Gingerbread Man

Last week my friend and I spent a day painting wooden gingerbread man plates. These plates can be used in a variety of ways. We have included a glass dish as a liner. This way, you can use the plate as a candy dish, cookie server, candle plate. With the glass liner the plate itself is completely protected.

New Addition to Goldfish Series

Continuing my series of goldfish paintings in colored pencil, here is a veil tail goldfish on black card stock. My objective in this painting was to use the black background to emphasize the shape of the fish and make the highlights stand out. Whenever I paint living things (animals, fish, birds, people) I always start with the eyes. The eyes give you piece the spark of life and help to establish character from the first stroke of color. Once the eyes are painted, the first step in painting this piece was to base all of the lightest areas with a light wash of White. The darkest areas were first washed with Black Grape, the compliment of Orange. After the initial washes, the color was built up in layers with the lightest, brightest oranges layered in last.

Goldfish

This is the first in a series of goldfish paintings. It is done in colored pencil on hot press watercolor paper. The size is 7x6. The goldfish is a Ryunkin and the painting is based on a photograph used by permission of the owner. If you are going to work from a photograph that is not your own, ALWAYS ask for permission to use it. I am thinking about all the other ways a goldfish can be painted. Look for more of this series in future posts.

Christmas Teddy Sweatshirt

With the Thanksgiving holiday, I haven't had a lot of time to paint or to do much of anything else. Here is one of my latest pieces. This little teddy bear is painted on a sweatshirt using DecoArt So-Soft fabric paints. He is adapted from a design in an old book by Trudy Beard. Sweatshirt fabric is soft and absorbent. When painting on fabric, always remember to put something under the fabric or inside an item like a garment or a bag so that the paint does not go through to the other side. You can use a piece of cardboard, several pieces of disposable palette paper, card stock. Just make sure the barrier is at least as large as the design and that it is not going to shift while you are painting. This design was painted using a deerfoot stippler and the result is a soft-edged painting that is very appropriate for a fuzzy teddy bear.

The latest still life

Here is my latest painting. It is done on 8x10 gesso board. There is a Burnt Sienna underpainting with oil overlays.

Underpainting

You can see in this photo of the underpainting that the vase on the right looks crooked. One of the things a value study underpainting allows you to do is check for design flaws. I checked the vase and sure enough, the right side is not straight. I was able to correct the underpainting before I began the oil overlays.

Completed Painting

The vase on the right still looks a little crooked in this photo. I went back and checked it and it seems to be the photo. The vase is actually straight. This appears to be an optical illusion caused by a combination of the design on the vase and the angle of the camera to the painting when I took the picture.

What do you do with a ceramic pumpkin??

I was handed several ceramic pumpkins to turn into centerpieces with some painting on them. They are lovely pumpkins in their own right and did not require a lot of detailed painting. So, what to do? Fortunately, these pumpkins are beautifully painted from the factory and have a nice matte finish making them easy to paint on.

DecoArt has come out with a new dimensional paint with a writing tip. It comes in regular colors and metallics. The one that I bought is Dazzling Metallics Elegant Finish Acrylic Dimensional Writer in gold. The paint is quite thick and is applied using the writing tip that comes on the bottle. Using this paint, I created swirls around the top of the pumpkin. I saw a similar project in an obscure craft magazine done on a papier mache pumpkin.

I think the result is quite nice and the pumpkin will look lovely sitting in the middle of the table in a bed of silk Autumn leaves. This is the sort of project that takes only a few minutes to complete and requires little painting skill. So, if you are looking for a simple centerpiece for your thanksgiving table, give this some thought. You can find similar pumpkins at reasonable cost at your local art and craft stores.

A Study Method

I have reached a new place in my painting life with regard to study. For a lot of years I have religiously taken workshops with a variety of teachers. This has involved traveling to the workshop locations, hotels, meals, the cost of the workshop, supplies, etc. I have benefited from all of these experiences, but there is a cost associated with all that learning. A couple of weeks ago an artist friend told me that I should just work through some of the books in my extensive library and use those books as my teacher. Once I have learned the techniques and approaches that one "teacher" is using, move on to another book. You can also make use of some of the videos that are out in the world (and in my library as well). She recommended starting with the Helen van Wyk books that I already own.

Interestingly enough, the Robert Glen Twice Weekly Newsletter was written on the subject of having a personal coach. His recommendation was almost exactly the same as the advice my friend gave me. Use books and videos and paint for a couple of hours every day.

