A new link

I added a new link to the side bar. She is an artist I found through twitter and I really like her work. I think you will too. http://www.lenorecohen.com/ She has an upcoming exhibit in Manhattan, so if you happen to be in New York Dec 4th you may want to check it out.

My Teddy Bear Still Life (WIP)

I started this project in June. Then there was a death in the family and the desire to paint left me. I started a new job shortly after that and didn't start to pick at it again until the end of October. To be honest I didn't know if I ever would finish it.

I started painting this using The Carder Method. He recommends starting with a still life. Fruit was out of the question. Frankly anything perishable was out of the question given the inability to devote hours a day to paint. I was looking around the house for objects when I came across this Teddy Bear given to my mother from my nieces. I also had the jelly bean jar and was trying to arrange them when out of frustration I dropped the bear in the jar and I liked it so now I had a subject. It still isn't done but It should be soon. Here is where I'm at. The shadow needs work and I am not done with the bear as I wanted to get the background and foreground done to help with the values on the dark side of the bear. I also have to re-do the letters in bean as I dragged yellow paint over it when blending the jar.

 

My Set up has changed since I took the reference photo (several times) and the camera tends to bleach out the shot. 

Update

I decided to tinker a little more. I wasn't happy with the lighting and highlights. Here is the result.

Update

I did some more work on my latest cloud study. Have yet to fill in the tree line at the horizon but that is not the object of this exercise.

More clouds

Being fascinated by clouds and the desire to paint realistic clouds, I am trying yet another cloud study. This one unlike the rest is from a reference photo. I have been driving to and from work with my camera. When I see an interesting cloud formation with interesting lighting I snap a shot of it. This is my reference photo.

This is my work on progress. I am going to let it dry because my highlights seem to be getting absorbed by the blue contrast.

Keep in mind this is just a study. It is on a 6x8 canvass board. Had this been an attempt at a real painting I would have broken out the proportional dividers and done it proper. Will post more as it is done.

Update

I couldn't help myself. I had to retouch my cloud study. I added some contrasting color and highlight. Even though it looks white it is actually a very pale yellow.

 I think I'm done with it now. As for my woodworking. I happened by the dumpster next door and to my joy and elation I picked up 2 more 4 inch thick slabs of Sapele. Almost 20 inches long and over 11 inches wide. One mans garbage is another mans gold. In this case at approximately $10.00 a board foot and each slab being the equivalent of almost 8 board feet, do the math. It was an offer I couldn't refuse.

Clouds Revisted

Now with a change in my work routine I drive into the sun each way to and from work. It fits right in with my fascination with clouds. I read a post on the wet canvass forum about doing 100 paintings focusing on one aspect to develop that skill. The poster was focusing on waves. While I would like to focus on clouds I don't know if I will actually do 100. Actually, I do know I won't. On my last try I wanted to develop a predawn shot where the sunlight is already hitting the clouds. A scene I am not unfamiliar with. I was not happy with the results at all. Having not painted since July I decided yesterday to give it another try. This is the result.

I achieved more of the effect I was looking for. As a painting goes, it's no great shakes as much as an exorcise. Here is a larger image which will show each nitty gritty detail.

The one thing in addition to the light was not to over blend. It is an amateurish mistake and kills all contrast and definition. These exorcises are being done on 4x6 canvass boards. They are cheap enough and I will probably paint over it anyway. Watching the clouds as I do (i know it's weird) they are very rarely just white. They're white, blue, grey, yellow, orange, red, purple and violet. I frequently catch myself stopping to look at the sky and wonder to myself; how would I paint that? It is a big benefit to working outdoors again. I love it.
I kept looking over the larger image and decided to "edit" it. I did some light stippling  with a dry brush to soften the highlights and blend the purple and yellow on the cloud at the top left. Now I am happy with it.

A Slight Detour

I started a new job recently and much to my pleasant surprise, I am right next door to a high end custom millwork shop. They make custom staircases and use a lot of Sapele and Teak for their handrails. The majority being Sapele which is similar to Mahogany. Anything in the dumpster is fair game for the taking. This wood is too beautiful to see go in a landfill and I'm not too proud to let it go to the landfill. The image below is my first project from this wood. It was from a slab of wood 20 1/2 inches long 11 1/2 inches wide and 4 inches thick. Most people wood look at that and say what would you do with that? Why, make 2 bowls out of it of course!

It measures 9 3/4 inches wide outside diameter and probably 3 1/2 inches deep.

