New collage start

I've started a new self-portrait style collage. I learned quite a bit from Ann Baldwin's DVD "Telling Stories With Collage and Paint". One of the things she says is that it is usually best NOT to lay down your most important image first. Immediately after saying that she does exactly the opposite, as I've done here. At least she had a plan before she dove in. Me? Not so much.
I began this by covering a piece of illustration board with gesso. Once dry I drizzled ultramarine blue and quinacridone burnt orange vertically down the surface and sprayed water to join up the paint drips.

After that dried I attempted an image transfer using Golden softgel gloss. It was about 50% successful but I decided to go ahead with a further step. I coated an identical transfer and the surface again and after they were dry I carefully laid the new image atop the previous transfer. I taped it securely in place before I used my Walnut Hollow Versa-tool to melt the image onto the surface. Once cool I wet the paper backing and simply rolled the paper off the image. I've only done this a few times but every time it gives me a very good image with just enough raggedy edges to make it interesting.

I used some Golden light molding paste over a box stencil to add the texture to the right of my shoulder. Then I painted into and around the image to bring it to life a bit. I like it so far. I'm going to be working on this again in class tomorrow to see if I can get a few more steps down the path on this collage.

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday...

Tea Party gone digital

I had just a few minutes to do art today so I decided to play with the image digitally before attempting it again. These images are the results of my experimenting with the image in photoshop elements. This method is similar to experimenting with an acetate sheet over the painting - nothing is permanent and you get a pretty good idea what will work.
I'm pretty impressed with the results of the first stage of my editing BUT I'm pretty sure I don't have a "clone stamp" tool in my painting kit. It's neat how you can pick up the surrounding pixels and paint them over top. For example, the cut line behind the ladies was quite sharp and noticeable but after painting over it with the clone stamp tool and a watercolor brush (digital of course) it is much less noticeable.
In the second stage (layer) I picked up some of the darker pixels and used a "heavy stipple" wet media brush to to move that color around in the painting. I'm not quite sure whether this is working but it shows what can be done quickly to get an idea about the next step to take with the paper version. Enjoy!

Color work...

For homework this week we are matching colors to a photo... I chose to attempt to match skin/hair tones. Wow, what a challenge. First match is to a blonde woman... I did this one directly on the sketchbook paper. As you can see in the first photo, the colors used are more vibrant on the swatches to the left. After attempting this I selected several areas of her skin, numbered them and matched them on watercolor paper where the colors are much more predictable and vibrant.

On the second photo I did the same thing. I thought this fellow's skin tones would be harder to match but I found it much easier. He has such deep tones and I found the colors easier to perceive... See what you think.

Paint along - Alvaro Castagnet

I've just watched a fascinating DVD of Alvaro Castagnet painting... he did 5 paintings and they were all amazing! I enjoyed this DVD more than any other I've viewed. He's quite a character and his enthusiasm is catchy. I painted along with one of his paintings and here is the result. He did this painting in 3 washes, allowing it to completely dry between each. Of course he began with the next to lightest value leaving stark white for the big umbrella in the plaza. Then mid-tones and finally darks. The paint flows off his MASSIVE brushes and he mixes colors on the fly - very fun to watch. I like the results he gets with his intense darks... have a look at his website here for a nice shot of eye-candy. This has inspired me to put more figures in my paintings. Stay-tuned to see how that goes!

River Bank Strummer (10"x7")

I spent a couple of hours down by the riverside today. Just 5 minutes from my house there's a lovely park that borders the Bow River on the north. For those of you in Calgary I was painting at Bowmont Park. This gorgeous park runs 4 kms along the north side of the Bow from Home Road to Nose Hill Drive. I can drive right down to the river and park near the railroad bridge. There's a little island in the river and a ped bridge hops over to the island and then crosses the main part of the Bow into Bowness.

I set up right on the rocks across the river from a huge retaining wall. I liked the patterns of light that were happening along the steep back yards of the homes to the south. The light was streaming in on an alarmingly sharp angle for 2pm... it is definitely fall. The shadows of the tall blue spruce trees threw some nice long shadows. A red roof with a white chimney poked through and caught my eye... and I began to draw. Just as I finished up my value sketch, a fellow in a red shirt came along and sat down on the retaining wall... I thought he was reading but now that I'm home and I look at my photos I can clearly see he is playing a guitar!

I enjoyed the 2 hours I spent painting and puttering so much. Children were laughing and throwing sticks for their dogs (it's an off-leash area), and LOTS of folks drifted by in their dinghies, kayaks, and canoes. I took quite a few photos and had some laughs with dog owners when their pets show a strong interest in sniffing my paints (honey based!).

I came home at 5 with a painting I did not like at all. I struggled with water control due to the warm, very dry air and I missed my 1" flat which I left at home. In warm dry air there's no time to fiddle with paint... it should be stroked on and left alone shortly thereafter until completely dry. Well, that didn't happen. Here's what my painting looked like when I got home:

As you can see it's dark, very dark. Before I took this photo I'd run some sandpaper across the river to get some sparkle back. That helped but I felt I should use some scrubbing out to get me back some lighter values. At this point I had a failed painting so why not practice some of these other "disaster recovery" skills, right?

Here's the photo after I lifted out sunny areas in the backyards, lighter areas in the trees, some gouache "sparkle" cheat, etc.:
When I looked at this version on my computer screen I felt there was still something obvious missing and I realized that the mesh of the fence needed to be shown, at least in places. I managed to indicate some light fence mesh by applying clean water in tiny lines in a few places... after it sat a few seconds I blotted up the paint. In some places I painted mesh in lightly with a blue-grey mix. I think that helped some.

After that was done I took this photo: Although I can't call this a successful painting, I got the following benefits from this painting experience:

• Practiced just about every watercolor technique I've learned thus far...
• Enjoyed 2 hours outside on a beautiful day with happy people all around me...
• Compiled quite a detailed study (value, color, etc) of this scene for future work
• Honed my observation skills
• and, I blogged about it!

My goal this week is to execute a larger painting... Stay tuned and - Happy Monday everybody!