I Get by with a Little Help from My Friends

Part 2

I took photography in college but now I mostly snap pics on my IPhone. I can compose my shots in the camera giving me good reference to paint from later. Painting outdoors is great, but as I’m painting one thing I see a dozen more things around me I want to paint.

I have friends who are photographers and who are generous enough to allow me to use their photos from time to time as reference for my paintings. They have more patience than I do to get some fantastic shots. This “White Iris” was shot by my friend, Deb Drew Brown, which I turned into paint.

Available at Daily Paintworks: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/689337

“White Iris” 8×8″ oil on canvas 

I Just Can’t Contain Myself

If ever there were a flower bursting with joy it would be the peonies growing behind my deck. When I first moved into this house they were growing on the side of the house. Who could see them there? I moved them right outside my back deck where I can see them from my desk and they have flourished.

I have invited other artists over to paint them, as I just had to share their beauty. I feel like there is a garden party the whole time they are in bloom. I cannot paint them enough.

I present to you “Bursting Peony” available at Daily Paintworks: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/685548

Bursting Peony, 6×6″ oil on panel

Vitamin C

My birdfeeders in my city neighborhood attract a lot of brown Sparrows with a few Blue Jays, Cardinals, Woodpeckers, and when I’m lucky, the brilliant yellow Goldfinch.

My photographer friend, Deb Drew Brown has a backyard that is much more woodsy that attracts a larger variety of birds. She has given me permission to paint from some of her photos including this Baltimore Oriole snacking on an orange on the railing of her deck. This is a brilliant delight against the neutral background of the Michigan winters.

“Vitamin C”, 6×6″ oil on panel

Available at Daily Paintworks: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/648986

Go Figure

When I lived in California I was lucky enough to take a week-long portrait and figure painting, watercolor workshop from world famous artist Mary Whyte. One afternoon we ventured out of the studio to the beach (we were right on the coast in Crescent City) to take some photos of the model. Let’s face it, you don’t normally come across young women dressed like this strolling the beach.

It was a foggy day and the light was strange. The ocean and the sky was a strange, muted yellow green. I painted it once true to the photo, but after the online course I took this past winter, photos are just a reference and I have broken free from trying to reproduce them—a very big breakthrough for me.

Some people don’t like people in their art; others love the human, lively element people add to a painting. Which do you prefer?

“Shell Searcher”, 8×6″ oil on panel, SOLD

“Sandy Walk”, 8×6″ oil on panel, SOLD

Thanks for looking. 🙂

 

Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket

• “Cutting Tulips” oil, 6×8″ available at http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/563353

I was listening to a podcast by the Savvy Painter, Antrese Wood, where she interviews successful artists (http://www.savvypainter.com), and the artist was saying he works on 40 to 50 canvases at a time.

Holy moly!

Well my studio isn’t big enough to do that, but I’ve been working on one piece at a time. Working small and in oil, wet on wet, it generally requires finishing a painting in one session.

Lately though, some of the techniques I want to use haven’t been working and it would seem the paint needs to dry before I apply the next layer. So working on more than one piece would be beneficial.

Also, a fellow artist point out to me that if you are having a problem with a painting and getting frustrated, setting it aside and working on another can 1) build your confidence back up, and 2) going back to the first painting later you may see the problem in a new light and it has solved itself.

Indeed it seems to be working. I started this tulip painting, and then started a beach scene. Came back and finished the tulips and started 2 more beach scenes. Solving problems in one saves time with the next and letting areas dry for a certain texture is working well. I like it.

And One For Good Measure

We got a bonus lesson in week 6, one last photo to paint and to learn the methods of our instructor. I was feeling pretty confident with most of it, applying the techniques I’ve been learning throughout the course.

Then I got to this mass of greenery from the overhanging tree.

First my strokes were too blocky. Wiped that out. Then they were too spikey. Wiped that out. Third time’s the charm? I am happy with the result now. Hey, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

Here is my “pots on a ledge” bonus painting. #DreamLovePaint

The course is over. Now I have to find something new to paint—out there on my own again.

The Magic of Photoshop®

While I’d love to be painting in the south of France in the springtime that’s not always possible (if ever). And while a fresh, white blanket of snow can be pretty, I’m not going out there to paint.

Hence the photographic reference comes into play.

This week’s eCourse Dreama tells us her photo had white shutters but she made them blue in Photoshop^®. I also notice some of the flowers have been squiggled in with some color as well.

I do my best to compose in the camera, trying to get a paintable shot. Photoshop allows me to crop out and add elements to those not so perfect shots and work it out before I even get to the canvas. Every little bit helps.

The photo, after all, is not something to be copied, but a jumping off point for so much more.

Here is my “blue shutters” painting from week 6. #DreamLovePaint

Workin’ It—Continued 2

painting 4

More work on the bottles. More work on the background. Back and forth. Keeping it balanced. Darken the darks. Lighten the lights. Add the reflections. Ooh that pops!

The more I look, the more I see. I can put in too much. Wipe it out and keep it simple in one area. Add some detail in another. I don’t want to get tight. I don’t want to get photographic. I’m finding more and more value in scraping out areas and repainting. I usually say right after I scrape it out, “Oh, I shouldn’t have done that.” But as I’m painting again it always looks better.

Wall of contemplation

Now it goes on my wall of contemplation, so in the evening while I’m reading or watching TV I can keep looking up and see it and in those glances I see things that make me happy or that are just not right.

Painting 5

I thought I was done with this but I see that white beam in the back is bothering me. So more painting is to be done.

To be continued…