Showing posts with label glazes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label glazes. Show all posts

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Twilight


I've become so involved in the technical aspects of my online class, that I need time to step back and observe.  Get out in nature - after all, nature is the best teacher.  Yesterday my daughter and I took a walk to town.  We do this quite often.  It's our little ritual.   Walking along with our hot to-go cups of tea, I observed some magnificent silhouettes of the trees at twilight.  The edges of the lit areas of the trees had a beautiful glow from the setting sun.  

If only I had my camera.  But, no, maybe not.  After all memory work is so important in painting.  

Some people have been asking what colors I use for glazing.  The transparent color in this painting is Brown Pink by Gamblin.  It's mixed with Liquin and can only be applied to the canvas when the underlayers are completely dry.  

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Sunset

Moving along to sunset, here are a couple more studies.  Again, they're not completely finished as they need more glazes.  I'm attempting to do observation work to capture the time of day and the many colors it produces. And the best way to do that is to simply go outside and observe.  Also, color memory work is important.  I intend to keep a color journal and sketchbook in order to record what I observe as quickly as possible on a small scale.  This is a frontlit scene with the sun behind the viewer, the moon starting to rise in front.

This sidelit scene needs more glazes in the sky and ground.  Each layer of glaze really changes things so I'm trying to do it gradually.  But I do think the glazing stage is the fun part!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Twilight Hour

View of Twilight Sky
Outside my Front Door

I have several paintings going at the moment, but none of them are complete.  They are being worked on in rotation because with the method I'm using, only a small amount of glazing and scumbling can be done per day.  So today, I'm showing some reference material I'm gathering.  The goal is to portray the twilight hour.  I used color imaging in iPhoto on my Mac to change the color of this sky from deep blue to yellow-orange.  It will be a jumping off point for future paintings.

When I come up with a composition that I like, I find the idea needs to simmer for a while.  I work it out in sketches, moving things around with pencil and eraser until I come up with something that works.  Rarely do I find a composition in nature that is perfectly composed.  I would love to hear about how you come up with compositions that work! 


Friday, May 15, 2009

Simplicity

Simplicity
5x7

This little painting has an extremely simple composition.  When I was done with it, I was surprised that I liked it.  I used only five colors even though it reads as basically two colors - red and purple.  

From this painting alone, I could learn so much.  Such as to keep it simple with all my painting.  For me it's harder to keep it simple than to tweak a painting into something else.  There's that fine line that all painters deal with at a certain point in their painting.  Sometimes I'll have something good going and I want to add another color, which will change everything.  Then maybe one of the kids will show up, the doorbell will ring, or the dog has to go out.  I'm stopped from going overboard.  And I'm grateful.  

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Acceptance

Acceptance
16x20

This painting is one that I've titled Acceptance.  It's symbolic of what I'm going through with my creative process this year.  Artists draw on their imaginations at the beginning of creating any new piece.  That's where it all starts.  Then comes the composition, color choices and a few hundred other decisions until the piece is finally completed.

I find that the final piece is seldom what I initially envisioned.  But when some time has passed and I look back at the piece with fresh eyes, I see something entirely different.  I'm no longer disappointed.  I see a place I must have been at that particular time.  I accept it.

I've learned something else this year.  My dog, Lucy, had eye cancer and had her eye removed in January, just after we got back from our Florida trip.  At first I couldn't even talk about it.  But the operation was completely successful and I love her even more now (and she's spoiled from all the extra attention she gets).  She adjusted well to her new handicap and enjoys life with the same zest as always.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all accept things so easily?


Friday, April 17, 2009

Am I Done Yet?







Sunrise
8x10

This study is one of the pieces I did as a result of taking Deborah Paris's online class.  It's purely for my own information.  I'm thinking of doing a much larger painting and I can use this one for reference or a jumping off point.

I'm still working to understand the tonalist style of painting.  I'm so used to working in a more impressionist style.  As all artists know, the only way to learn something new is to keep at it.  One needs to put in many, many hours of painting before becoming proficient in an area.

I've found that taking a digital photo, helps tremendously.  For some reason, I can stare at a painting, not sure if I'm completely satisfied or finished.  But if I take a photo, the areas that still need work become very apparent.  Has anyone else found this to be a useful tool? 


Friday, April 3, 2009

Glazes


Strolling Along
5x7

You may recognize the above composition from a painting I posted two weeks ago.  In this little painting I used the transparent process using very bright, warm colors.  It didn't start out that way.  

Using the glazing process requires that the painting is completely dry before applying another layer of color.  That's the hard part for me.  Waiting for the paints to dry.  Sometimes it only takes a day.  Other times, depending how thick the underlayers are, it may take up to three days.  The beauty of this process is that the viewer can see two vibrating colors at one time.  Glazing a thin layer of say, orange, over an underlayer of blue gives a particular glow.  That's why I'm moving away from the alla prima process to this painstakingly, long process.  I love the results.  Too bad I'm not a patient person!

Okay, now I have a confession to make.  (It's so embarrassing)  I don't know how to upload, or copy and paste (whatever) two badges I've received lately.  My twentysomethings are in and out of the house like whirlwinds, so I forgot to ask them how to do it.  I was very honored to receive a Lemonade award from Kathleen Krucoff and a Passion for Painting award from Trish Siegel.  I don't want to seem like an ingrate, so can anyone give me some tech advice?   I'm such a right brainer.  No wonder I have bad technology days.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Autumn

Autumn 
9x12

This is a study that, I must admit, came from somewhere in my imagination.  It was done purely as a way to learn more about the transparency process.  I learn from every one of these paintings.  And to make sure I retain what I learn, I take detailed notes.  Hopefully, I'll be able to create larger paintings soon.  But for right now, there's more to figure out.

I start by building the bones of the painting with dark transparent colors, then allow them to dry.  The trick is to not do this too dark, because successive colors will darken the initial colors.  For the sky I used transparent sienna mixed with white.  After drying, I glazed over it with sienna.  In the background field, transparent colors were used, but when they dried completely, I also glazed over with a bit of white and transparent sienna to cause recession of space.

There are times when I feel I'm wasting my time with the pursuit of going off in a whole different direction.  I feel like going back to what was a comfortable painting process for me.  But other times, I know I'm on the right track.  Being an artist means having difficult, frustrating times too.  





Friday, December 26, 2008

Peaceful Moment

Winter Study
oil on canvas
8x10

The week between Christmas and New Year's is my favorite time of the year.  It feels delicious and decadent to relax after all the hustle of entertaining, cooking, socializing and taking care of hundreds of little details in preparation for Christmas.  

Suddenly it's all over.  After the cleanup, there's a hush that takes over the house as everyone takes extra time to snooze or relax.  Finally there is time to putter around, do things slowly and really notice all the beauty.  The decorations will be up for at least another week.  Now there will be time to take a leisurely stroll outside.  This is when I take my camera to scout out winter scenes for new paintings.  The colors in winter are subdue and elegant.  It takes me more time to study and record the subtle nuances than at other times of the year.  But that's okay because now the days stretch further.

I plan on doing lots of small studies in the next few months.  Transparent colors will be on the agenda this year.  I've experimented with glazes in the past but now I'm going to go further in this direction and see where it takes me.  

That's the extent of my art goals for 2009.  Ahhhh.