Finished Snow Scene, Alvaro Castagnet's New Video, Rene Beeldendkunstenaar

I've been a bit busy lately with things other than art, but that should be no excuse for not painting! However, I like to be able to concentrate solely on my art when doing it. I'm now between 'projects' around the house so am anxious to get out and paint.

Below is the finished snow study I last posted, which was unfinished at the time.

I still have a couple of things I feel the need to correct, but for the most part it's complete enough - just need to tone down the moss covered rock in the foreground and add the same color a couple of places elsewhere.  Also the small burnt red 'roof' in the upper-right background is distracting; in hindsight, I should have omitted it all together. Of course it's close enough to the edge of the painting that it can be omitted when framed. Or I could 'lift' it out some with water and add more trees.  Also, there's  a tangent effect going on between the large and tall skinny trees in the left foreground, creating too much tension and drawing my eye away from the focal point (the fallen trees and ravine to the right), but not much I can do about that.  I just placed them too close together to begin with and I should have angled or slanted the smaller tree to the right instead of swinging it back to the left.  Adding a light colored limb with a couple of others at different lengths to the left side of the tall young tree that's in front of the larger tree, I think, would help break that up though.  Anyway....


I recently received Castagnet's new video and really like it.  He gives more detailed info as he's painting in this one it than the last one i.e. specific colors he's using as he's painting.  Yes, I realize that specific color being used is not important and that it's all about warm vs. cool, and value; however, I do think it helps us the viewer 'student' know, especially when working in watercolor, whether that warm or cool color is opaque, semi-transparent, or transparent, and even what brand is being used as brands do differ in color and other characteristics.  I just wish he would occasionally demo something other than paintings with architectural subject matter.  That's just personal preference though, I'm sure that he paints those because that's what he's 'passionate' about.  And I'm still able to glean from the demos what I need in order to learn better technique.  I'm hoping that Zbukvic will do some countryside landscapes on his next video. He probably will as he seems to really enjoy painting them.

There are a couple of artists' blogs I'd like to share with you, but will just mention one for now as I'm short on time at the moment.  His name is Rene Beeldendkunstenaar, located in the Netherlands.  His blog site is  http://painting-pleinair.blogspot.com/ . When checking my blogroll updates,  I can scan like lightening through my RSS feeds and spot his work immediately.  I really admire this man's dedication to plein air, not to mention his paintings.  Rene's paintings truly capture the essence of plein air. My reaction to his paintings is visceral and I relate very strongly to his taste in subject matter. Enjoy, and 'til next time, happy living and creating...(and I'll try to post sooner next time!)

Bill Guffey's Virtual Paintout, Douglas Wiltraut

Just wanted to share a couple of things discovered on-line this morning.

First, a great artist, Douglas Wiltraut, who works in egg tempera, casein, acrylic, and watercolor (I think mainly drybrush). I've really enjoyed this morning visiting his site, soaking in his invaluable knowledge of egg tempera and his process which is extremely detailed, even mentioning what brands of products he uses. I so appreciate artists of his stature who take the time to share their expertise with the world. I also learned reading The Watercolor Artist Magazine article that there's actually a name for the process I use in my watercolors which I discussed in my last post, where I described how I 'prime' an area first with clean water, then add a layer of color and manipulate it and its edges over the previous color. It's called the English watercolor method according to the author. Go figure. I'll be revisiting his site often to see what's new and to learn more from him. The attraction for me to be drawn to artists who work in similar style to my heroes such as Homer and the Wyeths is innate - an unexplainable emotional connection to their work. I so admire these artists. A site worth bookmarking for sure.

The second discovery of the morning is Bill Guffey's (another person I did not previously know) blog and his 'Virtual Paintout' project. What a novel idea! Using Google's virtual map, Guffey (or sometimes his followers?) chooses an area, which can be anywhere in the world I suppose, and artists then zoom in anywhere in that designated area and choose a subject to paint from photos that have been mapped. And Guffey says he's checked with Google to make sure it's legal (read his instructions on right side of page). A great way to connect with others, not to mention greatly add to one's list of painting subjects. Also another way for artists to stay busy during the winter months. Artists then upload their painting to his facebook (or not, if they prefer not to have it on his facebook). I can't say too much about it as I only discovered it about 10 mins. ago and am still reading up on it. So check out this and the Wiltraut site if you're interested. Happy reading...