I don't necessarily need to be hit over the head with a bat to recognize that when you get the same advice from multiple unrelated sources in a short period of time, the advice is probably valid. So, I am working through my Helen van Wyk books. I may not do everything in the books, but I will pick and choose the things that most appeal to me. The objective is to learn how she did what she did and be able to apply the principles to my own work. At the same time I will be working on projects that are purely my own.

Here is a painting done in water mixable oils with an underpainting in Burnt Sienna acrylic. It is a study of silver. It is based on a painting from Helen van Wyk's Welcome to my Studio. Helen did not always use an underpainting and when she did, it was a grey scale rather than Burnt Sienna. Practicing using an underpainting makes you think about value placement without having to worry about the color. Once the underpainting is done, then applying the color on top is relatively quick and easy.

New Technique--to me

How time flies! I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted anything. September has been a busy month.

Last week the Town and Country Decorative Painters hosted a 3-day seminar with Connie Parkinson. She came in a couple of days early and spent some time with me playing in my studio. It was a joy to have someone to paint with. We painted from 9am until 1:30am the next day and only stopped long enough to eat our lunch and dinner.

The paintings we did used an underpainting technique. They were painted on gesso board. The design was first painted in Burnt Sienna acrylic paint using a bit of water to thin it when we needed to created lighter tones. The result was a sepia-like painting. This technique is like grisaille (pronounced gris-eye) in which an underpainting is done in shades of gray. Once the underpainting is completed, the painting is completed with oil paints. In this case, we used the water-mixable oils.

The advantage to using Burnt Sienna rather than shades of gray for the underpainting is that Burnt Sienna is a warm color and puts life into the painting. All oils are somewhat translucent so whatever color is underneath will influence the finished work.

Here is one of the pieces we painted. This bowl of grapes is painted from a photo that appeared in Gourmet magazine in 2002. I loved the photo and wrote tot he photographer, Romulo Vanes, to ask permission to use it as a reference. He called me and was most gracious about giving his permission. Please remember that all photos in magazines are copyright and you must ask permission to use them or you could find yourself in legal difficulties. Not every magazine or photographer will be flattered or cooperative about giving their permission.

Grape Compote in sepia tones

Grape Compote
finished painting

New Project

Some time ago I bought a tea box on clearance at TJ Maxx. I knew I wanted to paint something on the lid, but I didn't know what it would be. I just started working on it this week. The box is going to be included in a gift basket with a tea party theme.

I am doing this piece in acrylics because I don't have time to wait for the oils to dry and I don't know what will happen if I paint with Genesis and put it in the oven. The subject is a large white teapot from my collection surrounded by sunflowers and leaves. Obviously, the piece is not finished. This is a progress photo.

This box had a finish on it when I bought it. Unfortunately, the finished was marred and nicked, so I sanded it to remove some of the finish and painted the box Black Green. I removed the hinges so that I could paint without worrying about protecting them.

The top of the lid was taped off and then painted with a creamy white color. Then the design was transferred to the surface. With the tape still in place, I painted in the out-of-focus background, then proceeded to work on the teapot. Then I painted the table surface and blocked in the table cloth before removing the tape.

There is still a good bit of work to be done on this piece.

My latest effort

I have been spending a lot of time this week in my studio. What a treat! While I have spent a little time finishing up some little nothing projects that needed finishing, the bulk of my effort has been spent on this little box. The box is about 3x6 inches. It is painted in acrylics and water mixable oils. I recently started working long-distance with a teacher in Texas to learn some new techniques and hopefully improve my skills. This is one of the first complete projects we have done together. Working long distance over the Internet and with photos is frustrating, but we do what we have to do.

I don't know what this box was designed for. Something came inside it, maybe a pen or something so it has a finish. I am going to line the inside with felt and then--????

To paint the box, I first sanded the top to remove some of the original finish. Then I taped off the edges of the top and rolled on a basecoat. After that, I started painting. The background and the basecoating on each element was done with acrylics. Then I switched to the water-mixable oils to do all of the remaining work. I tried a quick dry medium this time. I'm not sure it really improved the drying time. I may need to try another brand.

Red Hat Chapter Sign

My Red Hat Chapter, The Allegheny River Scarletts, decided to participate in the July 4th parade this year. We arranged for a red pick-up truck and a trailer. They asked me to paint two signs for the trailer. We decorated the trailer with all sorts of red and purple--red and purple skirts surrounding the outside edges of the trailer, purple and red tissue paper flowers, a patio umbrella covered with purple and strung with red beads topped with tissue paper flowers. We ended up putting one sign on the truck's grill and the other on the back of the trailer. Then we had several of our Red Hat sisters ride on our float down the parade route. It was a fun day. The very best part of the day, however, was that we won first place in our division. My husband said the only reason we won was because of my signs. (He can be a real sweetie when he wants to be.) I forgot to take pictures of the signs, so I had to depend on getting a photo from someone else. Unfortunately, the photo I was given cut parts of the sign off. Both signs are identical. So, here it is--mostly-- the sign that helped us win first place and a check for $125.00.



