First Brush Painting Equaled First Step to Fear of Painting

There are so many good blogs writing about technique, composition, color, and subject matter that I often wonder what I might add to the mix. Since I think personal awareness is a key element to evolving as an artist, here's a contribution about personal awareness.

This is a second post about another of my experiences relating to The Creative Habit Seminar. You can read the first one here.

During the chapter exercises and soul searching, several aha moments surfaced. Some were more difficult to handle, but I found that paying attention to my energy reactions about the act of painting helped me become more aware of the challenges with my stubborn resistance to creating art with more confidence. The following is my second memory of doing art.

Do you remember your first excitement about getting to paint? I do - I was 6 years old, and I was thrilled - giddy happy.

The family was leaving Chicago for Seattle, but we stopped in California. While in California, I was enrolled in school. I still remember the day the teacher said, "Tomorrow we are going to paint." That's all I needed to hear; I knew immediately what I would paint. I would paint a picture of my Aunt Minnie's farm in Michigan - my favorite place ever. Little things like playing with the toads, and swinging on the big swing with my cousins, and watching the cows being milked.

Painting day arrived, and I'm still psyched. I begin quite successfully for a 6 year old. Long rows of crops (in perspective!) with the house sitting on top of the hill, and in full color.

Soon the teacher stopped by my easel and everything changed. 😱
The teacher rips my painting from the easel and says, "The lesson today is to paint a city."

Wow, I did not hear that part in my excitement to paint my Aunt Minnie's farm. All I could say with tears in my eyes was, "Sorry, I didn't hear that part."

Now to put this in perspective: I'm 6 years old (little for my age), and the instructor is a big guy, with a big stern voice. He just ripped my beautiful painting from the easel, and told me I did the wrong assignment. With fresh paper, I dutifully began painting a city mostly in black paint. The memory is still vivid, and I have thought about it often over the years.

In spite of that scary event, I still enjoyed painting, and doing art throughout my years of growing up, but that initial excitement was always accompanied by an uneasy feeling when painting landscape that I couldn't quite put my finger on until recently.

I mean, I could paint still life, figure and portrait without a lot of hesitation, never cared if I wasn't very good, just loved to paint. Almost fearless, but landscape was always a problem, always uneasy feelings, lack of confidence, and yet still my choice for taking workshops.

So during my moments of introspection, the AHA moment hit me, and I made the connection. A long time coming, but now I know the problem. So how do I deal with this revelation ? was my question. I could still feel the fear.

I decided to use visualization, and help the little 6 year old kid kick that horrible teacher in the shins, and tell him that he was a terrible teacher!! 
Yup, I did that. 😜 Felt good too!

I know this is a little laughable, and may seem trivial, but probably not if you share a similar experience. So this year, I will be painting a more landscape images, and see if I've finally overcome the childhood trauma!

The following image is my first landscape 'effort' since my new awareness and attitude. It's unfinished - want the buildings to be a little more painterly - but I'm really excited that I finally feel like I can do this.

Seragano - Umbria, Italy
8x8 Oil on Canvas
© 2018

Will be posting more to share my progress in future posts!
Wish me luck...

30/30 Challenge-Fractured Apple-Day 30

We made it!! This month's challenge for 30 days of painting has been eye opening for me. It was like clearing out all the random thoughts and ideas that have been floating around in my head by doing exercises, and experiments without any worry about the results. Only goal was to search and learn from each painting session. You could say it was simple brainstorming much like a writer might do all the while searching for a 'story' to develop.

One extra activity I finally had time to do is watch the Julie Ford Oliver instructional videos on Daily Paintworks... it is a very creative and intuitive process she calls fracturing, and I couldn't think of a better time to explore her technique.

Day 30

Fractured Apple and Blue Berries
Oil on Linen Sheet 9 x 9
© 2015

I started with apples at the beginning of the 30/30 Challenge, so I thought I'd finish up with an apple using the fractured technique. It's a first attempt, and the only things I changed was substituting the squeegee with a rubber angle tipped shaper/wipe out tool that was already in my supplies, but will definitely make the kind Julie recommends in the near future. I also don't have as much layering, was afraid it would go muddy.

It was great fun to try! You should check out Julie's work to appreciate the potential!

Thank you all for visiting, reading and commenting on this 30/30 Day Challenge. Hope this record of my experience has brought some insight and ideas for your work too.

