Wig Woman 4

This is pastels on maroon suede mat board. Process shots above.

Ok, I am tired of painting wigged women! Still deciding on which one to send to Karin.

Wig Woman 3

This was just a quick watercolor that I did this evening. Real hard for me to control watercolor paint to do 'hair'.

Still planning on trying a pastel before I submit my entry to Karin.

Wig Woman 2

This is attempt #2 using Karin's photo for the challenge. This is watercolor on Arches 140# cold press. I really like this one.

I plan on trying one more in pastel before the deadline, but I am off to cut mats and frame some previous works. There are several local shows this spring that I plan to enter and I need to decide which pieces might be the best to enter.

Conquered!

Finally I feel like I had some success on Yupo! I used the photo from Karin's challenge. I tried to be more patient and let the paint dry before moving to another area. Since I have a week and a half before the challenge is due, I plan on playing around with some other compositions before I decide which one to send to her.

Boys at the Pump

I changed my mind and decided to paint a different closeup view from my last posting's composition.

I decided to try Judy Treman's technique from "Building Brilliant Watercolors" for using a purple for an underpainting. I've always been a big fan of monochromatic painting, so its hard to move on to real color.

Then I started adding the local colors.

More color. I really like how the kids and the pump look at this point. I changed the navy sweatshirt to red to bring more attention to the kid.
But had to finish the background and the pump is a bit lost now, but the boys were to be the main focal point of the painting.

New Idea?

I've been experimenting. I have a number of photographs which I took at Slate Run Historic Farm Metro Park last year, which were really interesting, of kids playing with an old fashioned water pump. I've been wanting to try painting them, but was intimidated by having some many people in the photo.

Below, you may recognize two parts of this photo. I painted the water cans in November here. And the little girl here. (Although it was a slightly different view of her looking down at the water pail instead of at the boys.) In this photo, I have actually combined a couple different shots into one in Photoshop, because I liked how the blond boy on the bottom left was hanging on the pump handle. I had a third photo that I wanted to add, of the woman walking in from the left, instead of standing at the right. But after playing around with it, I like this composition best.

My next concern was that I tend to rush into a painting and don't think ahead about the color selections. I've been studying many paintings online to try to understand the use of color in composition - which colors catch the eye, which combination of colors appeal to me and just why the work together. I know academically why they work when I see a piece someone else has painted, but I tend to forget all that when I paint for myself. So this time, I thought I would go at it a different way and SLOW DOWN.

I got a brilliant idea (at least I thought it was - haha). I decided to take the above photo, change it to black and white and make it look like a line drawing. I am lazy, I hate to make study sketches by hand and since I work on a computer most of the day, I thought I'd try this. Within Photoshop, I told it to print multiple photos, 4 at 4x5 inches on one page. I tried to print it out on the laser printer on 140lb watercolor pape, but my printer didn't like the thickness of this, so I ended up printing it on standard card stock. (I bought some 90lb watercolor paper yesterday, and intend on trying that today. Don't try this on ink jet printers, it won't work since the ink is water soluble.)

See photo below (as always, you can click on the photo to enlarge it.).

Yesterday, I played around with colors and composition on the card stock. It actually worked out pretty well as long as I didn't use too much water. You can see an unpainted print in the upper right. As far as the composition in general, I was bothered by the house in the background middle, and wanted that area to be diffused and less noticable, although I liked the porch railings to the left. I like the composition of the bottom left the best with the side of the house removed. I will add some indistinct shapes in the back later.

I wanted to draw most of the attention to the two boys. I was trying different color combinations of red and yellow to draw your eye there first. I think I like best the bottom boy in a red sweatshirt and the standing boy with a yellow hat. There are still lots of things I'd like to try, and will continue to work on these studies until I get the nerve to start the larger piece.

Has anyone used a technique like this to get started with a painting? It reminds me of the old fashioned way of hand painting color into a black and white photograph.

Finger Paints

I tried all weekend to complete a painting on Yupo. The good thing about this material is, if you hate it, all you have to do is wipe it back off! Let's just say, I wiped off everything I applied. It was very frustrating. I even looked at several demos online showing how to work with it, but it just felt like playing in finger paints on wax paper..... So I give up.

I did sketch a new watercolor on Arches cold press and hope to start that one soon.

Different Strokes Painting - Victorian

I'm not a fan of painting architecture. There is something about the precise lines and fussy details that I can't seem to master with a paint brush. But to keep up with my watercolor skills I gave it a shot.

First, I tried using some Fredrix Watercolor Canvas which I had in my stash. Bad idea, it was no fun and very frustrating. So I brought out my favorite Arches Aquarelle 140# cold press block. Much better but it still didn't help with my aversion to painting lines... so I used watercolor pencils to add some details.

Pastel - Lake Erie Marsh

Experimenting. This is a photo from my friend Cindy who took it near Lake Erie. I had attempted to use Pastelbord in the past, and wasn't too happy with it, but thought I'd give it another shot. Below is the progression of my work. First is the photo, followed by the first strokes of harder pastel on the Pastelbord over top of a previous work that was going to be peaches on a plate.

Next, covering the surface with blocks of color.

Then, I thought I'd try using an alcohol wash as I've seen done by others. I was surprised how much it took away, but liked how it embedded the pigment into the board.
First pass with softer pastels.
Continuing with soft pastels.
Final painting. I wasn't able to add as much detail as I had wanted, because the pastel seemed to lay on the surface as the board was full. But looking at it online, it looks pretty good.

Lake Erie Marsh, 8" x 10"

Different Stroke Painting of the Week - Jefferson Memorial

Here's my pastel of Karin's photo of the Jefferson Memorial at night. Process shots shown below. I started out with maroon sueded mat board.

