HAPPY THANKSGIVING, NOW BACK TO WORK!

I am happily back in the studio.  I managed to get 3 more bozzettos painted today.  I am going to present them one at a time!  Not much of the painted collage papers are winding up visible, but I think they still have an impact on the total piece.   This is Scott, our nephew.  He was just learning to read when we got married 50 years ago and now he has more grey hair than I do.  Ah, what a miracle hair dye is! 

A wonderful family celebration a few weeks ago netted some great photos for my files.  I do get tired of  painting my own face.

WHAT LIES BENEATH!

I had only enough time today to paint this one 5 x 7 rectangle.  Right now I am only using 3 colors: white, ultramarine and burnt sienna.  The white and sienna are heavy open acrylics but the blue is an acrylic ink.  I am trying to leave the tone of the under layer showing through but I am having to make corrections along the way which results in covering up.  I am not drawing the image before painting but just massing in the shapes with light value and dark value while leaving the paper as the mid value.  I am going to leave the white alone for now.  When all nine sections are complete, I will evaluate the overall effect and possibly glaze much of the white.   So far I am pleased with the effect.

Traveling again over the weekend but then back at work on Tuesday.  

PREPPING!

I can't believe I have not posted in so long!  I have been doing a lot of traveling and a little art.  We are traveling again over the weekend but then I will be home for quite a while and I look forward to making progress on designing my new workshop.  I am very excited about the idea of incorporating a digital app program for the iPad or iPhone in the workshop.  I am using PS Touch which is an inexpensive version of Photoshop Elements for digital media.  I have been using my iPad mini to take photos more and more because the image is instantly available for playing.  I also use my regular digital camera because does a better job or photography, but for my purposes, the iPad mini is pretty good.   I am particularly fond of the "Charcoal" setting because it breaks down the image into 3 values in an artful way.  I like working from a black, white and gray image because it gives me free reign on color choice.  I decided to create a painting where the medium value would be represented by collage papers and then I would pop in the darks and hit it with the highlights.  I spent part of today creating the collage mid values on a false start painting that had been divided into nine  5 x 7 segments.  Depending on how these go, I will create a large single image painting with this idea. 

I have a lot of fun making these little abstract backgrounds.  Here is a closeup of one of them.  Somehow, It is a lot easier for me to work this scale than really big when it comes to collage.

THE AMAZINGLY VERSATILE TYVEK!

TYVEK STENCIL

I discovered through some meanderings on the web, that TYVEK is a good stencil material.  The timing was perfect for my next painting.  I have been struggling with creating a portrait with just a few simple shapes, so I created a NOTAN (black/white) image from a photograph I took with my iPad by running it through a filter in Photoshop Elements.  It is important that the shapes be interesting.  Since I was going to create a stencil, either the positive or the negative needed to be linked so the piece would hold together.  Most stencil material is not very large, so this was an exciting discovery.  I created a simple grid so I could enlarge the image and drew it with a watercolor crayon.  I could easily make changes and corrections by wetting and rubbing out the mistake.  I used a Darice Ultimate Crafting Tool that has 8 metal tips, one of which is for stencil cutting and has a very fine point with a bent tip making it very easy to see what you are doing.  I had a heat proof sheet underneath the TYVEK to protect the support surface.  It was like cutting butter with a hot knife!  If you want to make smaller stencils, you can get free TYVEK envelopes at the Post Office.

GESSO SCRAPED THROUGH THE TYVEK STENCIL

The next step was to scrape gesso through the stencil which had been placed over a failed painting I had worked on YUPO.  I used a lace doily to texture the gesso.  When the gesso had totally dried, I started painting with Dr. Ph Martin's Spectralite Acrylics.  

                                       

At this stage I discovered the shadow side of the head was not quite right but not much could be done about that!  Working on YUPO created some interesting challenges and effects.  Here is the final result.  I may tweak it a little more tomorrow, but basically, I am ready for the next challenge.

TYVEK PORTRAIT FINISHED!

