Fingerpainting adventures

I am starting this painting. I will be combining a realistic subject with fingerpainting.  Working from a photo I sketched in using black gesso and a brush. My goal is to created an impressionistic painting.  A marriage of abstract and realism.

Auntie (anti) Muse

Today I stamped my feet, got mad and told auntie-muse to leave me alone.
I will ride with the muse sisters.
As an artist our hearts, passions and vision are guided and encouraged by the muses. I have been struggling these past few months with direction and focus. I felt like I have lost the passion. I had let rejection, comments get to me. This morning I realized auntie muse had wrapped me in her arms, soothed me and whispered false niceties in to my ear. I liken it to falling off a bike. Instead of being forced to get back on  and ride even stronger I was wrapped in a soothing blanket and told I wasn't ever going to ride a bike and to come inside and play with dolls. I would be content to play with dolls and riding a bike should be left to others. But I CAN ride a bike and it was only a wobble. Sit up straight, eyes where I am going, build strength and be confident.
I will ride. Push hard on the uphills and  laugh with glee as I feel the thrill of the ride. I know auntie muse is always there but when she sees how well I ride maybe she will go inside and play with dolls.

Daisy Trio

 

 

 

 

 

Daisy Trio

12x12

Oil on Canvas

$275 

 

 

Last summer I purchased a new camera. That evening, as I played with the features of the camera, I took many photos. Daisy Trio came from one of these photos. My garden was a mass of self seeding daisies which grew among the other plants. My garden has now undergone a radical makeover and the daisies are no longer there. It was fun to paint these daisies using transparent oil colours and glazes. 

 

 

 

 

 



 

'32 Goddess of Speed Nearing the Finish Line

I like obsession and having a large project. I have been able to get into the studio a lot this week. Sometimes only for 30-45 minutes, sometimes for much longer. I love painting in the early morning.
A different approach with this painting is I am having to work flat so the glazes don't run. They really don't run but the do move a teeny bit which I don't like at all.
I have learned a lot doing this painting. Doing another in this style requires a very fine surface. A higher grade of canvas and more gesso that has been sanded smooth. Hmmm maybe oil paper.
'32 Goddess of Speed is nearing the Finish Line. I want to let it dry and touch up some line work. And I need to stare at it to check values and whether it reads true. So far I have added no opaque paint. I may add a touch or two if I need to pull anything forward. While it dries On to my next project. I have a smooth board.......

30 in 30 Check

As people know I thought I would do 30 paintings in 30 days and unwisely chose non-representational paintings. So NOT me. So I nixed that plan.
But I wanted to say that although I am not producing a painting a day, I have been in my studio painting everyday. My challenge is to complete this painting in glazes using transparent oils. For a detail lover lile myself it is great. It also forces me to slow down and focus on small changes in colour and colour temperature.
Still a long way to go. Deeping values. And the car only has the first glaze.
Cheers
Let us all be happy and content with our own challenges and artist journeys.

Building Form

I am starting the 3rd glaze layer. The goddess of speed is slowly taking form. When you glaze in watercolour you can time the moisture of the wash and drop in new colours or intensities of colour. With glazing in oils this is limited. I like the luminosity I am getting from this technique.

Okay this may work.

Second glaze layer started. This may be okay after all.

Battling speed and perfection

Here is the first layer of glaze. Trying to keep the whites. Hmmm. I am using a drop or two of Walnut Alkyd medium. Over gessoed canvas it doesn't flow like a watercolour glaze. This I found frustrating. I worked with the canvas flat and tydied up the whites with oms and one of my old small scumble brushes. I am going to do some research on glazing mediums and different support finishes, and practice on some 6x6 practice boards. I won't mix mediums on this painting. Been there done that.
While doing this inititial glaze, I was asking myself why was I trying a different technique and had to talk myself into staying the course.  Learning and trying new things are at first hard and our natural inclination is to stay on the easy path. We never get anywhere new that way. Now for patience and let it dry.
Happy painting.

The '32 Goddess of Speed

I didn't paint last night like I thought I would. My husband and I did a mini marathon of watching Suits. Sometimes reconnecting is important.
This morning I grabbed coffee and a bun then headed into the studio. Using only transparent colours. A new favourite colour by M Graham, Anthraquinone Blue mixed with transparent orange iron oxide. I applied it very carefully around the shape. Because I will be building up depth with glazes I need to keep the white of the canvas clean. Then  I took a clean brush and softed some edges while leaving some edges hard. It is hard to see in the photo because of the glare of wet oil paint but I created blurry light circles in the background.

