PORTRAIT 4: FIRST NATION WOMAN

I had this photo from WetCanvas on the computer for ages and even began this portrait once but never finished it.  This time I went in and tried to have a light hand (lately my brush has been too heavy to get good portraits).  You may have seen this portrait in other places since it's a copyright free photo from WetCanvas (by Crias) and several people have used it.  

There are a lot of portraits in the WetCanvas IRL (Image Reference Library) to use, but I'd rather use ones I might be able to do something with if it turns into a good one.  So...I'll use family and friends mostly.  The problem, of course, is that most photos of people are taken inside with a flash :(So...if you want me to give your portrait a try and you have a good photo in the sun - with some good lights and darks - send it to me and I'll try.  I can't promise anything (remember, this is still very much a learning phase so I have good ones and then horrible ones!!)  And the eyes - need to work on those eyes because if they aren't set right, they look wonky!

MINERVA'S DAUGHTER - FINISHED

Here she is, the pretty lady of the sea, Minerva's Daughter. 

Now on to more portraits - I still am not getting Alaina's the way I want it - so more practice is needed...or more manipulation...or maybe a different photo that shows some shadows and sunlight.

GOODBYE, GEORGE

We had our red-eyed tree frog, George for over 4 years and he was probably about 6 year's old.  A pretty good age for a RETF in captivity.  He was a great model and a beautiful pet (although not the kind you could hold in your lap and pet often). 

George had been suffering from a skin condition for a few months and it wasn't getting better, no matter what Jerry did for him.  In the last few days, he stopped eating and seemed very swollen. 

We found him on his cage floor yesterday evening.

Goodbye, George.  You sure were a beautiful little guy. 

PORTRAIT 3 = ALAINA:COLORBLOCK GIRL

I took the portrait that wasn't working and washed it down with a heavy spray of clean water.  Then, while it was still wet, went in with Caran d'Ache watercolor crayons (I have a set of 10).  I wanted to color the background like Alaina might color it - blocks of color in primary, bright colors. 

Then as the paper was drying, I touched in some areas in the hair and lips and eyes. 

Portrait Three.
Alaina: Colorblock Girl

I was hoping to have Jocelyn's and Alaina's portraits done, matted and framed for their birthday party tomorrow but that isn't going to happen.  Maybe I'll photocopy these for birthday cards and hold the real paintings for another time.

PORTRAIT TWO - ALAINA ILLUSTRATION

I redrew this onto the hotpress watercolor paper and then lightly added some color after I went over the graphite lines with pigma ink.  It's more of a pen and ink with watercolor portrait.  I'm still working on the traditional watercolor portrait of her but I like the cleanness of this one.  What do you think?  She may like it because it's so different from Jocelyn's portrait and while she likes to be able to do everything her older sister does, she also likes to be different...you know girls...

Here's the start of the traditional watercolor portrait (second try at this one)...




(Blogger has made another change to how you post photos and the top bar is different - I have to say I LIKE IT!  The photos go right where you have your cursor and you can resize and position it after you put it in the post!)

PORTRAIT TWO

Alaina has very interesting features. She doesn't look like the 8-year-old she is but already has hints of the beautiful woman she will become. Those older-than-eight features are a bit more difficult to capture than her sister's age appropriate, 10-year-old features. So...I started and made a mess so am starting again, focusing on the drawing a bit more (and bigger so her face fills the 1/2 sheet on which I'll be painting).

For my portrait challenge, you'll be getting the bad along with the good. Here's the first feeble efforts...

Went too pink too quickly - looking a bit like a little clown-girl in this one. So I tried to tone down the colors...and went too muddy. Plus I kept carving away the face so it's so tiny!!

The do-over is sketched out on tracing paper (so I can trace it onto the watercolor paper). Tried to get the face a bit larger, wide mouth more smiling. I think this one has a better chance of succeeding when I pick up the paint brush.

Each stroke of the brush, when doing portraits, is a learning experience. You learn: yes, do that, it works well. Or: Ugh! Stop now! That doesn't work. You think about colors, temperature, values, and also have to get the shapes right - the shapes of the eyes, the nose, the mouth, the distances between them...so much to think about and try to get just right. It can be tiring. But when it does come together and you think you've got it, it gives you a real rush that your hard work paid off.