30/30 Challenge - Angel - Day 29

During this 30/30 Challenge my own subject matter has been all over the place from indoor studio still life, portrait from life, and landscape. Included rendering same subject matter from photos to reinforce how differently the colors are represented. Certainly not a body of work for gallery representation, but what a pleasure to just play and experiment. I've learned that I love to paint anything and everything.

After the end of the challenge, I'll narrow it down and select a few things to concentrate on for awhile. Since so many questions have come up while working on certain subjects, I'll be quite busy with my journal too.

Questions that you might also be asking are:
Why do I paint? Why this subject?
Is it a big idea or just something to practice craft?
What's my real motive - self fulfillment, therapy, money, etc.?
Is the idea related to art concepts or just a copy of something sitting on a shelf?
Does each start have an intention? What is a successful painting?
Is this one better or worse than the last one? Am I making any progress at all????
Many more...

Day 29

My daughter's kitty, named Angel, went to kitty heaven recently, and I thought I'd do a little study for her. Finding a good photo wasn't easy, but notice the double heart shape on her chest fur-so cute!?

One of my personal goals was to start something new everyday, have to say, I came close. Only a couple were longer projects, but there was a reason behind the shift in the plan - mostly because I was trying slightly different things in one painting each day.

Since I'll be headed to a meeting, this will be one of several starts to be finish after the challenge this month.

30/30 Challenge - Ballerina - Day 28

My favorite models are dancers. They have a sense of movement and body control that most other folks are missing. There is such a beautiful sensibility that is so expressive. Whether they are sitting down, or expressing in dance.

If you love to draw and paint the figure, I hope you have the opportunity to study from life. It is the absolute best way to learn how, and you can see and learn how others approach the subject.

Day 28

This little study was from a photo lying around my studio and thought it might be worth doing a loose value study using the color of linen as the mid tone and adding the highlights and dark tones to describe the dancer.

Time to begin Days 29 and 30.

30/30 Challenge - Roses - Day 25-26

I've had these silk variegated roses sitting in a pale for at least 3 years, and everytime I think about painting them I resist. It looked like an overwhelming task and I'd tell myself to wait until my skills were better. Well I don't know that my skills are better, but I decided to take them on.

I think I got some courage from something I read about how to approach mixing a desired color. I was taught to 'paint what I see', but I always saw what I couldn't paint because of the limits of paint. Nothing as bright as the sun, and nothing as dark and a black hole...
I never really learned how to actually mix a desired color and wasted lots of paint and failed continuously trying to achieve what I was looking for...

Well recently I read that when looking at a setup, identify the color (keep it simple), red, blue, yellow, etc. Don't try to say orangey grayish purple or some other impossible hue that's clearly not on your palette! So after identifying the hue, then mix for the value of that simple color, and also adjust for temperature... and finally adjust for chroma.

Day 25

I wanted to take time to give this new approach some time since I'm usually just guessing what to do with the mixes. I laid in transparent color to start and identified the light and dark areas of the roses.

This took a bit of time, but I let it sit overnight before making more difficult decisions about color. I did some practice on my palette to be sure I could remember the sequence of mixing.

I was putting in a warm background for contrast to the cooler color in the setup. It's all relative... right?


Day 26

The exercise was not as difficult as I imagined. Could maybe adjust a few more things, but my goal was to try the mixing approach.

I have some practice to do, but this effort using the above approach resulted in colors that I was fairly happy with... after all these are variegated silk roses unlikely to ever be seen in nature!

I will attempt again soon and give a little more attention to the composition and light source for stronger shadow pattern.

Thanks for visiting...

30/30 Challenge - Madalyn Start - Day 24

I've been wanting to paint a photo of my granddaughter for literally years! I misplaced it about 5 years ago, and searched for it countless times with no success... 'sigh'

Finally, while just goofing around in a stack of colored paper, and 'what not', it popped up! I was so pleased - in fact, thrilled that it hadn't been destroyed?

Now it's duplicated and stored in a safe place... and I can start the painting process. She's older now, but I just love this pose of her and can hardly wait to finish it to hang on the wall.

Day 24 

Worked out a few sketches for value patterns, and just had to lay down a oil sketch before doing anything else. I will do a few more studies, but wanted to share this with you now.

Doesn't she look like an 'adorable baby doll'?

