Spilled Paint

Ever open a tube of paint, only to have about half the tube come squirting out.  Well,  I have, just a couple weeks ago, Old Holland cad. orange.  But I did not let it go to waste....

Pale Ride, Acrylic on canvas, 12 x 16 inches.  the orange adds a warm glow to this painting.

This is one of the finished paintings from that accident.  After the paint plopped out on to my palette and hands, I grabbed several blank canvases and starting priming them with the orange.  Mixing a little clear gesso with acrylic makes a fine base to paint over with either acrylic or oil paint.

2 of 6 canvas that got primed with the orange acrylic and gesso.

WIP

Some I added more color and some modeling paste and really had fun.
Just because the canvas starts out very orange, often the painting only shows a bit of that orange.

16 x 20 inches

While other paintings I let the orange show in all it's glory :)

16 x 8 inches oil Middle of the Pine

16 x 8 inches Right of the Middle

16 x 8 inches Left of the Middle

So to make a long story short.....never waste your paint :)

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

Good news

Pastel Wave, acrylic on gallery wrap canvas

Just had to share some good news.  I got a painting accepted into the online show for the International  Society of Acrylic Painters!  The painting did not get an award but hey it got in and I am happy.

I have entered contests and shows for major groups before, and nothing came of it.  This year I thought I am finished with that, but changed my mind and gave it one more try.  I guess persistence
 pays off sometimes.

Mary
SchirosArtist

Using a canvas pad

12 x 16 inches oil

    A way to save space and money, if you paint a lot, is to use unstretched canvas.  Canvas pads are a handy surface to work on.  Fredrix  is my favorite brand, it has a nice texture and can be stretched over wood stretcher bars very easily.  Utrecht is also a very good brand,  has a texture truer to canvas but is a bit more stretchy than Fredrix.
    If you do not plan to stretch the canvas, another surface I like is Canson Canva-paper this one is good for applying to a wood panel, the surface is slightly more absorbent than regular canvas.  For large paintings, canvas roles are great.

   What I like about the pads is you can paint a ton of paintings and not have to fill every corner of your home with paintings.  I have a simple way to let these oil paintings dry without filling up the studio, I pin them to a cork board with tacks till they are dry enough to decide what I want to do with them.

Seven paintings drying!

   Also, I can easily work on more than one painting at the same time, by taping the canvas to a board.

   In this case I worked on two ideas for the same painting, at the same time, comparing them side by side.
    Also, these can be cropped to a different size.  One of these may end up a smaller version, ( I have not decided yet, but it is an option).

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Just thought I would share some more tips with you, hope you enjoyed them.
Mary
Schiros-art

Some more Painting tips

Oil on canvas "Black and White Study"

I painted this one for the Daily Paint Works challenge this week.  But it was a good reminder that working out ideas in just black and white can be a good practice.  Doing this reminds me how important having a range of values can be, instead of getting caught up just in colors.

   Another tip;  if you are working in oils, it is a good idea to have a safe place to pile paint rags while you are painting.  My husband made this for me, and it is a simple and helpful thing to have.  Get an empty paint can and lid, (I got mine at a local hardware store for a couple bucks), add a knob and there you go.  Linseed oil can spontaneously combust, and that is not something you want to have happen next to you while your painting.

Another tip, I mark all the lid of my paint tubes for quick reference.  An easy way to find that red tube of paint in a hurry.

And one last tip for those of you that work in oil and water media, like watercolor and acrylics.  Tag your brushes for the media they will be used in.  Also handy if you go to a class or workshop to keep your brushes marked and separated as yours.

One can never have too many brushes :)

Happy painting
Mary
Schiros-art.com

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