Painting on a Trip

A few weeks ago I heard about a show that will be juried and hung in Eugene's Shelton-McMurphey-Johnson House this summer. I decided it would be fun to paint something to enter and time is running out on the project. The painting has to be framed, ready to hang to be juried on May 8. I went to the house to take some photos and do some sketching. It was the sketching that made me realize what a task it is to paint a Victorian home--what a lot of details and so many curly-cues!

 

As you know from viewing my work, this house is not my preferred subject matter, nor do I like to work in a tight manner. All the same, I decided to take it on. I spent a good deal of time drawing the house, first on 9 x 12 paper, then using a grid method, placing the drawing on an 18 x 22 piece of watercolor paper. To get a good finished painting, even loosely painted, you need a very accurate drawing to begin with.

In the meantime, Mike and I planned a trip to Lake Tahoe to meet up with Mike's cousin who has a cabin on Fallen Leaf Lake. The plan was for the two of them to chop brush and fall trees, which would leave me time to paint. So I packed up and was ready to paint the SMJ House.

On our trip down, we spent a night at Klamath Falls and spent the next morning sightseeing which included these great petroglyphs.

 

We drove most of the day and met up with Mike's cousin before dark. I realized that the cabin was quite small, and setting up to paint would be a bit challenging, but there was always outdoors! It was warm when we arrived, around 75 degrees, so it seemed painting outside would be lovely.

 

 

As you can see, the weather changed overnight. So the next couple of days I set up my paint gear and painted some, but found it frustrating. Although the painting wasn't too successful, we had great meals out, spectacular scenery and some great burnpiles.

 

So this morning, back home, I headed to my studio with a weak start to a painting. I'd done enough detail of the house to know that there was a lot of line making ahead of me.

 

I just had to bite the bullet today and start making the house look like it really is with lots of detail. I plugged away, and started making decisions about what to lose and what would be the most detailed focal point. Pretty soon, I found I could start the more fun stuff for me--mark and pattern making. I took the tight parts and loosened them up with juicier brushwork. Finally, I realized I was pretty close to done. I did need to work on the surroundings, so I put more color in the foreground, patterns on the mid-ground tree, and added some layers to the evergreen trees in the background. My last step was adding the ironwork the the roof.

 

What I see now is that I have to either warm up the house or cool down the foreground. Doing either will just require a wash over one part or the other.

What's your vote? Warm it up or cool it down.

Solo: Painting an Abstract

I was so jazzed after the workshop last week, that I wanted to try an abstract in my own studio using what I learned plus adding a few tricks of my own.

On this painting I wanted to try more organic shapes and suggest a subject matter. Oddly, I went for a floral, which is wierd since I hardly ever paint flowers. However, on this abstract I am only suggesting, not painting representationally.

 

Here is my start. I had so many fellow painters interested in the method used at the workshop that I decided to add more detail to the process this time.

At this point I have light and mid-values, so the next step is adding darks. I threw in some patterns, too.

 

The next step is adding some collage, so I went to my failed painting pile and found one with similar colors.

 

I cut shapes out of the painting above and collaged them on the peice to add texture, pattern and added detail.

 

Next I used the atomizer (a John Salminen trick) to soften and diminish some of the white. As he suggests, I made one corner cool, by using a blue mist and one corner warm by mixing a yellow with burnt sienna.

 

Here is a closeup of the atomizer effect.

 

Next I looked for areas to paint black. I cut out shapes using construction paper. When I was hppy with the placement, I used masking tape to cover the area, cut gently with a utility knife, peel off the cut shapes. Next I applied black acrylic to the negative shapes. The black paint makes a consistant, void which is hard to get with watercolor paints.

 

Here's the painting with the first bits of added black.

 

I came into the house with my images and used a technique fellow watercolorist, Linda Rothchild-Ollis shared. I put the image into Paintshop Pro and messed around with added black shapes and decided I like the drama more black created.

 

At this point I added a few lines and touched up a detail or two.

 

Untitled (as of yet) 22 x 30

Title suggestions?

Does it seem finished?

The WSO Convention and Workshop

I just returned from the WSO Spring show which occured April 3-5, and then stayed on in Cannon Beach for a 5 day workshop with John Salminen. Below is a photo of me with my painting "Sound Bites" which was selected for the show, but did not win an award.

 

The workshop focused on design in an abstract painting. The instructor had a tight approach to building an abstract step by step. It suited me very nicely, because it was less stressful than coming up with ideas on my own. I like to do that in my studio, but for me it's harder to do in a group. For those of you who enjoy seeing how art goes from a blank sheet to a final peice, you will this step by step description.

Step 1: We drew 4 line drawings of everyday items--an empty packing tape dispensor, the top of a squirt bottle, a folded paper bag, and a bullclip attached to a plastic rectangle.

 

Step 2: On a piece of tracing paper, we traced 3 or 4 of those draqwings on to one 9 inch by 12 inch sheet.

 

Step 3: We then divided the tracing paper into 16 pieces by folding 4 down and 4 across. Then by putting the same 16 piece grid onto a full sheet of watercolor paper (22 inch by 30 inch) we copied our tracing paper drawing onto the watercolor paper. With all the lines, this was a frustrating task.

 

Step 4: We then found an interesting shape out of all these many lines. The shape had to go off the edge paper in 3 or 4 places. Further requirements were for the shape to be irregular, unpredictable, and oblique (diagonal in direction.) That shape was traced and cutout on large tracing paper and outlined in yellow paint.

 

Step 5: We then placed a light watercolor wash surrounding our left-white shape using one main color dominance of warm or cool, with a few areas of contrast. In my piece, I chose a warm dominance and put a few cool areas on the paper.

 

Step 6 to finished: From this beginning, we then put on darker shapes, layers of colors, cut out and pasted pieces from magazines, added lines, added black shapes, and built an abstract painting unlike any process I've used before. Here is the final product. Remember this is a really large painting!

 

I had so much fun with this that I did it again. (I also wanted to insure that I would remember the process.) Doesn't this look like an aerial view?

Abstract painting #2:

 

I was fortunate to stay in a large rental house with several other great women. Here are some photos capturing some of them at work.

 

Ruth putting on the first washes of watercolor.

 

Christine further along on her peice.

 

Sharon stepping back to see the whole piece.

 

Kara standing by her abstract pondering if it's done or how she can improve it.