No Q-tips....

Feb 23

Feb 24

Feb 23, ‘11

I’ve been up for a few hours, at work for about an hour.  Not much is happening as far as being motivated to work on this painting.  I sit and stare and mess around on the computer.  I’m out of coffee so contemplating a trip to the store.  At the moment, I feel like an old and cranky machine that doesn’t work well in Chill.  The temp today, so far, is 19◦’s, with sunshine.  The predicted high for today is 37◦.  Hard to get going, this morning....

Albert is in my lap, purring, settling down for a nap.  He’s very warm.  He seems to love it when I’m sitting and thinking because that’s good news for him and his nap schedule.  One of his cues that it’s an opportune moment to settle down on my lap is when he hears the cards slapping (continuously, monotously) as I absent-mindedly concentrate on FreeCell.  

Besides FreeCell, I use the computer a lot in my work.  All my reference photos are stored in my computer or on an External Drive.  When I take photos, I’m training my mind and eye, AS IF I were going to do a sketch or painting.  With a digital camera, the possibilities are endless also inexpensive so a lot more reference material than a few costly film photos and notebooks.  I think of some of my heroes and how they might love the computer, too.  D H Lawrence and all that endless pencil sharpening and laborious writing his story down on legal-size yellow lined paper.  Emily Dickinson writing down her poetry on bits and scraps of old envelopes or grocery lists in off-moments from the daily grind of life and elder care in the 1800's.   Imagine what she could have done with a word-processor.  

When copy-machines came into being I thought of my grandfather, WWII, and he a Major in the Army Air Corp, stationed at the Pentagon.  In peacetime,  a journalist and newspaper editor.  He wrote a family newspaper that was made up of news that had been sent to him by a few relatives and sent copies to the rest of is family and his son who were in the Service, one in England, one in the South Seas.  He may have done 10-12 editions per month, 4 copies at a time, on his typewriter using thin and crackly paper interspersed with layers of carbon paper.  That’s a lot of typing.  And messy carbon paper....  I think he’d love the computer and all the possibilities; in my mind’s eye, I see him Googling all the time.

I document a lot of my process as I’m working on a painting and store the information – for the past 10 years or so.  I started photographing my process after reading so many art magazines which showed much progressive works of a variety of artists.  After I got a digital camera I realized I could do that too.    I love the ability to transform an image from color to monotone and I love the ability to see my work reduced to the size of a thumbnail and feeling as if I’m seeing the image from very far away.  

Okay.  With all this writing and thinking, I’m ready to paint.

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Thursday Feb 24, ‘11

I worked on this painting for a few more hours yesterday, after I wrote the 1st part of this entry.  I stopped painting when I reached this point shown in Feb 24 photo.  After that flurry of activity -- which felt like an out of time experience -- I’ve settled the painting on the easel and have lived with it as it is for almost 24 hours, have been aware of many thoughts & feelings regarding this painting and the process.

A thought that comes up a lot from within is that it’s almost there.  It's blurry, needs sharpening....  Another thought is that if I push it, rush into a finish, I’m going to barrel past ‘there’ and end up in a mess.  Then I’ll have to blog about making changes with Q-tips – which I’m sure would be deadly boring -- for me as well as any reader.  One of my goals with this painting is Little or No Q-tips....  In my experience, I’ve spent far too much time cleaning mistakes with Q-tips and water and wanted this to be a painting where I didn’t spend a lot of time rubbing out, fixing....   So am holding off on painting today, until a time when I can ease myself back into a zone where I don’t have alternate time-pressure.  I’ll continue to peruse, to meditate on this painting and look forward to working on it whenever....

Going out today is a good thing.  The sun is shining and the temperature is climbing up to the 40's.  I’ll come back with a day’s work behind me and next month’s rent $'s in the bank.  For right-brain activity/meditation I’m planning on a sketching session from my car at lunch-time.  In warm sunshine and perhaps there will be bird-calls.


The plan for today is activity, away from the studio, out of the house and on the road; left-brain tasks and plenty of them.  Let’s Ride!

Plastic, Winter Painting 11

It was sunny today but cold and windy.  I hunkered down in my chair today and put in quite a few hours on this painting.

