Art Journey Techniques

Using Permanent Magenta as an Underpainting Color

2011-02-19T16:20:00.000-08:00

Bowl of Apples - top

Two Apples - bottom

Underpaintings add depth and sparkle to paintings. When done in complimentary colors, underpaintings can add that visual push/pull that makes a painting dynamic.

I'm working on two small paintings of apples. In both, the apples are lit with a cool bluish light. Following the rule of cool light/warm shadow will make the shadows cast by the apples (or bowl) very warm.

See the finished paintings!

To top it off the local color of the apples is warm (either red or a warm yellow).

So I picked my Winsor & Newton Permanent Magenta for the underpainting. It will pop underneath the green apples (because red and green are complimentary) and it will also pop under any cool colors in the painting (like the background) because it is so warm.

It was a joy to smoosh Magenta around with rags and my blender brushes. I could lift it off or add more as needed.

Now that I have a base for these two paintings I'll let them dry before proceeding to the next step.

Grisaille and Initial Color Block In

2010-12-15T20:52:00.000-08:00

Grisaille 'Girl Sleeping' - top

Initial Color Block In 'Girl Sleeping' - bottom
Finished Painting

Tis' the season to start making resolutions. Mine is to focus upon a painting strategy that will define my style.

Thus, a figure work in progress, being shared from start to finish. The success, or failure of this piece will most likely define a strategy. Figures? Florals? Classical? Modern?

My work has always been eclectic, not focused on a single style or subject but rather this-and-that as the inspiration struck me. Was Van Gogh like that? The one constant has always been my love of figures, skin, fabric and ornamentation.

What I've discovered is that in my daily life I'm very concrete, sequential and task oriented, yet in my painting life I jump and skip from one thing to another. This is not effective in producing a body of work that defines my style.

So here is a figure work, rather small, somewhat detailed, and I confess, not entirely my own composition. I'll reveal its origins later. Enough said. In the classical Old Master's style of Rembrandt using earth tones and a modern medium unheard of in his time. She intrigues me, not only because she's mysterious, but because my ability to pull off a successful painting is an unknown quantity! We shall see!

Fond Brun under the Yellow Rhody

2010-11-07T10:47:00.000-08:00

Rhody, Yellow - oil

in progress at the easel

The last time I used a fond brun underpainting was almost four years ago. I continue to be amazed by Vincent Van Gogh's seemingly effort brushstrokes using thick paint in which the underpainting shows through. The Vincent Van Gogh Painting Projects website describes his underpainting as a 'fond brun' violet, consisting of white, carmine and traces of light-yellow.

Four years ago I concocted a similar tint using acrylic gesso tinted with alizarin crimson and cadmium yellow acrylics. This time; however, my painting process took a different turn. I've been painting laboriously layered small florals for a gala art auction in December. Sometimes I just don't want to work on a painting for weeks at a time. Most of the artwork I admire is direct painted, by artists who employ luscious, painterly brushstrokes as part of the painting. Vincent did this. I can stand for hours in front of one of his paintings, just examining the brush strokes.

So I decided to give direct painting another chance. I tinted the canvas with a mixture of Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Yellow Deep and Titanium White, thinned down with Liquin. I applied it thinly and smoothed with a blending brush, then let it dry overnight. The next day I started painting, and finished on one day. Ah bliss, no time to get tired of the painting!

I feel this direct painted floral is as good, or better than paintings in which I used a layered technique. I was able to capture freshness, which is what I want to capture in a floral. I also completed it faster, which suits my need for instant gratification (at least when painting!). And I didn't have to worry about my paint mixtures drying, since I used them up in one day.

So you tell me, can a direct painted floral capture the depth, essence and luminous quality of a flower?

Painted directly: Yellow Rhody

Painted in many layeres: Trillium, Rhody Glow, or Peony

I shall keep the brush happy in my hand!

Buff Titanium

2010-05-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

Titanium Hue coated canvas and board

My next painting, Wedding Dress, will be done on this canvas primed with a coat of Titanium Hue.

To backtrack, I coated it first with five coats of Utrecht Professional Grade Gesso, which I love because I can get away with five coats, while other brands take 10, then one coat of watered down Utrecht Unbleached Titanium Hue acrylic paint.

I'm the artist who likes to get right up close to museum paintings (if museum security lets me!) to see if I can see any canvas weave, texture or initial priming showing through the painting. I've seen the canvas showing through in many Impressionist and Van Gogh paintings. It never seems to be white, alway some kind of buff, tan, brownish color. Either the artist primed the canvas with a tan or pinkish brown sienna color, or initially it was white, but over time discolored to a brown tone.

Wedding Dress has beautiful sunshine shining on some creamy Rhododendron petals. I need to be able to tell how white my whites need to be. Putting white paint on a white canvas can be confusing until you put other colors next to it. With a tan background I'll be able to judge the correctness of my whites more accurately. Plus, I like the idea of painting on a canvas the same color as the Impressionists may have used!

You can see my sophisticated setup for priming canvases above; essentially an old sheet on the floor to protect my studio rug. And in the chair beyond is the ubiquitious studio cat who watches over everything I do (mainly so she can either walk on it, or drop hairs on it later!)

Thank you for the opportunity to share my painting techniques with you!

Watch Wedding Dress develop on Facebook along with other fans!

See my Rhododendron photographs that inspired Wedding Dress!

Varnishing Some Paintings

2010-03-06T16:18:00.001-08:00

I opened up windows downstairs this lovely spring weekend in order to do some varnishing. In the foreground is my triptych: Poppyscape, which has just been purchased. Behind it are several plein airs I'm entering into the Columbian Artists Juried Spring Show this month. Everything is laid out on the wrinkled sheet I use to protect furniture and the floor.

I've tried every type of artist varnish out there, including semi-gloss and matte versions, and have concluded that I prefer gloss. Why? It makes the painting look wet, as if I just finished it. If you've ever stood in front of a Van Gogh (and I have) you know that his paintings look like he just finished them. Example: I stood in front of a Van Gogh at SAM a couple of years ago, restraining myself from touching it (the museum guards would have put me in handcuffs), because it looked like he had just painted it, right down to a brush hair embedded in one glossy, broken brush stroke. It brought tears to my eyes and I cannot describe how I felt other than it was like Mr. Van Gogh was standing right next to me with his paintbrush in motion.

