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Saturday Status: Works in Progress

First, updates to last Saturday’s status report.

Shell Inlay Box

Gluing the shells to the shell inlay box never happened.  I never felt I had enough time to get it all done at once.

Shadowbox: Rose Tints My World

I did finish painting the very pink shadowbox, and set it aside to dry, and haven’t touched it since.  So it’s time to start the decorating phase.

Sunflower

I completely finished my sunflower.  Here is it.  I took a lot of photos along the way, so there will probably be a step-by-step demo sometime in the future.  Including my misstarts.

Sunflower

Sunflower

In place of the sunflower, I now have on my easel….

Great Blue Heron #2

(I painted Great Blue Heron #1 back in December 2011.)

I take a lot of photos of Great Blue Herons, not only because they are fairly common birds around here year-round, but because I find them fascinating.  They’re large, for one thing, and they allow the on-looker to get quite close sometimes.  And they have a long curvy neck that is almost as much fun to draw as it is watch them fold it into a compact S to fly or stretch it out like a yardstick to peer at a fish beneath the water’s surface.  And they have these huge beautiful wings that at first seem awkward and impossible, but then are so graceful and serene in the air.

Great Blue Heron Flying

Great Blue Heron Flying, Fri 24 Feb 2012, at Occoquan Bay NWR

(I’m saving the flying photo for a future painting, perhaps Great Blue Heron #3).

And finally, I also like these birds because – although they’re called ‘blue’ – they aren’t really blue at all.  They’re some type of slate blue or slate gray or bluish gray that I find satisfyingly challenging to recreate in my painting.

And painting in all the ripples in the water is fun too.

Here’s my underpainting for Great Blue Heron #2, which I did last night.

GBH2 Underpainting

Great Blue Heron #2 Underpainting

And you may have noticed I changed my background image again.  I took this image yesterday at Occoquan Bay NWR.  And if you scroll the post box all the way up, you’ll notice a great blue heron standing in the water, center stage.

Written on February 25th, 2012 , Art, Goals Tags: , ,
Saturday Status: Works in Progress

I’ve got so many things going on it’s not even funny.  It’s almost scary and overwhelming.  So I must refrain from beginning anything else until I can mark something off the list.

Most of these will eventually be turned into step-by-step demo blogs soon, so I’ve been taking photos along the way of everything I’ve done.

Here’s what I’m working on today:

Shell Inlay Box

Today, I’m hot-glueing the shell mosaic onto the box.  This is a photo of me testing out different designs.

Shell Inlay Box
Shell Inlay Box

Shadowbox:  Rose Tints My World

I got this box on clearance at Michael’s for 99¢.  Now it’s very hot pink.  Well, the front half is.  So today I’ll be painting the back half.  Then I can proceed with the decorating.

Shadowbox Front Painted
The front half of the shadowbox is very pink.

Sunflowers on my Easel

The other major thing I’ll show you is the sunflower I’ve been painting. The reference photo is one I took last summer of a rogue sunflower that grew under one of the bird feeders in the backyard.

Sunflower WIP
The Sunflower on my Easel

Medium:  Oil Pastel
Paper:  Portofino Acquerello, 140 lb, Hot Pressed, 20″ x 14″
Primer:  Colourfix
Image size:  18″ x 12″

I just put in the background colors yesterday.  I’m not quite happy with them yet… I can’t decide if they’re too blue-ish, or not blue enough.  What do you think?

Written on February 18th, 2012 , Art Tags: , ,
More About Color

Last Tuesday, I posted a review of Blue and Yellow Don’t Make Green, by Michael Wilcox.  I’d like to share a few more resources on color today.

Yurmby Wheel

Yurmby Wheel

I’d heard of the Munsell Color System before, but never found it helpful. But until yesterday, I’d never heard of the Gurney Journey or the Yurmby Wheel (although the advice in the Wilcox book is similar to the Yurmby Wheel).   The Yurmby Wheel is also used on this Gamut Mask site.

Also, I wanted to include the Color Scheme Designer Website last week, but it was down for some reason.  Now it’s back.

I can only guess that as I continue to have more experience as a painter, I’ll develop a deeper, more intuitive understanding of color.  I’ll eventually remember which mixes work together and which result in mud.

In the meantime, I’ll keep using my swatches and wheels and any other crutches that help me make beautiful paintings.

Written on February 13th, 2012 , Art Tags: , , , ,
Review: Wilcox’s Blue and Yellow Don’t Make Green

Although I love bright bold colors I must admit that when it comes to making art, I’m color-challenged. I seem to have no intuitive sense of color properties, use, or mixing. It took me nearly 5 years of art lessons, for example, to get a handle on the concept of ‘cool’ and ‘warm’ colors. I still need to continually remind myself of the fundamentals.

