Tone, values and color

Table Top,  12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

Had the pleasure of taking a workshop with Qiang Huang in AnnArbor Michigan.  It was a great learning experience, and would recommend his work shop to anyone interested learning more about oil painting.

Qiang Huang spends the first part of the day demonstrating and explaining his process, then we spent the rest of the painting.  This is the first step the line and placement on the canvas, from our own set ups.

The next stage is value and modeling out our paintings.  Flowers by color and detail.

Each day a new painting was completed.

Orange Reflection,  14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas

Working from tones to color give such a rich depth to a painting,  something I plan to practice much more in the coming days.

Mary

Schiros Art

Art Learning from Others

Oil 14 x 11 inches Fall Study 1

A Simple post today, with a quote from Tad Spurgeon:

       "A painting is fundamentally a dynamic composition of monochrome values executed in color. If the composition doesn't work in monochrome, the addition of color, however sublime or inspired, will not solve it."

Think that simple line says volumes.  Just something to think about.

Mary
Schirosart.com

Lessons learned

Day 29 of 30 paintings in 30 days

Today I want to share somethings I have learned while selling art.  This painting is an example of one.
      1.  Before you list a painting to sell, make sure your significant other will not mind.  This painting is called "Shadow 2".   When I was boxing up "Shadow 1"  my husband was a bit upset...found out he really liked the painting.  So I ended up painting one just for him.
      2.  When you are getting ready to box a painting that is sold, make sure it has the hanging wire on it.  Yep I has sent at least one out forgetting the wires on back.
      3.  When you do remember to wire up the back of the painting, make sure the picture is right side up.  This one is for my friend Janice,  your picture is on the way but it may be upside down....sorry :(
     4.  When you have an internet sale always confirm the client sent you the current address they are at.  Yep that has happened to me too.  If you use paypal there is a note on your sales status that says address confirmed....good idea to check and see that the note is there.
     5.  If you are reusing a box for shipping,  make sure any old labels or barcodes are covered, so it gets to the correct location.  This one I haven't done, but know someone that this did happen to.

   Just thought some of these tips would help.  Thanks for reading.
Mary
Schiros-art.com

Thinking with watercolor

A good habit I have been trying to develop is working up an idea before jumping into painting on the canvas.  With still-life oil painting I usually do a small 3 x 4 inch black and white sketch, these cartoons help with developing the compositional lay-out.  But sometimes an idea needs more and that is when watercolors are perfect.

I had a photo from last summer, of morning light at the edge of a tree lined stream.  I want to paint it in oil but just did not know where to start.  So I did a quick wash in watercolor to get a feel for the colors.

Liked the rough wash so kept going.....

"Light at the Creek Bend"  14 x 11 inches
Available at DPWs

Working with the watercolors is a natural way for me to determine tone and edges, possibly because it is the medium I know the best.

After finishing this one, another idea came to mind, with all the materials out and ready, I just kept going.

16 x 20 inches watercolor
"Contemplation of Each"

With this one I wanted to see how hard it would be to free hand a mirror image.
Not a perfect (or even close to it) mirror image but it was great practice!  There was something fun and interesting about trying this, I was tempted to work with a brush in each hand....huh 
Think I see my next experiment :)

Mary

Color Study

                                               

12 x 9 inches oil study

I have fallen in love with a new color:)   When resupplying some of my oil paints, I picked a new color,  Rose- Violet by Holbein.  Often when I have a few new colors I will work up color charts.
Using a color, I will make a chart of the color mixed with white, and mixed with the complement, and a mix with black, to see the values and tones I can get.  Having just picked one color the chart seemed boring to do.  So, I took my new color Rose violet, some white oil paint, and a sheet of  Arches oil paper, and did a study.
    I did the study with a video going on my pc from Bright Light Fine Art .   The video was excellent, but long, so painting while watching and listening, helped.  Double the learning, information from the a wonderful artist;  David A. Leffel, and getting to know a new color.  Nice way to spend 90 minutes.

Mary
Schiros_Art

Learning to Paint

Sometimes I have to paint something, so I can paint it.  This is an example.

This set looked interesting to paint, flowers, pottery, and a cup.  I first painted everything.

But it felt a bit busy. 

 

 

So I did the next one simplifying all the objects.

After sitting a bit and look at the first two paintings, I realized the flowers were the most interesting to me.  So with the final painting I focused only on the flowers. 

The last painting I feel like I learned how to paint this subject, in other words, I painted to learn how to paint.

14 x 11 inches, watercolor

                                                    Available at DPWs

Mary

Schiros_Art

Rearranging objects with oil paint

I am taking another oil painting class from Timothy Widener this year, an excellent artist and instructor.  But today I just was not in a classical painting mood.

