Working on This Weekend-12/21/2014

Mainly worked on two paintings this weekend, Three Pink Roses and the Winter Deer Skull.

Winter Deer Skull, oil paint on panel, 16x20 inches, unfinished.

 I went back to the shadow areas of the skull and
 added a light blue layer, with some texture. Then I redrew the fence wires and the cracks in the skull with Raw Umber, too.

I originally wanted to do only glazes of pure colors on this painting, but that isn't giving me the results I want, so today I tried working wet in wet on the background grasses. It worked really well, but it will be tedious to get all the background area covered. Galkyd tends to get sticky and messy very quickly, within an hour, so that means I can only cover small areas at a time, with small batches of mixed colors.

Three Pink Roses, oil paint on panel, 8x10 inches, unfinished.
 Mostly got the background out of the way here, now I can work on the fun part, the flowers! I swear painting backgrounds is like eating your veggies before the good parts of dinner. The first layer had already been done on the background, so this layer was easier to apply and adjust. I made three shades of grey, using a dark Torrit Grey from a few years ago, plus pure white and the grey for the darks; and added color all over, working from lightest to darkest with the same little filbert brush, and then blended it all with a soft brush. After the blending I cleaned up the stems and flowers with a clean brush dipped in mineral spirits.

Geraniaceae Seeds

I have a hard time deciding whether to call these pictures drawings or paintings, but it was an fun experiment, no matter the name. I transferred pencil drawings from photos that I took, painted in the background, shaded in the pencils drawings, painted over the drawings with thin washes of acrylic inks, and then scratched out highlights with a knife. I worked back and forth between the pencil and ink and scratching out whites, Claybord* is great for that because the surface is smooth and deep enough that it can be scratched off a few times without scratching through.

Geranium Seed #1,  pencil and acrylic ink on Claybord, 8x8 inches, 12/2013.

On two of the pictures (#1 and#3) I used multiple layers of acrylic ink to fill in the background, which worked pretty well, it just took a few layers to get even coverage. For #2 I tried acrylic paint, and it wasn't as easy to work with as the ink, it chipped in places when I scratched out the details. The paint also left lines that had to be smoothed carefully, so I'll probably stick with ink in the future.

Geranium Seed #2,  pencil with acrylic ink and paint on Claybord, 8x8 inches, 12/2013

The shine of the pictures made them hard to photograph, I tried several times and had no luck, even going all out and building a black light box didn't help.  Then I realized that I could scan anything small enough to fit on the scanner bed, so I tried it and had great luck.

Geranium Seed #3,  pencil and acrylic ink on Claybord, 8x8 inches,  4/2014.

The seeds are something in the Geraniaceae family, I'm not sure exactly what species because I didn't take pictures of the plants themselves. The seeds were stuck in my socks after hiking at one of the local parks, so I brought them home and took some pictures to work from. They're common Texas wildflowers found near San Antonio, Texas.  The seeds in this family spring out as they dry, launch away, and stab into to things to get themselves dispersed. The amazing thing that I found out when trying to identify them is that the coil changes with the humidity, getting longer when wet and shorter as it dries, and will screw the seed into the ground.

  

I did a little experiment by tracing a dry seed on a piece of paper, soaking it on water and seeing if it expanded any. Turns out that it did expand, after a few minutes, and within half an hour it was back to the original shape. 

Geranium Seed #1,  detail.

Geranium Seed #3, detail. 

Geranium Seed #3, detail.

For more information on the way the seeds explode out and bury themselves, see this paper:
Evangelista D; Hotton S; Dumais J. 2011. The mechanics of explosive dispersal and self-burial in the seeds of the filaree, Erodium cicutarium (Geraniaceae). Journal of Experimental Biology. 214: 521-529. 

*I am not compensated in any way by Ampersand, I just love their products. 

Toy I

Toy I, with the model.

