Thursday, December 22, 2011

Getting Old
Tonight I decided to post this painting up. It is up on my website but I didn't post it up here because at the time of painting it I thought not many people would like it. After sitting on it for a while I've grown to love this painting. I'm going to enter it in a show whenever they come up again. My pictures are not of the best quality. The colors are not the same but they are sort of close. They just don't capture the full depth of the color. It is just a hard thing to explain in words but in real life the paintings just pops. This paintings breaks a guide line that I hear very often from others. Don't paint an object up to the edge! Honestly I think that is one of the things that makes this painting special  to me is lack of caring about guide lines and painting what seemed interesting to me at the time.  A person might look at this and say "hey that's just a tape dispenser" but if you think about it, a tape dispenser is interesting. Look past the aesthetics of the thing and see it, learn its history, see its purpose, and its personal influence on what you've done in your daily life. Tape dispensers are interesting in their own right. I like it, I think others will to if they look at it long enough.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

New Website
Tonight I started a new website using FASO. The link to the site is http://royboswell.fineartstudioonline.com/. If you check the site on a regular basis I apologize. Everyday I will do my best to post new stuff on the FASO account. I will do my best to include as much information to those pages and figure out set up for pay pal for those asking for it. It is strange having readers from 10 different countries read my blog, when I can only speak and write in one language. If you like my work check out the FASO account. This painting above is titled, The edge of the field is beautiful. It is 12"x24". This view is from the roundabout from the grain bens of my grandparents farm. It is a place where I spent a lot of time during the fall and winter months as a child. Keep your eyes open on the website. I will be entering contest every month and if you like it along with everyone else on the website it will put me in the top 15%. I hope you enjoy.

Roy

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Great things and bad problems
The great things that have been going on more than make up for the little bit of problems that have accrued. My computer was in bad shape last week and I finally got it back to normal. The thing that bothered me most was it being during a week when most people would be home with time to play around on the internet. Regardless of that I'm back now and I've been producing like a wild man. This is my first of today. I'm fairly certain I've done more still life with these little birds in the past two weeks than some artist do in an entire year. I've been trying to get my palette down to as few as colors as possible and this one is at four colors. I'm not sure if I can go one less without it looking like a value study. Although tomorrow I will do my best to do that. One of the things I've been working on is making colors appear that are not on the palette. If you think there is blue in this painting you would be wrong. Anyway this painting is called "The illusions of winning arguments". I'm currently in the process with another artist to start a still life group in the area so many more still life will be coming during these cold months.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

It confuses me
For the past couple of weeks I have been spending a lot of time with oils, over pastel and watercolor. I've been trying to improve my ability to paint nature in plein air, using photos, and sketches. So far it has been hit or miss. Occasionally I will have good days but most are mild or bad. That being said if I set up a simple still life I come away happy with the painting almost every time. I was having a hard time painting today. After three paintings of 2 rough and 1 decent paintings of natural scenes, I turned the light on this little pot and painted it on a 5x7 panel. While it is a little rough I'm happy with this for the time put in. If I can get this quick and decent with my nature scenes before the year is out I would be over joyed. At this point I'm not sure what the problem is. I think some self analysing is necessary to figure out what is stopping me from becoming more consistent, quick and better with my nature scenes. One thing is for certain, I do enjoy painting still life more every time.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Out with the old
 I have been very busy with painting and finding room to accommodate everything. Starting freshman year a corner of every room I've been in has had large paper format boxes with rolled up landscape drawings in them. It has been one of the few things that has always been off limits when making room. It was after going through some of my old sketch books from college that I realized that it was over. I will not be pursuing the title Landscape Architect to put on a business card. (you have to work under some one who is licensed and take test to show you can take test) It is something that I feel good to shed. Perhaps one day my art will lead me to designing gardens and estates as something I do for fun. If that is the case I will happily be a no titled guy doing some design work.

