FIRST FEBRUARY PAINTING CHALLENGE COMPLETED!

I am pleased to be able to announce I have finally finished a painting for this month. It is already the 17th!!!! This is on Arches cold pressed block 12 x 16. It looks different than any painting I have ever done. I'm not totally satisfied with the result but I like a lot of what is happening and I decided to make this a painting where I was going to experiment with different ideas and see what happens. With all my value studies, I just dove in and didn't use any of them. I was considering value as I went along but it really is a better idea to have it planned out in advance. After reviewing the slide show again, I was struck how the value pattern of this stone was so similar to the painting I did today. I have no idea if this image was in my subconscious while I was painting.

One of the things I wanted to discover is whether Stretch and Cling wrap would make a good masking material. I did a light wet into wet wash all over the paper and let it dry. Then I stretched the wrap over the painting as tight as I could get it. It didn't quite cover the whole sheet so some of the bottom was uncovered Then I took my drawing (it was on tracing paper) and transfered the outline of the 3 figures onto the cling wrap. On the back of my tracing paper drawing I use a heavy line made from a watercolor crayon over the drawing lines. I turn it over and place it on my paper and using a mechanical pencil retrace the lines. This transfers a thin line of water soluble crayon on the paper and usually disappears by the time I have finished the painting. I used this method to transfer the outline of the figures onto the cling wrap. Then I used a tool I had purchased awhile ago but never used. It is a stencil cutter.... like a wood burning tool but has a very fine metal needle-like end that heats up and melts through stencil plastic. It worked great on the cling wrap. I'm not sure if the heat sealed the edge or not but I got a decent seal with the plastic wrap. Next I will try this tool on clear tape to see if it cuts through it. I am not very agile with an exacto knife going around curves not to mention I usually cut into the paper so this handy dandy instrument is very exciting! I got it at Michael's Craft Store with one of my 40% off coupons.
I started putting darker washes in the background sweeping right over the figures which were masked off. Then I took off the cling wrap and started working on the figures. Eventually, I decided to use the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (found in the Grocery Store in the cleaning products isle) I tore it into small pieces and lifted color and swept it across certain passages. This has real potential for interesting blending of colors and edges as well as lifting color. I think I may have found a way to paint shapes and still have lost and found edges (a personal favorite of mine)

Tomorrow starts the George James workshop on Yupo. I will attempt to post each day and share his wisdom.
Now, time to tackle those damn taxes.

THE PLANNING STAGES FOR FEBRUARY PAINTING CHALLENGE

This is a very frustrating week for me. I am down to the wire for working on my taxes so I spent all afternoon at the computer entering data. Tomorrow I have to ready my paintings and information sheets for Thursday's set up for a weekend exhibit. I will get to paint tomorrow night because I am doing a demo for the Santa Clara Art Association. Friday and Saturday is the exhibit and then on Sunday we leave for Kansas City for four days for a family celebration. Sometimes other things besides painting have to take center stage.
In the meantime, I have done some value studies and discovered some additional compositions from the original composition. I am starting to see that with these three figures there are unlimited combinations just for composition. Each composition can have many value arrangements. When you add in color and all the various techniques, there is a potential for years of work. One of the value studies wasn't going well, so I just let it go and started on another one. I was able to put 4 on a sheet of typing paper and printed out a number of copies. It makes it easy to work up these studies. I will take some of these sheets with me so I can create some color studies while I am traveling. Once I get the time to paint, it should go quickly with all these decisions made in advance.

FEBRUARY PAINTING CHALLENGE #1 STAGE 1

I drew three figures from the Pose Maniac site to use for this month. It is amazing how you can turn the figures 360 degrees. I decided I wanted all back views in compatible poses. Sitting in front of the computer, I felt constrained to draw smaller than if I was able to stand and use my whole arm. I did 4 or 5 in my sketch book and then traced these three. The great thing about tracing paper is you can flip the image. This gave me more flexibility in combining the figures into a composition. I wanted to work on a larger piece of paper so I took the 3 figures to the copy shop and had them enlarged. This month is very busy and I wanted to save some time. I retraced the images tonight so I am ready to go. Since I was going to work with shapes, I just used the shapes of the muscles and ligaments. I think this makes for a very interesting division of the body plus as I paint these shapes, it will reinforce my visual memory of the structure of the muscles and help with figure drawing in the future. I can see these figures working into some very abstract forms in the future. Now I have to create a value plan and a color concept and I will be ready to paint. By running off copies of the design I can try different ideas without having to redraw. Normally I like redrawing but this is a complex image and time is a factor.

REVEALED: JANUARY KALEIDOSCOPE FINISHED & FEBRUARY PAINTING CHALLENGE!

FINALLY! I feel ready to move on now. I had to finish this painting. I decided to make it look like a quilt square. The tape I used did a great job of keeping the lines clean. There was no leakage underneath. It was important to do the 8th head with as much detail and care as the first. This is a very different image than I have done before. I am interested in hearing how others respond to the multiple image in one painting.

I have been thinking about the February challenge for a while. It got more and more complicated as I thought of more and more interesting elements. Finally, I decided I needed to save some of these ideas for another challenge. So, here is what I decided I wanted to work on this month. I want to put the rest of the 3 requirements that were the January challenge aside for at least a month. We will get back to them but I was sick of this woman and want to do something else for now. I would like to create some paintings using the Pose Maniac website. I am a figurative painter, so this is the subject that gets me excited. It is difficult to paint good paintings when you aren't engaged in the subject. So, if figures aren't your thing, choose a subject that inspires you.

The next thing I want to work on is painting wet into wet. I know how to do it but I want to really focus on this technique. Lately I have been so taken with artists that are masters of wet into wet. I plan to really study their work. Shirley Trevena comes to mind, Don Andrews is a master, Charles Reid has a different way of flowing colors together. The latest issue of Amercian Artist features a father/daughter David and Jae Drummond who do exquisite wet into wet. The latest issue of the Artist Magazine has an article by Brigit O'Connor's florals done wet into wet. I'm sure I will discover many more when I search through my books and magazines. If this isn't a technique that you want to explore, pick your own.

The last thing I am going to focus on this month is shapes. I am not a shape painter so this is an area for greater investigation. Now for the twist! I am going to combine the "shape" element with one additional design element. Each painting will combine "shape" with a different additional element. I am going to start with Shape and Line. I am going to stick to the same image for the month. Your creative muscles get stretched farther this way. I'm excited to get started on this challenge.

To recap: Pick a subject that gets your heart racing, then pick a technique to explore for the month, lastly choose one design element for the month and add a different design element with each painting.

I will be teaching Saturday and Sunday so it will be Monday before I can put brush to paper. I will post my demo and hopefully my students work, with their permission.