Oil, 12 x 16 inches

 

I got to class and as usual he had some beautiful still-life set ups ready to go.

I looked them all over picked one that interested me, set up an easel and couldn’t get going. 

 So I pulled out a sketch book I had in my bag, ( full of abstract designs) and one simple layout caught my attention.

When I fill up a sketch book I always paint the cover :)

Looking at the still-life and the sketch I got my brushes moving, and started having some fun. 

 But the best part was when Timothy came over to see what I was doing, actually had him at a loss of words for a few seconds. But then I got a smile and chuckle from him.

What I had decided to do was combine the colors from the still-life, the layout of my sketch, and try and represent different surfaces, like the glass, something fuzzy like a peach, and metal.  It was a fun experiment for the day.

   By the way Timothy has an excellent book available; "Painting Light and the Impressionist Method"

Mary

Schiros_Art 

(I also have a book on Blurb, of Still-life paintings)

Learning from the Cosmos

A View of the Cosmos, oil on canvas, 10 x 8 inches

Yep I studied the Cosmos and learned something today.  This is my week to share simple painting mistakes.  I paint a lot so I make a lot of mistakes.  I thought writing about them as soon as they happen would be fun to do, might give you a chuckle or two. 

    While walking around my garden this morning spotted a couple of cosmos flowers that had popped up between my bean plants.  Loved the color and how delicate they looked so I picked one and brought it in to paint.  Being so excited about the new little subject, I put it in a cup and started a painting.  I got one small painting done, went on to do a second painting. As I was painting noticed my flower on the canvas seemed much larger than the actual flower. 

Thought that was strange but kept painting.  Next I noticed the distinctive pointed edges of the flower had just disappeared.  Well, here is my mistake for the day:  if you pick a flower to paint, remember to put it in water!  Yep I stopped and added some water to the cup and what do you know, my flower uncurled and came right back to life. 

 Three done, off to add a 4th.  Using an 18 x 24 canvas pad for these little studies, the ones I like will be cut and matted and listed later on to Daily Paint Works.

Mary

Schiros_Art

WORKING IN 3s

Acrylic on canvas, 14 x 11 inches

     I have been trying to work in series of three this year.

  Most of the time that involves painting a theme three times, each picture different, yet related in subject. This time I decided to paint the same subject 3 times. 

     I put a bundle of Chrysanthemums in a bottle and started painting.

They all started out pretty much alike and only varied toward the end of my painting section.  What I noticed that the flowers were an abundant portion of the paintings. As I finished each one, that changed slightly.  In one I actually shrunk the flowers by pulling in more of the dark back ground color, in another I tried to balance the volume of flowers by adding a pear in at the bottom. The original painting I left as it was.

     Painting is all about learning with each canvas you do, this turned out to be a good learning session, being pleased with each one.   This could be something to try and see what you can discover from it.

14 x 11 acrylic on canvas

6 x 6 on acrylic on panel

                        Available on DPWs

Mary
Schiros_Art

30 of 30

oil on canvas, 10 x 8 inches, "Tulips Three"

 Last painting of the 30 paintings in 30 days.  Time just flew by this month, painting everyday.  I have posted most of the paintings, but to be honest I actually painted more than 30, there were a few days I painted 2 paintings in the course of the day.  I tried to pick the one I thought you would enjoy hearing about and hope I didn't drive anyone nuts with all the posting this month.
    Now it is time for me to still paint daily but work on some large projects that won't be finished in just one day.
   If you want to improve you skills as an artist, try giving yourself this same challenge, not every painting will be perfect, but you will learn something from each one.
  As these paintings from this month get dry I will be making many of them available on 
Daily Paint Works.

Mary
Schiros_Art

8 x 10, Acrylic and ink, Yellow hound 1

Started taking a new class this semester, and think I am going to enjoy it.  Last year I took a classic oil painting class and learned a lot.  This time around I wanted to focus on some fun.  Taking a class on creativity, with mixed media, in other words, some productive play time coming my way.  Class started with a good basic exercise pick a photo, draw it 20 times quickly, pick out the best drawing and paint it, all in about an hour.  Of course I picked a photo of a dog and went with one of my favorite color combination a violet tone and yellow.  I am so happy with this one plan to work up a few of the other quick drawing.

