Another Saturday Life Drawing Session

Another Saturday morning session at Montgomery College. It takes the starch right out of me, it takes such concentrated effort. But oh, such good practice, those three hours. This is the same model as the first week, can you see improvement?

Life drawing

Last week we had the most elegant model, long and stately.

Lovely lines to draw.

Ahhhhh, Life Drawing!

One of the nice things about being back in the Maryland area is that I still have a few art connections. On Saturday mornings, at Montgomery College, there's a wonderful open life drawing session. The artists all chip in to pay the model, and yesterday we had a splendid model. It felt so good to be drawing again, even though I'm rusty and many of my proportions are off.

Tube Wringer

This is my favorite new toy. It's manufactured by the Gill company, and I got it from Dick Blick for around $20.00. Very well worth it. It's a metal clamping system for wringing all the paint out of each tube, and it works just great. I can hardly believe I've been painting for almost three years now without one. They are also available in plastic. The link is here: tube wringer
We'll put it in the category of great tools!

Art Books Sold

I've deleted all the posts about selling art books. Thanks to all of you who rescued books for me, they have all been sent out, and you should be getting them within the next week.

Thanks again!

Selling Acrylics

I've been thinking about this for awhile, and since I haven't been selling many paintings, this is the time. I hauled out all my acrylics, potions and mediums, and arranged them all for photos. And am now offering it all up on ebay. A great deal for anyone who happens to stop by this blog within the next few days. All these fun toys for cheap! here's the link:

acrylics auction

I've put shipping high, as this all will weigh a lot, I think: all those mediums and tubes and jars.

Thanks for stopping by. If you bid on all this stuff, good luck!

Water Miscible Oils

I've been experimenting with the water soluble oils a bit, since some of my students for the Beginners Online Oil Painting class will be using them. The apple and the bottom piece were done exclusively with the Artisan Oils (water soluble) by Winsor Newton, and the little diptych at the top of the post was done with a combination of the water soluble and the traditional oils.

The brochure for the starter set I got says that yes, indeed, you can combine these with traditional oil paints, substituting the special Thinner and Mediums for your normal OMS (Odorless Mineral Spirits) and whatever medium you normally use with your oils. I found the combination to be a bit difficult, my paints got tackier than normal. Or too slippery.

Here's what I've found so far:

I had to work harder to maintain my values with the water solubles. The paints seem to want to mix rather than lay on top of subsequent layers, as I'm used to.

The W.S. paints in the lighter colors seemed chalkier for some reason than my normal oils. Some of them were thick, some thinner out of the tube, but that's pretty standard for normal oils too. So that doesn't count really.

I will try some of the Duo Aquacolors by Holbein, which are supposed to be of better quality than the Artisans. I'll do another report when that happens.

I think that for people who can't tolerate the smells associated with traditional oils, these paints are a boon, and if you worked exclusively with them, you would get to know the capabilities better than by doing three little pieces. For that, I think they are wonderful. But I still prefer my oils, maybe since that's what I've gotten used to.

The final verdict is in the individual use. I think that if you try these and like them, then that's the proof in the pudding.

Of Interest

One of the EDM group members is gearing up to sell handmade sketchbooks that look pretty interesting. She now creates handmade journals and such that look to be both beautifully made and inviting to use. Her name is Janice Hook, and her artwork is also very nice. She is having a little competition on her blog for winning one of her handmade books, by way of market research into what kinds of sketchbooks people like. All you have to do is mention the size and style of sketchbook you like to use. Pretty cool way to find out what she'll want to market.

Good luck if you decide to enter.

Mommy, Scatch - Painting in Progress

Progress on the "Mommy, Scatch" painting. Probably the reason I don't do more faces, figures, people is that they are so hard, so time consuming. Little brush marks, little smidgens can make or break each small feature. I saw a bit of yellow in the little face, so added some, now it's too much, so I'll fix that tomorrow. I can also see now on the screen that my daughter has webbed pointer and middle finger, so I'll fix that as well. Tell me if you spot anything else.