Thanks for visiting...

30/30 Challenge - Huge Solitary Lemon - Day 21-22

Well, it's now day 21 and I'm still on track. Have to say that I've been feeling a little bit of resistance mostly because I want to put more time planning before starting a painting, but if I've established a new habit of painting everyday, then I won't feel defeated no matter what the outcome. The daily posting to the hosting blog is probably the most challenging to accomplish in this exercise because of the time limit on when posting is closed for any given day.

Day 21

Why this lemon?? Well, I've seen a lot of lemons, but none the size of a large orange!! This has to be the largest lemon ever - it's skin wasn't smooth and yet it wasn't very thick either. Just seems so unusual, but then I don't get to see them growing in their natural environment. Never the less, it wanted to be painted, right?

Once again with reflected light. The light source is again at the top, like high noon. I'm trying to keep most things consistent to see if I notice the color nuances more easily with fewer variables except for the main object.


Day 22

Decided to paint this record breaking lemon again with another light angle so I didn't get the halo effect on the table top-and a few minor changes in the setup. Lemon turned, changed the color of the table top, and added some greenery.

Still working on reflected lighting which is a huge challenge for me, but lots of fun trying. Also limited the time to complete so I don't think so much about the decisions.

Tip: This may seem obvious to you, but it wasn't readily apparent to me. The metaphor that comes to mind here is I 'couldn't see the forest for the trees.' Even when I squint, I've found that I'm noticing too much information when I begin a painting so I've decided to work with a setup from a greater distance so I don't see so much detail. If I need to see some more specific detail, I'll just walk up closer to see it. I think this will certainly help me see larger shapes first...

30/30 Challenge - Solitary Onion - Day 20

We (meaning all the participants in the challenge) are two-thirds of the way complete!!
I must say, I am feeling several emotions ranging from panic to relief that we are on the home stretch... just 10 more days to create/paint something and get it posted. I've learned more than a few things about myself and the painting process.

So for today, it's a solitary onion that sprouted after sitting in the studio for weeks! Nothing about the materials changed except I used Senso clear acrylic primed canvas.

Day 20

Didn't make much fuss - just wanted to paint what I saw paying particular attention to reflected light. I plan to work with this idea in the future and consider the direct light, the reflected light, as well as the ambient light. There really is a difference and especially noticeable when working with 'whitish' objects. I will be more deliberate about setting things up next time I work on this idea.

The background in this photo shows more color intensity than the actual painting. I'm thinking my camera may need some adjusting, as well as figuring out a fool-proof way to get rid of the darn glare.

Since, I'm tired and hungry right now, I'm calling it a wrap!!

30/30 Challenge - Solitary Rose - Days 17-18-19

I decided to tackle something a little sweeter smelling after the experience from the last few days!

What better than a Rose? Roses are one of the most beautiful flowers (my other favorite is the peony), but I find them challenging because of all the intricate details. They have a lot of color shapes and values within the overall shape which can make them seem too complicated to tackle. I found however, that if you can describe the main perimeter shape and the main basic interior shape, they are much easier to handle... and remember it isn't necessary to paint each and every little detail unless that is your painting style.

Day 17 

If you read my blog from Day 16, you will perhaps understand why I chose this paint subject and why it is only started. Nevertheless, I am still painting each day, and that's a very good thing.

Materials are acrylic primed linen sheet and my usual bristle brushes and color palette. The rose is and off-white silk type, and while it has a softer look that a real freshly picked bloom, it won't wilt on me while I'm getting my time schedule back on track. It is sitting in the little purple box with glass for reflections.

Wishing myself more time tomorrow to complete!

Day 18

I was working on this while the Seahawks game was on, so that blew the 'more time' idea. If you didn't see it, it was quite an amazing game with the adrenaline in overdrive; the Seahawks won the game in overtime after being behind for a good portion of the game! They are going to the Super Bowl!! I think in all the excitement, I got a little heavy handed. The paint is thicker in places it should be thinner and I was confusing the values. Maybe work with fewer values in the painting even if I see more in the set up. Some of the color also seems too intense. I'm not yet satisfied with the reflection either.

With this many areas in question, it might be a good idea, to scrape down and adjust. The lesson here, again, is to simplify.


Day 19

Day three on one small painting is my methodical brain going full tilt! After posterizing the first painting image in photoshop to simplify the image with fewer values and see what/where would work. This process isn't completely fool proof, but it is another way of evaluating what you've done.