Mary

Schiros_Art

Second Ink

 

 

 

Acrylic on paper, 20 x 16 inches

     Still working with the quick ink sketches I posted last time.  This is the second one.
Worked this up on red gessoed watercolor paper, and pick only primary colors to experiment with.
This is just one option, and I plan to try different variations to the way I paint it, but you need to start some where.  While I was painting, the thought of  "disconnected  conversations" kept popping into my head. I may later follow up on that idea.  It is always a good idea to jot down the ideas that can give a future work a direction to follow, that can be as important as the sketch.
Hope that sharing this process, encourages new ideas and gets painters to get those brushes going:)

Art Series

the 3 completed, lined up out on the patio 

  

I made a resolution this year to paint in series of three.

Some times I end up with 3 paintings that are wonderful and go well together.

Other times it takes 3 tries to get what I want.  So far I am learning a great deal from painting this way and plan to keep working with this practice.

   With my last series of three, I ended up two that are perfect together and one that got painted over.  But even with the one that didn’t work out, it started me in another direction. 

  The two I like I call more sky writing, the idea that everything about the world is there before our eyes, only in a language we can not read yet.  The one that I painted over fell away from that direction and frankly reminded me of a bad Bob Ross painting.  But after painting over about 2 thirds of it I saw an ocean pattern developing and decided to start writing by waves.

    

Mary's websites:

Artavia       Fine Art  

   Artmajeur

 Zazzle

the 2 keepers

 

last look before saying good bye

painting over what I did not like

the remake in process

Art and Reading

The start

What is a good book?
 A book you can't wait to to start reading.
Once you start it, you can't wait to read it all.
By that  I mean, not just finish, but absorb it all, over and over again.
But the mark of a really good book; you have to stop, at many points in it, put it down
and act on the idea that grabs you at that moment, then go back.
That  is a good book.

My reading list right now:

"Ignore Everybody,and 39 other Keys to Creativity", Hugh MacLeod.
   examples: "Stay ahead of the culture by creating the culture." Hugh MacLeod.

  
"Steal like an Artist", Austin Kleon
    examples: "As Salvador Dali said, "Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing."
                    "Steal it 'til you make it."  Austin Kleon

And a little sci-fi for fun: "Agent of the Stars", John Scalzi
    "I didn't know which was more fundamentally disturbing: that the ''jell-o was talking to me,
 that it had a sense of humor,
or that it had better manners than I did."   John Scalzi

Oh and between reading there is always some painting
Here is a start and finish...gotta share art when I blog....after all this is an art blog:)

(for more art visit my web site  on Fine art )

the finish

 

 

 

 

Extreme Gesso

"Roots" 24 by 24 inch acrylic on canvas, by MB Schiros

Putting gesso on my canvas use to be a boring part of painting, now I love it.

I have to give Caroline Jasper  http://www.carolinejasper.com  credit for this.

Carolines workshop got me started using red gesso for painting, and is still my favorite method to start an acrylic painting.  But sometimes I just have to experiment.

   Wanting to compare results of different background starts, I use 3 different colors of gesso to paint the same subject, a simple still life.  One sheet of watercolor paper was coated with a light green gesso, the second with a blue and the last with my favorite red.

  Thought I would share the results. Each has a slightly different mood to it, even though it is the same subject painted. I have to admit I feel bolder on a red back ground than any other color.

This still life started out on a blue ground

 This started with a light green gesso

this one started with a red gesso background

       And of course I had to go one step beyond, with a multi colored gesso start for a totally different subject.  Using a 24 by 24 inch wrap canvas, that I thought I would share the beginning step and the final result with you.  Holbein makes wonderful colored gesso, and Matisse makes what is called background colors that work very well, too Hope this inspires you to try something new.

This is just the gesso canvas, using a mix or red, blue and white gesso, and yes it is turned on it's side.  I find it much easier to paint stripes this way.  To see more of my work visit Art by Mary Schiros.  And please share my blog with your friends.

The Final painting..."Roots"

Take it and run with it

first printing

Take it and run with it…

Recently I took a Zentangle class, if you are not familiar with that, it is a form of ink drawing, based on patterns.  I was not sure where it would lead but found the process interesting.  Working with the ink drawings has managed to lead to new ideas, and that is why I love to take class and workshops when ever I can. 

   The class had a project of that involved drawing with white ink on black paper.  Look at the designs from the class I noticed that those patterns would make a good template for ink relief printing.  The reason for that is when printing you have to think in reverse of what the final print will look like.  Thought I would share some pictures of the process and where it is leading.  These are just the first in a series of ideas that will end up as finished art works. 

   Hope this inspires you to try some new projects.  For more information on Zentangle check out; http://www.zentangle.com/, an look for friends of Zentangle on Face Book.

white ink on black paper

rough lay out for print plan 

foam printing plate

another plate for print

first inking of a plate

idea

idea

idea

and yet another idea