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!!
I like to paint and draw sculptures, castings, molds and the like. It lets me focus on form and value without the distraction and mystique of glorious color. This majestic Italian lion from the BMA sculpture garden was great fun to paint.
Italian Lion, Baltimore Museum of Art. Original iPad Painting. 1:1 aspect ratio. 2017.
We Seven Palettes are taking turns ‘sitting the gallery’ during our art exhibit this month at Gallery B. I’m scheduled for more duty on Jan. 21, and 25, from 3pm to 6pm.
If you’d like to explore digital art a bit, grab your iPad and come sit with me for awhile. I’ll show you some of my favorite techniques! Here are some of my iPad images, illustrating how varied the results can be — from very detailed representation to impressionistic line drawings and quick notations at the ball park!
C & O Canal in Summer. Original iPad painting, 2014. 1:1 aspect ratio.
Fairy Lilies. Original iPad painting, 2013. 1:1 aspect ratio.
At the Nats! Original iPad painting, 2014. 3:5 aspect ratio.
Here’s how to find & where to park for Gallery B. If you’re thinking of coming by, let me know in advance so I can alert you to any last minute schedule changes.
Danni upped the anty with her next assignment: paint striped fabric so that the stripes drape properly with the twists and folds of the material, with shadows etc.
I didn’t want to be boring with two simple pieces of material. So I composed a still life with a red and white striped towel, topped by a bottle of red wine, standing next to a bottle of sparkling water, atop a green and white striped towel. I thought of it as a ‘Face Off’.
If you’re going to paint a portrait, you need to know how to paint clothes and drapes.
Hence the homework assignment to paint two pieces of fabric so that a viewer would know that they differ in weight and texture. I didn’t have to look far for subjects: a blue denim apron friends had brought back from Sennelier in Paris and a red satin shopping bag made by a daughter-in-law. I draped them over a corner of my easel and set to work. Voila.
For someone interested in learning more about figurative & portrait painting, there are few places better than the Art League of Alexandria, aka the Torpedo Factory Art Center. My art buddy Helen Gallagher and I enjoyed hanging out at its first conference, celebrating a milestone anniversary. Here are a few of the pieces we saw demonstrated at the event.
I had made good progress during my work based on the reference photograph, but I decided it wasn’t good enough. As a way to visualize changes that might improve the painting, I decided to do a mark-up on the iPad, using a side-by-side comparison with the reference photo.
markup of painted portrait, as a result of side-by-side comparison with photo. iPad screenshot.
I cropped the photo included in my September 8th post and imported it digitally into the ArtRage app on my iPad. I then ‘painted’ over the portrait area, trying to remedy the problems I identified in the painting. This was a freehand process, done by ‘eyeballing’ the photo reference. ArtRage is not able to make measurements for a closer comparison of the two images.
I like this markup as well as the final painting — if not more! The ability to easily edit iPad marks liberates me from feeling that each (potentially incorrect) modification is ‘permanent’. Playing around with the marks often yields spontaneous and interesting ideas that I would never have attempted initially in oils.
Even though I liked the resulting mark-up, I knew it would still be a challenge to implement these ideas in oil paint on the actual painting.
Resting at the Portrait Gallery. Oil on Linen.
During a recent visit to the National Portrait Gallery, I saw two marvelous women, each sitting in one of the deep window seats that back up to the courtyard. I decided to be bold and ask if I could take their pictures for painting purposes. To my delight, each agreed. Here’s the first – a petite little lady perched on the long cushion, resting her feet. Another palette knife attempt.
I recently studied portrait painting with Bill Schneider. After he did a wonderful demo, Bill had us emulate Nicholai Fechin’s gorgeous ‘broken color’ style, by copying (on a larger scale, so we could practice our facial measuring skills) some Fechin portraits.
Fechin’s portrait (L) and my copy. oil on canvas.
First I copied one of Fechin’s beautiful women. And then this precious child.
Fechin’s portrait (L) & my copy. oil on canvas.
The next day we painted from a live model, attempting to apply the broken color method on our own. Quite a difference in beauty, eh? (Just keeping it real!)
Working toward Fechin’s ‘broken color’ in painting from life. oil on Arches oil paper.
I ended the weekend workshop with lots to practice and mull. Thanks, Bill!
Here’s another study (unfinished) that I did during that wonderful Maggie Siner workshop awhile back. Maggie wanted us to be very definite in matching colors and then put a big juicy stroke in the MIDDLE of the shape we were working on.
Terracotta Pot, White Cat & Dino on Pig-shaped Cutting Board. Unfinished. Oil on Linen.
Never put your first paint stroke next to an edge, she says, or you’ll be tempted to paint the object rather than the shape. Maggie gave us a wonderful motto to paint by: Great shapes, not great objects, make a good painting!