Lough Gur, started

I've started a painting of Lough Gur, one of Ireland's most mystical sites. It's a lake near Limerick city, and there is supposed to be a faerie castle--or perhaps a portal to the faerie world--beneath the water.

I underpainted (as usual) with acrylics. This photo shows the landscape colors roughed-in, in oils. I'll be making many changes--some significant--before the painting is completed.

My goal is to combine the sense of natural beauty and suggestions of mystery that make Lough Gur so attractive. I want the water to look fascinating, framed in the wild, untamed landscape around it.

The photo above looks only vaguely like the painting at this stage. For example, the red underpainting doesn't show through the water that clearly. But, I like to show the painting process so that people don't think that--presto--these paintings appear on the canvas, perfect from the very start.

Like the Glastonbury Tor painting in my previous post, this picture was taken when the room was fairly dark. This photo is a little blurry for the same reasons.

Glastonbury Tor, completed?

I think that the Glastonbury Tor painting is completed now. I'll look at it for a few more days before deciding.

This photos is small and a little blurry because I painted while the light was perfect this morning, and then took photos when the sky was dark and overcast. Since I don't use a flash when I take photos of my work, the picture is slightly out-of-focus. Earlier pictures capture the color better, too. But, this photo conveys the mood of it well.

Like almost all of my paintings, this one looks best from about 20 feet away. And, I've already sold it. I absolutely love this painting. It really captures that fresh, slightly wild feeling at the Tor.

Avebury painting, completed

I've completed the Avebury painting. It shows some of the standing stones in the circle. The sky looks magical, with a variety of colors (pale blue, yellow and pink) peeking out through the clouds.

Like all of my oil paintings, this painting looks its best (to me, anyway) from 15 - 20 feet away. It's clearly a neo-Impressionist work.

From 30 feet away, it looks like a photograph.

Up close, it looks like a slightly modern illustration. There's a lot of texture in this work, especially in the clouds.

This unframed painting SOLD for $40. It's on 8" x 16" canvas board. The medium is oil paint.

I will ship it when it's dry, which could be two or three weeks, probably when I return from England around June 15th.

Glastonbury Tor, day 4

After being away from my easel for several days, I took a fresh look at the Glastonbury Tor painting (already sold) and increased the details and contrast in the flowers in the foreground. That didn't work. It made the whole painting "too busy" and detracted from the mid-ground's lovely contrasts plus the focal point of the top of the Tor.

So, I scrubbed off the new layers of paint, but I wasn't happy with the earlier version either. It looked pretty in photos, but in real life... it looked sloppy, sort of.

Now, I've painted over much of the earlier foreground. It looks like long grass in the breeze.

I'm letting that dry, because the painting may be finished. I'd like to try restoring some of the flower suggestions. If the current version is dry when I next work on it, I can scrub down to it if the new flower detailing gets the painting back to a "too busy" impression.

Glastonbury Tor, day 2

I was most nervous about this painting, after the underpainting looked so... well, choppy. And, this is a more complex painting that the Avebury scene that I'm working on at the same time.

When I stopped and looked at this from across the room, my fears vanished. Well, mostly. It's a good painting. (My original photo is immediately to the left of my painting.)

I'd guess that there are still a few days' work in this painting before I decide that it's finished. In addition, I may let this sit--over the weekend--so the paint will start to set.

That serves two purposes:

First, it makes it easier for me to work fresh colors into the painting without disturbing the existing paint too much. In some cases, I'll want to lay the paint over the existing colors. But, with a little elbow grease, I can work paint into the still-tacky layers.

Also, I'm really happy with how this looks. So, if additions to it don't work on the first try, I can carefully wipe them off without disturbing existing work very much.

If you compare my work today with yesterday's underpaintings, you'll see what I'm doing with color. I won't keep posting my work, step-by-step, for every painting; I'm mostly doing this to share the process. This underpainting technique generally works best with oils. Acrylics dry too quickly to get the exact same effects. (That said, there are merits to underpainting acrylics. They're simply different merits since the painting techniques are also different.)

I think that this has been a very good day for art. Even better, I accomplished this during the brief time that we had full sun. I need sun to get the colors right, and I thought that today might be a no-painting day when I saw the sky.

Avebury, day 2

I'm quickly becoming a believer in the value of underpainting, at least for my neo-Impressionist style. I'm also beginning to wonder why I stopped painting for so long.

After yesterday's successful painting, I started to wonder, "Was that a fluke? One of those weird times when the 'first try' is wonderful, and successive efforts don't measure up? Was that painting successful primarily because I've painted that particular scene so many times?"