I started with the sky.  I set up the paper for the first wash by wetting down the sky area completely with a 3/4" flat brush and a #8 Round.  I used the round around some of the roof edges.  I set up my wash by wetting the entire area then I worked into the area I’d just wet with more water until the sky area was flooded and somewhat sodden.  I took care to treat the water as if a graded wash so I had an even surface tension & wasn’t flooding over the edges.  Then I dropped in a watery mix that contained a hint of Cadmium Yellow in the lower sky area.  I spread that by nudging it gently with my brush and also tipping the paper in the direction I wanted it to flow/diffuse.

To the puddle of Blue, I added enough Alizarin Crimson and a touch more of Cad Yellow and used that puddle to create warm grays (reddish) and cool grays (bluish) to modify the tone on other elements of the painting.

I used Cad Red mixed with the gray mix to do the dark side of the chimneys.

I’ve also gone over quite a few areas with friskit, to preserve whites and to help create the illusion of snow on the roofs and maybe a little in the tree.

When I stopped work for lunch, the entire surface of the painting had been given a layer of paint, whether it shows or not.  The layer of paint for the mid-tone values and the light values is thin and acts as a sort of a primer or skin on the picture surface.

I think of watercolor as being similar to oil in working the paint from lean to fat.  In the beginning of an oil painting, washy layers of paint and turpentine, in successive layers, less turpentine, more oil, more paint....    In the beginning of a watercolor, loose, wet, washy....  In the middle layers, 20-30% more paint each successive layer, not as loose or washy as the first layer, tightening the surface....

This is where it starts to get real plastic for me.

I start with big brushes for the watery layers and work my way down to smaller for the thicker paint and the thickest paint of details.  Sometimes, I mix paint thick enough to flow through a pen nib to add details with a fine point.  Or a calligraphy pen.

After lunch, I re-worked the sky area.  I made a large puddle in a flat dish and added in Cinereous Blue until it appeared that there was more blue than in the batch I’d mixed for the first layer.  I added in a very small amount of Cad Yellow.  If the Blue was an Elephant the Cadmium Yellow was a flea.... The mix was very thin;  I started at the top and graded it down to the horizon.  There was enough blue left in the mix so that it appears to be a pale blue at the horizon.  After the blue was applied and the paper still wet,  I quickly mixed in a bit of Cerulean Blue to the puddle & ,  worked it into the upper part of the sky.  I did this action a few times, each time adding a bit more Cerulean Blue.  I used these 2 blues this way because I see Cinereous Blue as a cool and receding color and Cerulean Blue as being a warm and advancing color, giving this area of paper an appearance of the natural, the Sky as I felt about it on a sunny day after a winter blizzard.

The final thing I did before I quit painting for the day was to erase the dark graphite lines.  I’m using good quality watercolor paper that can take it.  A lot of the graphite was loosened in the first wash and quite a lot of it lifted but I needed the dark lines gone.  I get a sense of enjoyment at doing the erasing and seeing the clean and image emerging from the paper.  I’m also pleased with the sky and looking forward to doing more work soon.  Maybe even tomorrow....

More Process, But First....

Feb 18, ‘11

A Saturday morning; windy, alternately sunny/snow showers.  37◦’s with a wind chill factor depending upon how hard the wind is blowing at the moment.

I showed up this morning with every intention of beginning the painting but while I was sitting and thinking was struck with a case of the ‘but firsts....’

The But Firsts are the things that need to be done before another thing can be done.  My first But First, my pallet needed to be cleaned and replenished.  The But First on cleaning the pallet created a new but first, which was washing the dishes from last night.  The but first on that one was to hang yesterday’s wash to dry on the rack in the living room, the But First on replenishing the pallet had to do with finding the box with the paint and so on and so forth....

A lot of But Firsts have been tended to including a lot of work on the drawing in the form of erasing, lowering the roof on the foreground barn and generally cleaning up the drawing.   While I was going through my stash of paint I discovered 2 pigments I rarely use; Cinereous Blue and Indian Yellow.  I tested them out on sketch paper as shown in the photo.  As a result, I’m changing my color scheme.

A But First applied to my painting – apply Frisket to a few areas before I begin (and a few more times while building the painting).  

I’ve come to a point where the frisket has been applied, has dried.  I’m ready to do the sky – and eager to begin.   But First, time to start getting ready for a lunch date.  More soon.