For a child, a light touch is necessary. But Alaina has a very forceful personality and I want that to come out in this painting. I hope I can do that without overworking it and making her look too old.

A CHALLENGE FOR MYSELF

Every time I paint a portrait, I know I need more experience in painting portraits. But I just go off and do something else. Well, how do you get better at something: you do it more often. Just ask any musician, dancer or artist.

So I'm creating my own personal challenge to myself to paint more portraits. Now, I'm NOT going to say I'll do a portrait a day because I know that's not reasonable for me. So maybe

One Week = One Portrait.

And, knowing me, it won't be the only thing I paint in a week but it won't pressure me so much I'll give up early. I want this challenge to last for a month or two...or three.

We'll see...wish me luck with a good helping of determination.

And I'm using this one as Portrait One:

(Hope you still like it, Teresa!)

MINERVA'S DAUGHTER + MY FRIEND, TERESA

Drove over to Deb Ward's again Thursday and spent the day painting, talking, eating, painting, talking, etc. I got to see some work Sharon had done and we told her the ones we'd put in the Viewpoint Show. Some really wonderful work that shouldn't have a problem getting in at all.

While there, I worked more on the mermaid. I'm calling her Minerva's Daughter...she's almost done.







I also took out an older start of a portrait of my friend, Teresa, and spent some more time on it. I'll work more on it to finish it soon.

Jerry took some photographs of the paintings I'm going to enter into Viewpoint. I hope one gets in (you can enter 3 but only 1 will get in). I'll get the cd done and ready to mail out Monday. No reason to wait for the deadline of August 31.

MERMAID DREAMS

The only way to stay cool these days is to stay in the water. This mermaid knows all about that and she's staying very comfortable under the water.

You may remember the sketch from a year or so ago...I did this by first doing a drawing from a life drawing session, then coming home and playing with lines and shapes on it.

Then I did a colored version on Yupo.

And now I've begun another - this time on Twinrocker watercolor paper. I'm still trying to get lots of texture in the painting by using granulating colors and mixing them to granulate even more.

HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU?

Hot as blue blazes!!
99F is too hot!
I should be cranking the air up and painting. But I'm not. I'm still tired.

Did you know that low levels of Vitamin D can cause fatigue and achiness and other problems? I just found out I have very low Vitamin D - we are all at risk for this now because:

1. We don't stay out in the sun a lot
2. If we are in the sun, we have on 50 SPF sunscreen

So, for years they tell us stay out of the sun and now we're all becoming Vitamin D deficient. It's the latest concern in the medical journals.

I'm going to have to take mega-doses of supplements and see if I begin to feel better. Also, I'm back on my LOW FAT diet since my cholesterol is up higher than it's ever been. It's a good thing there are so many low fat things to eat these days - and if that's true, why are we still a nation of obese people? Did you know that American girls are starting puberty now as early as age 8?? Why? They think it has something to do with obesity and our high fat diets.

(Your Vitamin D level should be between 30-80 with a nice level being around 50. Mine is 24 - oops - time to go sunbathing on the deck in my polka-dot bikini and my RayBans!).

That's my medical news for the day.

Now I really should GO PAINT...

TIRED

How can you be so tired when you haven't done anything all weekend? Other than about an hour of yardwork and grocery shopping, I did nothing the whole weekend. And yet I'm tired today. Must have been all those insane and very complicated dreams I was having this morning - I was doing so much in my dreams, I woke up tired! ha ha

Deb Ward and I are meeting the bad boy of watercolor, Nicholas Simmons, for dinner tonight after he'd done with his 4-day workshop at the Greentree Studio in Lawrenceburg, IN (Sandy Maudlin's studio). Just to catch up with what he's been doing. Nick and I have been blog buddies for a few years now - I "met" him when he first came upon the scene at WetCanvas and caused such a stir with his fluid acrylics. I told Sandy about him and she's had him come over to IN and give 2 workshops so far.

(I may have to take a nap before going out! ha ha)

REWORKING AN OLDER PAINTING

This was something I did over a year (or more) ago. Gessoed watercolor paper and then watercolor on that. Deb loaned me her Caran d'Ache watercolor crayons to use. I put down a piece of all media plastic you can draw or paint on (and wipe right off) to see where the lights should be lifted and the darks should go and what colors to add. Then I decided I'd just use the crayons on the painting. This added even more texture to the piece and it's still watercolor.