I rely heavily on homemade swatch samples of all my oil pastels and colored pencils.

Oil Pastel Swatches

My homemade oil pastel swatches

I also use online tools such as this one based on website design.  (There are many more like these to be found through Google.)

Blue and Yellow Don’t Make Green, by Michael Wilcox, brought me a long way toward a better understanding of using color when I’m painting.

It helped me understand why mixing my favorite red and my favorite blue created mud instead of purple. With the help of this book (to which I’m constantly referring), I have a lot less trial and error when trying to find the specific gray or brown I have in mind.

I also learned that the name on the paint label is almost meaningless. What matters is the pigment used in the compound. The pigment is designated by letters and numbers, like PY3 or PB27. The label names given by the manufacturers are not standardized and they can name the hue any fancy name that appeals to them. However, the pigment designations are regulated by the ASTM. It’s the pigment in the tube or stick that makes the hue.

As an example, I have these 2 containers of acrylic paint. Both are Liquitex Basics brand. Both call themselves Cadium Yellow, although the one in the jar is ‘medium’ hue and the one in the tube is ‘light hue.’ (And although actual cadium is no longer used in paints at all.)

Cadium Yellow

Two Cadium Yellows

However, the problem came when I was trying to mix them with various blues and getting drastically different results. When I checked the pigments in the small print, the jar contained PY74 and PY83. The tube contained PY3, which is usually marketed as Hansa Yellow. And even I can tell a difference in the hues when I look at them side by side. But this is a clear example of misleading color names.

For a terrific reference to everything about this, check out the Color of Art Pigment Database. It was also invaluable to me in coming to better understanding paint and color and pigment.

Back to the book. Wilcox fills the book with color images depicting every possible combination an artist will ever need and a series of mixing exercises designed to help you learn the combinations that will yield the results you’re looking for. The book was recommended to me by my art teacher because it had helped her. It helped me. And if you struggle with mixing your paints in any medium, this book can help you, too.

Written on February 7th, 2012 , Art Tags: , , , , ,
HumpDay How-To: Pastel Trays

This isn’t going to be pretty.

I built my pastel tray with no intent of ever displaying it to the world. I put function far above style. I basically needed something to hold all my oil pastels and I refused to pay the high prices for pastel trays that the art supply stores demand.

Formcore is cheap and sturdy, PVA glue is strong, and I already had plenty of both. So I built my own pastel trays.

Pastel Tray

My Pastel Trays

I built the longer, narrower one at the top of the picture first, then decided it wasn’t big enough, nor did it group my colors the way I liked, so I built the larger one. The same simple methods were used for both, so I’ll just describe the larger one.

You’ll need 2 sheets of foamcore. Mine happened to be 3/16” thick, but there’s no reason something a bit thinner or thicker wouldn’t work.

I also used PVA glue, which is what I keep on hand for bookbinding, but I imagine that almost any decent glue that works on paper should suffice.

First, I measured my pastel sticks. I have mostly Holbeins, but also some Cray-Pas and a lot of Sennelier. I added a little to the length of the longest sticks to give them wiggle room and decided 3 1/2” was a good height for each compartment. (Although when I measured them for this blog, they varied between 3 3/4” and 3 5/8”. Precision wasn’t my goal.)

Pastel Tray with Ruler

Showing the Size of One Compartment

As for the width, I think I decided to just divide the piece of foamcore in half. I was more interested in the horizontal divisions. The center vertical was an afterthought.

Using a metal ruler and a mat knife, I cut one sheet of foamcore into long 1” strips. I cut the 4 horizontal dividers plus 2 top and bottom edges all the same length, to fit within the two long vertical side edges.

I drew on the uncut sheet of foamcore where each strip would be placed, based on my measurements, then one at a time I laid down a line of PVA glue and held the piece in place just long enough for it to hold.

Corner Detail of Tray

Corner Detail of Tray

Once the glue dries – which for PVA is fairly quick, a couple hours is plenty long – I put my oil pastels into my preferred color groups. I have had no complaints at all about my foamcore trays. They’re sturdy, stackable, moveable, and I’ve even found them handy for holding binder clips and razor blades.

Razor Blades Stuck in Edge of Tray

Razor Blades Stuck in Edge of Tray

 

 

 

In fact, I imagine that if I needed to transport my oil pastels someplace, I could put another sheet of foamcore (or a mat board) over the top, use large rubber bands to sandwich it all together, and take them with me. Or, I could build a custom fitting lid out of foamcore. I could even have my daughter sew me a custom totebag, exactly the right size, to carry the whole thing with a pad of colourfix paper.

That’s a good idea. I’ll have to get that ball rolling.

 

Written on January 25th, 2012 , Art, How-To Tags: , , , ,

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