Lake Thurmond Hickory Knob State Park 11 '15

 My 12" x 12" painting of Lake Thurmond at Hickory Knob State Park 

This is third week  of mentoring from Jef Sturm, He had originally suggested we paint the same scene together this week, but when I didn't receive a  source photo from him I thought he had changed his mind. Earlier this week I had started a painting of Hickory Knob State Park from one of my reference photos .  I had finished painting all the landscape portions of the scene and was really anxious to  complete the  painting while the vision was still in my head.

Reference photo for Lake Thurmond at Hickory Knob State Park.

The day the reference photo was taken it  was raining.   All the landscape colors were vibrant, but the sky and the lake were just a dull boring gray. I was hoping that Jeff would give me some tips on making the sky more dynamic. He did  look at the colors I was mixing, but  I guess he like the direction I was taking it as he didn't offer any direction so I finished it off on my own.  ( see the final painting above).

Meanwhile Jef  and another artist  started painting from a photo of a woodland and stream that he was projecting onto the wall.  It was very  informative watching how Jef paints.  The traditional way most of us learn to paint with oils is from dark to light. We start by putting down the darkest shape in some sort of dark blue, then the next darkest in the next  coolest color, and layering lighter shades atop the darker.  

Jef  uses a medium he mixes himself to thin his paint:   5 part gamsol, 1 part stand oil, one part  Damar Varnish (shake together until completely mixed) .  He dilutes his oil paints with this mix down to the consistency of water.  Then he paints large transparent shapes of every major value using various hues to cover all but the lightest part of  the white canvas.He uses a very large brush to do this.  The medium dries fairly quickly so by the time he has finished covering an 11 x 14 canvas, the first hue is dry enough to start adding another layer of transparent color atop of it.  When he is finished it is almost like looking at a watercolor, except that because he is layering atop dry paint, there is no mud. and the colors really sparkle.

I tried mixing some of this formula myself and playing with it at home.  It is wonderful for water with reflections, skies and other areas you want the light to show through (like leaves back-lit against a sky), but is less helpful for creating the heavy texture I love so much in oil paints.  In the next session,  Jef and I are each going to paint from one of my source paintings.  This will help me to better understand his technique for working with such thin layers.  I am pretty sure I will use  his approach in some parts of my paintings an continue to apply impasto like texture with a palette knife  in other sections.  Every new technique I learn has the potential to reshape my style into something even more exciting. So I am really looking forward to the next session.

Stan Sperlak Gogh Box 12'13

STAN SPERLAK GOGH BOX

Guess what arrived on my door step last night.....

 A Happy New Years gift of a Stan Sperlak Gogh Box

from my  wonderful  husband, Bruce.  

He'd seen me struggling to juggle my pastel equipment  out of doors on our last trip, and read my review of what I needed, then decided it would be easier to buy me a full kit with all the components than for me to try to assemble them. 

Resourceful soul that he is,  he checked through my Facebook  friends  for the equipment that other pastel artists were using (and probably checked my Yahoo bookmarks for art supplies) and decided that the Gogh Box looked perfect.

The only issue was whether I would get it in time.  Stan Sperlak's crew rushed it out on the Monday before Christmas so I would get it before the New Years.   A Huge Thank You to  goes out to  Bruce and to Stan and the Sperlak Office  Staff for going over and beyond.

I am so happy.  I can't wait toload it up with my pastels and do some plein air paintings in 2014

Lessons learned from St Augustine 12 '13

While my  travel kit worked well for a road trip, it did have some weaknesses that I will need to correct before I  pack to travel again..Here's what worked and what did not:

1.)  The value range for the mid range of my pastel set worked out well, but I really need to pack  a greater range of darkest dark  and very light  pastel colors.  Many of my dark pastels  are very large rolls which take too much space to travel with and don't break apart into smaller chunks easily.  I thought I could compensate by using dark watercolor under-paintings.  I was wrong. Nor could I use just a fine water color wash for the lightest lights.  I really needed some very a light pastels for the highlights.  Before I travel again  I really need to add  five or six small  very dark  sticks in each of the primary and secondary colors.