The varnish that gives me the best result in Winsor & Newton Artists' Gloss Varnish. It dries overnight leaving a glossy finish that can be removed later if needed. When my paintings finally hang, they look as if they were wet, which is exactly what I want!

New Basic Flesh-Tone Palette

2009-12-27T11:44:00.000-08:00

New flesh-tone color chart - top

Page from painting journal with notes on flesh tones - center

Pages from painting journal with recent flesh-tone mixtures - bottom

The January issue of The Artist's magazine featured artist Michael De Brito's paintings and the four-color, flesh-tone palette he uses to render his figures. I read with interest and decided to give the colors a test run. The economy of using just four colors seems to break down the process of mixing flesh tones into a basic formula. Since most artists (including myself) struggle to depict accurate flesh tones, I thought De Brito's palette was a refreshing break from all the complicated mixtures I've tried in the past.

So, my palette as seen in the top image consists of Gamblin Flake White Replacement, Winsor & Newton Naples Yellow, and Royal Talens Rembrandt Vermillion and Ivory Black.

Which basically gives me a pretty wide range of colors. Pinks, oranges and dusky flesh tones in both warm and cool variations can be mixed from Flake White mixed with Naples Yellow, Vermillion and Ivory Black. For those elusive cool green tones, a mixture of Naples Yellow and Ivory Black renders a muddy green, the addition of Vermillion warms. For darkest darks Vermillion plus black gives a warm or cool dark, depending on how much black is used.

The bottom two images show the pages from my painting journal, detailing additional mixtures from the same palette, along with notes on their use in recent paintings.

Here's a demo of the four steps De Brito uses in mixing flesh tones.

So far I've used this flesh palette in two paintings I'm working on: Blue Angel and Daydream Believer, both are detailed on my Fan page. I'm happy with the results! I think I'll stick with this palette into the New Year!

Why I love Blacks and Browns!

2009-11-08T13:05:00.001-08:00

Detail from Blue Angel - oil on canvas - 24 x 36

Many of my art books eschew the use of black or brown, saying it makes paint mixtures muddy. I disagree. Artists such as Rembrant, Caravaggio and Titian used black and brown in abundance. My color reference book: Color: a Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finley covers blacks and browns in the second chapter. What I found particularly intriguing is her statement '...the first paint was black and the first artist female'. Like I'd want to argue with that?

Plus anyone who understands even a smidgen of art history knows that early cave painters used charcoal made from lumps of burned wood or chunks of earthy substances mixed with animal fat or water to make brown paints.

So it makes sense that early 16th and 17th century painters used colors handed down through history, and that also must have been relatively inexpensive. They probably had plenty of charcoal available due to all the fireplaces they burned just to cook and keep warm. Rembrant's rich darks made from browns and blacks have a depth that no other artist (in my opinion) has managed to capture. The realistic flesh of Caravaggio and Titian indicate they modeled figures with layers of shadowy colors. My books on how to paint in the Old Master's style say they used blacks and browns to underpaint their figures.

I'm using brown and black in my painting Blue Angel, detail above, in which I've modeled the flesh and background with only three colors (all oils), Ivory Black, Burnt Umber and Flake White. So far I like the progress. My black is a Rembrandt (brand) Ivory Black, and the Burnt Umber and Flake White are both Winsor Newton (brand). Ironically, I'm painting like Rembrandt, using Rembrandt brand oil paints!

Thus, I plan to continue using blacks and browns in my paintings, in spite of what a lot of art books say. I'll go with Rembrandt, he obviously knew what he was doing!

See the finished version of Blue Angel.

Join my facebook fan page!

Way to go Mabef!

2009-09-16T19:11:00.001-07:00

In late August I picked up a Mabef Lyre M11/D easel at Michaels Store for a great price. I desperately needed a second easel to support my 48" x 96" mother-of-all Rhododendron paintings. Mabef easels have never disappointed me. They're sturdy, the wood is good quality and best of all they're economical.

So I was very surprised when after spending two hours assembling my new easel (mind you, I'm artistic, not mechanical) that it was missing a crucial screw part necessary to support my painting. Darn was not the word I used! And a return to the store was out of the question. I'd already spent two hours assembling, who knows how long it would take to disassemble and re-pack.

What to do? Since I'm a blogger and a Tweeter, I snapped a photo and posted it to my Flickr site, then tweeted and dashed off an e-mail to Mabef customer support, which resulted in an automatic reply saying Mabef staff were on vacation until September 1. Double darn.

Now here it is mid September (just a couple weeks later) and this week I was pleasantly surprised to receive a small package postmarked Italia postaprioritario from Cardano al Campo Italy! Enclosed was the missing screw part, mailed to me all the way from Mabef Easels in Italy! They even printed out and enclosed a black/white copy of my Flickr photo, Italian version! Mabef Easel missing part su Flickr - Condivisione di foto! You can see it in my photo (above).

WAY TO GO MABEF! Now that is customer service! I'm blogging and tweeting, so everyone will know that Mabef supports their customers, all the way from Cardano al Campo, Italy to little ol' Kalama, Washington USA.

Why Use Payne's Gray?

2009-08-30T11:45:00.001-07:00

Payne's Gray Color Chart

Every artist struggles to mix vibrant grays, which is an oxymoron, because vibrant and gray aren't exactly sympatico. But if you've ever tried to mix them, and ended up with a pile of mud, that is, muddy gray, you know what I mean.

I decided to explore the quality of Winsor & Newton Payne's Gray oil paint. It's transparent, according to the WN color chart, with blue undertones from the copper phthalocyanine pigment it's made from, along with carbon black. (Color index: PB29, PBk7, PB15)

I made a half tone by mixing 1/2 Payne's Gray and 1/2 Titanium White, then made a similar half tone from every color on my palette, then mixed the Payne's Gray half tone with each of my color palette half tones. The result; a series of muted, yet vibrant grayed colors, as you can see in the third and sixth rows of my color chart.

I imagine that muting these grayed colors with additional white will give me a series of grays that have many uses: sky colors, white fabric colors, shadow colors, etc.

I've added Payne's Gray to my palette in place of black. I think it will be a good addition!

But I still have one question, why did Winsor & Newton name it 'Payne's Gray?'

