GROWTH SPURT

The latest Watercolor Artist, October 2009 has an article by Donna Zagotta titled Watercolor Chronicles that has really challenged me lately.

She mentions ways of journaling, thinking through your process and challenges for yourself. One of which is doing a series or one painting several times which got me to thinking about my latest portrait of Gracie. I have already painted her 2 times and the second one is my favorite. I was challenged by a dear friend to take a closer look at my second attempt. We discussed the prep work that goes into a painting and the method that Donna Zagotta uses. It was suggested to take a black & white copy of the finished work and compare it to my value study. This turned out to be a Good idea !!





This is the bl & w of my latest attempt. It doesn't go beyond the # 3 on the grey scale which is too light for a finished painting in my opinion. At least for me. It was an eye opener for me to do this. I don't think I have ever looked at my finished work this way before.


When I saw my value study it proved to need more depth too. There was a lot that I liked about the painting but when I saw it in black and white, it wasn't exactly what I expected to see...not what I thought I said either. It looks weak, very watered down. I am not sure how much contrast is needed but I know it needs more. Even my values in the study was too whimpy...so begins my growth...





How far do I go to show more interest and keep the softness that I like in the painting? I do like the gentle transition of colors, the softness of the emotion, the telling of the story between the little girl and her bear. What happens if a wider range of values are added all over? Time to go back to the drawing board and work on my value study, adding more depth, more definition in the hair and around the eyes. The bear I want to look soft and cuddly, how much do I need to add? and how much is enough? I know that I have a tendency to add too much. It is easier for me to do this with the grey of the pencil but when it comes to adding color is where I struggle.




Will it still be my style of painting when I finish? The only way to find out is to do it again and again until I learn how to say what I want to say, pushing myself to go deeper....keep telling myself it's only paper...the only way to grow and learn...I can do this.


So many unanswered questions !!!

Pond visitors

Here are paintings from frogs in my neighbors pond. My frogs kept jumping into the water everytime I came close ... so I went next door for photos.

My frog is camera shy !

The ones that have been there for a while let me get close enough to take photos but the young one don't waste a moment and into the water he goes. I figure it's a guy.

I am fascinated watching the frogs in our pond. I was fortunate enough one day to be close when one of my frogs jumped from his hidden spot in a small water garden planter to catch a cricket climbing on the pole nearby. He wasn't ready to give up dinner no matter how close I came. It was fun to see. He just smacked his face against the wooden pole and down went the bug ... and so did he.

It's fun to paint something you enjoy watching.

We are His hands

This painting was one of three that were entered in a International Christian Art Competition this year. It can be found on Art4God.com along with 200 Honorable Mentions. There is a wide variety of subject all relating to how we see the Lord working in our lives and those around us. I feel very honored to be included in the collection of art.

The last years' sponsor has contracted with me to make some of my work available for a card company they are beginning to develop. Many of my paintings that were posted will be used on their cards. When I know more about the sale of the cards I will post it for all to check out. I was told the cards will be ready to go to stores soon. Exciting news!!!

If this painting looks familiar, it's because it was previously posted, at least how I developed this art work was posted, not the finished product. I thought it would be better to wait for the results of the competition before I put it online.

The painting was given to my brother and sister-in-law since he is one of the figures. Grandpa and grand-daughter were celebrating a family members birthday with us last year when the picture was snapped. It was one of many and I seemed to catch the moment / movement just in the nick of time. It's up to them to decide who gets to keep it. I am not sure that my niece remembers seeing the art work. They are in town this week for a short visit ... boy has Isabella grown. She seems to be so grown up just in the short time since the picture was taken.

Second time around

Value studies prove to be invaluable to me when it comes to painting. I took the time to do this value study from a photograph but I did not follow it exactly when I painted the subject for the first time. I am not sure why I over looked the placement of the shadows on the face. It didn't match the photo would be my best guess.

This time I painted the subject two ways to see which one I liked the best. The previous post was the painting that was very formal looking. It resembled the photo in placement of the shadows and seemed more like a commission would be. I imagine most people who do not paint would like it better.

This painting has a quick gesture like quality about it that was not followed through in the first painting. It gives more character and emotion to the little girl. She has a sweetness about her in both paintings but this one seems to have a charm that is missing or covered up by all the coloring.

She shines through in this one. It was as if I captured a moment in time. That would make a good title wouldn't it.

CAN YOU PRACTICE TOO MUCH?

I asked for a photo from a friend so I could practice my portrait skills. Gracie's look was such that I couldn't resist painting her. She says so much with her eyes that I hoped to capture it in watercolor.

There is a set pattern that I follow when I do most of my paintings. It has been working so well for me, I am reluctant to change it so quickly. You know "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

But that doesn't help me grow. I haven't been doing my painting process long enough to be tired of it !!! AND I want to get it down without thinking so much about it before I go ahead and change it.

It is the process I mentioned in a previous post. From the photo I make a value study THEN another study that shows where my whites will be AND make a color study to figure out color placement AND make my drawing the correct size AND then I paint!!! I don't have to follow the coloring or the values to the exact detail but I do know my subject by the time I go to paint. Doing exercises was reinforced in Janet Rogers workshop. This takes time but it pays off in the finished work. So when do you change it for the sake of growth OR is that something that needs changing.

