Well, I Like the Background ... or ... Portrait-painting 101

It always amazes me how different it all looks with a background. So far, I like the ground, but the face needs much work. Thankfully, with the darkness behind, I have a fair bit of leeway to play with darks in the face.

I posted this just for comparison - showing how dark the face and hair looks here, as compared to the above photo.

As for the woodland scene, I feel it got too heavy too soon. it's looking over-worked. I think I will flip the sheet over and try something else.

Thank you for dropping by! Your comments are always welcome. 

Hitting the UGLY Stage with a Vengeance!!! ... or ... Two Works in Progress

This is a lovely spot on one of my favorite trails in the park.

First w/w washes with phthalo green - blue shade and quin. violet.

Covered the bottom, and did some spattering.

Masked off some trees, and did some more spattering and direct painting on the wet paper.
This is one ugly ...

My handsome nephew, shaved with a scalplock, doing his samurai imitation.

First washes for shadows

Some color in the hair

I had earlier put some skin colors and shadows down, but it looked so anemic. I took the good old proverbial bull by the horns, and did a wet, runny application of a dark. We shall see what comes of it ...  Yes, this is the second "ugly". Seem to really need to be doing more experimentation right now.

Got to go ... farrier arrived to do Bruno's feet - finally!

Thank you for visiting! Your comments are always welcome. 

For All Intents and Purposes, the Nit-picking Is Done

White Hollyhock
10 x 10.5 inches
25.5 x 26.5 cm
Available for purchase

Nit-Picker's Delight ... or ... I Have GOT to Leave This for Tonight ...

Since the last post, I added several glazes of a very dark green/violet mixture for a dark background. I also dragged some of that dark color over the leaves in shadow. Just playing around - trying different things ...
I wet the area and dropped in pigment for the cast shadows within the petals, using an aureolin, quin. pink, indanthrone mix.

Then I started on the detail work within the main bloom, and its side-kick - the partially furled bud to the right.

This is where I'm leaving it for tonight.

And the saga of the baby sparrows continues. One fell out if the nest today. He had feathers, and seemed all right. I wasn't sure about bird protocol, so I bundled him in an old fluffy towel, and proceeded to start hand-feeding him. My landlady feeds her dogs some wet food, and I'd read that the babies do very well with that diet. So there I was, using two tiny paint brushes - one to tease his beak open, the other to dip food down his gullet. He was one hungry bird!!! I did this several times over a few hours, and then did a bit more reading about birds falling out of nests. Apparently they can safely be returned, and are accepted by the parents. So back he carefully went, tucked into the nest with his sibbies.

Thank you for dropping by. Your comments are always welcome.

Practice Run for a Larger Painting

Since I have recently done two paintings with which I am not pleased, I thought it would be wise to do a practice  run  on this one - doing the bottom half of the image.
I began with an aureolin w/w wash over all except the flowers. Then I started the buds and leaves. I had originally mixed quin. gold with phthalo green[yellow shade], but found that the blue shade of phthalo green really gave a much more vibrant green. So far, I have just laid in shapes with light w/w washes, the form and cast shadows will have to be done using complementary colors, I believe.

Although this does nothing for me as a composition, I did learn a good technique. I wet the entire painting from mountains on down [including the robes, but not the heads] and did a graded wash with quin. burnt orange. The pigments on the robes moved minimally - I was surprised at that. It just gave a nice softness to the orange shapes.

And this ... should have left it as a vignette. I tried to put a body on the calf's head and neck, and then tried to give the impression of a stall shape around the calf. Ummm ... NO! I did learn how to better add intense, dark pigments in a soft manner though, so not a complete loss ...  

These are the latest nesters!!! The barn swallow nest is built right over the door into the tack room, so I am in an out several times a day. And the little darlings are peeping and chirping every time. I honestly didn't think mom and dad would have a family here, as it is busy [relatively speaking] compared to the rest of the barn. But they did, and I love them - so cheerful!!!

I didn't want any accidents with babes falling out of the nest, so today I strung an old towel across the top of the doorway, about 6 - 8 inches below the nest.

And His Highness and I are getting along wonderfully ...

Thank you for dropping by! Your comments are always welcome. 

