Same Design, Different Medium

Sometimes you find a reference that you really like. When this happens, you may find that you want to paint it over and over again in different mediums, or different color palettes. These two paintings are both done using the same reference photo. This reference was in a Gourmet magazine several years ago. I contacted the photographer through the magazine and got his permission to use the photo as a reference. He was very gracious.

The first version of the compote is done is oils. It is painted on 8x10 gesso board, my favorite support for oils. The painting was done by first creating an underpainting in Burnt Sienna and then applying the color over it.


The second version is in colored pencil on black cardstock. This one is approximately 5x5. The result is a very different looking painting.

A Brag!

I was very pleased and excited today to find out that my portrait of Miss Windy took 3rd Prize in the professional oil/acrylic division at the Oil Heritage Art Show in Oil City, PA. This was especially exciting because it is only 5x7. In recent years only very large pieces have received any sort of awards.

Windy (oil on board, 5x7)

New Miniature Paintng

It has been a while since I started this little piece, but here is Sadie. Sadie was painted on a 4x4 gesso board square. The technique was a Burnt Sienna underpainting with oil overlays. The world is made up of dog people and cat people. I am a dog person and I find it very difficult to paint cats. Cats' faces are flatter and have less dimension than dogs'.

Green Bottle - a new painting, a new challenge

I have been so busy that I have not had any studio time to speak of for a few weeks. I have missed my paint brushes. I finally was able to spend some time last night and today working on some new projects.

This one is an oil over acrylic underpainting on gesso board. The size is 5x7. I took the photo when I was visiting my friend. She had this bottle sitting on her window sill and the sunlight shining through it presented a challenge that I just had to accept.

Reference photo

Underpainting

Green Bottle (Oil on Board)

Here He Is---MY DADDY!!

I finished the portrait of my father. This is only my third portrait, the second in oils. I am very pleased with the results. The technique of painting a value scale underpainting and then oil overlays makes you really look at your subject and understand the structures without the complication of color. If you are very careful with your underpainting, the color overlays just fall into place. This has become my very most favorite way to paint.

A Portrait of my Aunt

I do not consider myself a portrait painter. This is only the second portrait I have ever painted. The first was a watercolor portrait of my mother. This painting is a 4x4 oil on board painted from a photograph of my Aunt. I have to say I am pleased with the way it turned out, generally. I am planning to send it to her for her birthday.

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.

Tiny Bottles

Here is a completed miniature. I haven't really worked on a miniature for a while. This piece is a 4x4 clayboard surface. A Burnt Sienna underpainting using acrylic paint was the first step. This underpainting is a value study for the final painting. Because the acrylic paint dries quickly, developing the value study in this way allows you to quickly move on to the business of applying the oil overlays.

Oil overlays are applied using water mixable oils.

Completed Dachshund

This morning I completed the oil overlays on the Dachshund. I think he turned out pretty well. Are you interested in a 5x7 portrait of your pet? I will soon have a purchase option here on my blog. If you want it sooner, contact me at terrierpainter@yahoo.com and I will give you the information.

Preparing new projects

My personal studio time seems to be available only toward the end of the week for the moment. I finally got time to work on my projects this afternoon and chose to spend that time preparing underpaintings to work on tomorrow. I have two underpaintings completed today so that I can do the oil overlays tomorrow. The dachshund is on a 5x7 gesso board and the still life is on a 4x4 clayboard.

My new project-a painting a day (mostly)

I have been working with a new coach who has suggested doing a painting a day. These are small paintings--5x7, 6x6, 4x4. Since I like working small, this approach suits me just fine. The objective is to complete a painting from start to finish in a few hours with a goal of decreasing your time and increasing your quality. Today, my painting was done on 5x7 gesso board basecoated in orange. The value scale underpainting was done in black and then I applied oil overlays in water mixable oils. Zach lives in Alaska and his Mama sent me his picture when they were on vacation. I simplified the background because the exercise was to paint Zach himself.

A Portrait of Windy

Last week I posted an underpainting of a portrait of Miss Windy, my Lakeland Terrier. I finally was able to get back to it today and start the oil overlay. It is coming along quite nicely. The support is a 5x7 gesso board that was basecoated in orange acrylic. A value study was then applies using black acrylic. Now I am applying an oil overlay using the Holbein Duo Aqua water mixable oils.

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

The pumpkin wheelbarrow

Remember the wheelbarrow box? Well, here it is sitting on the metal frame. We had the frame painted to protected it from rusting. Another member had that piece of the work done. It is a big hit.

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.

The wheelbarrow is finished--I think

I finally got back to work on the wheelbarrow box. As of this evening, it is finished. Now it has to sit and dry for several weeks before I can apply a top coat. As it dries, I can study on it a bit and decide if I need/want to do anything more to it. Look back at the first stage painting. It is fun to see how the painting comes to life when the details, highlighting and shading are added. I hope the club will be pleased with the results and that it is a good fund raiser.

Front

Left Side

Right Side

First stage painting on pumpkins and gourds completed

I was able to complete all the first stage painting on the front of the box today. It is coming along nicely. The next step is to give everything a couple of days to dry and then move on to the detail work.

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

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.