~ I will keep the brush happy in my hand! ~

Artguard

2009-08-14T16:25:00.001-07:00

I should know better than to try and paint without using Artguard! It coats your hands with a rubber-glove like film that prevents paint from staining or penetrating your skin. I try to use it every time I paint. On some days I paint in three or four sessions, so I wash it off in between and reapply.
It's tricky to use the right amount. If you use too much, your hands are slimy, not enough and you don't get enough protection. I use a dab the size of a quarter, and don't put much on my palms, just the tops of my hands, sides of my fingers and fingertips. That way my palms aren't sticky, or sticking to anything. Since I don't usually get paint on my palms, I get it on my fingers, it works great.
Artguard is made by Winsor & Newton. The product description on the Web site says:

A light, non-greasy cream which, when applied to hands before working, forms a
protective barrier against all types of artists' materials. It can be removed
with soap and water or Artgel and also contains moisturizers to condition the
skin and hands.

A jar lasts forever!

~ I will keep the brush happy in my hands! ~

Gridding and Transferring Rhododendron Explosion

2009-08-09T19:11:00.000-07:00

Oh my aching back! I'm transferring the 12" x 24" Rhododendron Explosion study onto my 48" x 96" canvas. Square by square; using colored pencils. I'd drawn the grid previously, using a grey colored pencil. I managed to finish the transfer this weekend, so now I'm ready to paint, that is if I can stand up!

However, before I start painting I have to finish another, smaller rhododendron painting, which will serve as the catalyst for this one. I'll work out the painting in steps: blocking in, connecting shapes, adding detail. Then I'll know for sure that my steps will translate into a workable method for the larger canvas. At least that's the plan.

Previous steps:

Final sketch, color study and transfer grid
Sketches and color studies
Canvas preparation
Canvas stretching and stapling
Canvas frame

~ I will keep the brush happy in my hands! ~

Shape Studies for Rhododendron Explosion

2009-08-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

Sketch #1 - top
Color and Shape Study #1 - second
Sketch #2 -third
Color and Shape Study #2 - bottom

Final Sketch and Color and Shape Study

Small studies for my big painting: Rhododendron Explosion, 48" x 96. I started by sketching a couple of rhododendron shapes onto tracing paper, then tracing the design onto watercolor paper so I could block in the shapes with gouche to see how they look-yuk.

I started over, including more rhododendrons. But I still didn't like it. It didn't seem dynamic enough to enlarge Finally, the third try worked, and that's the design I'll transfer to the canvas.

Here's the canvas preparation

Here's the canvas stretching and stapling

Here's the canvas frame.

~ I will keep the brush happy in my hand! ~

Plein Aire Painting with Golden Open Acrylics

2009-07-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

One Day Plein Aire Painting with Golden Open Acrylics

workshop taught by Corrine Loomis-Dietz

the workshop studio - top

our acrylic palletes - second from top (l-r: Allan's, mine)

Allan painting outside - third from top

Allan painting outside - fourth from top

teacher demonstrating in studio - fifth from top

Allan painting inside - bottom

Here's the two paintings I did during the workshop.

Both Allan and I want to learn more about acrylics, so we registered for this workshop through Art Media. Golden Open Acrylics are a new product by Golden Artist Colors, designed to stay wet longer than regular acrylics. The workshop provided all the paints, brushes, paper, water and instruction. All we had to do was show up with some rags!

I really liked using these paints. They handled similar to oils, as far as brushing and blending, but I didn't have to worry about cleaning my brushes with thinner, or breathing any toxic substances, or transporing a wet painting. The instructor focused a lot on how economical it is to paint with acrylics when you blend them with medium, due to the per ounce cost of paint versus medium. An ounce of cadmium, for example, costs up to $8, versus an ounce of medium, which costs about $2. Thus, thinning your cadmium red with medium makes it go much farther, without any loss of brilliance or pigment power. Plus, I think the overall cost of acrylics is much less than oils.

Most of the workshop attendees had previous experience with acrylics. However, I've never used them! So it was a really eye-opening experience to create a painting that was dry enough to touch in an hour, yet could be worked over like it was still wet! Amazing. I asked Allan if this meant I was going to have to chuck all my expensive oils and convert to acrylic. He just shook his head! Like I haven't invested thousands of dollars into every type of art supply on the planet already!

Allan said he really liked using them too, because they didn't dry so fast.

Winsor Blue and Violet Color Charts

2009-07-14T19:22:00.000-07:00

Winsor Violet color chart - top

Winsor Blue (Green Shade) - bottom

I think I'm in love! The two Winsor colors I experimented with (blue and violet) are amazingly powerful and vibrant. I've mostly shied away from the Winsor colors, because they're so strong, and because they aren't traditional, but I think I'll change my ways.

Winsor Violet (top chart) makes some great brown-grays when mixed with yellows (right side), but the violet shades are lovely. You can see the Violet by itself (not mixed with any other color except white) in the fifth row from the right. Oooh la la! Can you picture a violet like that in a painting?

The Winsor Blue (bottom chart) is so strong it overwhelms anything you mix it with, so you have to go easy. But if this color had a personality, it would be flashy! When mixed with different yellows, it makes many varieties of clean greens. You can see the Blue by itself (not mixed with any other color except white) in the fourth row from the right. What a gorgeous blue. Cest magnifique!

Why Winsor?
Both are made by Winsor & Newton , but althought I searched their Web site extensively, I couldn't find any reference to why they were named 'Winsor'. Was it because William Winsor, cofounder of the company together with Henry Newton, discovered and named them after himself? He was the chemist and Henry was the artist. Did it happen after 1900, when I believe copper phthalocyanine, the pigment in Winsor Blue, was either discovered or accepted as a pigment ingredient by the colourmen? I tried several Google searches, but found nothing. However, the Winsor & Newton Web site has some fascinating historical information in their historical catalogues. I'd love to visit the company someday, if I ever make it to England!

In the meantime, I'm checking out the other Winsor colors to see how they behave.

Gessoing a large canvas

2009-07-13T19:34:00.001-07:00

Gessoing the canvas for Rhododendron Explosion - 48" x 96"

scraping on the gesso - top

spraying it down - middle

brushing it in - bottom

The last step is gessoing the canvas. I worked one quarter at a time, scraping gesso on with a putty knife, spraying it down, then brushing it in with a house painting brush. After three coats I'll sand, then add two more coats of gesso and sand again, then a final coat. That should do it! It will take me about a week. Then it will be ready to paint on.

See how I stretched and staped this canvas

See the frame for this canvas

~ I will keep the gesso brush happy in my hand ~

Stretching and stapling a large canvas

2009-07-13T19:24:00.000-07:00

Stretching the canvas for Rhododendron Explosion - 48" x 96"

one corner in the works - top

me stretching the corner - bottom

It was a week filled with nightly stretching and stapling sessions, one inch at a time. The corners came last, because that's where I worked out the last wrinkles. It was hard on my wrists, and oh my aching back. That's why I needed to see my massage therapist on Saturday!