You know how you second guess yourself well, I am rethinking all the steps and wondering if I am pre-painting too much. Plus I am doing some interesting quick warm-up sketches which say a lot even though they are not true to the shadow direction or leave out some of the coloring. It makes me wonder if making shadowing like the photo is necessary or important. I guess it would be important if its your child and you would like it to be accurate. Or would you be ok with it being designful and not so accurate.

I truly like this quick value study more than the painting. It would be a challenge for me to paint it this way more so than following the photo for shadowing. Her face shadows are not accurate but they have more emotion in her face than in the painting to me.

This big question will keep me wondering for a while. I imagine I will be doing some paintings more than one time to figure this out for myself.

DO OVER

There are paintings that I like the first attempt and then there are times when you just have to do it again. That surprises me that I am able to make more than one painting from the same drawing, I am not usually like that...one time and you move on. They never seem to be the same the second time around so that must be the difference. And I usually prefer the learning curve it provides.

This is my first attempt at painted from this photo. This was started at a workshop specifically to learn more about painting portraits. Many things happened as I was painting her. I tried to get some interest in the t-shirt she was wearing. It was a brown color that had BIG SISTER on it...she just became a big sister and it was an important part of the shirt for her but I chose to leave it off so it wasn't the focus of the painting. The color that I used had too grainyof a look and wasn't the look that I wanted so I washed it off and added another color. The effect was good and wish it could have been duplicated in my second attempt but I wasn't about to add color just to wash it off again but it did make a difference. I had difficulty getting the shadow on the nose to be more like hers and after several attempts I decided to just leave it alone and make it a 'do over'.

As I was working and mostly completed I realized that I didn't leave any white areas. The white spaces seem to give it a glow that I like to see, so that was the second reason to 'do over'. I started it towards the end of the 4 days and just finished it several months later.

I do like the second attempt. The whites are important to me even though family seems to think the first one captured her 'look'. I keep adding small details to the face and background even now that make slight differences. I have wiped off this background on the right side and added cobalt violet and manganese to it which makes it blend with the whole painting and not wash into the shirt so much. I think I better stop touching it and call it finished.

Danielle seems to like the first one best.

Hugs and Kisses

I added the contrast it needed to behind the birds and I would like to add some small significant dark touches to the birds bodies to tie it all together. I want to keep the softness of the bird on the right and show the movement of the bird on the left...just a few spots should be enough to do it.

Sandy showed us how to use an acetate sheet to test out the additions before actually touching the watercolor paper... I should use it for this one before I add too much. I usually just go ahead and add color and if it doesn't work I use the elephant sponge to wipe it off or start over. I just am not interested in this picture enough to do it for a fourth time.

"I will do it tomorrow." Famous last words

LOVE BIRDS

I took this photo of the "love doves" off my deck railing several years ago and this is my second attempt at painting them. My first try (not shown here) came out too dark all over, I also added colored pencil to it to try to fix places..not pretty. This painting seems too soft all light and medium colors.

I am going to add more darks to give it the contrast it needs. I thought it was finished but I am not satisfied with it yet. I have to add darks to it.

I may ruin it but I have to do it. It's only paper...nothing ventured... nothing gained. I still have the drawings and the exercises so it can be repeated.

So here goes, BRB.

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?

He has an attitude doesn't he. I just love the expression on his face. I can't take credit for taking the photograph but Sandy did give me premission to use it. Thanks Sandy !!

It was painted rather quickly after I did the prelimenary studies that I have made my work go smoothly. Everyone seems to dread the value studies but they are not drudgery to me. I like to do them actually and I have added the good white shape layout that helps me keep my white areas so I do see the value in them. They work for me too. They both serve as warm-up exercises too and that may be why there is success.

It is enjoyable to do some quick, simple subjects once in a while.

Exercising at the Workshop

Janet Rogers offered a 4 day portrait workshop at Sandy Maudlins' Greentree studio in the beginning of April. This workshop proved to be very rewarding in several different ways. It reaffirmed to me the need for warming up before I sit down to paint. Not only do I now exercise to keep my bones strong, I have to do exercises to keep my artwork fresh and free looking.

Janet took us one step further and made it part of the painting process. Before we started any painting on our portraits, we did short exercises to reconnect our eye / hand coordination. This connection between the artist, material and the subject was reestablished every day. The warm-up exercises made such a difference in my paintings. I have done contour drawings, jester drawings and quick sketches in college but didn't carry that into my painting process.

I was just doing value studies and developing a good white shape (John Salminen idea) then I would begin to paint.

Janet had us doing several different exercises before we starting any painting. The first being contour drawing. It is a way of becoming intimately familiar with the subject. At first I was following all the minute details including the shadows but she mentioned following the plane

of the face which made more sense. I noticed as she painted her faces, her brush would follow the plane of the face too. The strokes seemed to reveal more emotion as she gestured with the brush. I am used to using a pencil for contour drawing so when we used the brush instead is when I noticed the difference in my work. I will probably continue to do my value studies and good white shape but add at least one of the 3 exercises before I paint alternating them to keep from getting bored with the planning process.

She was full of information that I will use for portraits as well as any other subject. There is a little more to do on my portraits before I will post them. Enjoy the process !!