The Product of the Process Feb 18, '11

I gave a lot of thought as to how I wanted to proceed with this project and in the end, un-taped the watercolor paper from the foam core then taped the paper to my drawing board.  I don’t have on hand a piece of bond paper large enough to make a Same-Size drawing, don’t want to wait to proceed until I do, don’t want to spend $’s I don’t have on paper I don’t really need....

After I taped the paper to the board, I marked it off into my rule of 3rds grid and then, copying from the working copy and the tracing,  worked out a lot of the details with a ruler.  I also used my 1st working copy and the tracing as my guides and eyeballed a lot of the drawing.  I got the foundation drawing to the point where it felt ‘right’, un-taped the paper from the drawing table and re-taped it to the foam core.  

A few hours work....  It was an out-of-time, pleasant, happy few hours, working in sunlight in my studio.  I’m pleased with the results so far.  Now I’m looking at the drawing on the paper, just waiting for the moment when I start the painting.  I’m feeling the way I used to feel when I stood at the edge of the high-dive, summoning up the courage to take the leap, to dive in, to just do it....

The graphite on the paper left the drawing overall smudged and  dirty.  I feel that were I to start painting, I’ll be able to wipe away the smudginess with the 1st thin layers of paint – to wash it off with a thin wash of color and a paper towel.  Or, I may just decide to clean the paper more with an eraser before I begin.  Time will tell on that one.  I have other things to do so will leave it alone, for now.  It’s there in plain view;  I can look at it and think about it as I go about the other business of the day, which is one of the things I like about having a painting in process.  

Showing up is 80% of the job....

Feb 15, ‘11

Today is cold and windy, a complete turnaround from yesterday which was warm (40◦) and mild.  The wind has mighty force today and is bringing much cold into my house despite all the plastic over the windows.  It’s that strong a wind and is probably felt in even the most air-tight home or office today.  The wind is strong enough to warrant a Severe Weather Alert.  I’m taking it under advisement.  

I’d like to go out tonight but won’t if the wind is as disturbing tonight as it is today.  I find the sound of high wind – rattling window panes, creaking trees, the sound of a mighty force passing by and through –  disturbing.  As I recall van Gogh and Cezanne found the sound of the mistral disturbing,  as well as my father and people I’ve talked to this morning, which is comforting; I’m not the only person in my life or in time who finds the sound of high winds disturbing and somewhat threatening.  

This morning I discovered that my door to the front hall had blown open.  It was an uncommon chill that led me to the front room and the discovery.  The door was still locked.  The hall and stairway is enclosed, with 2 storm-glass windows across from the door, and the downstairs door still closed, so I say a mighty wind is blowing today.

Soon after I closed the front door, I heard a scratching.  Turns out, Albert had slipped out into the hall when the door was open.  He’s never been out there before & I never thought to look for him before I closed the door.  He was scratching at the door frantically and was glad I finally heard him and let him back in.

When I showed up for work, I mostly fussed and fidgeted, made a few phone calls, had more coffee, chatted with my sister on Facebook, thought about Art and jittered about some more.  Some days are like this....   But, after awhile, I did make a few decisions & took some action.  

I decided to use my easel for this painting and have placed the board on the easel with working copy #4 in the lower right hand corner, with a few more decisions facing me.   Am I going to do a same-size drawing on thin paper then trace it to the watercolor paper or am I going to ‘eyeball’ it and do the drawing from where I sit?  (wrapped in a blanket, listening to the wind, bird and computer).  The change of perspective is interesting, my mind is in gear.  With the easel taking space in my immediate vicinity, decisions will be more forthcoming as it’s difficult to procrastinate around an easel with a blank page. (To be continued....)

Tomorrow I have an appointment to visit a printer to discuss a calendar I’d like to produce for 2012.  I’m looking forward to seeing a printer and to be getting parameters, prices and any other valuable information I’ll need so I can make further decisions/plans regarding the calendar I ‘see’ in my mind’s eye.  I’m excited, looking forward ....  The woman I talked to on the phone said I’m going to see a few familiar faces.  I can’t see those faces in my mind’s eye, so will wait until tomorrow and hopefully be surprised and glad to see people I used to know but haven’t seen in years.

Albert is perched on the back of my chair, near the bird cage.  We’re all 3 of us, me, cat and bird, as close to the heater as we can get.  There’s a sound of the bird playing with a toy in her cage, the computer and the wind.

