Sunday Sketches

Name that flower, please!

It spreads like crazy and reminds me of a bad hair day.

What a challenge to switch from oil painting to watercolor painting. Recently, I have been working on several square oil paintings to enter in a fundraiser art show. I wanted to have a sketch for today, so I decided to do something quick in watercolor. As I was layering paint I realized that I lost the watercolor effect. So here is a watercolor painting done like an oil painting.......weird!

I e-mailed my friend who is a master gardener about the name of the flower......unless YOU know!

ANSWER: Centaurea Montana

Day Four

Still on retreat.......at home.

Spent most of the day painting with oils. Unfortunately, I am having challenges photographing these paintings as the paint causes glare. I tried to fix in photoshop, but still not quite right.

This first tree painting of a cedar outside my window is done on a canvas that I textured with with a palette knife and gesso. Needless to say, the textures make the painting. I will work at the photo issue.



The next painting you might recognize from earlier this week.
I added the fruit, leaves, and branches to the lucuma tree.




The three retreaters met last night to process our insights.
All goes well and work continues........

Sunday Sketches

I could not resist the urge to paint the Peruvian children's faces as they gathered to have their picture taken the day we visited the mountain school. I love the faces as well as the colors and designs of the textiles.

I am thinking of creating a painting on a larger scale in oils.....

This one is for the Sketchbook Project 2012.....

Sunday Sketches

Having completed the 30 Day Art Challenge and shipped off eight miniature paintings to Cannon Beach Gallery for the 25th Annual Miniature Art Show, I decided to get back to the Sketchbook Project 2012.

FRUSTRATION!

In the time that transpired, the title page stuck to the inside cover. It was not salvageable :( It tore in several places. I ended up cutting the page out of the book and starting over. I still like my image idea, so I thought about re-creating it on watercolor paper and paste it into the sketchbook.

I was enjoying working with the water-based oil paints for the Art Challenge and thought I would try them on watercolor paper. Disaster! Needless to say, I began another sketch and returned to watercolor paints. I must admit, I did use the oils for the line of paint because they layer well.

Here is the second version of the title page. You will need to imagine a fold down the middle, but I will allow more time for it to dry having learned my lesson. Hopefully, it will glue into the sketchbook without any further challenges.

"Free Bird"

Today I finished an oil painting that came about after the two "warm up" paintings of the other day (previous posts). I was not able to return to painting outdoors as our liquid sunshine here in Washington has returned.

Earlier this year I treated myself to a session with an astrologist. Looking at the astrological chart of my birth and the positions of the planets at this time, she dubbed me a "free bird." Interesting enough, the "free bird" showed up in my oil painting, but I did not recognize its significance until I sat back to take in the painting. Paintings usually sit in a predominant spot in my studio where I can frequently glance at them to decide, finished or not, do I like it or not, what does it need?

Not only did this comment about the "free bird" linger with me, but also very fitting for my soon flight to Greece for the month of September.

An interesting thing happened........

The painting was done horizontally. When I set it to dry, I placed it vertical. Oh my gosh, what a difference! Check it out....




I like the flight of the bird going up and the waves crashing from right to left.

Which one do you like?

Painting Transformation

Yesterday, I blogged about my outdoor oil painting experience.

Another stellar day found me back on the deck, painting.

I began with the storm painting of yesterday.......


and transformed it into a fall scene........


This may change again, who knows?

Afterwards, I looked at my palette and noticed there was still plenty of paint. Not wanting to waste it, I pulled out the other canvas from yesterday which I dubbed the ocean.


Quickly it transformed into a pond of lilies.....


I am on a roll. Started another oil painting.

They predict rain tomorrow :(

Stay tuned.....

Oil Painting

Finally, set up the easel on the deck outside my studio as I planned to do all summer. Unfortunately, it is almost fall. But, I did it!


Notice my black dog, Ebony, curled up nearby
I was gifted with two small canvases from a friend who did not like the way her portrait was painted. Big mistake was to gesso over the oil painting with clear gesso. I found myself throwing on dark colors just to cover up the portraits.

In the first painting, I was having fun mixing colors and watching the runs happen. I am using a water-based oil paint and liked the effects of using water. This painting reminds me of the ocean. The photograph is lighter than the actual painting and I do not know how to photograph oils without getting a glare. Any suggestions?


In the second painting, after I intentionally covered up the faces of the portraits with dark paint, I grabbed a glob of yellow, mixed it with red, and added water allowing the paint to run. It reminded me of storm clouds. I stopped before I ruined the spontaneity.


I thought of these as a warm up to my next painting.

To be continued.......

History of Oil Paints

It is believed that oil painting has been used since the Middle Ages or earlier for crafts, decorative painting and furniture finishes. The first easel paintings were probably various vegetable drying oils and pigment painted over tempera.

Jan Van Eyck (before 1395-1441) and his brother Hubert have been credited with mastering oil paints. Modern historians have come to believe, however, that oil painting predates the Van Eycks by at least two or three centuries. The two brothers, along with other Late Gothic Flemish artists, are still credited as being the first to exploit the medium of oil painting to its full potential.

Oil painting first became popular in northern Europe and later spread to Venice, Italy, in the fifteenth century. By the early part of the sixteenth century, oil painting had surpassed tempera as the dominant, acceptable painting medium throughout Europe.

The current view of oil painting's development is that of a gradual evolution of techniques and materials rather than the sudden discovery and overnight employment of the new medium.

The advent of water-soluble linseed and other vegetable drying oils can be counted as nothing short of a revolution in the continual development of oil paint.

In the late twentieth century, artists-and society in general-became more aware of the dangers inherent in many long-used art materials. The idea of using solvents to paint with has become less popular. By the late 1980's most secondary schools and universities in the United States had banned the use of solvents in art departments and thus eliminated the use of oils in the academic setting.

Major manufacturers of fine art paints have begun to develop alternatives to solvent thinnable oil colors. Water-soluble oil colors is the "next generation."

Water-Soluble Oils

How can oil color be water-soluble? Can it truly be oil color? I thought oil and water do not mix. Is this a misnomer?

Water-soluble oils are the best of both worlds, combining the flexibility of oil painting with the easy cleanup and safety of acrylics. This option for artists has revolutionized the way people are thinking about painting.

All oil paints are made by finely grinding pigment into vegetable drying oils. Oil paint has been popular for centuries for a number of reasons:

* Oil in the paint allows the paint to spread easily.
* Oil can dry to a thin durable film for detailed work.
* Oil provides excellent adhesion for the pigment.
* Oil adds transparency to many pigments.
* Oil provides body to retain brush or knife strokes.
* Oil adds depth to the pigment not possible in its dry state.

The new oils are no exception to these benefits. The difference is that the oil vehicle has been modified to make it soluble in water, eliminating the need for harsh or dangerous solvents used to thin the paint and clean brushes and palettes.

There are four major manufacturers currently marketing the new oils in the United States. Each of them has developed their own formulas and methods of making the paint, which is mixable with water. Grumbacher: Max Artists' Oil Colors; HK Holbein: Duo Aqua Oil; Winsor & Newton: Artisan Water Mixable Oil Color; Royal Talens: Van Gogh H2Oil. Each brand of paint has its own consistency and the mediums offered by one company are completely compatible with paints from another.

I have recently been painting with Winsor & Newton's brand. Having fun!