How to do it?-- Buy the largest foam core sheets you can find. The ones I bought came from Staples and were approximately 30x40 inches. Basecoat the sheet of foam core with the color of your choice. Some colors take a lot of paint to give you good coverage. Purple is an example. I think there are three coats of paint on the board. (contrary to the photo, it IS purple!)

Next, figure out what your sign will say and go to your word processing or publishing software. I use Printmaster. One of the features of this software is the ability to create shapes with your text and then to print your work out as large as you need it to be. You can try a bunch of different fonts until you find the one that a. fits your theme and b. looks good/readable when you alter the shape of the text. I went to the Red Hat Society website to get the logo hat (which we, as an official chapter are allowed to use) so that I could add it to my sign. Finally, when I was satisfied with the design, I printed it out to full size. The software divides large posters into tiles and prints as many 8.5x11 sheets of paper as it takes to print the required size.

Now you need to transfer your design to the poster. Tape all your tiles together and position the sheets over your foam core. Put an appropriate color transfer paper between the design and the foam core and trace the design with a stylus or a ballpoint pen. For dark backgrounds use white transfer paper; for dark, use graphite paper.

When you are painting a fairly transparent color like most reds over a dark background you need to first basecoat the areas to be painted with a light, neutral color. I like to use a pale grey for most of these applications unless my final color is yellow. For yellow, I basecoat with white. When the basecoat is dry, paint the final color. Most often you will need two coats. To make the lettering a little more interesting, I painted a line of silver on the left side of all the letters. You will notice that the silver line changes position with the "light". It is always on the left side of the line.

The last step was to take some silver glitter paint and put it on the painted feathers on the logo hat. I also had a large purple feather to attach to the sign. I glued it in place and then painted it with silver glitter paint as well. The glitter paint helped to hold the feather in place on the sign.

Another fun pumpkin project

I just can't seem to stay away from the pumpkin patch!! I picked up an 8" papier mache pumpkin a couple of weeks ago and have been trying to decide what to do with it.

Recently on a DIY/HGTV show called Creative Juice they created potpourri holders out of papier mache balls. They made the papier mache balls first which involved a lot of time to make the balls, cut them apart to remove the support, and put them back together. But essentially, once you have the papier mache object the project involved using an awl to poke holes in the balls with one larger hole for a cork. Then they painted the balls and attached ribbon so they could hang in a window. Finally, the balls were filled with aromatic spices like cinnamon, cloves, orange peel.

Here was the inspiration for my papier mache pumpkin! I poked holes in the upper half of the pumpkin. As soon as I find a cork, I will poke the hole for the cork in the side near the bottom. Then I painted the pumpkin using DecoArt Americana acrylic paints. Notice that it is not just solid orange, but has details with darks in the creases and blemishes on the sides. The stem is also painted so that it has the look of ridges. To finish it off, I will fill it with some fall-type spices and set in on a bed of silk leaves. It will make a stunning centerpiece that also smells good.

Big project begun--finally!

After finishing the two practice projects in water mixable oils, I finally was able to start on the wheel barrow box today. Actually, the box has been ready to go for a couple of weeks, but the time to start on the design work wasn't there.

The outside of the box is stained with DecoArt Americana Dark Chocolate acrylic paint. The inside of the box is painted solidly with the same color. The top edge is painted with DecoArt Patio Paint in Copper metallic.

After all the basecoating work was completed, I used a chalk pencil to draw the pumpkin design on the sides of the box. The design on the front is much more complicated. I first traced it onto clear acetate and then transferred it to the surface using white transfer paper. the design on the front is a collection of pumpkins and gourds with a sign that will read "Pumpkins For Sale". In order to make the original design fit on the front of the box, I needed to make it wider. I mirror-imaged the two pumpkins in front of the sign and placed them at the far left of the design. At that point the piece was ready for the design painting.

Tonight I completed stage 1 on the sides of the box. I started the stage 1 work on two elements on the front of the box as well. The work plan is to complete stage 1 on the front tomorrow. It may take until Thursday to complete. Once the stage 1 work on the front is completed, the sides should be ready for the stage 2 painting. The piece should be totally completed by next week so that it will have plenty of time to dry before it will need to be delivered.