Using the converted image with other judgments (the result of course is still judgment/opinion).

I didn't scrape everything before I started making changes, alas, I started to notice a few other things that I could do!

So this is the end result and time to move on... you may not be able to see the subtle changes, but one TIP to share is that the angle of the flower can make a difference on the complexity of what your painting. I'll be exploring this idea further in the very near future, and may do a black and white study in painting first using only 5 values to see how it translates from that... it may sound funny to some of you, but I'm really having fun training my eye to values - sooooo important in painting!

Thanks for reading...

30/30 Challenge-One of Those 'DogGone' Days-Day 16

I hope you'll for give the following entry, but I had some stinkin' issues to work out!

Day 16 

Izzy ©2015

I'm sure you've had one of those mornings when the unexpected throws off the entire day's plan... and believe me, I have had a couple of strange days causing a lot of  interruption to my painting time...

My sweet dog Izzy, got into the cat's food. I use one of those automatic feeders because the cat is an all-day nibbler. To continue, Izzy has a real problem with food and controlling herself when it comes to anything edible. She usually isn't alone near the cat food long enough to get away with this, and I'm not quite sure how much cat food she actually consumed, but it left its mark.

As you might imagine, it took awhile to clean things up, but she is much better now and things are getting back to normal. I will warn you though, cat food isn't just richer than dog food, it is down right TOXIC to some dogs so be watchful if you have a mixed household.

This painting isn't finished as you see, but it did help me work out my upset with Izzy... does she look remorseful enough to be forgiven?

 

30/30 Challenge - Painting Systems - Day 11-14

All beginning painters want to know how to begin, how to proceed, how to paint an eye, and how to know when a painting is finished... of course we all learn there is no one right answer.

However, this gave me an idea - I've never tried doing a step by step painting using a 'system' that would give successful results, but thought I'd give it a shot because of limited time, and just curious. I'm still in my experimental stage with the 30/30 Challenge, so let's see what using preplanned decisions on the steps towards doing a painting in a way that could be considered as 'following a system.' This will be done in layers and with limited time for each step of 1 - 1-1/2 hours.

BTW, the subject of this painting belongs to some dear friends of mine who have a 35 acre property close by my home, and it is one of my favorite places to hang out when I need some 'farm time'. This image is a composite of 3 resource images taken at their property, and taken on a sunny day.

Day 11 - Step One: Initial Drawing Composition 

The drawing stage is how I was initially trained to begin a painting. It is not how I always start a painting, because often using masses first is better and freer way to work. However, let's go with drawing in the composition first.

The Barn is taken from one photo, the outbuildings from another, and the field with the road a third. Using a mid-toned linen, only a round synthetic brush, and TransOxideRed, and Ultramarine blue paints. That what I used to start this painting.

In my head I thought that each element that I selected might give a sense of space and also a good lead in to the painting. The materials would be attainable for most anyone's budget.

Day 12 - Step Two: Paint in the Big Flat Shapes of Local Color

This is straight forward because most anyone can identify the local color of an object, but gets a little tricky when trying to see the shadow areas.

I used one flat bristle brush and my current palette of colors mentioned in yesterday's post.

The paint layers are thinner in some areas that still show the canvas, and other areas that have a heavier cover. This was mostly done subconsciously, but the lighter value areas often mixed color with opaque white usually covers more.


Day 13 - Step Three: Paint with Heavier Layers and Adjust the Values

Something I haven't done before is to try painting with only a palette knife, so I decided this layer would be done that way. I also used a rubber wipeout tool. NO brushes today.

It wasn't easy to keep to this plan, but I did, and think there are some good results. Nevertheless, it was worth trying because I learned more about handling a palette knife and have a better sense of when it might be best to use one. A palette knife remember gives a more sculptural feel to the paint in general (unless you are scraping off), and sometimes it is really effective. Yummmy, thick oil paint can be sooo beautiful when done well.

The biggest and most frustrating challenge with using only a palette knife was trying to handle the details! Looking forward to the freedom tomorrow to use any tool I want  to correct some drawing errors, and going for the finish!!

Day 14 - Step Four: Finish and move on...