Pushing Myself ... and Bruno ... and the Monks and the Calf ... well painting in general

I could have left this as a vignette [it would certainly have been easier] , but I find I am pushing myself HARD to improve in my painting,  and my riding, too, to Bruno's chagrin. We had a most interesting session yesterday [after a perfect ride the day before]. At one of his favorite spots to act up, he started bouncing up and down on his hind legs - not really rearing, just thinking about it. Then he tried to escape by cantering away [he has almost never cantered under saddle yet - too unbalanced] The upshot was a lovely almost- collected canter, and some very good listening on his part for the rest of the ride. Sometimes I feel guilty pushing him through the difficult parts of his training, but he likes it. He always comes out of the field when he sees me coming to get him for a ride, and he shows no signs of horsey grumpiness or anger. I believe the acting up is a horse's way of testing the limits ... testing the rider. I could go on forever about this and wax philosophically on the subject of training horses, but not right now ...

Anyway ... back to the calf
I did a very w/w loose wash with aureolin and quin. burnt orange to suggest a warm, comfy stall ...

... and then realized the calf looked ridiculous, floating in mid-air with no lower body. So again, I did a very loose and wet wash with the dark chocolate color I am using. Needs some fixing around the neck and back area yet, and probably some more work on the face, and some cropping. We shall see.

I had darkened the robes, in a tentative manner, then went back in again and put much more of a violet-orange mix in the shadow areas.  Earlier today, I was looking at some of Caravaggio's paintings - absolutely adore his chiaroscuro within figures. I realized [well I saw it before, but was a bit timid to go so much darker] the figures needed much more darkness in the shadows if they were to appear backlit. My main areas of work were the robes and the feet, with less contrast of the head shadows. Looking at it now, I may have to do more. I also put a "ground" at the lower level of the painting. The white of the paper was too stark, and not suggestive of a hot, desert-type trek at all. I wet the paper around the monks, and dropped in fairly thin applications of aureolin, and a pink-orange mixture. I had some blue ready to add, but am very glad I didn't add it.

This photo is of my sister's hollyhock, and is one of two images I will be drawing on watercolor paper, to take with me when I do some demo's at the Federation Gallery on Granville Island, in Vancouver. You must know how much I hate to go into the city, but I think it will be fun, once I am there, and set up and painting. Granville Island was, at one time, more of a port, ship-building, fishing area but has now become quite an interesting market spot - restaurants, fresh food markets, book stores, and tons of galleries. In the summer especially, it is quite a popular spot. So if you're in Vancouver, you are most welcome to visit and watch me do my painting. Sorry, NO BRUNO!!! I will be there this Saturday, June 28, from about 10 AM till 3 PM, and am scheduled for July 19 and August 16.

Thank you for dropping by! Your comments are always welcome.

PS - Blogger has thrown a monkey wrench into my computer. I am not seeing ANY of your blogs that I love to follow. So, if I do not comment on your posts, that is why.

Chocolate Milk Coming Along ... Calf Painting in Progress

She is starting to look like something ...

Ahhh ... this is better. So far, I have done all the work wet-in-wet, using my favorite colors for animals, with a touch of aureolin and alizarin for the inside of the ear.

Now I've come to the nitty-gritty bits ... getting the darks as dark as possible to achieve a backlit effect.  I am doing this by moistening the area I want to paint, and then touching in a thinner version of the mixture, softening the edges, and going back in with a very dense version of the pigments. This way, I am able to keep the edges a bit soft while getting some real darks in the center of the darkest areas. It's fussy and precise, but it seems that's the way I like to paint.

This is the second wash of the paper experiment, which blogger decided to place before the first photo. GRRRR! And I can't figure out how to easily move them around into proper order.

I tried to get a bit loose with this quick, small experiment. I had a cute photo of the cat, sitting in the evening sun, with a  gorgeous backlit effect and some very strong shadows. So I thought I would play with the idea on some paper sent for trial by the Garzapapel company in Spain. I used a 90-pound sheet, not my usual 140-pound. But I must say I am very impressed with the paper so far. It has a beautiful, bright white color, and so far, stands up extremely well to wet work. I'll have to try some small flower images I have on the 140-pound paper, and really put it through the proverbial paces.

Speaking of paces ... right ... Bruno. Wow, is he FINALLY moving well! It's taken 4+ years, but he is now [sometimes reluctantly, but doing it] using all four legs through his back. When a horse uses his back and legs properly, in a balanced and fluid manner, the back becomes a dream on which to sit. I can feel everything he is doing with his body [even pick up on some of his thoughts about the workout] OK, enough - nothing to do with painting, other than it thrills me like nothing else to be able to communicate with him like this, to have him move so beautifully.

That's it for today in the land of horse and watercolor. Thank you for dropping by! Your comments are always welcome.