Another thing I would like to mention about the top picture is look at the lighting. The light in this room makes me feel like I'm under water sometimes. If I turn on the ceiling fan it gets even better.
 The design above was for a park with a facility for Purdue's rowing crew. The large L shape with lines running through it was supposed to be a large set of steps that went down to the waters edge. The ramps were so everyone could have access and you didn't have to break some bones falling down all the steps to get to the water. To the left of the building was an outdoor amphitheater that had rock walls that ran parallel with the topography up to the top of the park. They were positioned so none of the trees lining the back of the rock walls impeded the view of the stage. The whole park area  was left open because it was a huge flood plain on the Wabash river. I just played with the contours so it would be open for people to do whatever they wanted on the rolling hills. Also when it flooded there would have been a couple really good spots to view the river from at the left end of the park. I had the main walk sitting above the flood plain lined with trees that gave neat views down to the water.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Working on crossing mediums
You might have seen this scene not long ago. I liked it so much that I figured I would try it in oil. It is hard getting a good photo when a painting is still wet and in bad light but this one turned out the best. I've been working with a very limited palate in hopes that the brush work will get all of my attention. While it is not anywhere near exact, I think my brush strokes in oil are starting to mirror my pastel strokes. The limited palate is making it a lot easier to focus on an area that I think is lacking. After brush work my next area is value and composition in oil. Oil is easy enough to change once you have it laid down but it is still different than pastel so time spent on that wouldn't hurt. It has been a good day of painting. Tomorrow will be even better.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Paint while you can
This is a little 4x6 painting I did off of my back porch. It was a little over a week ago. Now all the leaves are gone and it looks completely different. Painting whenever you have the chance is the only way to get something down unless you want to wait a full year for it again. Sure you have a month or so, but if you are doing your best to get out and paint all over the place its hard to get back to a certain spot at the right time of day to paint something you could have before. My new practice is to stop myself and do these little small paintings if nothing else just to capture what I'm seeing. This only took 20 minutes and every time I look at that tree I think I know it better than ever before. Paint often, paint quickly.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Crossing mediums
 A few weeks ago I had cut a piece of wallis paper into some standard dimensions. When I was done there was a strip 2"x12" left. I cut that piece into 6 small squares. At the time I was working in oils and was toning canvas panels. When I was done with the panels I laid the little squares out next to them. I've heard of people painting with oil paints on the paper, so I figured toning it wouldn't hurt it. Today I got these little squares out and did a bunch of little drawings and then did the value studies that I've mentioned before. It is hard to see here because I took the photos while the paint thinner was still wet, but there is a lot of color shining through the pastel value study laid down over it. While I haven't finished these little paintings yet I think it looks very neat so far and would keep me from having to cover almost every inch of the painting with soft pastel. I'm going to experiment with this further when I get my new wallis paper.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Next week hopeful
This is one of the four paintings from yesterday finished. This is my second favorite of the group of four but the most photogenic of them. This next weekend I hope that they are all in Richmond finding new homes. It is always hard to tell but I think they are of good enough quality to be in the sale. If you are in the Richmond area go check it out and hopefully my paintings will be there. This one was a lot of fun to paint because of all the highly saturated pigment. The blues, purples, greens and oranges all pop and it seems to work well together.
Today's exercise

These value scale under paintings are all 5"x7" and took about 5 minutes each to finish. I started by drawing quick thumbnails of all the photos in my current potential paintings folder. After 15 minutes and 30 drawings later I chose these 4 (because I only have 4 pieces of paper left) to paint. I circled my favorite four and then transfered them with slight adjustments to sanded paper. I then got a dark purple hard pastel and filled in the dark and mid values and used paint thinner to push around the pigment for a painterly effect. Im getting to the point where drawing these thumbnails is almost art in itself and it doesn't seem like work. It is easy to see now how some painters of old became so immersed in their art that it consumed them completely.


Thursday, November 10, 2011

Night Painting
A while back I posted that I painted a few night paintings. This is one of those paintings. This one wasn't my personal favorite but I like it a lot. There are a lot more night paintings on the way and I'm super excited about these upcoming ones. These paintings border on abstract and realism. That is one of my favorite properties of a painting. If the painting is noticeable at a glance but then you have to take multiple glances just to make sure it really gets my attention. There is something about the mystery and mood of a painting of that nature that keeps me coming back.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

A windy day
Today was a plein air day that kept me on my toes the entire time. I painted with Pam Newell this morning and then tried to paint on my own this afternoon. It started out nice with some sun and a few clouds but then the wind came bringing the rain with it. This is the first painting from the morning. It's 10"x20" which is on the large side for my pastels. This painting took a little over an hour to complete once I had set up and gotten everything going. Working larger and quicker is loosening up my style and hopefully putting me in a place I'm comfortable with style-wise. This painting felt a lot like a painting I did in Brookville that I liked a lot. I'm going to let this one set for a bit to see how I like it later.