Tools today included anything even my fingers, and had the urge to scrap things away when I first approached the easel. Decided to follow through with the idea of using a 'system of sorts' and simply  resolved that this is all I will do with this effort other than revisit the results as a reminder of the experience.

Was a bit short on time for the finish, and found I wanted to start again using a horizontal format and not limit my approach as in this exercise. Most importantly after doing this exercise, the final lesson is that whether you begin with drawing, laying in masses, wiping out, etc., each painting image requires a little different approach rather than following a 'painting system'. That is an approach I can live with!

Once again, I hope this little exercise, including my humble 'opinion', will be helpful and save you some time as you move forward with your painting.

30/30 Challenge - A Change Coming On - Day 10

WOW! This 30/30 Challenge is 1/3 complete!
Have to say it has been a great experience so far, and am mostly able to get this accomplished because of fewer unwanted distractions in my life. Yay!!!

Day 10

This little painting includes some changes on my palette.

After doing some preliminary mixing to test some combinations, I removed the Prussian blue, and will be using Manganese blue instead and will allow for some substitutions.
(The substitutions are so I can use up some of the tubes in my collection of paints.)

© 2015 - Manganese

My palette now has Cad Yellow Light (interchange with lemon yellow), Indian Yellow, Cad Scarlet (interchange with Pyrol Red or cad red light), Quinacridone Magenta (interchange with Alizarin Crimson or Permanent Rose), Ultramarine blue (as usual), and the Manganese blue (interchange with Cerulean blue or possibly Sevres blue). I will also include Yellow Ochre and Transparent Red Oxide and White (will be trying variations of this too). There may be occasion that I'll use a touch of Ivory Black because when mixed with yellows it makes some interesting greens.

To review these first ten days...

Setting a time limit for working on a study... this is good sometimes, and not so good

at other times. If I want to measure to see where I am with my sight skills, it's a good thing. However, if I want to learn something while exploring the possibilities of technique, then 'no thanks'; that's when I want to stand at that easel for as long as it takes for me to get my 'aha moment'.

© 2015 Grayscale

Values are starting to recording more easily when looking at color. Still do not get it the first time everytime, but with practice it does get easier.

© 2015 - Desaturate

Tip: Try using 'de-saturate' when converting to check for values, also use 'grayscale' to check for values - see which is more faithful to the information of the various steps. If you like, you can also use 'posterize' to flatten the value shapes and see if it relates to the way you first put down your basic value shapes before the details.

© 2015 - Posterized

Materials always seem to be changing to fit the desired end result. With this in mind, and after using a variety of canvas types, brush types, and colors, I am learning my preferences, and as a result, more of the preliminary thinking is taking care of itself. This is a plus and HUGE time saver.

Working Without Judgement is so liberating. No pressure, no feeling like I have to perform in a particular way... I can explore the what ifs, and claim the discoveries as my own, even if someone else has already figured it out. I must encourage you to take at least a few hours each week to do something similar. There will be no failure; only a lesson learned!

And finally the Changes I decide to make on my palette or choice of brushes and ground for painting are based on a real understanding of what the heck I'm doing and why. This is a priceless place to be...  I so appreciate my past instructors for giving me the boost to get started (a future blog topic), and yet to make a choice for this process selecting what materials, and exploring the technique is the most honest way for me to work!

A huge thanks to the readers with me on this 30/30 challenge. This first 10 days, I hope have been helpful to you in some way too.

30/30 Challenge - Ideas w/o Judgment Days 7-9

These small studies are using prussian blue as the blue on my palette. It is soooooo strong, but thought it would be worth it to have first hand experience using it.

I like transparent colors alot and Prussian blue is very much transparent. Also used Indian Yellow, and a mix of cad scarlet and permanent alizarin crimson for the three colors on my palette along with white.

I learned that while each of these is a beautiful color, the mixes are more difficult to control with the tinting strength being so different for each. Nevertheless, it was worth the exercise.

Also tried a few 'scratchy' things and props that I have not used in the past, and still limited the time worked on each painting as before - one to one and one half hours.

Day 7

Another apple day. This was done inside a dark purple box with light peeking in. I wanted to keep the colors strong and just went for it. Because the light was so cool, I decided to add TROxide for the darker shadow areas.

Used a piece of glass on the bottom for reflections which gave a bluish color to the area. Love doing reflections. This reflection is stronger than it maybe should be, but like the blue contrast with the reds and yellow in the apple. Also used the end of my paintbrush to scratch lines into the paint. No particular reason except to just act on the ideas that are spontaneously surfacing in this process.