However, the effort paid off, and pardon moi, but I now have one tight-assed canvas!

Coming next, gessoing the mother of all canvases!

See the frame for this canvas.

~ I will keep the canvas stretcher tool happy in my hand ~

Getting ready to stretch a large canvas

2009-07-05T14:18:00.000-07:00

Frame for Rhododendron Explosion - 48" x 96"

I'm preparing the frame for the largest painting I've ever done. At 4 ' tall by 9' long, it probably won't ever leave my house. The plan is to hang it in my livingroom.

Allan got stretcher frames at Utrecht on sale; a set of 48" and a set of 96". I wanted several cross braces, but they only had the one 48" center brace, and Allan said that would be strong enough. Since he's the one who has to hang it, I'll go with his recommendation. Plus, he assembled it for me because when it comes to anything carpenterish, I'm basically useless.

Then I cut my piece of cotton duck, 57" x 105", which will give me 4.5 inches to wrap around. I laid everything out on the floor, because I don't have a table large enough, and proceeded to stretch and staple.

For the life of me I couldn't figure out why staples kept shooting across the room, instead of going where I pointed them. Allan came to the rescue and pointed out that I was holding the gun backwards. Doh! He called me a retard. "Why don't you put that on your blog," he said. So I am!

Like I said, when I comes to assembling stuff, I'm challenged. I hope I don't shoot my eye out with the staple gun. But by gosh, I know how to hold a paintbrush!

~I will keep the brush happy in my hand ~

But staple guns, that's another story...

The Terra Verte Color Chart

2009-05-28T19:22:00.001-07:00

I think I'm in love with Terra Verte!

I grabbed a tube of what I thought was Viridian, but was really Terra Verta. The color band on both tubes looked remarkably the same, and as the color name on my tubes is usually obscured by messy paint, I just assumed it was Viridian. Plus when squeezed out, Viridian looks the same as Terra Verte. But when mixed with Liquin to a thin, milky consistency, then washed onto my white canvas, it turned into the most wonderful, muted soft green I ever saw! So different than flashy Viridian. It actually resembles the earthy, gray greens we see so much in the Pacific Northwest.

The next day I made a color chart, and found out that Terra Verte is remarkably adaptable to all the other colors on my palette. It even makes a wonderful gray when mixed with Alizarin Crimson! From now on, I'm using Terra Verte for my greens, forget Viridian.

According to the green page on Pigments Through the Ages, Terra Verte is the french name for green earth.

~la bonté de remerciement pour terra verte~
thank goodness for terra verte!

Flesh Mixtures for Poseidon

2009-02-15T07:34:00.000-08:00

Flesh mixtures and notes for the painting Poseidon

top - actual mixtures on my palette
second & third - flesh mixture practice from my painting journal
fourth - Verdaccio mixture notes at top, initial flesh mixture practice at bottom
fifth - flesh palette diagram from Gage Mace portrait painting workshop I took at the Hipbone Studio last August

Practicing these flesh mixtures was the result of me not liking the flesh mixtures I used in my first portrait of 2009 - Klimt Scarf.

Flesh palette (all are Winsor & Newton oil paints):

Titanium White - TW
Cadmium Yellow Light - CYL
Cadmium Yellow Deep - CYD
Cadmium Red - CR
Terra Rosa - TR
Alizarin Crimson - AC
Burnt Sienna - BS
Cobalt Blue - CB
Ultramarine Blue - UB
Viridian - V

Basic mixes:

Yellow mixture - mix CYL + CYD to get a 'taxi-cab' yellow. Lighten this mixture with TW.
Purple mixture - mix UB + AC to get a 'rosy purple'.
Brown mixture - mix 'rosy purple' with 'taxi cab yellow' to get a 'baby-shit green.' That's what Gage Mace calls it! To this mixture add TR to get a 'brownish earth' color. Lighten this mixture with TW. This is the 'basic flesh tone'.

Secondary mixes:

Red mixtures - mix one pile of TR + TW to get a 'dusty rose.' Mix one pile of TW + CR to get a 'rosy pink.' Add either of these reds to warm the 'basic flesh tone.'
Blue mixture - mix one pile of TW + CB to get an 'ice blue.' Mix any warmed 'basic flesh tone' with small amounts of blue mixture to make grayed flesh tones (for shadows).
Green mixture - mix V + BS to get a 'sap green'. Lighten this mixture with TW. Mix any warmed 'basic flesh' tone with small amounts of green mixture to make a grayed flesh tone (for shadows).

I have to admit, these steps are tricky, and I had to practice (and stilll am), but I think these are the best flesh tones I have used in my painting career. The colors aren't muddy, even though in some cases I am mixing up to five colors, plus white.

I applied my flesh colors over a dried Verdaccio. Here are some Verdaccio steps from a different painting. And I used the medium Neo-Megilp, which keeps the paint workable for a while, and lets me vary the transparency.

In case you are wondering how I kept track of all this, here are my notes on keeping a painting journal. I couldn't paint without it! I still look back at my notes from several years ago, to see how I mixed something, or to compare whether I'm making any progress!

~Happy painting!

A New Year and Color Charts

2009-01-31T14:22:00.001-08:00

A fresh start to the New Year with Color Charts!

Our Christmas celebration wouldn't be complete without new art books! This year I asked for Alla Prima, Everything I Know About Painting by Richard Schmid. I must have been very good because Santa got it for me!

I love Richard Schmid's work. He always paints alla prima (from life) and his paintings have that fresh, just painted quality. His work is uncomplicated, simple and fresh. Yet that uncomplicated, simple and fresh quality is one of the most difficult painting techniques to master!

I read the book in a couple of evenings, particularly the section on color. Richard suggests making color charts to learn one's palette better, and I thought, if he does it, I will too! I spent the better part of January creating 14 color charts, one for each color on my palette, which is the same palette Schmid says he uses.

Here's how I did each chart. I taped a sheet of 9 x 12 Fredrix Canvas Pad to an 11 x 14 gessoed masonite panel. (Allan and I have lots of these laying around). Then I divided the sheet into 11 rows across by seven columns down. I split pieces of regular masking tape lengthwise into thirds and adhered it across the rows and columns. (This created a clean break between each color mixture).