Title: A Whirlwind Romance

Now I've decided I need a large box of 30 Caran d'Ache watercolor crayons like Deb had - to be able to use all those beautiful colors!

GOOD EYES

I got a lot out of painting with Deb and Sharon yesterday, and it didn't even storm (like it was predicted to do). They both have good eyes - critiqued some work I'd done and told me little things that would make it more finished. Both Sharon and I are trying to choose what we might try to get into the Viewpoint Show (deadline August 31) and extra eyes help - especially when those extra eyes are artist's eyes.

Here are a couple of the crow paintings I was doing. I think the changes made brought them to a better finish - thanks for the ideas, Sharon and Deb :)

And the deck chairs - this is the one I cropped and still hated the waves that didn't work so Sharon suggested I just use a gouache on the water and push it all back. I used white gouache mixed with a Verditer Blue and it seemed to calm that a lot. It looks flat so it definitely won't be one I'll try to get into the show. But I consider more resolved now.

These aren't the ones I'll try to get into the show - you'll have to check back to see those.

Deb worked on her casein painting of her grandmother's teapot and some roses.

I didn't get a photo of Sharon's work - she had a drawing she was doing and then using frisket film over it but didn't get any painting done while I was there. Next week she'll bring some things for us to critique and say which ones should be entries for Viewpoint.

PAINTING WITH OTHERS

I plan to drive out to Deb Ward's place in the Indiana countryside to paint with her and Sharon today. We'll critique each other, give each other extra eyes and help along the way and probably laugh a lot.

Here are some photos I took during the watercolor society demo and talk Deb gave yesterday on painting with casein. Casein is a milk based paint and I found it had a very strong ammonia-like smell to it (or maybe it was like turps). The paint doesn't move and flow like watercolor or fluid acrylics - it pretty much sits where you put it even when you prewet the illustration board before putting the paint on. It is an ancient painting substance, having been found on the walls of the Egyptian pyramids. So when it's dry, it lasts! You can layer over it to get the look you want but you don't want to paint thickly with it or it will crack as it dries. Deb varnishes her paintings when she is done so she doesn't have to use glass when she frames them.

Four of us stayed after the program (I think the terrible heat kept a lot of members at home today because it was a smaller crowd than usual, even with our annual art supply sale going on).

Deb gave us dabs of the casein and paper plates to use as palettes, and an 8x 10 piece of illustration board to paint on. We copied a drawing she'd done of pears on lace.

Everyone (but me) wanted to try the lace. Deb does lace like you've never seen - you feel as if you can reach out and pick it off the canvas/board - but lace is not my thing so I decided to play it safe.

<--- Jo

and

Jane --->

had some colorful pears and a good start on their lace cloth.

Sally wowed us all with her light touch and beautiful modeling of the pears...

And Deb's were beautiful, of course, as she built up the colors and shape, bit by bit...

While yours truly rushed through like a monkey on a ten-speed bike, going too dark, too intense, too much, too whatever.

I did not get pretty colors like Sally, Jo, Jane, and Deb did. I also didn't even try the lace since I know I'm not a lacy girl and wouldn't benefit from learning how to do this (which Deb says is just painting "what isn't lace").

I'm going to finish mine up with acrylics. I used to have, somewhere in my art room, some traditional acrylic paints. I can't find them. Don't know if I gave them away or took them somewhere and lost them...or where they disappeared. Maybe they'll turn up someday. I had quite a few although I never used them.

THE PAINTING INSIDE DOESN'T MATCH THE PAINTING OUTSIDE

Wherein lies the weak link when the painting inside your head doesn't match the painting you create on your paper or canvas?

There was a missing link here. This was something to piddle with while waiting for inspiration (or lack of fear) to kick in on the deck chairs no. 3 painting. I think I had no clear idea how to do the water...so did it last. (So I guess I've answered my own question about where the disconnect lies - in the planning of the WHOLE painting before beginning to touch that paint.) The water should be darker, more watery, and have more movement against the static pads and stems and shadows.

Oh, sometimes I think I just paint and shut off my brain as soon as I pick up the brush. I think I'll try this one again, with much darker water and much lighter stems and pads.

Perhaps there's something percolating inside that wants to come out but isn't quite making the connection...