I'd like to comment a bit further on this because it has been liberating. I haven't really tried to do a masterpiece on any of these small paintings, the only requirement is that I paint everyday and brainstorm ideas without any judgment. It's similar to how writers might get started. If you journal, this same process helps get all the crazy stuff out, and sometimes it allows some really good stuff to surface!! Really a fun and interesting way to work... try it!

Day 8

A pear day. Today's exercise was to use less saturated color everywhere except the main subject. Again with the reflection, and recording a simple impression of the pear.

Still just going with any thoughts and ideas that surfaced to see how much my subconscious was engaged. Same color palette and purple box, but as I mentioned was going for less saturated color.

Also tried another brand of round brush which seemed about the same as the other one, except it was more 'bendy' with longer hairs. And my usual bristle...


Day 9

Same apple (you can tell by the yellow spot), but with a plastic green bag used when it was purchased, and still setup in the same small purple box.

Worked on value, more than trying to match color for the surroundings. That plastic bag was no easy task with all the little facets. It would take considerably more time to get it more defined. Remember, I was not trying to get each little facet rendered, only the illusion, and only in about an hour's time. BTW, this poor apple is no longer edible! ;o(

Finally, what I can say about Prussian blue is it is beautiful and challenging to use, but worth the effort.

30/30 Challenge - Values - Days 1 thru 3

I decided to join this challenge (30/30 Day Challenge) to re-inforce my determination to paint more in 2015... my posts won't be daily, to ensure I do not spend too much time posting more than necessary; and it might make for more interesting reading.

I will likely be posting unfinished paintings along with some that may get to the finished stage. My main goal is to paint or draw each day, but also will use this as a study tool and working on various elements in art. Will also be exploring materials.

These first were each given a short time with the idea of translating them later into B/W images to check my values. As you may already know, seeing correct values in colored paint is one of the biggest obstacles a painter faces. This is one exercise that I'll be repeating in various subjects to see if it makes a difference on how I see the values.

I know the reader will be at a disadvantage not able to see things in person, and there is some undesirable glare from the lighting - but here we go... and hopefully it will give you some ideas to work on too.

Subject: Values/Apples - keeping things basic to start.

Day 1
Using lighter a background to see if I can still pull off the value relationships. I do see the relationships and think maybe the values could be pushed a bit more... The light I used on the setup wasn't very strong light so this is about right and true to what was there. The halo around the shadow was actually there...

 

I think these apples have more detail than I needed to show.

 

Day 2

Once again with the apples... about the same today. I remember that nothing in shadow should be as light as the area(s) in the light. Since I used a light background, it will be a bit more difficult to follow this rule.

Less detail, and notice the yellowish spot doesn't show separately
from the red shadow area.

Day 3
Third try on the apples with the same setup including the lower lighting. Hmmm... except for the highlights, the background is still picking up more light than the rule would suggest.  Now, I really do wonder about that rule... will try apples again later in the month with a stronger lamp to see if it makes a difference. My thoughts are that this rule applies with each object, and not necessarily all object collectively in the entire painting.

NEXT comes playing around... ever wonder what to do with all those studies that will never be sold and likely tossed in the garbage in the very near future? How about wallpaper or quilting pattern ideas!  ;o)

© 2015

Ginger Jar with Tangerines and Blue Flowers - Update

So back to my more frequently used palette. I must say the understanding of color is more solid now that I've used the Zorn Palette the past few paintings. By this I mean how color affects the viewer.

This is a simple grouping of objects that have a full value range and intensity of color. My spirit is feeling a little brighter and more at home. The actual jar has a printed design of square calligraphy blocks that I left off because it seemed too busy, but actually thinking this is too plain.

BTW, the blue flowers are a variation of Scilla siberica and perennial Geranium.

Start -  Ginger Jar with Tangerines and Blue Flowers
8 x 10 Oil on Canvas Panel
© 2013

Decided to try it with the design afterall... left a lot of the design off, but it is pretty true to the actual idea. Now if I can just learn how to suggest depth more convincingly.

Update - Ginger Jar with Tangerines and Blue Flowers
8 x 10 Oil on Canvas Panel
© 2013

Turban Squash - Still Life

This was getting back to my usual palette - and all I can say is what a difference. It shouts in comparison. Lots of fun to paint. Could end up in the oven...

