Category Archives: Materials

Paintings 24 & 25. Mock ‘Frescoes’ of Gouache Painted into Damp Plaster

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I’m currently taking a class on mixed media and was intrigued when teacher Susan Hostetler mentioned “mock frescoes”, made by painting gouache into still-damp spackle or joint compound slathered onto cardboard or other heavy substrate.  I decided to try it.  My first attempt was a simplistic sugar bowl sitting on our kitchen table.  My quick contour was misshapen, so I touched it up with some water-soluble pencils, moistening the marks to blend them into the gouache.

I then plopped down a seashell (interesting shape though dull colors) and tried again.  I was happier with that one, though disappointed when a little flake popped out sometime later.  Maybe a fixative would deter this type of defect — will have to research it. . . .

 

Painting #22 – Birds in the Backyard and a CMYK Palette

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My most recent small painting features some bright cardinals showing off among their Plain Jane pals.  It was based on photos taken last year.  Our feeder is empty and there are few birds to watch now.  (Our neighborhood has been encouraged not to use feeders so birds won’t gather and spread a new virus among themselves.)

For the artists who are reading, this painting was an experiment in “cmyk” colors — a very limited palette of cyan, magenta, yellow and black.  This group of colors is used with great success in color printing, but it’s pretty rare to see it underpinning an oil painting or water-based art.

For this attempt, I used the closest hues in my paint stash:  manganese phthalo, quinacridone violet, azo yellow and ivory black.  I managed to mix everything in the painting without resorting to additional colors ~~ other than the male cardinals, for which I dipped into cad red.  I can’t say I enjoyed the experience or like the outcome!  I’m not sure whether I’ll try it again!

#22. Birds in the Backyard. Oil on Primed Arches Oil Paper. 8″ x 10″

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Painting #10 – Cauliflower in Watercolor and Gouache

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One of my collectors has bought three of the veggie watercolors I painted last year as a consequence of a workshop with Wendy Artin. And she wants a fourth so she can group them in her kitchen. What to do? A pretty cauliflower was in our fridge so this is how I spent my evening in front of the TV. . . .

I made a few mistakes since I was painting it direct — without a pencil sketch, as Wendy had taught. So I resorted to a bit of gouache so I wouldn’t have to start over!!

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Drawing the Line

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With some of my 7Palettes friends, I’m studying plein air painting with Carol Rubin this Spring.  Last week, it was too chilly to paint outdoors, so we made line drawings of a complex still life Carol had assembled.  Here’s a ‘line drawing’ made of oil paints.  Our warmup exercises follow.

Hat, Vases & Vegetation

hat, vases & vegetation. oil on canvas.

Two 30 second drawings.

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bottle, pot & dried hydrangea. charcoal pencil on vellum.

Thirty second hat and more. charcoal on vellum.

hat and more. charcoal pencil on vellum.

A minute-long ‘continuous line’ drawing — made without taking the pencil off of the paper.

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hat, pots & plants. charcoal pencil on vellum.

A ‘blind contour’ — made while keeping eyes on the object.  NO looking at the paper!  (Well, maybe we got to take three short peeks. . . .)

no looking at the vegetation??? charcoal on vellum.

no looking at the scribblings??  only the objects???  charcoal on vellum.

And finally, as depicted above, we made complex line drawings in black paint and then brushed thick white paint over selected areas to ‘erase’ lines as needed to make the ‘drawing’ more accurate or more interesting.  A fun day.  I did more at home using my own props.  Will post those next time.