Oh, well, today I'll go see Deb Ward at the watercolor society meeting where she'll demo and talk about how she works with casein. I think I'll stay and paint along with her and some others after the meeting, just to see how it works. I've never used it but she does wonderful, glowing paintings with them, using a glazing technique.

PAINTING

Monday was my Sweetie's birthday so I spent the day with him. Took him to lunch at his favorite seafood place. Ran some errands. Just spent time together. It was a fun day for both of us. Made this little on-the-monitor birthday card for him, using one of his photos of a sea turtle taken at the Newport Aquarium...

Here's a wonderful photo he took. He has back-stage access, being a volunteer for the aquarium for so many years.

I wonder if the fact that he was born in San Jose, California, has anything to do with this love of the sea and all the critters in the sea?

Oh, and I did sneak an hour or so to paint to I'm sticking to my rules of GO PAINT :)

WHEN YOU RETURN

Added a few finishing touches to When You Return to that Place of Loss. It's done. I hope you like it and I left enough of the painting to speak for itself...






This is fluid acrylic and collage on 1/2 sheet Arches. (Click to enlarge and see the collage bits better.)

And as you know, I have tossed the deck chairs over the railing in frustration at myself for cutting into the whites too much, trying to make the shadows too dark, losing that gorgeous color mingling I had. So...version number 3 is on the board and started but I think I'll wait to share until I see that this one might make it! Thanks for staying through the changes in this one. It might become a good painting someday.

GO PAINT!!!

While checking out some blogs and finding more new blogs from sidebars of blogs I was visiting, I came upon this:

TEN STEPS TO BECOMING A PAINTER
Paint.
Paint more.
Paint even more.
Paint even more than that.
Paint when you don’t want to.
Paint when you do.
Paint when you have something to paint.
Paint when you don’t.
Paint every day.
Keep painting.

It is from Kelly at http://www.sableandsquirrel.com and since she took the thought from a writer who was writing about how to be a writer, I don't think she'd mind if I shared it with you here.

So...what are you waiting for? Go PAINT!

(And that's what I'm going to do - since I have ruined the deck chairs and shadows painting again. Third time is the charm. I will get this right. Or will it be like those silly cows I tried 5 times and never got right?)

A BIT MORE WORK ON 2

Added a bit of collage - bits of writing (I liked that you can actually read the word "regret" on one piece since it ties in with the title of this one), stamps I've collected, a butterfly, a bit of music. Small bits to move the eye around. It still needs some darks here and there but this one isn't talking to me - maybe I have to be in that same mood again as when I started it?

When You Return to that Place of Loss

15" x 22" 140# Arches

DaVinci and Golden fluid acrylics

Collage

And I finally felt up to adding a bit on the deck and shadows painting. I didn't like the pure white on the deck so dirtied it up a bit and then added just a pale wash of a warm yellow to give it a glow instead of looking untouched. Okay, I admit it - I LOVE pure white on others' paintings but on mine they just make me think I've left it undone!

i

The temperature has cooled down to a very nice 65F at night so the morning and afternoon were very nice, indeed. I wish it would remain this way...but that won't happen.

DEX NO. 10 WITH COLLAGE BITS

Taking a cue from Myrna, I first drew the figure onto the paper, then collaged bits on top of that and redrew using just paint and a brush, trying to get the shapes to show a figure. Nothing much more. I like this one. The collage bits give it an extra dimension - make it look more finished and thought out.






I returned to the full figure because I didn't really want to work with just a portrait (and a badly done one, at that) from No. 9.

BUILDING VALUES SLOWLY ON THE DECK

Slowly building up the values - need darker in the railings to the left but wanted a warm underglow first. I remember reading that a cast shadow is 40% darker than the object casting the shadow. I think the railings are that dark, too. More work to do on the darkest shadows on the deck - just some cleaning up shapes.

Leaving the chairs until last. Taking my time? Or have I just lost my enthusiasm?

HERE GO - MORE VARIATIONS...OR NOT

It's hard for me to really break away and vary things from the beginning drawing I have in my mind (even though it's at the bottom of the pile now and I'm using the last one to create the latest one - if that makes any sense). So...I need to take some time with these and not just slap-dash them out. Think about line, design, values, color and composition (all that good stuff) - and detour maybe with one thing at a time?