I really could have used a deep blue green, a  purples and  a deep reds

2)  My choice of  color selection based upon the web cams was fine for most of the local scenes I painted on the trip, but I really needed to have some medium perm green pastels on hand.  This is especially important for my travel set because I tend to stay at resorts on golf course.  No matter what time of year it is, or what color the native foliage is, golf course greens are always the medium to  lite perm green of early summer.   Three out of the eight paintings I did on this past trip were of scenes on golf courses which required these hues.  Since I did not have with me,. I wound up touching up all three paintings when I got home to make them feel like a real golf course.

 I was also woefully under-supplied on the red/brown earth tones range .

3)  I had gessoed 300 lb  5" x  7" ;" watercolor paper for my support.  While it is strong and durable, and the size worked well for the pure landscapes, I felt the deep dimples of the paper detracted from the paintings with architectural subjects.  In the future I will want to have some smoother textured  paper available as well
 

Dimples are clearly visible on the plain paper

became equally obvious on this architectural study.

My  Raphael watercolor set is only 4" in diameter

4)  My miniature Raphael watercolor set was the perfect size for this trip. I found that putting down pastel over a watercolor under-painting is much faster  than attempting to work directly on a pure white support.  While my husband loves my painting of the St Augustine Basilica, I found it took me twice as long to paint as the ones which had a water color  under wash.  This is especially important to remember when time is of the essence.

5)  I need to add an alligator clip to hold the pastel paper to the foam core.  The blue tape kept coming loose from the foam core and I would wind up holding the paper with one hand while trying to paint with the other.

6)  I want a more organized travel pack and  lightweight compact easel if I am to do much plein air work.  The set-up I thew together for this trip worked well for a car trip and for painting at the kitchen table, but was awkward to work with on site.  There were just too many separate containers to try to balance on my lap.  I would really like to get a small easel  with a  built in padded pastel case for the road.

Prepping for painting in St Augustine, Florida 12 '13

As a belated Hanukkah gift to one another, my husband and I are heading to  St Augustine, Florida  tomorrow for a weeks vacation.   Bruce wants to do some golfing at their two famous courses -The Slammer and The Squire, AND The King and the Bear.  I want to find some place warmer than South Carolina and hopefully find something interesting to paint.

Assorted pastels sorted by value and temperature

 I usually bring along  my oil painting equipment on road trips, but often find that it is impossible to fit even a two hour plein air session into our whirl-wind site seeing day schedule,.   So this trip I am taking a cue from the traveling artist guru,  Karen Margulis, on packing light and painting small..

Aceo size, 5" x 7" and 8" x 10" home made pastel paper

After studying  some web cams in the St Augustine area for their current local colors, I chose a small assortment of  pastels that seemed to fit the area.  I snugged the pastels between some foam pads in a cardboard box.  I also took a tiny watercolor kit to use for quick studies or to use as a ground beneath the pastels.  I then cut up some water color paper into 5" x 7" sheets then brushed several coats of clear gesso on the paper  The clear gesso stiffens and waterproofs the paper, while adding some tooth for pastels to grip.  Add a couple of water color brushes, a sheet of foam core and a small role of painters tape ( to attach the  pastel paper to the foam core while painting), a pack of hand wipes, some paper towels and a canvas bag to carry it  all, and I am ready to go.

Creating your own sanded surfaces for pastel paintings. 10 '13

  I spent my scraps free time today creating my own home made pastel surfaces using  recycled 300 lb watercolor paper and Liquitex  Clear Gesso... and I love the results.

I had some partially painted water color paper practice sheets that had been sitting around for years.  I cut them into smaller pastel sizes (9x12, 8x10, 5x7 and aceo).  I used a 4" wide  foam brush to  put one coat of the gesso on  unpainted side of the paper, let it dry  ( about 10 minutes) then came back and added a second coat of gesso atop the first. The gesso stiffened the paper making it even stronger for pastel application, and the grit in the gesso gave just the right amount of  tooth to the surface for the way I apply pastel. I was so please with the results that I repeated the process over the colored side of some acrylic beach washed watercolor scraps.  Again.  It worked beautifully, allowing me to see through the grit to the colored paper.