Karin didn't post my image and had a note on her page she was having an issue with some photos she was receiving.... so below is a scanned image instead of a photo (above), which I will send on to her. Amazing what difference from one monitor to another it makes.

Portrait #5 - Pastel on Sueded Mat Board

I've decided this is the one I will submit to Karin's challenge. Although it really doesn't look like the gal in the photo, this one really appeals to me because it LOOKS like a painting. The first one in the posting "Portrait #1" more closely resembles the model, but it looks more like a PHOTO to me.

This one is about 10" x 12" on white sueded mat board (although the first two photos show it cream). I really like this one. I can't decide if I like this one full size or cropped as in the last photo.

I would really like your input as to which of the 5 different portraits (from the last several posts) you like the best and why? Thanks!

Portrait #4 - 15 Minute Exercise

Here is a quick 15 minute pastel done on my favorite surface - sueded mat board - like working on 'budda'... I like this alot, although it really doesn't look like the model. This is about 4" x 7". This was a warm up exercise to the next entry which turned out pretty good too.

Portrait #3 - Watercolor on Cold Press

Well, here is my attempt at my normal watercolor paper. First, it looked like she had 'helmet head'. It's hard to paint someone with their hair pulled back. Then it turned into mud. In the last photo, I tried to just get wild with the paint, and when it was wet, it was more vibrant. Not a good painting, but I feel every painting session is a learning experience.

Tomorrow I will do one more, in pastel on my favorite sueded mat board, and then make a final decision on which one to submit.

Portrait #2 - Watercolor on Yupo

In this attempt, I used Yupo synthetic paper with watercolors. I have seen some really interesting paintings using this paper and really wanted to give it a try. Hmmmm, well, I was frustrated. I had trouble with the preliminary sketch's pencil line resisting the paint. I had trouble getting the paint thick enough to dry as dark as I'd like. I tried drying the layers, but when I put a new layer on top, it would move/remove the previous layer. I also needed to keep the paper flat as the paint wanted to move all over, so ended up with alot of mud.

In the third photo down, I had added dry watercolor pencils on top to fine tune some areas. In the last photo at the bottom, I used Sharpie black marker to try to give it some more definition.

I don't like this one much. Goes without saying.... I won't be submitting this one to Karin's challenge, but thought it would be fun for the girl in the photo to see my process here.

Portrait #1 - Pastel on Colorfix

My first attempt of the unknown person I was given to paint for the DSDF Portrait Challenge. This was my first time using Colorfix Pastel paper. I chose army green because it was the compliment to orangey skin tone. This is a sanded paper and seemed pretty messy - the pastels seemed to lay on top until I blended them down. I used my finger and now its sore! I will use a paper stump if I use this paper again. I am pretty happy with this one, but since I have several days off until the deadline, I will try some other mediums before I decide which one to submit.

Time off

I've decided to take the winter off from painting classes. Its become so cold and nasty here in Ohio, so very early in the season. I hate to traipse around in the dark, cold, slippery evening to go to class by myself. So I plan to do more stuff on my own. Perhaps I will take some workshops later on. I will continue to work on the Different Strokes challenges, as I am really enjoying these.

Last night, as I sat on my butt in front of the boob-tube, I got out my sketchpad and markers to start working on a plan for the portrait that Karin sent me for the current challenge. I like using the markers as you can't erase and you have to simplify. I have no idea who this gal is, but she is also painting my portrait, so it will be great fun in the end to see what each of us have done.

I did the top right sketch first. Quick and easy. I like it, but it looks nothing like the gal. The next one was the upper left. Looks more like a young Bill Clinton than the young lady in my photo! Sorry!!?! Why are noses so hard to draw??? I tried drawing just a detached nose (in the middle left)....no good... I then did the lower right. Not bad, but still - that nose!! So then I tried just using a pencil for the lower left. A bit more refined but the eyes are too close together cause I was cramped on space....
I was too chicken to use my new watercolor/sketch journal book for these sketches. Hated to waste the nice watercolor paper. Maybe I need to buy one that is just sketch paper.....Well, it all takes practice and I have plenty of time to work it out. There are several new surfaces (both for watercolor and pastels) that I want to use this time for the final portrait, so I plan on doing multiple paintings and will see which works best. I will post each experiment here and give you a review of the surface.

I do notice that I seem to prefer my work to look more like an illustration instead of a fine art painting. Maybe I need to work harder on that technique.

Santa, please...

Different Strokes Painting - Boots

My latest watercolor using Karin's photo of her favorite boots. I think these turned out pretty good! I got some Winsor & Newton paints, and guess quality products really help.

Paintings of the Week - More Sketching with Sharpies

Our task in class last night, again, was to sketch with Sharpies, but we were to draw things that were in front of us in the studio instead of using photographs. Just some fun sketches instead of trying to create masterpieces. Its kinda like coloring with crayons in a coloring book again. Funny how the permanence of the Sharpie ink makes playing easy, instead of pencil lines that fade into the background.

None of these are great pieces of art, but they are fun to look at - nice and loose. My favorite turned out to be the top image. What I like about this one is the violet merging with the burnt sienna and indigo blue. Indigo was one of my favorite pigments, but I think violet might have it beat.

I have noticed a number of the artist blogs I visit show the artist using travel sketch pads filled with watercolor paper. Some use them to journal, but others just like to use pen/ink and pigment for everyday sketching. I purchased my first pad this week, and hope to start using it quite often for quick studies such as these shown in this post. And of course, I will be showing them here.

Pastel - Buddha

My latest pastel using Karin's photo. I planned on painting this over the long weekend, but I just never seemed to get to it. I did this in a rush last night.

Painting of the Week - Water Cans

This week's class work -watercolor. This is a closeup of the water cans shown in my photo of the little girl at Slate Run Metro Park.