So far, I've liked No. 4 the best - and it was more design-oriented with no color, just black and white.

But here are Nos 6, 7, and 8.


No. 6 was on Tyvek paper and it went through a lot of changes (at one time, he became a she and a mermaid but I didn't like it so I wiped it all back off the paper, leaving just the stains).



No. 7 was in my little sketchbook while watching something on TV. Got into doodles and things and left out a lot. I like it, too.

And then No. 8 went back again, working from a "print" of No. 6 so it's flipped. Then playing with pointillism.












































And No. 9 is on a square scrap of 140# watercolor paper with just graphite, charcoal and a bit of conte crayon to draw it. So the body is gone...just the head remains..and he was so bored, I put him to sleep!

Perhaps time to get out some collage like Myrna did?

(And, I don't know where that huge honker came from - it just developed and spread more and more - not a very attractive guy!)

WHEN YOU RETURN TO THAT PLACE OF LOSS

Saturday I woke up and felt off. Something sad going on. Unsure why. Worry, sadness, whatever. The title came to be first and then the colors.

When You Return to That Place of Loss

(1/2 sheet Arches 140# paper, fluid acrylics)

Unfinished. I know it has farther to go...

MORE CHINESE WHISPER DRAWINGS

No. 4 of the drawing challenge (from Myrna Wacknov), went in a totally different direction.


I like the linear quality and the design elements and his hair which started as squares and then became filled in squares that show the tight, curly look of his hair. This was a fun one but I had to stop before I did too much. Because the lines were the main thrust, left out any color on this one.






And then, after a day's rest from No. 1-4, I did No. 5. I don't like it as much...I need to make changes that seem logical to me but kind of jumped on this one back one step. Perhaps more linear work...or just a splash of color...or...could be something interesting next. I used Tyvek paper and a really big, thick, water soluable graphite stick for the drawing tool on this one and then added the color.

A couple of people have called this Chinese Whispers - like the game. I never knew what the name was but you start by saying a sentence in a person's ear...they then pass the sentence on to the next person...and so it goes down the line...at least 5-10 people later and you have something different. So this is what Myrna and I are doing with this drawing challenge = Chinese Whispers Drawings :)

Where will the next drawing - based on nothing but this drawing - go? I think I should put down the brushes and use just pencils, crayons, etc. and get some more work into them - now they seem a bit slap-dash. (I said I wasn't going to critique these but just let them take me where they will after 10-20 versions and I've already broken that rule.) Myrna is using collage in her latest ones!

BACK OUT ON THE DECK

My do-over the deck chairs, deck and shadows. I think the calmer sea and beach works better for this (and I'm not just saying that because it was much easier to do this one!).



















I didn't glaze a pale yellow wash over this one before I began putting on the masking fluid so it's lots of pure white. I want to maintain a lot of that white this time and I'm changing the color of the chairs.

NOT RUSHING + A CHALLENGE FROM MYRNA

I'm not rushing the do-over, and not accepting anything less than what makes me happy for this one.



And while I'm letting this one slowly come together, I've chosen the drawing I want to begin Myrna Wacknov's challenge with. I drew something last night but it was cheesy. This morning I knew which one I wanted to start with - this drawing from a live figure class I took. Myrna's challenge is to begin with a drawing from a photo or life...then draw using that drawing as reference, nothing else...and continue this process through several mutations. Who knows what you'll come up with in the end? Check out her blog to see what she is working on and what she ends up with after - did she say 50?? - drawings from drawings.


Here's my first drawing which I will use as the base for the next one. I'm not giving myself a deadline for this - just drawing from the previous drawing until I'm exhausted with it.

If you think this is crazy, just see what you can do with this kind of challenge - go over to Lisa Walsh's blog and see her bears (and congratulate her on her 100th post). Lisa is creating some wonderful things by just using different mediums and supports and thinking and talking about color, value, etc.

Here are the first drawings as they mutated from the beginning drawing...

This one (No. 2) was done with a 6B graphite pencil on very slick paper. No blending or erasing (I found out later).

And No. 3 was on drawing paper - a nice sheet of Rives or Somerset (I had purchased for printmaking), using a Tombow marker that bleeds nicely.

And No. 4? Well, you'll have to return to see it tomorrow!

(These are all on 1/2 sheet sizes - about 15" x22" - so far.)