Tonight after everyone else had gone to bed I began framing. Now I'm the proud owner of 4 completely finished paintings. The two oils that I framed are two of my favorite paintings that I've done so far. I think it is a good thing that my newest paintings are typically my favorites. It keeps me from getting attached to them and makes it much easier to let them go after framing new ones. The next item on the list for tonight is to write up an autobiography and resume to send off to some people that just became owners of my work. That is the kind of leg work that I'm thrilled to have.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Salvaging
This painting was done at the workshop this past weekend and it started life as a 16x20 and ended up a mere 12x12. The focus was to work large, quickly and deliberately. When all was said and done I was disgusted with the painting because I had messed up on the perspective of the bucket. I had chalked this one up to experience and was going to toss it but then I got to looking at it more. I began to realize that it was salvageable. Simply cropping the painting made me like it for the first time since the initial brush strokes. Sitting on paintings for a while gives them a second chance and some times that's all they need.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Tacit Knowledge
This past weekend I was at my first workshop and it was awesome. Wyatt Legrand was at Waycross and I was there. The workshop was in oil but the painting at top is a pastel. I think I learned a lot but it is hard to put in words hence the title. The workshop wasn't structured as a formal course normally is. It was at your own pace and was tailored towards the individuals. This fit me great and worked out very well. It is hard for me to put into words what I learned but if I was to try I would talk about colors, confidence and quickness. The confidence thing was mainly directed at painting larger and quicker. For anyone wanting to take an oil workshop in Indiana I would say jump at a Wyatt LeGrand workshop for all the reasons I stated above and watch him paint. It doesn't matter who the person is, if you watch them paint you are going to learn something. Hand movement is a big thing to watch when you are there at a demo. I'm not sure what other people are looking at or listening to but always watch the instructors hands. 

Anyway the painting above is what I did in 20 minutes tonight. This is the first time I have picked up pastel in two weeks. It felt good getting things going with the medium. After spending time away from pastel it makes me see it in a slightly different light.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Mileage on the tires
 Today was a fun day of plein air. The weather was perfect, the company was great and I didn't even want to throw any of my paintings away today. I painted with Thom Robinson, Pam Newell and Donna Shortt today. We started at Adrians orchard and after that Thom had to leave. The rest of us went out to whiteland to paint at another artist's house. After all was said and done I had five paintings that didn't turn out awful after getting them out of my carriers upon returning home. The top painting is the first that was completed. There is a yellow trailer with a tire in it, sitting by the parking lot of the orchard that caught my attention. I like the abstract shapes and patterns created when you zoom in on old machinary. The bottom painting was the last done today. After everyone else had gone I was there looking for one more painting before heading out myself. There was an old worn out trail leading back to a group of large trees. Today was fun and got me excited for this weekend. I might not be able to post anything the next couple of days but when I do get something up it will be worth the wait.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Busy Days
Last night I was celebrating Halloween with my family at my aunt and uncles. After we went trick or treating with my daughter we set up talking until we were tired. I had planned on doing some paintings after the trick or treating but things didn't work out that way. So this morning after eating breakfast and getting everything ready to leave I did this quick painting of a tree outside their backdoor. This was the first watercolor I have done in two months and I wasn't sure if I even remembered how to do it. I kept this color palette simple. After working with oils, mixing the watercolors seems much more easy. This was done fairly quickly and I think keeping this little watercolor journal when pastels or oils is out of the question would be a good idea. After getting home I took some photos of the new paintings outside and am currently toneing some oil panels. With any speed I can get another watercolor done before my daughter wakes up.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