Here is a side view still mounted in the lathe chuck. This hasn't even been hit with sandpaper at this point and the grain pattern is already pronounced. This is the same wood Cadillac boasts that their dashboards are trimmed out with. I cant wait to see it finished. Not bad for an otherwise piece of garbage in my opinion. Don't mind the table cloth.

Update

I looked at this painting after not seeing it all day and thought it was too pink. I tried to create more depth in the structure which I feel I achieved but it appears I lost the direction of the light source. Here's where I'm at now.

I'm getting kind of bored with this but feel I learned from the experience. As far as coming up with an image I can call a painting I don't see it at this point in time. May wind up painting over it.
       Well I kinda painted over it. Some of it. Will play with it some more when it dries.

"With every mistake"

To quote the line from a Beatles tune "with every mistake we must surely be learning". After my ballerina fiasco (which I shall return to) I realized I needed to learn more about glazing and layering. This next endeavor was just an experiment. I started with no real direction and looked at a blue board for 2 days before adding any more paint. What do you do with a blue board? Make a sky.
         I bought some Liquin (origional) after seeing it used on youtube. I had some blue paint on the palette and decided to see how it felt under the brush. I liked it. I let it dry and decided to try a pre dawn sky. Probably beyond my ability level at this point, but If you don't try you'll never get there. The paints I am using are the cheapest things I could find. Can't really afford to experiment with artist quality paints. When my ability reaches artist quality then maybe I will spring for better stuff. This is on a 8x6 Canvass board. This first one is where I just added some cloud shapes. I also darkened the sky at the top. The bottom of the canvass shows the color that covered the entire board.

 

 I let that dry overnight and wend back in with some purple pink and yellow so thin you could hardly see it after it dried but you can still see some shape defined.

I also tried to lighten where the sun would be below the horizon. I let that dry overnight again and went back in with some more pink, lavenderish purple and whiteish pink and got to here.

I am still over blending but all in all I am seeing the effect I am looking for. I had to do something about that straight line on top of the bottom cloud. It's still wet here, we'll see how it looks dry.
     As far as the Liquin goes I like it. It allows you to paint wet on wet if you like and it dries in 24 hours (at least for me). It allows you to go back in after a short time and add color without the fear of blending and changing colors on the canvass. It also stretches how far your paint goes which is another plus if you have a limited budget.

Update

I have put some paint to my ballerina. I went a little head strong into this and wanted to dip my feet into the 7 layer technique. I know I am doing it wrong but am going to see it through anyway. I did a burnt umber wash and got this.

I did the second layer and got this
.

I added a wall but made it too high which I realized on my next layer which came out like this.

 I realized I had lost the perspective and also started losing the face. She also started to look flat so I lowered the wall and arched her back a little more and added a hint of a face and got this.

This is where it will stay for a while until it dries and I can do a grey layer. It is interesting so far. I hope it doesn't get away from me so to speak. I probably should have had the image in front of me the whole time. I will when I resume the task.

Pushing My Limits

I always had the attitude that you should know what your limits are. Then go beyond that as much as you can. It's the only way to raise the bar. This next post is doing that in a big way for me. Having done primarily landscapes in the past I have avoided the human form because they usually look horribly disfigured. I mean, Picasso would even shake his head. I am going to attempt a human form of a ballerina stretching. Having done martial arts in the past I can appreciate the  preparation involved just to get ready to practice. They move with such grace and have to be so strong. It's beyond most peoples imagination. Here is the ink sketch for a start.

A little tweak

It showed up more purple than it was. I smoothed some brushstroke marks and added a rear leg and a highlight to the rear leg. I also smoothed and reduced the light on the table top. Now I'll call it done.

Sometimes...

Sometimes it's better to just let it go. I normally like to have an image in mind before I start to paint. I was going to do a still life with a vase of flowers but just started throwing paint on the board. This is what came out. I like the effect but the execution could have been better.

I'm Back

I haven't done anything since before the holidays but I have been busy. I found The Carter Method in my search for self education back in November. Purchased artist quality paints, made my shadow box for my first still life and finally settled on a subject for the set up. I have 2 canvasses stained and they should be dry and ready to go now.
       I purchased a cheap set of oil paints to play with the wet on wet technique and am starting to practice with the one stroke technique again in acrylic. Oh yeah, I started drawing again too. I have been trying to draw a human looking face that doesn't look like it is the result of a jolt from a cattle prod. For only my 2nd serious attempt I am comfortable with the results while there is room for improvement. Rome wasn't built in a day. I started it while waiting in a doctors office. I wanted to use the time productively. I had to leave the magazine there with the ad I was using. I searched it out on the web and continued it last night while killing time in a hotel room. Again trying to be productive with slack time.  It isn't done but here it is.