Following Schmid's instructions, I mixed every color with every other color on my palette, and added white in six increments. The colors on my palette (with abbreviations) are:

Titanium White
Cadmium Yellow Lemon - CYL
Cadmium Yellow Pale - CYP
Cadmium Yellow Deep - CYD
Yellow Ochre Pale - YOP
Cadmium Red - CR
Terra Rosa - TR
Alizarin Crimson - AC
Burnt Sienna - BS
Cobalt Violet - CV
Cobalt Blue - CB
Ultramarine Blue - UB
Viridian - V

You can see the Cadmium Yellow Pale chart above. The first column is the palette color Cadmium Yellow Pale (CYP) mixed with increasing amounts of Titanium White. The next column is CYP mixed with CL, followed by CYP and CYD, followed by CYP and YOP, followed by CYP and CR, and so on.

When the chart was finished I removed the tape and set it to dry for about a week. Each chart took about 2.5 hours. I didn't use any medium. I used a boatload of white. But I figure, if it helps me be a better painter, it's worth it!

I definitely feel I have a better grasp of color mixing, particularly those tricky grays. I hope my first painting in 2009 is better, thanks to all these color chart studies. Special thanks to Santa Claus (AKA Allan) for bringing me this book! If you want to learn how to mix colors, I definitely recommend Richard Schmid's book.

Green Wind Painting Journal

2008-10-19T08:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some pages from my Green Wind painting journal. I started this painting last May, and finished it in late August. That's longer than a painting usually takes, but there was so much going on in my life over the summer, including my daughter's wedding! But persistence is my middle name, and I forced myself to get back to work after the wedding.

Also, there were about four other paintings, plus quite a few plein air painting outings over the summer, that took my focus off this painting. Nice summer weather, combined with the insistence of my painting partner husband, often makes me want to just chuck working in the studio!

Now fall has returned and I am spending much more time inside. Back to the studio!

Check out the finished painting! Let me know if my fields, mountains and sky resemble Van Gogh's in his painting Mountainous Landscape - View from St. Paul's Hospital, the original inspiration for this painting.

Palette Scrapings

2008-03-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

These are the scrapings left on my palette after my last painting. I think they are more interesting than the painting itself!

My New Art Studio

2008-03-07T20:56:00.000-08:00

My youngest daughter left the nest recently, and I inherited her large and spacious bedroom for my art studio. I have so much room! It makes painting so much easier.

Here is the painting I blogged about when I was drawing it out with charcoal on the canvas. It's almost finished now. I only have a little more work to do on the sky. It took a lot longer than I expected, because of an unwelcome flu bug, and the job of moving my studio.

But now that I've gotten through all that, I guess there is a silver lining in the empty nest!

Click here to read the whole story about this painting.

New Technique - Charcoal on Canvas

2008-01-13T14:33:00.001-08:00

Bats, Butterflies & the Wind - 48 x 60
I am drawing directly on the white canvas with vine charcoal, and it is a really intuitive way to work. If I make a mistake, I can just wipe it off with a little square of shop towel (I buy the blue shop towels from Home Depot). This way, even though I have done a rough sketch in my sketchbook, I can transfer the idea to my canvas without any grids or mathematical formulas. I hate doing that. And, I can alter or change anything that isn't working.

This is the first time I've drawn directly on a canvas. It's been coated with about five coats of gesso, and sanded once, but the surface is still rough, but not so rough that it eats up the charcoal.

Here you can see the whole painting, and the charcoal up close.
This is some of the reference material for this painting: Bats, Butterflies and the Wind, the fourth in my Power of the Wind series. You can see another painting in this series here.

This is a view into my studio, with this painting on my easel.

Neo Megilp

2007-09-22T07:29:00.000-07:00

I just started using a new medium called Neo Megilp by Robert Gamblin. It's a required supply for the class I am taking from Gage Mace; Painting the Figure in Oils, at the Hipbone Studio (read more about this class on my Zen blog).

I like Neo Megilp so far, in fact I used it for a large sunflower painting (that's still drying). It makes the paint flow off the brush onto the canvas in a smooth way. Of course, if you use too much it sort of makes a slime. The downside is dry time. I'm used to Liquin, which dries overnight. But Neo Megilp won't dry for a couple of days.

Neo Megilp is a clear amber, thick, goeey substance that doesn't want to come out of the bottle when you turn it upside down (like ketchup). The label says it's a 21st century formulation of one of the Old Master's true secrets. I read somewhere that its "ecofriendly." I don't really know what that means because the label also says it contains petroleum distillate. If swallowed do not induce vomiting. Call physician immediately. Like anyone would drink the stuff?! But if you can imagine what the Old Master's formulas contained, stuff like black oil, mastic varnish, damar, linseed and other mysterious ingredients. There's a good description of these formulations in the book How to Paint Like the Old Masters, by Joseph Sheppard.

To use it I pour a little dab in a small wide dish. Then I dip my brush into it before I pick up some paint. So it mixes with the paint on my brush when I stroke it on the canvas.

I continue to be interested in painting techniques. Using Neo Megilp is another experience for me. You can read about some of the other mediums I've used in this post.

If anyone knows more about Neo Megilp feel free to post a comment.

The Eyes of Van Gogh

2007-04-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

I recently came across a website for the film "The Eyes of Van Gogh." It is the story , never told before, of the twelve nightmarish months Vincent van Gogh spent in the insane asylum at St. Remy.

The film explores the theme of an artistic mind in torment, a creative soul in despair, an exquisitely sensitive being ravaged and destroyed by cruelty, wracked by indifference and loneliness, yet desperately seeking to live, to hope, to finish his work, to find a path other than those leading to madness or death.

I would love to see this film, however; the website does not give any information about how to view it.

Does anyone know how to see it? Is it on video?

Marie and Katie in April

2007-04-05T20:43:00.000-07:00

Katie and I shared a featured artist show at the Broadway Gallery in April 2007.

Here's our show. Our work complimented each other well. Even our outfits matched!

April Featured Artist

2007-04-05T20:37:00.000-07:00

Here is my show at the Broadway Gallery during April 2007.

I shared the wall space with my art friend Katie. Our works complimented each other well. All the ladies at the gallery helped organize an opening reception. It was a good show.

Rotary Auction Painting

2007-04-05T20:33:00.000-07:00

Water Lilies at Lake Sacajawea - oil painting

auctioned at the Rotary Fund Raiser

This painting was donated to the Rotary Fund Raiser.