I can't imagine why I didn't try this sooner

Liquitex Clear Gesso over unpainted watercolor paper

Well actually,  I do know why.  I love working on textured surfaces. ..  the more texture the better,  and have tried applying grounds etc. to make my own.   I usually find it all too messy and time consuming, so I wind up opting for more the convenient, albeit smoother, manufactures brands of sanded papers .  This is a classic example of what I meant when I confessed, in yesterdays post, that I tend to put off  all but the painting until later. I read first read about the Liquitex process over a year ago in Karen Margulis 9/12/12 blog post.  And I  heard about it again this summer  from another pastel artist in the Charleston art Guild.  Both said that it was a fast, easy, and inexpensive way to create one's own textured surfaces.  Even with those voices to recommend the process, I  took no action beyond purchasing the Clear Gesso .  I have been on a roll with my painting this year, and I wasn't about to let anything like the possibility of a better surface get in the way of expressing  my vision.

Liquitex Clear Gesso over recycled  beach wash watercolor paper

 Fortunately the universe has intervened with a mandate that I put off painting  for a short while... just long enough to force me to think through what supplies I will  need for my painting a day project I will begin next month.  In less than the time that it took me to write this post,  I was able to create all the  pastel paper I will need for  next month, and saved a lot of money in the process.   Sometimes you don't know what you're missing until it arrives on your door step.

People Choice Exhibit Opens Today 10'13

 The 2013  People Choice Art Exhibition opens today. 

This is my entry.

Oconee State Park

This annual Charleston  Artist Guild  Exhibition is sponsored by First Federal Bank.

You can see this  piece and all of the other fine artwork

 between 9 am to 5pm daily from Oct 2nd through Oct 17th at:

First Federal Bank Building

34 Broad Street, 

 Charleston, SC

There will also be a

  

 an

Awards Reception:

October 10, 2013 - 6pm - 7:30pm

Gamblin Solvent Free Gell Review 7 '13

As most of you know, Gamblin Oil Paints are my brand of choice. I love their thick pigment, but sometimes their density is a bit too much of a  good thing. I had been successfully using Walnut Alkyd oil as a solvent to dilute the paint when I needed it a bit thinner for the initial layers, or for glazing.  But one day I knocked the bottle over and  most of the bottle spilled out all over my palette.  While looking to purchase a replacement, I stumbled upon Gamblin's Solvent Free Gel and decided to give it a try.

I must say, I am very impressed.

 

I've been using Gamblin's new Solvent-Free Gel for about a week now. And love it.  For one thing it comes in a tube so it is easy to squeeze out just the amount I need.  For another, unlike oil, the gel stays in a  neat pile so I can scoop off small amounts to add to the paint until I get the paint to just to the right consistency.  The creamy textured gel  blends easily even to the densest of my Gamblin oil  paints, and adds to the workability.  Like my Walnut Oil it contains a alkyd so it helps speed the drying process; that's a big plus for someone as impatient as I am.  

I can definitely endorse this product.

For another  review of Gamblin's new Solvent-Free Gel from painter Sue Favinger Smith as she puts this medium side-by-side traditional Maroger. http://ancientartist.typepad.com/ancient_artist_developing/2013/06/the-partners-we-want.html.

Sue also has some other great tips about artists tools on her blog .

Carried Away? 6 "13

A nasty thunderstorm parked itself right over our house this afternoon about lunch time and rudely hung around until dinner.  With lightening strikes all around us, we had to turn all the lights and electrical equipment off.... It was too dark to paint indoors, and too dangerous to go outside.  I decided to use the enforced confinement   to prime some canvases.  Usually I only prime one at a time with an undercoat of gesso followed by a light coat of a  color that is in contrast to the color scheme of the painting I am about to start.  But then I don't usually have six hours of free time on my hands. 

By the time the power was restored, I was feeling like I might have gotten a bit carried away.

Whooo hoo... It looks like a real studio 4 '13

Whoo hoo.  It's all put together, ( with no thanks to the manufacturer's  whacko directions).  Thank you, Bruce.  I could never have figured out the inaccurate directions that it came with  it, but you did (and you don't even speak Chinese).

Wow! That was fast 4 '13

Amazing!  Jerry's Artarama delivered  my new St Remy's Easel the day after I purchased it from them online. ( Friday),  It'll take me longer to figure out how to put it together, than it did to ship it from North Carolina.