Little Dreamer

Little Dreamer, Painting in Progress

Or I may call it, as I originally thought, "Mommy, Scatch" since that's what she says, and pulls up her shirt for her belly scratch. It helps to put it up, to see the flaws. It looks okay, but not like her, really. The nose? Maybe too long? Maybe too big for her little face? Hmmm. Do like the eyes, though, they came out good.

Mommy, Scatch

Mommy, Scatch will be a painting, and this is just the planning stage for the piece. My little grnaddaughter, Katie, loves to have her tummy scratched, and I caught her one day sitting dreaming in Mommy's lap, snapped a quick few photos. I hope I can do it justice.

Watercolor Layers

Watercolor Value Study in Layers.
There are several layers of color here to produce this silver grey color.
One: Alizarin, Cobalt, and Cad yellow medium
Two: Manganese Blue and Quni Sienna
Three: Alizarin and Pthalo Green

Little Curled Leaf and New Brush

Little Curled Leaf, Oil on Canvas Panel, 5" x 7"

We grow so accustomed to our tools, don't we? I've been using nothing but flats and bright for oils, which are square ended brushes, long and short. But I do use a round (pointed) tipped brush to draw in my roughs. The other day at the art store, the brushes were on sale, and so I bought a larger mongoose round brush, and played with it here on this little painting. It feels so different, more like drawing, but I like the way you have to let the paint be thicker, not much room for "fussy". Funny too, since watercolor rounds are all I use for watercolor. Go figure.

Nappy Sketches

Sitting with little Katie during nappy time, waiting for her to fall asleep, sometimes I read and sometimes I sit and sketch, whatever happens to pop into my head. A few pen and inks from last week.

Value Sketch Pastoral

Value Sketch for Pastoral Painting, various pencils
I have a request for a large pastoral painting, and wanted to give it some prep time. So I'm sketching from photos and references. I plan to paint this one in a smaller version first, a 16" x 20", which is almost proportional to the 30" x 40" planned. This way I'm not committing to a painting that might not work out. I can work out the bugs before I go to the larger version.

Day 22

Magnolia in Pastel Pencils, and Carbon
Trying the magnolia blossom from a different angle, more for the shape than anything else. I kind of like the bowl facing right. The more I work with this, though, the easier it gets. By the time I'm ready to paint it for the request, it'll be a breeze. Well, maybe not a breeze, but easier anyway.

Magnolia in Watercolor

Magnolia in Watercolor

I did an oil today of this fake magnolia, and wanted to try it in watercolor as well. It was really hard to control. I did a lot of scrubbing and used Chinese White in the end to perk it up some. Tricky to get the colors deep enough, but not too dark. Detail below:

Magnolia Oil Begun

Magnolia Oil Painting Begun
I wanted to see how the magnolia would look larger than "life," (it's a fake flower) so I started this little 8" x 10". I will also try this one with a cool light on it, since this is warm. The cool light will of course, produce bluer shadows. I like the front petal so far, but I'm not sure about the colors in the center yet. I'll have to wait and see how the other colors sit next to it.

Value Study for Magnolia

Value Study for Magnolia Painting
I have a request for a white floral painting in a vertical format at 10" x 12" (to match a previously purchased painting I did) so I've been looking around for white flowers. I found a fake magnolia in the craft store, so now to see if I can do something vertical with it. Using my proportion scale from my graphics days, I cropped this drawing to manage that size. I think it will work. I'll do more drawings before I settle on a composition.

On another note, although I don't get many visitors to this blog, I would like to put out some feelers for interest in an online oil painting class, geared to beginners, come January. I was thinking a six week class for $60.00. Please send an email if you are at all interested. Write me at NelVanL@aol.com, and I'll see what the interest level might be.

Poppy Samples

Today was a business day. The Daily Painters Gallery is doing a book, and I had to make up my page for that book (each painter gets his/her own page.) Being computer illiterate, it took me forever to decide on images, write up a blurb, figure out how to size the images, then go back and do it right. At one point, I lost everything I'd done (images were way too big) so had to start all over. I also did some samples on canvas paper for a revision of my poppy painting set, in which the colors were not quite right. Samples 1, 2, and 3 above. They are subtly different. I took notes on the color mixtures, and hopefully will get it right for the revisions. No time to sketch today.