Turban Squash - SOLD
6 x 6 Oil on Canvas Panel
© 2013

Step One - Classical Geometry Yellow Bowl, Poppies, and Onion

So here you have it. I've made my first step into the world of 'consciously' using classical geometry for composition.

Because I have so many canvas panels of proportions set by today's standards such as
6 x 8, 8 x 10, etc., I decided to simply use a grid that would divide the space by similar means without going to the phi rectangles, and root rectangles as the Masters did. This grid is known as a 'harmonic armature'.

So in my simple way this painting is the result selecting random objects placing along the grid lines. 

Yellow Bowl I
9 x 7 Oil on Canvas Panel
© 2013

Bid Auction Here

The canvas panel was an 8 x 10 cut down to 9 x 7 inches; the color palette includes ultramarine blue, cad scarlet, cad yellow light and quinacridone magenta, and white - It is not a true use of the Fletcher system, but I did consider it when choosing the colors.

So back to the classical geometry...

When I did graphic design, grids were used to help arrange elements on the page for readability, and sometimes we tried to squeeze in a little something for visual interest that was less rigid. In this situation I just went with the grid similar to what the old masters may have used in designing their compositions.

This next image shows that grid superimposed to demonstrate what I mean. I did not consider the 'do not' put things in the middle of the picture plane, and 'do not' divide the picture plane in half. I just did what the grid suggested with an occasional 'offset' to keep from getting a headache. ;o)

Grid_Yellow Bowl for demonstration purposes.

Several lines are left out with only major points emphasized like elements on the diagonal and and reciprocal (repeated) diagonals. Each of those smaller rectangles are exactly the same ratio as the main panel which I find rather interesting though this is probably obvious to math enthusiasts. (BTW, this grid is not the rule of thirds that artists sometimes default to when composing an image.) I believe 'harmonic armature' is the correct term for this type of grid - think of it like musical notes e.g., half notes, quarter notes, etc.

Since I did this painting myself using basic information, it is a little difficult to critique as good or bad. Of course, I do wonder what may have happened with this layout if I was not using a grid. My first thought is I may have put the bowl to the left and made other decisions about placement for the remaining objects. I do think I may be able to get more depth of field by changes in proportions with or without the grid - hmmmm.

There are other grid options of course, but I just went with 4, 8, etc. Eventually, I will attempt one in thirds and follow a similar breakdown - perhaps using like objects to see if the result is noticeably different.

As I get more comfortable with this way of looking at composition I will learn to include arches and semi-circles to move the eye through the picture plane, my hope is to create images that are more visually compelling for the viewer.

In any case, I welcome your feedback and hope you enjoyed this little demo on using a basic grid.

Shiny Pots and Posies...

One thing that catches my interest as a painter is how reflections play out in a painting, specifically how they worked on shiny metal containers. Even if they are not in shadow, they are still reflected light, yes? So I painted the following two - one copper and one brass.

Copper Pot, Grapes and Posies - SOLD
8 x 10 Oil on Linen Panel
© 2013

Brass, Mini Tangerines and Posies
8 x 10 Oil on Linen Panel
© 2013

Sunflower and Tulips

OMGosh - I find myself doing a double take with this strong color combination. Not a delicate rendering by any means, but certainly catches my eye.

The sunflower was my main interest mainly because I am determined to paint them since I haven't been able to grow any in my garden.

Sunflower and Tulips - SOLD
6 x 8 inches on Canvas Panel
©2013

I am pretty sure I'll be painting more sunflowers and tulips soon...

Yellow Poppies and Grapes

This is the last day of the 30 day paint challenge. Some of the artists painted something new every day and did a great job. For me it was do my best to simply paint every day and I made it for 25 of the 30 - something I haven't accomplished before!

I wanted to do one more so I could post on the last day of the challenge, and I might have to revisit this one for a few tweaks of course. ;o)

These yellow poppies are actually artificial, but I wanted to do something really bright and they fit the criteria. The grapes are real. Still working with red yellow and blue tones, but these are more varied in chroma than previous paintings.

Yellow Poppies and Grapes - SOLD
6 x 8 inches Oil on Canvas Panel
© 2013

Just a quick thanks to everyone who visits my blog to see what's new.
You are awesome.