I wanted to try some still lifes based on my favorite colors, Prussian Blue and Alizarin Crimson, with little toys and items from around the house. This is the first finished picture in that series, it features one of my favorite model horses that I've had since I was little.
This painting was done on canvas, but I wanted the bottom white part smooth, so I built it up with many layers of gesso and sanded it smooth. After that was smooth I poured on Prussian Blue mixed with Galkyd and let it form the drips.

Toy I, oil painting on canvas, 12x24inches, finished, 2013.

GIF of Toy I, showing some of the layers that went into the horse.

GIF of Toy I, showing the layers that went into the whole painting.

Toy I, with the model.

Working on This Weekend-Thanksgiving 2014

  A painting that I started a few months ago and then forgot about got most of my attention this weekend. This is the first layer, on top of a pencil drawing. The photo is of roses at the San Antonio Botanical Garden, in front of the Auld House, a beautiful historic Texas farmhouse that was donated and relocated to the gardens. I think it already looks pretty great, should only take a few more layers to get right.

Three Pink Roses, 8x10, oil on panel, unfinished.

Three Pink Roses, 8x10, oil on panel, unfinished.

Color Sketch for Winter Deer Skull, 5x7, finished.

This was a little color sketch I  did to check the colors I picked out for the big winter deer skull painting.

Stormy Clouds, 5x7, oil on canvas panel, unfinished.

A little landscape I've had in mind for a while, storm clouds from a few weeks ago. I love the colors of storm clouds, this is my first try at painting them. This will need at least one more layer, once it's dry in a few days.

Working on This Weekend-11/23/14

I was stuck working on some little pencil drawing for the last week, because it was too cold outside to spray them with fixative. But Sunday was nice and warm, so I was able to fix them and work on the next layers.

Hall House Deer Skull, pencil drawing with white acrylic highlights,  5x7 on bristol paper, finished.

This drawing is mostly pencil, with a little white acrylic paint to bring out the highlights, and that white paint made a huge difference, the drawing looked pretty flat before the whites were brightened.  

Thistle Seed, pen and charcoal, 5x7 on bristol paper, unfinished. 

 I did the underdrawing for this with copic pen, so the sharp spines wouldn't be blurred by blending the charcoal. Making this look 3D will be my goal, because even the photo looks pretty flat.

Torrit Grey Lady, oil painting, 11x14 on a canvas panel, unfinished.

I've been wanting to paint a figure for awhile now, so I picked a vintage erotica picture to work from. These pictures are old enough that the copyrights have expired, and there are tons that would make beautiful paintings. Also I prefer these "real" figures over the oddly photoshopped anatomy you see in most modern photos. She needs a good name too, but there's time to find the right one.

Deer Skull, oil painting on Gessobord, 16x20, unfinished.  

This is the big picture I'm working on now, and it's slowly progressing. I wasted some time drawing in grass in the background and then losing the drawing when I tried painting over it, but I was trying to figure out how to deal with the grass and I think I'm closer now.  With a mid-tone background I can draw in the light colored stems of grass and add in the darks around that.

Working on This Weekend-8/5/2013

Better late than never I guess. I added all the pictures to this post a year ago and then never finished it.

Guadalupe Fail, 9x12, oil on canvas panel, unfinished.

I never finished this one, it just got too messy, but the colors were nice in some places. Might be worth trying to paint this scene again eventually.

Weaver's Needle, 5x7 oil on canvas panel, finished.

A little 3 hours painting from a photo my mom took in Arizona.

Rhino at SA Zoo, 5x7, pencil and charcoal on bristol paper, finished, sold.

A three hour drawing from a picture I took of the rhinoceros looking lazy at the San Antonio Zoo. I had a hard time figuring out the shadows on his face, until I started drawing the shadow and realized there were two horns and not just one.

Butterfly II, 5x7, oil on Claybord, unfinished. 

