A Series of Studies

Found a figurative pose that just ask to be painted.  I have done two studies so far, and plan more.

For one I used Alizarin Yellow and Manganese violet, one of my favorite color combinations.  The Alizarin yellow makes a very intense warm glow.

The next painting the main colors are emerald green, caput mortuum  (violet-brown), brilliant yellow and magenta, which surprising created a cool blueish color palette.  Also with this painting I turned my photo reference up-side down and actually painted the entire painting up-side down.  I did that to stop myself from painting what I "thought" should be there, and just paint the lights and shadows as just that; lights and shadows.

These two paintings are oil on canvas 14 x 11 inches.  I am already starting another one but using water media and working a bit more abstract.  Hopefully I will be able to post that one in a day or two.  I am hoping this series of studies will lead to a larger finished painting.  With each painting I feel more comfortable with the subject and willing to see where the composition will lead.
Mary
Schiros-art.com

Some more red...

Finished up this painting this morning.....  Day 12 of 30 in 30

24 x 18 inches, acrylic on canvas, "The Bath"Available; original of print at FineArtAmerica

I know I am posting this late, but my day was busy with some of my favorite things: painting in the morning,  gardening in the afternoon, then canning in the evening.  Yes I like canning, something cool about growing your own food, putting it up for the Winter.  Kind of old fashioned but thats me.
    This painting I started at the open house for the Flint Institute of Arts, and it was painted with the same colors of the painting from yesterday. I worked on both paintings at the same time.  I find that working on 2 paintings will keep me from over working one.  I  taped several  1 and 2 minute gesture drawing on the wall in front of my easels and used them for reference.  One suggestion I can make is, if you ever have the chance to take life drawing please do.  There is no other form of drawing that will fine tune your skills as much as having to draw the human figure from life.
Mary

Always say yes

A tip I have learned along the way....
   When ask to participate in an art event, (that is free and does not involve giving away your work),
always say: "Yes, I would love to!"  and say it with a big heartfelt smile.  Now after your turn and walk away with that smile on your face, you can then panic, and think now what!  There is nothing that will get you to your easel and painting, faster than having a event to be in.  
   Wed. I had the fun of being one of the active painters, on display at the Flint Institute of Arts, Art school open house.  After jumping in and painting in public for a while now, I have learned it is very rewarding.  I get to do something I love, be around people and paint, just doesn't get any better than that.  Now if your thinking I just can not paint in public, you do not know until you try, and if you don't try you will never know...(kind of  loop there).  Yes it is scary the first time, and yes you may make mistakes, but people don't care, they will enjoy it even if you make a mess...really!
   Anyways, here is one of the 2 paintings from the open house...

28 x 22 inches, Acrylic on CanvasAvailable for sale or prints at Fineartamerica.com

Counting this as painting 11 of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge, because I did finish it up today.
Also, it fits with this weeks theme, limited palette, but I did use 4 colors:  Capital Orange by Matisse (looks like a cad.red light) and Haymarket ( looks like an ochre yellow) also by Matisse.  These to are called background colors, because they are opaque and mat.  I love these paints because you can put down a lot of rich color quickly.  The other 2 colors were Golden's Ultramarine blue, and Holbein Aqua blue.
Happy painting
Mary

Painting and chatting, and two easels, hey I can multi-task :)

Save your sketches

I know I have said this before, but it is worth saying again....Save you sketches!   Even those 1 and 2 minute drawing, sometimes those have the most expression.   When cleaning my studio this Winter,  I was tempted to pitch a bunch of old drawing.  But as I sat an looked at those old 1 and 2 minutes drawings, ideas started popping into my head.
   Instead of dumping the sketches I grabbed one and started redrawing it, focusing on what I liked about it.   The following ink and color paintings are some of the places I went with one rough sketch.

14 x 11 inches, Solitude" Acrylic on canvas

                                                     AVAILABLE AT DPWS

Why

"Strides", Oil on canvas, 14 x 11 inches

Available at FineArtAmerica

Thought I would share my latest painting, and some thoughts about it.  I found some figures that were part of a statue that really caught my attention, enough that I felt the need to try and paint a version of them myself.  I was not until I had finished that painting and was viewing, I could understand the meaning.
     Two female figure reaching and running in different direction.  I saw myself trying to run from myself, something that happens in life.  But the two figures almost form one form.
    With age there is some wisdom, I can not run from myself, I am who I am and can at times accept that.  No mater how far I reach, or how long my stride, I can not run from myself. I am who I am.

