*Oil Painting classes offered now through The Art Verve Academy:
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Figuring it all out takes time. Process is important, you don’t always know where it’s going to take you…then, surprise!
The following 7 examples of process and how series can develop are meant to get you thinking about what might go into the creation of an image, where it comes from and where it (might be) going.
Egg and D-Art*
(*after egg and dart, a neoclassical motif)
It began with a pastel sketch of an abandoned beaver dam full of small beaver gnawed branches, some of which I collected. Later, in an oil painting class, students worked from portable still life’s which I made using the gnawed sticks, painted egg-orbs, and other collected material. After the class was over, the little dioramas sat on a shelf. Eventually, on their way into storage, I made some drawings, for the beaver dam memory, and now, the drawings are becoming paintings.
The Hawaiian themed backdrop is for fun (variety).
First painting pass: Tone (colored background) and roughing in shapes and general colors.
2nd painting pass: Glazing (transparent layering) and scumbling (opaque layering).
Continuing on: Glazing and Impasto ( impasto means “like paste”, in other words, thick paint.) In process.
Sanctuary Cove
On a recent Plein Air outing with The Pastel Society, we discovered this wonderful piece of the Tucson Mountains. To explore this new place, I opted for a series of color sketches of some of the things that jumped out first time through. http://www.tucsonpastelsociety.org/paint-outs.html
This feels like a place to explore more. http://www.sanctuarycove.org
Such is the process of Plein Air.
Vingettini Italia
(tiny vignettes of italy)
On a recent trip to Tuscany, Italy we had a good time living it up, eating and traveling. It was so good, I almost forgot to paint. Work needed to get done, fast. My friend pointed out tiny sketchbooks for sale at a local market. How about that?! The tiny sketch allowed for a composition, including colored pencil, to be completed in less than 20 minutes. 90 tiny pictures later, my mission to make art in Italy was satisfied, without regrets.
Two tiny paintings inspired from tiny-book, so far.
At this point waiting for paint to dry so painting can proceed. Just because they are tiny doesn’t mean they take less time to paint.
L’Accademia
While in Florence we visited the Galleria dell’Accademia where Michelangelo’s David is displayed.
In a adjacent room are many plaster casts of original sculptures. Determined to bring something useful back, I made quick, near blind-contour pen drawings of a few, capturing gesture, if not proportion…managing one color sketch and a few photos too. Time constraints can be very beneficial.
The freshness of the drawings and the rainbow gradient of natural light over the white forms will make interesting paintings.
Charmed
A friend showed me her charm bracelet of 40+ years…
I borrowed it thinking it would be a challenge to figure out a way to paint it…after several trials I’m combining 5 charms next to each other for each painting. Something like this…6×6 inches. Puzzles.
There are 60 charms on the bracelet. If nothing else, this will be good composition and painting practice…
99 Bottles of Beer
Marketing can be pretty colorful. I am naturally drawn into the clever illustrations that adorn some of the craftier products, in this case beer.
This particular sketchbook is dedicated to this sort of thing. One good reason to keep a sketchbook, or two. Here is a spin on bottle(s) labeling, so to speak.
Parts of these may be incorporated as tertiary aspects of still-life paintings, virtually unrecognizable and significantly out of context enough not to infringe on copyright.
Fruits
Fruits are most beautiful and colorful; wonderful inspiration. I take a lot of pictures, mostly of stuff that looks interesting to me. When reviewing photos, themes become apparent. Sometimes these themes prompt more observation in the form of drawings and paintings, sometimes, they are just pretty pictures that go nowhere.
This smoothie chronicle honors the fruits of life, (not the nuts…although a mixed-nut job might be an interesting challenge…who knows).
Pay attention to the stuff in your life. Draw and paint it. Use variations on a theme to get inspired and motivated to do the work. Have fun with it!
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