Front

Left Side

Right Side

Portable Art

Today we had a yard sale. For some reason where we live people start yard sales on Friday, so we decided to follow the local custom. We actually had more business than we expected and the weekend promises to be a lucrative one. In any event, when you are having a yard sale, you have to sit with your "stuff" and be available to your customers but there is down time. It is a good opportunity to practice a little art. This was especially true today because the yard sale was not in our yard. We carried everything to a friend's yard where there is better parking, better visibility, and more traffic.

So, what do you take when your resources are somewhat limited? I thought about watercolors, but I didn't want to have to mess with water containers while I was also handling "merchandise" because people are not always careful about where they set things down. Genesis presents a drying problem to say nothing of the mess of having wet paint on a palette. Oils present a similar problem. I decided on my chalk pastels and it turned out to be a good decision. You need very few supplies: paper clipped to a support, pastels, Q-tips and stumps for blending, a terry towel to put under your support, and baby wipes to clean your hands. I have been looking for an opportunity to work with pastels again and today presented the perfect excuse.

Here is the piece I worked on. It is the second pastel painting I have ever done. It is done on MiTientes paper in a grey tone. I forgot that MiTientes has two different surfaces and I used the rough side. This piece really should have been done on the smooth side and it has a bit more visual texture than it should as a result. I need to work the background a bit more and I need to fix the shape of the lemon on the right side. Overall, though, I am pleased with the result given that it is a new medium for me.

Pumpkin Lazy Susan is finished!!!

Today I was finally able to finish my practice pumpkins on the lazy susan. The paint was actually dry enough to work on yesterday, but life got in the way and I could not get back to it until today. I am actually pretty pleased with the results and feel pretty confident about starting on the big project--the wheel barrow box. If you are interested in working with water mixable oils, here are a few things I have learned through trial and error (there wasn't really anybody to guide me with this product). These observations apply specifically to the Holbein product and may or may not be the same for other brands.

1. Even though the Holbein Duo Aqua says it will dry in as little as 24 hours, don't believe it. You need to allow at least two days and three may be better. My piece did not have heavy layers of paint on it and it took three days.

2. Using water as a solvent to create glazes was very unsatisfactory. It simply made runny paint that did not glaze over the surface.

3. Water soluble linseed oil DOES make a good medium for creating glazes. I bought a bottle of the Winsor and Newton brand from their water soluble oil product line. I was able to get a good shadow glaze by mixing Black + Ultramarine Blue and then brush mixing the linseed oil in it as I worked.

4. The brushes clean up beautifully with soap and water. Actually, I used some of my brush cleaners and they did not work as well as my Melaleuca Naturals Hand Soap.

5. I will not give up my Genesis Heat-Set Oils in favor of the water mixable, but I am certainly glad I tried them. I now have a product that I can use when Genesis is not an option.

A book to recommend

Today I want to talk about a book I recently purchased. I have a very large personal library of books of all types on all sorts of subjects. Of course, a lot of them are art-related books. When I came back from our retreat where I took the pastel class, I wanted to learn more about pastels. I found a book titled: Collins Painting Workshop Pastels by Jackie Simmonds


This is an excellent book, not just for pastels, but as a general art book as well. Unlike many of the books we purchase that have a little bit of information and a lot of photos, this one is a whole art class in one not-very-big book. She has chapters on the supplies you need for using pastels of all types, techniques used in pastel painting, and other pastel-specific information. Then she includes chapters on color theory, perspective, choosing a subject, setting up a still life, painting still life, landscape, florals, people. Every chapter has exercises for the reader to do to explore the topic in the chapter. I have read most of it (not typical) and I'm getting ready to work my way through the chapters to do the exercises. I am so very glad I purchased this book.

Another small work

I feel like I have accomplished a lot this week. Here is another small painting that I completed. This iris painting is one that I am thinking about submitting to a conference as a teaching project. It is painted in Genesis on a 4x4 piece of gesso board. When using gesso board with Genesis, it is a good idea to first basecoat it with DecoArt Americana acrylic paint. I did not basecoat this piece and found that the paint dragged a little on the first stage painting. It made painting a little more cumbersome. Once the first stage painting was completed, there was no further problem. I would basecoat with something like Light Buttermilk.

What is a wet palette and how do I use it?

Many people like to use a wet palette when they are painting with acrylic paints. The wet palette keeps the paint from drying out and skinning over as quickly as it does on a dry palette. Some people also cover it when they are finished and hope that it will keep their paints usable until the next day. How do I use a wet palette? I use it during a painting session to keep my paints moist, and I don't use it all the time. Sometimes I just use a piece of palette paper. The wet palette is most useful for me when I anticipate being able to paint for an entire day. I never use the cover and never expect to be able to use the same paint the next day.