METAMORPHOSIS!

IDLE HANDS - FINISHED

 I am working on a new workshop which will be all texture in portraiture.  I am developing examples to accompany the lessons.  This is the finished result of my first exercise.  Of course it is nothing like what I had originally intended, so it will probably work for a different example or I may change my idea of how the course will start out.  Interesting how that brilliant idea you have in your head doesn't want to cooperate when you try to execute it.  

The painting started out as a string drawing on fresh watercolor paper.  I used permanent ink as I didn't want the lines to run.

IDLE HANDS STEP 1

I scraped gel medium onto the paper making sure to leave some of the original paper exposed.  I then stamped various textures into the gel.  I knew the gel would dry clear , leaving my original drawing visible.  I was happy enough with the drawing.  I practiced two or three times to make sure I would have something I wanted to work with.

When the gel dried, I painted the image with the new Golden High Flow liquid acrylics.  They are very transparent and look like glazes.  

IDLE HANDS STEP 2

Now the problems started.  I liked some of the textures, especially the lace in the face and hands but way too much texture and the color was to high key.  I was trying to avoid gluing any collage papers down but that was what I decided to do.  Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph the stage with the collage on top.  I used a commercial patterned tissue for the garment and solid colored tissue for the other areas.  It was commercially dyed which meant not light safe, but I figured I would be covering over it enough that it would be okay.  I like tissue because of it's transparent qualities.  After that dried, I glazed over the tissue to unify the piece and then scraped white full bodied white acrylic to re-establish my light pattern.  I was trying to use credit cards and coffee stirrers  along with a plastic palette knife to apply the paint because I like broken color and irregular marks rather than smooth blended passages.

IDLE HANDS STEP 5

                                      

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD!

CHRISTINA

I was able to attend a live model session at the Palo Alto Art Center for the first time in a very long time.  I usually go for the entire day,  but only managed to get to the afternoon session this time.  I lucked out because both of the models were great.  This sketch of Christina was my favorite for the day.  It was a 10 minute pose, the longest of the afternoon.  They started with one minute poses, then two minutes, five minutes, 10 minutes for a few then back down the scale.  Christina is my favorite model.  She has a tiny waist and very full hips which are easy to exaggerate, plus a charming face that reminds of the woman in the painting Madame X.  She creates very graceful, interestingly poses and can hold them without shifting.  Being a good model is a true talent in itself.  The other model had a longer, leaner body but also very graceful and immobile during the pose.  She reminded me of a Renaissance painting, or perhaps straight off the canvas of an Andrew Wyeth masterpiece.  

I took only a pad of newsprint and a new drawing material, the Art Graf tailor's chalk shape  black carbon.  You can dip it in water for even richer darker marks.  I know I could get more beautiful results with better paper, but I wanted to just try it out to see how it handled.  The beauty of this drawing tool is how you can get fine lines using the edge and wide marks by turning it in your hand plus a range of values.  It didn't take long to loose the sharp edge.  I will have to experiment to see how to get that back.  

Here is one of the one minute drawings when the carbon chalk still had the sharp edge.

1 minute study

The rest of the drawings are 5 and 10 minute studies.  I didn't feel the portraits captured them very well.  It was difficult to draw small precise shapes with the carbon.

10 minute study 

10 minute study

5 minute study

5 minute study

TOO DELICIOUS NOT TO SHARE!!!

Art comes in many forms.  Cake decorating at it's highest level is an unbelievable sculptural marvel!  One of my favorite websites is called Cake Wrecks.  During the week they expose in a hilarious way, the professional wreckage of inept cake decorators but on Sunday they showcase stunning masterpieces of edible sculpture.  I had to share today's entries because they are all based on famous paintings.  This creativity and artistic talent needs to be seen by as wide an audience as possible.   These creations were meant to be eaten but I can't imagine cutting into one.  It would feel like a desecration! Go to the link below to see some of the best.  It takes the Cake!

http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2013/9/15/sunday-sweets-fine-art-cakes.html