Well, today's first layer of oil paint on the Avebury standing stones painting... it speaks for itself. It's also nearly completed. It's not a photographic-type painting; it looks best from about a dozen feet away. That said, it looks tremendous a dozen feet away.

I'm especially pleased with the magical effect of the colors in the sky, showing through from the underpainting. I wanted to convey the beauty, simplicity and sense of enchantment at Avebury. I think that I'm succeeding.

Underpaintings - Glastonbury, Avebury

I've just completed the acrylic underpaintings for the two new landscapes.

First, I underpainted the Glastonbury Tor scene, at right.

Generally, I'm working with the opposite colors of what will be on the finished painting. That's obviously not a rigid rule; sometimes I work more intuitively and in the Impressionist style. In the sky area, the yellow-orange will be below blue paint, and the pale blue will be under the white clouds. Orange, not red, is under green areas, and blue-purple under yellow-green and brownish areas.

After that, I worked on the Avebury scene. I'm especially pleased with the composition; that is, what's where, and how the darks & lights fit in the picture.

Again, I'm working intuitively, but generally applying color opposites to broad areas. In this one, I was more careful to emphasize the darks & lights, because they're important elements in this painting.

I let the acrylic underpainting dry overnight. Tomorrow, I'll start the formal (oils) work on these two paintings.

Two sketches and a painting

First, I finished the Kennebunkport (Maine) painting. It's lovely. I'm inspired to work on more landscape paintings from my photos. For me, underpainting appears to be key, but I'll have to see if additional paintings come out as well as this one did.

This oil painting is 8" x 16" on canvasboard. It sold immediately. (Click on the image to see the painting a little larger.)

After that, I sketched two more canvasboards. Both are 8" x 16" as well. I really like this size!

The first one is based on one of my photos of Avebury (England). The standing stones there are among my favorites, and it's one of Europe's largest stone circles.

I think that I'm going to have fun with color in this painting. The light and shadow lend themselves nicely to an oil painting. Standing stones are about as much man-made stuff as I like in my paintings right now.

The other painting will be from my favorite photo of Glastonbury Tor (also in England). I've worked with this photo so much, I need to get a new print made from my negative. There's a small yellow splotch of paint near the top of the Tor photo, and HT thought it was a miniature golf flag or something. *LOL* (He's never been to England.)

I'll probably do a couple of paintings from this photo. I'm not sure whether to emphasize the sky or the glorious landscape leading up to the top of the Tor. In this one, it'll be the landscape.

I wish that I could get to Glastonbury on my upcoming trip to England. I'd love to take more photos of the Tor, for a triptych-style series of paintings. Ah well, my next trip will include time in Glastonbury.

Trial-and-error dollmaking

Instead of working on more paintings, I switched to sewing yesterday afternoon. I'm remembering how to do strip piecing. I'm testing face options. And, in general, I'm gathering my dollmaking supplies and putting them to use again. In some cases, such as my sewing machine, this involves cleaning and general maintenance.

I'm not entirely pleased with this doll as a product, but she's only half completed right now. And, the back of the doll is far more intricately pieced; I didn't leave a large dark area for her face, so the "better" side became the back.

As a learning tool, I'm delighted with what I'm remembering and learning. I'm sure that there's more trial & error ahead, but this is excellent progress.

Mostly, I can't wait to see what this evolves into as I continue to experiment.

Day 2 oil paintings

Oil paintings take days--sometimes weeks--to dry. So, they're often built up in layers over a period of time. The big plus is that, if you add a fresh layer to a dry oil painting and hate the results, you can wipe the new layer off and you're back where you were before.

Even more important: Oil paints usually have far more natural colors for landscapes, compared with acrylic paints. Almost every green that I mix with oils will "look right" in a landscape painting of a wooded area. I can't say that about acrylic paints.

Anyway, today I added the next layer to the snow scene. I have no idea where I'm going with it, but I know that I need the sky and snow scrubbed in. So, that's it on the right. It doesn't look like much, yet, but I like to document my paintings as I work on them.

By contrast, my color study of the salt marsh across from the Bush compound... well, even I am impressed, and I've been painting since I was a little kid. That's it on the left, at the "oil sketch" stage of things. In real life, it looks much better. It's softer and the colors are also more vivid.

That's the painting that I started yesterday, and described it as a "stylized version on canvasboard."

I am really, really pleased with it. In fact, I could probably stop right now and frame it, and it'd look like a million dollars. Well, almost.

