Tag: impasto
Loire Valley Landscape
Started a new project today. I’ve sketched this one a few times already, but intend to use this as a reference point for the actual painting whereby I’m going to try to emphasize the storm clouds in the background, add some color to the foreground with flowers, and insert some actual people doing stuff in the village area to draw the viewer into the scene. This first effort will be a quick draft painting on paper to get the values and compositional elements figured out. If that goes well, I’ll parlay this into a larger piece.
iPad sketch with “Paper by 53” app
Used a new art app on my iPad today and it was surprisingly easy to use, yet had a good range of options to create great sketches.
Did this whale tail in about 30 minutes, including fumbling time with the app features. Might prove to be a great way to do quick art on the go while traveling without supplies, or in bed where graphite and eraser debris are unwelcome. It was a lot of fun!
Giverny – There’s no panic in painting!
Took another stab at Giverny. Added the remaining foliage in the lower left bank, added the wooden posts, and took yet another whack at the water.
This water is looking much better than past efforts. Did some research and practice sessions to work on the technique. Pretty sure this will be easier the next time I take on moving water because it will be from a clean slate, but correcting/updating this piece is tricky. Regardless, I stuck with my “don’t panic, there’s no panic in painting” mantra and pressed forward. I’m happy with the progress, but the water will have a couple more sessions of work. However, for the first time, I feel like the basic structure and feel is in place. Yeah, some of the greens are too saturated, and the gray sky reflection (the white-ish part in the center) isn’t working yet, but it’s a huge stride past where I’d been stuck before. Feel like I’ve pushed past a plateau and can build from this. That said, anyone with helpful advice is more than welcome to offer; as you can tell from past posts on this project, I could use the help.
Going Big!
Started a new project this past week. I won’t reveal the final design details, but suffice to say its going to be very different from anything I’ve done so far in many ways:
- No reference photo: Instead it’s inspired by my wife, who is the source of this great idea, and it’s something very personal for both of us. While I don’t have the convenience of a picture to look at whenever I need guidance, I get to collaborate with her and evolve the idea together as it comes out of her imagination.
- This is BIG! At least for me. This is going to be twice the size of any work I’ve done in the past – 24″ x 36″.
- The technical challenges are very different, too. At first I thought it would be much easier because I’m using mostly just 2 colors, but neither are straight from the tube, which means the need to mix enough volume to cover the entire area is something of a challenge, which I didn’t realize until I was already running out of the first batch. You really have to mix a large volume up front so the area is covered in a contiguous hue, or else it will look uneven, i.e. the top half will look darker, lighter, duller, etc than the bottom half. In a landscape painting, even a large piece, you can get away without worrying about slight variations because you use it around the entire piece to create depth and texture to the objects, but this is a modern piece that needs continuity (at least for part of it.. hint hint of what’s to come) throughout.
- The other technical challenge is doing the large heart shape freehand. I didn’t use a stencil, and actually took some time to create a demo piece on a much smaller scale to get the proportions and shape aligned with what my wife wanted. Then it was a matter of dusting off some high school math on ratios to translate to the larger format, i.e. the 10″ x 11″ heart is what dimension on the 24″x36″ canvas? Patience on the drawing front paid off.
The photos below show the staging and completion of stage 1. I promise you, stage 2 and the challenges involved will be very exciting, so stay tuned for updates in the coming week.
Reference drawing/painting. This was used to get the palette choices figured out and the proportions and shape of the heart established. The original idea was red on yellow, but all we could see was McDonalds, which led to a lot of laughter as we tested out new background options. The baby blue was final decision. The heart is cadmium red + a little white + a little permanent green light. The blue is Titanium White + a little Pthalo Blue. Looks greenish on this test piece b/c the yellow was bleeding through.
This is what 24×36 looks like on my easel. It dwarfs the pieces stacked up on the floor – still dealing with renovation messes, so all the art isn’t back up on our walls yet.
Transferred to the canvass, the red heart is looking great!
