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!