C’mon In! [12”x9”, acrylic on birch panel]

Vicky loves the water… I used a photo taken July 2009 as the basis for this painting.  In that photo, her left arm was waving around like a cowboy’s so I had to do some adlibbing and decided I didn’t need to do much, just suggest that her arm is behind her.  I think it’s fairly convincing.  I really, really struggled with her facial features, particularly her mouth.  I found myself smiling while doing this painting…  the expression on her face is so cute and she’s a bold little gal.  What fun!

For those of you that paint, I thought I would share a few “in process” photos.  The support is a birch panel [1/4” prepared with GAC100 isolation coat].  You can see the warmth of the natural birch glowing through the painting and it pulls the whole thing together with a “warm day” look.

1.  Drawing and highlights…  Left photo below: I increased the contrast on my photo reference and collaged over her left arm as a test.  Right photo below:  After sketching her features on the panel, I painted the lights in her features and reflection with titanium white. 

   

2.  After glazing some hair [quin gold] and skin tones [yellow/red] as a base, I struggled to find the right colors for her facial shadows. The reflections from the water looked to be blue.  Blue, yellow, and red…  all side by side.  At times she looked like she’d been given a serious beating – bruised!  I persisted with what I saw rather than what I think her skin color should be.  Difficult and patchy!

Again, I found the acrylic paint [both fluid and heavy body Golden] dried very, very quickly.  That left brush strokes and bit’s of paint raised.  In this shot I was still struggling with the shape her mouth and just that one little issue and she looked like…  a blonde Rachel [a cousin].

3.  I’ve darkened the water, puttered a bit with her mouth/chin shape,and darkened highlights in her hair.  I’m happier with her facial expression now.  I mixed up a very light skin tone [zinc white, yellow, and red] with glazing fluid.  I glazed all of her skin with this mixture.  The glazing fluid extends drying time, thus giving me more time to change the color up a bit and time for the brush strokes to flatten out.  I think it worked well to unify all her skin tones!   

Onward to the next painting…  Cheers!

Creativity Workshop - Speedy Delivery - Aug 12 at my house

No painting today... Just a bit of housekeeping and a promise of another painting tomorrow! This message is going out to the folks that will be attending a creativity workshop hosted at my house August 12.

Hi all... I'm sending out this reminder to those of you that have committed to come to my place August 12th to execute your Speedy Delivery painting. Here's the latest:

• There are currently 5 painters coming - Cheryl, Ken, Sheila S, Sheila W, Lindsay. This will be a fun group.
• Ken Lampard challenges us to use a minimum 1/4 sheet of watercolor paper... Good Idea!
• Let's keep it simple and loose with smaller brushes. I challenge us to use a minimum of 1" flat and a large (minimin 16) round.

I suggest the following format for the Aug 12 get together:

• Hour 1 - while we have a coffee/tea, each painter will explain to the others what they have for a composition, review value studies, color scheme, painting plan. I think this will help us all by allowing us to learn from the others and possibly change our plans on the fly if we want to incorporate a new idea. By the end of this discussion, we should have figured out our work areas.
• Hour 2 - Paint... One of the problems with this method is that sometimes it's hard to leave a piece alone... we want to continue beyond the "done" stage. I recommend we get partner up so that we can give eachother feedback as we go.
• Hour 3 - discuss how we feel we did, take a group photo with our paintings, and wrap up.

The online instructions gives us most of the information we need to proceed. To give you a better idea of how you need to prepare I have the magazine which has ALL the instructions on how to plan the painting. The following is quoted from the full text of Kathy Collins' challenge in the Watercolor Artist magazine:

"Step One: Choose a composition. The simplest designs, such as a cruciform pattern or layers of color in varying sizes, usually work best for me and help me to connect large, dark shapes.

Step Two: Sketch a value study with a strong white pattern in contrast to the darkest darks (everything else in the painting will be mid-toned). For maximum impact, the value pattern should be simple and apparent to a viewer across the room.

Step Three: Have big brushes at the ready. I prefer flat 1 1/2 or 2 inch synthetics with a sharp edge. A large brush is a key element in single-session painting because it allows you to cover large areas and connect colors and shapes before the paint dries.

Step Four: Decide on either a war or cool color dominance and limit yourself to no more than four or five colors for unity. For example, if you're using a warm palette, you'll want mainly reds and yellows, but you'll need at least on cool color, such as a blue-green, for contrast.