Funds raised will be used for local scholarships.

Fond Brun

2007-01-15T18:00:00.000-08:00

My painting, Multi-colored Garden, in progress. You can see the pinkish purple background color "fond brun." Painting on this toned canvas was very soothing.

What is "fond brun?" Karina gave me a lovely book for Christmas, Van Gogh's Gardens. In it there were beautiful pictures of gardens recreated from the descriptions of gardens in Vincent Van Gogh's letters.

I've always been curious about the paints and techniques of van Gogh, and I found a great website, Vincent van Gogh Paintings Project, that describes his techniques very well. I never knew this, but he favored the standard, machine-made, finely woven linen canvases (portrait linen) that were toned with "fond brun violet" (normal in those days), consisting of white, carmine and traces of light-yellow.

To recreate the effect, I gessoed my canvas with a mixture of acrylic gesso tinted with alizarin crimson and cadmium yellow acrylics. I've been lucky enough to see a few original van Gogh paintings in museums, and I've always wondered how his canvases got that pinkish orange tone. (You can see it in places where his brush strokes didn't completely cover the canvas.) Now I know!

The finished painting.

A detail.

How I paint

2007-01-14T21:06:00.000-08:00

Late last summer another daily painter artist asked me how I paint. I promised her I'd post the information to my blog. Diligently, I did, posting how I prepare canvases and the types of mediums and mixtures I use. By the time I got around to posting how I paint--five months later--the actual process of how I paint changed, not that unusual for me. Painting is like navigating a bumpy road. Sometimes you go slow, sometime you go fast, sometimes you change course altogether. The best techniques often go awry and I vow to paint in an altogether different fashion, which then runs it's course and I start over again. Best to just explain how I was painting then, and go on to how I want to paint now.

Then, ie: last summer, after mentoring with an Old Master's accomplished artist--a truly amazing lady--I learned how to apply a Verdaccio, followed by several layers of thinned flesh or background colors, building up a transulent and glossy surface. The finished paintings are truly amazing, replete with detail and translucence. I look at them with awe. Did I really paint them? Yes. Could I do it again? Maybe. One of them took me from July to December--five months. In the process I became bored, impatient, frustrated, unfocused and elated. I've discovered I'm a narcisistic painter. When I'm painting it's all about me. How I feel about the painting and how it looks at that very moment. If I don't get gratified, I find it hard to keep going. And granted, there was plenty of gratification when I got to the fifth month. But getting there? It takes a lot out of me. Here's one example. And one more.

Then came the holidays and my typical goal setting, mental house-cleaning New Year's mentality. I vowed to paint faster, freer and with more emotion and less technical perfection. Coupled with a chance to read a couple of good books about Georgia O'Keeffe and Vincent Van Gogh. Did either of them spend more than a day on a painting? I think not! They painted immediately, sensorily and from the emotion of color. That is what I want to do.

Thus, two paintings emerged. One came with plenty of frustration. The other with ease. Don't ask me why. But they emerged into either simplification of form or direct application of color.

I found a wonderful website called the Vincent Van Gogh Painting Project that describes the "fond brun" (rose/violet tinted) canvas surface that was typical in Van Gogh's time. I tinted my canvas in a similar fashion, using gesso mixed with a rose and cad. yellow acrylic. It was both calming and stimulating to paint on a surface that is beautiful even before I stroke the brush. Small areas left uncovered show through with the wonderful pink/orange tint that I've so often wondered about in his paintings. Now I know!

Simply stated, I mixed up a whole bunch of colors with abandon, stroked them onto the fond brun tinted surface without much blending, kept my brushes and mixtures clean, didn't use any medium, and stopped before I could mess it all up! Viola, that's how I paint now, or at least how I want to keep painting until I change course again. Results? I'll let you decide. . . .

Displaying Daily Paintings in the Bank

2006-11-15T20:38:00.000-08:00

My local bank has very generously decided to support local artists by featuring their work on a couple of walls. They created a special hanging system with wires suspended from a bar along the ceiling.

They invite me to showcase my paintings a couple of times a year. I just hung a new show this month and this time I was able to incorporate my daily paintings. This is how I did it.

At first I wasn't sure how I could show my daily paintings without framing them all, but after seeing another artist with a similar system I came up with a "hanging ribbon" that can showcase about nine 5 x 7 paintings at a time.

This is how I did it. I bought five yards of black, two-inch wide grosgrain ribbon, the same amount of black, sticky-back velcro and a two-inch wide macrame hoop. I anchored the ribbon through the hoop at the top with a few stiches, and hemmed the bottom. I applied the velcro down the entire length of the ribbon, and stick a small square to the back of the painting. Then I just velcro the paintings onto the ribbon and hang it up. It looks quite nice, colorful and professional.

Each ribbon costs me about $10, that's mostly the cost of the velcro. I haven't figured out how to buy it in bulk. But that is definitely cheaper than framing each piece.

Oil Painting Mediums

2006-11-11T22:32:00.000-08:00

Recently I learned how to mix my own painting medium based on a recipe from the Old Masters. I love using this mixture. It has several advantages: 1) I can vary the percentage of fat/lean. 2) It doesn't smell. 3) It doesn't dry out in the container. 4) I mix up just what I need.

In the picture you can see the ingredients. They are all Winsor & Newton products.

(l-r) Linseed Stand oil, English Distilled Turpentine, Dammar Varnish, my container.

The recipe is as follows:

For the underpainting (Verdaccio or Grisaille):

1 part Linseed Stand Oil

1 part Dammar Varnish

5 parts Distilled Turpentine

I call this mixture 1-1-5

For the middle layer:

1 part Linseed Stand Oil

1 part Dammar varnish
4 parts Distilled Turpentine

I call this mixture 1-1-4

For the top or final layers:

1 part Linseed Stand Oil

1 part Dammar varnish

3 parts Distilled Turpentine

I call this mixture 1-1-3.

I measure out the ingredients into small baby food jars and label them with 1-1-5, 1-1-4, and 1-1-3. You can see that 1-1-5 is the leanest because it has the most turpentine, and 1-1-3 is the fattest because it has the least turpentine. This allows you to follow the rule of "fat over lean."

When I was learning about this medium, I asked the question, "can you substitute regular Turpentine?" The answer is yes, but it will smell. English Turpentine has little to no odor. Regular Turpentine stinks to high heaven, if you ask me. I'd prefer to pay more for the English turpentine just to avoid the odor.

