Tag: Still Life

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Gouache Ink and watercolor wash Sketchbook Pages Still Life Watercolor

Just a Bowl of Fruit

Fruit bowl, ink, watercolor & gouache
Fruit bowl, ink, watercolor & gouache

It’s been such a busy week that I haven’t had  a moment for my blog until now. When my work week ended Friday afternoon it was time to prepare the studio for my watercolor class that started today. I’ve converted a second room to studio space for the duration of the class and I think everyone fit comfortably.

I feel so privileged to have such a great group of wonderful women artists in the class. And what troopers they were today, so determined to get the hang of doing flat washes, graded washes and glazing. By the end of the class everyone was doing beautiful, abundant, juicy washes.

I’d put out a couple of bowls of fresh fruit for class but nobody was hungry. So now I get to paint (and eat) all those yummy pears, apples and pomegranates.

After all the work on good paper today, I got frustrated by sketchbook paper that quickly muddies and doesn’t allow  reworking.  But I was so tired tonight it was either a quick sketch or nothing and since there’s been way too much nothing on my blog this week, here, at least, is something, as funky as it may be.

Tomorrow, rested up, I will try again on good paper.

Categories
Drawing Flower Art Glass Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Painting Sketchbook Pages Still Life

Attack of the Insidious Shoulds

Attack of the Shoulds #1, Mixed media
Attack of the Shoulds #1, Mixed media

Sunday I got into one of those funks where no matter what I was doing I felt like I should be doing something else. It was a beautiful day: I should be out painting plein air. But there were paintings in progress in the studio that were calling to me. And then there were shoulds about the medium to use: I should be painting in oil, no acrylic, no watercolor…I was driving myself nuts!

So I sat myself down at the drawing table and just started writing  in my sketchbook journal all the shoulds I was hearing in my mind (but who was saying them–aren’t I the only one in there?). When all else fails I default to flowers. I picked a hibiscus, stuck it in a little bottle and started sketching. I got it wrong. I drew with a pen dipped in ink, I added wax crayon, watercolor crayon, rubbed it with a paper towel, rubber stamps, more ink, more crayon, and just kept angrily abusing the page, trying to dump the shoulds.

Attack of the Shoulds #2, Ink and watercolor
Attack of the Shoulds #2, Ink and watercolor

I wrote on the page: “Accept that it is all impossible.It will be wrong. It will be bad. It is pointless. And do it anyway. Because you can. And doing it badly is better than not doing it. Break the cycle. Stop the nonsense!” When there was nothing more to do the first page spread I started on the next, feeling freer. I tackled the hibiscus again, and did #2 above.

Attack of the Shoulds #3, watercolor and ink
Attack of the Shoulds #3, watercolor and ink

For #3 above, I sketched with pencil, added watercolor and then outlined everything afterwards with a Pitt Sepia F pen.

Attack of the Shoulds #4, ink & watercolor
Attack of the Shoulds #4, ink & watercolor

It was almost time to go to a dinner party but I squeezed in one more, which I mucked up a bit with too heavy outlining so added some fun scribbly white pen. The good news is that I did break the cycle, got over the shoulds and got back to having fun in the studio today.

Categories
Flower Art Life in general Painting Sketchbook Pages Still Life Watercolor

Agapantha Fireworks over Hydrangeas

Agapantha Fireworks over Hydrangeas, watercolor, 9x6"
Agapantha Fireworks over Hydrangeas, watercolor, 9×6″

In honor of Independence Day I spent the day quite independently, doing a little gardening, a little cooking, and then starting the first of a series of  autobiographical paintings in acrylic on canvas.

I skipped the picnics and fireworks (except for hearing them boom in the distance and having to comfort my stressed out cats, and again just now, after 11:00 p.m., they’re illegally exploding  somewhere in my neighborhood). So I thought I’d sketch these agapanthas that looked a bit like fireworks exploding over the hydrangeas.

I like the idea of celebrating independence day with flowers rather than the sound of “bombs bursting in air” anyway.

Categories
Flower Art Gardening Oil Painting Painting Plein Air Still Life

Pansies Plein Air

Pansies in Pitcher Plein Air, oil on panel 12x9"
Pansies in Pitcher Plein Air, oil on panel 12x9"

The weather was too perfect to paint indoors but I didn’t feel like driving anywhere. My next door neighbor was out pruning his pansies and he’d pulled out a whole bucketful he was about to put in the compost bin.  Voila! A perfect painting subject. I stuffed a big clump of the pansies into a pitcher and set them on a table in the backyard.