How do you find or make a wet palette? The answer to this question depends upon how much you wish to spend. First, you can buy a pre-packaged wet palette. It is called the Masterson palette and comes in several sizes. Included in the package is a shallow plastic box with a lid, a sponge sheet that fits inside the box, and a package of special paper that goes over the sponge and on which you place your puddles of paint. The box is quite nice because it is no more than about 1/4-inch deep which makes it easy to work with. However, the sponge holds much too much water and tends to dilute your paint. The special paper requires special handling. It must be soaked for several hours before you place it over your sponge and once it has been wet, it must be stored wet. It is also a bit pricey to buy additional sheets of the special paper. The large Masterson Sta-Wet Palette lists for around $26.oo. The smaller one (about 8x10) can be found for around $15. Here is a photo of the small Masterson Sta-Wet Palette without the sponge and the special paper--I threw those away long ago.

The travel size Masterson Sta-Wet Palette

So, if you don't wish to buy the ready made item or you have the Masterson but struggle to use it, there is another solution. First, if you have the Masterson system, throw away all the inside stuff. If you do not have a Masterson system, find a shallow container. This could be a shallow plastic storage container (Tupperware, Rubbermade, etc), an enamel butcher tray, or even a shallow baking pan. If you use a baking pan make sure it is aluminum so that it will not rust. The container must have sides, but it needs to be shallow. Some people even use styrofoam meat trays. This would be a free and disposable container but whatever you do, make sure you clean it well before you use it with your paints.

Next, go to the local dollar store and look in the automotive section for synthetic chamois. This can frequently be found in a bag with one or two sheets of synthetic chamois and a couple of really cheap sponges as a car wash kit. Cut a piece of the chamois to fit inside the container.

Synthetic Chamois (new piece and used piece inside container)

Pour some water into the container so that the chamois gets thoroughly wet. Then, use you hand like a squeegie to remove most of the water.

Finally, go to the local shoppers club and buy a box of deli wrap. Deli wrap is the paper that is used in delis to wrap your sandwiches. It has a coating, but is stronger than waxed paper. You cannot use standard waxed paper from the grocery store as it will disintegrate. Deli wrap will hold up to the paint and brushes as well. A box of 500 sheets of deli wrap can be found for under $10. If the sheet of deli wrap does not fit exactly in side your container, cut it down or use part of an additional piece. Carefully use your hand to press the paper into place. You will know that the chamois is wet enough if the paper sticks to it. If the water oozes up through the paper and makes puddles, it is too wet. If it will not stick, there is not enough water in your chamois.

Deli wrap in dispenser box and cut to fit palette

Once your wet palette is assembled, pour out your puddles of paint and work as you normally do. When the piece of palette paper is full and you are finished with the colors you have on it, carefully remove the paper and insert a new sheet. At the end of the day, throw away your used paper and wring out your chamois so that it can dry. Do not cover the container with the wet chamois inside unless you want to conduct a science experiment in growing mold.

Creative uses for everyday objects

We are always told that we get better results if we use the right tool for the job. This is basically true. But that doesn't mean the most expensive tool or the one that is only available in the craft or art supply stores. The right tool may sometimes be found where we least expect it. For example, you could purchase fancy water buckets to use with your watercolor or acrylic painting. But, you can just as easily use empty jelly or peanut butter jars, the jars from candles once the candles have been burned and the leftover wax cleaned out, yogurt cups, or whipped topping tubs. Using these "found" objects keeps them out of landfills and costs nothing. You have more money to spend on brushes, paint, paper (OK, so that may be stretching it a bit, but you could maybe buy a couple of brushes or a tube of paint with your savings)

Here is a nifty idea for a brush holder that I wish I could take credit for, but I saw it at a workshop last Fall and have been looking for them ever since. This device is called an Ice Tube Tray. Its actual purpose is to make long cylindrical ice cubes that you can put in your bottles of water. You can find them at WalMart, but you may have to search a bit. The cost was around $2 per tray. The compartments are just the right depth to hold short handled brushes. If you find that your brushes are all over your work space while you are painting, this may be a good solution to keeping them organized. I use them with my Genesis paints to keep the brushes orderly while I paint and to keep my workspace a little neater.

Ice Tube Trays

So, look for inexpensive, creative solutions to studio accessory dilemmas. When you can find the right tool for little or no money, you have more to spend on the supplies you need to actually create your art (no matter what your art form may be).