To top of a good weekend
This weekend there was a family get together at my parents house. Also at this time they are harvesting corn so I wanted to get some paintings of that process. On Friday night we arrived around 8 so the sun had already gone down. That made getting a painting of combining or loading out of the question. Thankfully the grain bins that they unload at are lit up well. I started painting one of the trucks unloading but didn't get it finished before they took off. It was already late and that was the last load of the night. So I had to choose some other stuff in the barnyard to paint. After a couple of hours I had two really good paintings that I really enjoy. Those are my first night time oil paintings and it was a lot of fun. It did get down right cold that night. At 1:30 I decided to call it quits when my feet were numb. By that time a good layer of frost had accumulated on all my stuff which made it hard to get everything in the car. My hands were deep red and I thought it was because of the paint but it was the cold. Touching that metal tripod with that frost on it hurt. Surprisingly working in solitude when its dark and having loud ambient noise from the grain bin driers put me in a meditative trance. Hours flew by and it felt like minutes. There was hardly any thinking and all decisions seemed to be innate reactions. It was exciting as the first time I painted in plein air and easily as addictive if not more so. Night painting is a new muse and many more paintings will be up soon.

Today on the way home my family swung by brown county to take in the fall colors before they fully disappeared. Sadly the leafs have all but gone from all but the last trees that shed late. There is also a show running in the brown county art gallery that I had put two paintings in. Usually you receive an email letting you know some kind of information about the show but I am still yet to receive anything. So we swung by the gallery and had a look. I took home best of show and that is the photo at top. I'm very excited about getting that award. There are a lot of great paintings in that building and to win anything there is awesome. Weirdly enough the painting that won was not the one that I personally like the best of the two. Thank goodness I didn't just take the one I liked or I might not have won anything. After thinking about the couple of shows I have won in, the painting that won has never been my personal favorite. I'm beginning to think I have an odd taste in art. I'm not sure if that should be taken into consideration when entering shows or if I should continue to put in my own favorites. It is something to think about but staying true to what I see as the best is most likely the path I will take.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Busy Day
Today was a productive day for me. I got to paint in plein air today and then a figure session tonight. Got a total of 7 paintings between the two. Unfortunately I didn't have time to get any of them on here so I am posting a painting that was completed at the Brookville paint out. This was done at the white water canoe rental place as soon as you get into town. There was a large group painting that morning and it was a lot of fun. With a little planning tomorrow I should be back on track.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Finishing in studio

A while back I posted the top painting after a weekend in crawfordsville. I liked the painting a lot but it still had problems that were unresolved. It has been sitting in my studio for a while now and every day I look at it figuring out what it was that needed to be changed to make it better. The same thing happens to most of my plein air paintings. Rarely have I signed anything while out in the field. Today I didn't feel like taking on a new painting so I got a few down off the shelves and went to work on them. The lower left corner of the painting seemed weak and  not finished to me. A few marks were taken away and a few added. Nothing major was changed. The painting was however photographed outside in natural light and that made a huge difference in color. The dingy yellow light cast from the bulbs doesn't do the pastel pigment justice.

Anyway I have been down and out since Sunday so that's why I haven't been on here. I feel much better now and will resume posting

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Quick Post
Tonight I'm busy getting ready for another show and an adventure tomorrow. The other paintings of the dunes haven't been photographed yet and this was one of the small studies that I have ready. This is a little 6x6 of the canal downtown. At the north end of the canal are two areas where the canal forms circle points. This is of the first one. Along the edge of the circle are neat water features that radiate out and pour water into the canal. Things like this always catch my eye because of my background in landscape architecture. Anyway I hope to be a little less busy tomorrow night but if not that will be a good thing.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Painting from sketches of the dunes
This is the first painting based on a group of sketches I did up at the dunes. This is a square 8"x8" painting from Mt. Baldy. The day I was there a heavy fog covered the entire lake front. In the distance was a factory that I'm not sure can be made out in this small thumbnail, but it I like how it reads in person. The values really matched up with my value studies and that is typically a good thing. This set the bar high for the rest in the set so hopefully these last couple keep up. This painting along with another will be in a show down in brown county coming up soon.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Still Life Madness
This is the last still life I will show before moving on to some of the dunes paintings. I've been doing my best to paint the gesture of shapes instead of drawing the objects that I see. So far I think this is the best attempt. I like how the values turned out which almost always leads me to liking a painting. This one was also an experiment with using color reflection on everything and trying to get a good amount of bouncing of the light. This was a lot of fun to paint and with practice I think more still lifes will take on this quality.