It was a really cold day at the Arboretum when I took this photo, and it was around freezing the night before too, so it was a nice surprise to see a butterfly. I had a hard time identifying it, turns out there are lots of orange butterflies in Texas. So I submitted a photo to the nice people at butterfliesandmoths.org  who identified it as a Danaus gilippus, or Queen butterfly.

Sophie, the best studio cat ever. 

Viola

This pansy is the first painting that I did on Claybord*, and scrubbed in colors in thin glazes. The white areas were scraped back to white, and then painted white. The nice thing about Claybord is that the gesso layer is extra thick so it can be painted over and etched back to white without scratching through it. But the drawback is I've seen oil paint flake off more than once, I think the board sucks all the oil out of the paint and the pigment falls off. So now I mostly paint on Gessobord, which is slightly less absorbent and save the Claybord for pencil and ink drawings. 

Viola, 5x7 oil on Claybord,  finished.

Viola, detail, 5x7 oil on Claybord,  finished.

Viola, 5x7 oil on Claybord,  framed, finished.

You can find Viola in the new book "Flowers in Art: Contemporary International Artists" by Cindy Ann Coldiron. It is a beautiful book showcasing all types of flower art from over fifty international artists. The book is available from amazon.com and many other retailers.

*I have not been compensated in any way by Ampersand, I just love their products.

Working on This Weekend-11/2/2014

The main project I have going now is a big painting of a deer skull hanging on a fence. The light was great that day, sharp and wintry, the shadows on the skull were bright blue and the grasses were grey and gold.

Deer Skull, 16x20, preliminary drawing for a painting. 

Laying out the drawing and doing the transfer to the painting board was tedious, but it's finally done. I also decided to leave out the fence post and the tag on the right antler.

Deer Skull testing color schemes for a painting. 

Picking the colors is the next part, I want to do glazes of pure color over most parts of the painting. Glazes will glow and be intense, but that means all the colors have to be right from the beginning. First I tried Pthalo Blue, Indian Red, Yellow Ochre, Titanium White, and Vandyke Brown (the bigger sheet on the left). But the problem with Vandyke Brown is that it tends to look dead and gross when it mixes with white or yellow, and is hard to get dark enough because it's so transparent. So I tried again with Raw Umber, which is about the same color as Vandyke Brown, but plays nicely with other colors and is nice and dark. And I switched the Indian Red for Permanent Rose, because that makes a nice pretty purple with the blue and it will work on the parts of the shadows that look pink too. Currently I'm thinking Pthalo Blue, Permanent Rose, Raw Umber, Yellow Ochre and Titanium White will be the way to go.

Hall House Deer Skull, pencil on Bristol paper, 5x7, unfinished.

I also have a few small pencil and pen drawings floating around. This is another whitetail deer skull, from the tree in the backyard at my grandma's house.

Thistle, pencil on Bristol paper, 5x7.
Another small drawing, of a thistle seed pod in the winter. I haven't decided whether to use copic pen or pencil yet, maybe both. 

Beach Shells,  oil on Gessoboard,  5x7, unfinished.

Still working on the little sea shell picture, mostly frustrated with it though. I haven't figured out how to get the sand to look right, and the orange shell is a mess. Some areas are too dark and opaque, it looks blotchy, and I think I might need to repaint most of it to fix it. I used Neo Megilp on Gessoboard and ran into an issue with previous layers wiping off when I tried to scrub in the next color. Maybe sealing the layers with Galkyd Lite might be the way to go. Gamblin used to say not to mix their mediums, but now they say everything can be used together, so maybe I'll ask what they think before I try that.

AZ Blue Sky, 5x7, oil on a canvas panel, probably finished.

A little painting from a picture my mom took somewhere out near Big Lake, Arizona. I keep messing with it, but it's probably done now.

Oil Painting Care

Oil Painting Care

Avoid extreme temperature, including hot cars. Don't hang near fireplaces, showers, or kitchens. Temperature changes cause the canvas to expand and contract, making the paint crack and maybe fall off. High humidity leads to mold growth.

