x16, oil

Model Favorites

Effortless: One of MY Favorite Models

In this painting you will note the same colors, same fabrics as Gypsy Girl but this pose is a bit more dynamic.

In Effortless, the model is wearing a gauzy white dress, gazing directly at the viewer, an arm flung above her head. This model is a favorite of mine - she is gorgeous and Sargent would have loved her.She has pale luminous skin and dark jet hair and she knows how to strike a pose.

Typically, I love to do a Portrait (head shot) of her because her features are unbelievable. Her profile is muse-worthy and yet I loved her languid pose,so I turned my canvas to get the full length in composition.

I didn't want to worry the painting overmuch, so I worked on the draping and the facial features but didn't get out the teeny brushes to define the tiny hands and feet.

Effortless 12x16

The Making of Gypsy Girl

 Paint From Life!

"Paint From Life" is perhaps THE phrase that I hear most often from my art teachers. Painting from life is particularly helpful when painting figures. Photographs don’t quite capture the lights and shadows that are so relevant to painting. Additionally, photographed colors are often washed out – whiter and lighter than actuality. That being said, I have learned that reference photos are particularly helpful. I always take a photo of the setup, a close-up of the figure’s face and close up of the hands (if applicable). I find that I often cannot finish a painting in a 3 hour life painting session (despite working on a relatively small 11x14 or 12x16 canvas). The ultimate lesson is to get down what you can in your initial painting session with live model, focusing on composition and color.

For Gypsy Girl, I painted most of the composition in the 3 hour Life session. I placed the head, arms, dress layers, couch and background colors. My main focus was getting the shapes in place. And, I managed to get many of the colors (darks and mid tones) down.

Once home, I used my reference photos (on the computer) and started adding my lights and darks. I also put the up-close face photo reference on my computer and used that to complete (with small brushes) the face—including that nose shadow. Next, I worked on the skirt layer definition, adding lights and darks to get the draped folds. Lastly I added highlights to the top of the arms and to the white blouse (not pure white, a lightened Naples Yellow). Even this photo of the painting (because it is a photo) seems a bit washed out -the colors in the photo as in life are a bit brighter...

Our model this day was a fellow artist’s daughter, who is in high school. She seemed so grown up that I thought she was in college. She had dark eyebrows and light green eyes with dark hair – really wonderful. Of course her costume was lots of colors and layers, very fun to paint!

Gypsy Girl, 12x16, oil on canvas.