Inspiration: Gerit Grimm

This is just a quick post for inspiration. I discovered this artist, Gerit Grimm, via Ceramics Arts Daily Newsletter and was so inspired by her talent and creative use of the 'wheel', I just had to share it. Even if your medium is something other than clay, her encouraging words of wisdom and inspiration on the subject of art in general are worth viewing. I was actually working on another post when I came across this so I hope to post that within week's end. It involves a step-by-step painting using masking fluid. Let me and others know who, or what, was your inspiration recently. Til the next post, good luck with your endeavors...

Watercolor, Pastels

With the winding down of winter and the last bit of snow we had recently, I've wanted to re-visit an idea to paint from a photo of some snow-covered echinaceas that I made last winter.

This is the photo I chose to work from. I had painted them once or twice before, but was unhappy with the results.

The first watercolor I did, I was so disgusted with it that after a few days (battling the saying, keep all your paintings, you can sometimes salvage them or at least have them to learn from or assess your progress), I could stand it no longer and covered it up with gesso. I had tried some maskit on the stems and snow and did not like the results, but then I never do. I have to agree with others that it takes practice and using [maskit] is an art in itself. I think my main mistake was trying to stay too close to the composition of the photo and not using my artist's license to create a more interesting composition (one of the pitfalls of painting from photos). A horizontal format, it had more flowers plus too much detail (same as the photo) in the background, resulting in a very busy painting - not at all the mood I was after. I know you're probably thinking 'why didn't you show us the first painting so we could see for ourselves?' Ha! Too late, already painted over it. Besides, I thought I would spare your eyes and my embarrassment.

I sometimes think about things for a very long time before making my next move. If you read my post about 'artistic thinking', you'll understand me when I say that I've had this on the back burner since the day I took the photo. That would be over a year, maybe longer. So, at times I would think that just a triad (is that the word? I forget my art history sometimes) composition of flowers would be best. I have to work through my thinking/creating process, putting the pieces of my ideas together, before getting to the end result. So that's why I first tried the horizontal format which was similar to the photo. Then I can say okay, been there done that, got it out of my mind, now on to the next step.

I knew then that I needed to return to my early thoughts of focusing on only a few flowers to make a more interesting painting. I made a few rough sketches (in my mind as well), before drawing this detailed pencil sketch on tinted paper.

This time, I did away completely with the background, and only used three flowers, the main one in the center that attracted me in the first place because of its interesting stem shape, and placed the ones on either side to balance the composition and lead the eye up to the center flower and back around to the center stem. And since I was only using three flowers, I changed the format from horizontal to vertical. Just for fun, I added some colored pencil to the sketch.


Here's my second attempt, a watercolor on a quarter sheet of Waterford 140 lb. cold press paper (the flip-side of the gessoed 1st painting). For the background, I chose to abstractly use the colors, wet-in-wet, that were actually there to compliment the warmth of the flowers' stem colors. And oh yes, I tried masking fluid again on this painting, and still was not satisfied with the results. I need to go in and soften up some of the edges of the snow and also some of the stem edges, before I chuck this one to the done that pile.






Snowcones
Pastel, 9.5" x 13"

Here's my third redo, using pastels and I'm much happier with the results. Did this on Fabriano Tiziano drawing/pastel paper, a small sheet approx. 9.5"x 13" with a gray ground, which gave the 'cold and quiet' feel I was after.

Using the blue-gray paper also saved on pastels and time. Pastels are so expensive! I absolutely love the medium, and for a long time have wanted to get into them more, but the investment in the sticks, good grief. And then there's the problem of archiving and framing; guess I need to purchase some glassine - suggestions anyone?

Let me know your experiences with your creative process, and your opinions. Let's have an 'art to art' talk!

Tuesday, I painted in the hollow and am itching as I type this from a couple of tick bites received on that outing. I'll let you know how that went on my next post.