Over and Under

I have the bug to paint some dramatic sky scenes.  I also want to try some new techniques.  After doing several black and white studies, decided to start with the one I liked best.  Did an under painting, but instead of the traditional earthy umber color, used black, red and gold.  

16 x 20 acrylic gesso on wood panel

Almost stopped here, really love the abstract look!  But decided I can always do more, so laid in the over painting.  The under painting was done with colored gesso, the top in oil.  The painting is now resting in a spot I can view it and decide if more needs to be done or not.

 

One thing I have decided there is a series here…..

 

 Mary

Schiros_Art

Day 6 and 7 of 30 paintings in 30 days

"GreenLeaf" Acrylic on canvas, 12 x 9 inches

Day 6                                 Available at DPWs
        30 paintings in 30 days


Painting flowers are just a way to have a wonderful time. 
I always feel like I am in a giant play box of colors and shapes.  Day 6 “Green Leaf” is imaginary flowers play reds off of green.  

"A Bundle of Roses"  Acrylic on canvas. 12 x 6 inches

                                                Available at DPWs
 Day 7

I wanted to go more abstract, not defining the flowers as much but still creating the feel of a bundle of blooms.  

   Both of these were painted on color prepped canvas which actually made a wonderful foundation to work from.  If you want to see how I prep a canvas please check out my youtube video about canvas prep.

Mary

 Schiros_Art

Starting with Background

Girl and Her Cat, acrylic on paper, 14 x 11 inches

                                                                                                         Available on DPWs

I love to work on paper or canvas that has a lot of texture from gesso.

Some times I will spend a day just getting surfaces ready for painting, and set them aside to dry so they are ready to grab when I am in the mood to paint.

Once in a while the surface treatment will actually give me the idea for a painting.  When I use toned or color gesso and randomly spread it out, after spending some time just looking at the surface colors I will see suggestions of shapes and forms in it.

This is an example of that process. 

a mix of white and black gesso

starting to find the forms

 

 

 

Adding color

Painting and sculpting

Today I am working on a canvas sheet that I have primed with black gesso.  You can buy black canvas, but half the fun is lost then.  When I gesso a canvas I texture it and claim it as all mine.  Painting on a black surface always reminds me of sculpting, because you can whittle away at the background, creating a shape.  Thought I would share what I have done so far on this painting.  It is only a start, but stopping here and taking some photos I think shows the idea of carving out the painting.  Will post more as I get farther along, right now the paint needs to dry a bit and I really want a cup of coffee:)

Mary
Schiros_Art

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

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.

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"

Preparing to be spontaneous

Preparing to be spontaneous......

As weird, as it sounds spontaneity can be planned.

I do this is with acrylic painting. I often paint with acrylics on watercolor paper.

Most of my watercolor paper is 140 lb weight cold press. By the time I am done working it is usually at least twice as thick. This is because it is coated with gesso prior to painting.

I coat the paper for 2 reasons. I love texture in my art work, and blank white paper or canvases scare the tar out of me.

Gesso comes in many forms, thin, thick, grey, white, black, colors and clear. If you only have white, it can be tinted with a color, or you can get colored gessoes from Holbein (China red is my favorite), or Daniel Smith (gold is really fun to use).

A basic layout or composition plan can also be started using a couple of colors of gesso.

Using gesso with color knocks out my two issues right at the start. I spread the gesso thickly with a spreader leaving scrapes and ridges randomly and generally use a mid tone color so that all I have to focus on are my lights and darks when painting.

When one side is coated and dry, I flip it over and do the back. By doing the back there are now two surfaces for me to work on, and it helps to thicken and flatten the paper.

I have started making my own spreader. Plastic snap on lids from food containers work great, and you are recycling at the same time. Clean the top off, then cut it in half, I also trim the corner edges a bit and they are ready to go.

These prepped sheets are set aside until I get in the mood to start painting, or as it really appears, dive into a spontaneous mess of splashing paint around.