I’d made the pitcher as a gift for my friend Barbara in the late 70s when I was a ceramic artist and she was a silversmith. She’s now a brilliant and prolific ceramic artist herself and she recently gave me the pitcher back. She was no longer using it due to a leaky crack and a house full of her own ceramics. I’ve been enjoying using it in still life set ups while fondly remembering it being filled with Mimosas every year for the annual Easter egg hunt and brunch her family held every year while our kids were growing up.

I knew that time was very limited before the shade moved across the yard onto the table so I worked quickly and had a great time.

Here’ are a couple steps in the work in progress:

Pansies Plein Air WIP #1
Pansies Plein Air WIP #1
Pansies Plein Air WIP #2
Pansies Plein Air WIP #2
Categories
photoshop Sketchbook Pages Still Life Watercolor

FIGuratively Speaking

Figs on Photoshop Manual, Pencil and watercolor, 6x9
Figs on Photoshop Manual, Pencil and watercolor, 6x9

These organic figs were disappointingly tasteless and so they became still life subjects instead of eating objects. I’ve been using the heavy Photoshop manual (seen under the figs)  as a weight on top of the the Fabriano Venezia sketchbook when I scan it. My new copy of Photoshop CS4 doesn’t come with a manual, although there is one online that can be downloaded and saved.

I’m one of those weird people who actually read manuals. When I get a new application I always read the manual first, to find out what the program can do and then I refer to it when I need to figure out how to do one of those things.

I don’t like reading on the computer but I refuse to pay another $55 for a manual that should have been included in the first place. In the meantime, the old manual makes a very nice paperweight or doorstop (or still life holder). 824 pages! And I read/skimmed the whole thing when I got it.

Categories
Drawing Oil Painting Painting Photos Still Life

Stripey Still Life with Lemon: The importance of getting the drawing right first

Stripey Still Life with Lemon
Stripey Still Life with Lemon, 10x8", oil on Gessobord

Getting the drawing right before beginning to paint is so important when trying to paint realistically. Although it’s theoretically easier to correct drawing errors with oil paint than watercolor, it’s still a lot less fun than painting with a good drawing. As you can see from the start of this painting below, I hadn’t quite nailed the elipse on the top of the pitcher before I started painting.

Stripey Still Life start
Stripey Still Life start

I wanted to get started with the painting quickly because I knew the leaves from the lemon tree were going to change wilt, even though I had inserted the stems in a little florist tube with water (and they did!). But by not getting the elipse on the top of the pitcher drawn correctly, I ended up redoing it over and over and finally giving up. I am happy with the way the fabric under the pitcher turned out, as well as the lemon and didn’t have to do any repainting on those areas, although I did change some of the fabric as I painted.

Stripey still life photo of set up
Stripey still life photo of set up with wilted leaves

On my next still life, I’m going to sketch the composition on tracing paper first, and then transfer it to the painting panel, rather than trying to sketch it on the panel. Maybe that will make the painting more fun and less of a struggle.

Win some, lose some, learn some, move on.

Categories
Flower Art Ink and watercolor wash Painting Sketchbook Pages Still Life Watercolor

Bouquet of Mothers’ Day Roses

Mothers' Day Flowers #2, ink & watercolor
Mothers' Day Flowers #2, ink & watercolor

On Mothers’s Day my wonderful neighbors brought me this  lovely bouquet of roses in a crystal vase. Then all three sweet kids wished me Happy Mothers’ Day and gave me hugs. I have the best neighbors. I took the flowers outside and sketched them twice, sitting on my studio porch steps.

The sketch above was done by painting directly with no drawing. The one below was drawn first with my Pentel Brush Pen and then painted with watercolor. Both are in the large Moleskine watercolor sketchbook.

Mothers' Day Flowers #1, ink & watercolor
Mothers' Day Flowers #1, ink & watercolor

It was a pretty special day. Son #1 asked his girlfriend of 5 years to marry him (and she accepted) atop a tower in Turkey,  son #2 grilled a delicious dinner for me and his family, and I started the day with a great hike with my best friend Barbara. Life is good!