And on a side note I just got back from the Richmond art exhibit open juried walkthrough. I am joyed to say that one of my paintings made it in. This was my first juried walkthrough and  my stomach was tied in knots through out the entire process. I had put an oil and pastel in. The oil sadly didn't make it but there were a ton of better paintings that didn't make it in. The biggest suprise though was the pastels. I couldn't come to grip with how many awesome pastels there were. My stomach filled with butterflies when I walked into the gallery. I wanted to turn around and go home but ended up staying and am happy that I did. It was wonderful seeing so much great work and while I didn't agree with all the judges choices he did get a good diverse field. He did throw out a lot of great landscapes because that field was dense in amazing work. He through out a piece that I thought was best of show but then again im not the judge. It was an oil and if it ever turns up I want it. The show opens Nov 3rd for anyone interested.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Color telling story
This piece is titled 'Regal Rooster and minion'. The lighting in my studio is far from great but occasionally when I see an item placed in here taken directly from good lighting, it looks alien. This little green clay pot looks absolutely beautiful when sitting alone in any other room. When it is under this light it looks so strange, and when placed around a large amount of purple it is a completely different pot. When the pot is set up next to the white porcelain rooster and cigar box on a purple cloth it stood out in the composition but my mind makes it play second fiddle to the rooster. The large complex shape of the rooster along with the perceived whiteness sitting next to the simple and deep colored shape of the pot told me a story. The rooster gets the attention but the pot is what holds everything together, its the anchor. One of the reasons I love these still lives is your mind can turn off and just stare for a bit or it can turn on your imagination and make up its own stories. There are also other stories for this painting that my mind sees when I look at it sitting in the corner. The rake and its jilted lover is one story I see with the wandering hero and his green sidekick as another. I think the cool colors along with the perceived warmness of the rooster keep bringing my mind back to the original title. The rooster is cool and dark where the light doesn't shine, and the pot shows even more of its dark side. Anyway I hope that next time you have a few minutes to stare at a still life you let it take you somewhere other than the obvious.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

What I've been up to
For the past two weeks I have been painting a lot in my studio. During the summer most of my time painting was out in the field but with the changing of the weather and a new appreciation of still life that has changed. Since taking an oil class with Pam Newell (http://pnewellart.com/) I've been fascinated with setting up still lives and painting them in pastel and oil. Soon I should be motivated enough to pick back up watercolor as well. The painting above is called 'lean on me honey'. It's a lot of fun to set these still lives up and give them a story. I was struggling to get a configuration that I liked so I went into the kitchen and started making some tea so I could procrastinate longer. The idea hit me and I brought everything back into the studio with me. Its refreshing getting to see the actual object I'm painting in the same way you get to step into the landscape when painting in plein air. It is something that a photograph can't describe. Anyway I've been working on these and from little field sketches from the dunes.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Sorry for being away so long

For the past two weeks I have been trying to build a good amount of paintings for the blog. Before if I would miss a day I would get down on myself and stay up trying to get one done. With everything that was going on it was hard to keep up so I decided to build up a bank of daily paintings. Now if I'm sick, tired or just don't feel like painting I can still post something new up every day. I've got big news from this weekend and from the past two weeks so I'm excited to be posting. Again sorry for the delay on new stuff but I think the wait is worth it. These past couple of weeks I think my work has come a long way. Thanks you to those have still been visiting.

Roy

Monday, October 3, 2011

Productive weekend
 At the end of last week and through the weekend I spent a lot of time painting. After saying I would post up further steps to my process I went absent for some time but it was well spent. This weekend I spent in crawfordsville and driving to and from there. I found amazing places to paint with wonderful lighting. I ran into Jeff Clinker my first morning there and got to see one of his paintings in an early stage. There were also other painters that I truly admire because of there work and work ethics that I got to meet.  Jerry Smith, Jeanne McLeish, and Mark Burkett let me tag along with them one morning and it was wonderful. I even got to watch over Jerry Smith's shoulder while he painted. It was better than a workshop. I got to watch as he painted on site, and Jeanne and Mark gave me some advice and material to look at and read.  It was a weekend that is at the top of my painting journey so far. Also if you ever get the chance to check out Jerry Smith's gallery and studio jump on the chance. I've never seen anything so industrious in the art world. It was productivity in its most beautiful form. That is what I want to imitate and with time it will be a reality. I hope these three paintings make up for my absence. More should be flowing daily after this barely slept weekend.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

More examples of my process
 It has been a while since I last posted about my process. Today I decided to reiterate on the last step. This is a still life that I set up and had done some thumbnails for. I liked the square format for this painting. Like last time I sketched out shapes first and then laid down a dark purple hard pastel for the value under painting. The values ended up being close to where I would like them to be besides the old jar. The next step is doing a color study while waiting for the under painting to dry. If all goes well that will be up tomorrow.