Step Five: With the big decisions made, you're ready to paint. Starting at the top of the paper, brush in midtone colors and progress downward, laying in foliage or abstract shapes for the background. Next transition from mid-darks to the darkest darks, painting negatively around the centre of interest, such as people boats, houses or still life forms. Change colors every inch or so, using thick but fluid paint to enrich the most intense values around the focal point (were the deepest colors meet the white of the paper).

Step Six: It's critical to avoid having too much water on your brush. Keep the colors intermixing by charging in flowing, wet paint next to the still-wet colors already on the paper. The remainder of the work is done in dark to midtones, leaving some pinpoint whites for interest. Soften some edges to smooth the transitions or to achieve the effect of distance.

Step Seven" Finally, if need, push the values around the focal areas to make brilliant whites pop against an almost-black background. The painting is finished in one session."

See you August 12th!

Fat Fruit On Lace (7" x 5 1/2")

Just a simple painting of simple subjects... fat fruit. A plump plum and two very plump pears. Tomorrow I eat them...

Session 1: After I got the fruit arranged into a pleasing triangle composition I sketched them directly onto my watercolor paper. Since the light was stable I didn't take reference photos - something new for me.

I began on the pears by loosely painting yellows in and around them. Then I dropped in scarlet lake, cobalt blue and bits of violet. I also lifted out the highlights before it dried. On the plum I began with diox violet washed in loosely around the highlights and I immediately dropped in some cobalt blue and some burnt sienna to dull it just a bit. I softened the edges of the highlights and around the stem dent. Then I watched to make sure the soft edges stayed soft as it dried.

Session 2: I darkened and moulded the pears by glazing more warm yellow and dropping in the reds, blues, and burnt sienna... keeping the edges of my whites soft and lifting out some new highlights. The plum... I did the same colors as in session 1 but this time I kept inside the lines. Also, I extended the size of the plum on the bottom and inside.

I decided I wanted to add the lace detailing and it was as simple as negatively painting the holes in the lace and the shadows cast. I think the lace added something to this one

Hope you like it...

I have a plan...

No painting done today... although I prepared one for later this week. Watercolor painting is 80% planning and 20% execution (varies depending on your style). These are the steps I take to get started:

1. get inspired... I keep a e-folder and several folders for "Paint Soon" material. I find that there must be a connection for me to place anything into these categories.


2. decide on orientation (landscape/portrait), size and format (square, etc). To do this I usually make a black and white photocopy of the subject.


3. The black and white copy helps me see interesting patterns of lights and darks or boring patterns that need to be changed. I mark the photocopy up with changes, edits, etc. Often I have to include a sky from one photo with a landscape from another photo. I've been doing this on Corel (easier than photoshop) and it works out well. These first three steps are almost "pre-planning" and happen organically as life goes on. Ideas flow freely to the open mind.
4. At this point the altered reference material is ready to be drawn up and transferred to the watercolor paper. This can take an hour if there are lots of alterations to the references.


5. With the drawing complete I now turn to planning the painting steps. I'll consider different techniques (wet on dry, wet on wet, direct, negative/positive, glazing, masking,etc) that I'll use, the color scheme, etc. often I make notes on the white tape around the painting as to what my "next steps" should be. [That's the stage that the painting in this photo is at... waiting to do the painting].
6. Executing the painting takes FAR less time than the rest of these activities if you are working in watercolor. I call it "the show" because it happens quite quickly and there are always surprises. There are folks that MUST be in control of their painting process and if it doesn't happen, they become frustrated and give up. A better approach is to withhold judgement on the "surprises" and come back to them in the next painting session. Often a solution to a problem or a way to incorporate the "surprise" that improves the painting yet pops into mind. I love that part... It reminds me of how God works in our lives. We have a plan, we begin executing it. Surprises happen, we freak out, God steps in to the plan and takes the "surprise" and makes it a wonderful part of our life - His painting.


7. Flexibility, cooperation (me with the water), enjoyment of process, these are the things that make watercolor a great creative medium.

I'm off to Sunshine Meadows to paint and putter tomorrow. A friend is driving and I'll be able to relax and enjoy the trip. We'll be home by around 3pm. It should be lovely! Have a great day!