Categories
Art supplies Art theory Glass Lighting Oil Painting Painting Photos Still Life Studio

Painting a Still Life Using The Carder Method”

Still Life with Tangelo, oil on gessobord, 12x12"
Still Life with Tangelo, oil on gessobord, 12x12"

Inspired by Casey’s success with the Carder Method and frustrated with my own slow progress at oil painting, I bought the Carder Method video and  Color Checker tool. Below are step by step photos of my using the method to paint this still life, a brief review of the Carder Method and photos of my studio set up for working with it.

The Carder Method is designed to eliminate many of the problems that can make painting difficult. By creating an carefully lit, controlled environment, a painter can focus on learning to clearly see color and value differences while eliminating problems caused by variables such as changing light.

Click “Continue Reading” to see photos and read more….

Continue reading “Painting a Still Life Using The Carder Method””
Categories
Art supplies Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Sketchbook Pages

Sketchcrawling at the Pub

Claremont Day Nursery, Dusk; ink & watercolor
Claremont Day Nursery, Dusk; ink & watercolor

Two of my favorite sketchers, Martha and Cathy, joined me for an evening of sketching and dinner at Kensington Circus Pub. The image above was my view out the window just after sunset. Next I sketched a window across the street (below), and then used the page to total my portion of the bill. When I scribbled out a mistake it turned into a creature.

Alchemy, dusk; ink & watercolor
Alchemy, dusk; ink & watercolor

Martha brought her fountain pen collection for us to try out, along with a bottle of Platinum Carbon ink. I was especially interested in her Namiki Falcoln pen, which I’d heard good things about. The two images below were my fooling around with her pens. The Namiki was a little clogged so I switched to using it as a dip pen. It’s a fabulous pen, very flexible and a ton of fun to use, but I found the line to be thicker than I prefer. I was happy to return to my favorite .05 Micron Pigma when I did the first two sketches above.

Ketchup bottle, Namiki Falcoln pen and ink
Ketchup bottle, Namiki Falcoln pen & ink

Cathy gave me a Pilot Varsity pen. It doesn’t have permanent ink so you can use it for ink & wash techniques. I used more ink than was needed to make a good wash so next time I’ll be more restrained when I use it.

Ink bottle, drawn w/Pilot Varsity pen & water wash
Ink bottle, drawn w/Pilot Varsity pen & water wash

We discovered we are all huge fans of the HBO series The Wire which we’re working through on DVD and Cathy shared a few other favorites on DVD that I noted on the page.

I was really tired because I’d been painting all day and then went home afterward and painted until midnight, working on a project I’ll post about soon. But now, back to painting again (with a quick break for watching Adam’s performance on  American Idol).

Categories
Art theory Flower Art Ink and watercolor wash Painting Sketchbook Pages Still Life

Out Stealing Roses

Stolen Roses, Ink & watercolor, in 5x7" wc Moleskine
Stolen Roses, Ink & watercolor, in 5x7" wc Moleskine

As Maya Angelou said her grandmother always told her, “You don’t always get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get.” As a believer in Karma and Maya Angelou’s grandma, I was a little nervous about stealing my neighbor’s roses.

But that neighbor moved away a year ago and her roses were producing those first magnificent blooms of the year. I just couldn’t resist cutting a few to sketch. I drew them with my Micron Pigma .01 and then added watercolor. I wasn’t happy with the results so experimented with adding white lines with a new white gel pen, a “Y&C Gel Extreme .07” which I like it a lot. I liked the sketch (above) better too.

I decided to sketch them again and used my Micron Pigma with a lot of cross-hatching to try to understand their form in a more sculptural way.

Stolen Roses 2; ink, gouache, watercolor
Stolen Roses 2; ink, gouache, watercolor

Then I added watercolor and made a big mess. I couldn’t capture the delicate coloring from white to yellow with red edges of one of the roses . So I tried adding gouache. Yuck, worse mess. I washed off the paint and tried again. More mess, and this time I lost a lot of the black lines. So I got out a Sharpie fine point and went over the black lines with darker ones. More gouache, yuck, some white pen, gave up.

Then I took a bunch of photos of the roses, thinking I’d start an oil painting and keep a photo reference in case the painting took longer than they lived. Pretty soon I was coughing and sneezing and my eyes were watering. These roses were very fragrant and I was allergic to them (unlike the ones in my garden that I selected for their lack of scent). I put them outside and gave up. I guess I paid for what I got!