Monday, September 26, 2011

This past weekend
On Saturday I was down at the IUPUI regatta. This event has been put on the last couple of years and they race canoes up and down the canal. They also have a paint out going on simultaneously. This is a kind of rare painting for me and it was a lot of fun to do. Typically I don't put figures in my paintings. The painting was originally larger but I cropped it down to get a better feel of what I wanted to show. There were two other artist from the southport artistry committee at the event. I'm happy to say that each of us took home an award. Nicholai Shaver (http://nicholaishaver.com/) took home the big prize and Duane King and I took home merit awards. If they put on the event next year, I've already got an idea for what I want to do. By then I should be better at painting both figures and the man made landscape with pastel.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Examples of yesterdays post
 Yesterday I posted my process for creating a value scale under painting. The one yesterday didn't turn out as well as I would like so here is another example. This is of a still life that I completed today. The under painting is done with a dark purple hard pastel and then pushed around with turpentine. The values created with this under painting are very close to the final values in the painting. The most noticeable exception being the background. Since the primary objects are the primary colors I subdued the background and cloth with grayed secondary colors. In the under painting the background has dark and light stripes but as I was working I realized the vertical stripes needed to have less contrast because it drew attention up and away from the primary objects. With the under painting the amount of solvent used was more conservative than the one from yesterday. Also if you look back from a few days I did the color studies for this. The color studies looked good but the background had to  be changed as mentioned above. This is a small 6x9 painting and there will be a larger one following. This painting gave me a good grip on the changes that need to occur for the larger one to be a success. Practice and studying the process, if all goes well, will lead to better understanding of the subject and better paintings.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The next step in the process
 Following on Monday's post I would like to pick up where I left off. On Monday the first step was finding something that catches your eye and then creating thumbnails to emphasise that thing. Today I am going to talk about getting things laid down on your pastel paper.
Once the thumbnails are satisfactory I get a piece of sanded paper and lay down the outlines with vine charcoal. I have a lot of paper that has already been used so it needs to be wiped clean. If I am working with new paper the process is slightly different. Once the paper is fairly clean I lay down the outline which can be seen in the top photo. This is quick and just a reference for laying down my value scale. When laying down a value scale I use a dark purple but you could also use a dark warm color to get a warm effect for your shadows if you choose. From the photo below it is hard to tell what is happening but I'm simply pressing down harder in the darker value areas and using the slightest pressure in the lighter value areas. This should also be a quick process that gets masses filled in.
After I have my values set in I use turpentine or mineral spirits to push the pigment around. This step is to push the pigment around to fill in the background. It is the equivalent to using a wash in watercolor or oils. You are setting a map for the later layers to be derived from. During this step you have to be careful to not load up your brush with to much of the solvent or you will brighten your values up dramatically. As you can see in the bottom photo the solvent got away from me on the right side of the painting. The tree mass on that side had its pigment washed away with to much solvent. At this stage it is about responding to the pigment on the paper and it takes time to get used to. Once this step is done it will be a while before the solvent dries. Depending on the sun and wind it could take only a few minutes up to a half hour. It is during this drying period that I work on the next step of the process.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Oil break
 Today I had planned on doing the next step in my process but I went to oil class and decided to post this up instead. We spent the first hour and a half talking about composition so we only had the last hour and a half to paint. I got to work quicker than I would have liked. I only did one quick sketch and decided to go for it. About half way through the painting I decided the front vase wasn't any good and almost threw the painting in the trash. Then I decided to give the palette knife a go. The palette knife is fairly alien to me compared to a brush and I liked it. I don't want to fall to heavy on the palette knife in the future but this painting turned out alright. The bottom photo shows that the values worked out and that always makes me feel confident in the painting.