Plastic/Psychological -- final experiment

Monday Feb 14, ‘11

Maybe the ground hog was right, maybe spring is coming early.  The temp at 10am is 43 degrees, well over freezing and that is something new for this winter of ‘11.  Today and yesterday felt as though the siege of winter had been lifted.  

I’ve done an Experiment #3 which I liked to well I decided to do a #4, which has been the best for me, so far.  I continually felt a sense of Eureka! (I’ve found it!) as I spent all day yesterday working on it and enjoying the process.

I wasn’t pleased with the results using Cerulean Blue, Aliziran Crimson and Aureolin Yellow so switched to Pthalo Blue for my blue.

I used Pthalo Blue (PB), Alizarin Crimson (AC) and Aureolin Yellow (AY) to create color and tone.  The PB/sky wasn’t bright enough so when that area was bone dry, I worked in a glaze of Ultramarine Blue (UB) in the top rh corner.  

I added finishing-off details using a steel pen-nib loaded with dark and thick-enough paint to flow through the nib to finish this painting, mostly in the tree and also in the shadow between the snow and the roof (center foreground), the window....  

Experiment #4 is my official new working copy.   I’ve made some changes in the composition – mostly, tilted the foreground buildings in an exaggerated manner, tilted the angle of the middle ground buildings so that they slightly oppose the tilt in the foreground,  have in mind a few things I want to add; a chimney and shadow to the roof in the right fore middleground, snow clinging to the branches of the tree....  

I’m pleased with this painting, it’s at a place where it feels ‘right’, is aesthetically pleasing to me, expresses my initial idea and all my thoughts and feelings since, feels like a balance between psychological (me) /plastic (paint and tools); I  feel eager to get on to the next step, transfer the image to a 11 ½” x 15"  piece of watercolor paper.    

Feb 11, ‘11

“Do you want cognition to contribute design values to your watercolors or do you prefer to just ‘emote’ and roll dice in the rectangle?”  Edgar Whitney, The Complete Guide to Watercolor Painting

I try for a balance; emotion and cognition, which is why I'm reading, studying and quoting  Edgar Whitney.  


I've been passionate about the graphic arts since Grade School and for awhile in my career, was a professional Graphic Artist.

In doing all these experiments with this image I feel that I’m balancing the emotional with the logical learned from past experience and constant learning.  I’m certainly feeling & emotional, being human and struggling with human existence,  the most noticeable this time of year being Weather and Arctic Cold.  

Yesterday I traced the image from the 2nd working copy, traced it onto sketch paper and did a small (16th sheet) painting using the color swatch I made from the day before.   

The photos show how I transferred the image using tracing paper.  1) the image after I traced it from the working copy 2) using a #6 lead pencil to rub graphite on the lines of the drawing from the back of the tracing 3) taping the tracing to the wc paper and going over the lines on the front of the tracing paper with a fine ball point pen. 

Traced from Working Copy

Tracing with lines gone over in #6 graphite pencil on the back of the tracing

Tracing squared up and taped to Sketch Paper

Showing  the image traced to the sketch paper with fine point ball point pen

When I was done tracing, I did a quick painting using the pigments from my color swatch.  I’m not entirely happy with the painting so far, but neither am I disappointed.  I’m needing to continue my experimentation.

 

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My project for today was to do another painting, using my ideas from yesterdays and apply them to today’s.   This one was done on a piece of watercolor paper cut from a full sheet and is a 16th of the size of the full sheet.  I’ve established tone using a mixture of Cerulean Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Cad Yellow and in the foreground, an optical gray I mixed last winter.  I used pure Cad Yellow where the light is strongest, in the middle ground house that’s closest the foreground horizontal roof.  The half tones in the middle ground are a mix of violets with the purest being the closest and the grayest the farthest back.

 

I decided yesterday that I’d use frisket in this painting to preserve certain white areas so I applied that, which show as shiny spots on the photo.  I enjoy applying the frisket ever since I discovered that my Walnut Drawing Stick was the perfect tool for me.  Before I added the frisket I erased the dark graphite lines, which is why the middle ground looks like one big blur, which is what I wanted.  I added marks for the tree with the frisket.  I plan to do the rest of the tree before I remove the frisket and where it has been will be the most colorful part of the tree. 

 

I’ve come to a place with this small painting where I’m not sure where to go next.  I think that’s a signal that it’s a good time to stop for lunch.