When using the medium, I use a small eye dropper to drop a few drops into my paint mixture before mixing it up with a painting knife.

As long as I'm painting in the style of the Old Masters, I'll continue to use this recipe because it is certainly better than any of the other mediums I've tried. Here's a few comments about those.
Liquin - a Winsor and Newton product designed to thin oil paints and helps them dry quickly. I used to use it exclusively. However, it has a very strong smell and tends to dry in the bottle before I can use it all up. I don't use it anymore. The smell bothers me. Plus my bottle dried all up.

Galkyd and Galkyd Lite - Gamblin products. After I stopped using Liquin I started experimenting with the Gamblin mediums and found that the Galkyds create a glossy painting surface that I like. Galkyds also don't smell much and you can use them as a varnish when your painting dries. But like Liquin, if you don't use them up fast enough they dry in the bottle. I quit using them when I learned how to mix my own medium based on the recipe from the Old Masters.

Daniel Smith Classic Painting Medium. I think I read that Richard Schmid used a formula similar to this one. It's a combination of Turpentine, Stand Oil and Damar Varnish, very similar to the Old Masters. However, it must contain regular turpentine because it smells really strong. In spite of the smell it thins the paint wonderfully, stays glossy, and doesn't dry up the container. I use it for my daily oil paintings because they don't take that long and I'm not doing any layers. But for longer paintings I can't stand the smell. You can only buy it at Daniel Smith Art Supply in Seattle.

Now, here's a picture of me working on a painting in the Old Master's style! Note: I'm in the final layers, using the 1-1-3 mixture.
Yup, that's me!

Keeping a Painting Journal

2006-10-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

Recently, an artist showed me how important it is to keep a painting journal. The concept is so simple, I can't believe I worked without one for years. I mean, I've kept writing journals since I was 13, why not a painting journal?

I think what stymied me was the notion that you can't put oil paint on paper. Wrong. You can. Just a little dab of a paint mixture in my journal dries quickly, and I can jot down notes about the colors used and other stuff. This is really useful when I have five or six paintings going at one time, and I can't remember when I worked on each one, what medium I used last, or even the color mixtures.

For example, look at the right-hand side of my journal above. You can see the date 9-26-06 and the name of the painting I was working on, White Iris. Below it you can see all the paint mixtures I used that day. Below each mixture is my note on how I mixed the color.

For example, the first dab is a pale, creamy yellow, one of the main tones in the petals. My note says this mixture was made from TW (Titanium White) and CY (Cadmium Yellow).

Now look at the next dab, it is a smoky pale blue, used for shadow areas in the petals. My note says this was mixed from TW (Titanium White), CB (Cobalt Blue) and CR (Cadmium Red).

And so on, recording every mixture I used that day. When I return to a painting after a week or so and I need to re-mix the exact same colors, I just look them up in my painting journal.

If you look at the bottom of the left-hand side of the journal, you can see the date 9-21-06 and the name of the painting I was working on, Power and Grace. Again, the mixtures I used that day were noted.

If you scroll around in the journal image, you can also see my notes from daily paintings. That way I have a record of when I did them!
Here's another page. Top left-hand side is another entry on 9-24-06 when I worked on Power and Grace. On the right is an entry on 9-26-06 when I worked on Release. This is a hands painting, and I had a lot of flesh mixtures. Since I'm learning how to mix flesh, I like to be able to go back and see what mixtures I used in a particular painting. Plus, whenever I come up with an absolutely fantastic mixture, I can always replicate it later.

If you look closely at this journal page, you can see that my work on Release went on for several days.

Note, this journal is just a little cheapy Jack Richeson Sketch book, with pages that measure 5-1/2" x 8-1/2". I can make notes on both sides of each page, and the dabs of oil paint don't bleed through. They dry in about 20 minutes, so I can easily flip pages during a painting session.

Another helpful tip is to get used to abbreviations for the colors you use, for example CYP is always Cadmium Yellow Pale, AC is always Aliziran Crimson, CSc is always Cadmium Scarlet, COG is always Chromium Oxide Green, and so on.

With this journal, I can measure my success. Often I look back a couple of months and see how much I've learned and grown. It's a great tool and one I couldn't work without.

Have fun keeping a painting journal!

Preparing Canvases

2006-10-08T20:24:00.000-07:00

My husband taught school for 30 years and he always told me how much he loved to teach, but he never liked getting ready to teach. I think the same applies to painting. I love to paint, but I'm not crazy about getting ready to paint. But it's a necessary part of the painting process.

Like building a house; you have to have a good, strong foundation. If you don't, it doesn't matter how nice the carpet is or what color the walls are. And when it comes to walls, it won't matter what color paint you use if the taping and texturing underneath wasn't done correctly.

Liken this to a canvas. It's your painting's foundation. And depending on your style, like the color of the walls in your house, it needs a certain texture. This method certainly isn't for everyone, but it works for me. I have a background in drawing and I like smooth surfaces.

Because of my background in drawing I'm a detail painter. I use many coats of paint in my larger works; applied thinly. I use fine sable brushes for applying the paint and blending it in. If I don't have the right texture on my canvas, I'll tear up those brushes in a hurry. And they are expensive. Plus, I love being able to draw on the canvas when I start the painting. It's hard to draw if there's a lot of texture, almost like fingernails on a blackboard, if you ask me.

So creating the right texture is a chore, and always a workout. I wish I had an apprentice to do all the preparatory work! What I really want to do is just paint! Warning, this is not for anyone with a weak back! I work out with weights and it's still a big job. Back to what I said originally, I love to paint, but I'm not that fond of getting ready to paint. But because someone has to do it, it might as well be me.

Also, I learned how to prepare canvases like this from an established artist whom I really admire (Pamela Green). She paints in the Old Master's style that I continue to learn about. Many of the early painters worked on boards that were satiny smooth. As I continue to learn from Pamela and practice the techniques myself, I understand how every step is part of the whole. This first step.

Now - on to the specifics. I use both store bought canvases, and canvases I stretch myself. Here's what I do/use when I prepare a store bought canvas. Note: this technique can also be used to prepare wooden panels. In fact, I use it to prepare my small daily-painting panels The picture above shows me sanding two of these.