Getting Serious

I have spent the last 1.5 hours doing a mind bending underdrawing. The goddess of speed. As I was drawing it on the canvas using a coloured pencil I was thinking about my painting process. I usually paint in a direct manner but today I am wanting to push my technique skills. I think I will paint this in glazes watercolour style. The biggest challenge is the slow pace of progress that this will present as I will need to wait for each layer of glaze to dry completely. I will let you know how it goes.
Here is the drawing, I will be touching up the canvas with gesso before applying the paint layer.

Now Seriously Folks

Enough of the silly stuff I say. Get real, get active, get serious. I think the discipline of actually getting into the studio daily is very good. And painting daily is very noble. But I am drawn more to my studio when I have a big "meaty" work on my easel. I am the one painting at a time type of person. When I have a big/challenging painting I can get totally lost in the studio for days. I have been known to call it a day, and pop in at bedtime to check on what I had created and get so wrapped up in the work that I paint until the wee hours of the morning, The house is cold, my hands stiff and unable to move out of brush holding position and when I crawl into bed I send my husband leaping to the moon as my icy feet touch him.
30 paintings in 30 days, I chose to do abstracts. uh like uh why?
What did I learn?
1. I am a realist through and through. And although I may have some different ideas, my work will always, in some fashion be based, on representational subjects
2. Leave those amazing non-representational works of art to the fantastic artists who do them so well, which is not me.
3. I like big projects (not necessarily big canvases) where in each one offers me a personal challenge or area of artistic growth.

Is it a personal failure if I do not complete my 30 paintings or has the objective of this challenge been met? I am drawn to the studio but not in obligation to paint small quick studies. I know where I want to go, I think I know how to get there but I know this 30 in 30 challenge is not the main road but a meandering country road which will surely get me lost.

Enough of the silly stuff I say! Get real!. Get active! GET SERIOUS!

 

 

#16

I am calling all three #16. I was playing with watetcolour in a nonrepresentational way. And the other 2 pieces were watercolour and the shapes created by painting the negative space with acrylic. This is the beginning of a concept I have for a future piece. Hmmm dancers maybe because cbc2 is playing classical.

#15

#15 is only a day late. Yesterday I tried but I was fighting off a virus. Didn't work.
Today I set myself the goal of being in my studio at 8:30. I did something different than the other 14. A quick watercolour study of the view from my studio window. A grey dull morning. The water was colourless. I didn't paint in our local family of swans that floated past.
I will be working on #16 soon.

#14

Here is numbet 14

Lucky 13

I had a minor temper tantrum about my abstracts and took a break for a few days. Good thing I worked ahead. During this break I worked on other things.
Today I did #13. I concentrated on working from a set geometric form. An off centre cross painted in a prussen blue. Then I added it's complimentary colour based on the Munsel colour theory. The rest was play, stepping back and adding and subtracting. Fairly pleased.

Drawing break

I haven't as yet gone into the studio. I needed to work on a figurative so I headed off to portrait painting. As my car has been acting up, she is currently in the shop. So on the bus I went loaded with pencils and a sketch pad. In just over hour I did 2 quick drawings of the model. Quite pleased.

Productive Day

So far today has been fairly productive. After all this exploration of abstracts I needed a realism project. So I enlarged an image I had from a still life photo shoot. I grafted it out. "An Apple my Sweet?"Tonight I may start blocking in the colours.
I also continued on with my abstracts. #11 was done fairly quick. I stopped when it was enough. # 12 is fingerpainted over some black doodles. Fun to do.

#9

So I thought it was time to get organized so as to limit the major messes I was making. I was also using up my good supplies. I was taking a pastel i to Artworld to be framed so I picked up some student quality acrylics with pump dispensers. Stopped on my way home to pick up some mixing containers. I feel more organised. Viewing myself as a messy person,I am suprised by the incite to be organized when I create. Who knew?
#9 is done and now it is time for a break.

Day 2 more

#7 &#8

Do Over

Can I have a do over? Reset the clock and start over. These paintings feel wrong. Not me.
I enjoy the playing and creating but look at the messes I am making and I wonder what I am doing.
Am I feeling this way because I am too far out of my comfort zone? Am I fearing the loss of skill? The loss of being a realist? Am I worrying about what people think?
Or am I feeling this way because I have a splitting headache.
Well today's art is done and I will see where I am tomorrow.

Day 2

5 & 6
So today, I have a bit of a headache. #5 is a blavk and white gesso with a touch of colour. #6 was free drawing then I put on gloves and started fingerpainting over and around the marks with acrylic paint.
I love playing in paint with my fingers. I think tomorrow I may deviate a bit and pull out some oils and oil paper. Hmmm.

For all my realist fans don't worry, I am still here. Just allowing myself to play and take the brain off. The mess I am creating will soon get very erksome.

Happy New Year

1, 2, 3
A mess? Okay that was fun. I had to stop when my brain started to over think.
Happy New Year one and all.