Handle it by the sides and the back bars. These are the strongest points.

Don't lean the canvas on anything that bends it. Might cause tears, and leads to cracking years later.

Don't leave the paint surface touching anything for more than a few minutes. Until the paint is fully dried (a few years) it can be pressed out of shape. Some plastics will melt to the surface and be impossible to fix.  

Dust with a lint free cloth, like microfiber or a wypall as needed. People say feather dusters are bad for this because they can lose small pieces that will stick to the paint.

Don't spray with any cleaning products. EVER.

If something is stuck to it, try some water and very light rubbing with a towel. Or call me.

It is okay to gently touch the surface, it's pretty tough. Just wash your hands first, skin oils are slightly corrosive, and who knows what else is on your hands.

Avoid direct sun for more than a few minutes

Sunlight causes colors to change and the canvas to degrade. I made a strip of canvas with different colors on it and left it in my car window for a year, the colors were mostly fine, but the canvas cracked and disintegrated.

Indirect sunlight is probably good for oil paintings, it keeps them from darkening too much. If the painting darkens over the years, especially from being stored in the dark, hanging it in the sun for a few hours will brighten it back up, without causing too much damage to the canvas.

The framer should seal the back side with paper to keep out dust and bugs (spiders love paintings!). Paper lets the painting breathe, and dry out, and discourages mold.

Oil paintings take years to dry, and the chemistry is going on forever, the colors will react with each other and change over time. Modern pigments are generally very stable, but who knows what the manufacturer actually put in the tube, and what will happen fifty years from now. Some layers will dry and contract at different speeds than others, so some parts might separate(crack). Cracks aren't necessarily a problem, unless the paint actually starts to fall off the canvas, which is unlikely. They usually just add more character.

If a painting has been varnished, there is a protective layer that can be cleaned (or removed) if needed without hurting the paint. If something extreme happens, ie. a guest splashed wine on it, or oil from frying in the kitchen settles on it,  kids with greasy hands, etc... the varnish can be removed and replaced fairly easily.

Working on This Weekend-9/1/2014

Finally done with the big Hill Country painting I've been working on for months now, you can see it here on it's own blog: http://hillcountrypainting.blogspot.com/. So now I have a ton of other paintings and drawings to get back into.

Little 5x7 paintings, all unfinished, one is a picture my mom took in Arizona, one is of some tiny seashells from Port Aransas, and blue bonnets from a family reunion a few springs ago. 

Color sketch, practice before I start the bigger painting.

Some pretty pink roses from the San Antonio Botanical Garden, this is the pencil drawing I'll paint over.

My very messy desk.

Beach Quickies

Little 5x7 oil paintings done a few months ago, before and during a trip to Port Aransas. All done in less than two hours.

Clouds and Seaweed, 5x7 oil on canvas panel, finished, 2014.

Pelicans, 5x7 oil on canvas panel, finished, 2014.

Morning Color Sketch, 5x7 oil on canvas panel, finished, 2014.

Night Clouds, 5x7 oil on canvas panel, finished, 2014.

Tiny Horsies

 My first two attempts at polymer clay sculptures, painted with acrylic inks. Horses, of course. The acrylics were really too thin, and hard to work with. So the inks may not be the best choice, but at this point almost everything in the house that hasn't actively run away has been painted with them. Maybe powdered pastels and fixative will work better next time.

Little polymer clay horses.

Grey draft horse. 

Arabian horse, apparently with casts on all four legs. Poor horsie.

The mane came out looking really cool though. 

The legs were the most awkward part, not sure what to do about that. I put little wire skeletons inside the clay, and the clay had a hard time sticking to it. So maybe I can skip the wire, or bake a few parts at a time.
Also learned the important lesson of doing the most delicate part last. Had a perfect set of ears on the draft horse, then got to messing with another part and realized I had smushed them.