Painting from memory

Finished this 3rd week of 30 paintings in 30 days having some fun.  I have been painting a view I saw briefly while driving down a road.  One thing I learned from this is a memory is just an idea,  not a true reference.

Day 21....

6 x 6 on Ampersand panel

Day 20 and 19...

The 3 are available on my DPWs web site, pretty much just for the cost of the painting surface, thought it would be fun to just share the little experiments a t a fun price.

While I was having fun just had to do a little digital play also..

There is a web site called Collage.com that you can create collage collections from photos, another fun place to play:)

  Next week I plan to get a little more serious and finish each day some paintings that I have started.
I have a rule for myself, always have something in process, that way when I get up there is always something waiting for me to work on, it is a good way to keep painting everyday.
Mary

Day 15

Today is cold and raining, beginning of a typical Michigan fall season.  Needed something to change my mood today.  Thought about how happy I am when spring comes and painted to that idea.  The subject came to mind quickly; Magnolia tree flowers.

A12 x 9 inches, Acrylic on canvas, "Spring in a Bottle"

 Available at DPWs

     Once I knew what to paint, I needed a plan.  Knowing there would be a lot of white and light shades in the painting, decided to use an opposite for the base; a black canvas.
     Wanting to have a softness to it, most of the painting was done by a technique called scrubbing.  Using a mainly a hog bristle brush the paint is put down with a scrubbing motion. 
 I would let one layer of color dry then scrub in the next. 
 Only a few fluid brush strokes were used here and there for detail.
   It is always good to have an idea and a plan of attack when you are painting:)
   Made it half way into the 30 paintings in 30 days Challenge!
Mary
Schiros_Art 

Painting Mistakes

Sunflower Stages, Oil on canvas, 14 x 11 inches

     There are tons of rules about painting.  You learn them in classes, from books, but the ones best remembered are from experience.  That is why I say every painting is a learning experience, no matter how long you have painted. 

    I am going to share one of these with you.  Yesterday the sun was shinning, the sky clear and my sunflowers looked great, time to set up the easel outside and paint.  I grabbed 4 canvases, a pile of brushes and paint and went to work.  Each canvas I used a different approach (yes I tend to multi task).  The one I am sharing today had a light green base color already on it and dry.  As I was looking at the sunflowers, I quickly applied some random strokes to the canvas. 

     Mistake #1, Composition, didn’t think about it at all.  Sometimes that works and it is pure luck, but most of the time if that basic foundation is skipped, like a house it comes crumbling down. 

     Mistake #2, rule of odds.  As I was working on it I put two sunflower buds in it, neither one worked as a focal point.  Oh that is right, mistake #3, lacking a focal point.

    Proceeded to try and correct this by adding a flower.  Mistake # 4, perspective, although they overlapped, the painting just looked flat, the clues to foreground and background were just not happening, they just looked bunched up.  So I removed a bud, better, still just not right.  At this point I had to set it aside and work on something else. 

That is why I always work on more than one painting at once. 

   Later I sat and studied my problem child and saw mistake #5, not taking into consideration focus.  In life when you are looking at something only one area will be in true focus, the rest is slightly out of focus.  This error was actually fun to correct, big brush mess up everything that that had too much detail; except for the area I wanted the detail. 

    At the end I am fairly pleased with this one, maybe because it was a great reminder of rules that need to be remembered.  So it doesn’t hurt to keep this things tucked in the back of your mind while painting, just remember to pull them out and use them once in a while.

As Robert Genn said: "I go from move to move--working out the puzzle--until it's either completed or abandoned."

    Next time I will share my other big mistake, from the same day, just another canvas.

 Mary

 Schiros_Art

The Look

Completed oil on Ampersand panel 14 x 11 inches

                                            Available in DWP auctions

Painting involves a lot of time spent just looking.  Looking at the subject, understanding the light, shadows, shapes and colors, because after all those are characteristics make a good work of art. 

    Often, after finishing a painting section, I set the painting somewhere to view easily.  And after looking at it for awhile,  I decide it is done, other times there is a growing feeling something is missing.  Having the painting somewhere I can view it at different times of the day, under different light and with different moods the missing part becomes obvious.

   This painting is an example, I loved the subject and the colors and thought I was done, but after a few days got that feeling it was missing something.  Then it became obvious the composition was missing something…balance.  I added the flower and it felt complete.

   So take time and really look at your work, it sometimes has more to tell you.

Before...

and after.

   Here are the before and after pics...

Thinking on paper

Thinking on paper......

Having a composition in mind is only one step towards painting a picture.
I know what I want to paint, and have an idea of the lay out. That is a good start.
Now I need to decide the mood. To visualize the possible moods, I think out loud, on paper. In this case looking at the subject in positive, a negative and neutral version.
The practice is done on gold toned watercolor paper with black and white for the positive and negative, with neutral colors for the other.
What I decided is …there are 3 paintings to do. Yep I like all three.
Next decision will be what actual colors will work. Sounds like I have more time to play with practice paintings before hitting the canvas.
How long does it take to paint a picture? Not long.
How much time does one spend thinking about painting that picture? A very long time.

That is ok, if you think with a paint brush.

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.