    Just sharing my thoughts for the day.

Mary

 

Second Hand Find

20 x 16 oil on canvas "Last Pear"

Found a wonderful statue at a local shop I just had to get.  It is an amorphous female form that I thought would be interesting to paint.  What I have found interesting, is for how simple a form it is, it is difficult to paint.  I find myself trying to add more information to it than what is really there.  Thought I would share some of the work I have done.

the Satue

quick acrylic painting

quick charcaol

  

Acrylic thought I would add hair, why not?

another acrylic 10 x 8 inches

 












Mary
Schiros_Art

Back to figuratives

Oil on canvas, 16 x 12 inches

Day 27 was an all day painting, but still part of the 30 paintings in 30 days.  Not sure yet what to call this one yet. 
Later on I will be posting a short video of the material and process, ( I remembered to stop and take photos a long the way).

Mary
Schiros_Art
 

A summer morning

Walk Around.  oil on wood panel, 10 x 8 inches

         Available at DPWS  

                         Day 16 of 30 paintings in 30 days

    I do not live in a city, but a quiet neighborhood where it is not unusual to grab a coffee in the morning, while still wearing a bathrobe, and talk to the neighbor over the fence about the weather or what we plan to do for the day.  This painting is one of those summer mornings.  It is funny my husband says it looks like a sad painting, but to me it reflects my reality.  I find it odd the different views people have on a subject sometimes, but again that is part of reality.  When painting this I wanted to leave the women’s face undefined so she could be anyone. 

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:)

The Process

Oil 16 x 12 inches

Ink 7 x5 inches

    Art is always on my mind.  And the only way to deal with an obsession like that is to learn to live with it.  When the TV is on, I am doodling, when I go out there is always a small sketch pad with me.  Even when I get ready to sleep there is a sketch pad near the bed, for those times a picture pops in my brain just as my eyes are closing.

     Because I have learned to grab ideas when ever they happen, I always have a source to work from when real time allows.

   Thought I would share the start of one of these ideas.  The sketch is on a small 5 x 7 drawing pad, one of many I did while pretending to watch TV with my husband.  When I had the time to get some oil paint out, instead of sitting and trying to think of something to paint, I accessed the nearest sketch pad and picked the first one that caught my interest.

   The Painting is on watercolor paper 140 lb that was gessoed with orange colored gesso.  I keep a small pile of prepped paper handy.  This is a working idea now.  The small painting is complete, but also may lead to a larger work.  

   Mary Schiros

Rough start

Today's painting: "Urban Statues"

 Thought I would share my latest painting, start to finish.  I have been working more and more with palette knives and loving it.  I started this by hanging a 5 minute figure drawing on news print from a class last year on the wall for reference.  Then I picked a canvas 20 by 24 deep wrap, love these because they look so good with out framing.  Next I opened my jug of thick black gesso, a bottle of white gesso,  picked up a palette knife and went at it.  Using the knife keeps the structure loose and creates a lot of texture.  With the rough sketch done I left it to dry over night.  The next day I started adding some color.  With shape and color in place I left the painting out where I could view it and find areas to change and correct. I do spend as much, if not more time, just looking at my paintings between actual painting sessions.
   I liked the basic idea but want to pull the far right figure forward, and work with more neutral color.
As I was working on this more ideas came to mind for a couple more paintings....more to follow later.
   More art on my website  mary-schiros.artistwebsites.com

rough black and white gesso start

Midway, through.

layers and layers

A habit I start some time back…is to work on more than one picture at a time. For me becoming too focused on one painting, no matter what the media, causes frustration.
It is too easy to over work an area, is one reason. The other is practicality, I hate to waste paint. I keep extra paper and or canvas handy so to there is a place to transfer the excess paint on my brush. In this case I have been working on a large figure painting but had t other smaller canvas boards near by, I used the extra paint to try out related ideas.
In this case it worked well because it made me step back from the large canvas, and yet keep the momentum of painting active.
Hope you enjoy seeing the changes, that of layers of acrylic paint, and the finished work that resulted on the extra canvas.