I'll keep working on it. I can see a couple of things that I want to change. I've already touched-up a few things since taking that photo. But then, I'll let it dry before doing anything else. As I said, it's nice to be able to wipe off a layer that doesn't work, to get back to a painting that I like. This painting will be for sale when it's completed. Well, maybe. I like it a lot, and I may decide to keep it.

I'm still planning to start some semi-abstracts later today.

Getting past the blocks

Yesterday, I talked about my brain shutting down regarding the semi-abstracts that I want to paint. Then, after a day of searching, I found my copy of Creative Artist by Nita Leland; I knew that it had some abstract references in it. Next to that book, I found my copy of the Aug/Sep 06 International Artist; that's a magazine that's really growing on me now.

I read it again last night.

Two articles in that were exactly what I needed.

In one, the artist talks about creating semi-abstracts from images of water. Well, if you know me, you know that I'm practically obsessed with the beach. The ocean-type beach, that is; not a lake or riverfront, and not the Gulf.

I suddenly understood the photos that I put into my files of references for future paintings. Recently, I'd looked at them and wondered what I'd been thinking, because they don't show anything that anyone else might identify; I know that they're pictures of stones and water and sunlight.

The other article talked about just putting color on the canvas and then figuring out what the suggested subject of the (semi-abstract) painting will be. I'll probably try that, too. I mean, for me, painting is first about color, then about texture, some about design and finally, the subject.

That's always been a struggle for me with my landscape paintings, because I could never seem to convey "what this painting is about" in terms of the focal point of the work. I think that I've been attempting to use something realistic to make a statement more eloquently expressed in a semi-abstract or even an abstract.

[Note: A semi-abstract usually has some sort of subject that you can identify, even if the artist has to tell you what it is and clearly point it out before you can tell that anything's even in the picture... besides color, design, and texture. An abstract usually has a theme, but it does not rely on any realistic images as obvious references.]

So, today I'm rearranging my studio. Suddenly, a lot more clicks into place. A lot more makes sense. And, I'm free to move a lot more stuff to "not now, maybe later" storage and get it out of my way. This is a very good thing, as St. Martha Stewart would say.

Tonal paintings - color opposites

Today, I tried a couple of acrylic sketches based on a photo of one of my favorite salt marshes. It's directly across the street from the Bush compound in Kennebunkport, Maine.

The first sketch is at right, and it's on an irregular piece of corrugated cardboard. The photo is directly below it, propped on my easel.

I'm working with corrugated cardboard for sketches. I cover the cardboard with gesso and paint over that. Since it's informal to start with, I'm more willing to experiment with color and design. Worst case, I throw it out; best case, I'll sell it on Etsy or something, for cheap.

Anyway, I tried a more stylized version on canvasboard. I'm not sure how well I like it, but this is all about experimenting.

What I really want to create are semi-abstracts and abstracts. I'm really in the mood for them, but something in my brain keeps shutting down when I start thinking in this direction. I'm not sure why.

So, pushing myself with these tonal studies in colors almost opposite what will be in the finished version... this is good. It's a step in the right direction.

Four underpaintings - Winter scene

I've been wanting to paint a winter scene from an old issue of Yankee magazine. It's very simple: White snow, grey sky, a single evergreen tree, and a maroon house with snow on the roof.

However, when I started the canvas in oils... ick. You can see it in the photo at left. I stared at that for about three weeks, feeling very uninspired.

Then, I realized the problem: I need a good underpainting to make it interesting. So, I just underpainted one canvas and three pieces of gesso'd corrugated cardboard (for preliminary oil sketches) with Maimeri acrylic paints. The result is at right.

The blue areas will go underneath the white snow. The orange-ish areas are the underpaintings for a flat grey winter sky.

Most people will have no idea that such vivid colors are underneath each landscape, but I'm hoping that these will make a big difference in how interesting the finished paintings are.

Of course, that's why I'll be creating a few oil sketches before I work on the canvas. The canvas is the tall skinny painting in the middle, and it's 6" x 12".

Reorganizing

I've decided to make this my main blog, not just for links. I'm reprioritizing and reorganizing, and generally rethinking how I do what I do, and what's worth my time.

I tend to get sidetracked. HT calls it "Ooh, shiny! syndrome," and he's right. But, that's also how I work on art: I tend to run with an idea and push it past its reasonable limits. Then, having seen what works & what doesn't, I get back to a point where the art makes sense... and I start taking it in a different direction. That's how my art evolves.

Right now, I'm at a stage in my life & art where I'm making broad strokes and big changes.