Finished with Phase 1 after getting the blue background slathered on. Getting the line crisp along such a large object made my shoulder ache, but it was great practice for painting adjacent wet paints. No easy feat, especially with the curvatures of the heart. I had to rotate it around the easel many times to get the right painting angle.
The color combination in real life is a little less saturated, but it works really well together. Hats off to my wife for making the palette call on this one. I wouldn’t have thought to go with such bright hues, but it works really well. Finally, the picture doesn’t show the texture contrasts – I used a palate knife for the blue area and brush for the heart. More on that later.
Back on the Canvass! Giverny Stream
Went on a short hiatus, but getting back in the swing of things. Getting ramped up on a few new projects, but knocking the rust off by revisiting an old foe – the love / hate relationship with Giverny. Original post is here.
There is a post of earlier progress on this green monster, but I’m finally starting to get my head around the challenge of reflections in moving water. See for yourself…
First, tried doing variations of blue water with white highlights, which didn’t look right. Roughed in the purple flowers in the lower left front corner.
Next idea was to do more greens with more aggressive use of whites/grays to give the sense of moving water. That didn’t work, but the additional work on the ferns on the right side was productive.
Third swing was building up much more gradual and interlaced mix of greens and grays. This photo is poor quality and doesn’t show the water very well, but it’s actually better in reality. Next session I’ll work in more of the greys to really give the sensation of moving water under a grayish sky. Also spent time reworking the reflections of the pink flowers and yellow flowers, both of which look really good in terms of glassy look on the water.
Daily Sketch #18: Ahoy Matey!
Today’s sketch is courtesy of a French harbor. There was another boat alongside this one, but I took it out to reduce complexity and time. Curves on the boat were fun and the shading of the mast was essential in giving it the right shape.
All the stuff in the background is made up. Wanted to give the sketch some better context and these were easy things to add quickly.
Daily Sketch #17: Who the hell is that guy?
The problem with committing to 30 consecutive daily sketches is that sooner or later you’re going to run into a truckload of bad. Today, I got run over.
This isn’t a self-conscience thing, although deep down I’m sure there’s some of that, but rather it was just an off night. Or the fact that I’ve only done one portrait in the past, and it looked a lot better than this one. It was also done over the course of 3 hours, not 35 minutes. Enough with the excuses. I present to the viewing public “self portrait”.
I can honestly say that while this looks nothing like me, once again I learned a lot in a short time thanks to the rigors of daily sketch. Proportional sketching when it comes to still life and landscapes can be a lot more forgiving than drawing a face. The slightest swerve to the left, right, up or down and something won’t look right. It’s a very unforgiving endeavor. I did enjoy the process of getting the parts about right, but just not the proper positioning. In the end, the Mr Potato Head result is not something to frame, but it will be a fun one to revisit with more time to spare and see what kind of result can be had.
Daily Sketch #16: Alaskan Ice
Today’s sketch is an Alaskan Glacier. The actual photo has these brilliant aqua blue colors against the white snow. But it also has this very carved and complex blocks of shading throughout, which makes a sketch very challenging. Also a good test on perspective and how to give the impression of distance without using any real clear reference point in the sketch. Hoping you get the sense of sheer size of the glacial wall.
Daily Sketch #15: Squeeze Me
Bit off more than I could chew this time. With another hour or two I can probably get this paint tube more complete, but given the self-imposed daily sketch limitations, I chose to concentrate on the ends, which had the most interest.
This is a large tube of oil paint (ultramarine blue for the curious), which looks like it’s been through a torture chamber. I’ve cursed this tube many times because the top often gets stuck and I have to use pliers to grip the lid to turn it off. You painters out there know exactly what I’m talking about! This causes the body of the tube to twist into some pretty cool ropy shapes. Because the tube material is similar to a toothpaste tube, it’ doesn’t show shadows as easily as fabric. I didn’t think about this before starting this sketch. It’s like painting twisted metal fabric, or something like that. I tried to imagine what the shading should look like b/c it was very hard to see on the live object itself, and once I did that, I made some progress.
Ironically, this composition would definitely be easier in oil.
Art Bern 