Monday, September 19, 2011

A journey through the process
 Today I wanted to record my process for others to see and for myself to remember where I've been in the future. For this exercise I am starting out with a photo I took while driving to my parents house. These scenes are what I constantly try and capture. They are peculiar little places where you can see through the visual and physical barriers that separate natures rooms(or in the case of fields, man made). There are tree layers that are separated by two fields. The way one tree layer can be seen through catches my eye, and I want to recreate that sense of a veiled scene behind it. In landscape architecture classes we used to call it framing the scene, when you create an area with trees or man made objects that narrow the eyes onto something of beauty. A place as simple as a field with tall grasses or wildflowers if the case may be, is something that resonates with me. I remember walking through fields of tall grass when I was child and I remember running my hands through the top. Seeing the green-golden grass dance in the wind and a flat plain turn into a rolling ocean when the wind picks up is beautiful. That is what attracts me to scenes like this one. If I am painting in plein air I will set up and start the process in the field. For this painting I was just passing through so I went about and the process is replicated here at home.
The first thing I do is a thumnail of the scene which is the top left corner. In this thumbnail I try and get things to be in the correct place for the most part and the light coming from the right angle. Once I have a thumbnail that is fairly representitive of the scene, I take away the original photo from my sight. This does a few things. It helps me work quickly, because I dont have any details of the scene in front of me. It make me idealize the shapes instead of over working them. Also the values can move towards what the design calls for. In the second thumbnail(top right) I begin moving shapes around to say what originally drawed my attention to the scene in the first place. In this case seeing through the layers to the back field. In this sketch I keep the light direction and mood the same. Looking at the thumbnail I may go ahead and start laying down the lines if everything looks good or re-work the sketch. At this point I thought the drawing needed a lead in. The drawing makes sense to me but if you didn't know what to look for the back field wouldn't pop out to you. With that in mind I begin thinking of ways to bring the viewer into the field. Looking at the shapes I realized that if the light source was moved  there would be shadows cast down on the front field and a nice s curve would go directly where I want the attention. Also with the sun being in that direction and the shadows cast out like that it reads as it being dusk or dawn. Sometimes in the late afternoon before the sun begins to sink down a golden light will cast across the landscape. That got me thinking about color but that is a process that will be covered in a future segment. At this point I go over the thumbnail and it does a good job of leading into the scene and it brings the viewer right to where I'm painting about. At this point I put the sketch book down and get out the pastel paper. Tomorrow I will post the next step.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Organizing my pastel carrier
 This past week I got a new pastel box. This morning was spent arranging it. From left to right overall and in each compartment I arrange by color and temperature. Then top to bottom I arrange by value. As you can see from the black and white photo below the values are not completely correct but they are getting there. Currently I'm low on dark yellows and light purple and browns. For a good while I set in front of it mesmerized by the colors. The old pastel box I was using had trays that were stacked  on each other. The color were split up into each category but you couldn't see them side by side like this when painting. Anyway I'm looking forward to using this new layout and can't wait to get back out in the field painting.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Watercolor & Gouache
Today felt like a good day to get the watercolors out. The last time I started a new medium, my watercolors improved. I think it has something to do with seeing the paint in a different light. Before using pastels I only had watercolor to paint with so there was nothing to compare it to. After I started using pastels the watercolors started to become more understandable. I had another point to compare the medium and started to favor watercolor in man made objects and close ups. The pastels seemed to be better suited for natural landscapes. As I've developed my pastels toward a certain style the watercolors started to change as well. Now that I have oil as another reference the watercolors are starting to seem better defined in my mind. Working with oil there is no need to hurry or fuss over detail. It helped me relax and slow down when using the brush. While there is a certain speed required for the watercolors, I'm thinking I was over rushing things. The gradation change in the front trees would have gotten me worked up before but this time seemed different. I took my time and then used a heavier brush to push the pigment around even though it was slightly drier than typical. With it being drier it didn't push too much pigment like is typical and make the area almost bare. There is a lot of difference between oil and watercolor but my understanding of the pigments is starting to make sense. Also like last time I got out the gouache. There were areas that I thought needed lightened up and the gouache is very good for that. Mixing the gouache and the watercolor is still strange. It doesn't quite work out as well as I would think, but it is slightly better than last time. Just like pastel and oil, gouache is also another point of reference in the great scheme of painting. The plan is to learn all there characteristics and strengths. With time I think my paintings in the different mediums will start to mimic and become more like one another. Only practice and time will tell.