Supplies

store bought cotton canvas, any size (I use gallery wrap style and prefer Masterpiece or Art Alternatives brands), or wooden panels
acrylic gesso (I use Golden brand)
1 or 2 inch flat housepainting brush

glass jar full of water for cleaning brush

shop towels (I buy in bulk at Home Depot)
latex gloves (I buy in 100-pack at hardware store)
baby powder (for keeping the gloves from sticking)

320 grit wet/dry sandpaper

400 grit wet/dry sandpaper

600 grit wet/dry sandpaper

Spray bottle full of water

Pub on the gloves. If they stick dust your hands with baby powder. Using the flat housepainting brush, apply three coats of gesso to front of the canvas. Don't need to go around the gallery wrap. Let each coat dry a minimum of 4 hours. Stroke in a different direction on each coat.

After the third coat is dry, spray the canvas with water from the spray bottle. Tear 320 grit wet/dry sandpaper into little squares. Sand the canvas using circular motions. Sand the entire surface several times. After each time, wipe dry with a shop towel and examine for smoothness. The canvas will get smoother each time, but some of the cotton texture and gesso strokes will still be visible in good light. It usually takes 3 sandings in this stage. If the sandpaper drags, spray more water. It should be really wet while sanding. This is a messy process. I wear old clothes and protect the floor.

Apply 2 more coats of gesso, stroking in different directions each time.
After the second coat is dry, spray the canvas with water from the spray bottle. Tear 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper into little squares. Sand the canvas using circular motions, as in step 2. By the time I've gone over the whole canvas several times, it should be really smooth, with all texture and gesso strokes removed.

I usually stop at this point because the canvas is smooth enough. But sometimes I apply another 2 coats of gesso and sand using the 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper if desired. This will give a satin smooth canvas with no texture, almost like paper.
If I apply two coats of gesso in one day, I don't clean my brush each time. I just plop it into the jar of water until the next coat. If it's an overnight dry, I wash the brush clean with water and dish soap.

If I'm doing a large canvas, like the 36" x 48" canvas I used for White Iris, I have to divide the canvas into quarters and sand one section at a time. I break this up over a week's time so my back and shoulders don't give out!

You may wonder why I go to all this trouble when most artists just walk into an art supply store, buy a canvas and begin painting on it immediately. Or why I go to all the trouble of removing the texture that many artists prefer. I guess it's just a matter of preference, and a continued interest in the Old Master's style and the effects I can get with a smooth canvas. When I explain my painting process (in a future post) you will see why the smoothness is beneficial.

If by chance you are really adventurous, you can always stretch your own canvas. I often do and use a 10 lb. unprimed cotton duck and heavy duty stretcher bars from Art Media. Once I stretch it, I apply 3 coats of gesso, sand according to step 2, apply 3 more coats of gesso and sand again according to step 2. Then I proceed to step 3. You can see that preparing an unprimed canvas is a little more work. If you stretch with primed canvas, you can skip that extra step, But I don't like to stretch primed canvas. It's too stiff and hard to work with and I can't get it as tight as when I use unprimed cotton.

Although you can buy portrait canvases that are fairly smooth, I haven't found any canvas manufacturer that produces a canvas as smooth as this method. Most people don't want to go to all the trouble of gessoing and sanding. My thought is that the canvas becomes part of the painting, and because I've invested my heart, soul and a good deal of muscle into it, once the painting is finished it's a part of me. Like if I built my own house. Good luck!

PS: if you're not sure about this whole process, try a small canvas, maybe 8 x 10. It will give you a feel for how it works, and you can decide for yourself whether you want to invest all the time and energy it takes.

Preparing Wooden Panels

2006-09-26T15:00:00.000-07:00

I've painted on wooden panels for a while, but the daily painting project inspired me to refine how I prepare them, and to share that process with you.

If you're an art supply junkie like me, I'm sure you've plopped down five to ten dollars--or even more--for Ampersand gessobords, unfinished hardboard or other rigid painting surfaces. Last time I checked, a 5 x 7 inch gessoboard was running around $2.50 and if you do 30 small paintings a month, that comes to $75!

I found a better alternative. I go to Home Depot and buy a 2 by 4 foot 1/8 inch thick piece of hardboard for $2.58, plus tax. I've built a relationship with the millwork department, and they cut it into 5 by 7 inch pieces, very cleanly, because they know I'm an artist and the boards have to be almost exact. Home Depot is the only store I've found that will make these custom cuts. Kudos to their customer service philosophy. I went to every small and large lumber store where I live, and none of them would cut for me.

When I get home I sand the edges smooth with 220 grit sandpaper. If they've made clean cuts with a table saw I won't have to sand much. Once they scored and cracked them, and these boards were useless. The edges were all ragged. Home Depot recut them for me, no charge.

Then I lay them out on a table and start gessoing. I buy a gallon of Golden gesso for about $35; it lasts me up to eight months, and I use it on large canvases too. I apply three coats to each board, and once around the edges to seal it off.

Hardboard has little fibers in it that show up when you gesso. So after the third coat is dry I wet sand with 320 wet/dry sandpaper in circular motions and this really smooths out the surface. I wipe them dry with shop towels (again from Home Depot), and apply another two coats of gesso. That's five coats total. They are really smooth and absolutely beautiful to paint on. I'm a detail painter so I like a really smooth surface.

The first time I prepared panels I left them white. The second time I applied a final coat of buff titanium acrylic. You can see these in the picture above. Daily paintings are direct painted so sometimes you're left with tiny places where the white board shows through. I don't like this. It looks unfinished to me. The buff titanium gives a nice golden glow that I think gives my paintings more depth.

That's it. Even with the gallon of gesso at $35, a couple packets of sandpaper and a 9-pack of shop towels I'm still under $50. I have most of the gallon of gesso, plenty of sandpaper and the shop towels left for other canvases. One 2 by 4 foot piece of hardboard nets 24 5 x 7 panels. I also have Home Depot cut the end pieces into odd sizes for me, like 3 x 4 and 2 x 3.5. I gesso these and use them for tiny odd shaped paintings.

It's a hands-on process that I enjoy. It's almost becoming a routine; putting on a coat of gesso every day. What I like is that the final painting is really a product from my own hands, right down to the board I'm painting on.

Welcome to My Art Journey 2

2006-09-20T17:25:00.000-07:00

I created this blog so I can share how I paint, what I paint, why I paint, what I'm learning and just about anything else that is important in my artistic journey.

There's so much I want to share, but for now I'm trying to coordinate all my blogging, website updates, ebaying and emailing into a cohesive process that takes a minimal amount of time each day.

Thank you to all the artists who have commented or supported my work thus far.