Caveat emptor

The sales rep at the Charleston art supply store lied to me.  Gamblin quick dry titanium does not dry at the same speed as Gamblin Fast-matte titanium.... Grrrrrrr. Not a happy camper!

Which is worse?

 Which is worse?  Wasting a day driving to get supplies, or wasting three  waiting for your supplies to be delivered?

 Last night I started  working on my 15th painting for my exhibition in August.  Then I realized that I was running out of  Gamblin Titanium white quick dry.....eeeeek .   That is a critical pigment; there is no substitute for it in my palette., and no store  near here supplies it.  I went online to order some, but soon realized that even with  an  over-night  delivery, it  would not arrive until Monday  afternoon. (We live in a rural zip code, so all deliveries take an extra day).  What to do ????. You guessed it... I made a speed run to Charleston Artists and Craftsmen Supply.  Nothing like a 150 mile round trip for a $20 product.... But at least I can continue working on the painting  while the vision is still in my head.

PS...   I did learn from this experience not  to wait until I ma almost totally out of  some supply before buying its replacement.  So of course I picked up some other non-essentials while I was there

Doing my homework

 My recent pastel workshop reinforced the importance of knowing the value range ot the stick of pastel I am working with.  So I set myself the task of grouping my collection of pastels by colors, and temperature, then sorting them again by value.

A photo of some mid tone sienna color chips against the gray scale. 

It's easy to do with the dark and light ends of the spectrum, but mid values get a little trick.  I wound up making a color chip of each pastel stick, then visually ranking the color chips, then  photographing the chips against a set of known value gray scale sheets.

I used photoshop to remove the color saturation so I could view it in gray tones

 A week later I have a well sorted set of  700  pastel sticks arranged and labeled  by  brand, #, color, and value. And I have a set of color chips with the same information just in case I loose the label and need to figure out where a stick of color belongs.

This is only a portion of  my set.

Greg Barnes Workshop

 I  recently attended a three day Greg Barnes pastel  workshop which was held at  the Island Art Gallery on Pawleys Island. The workshop opened as usual with introductions and a verbal review of the equipment that would be used. After which Greg gave us brief demonstration of his pastel painting technique.

The Demonstration on the first day was of painting from a reference photo.   Greg chose a traditional marsh scene from the photos he had brought with him, and proceeded to sketch the scene on his pastel paper with vine charcoal

Then he blocked in the dark tones often smudging the areas to blur and blend the tones.

 Next he put in the  mid tones followed by the lighter shades leaving these more distinct, especially near the focal point.

 Below you can compare the painting with the reference photo.  Obviously Greg is not into slavishly copying the original photo.

Greg then added in the highlights ,  intense tones , and details to finish the piece in less than two hours..

Day two was a lesson in plein air painting.  Actually all three days should have included some plein air work, but the weather didn't cooperate.  The morning of the second day was the only time it didn't pour.

 The subject of the painting was the Island Deli across the parking lot from the Gallery.  The bright red roof was eye catching in the morning sun against the stately old oak tree.

 Greg set up his easel in the parking lot outside the gallery and proceeded to sketch the scene in vine charcoal.

 Then Greg blocked in his colors.  Again he started with the dark tones of the oak, but quickly threw in some of the mid value red so as to have something to judge the other mid tones against.

This is a photo of the painting  when Greg ended the demonstration an hour and a half later.

On day three, it poured, so we were again stuck inside.  Greg decided to show us how to paint with a limited number of colors  

 using a background toned with watercolor .

 As promised, Greg pulled it off beautifully.   The trick, it seems, is in knowing your values well enough to pick the right set of limited colors.

 Each afternoon the class worked on their own paintings, while Greg coached us.  

 Every one's style was different.  From the semi abstract and dreamy painting above,

 

to the dark and moody one above. 

 

There were some highly realistic renditions,

 

and even an attempt to paint the same scene as Greg's original demo.(Below)

Clearly personal style matters.  Both paintings were beautifully rendered, but each was unique.

Charleston Artists and Craftsmen Supply 6 '10

I've made a wonderful discovery.  Charleston South Carolina has a terrific art supply store right across from Marion Square.   You can't begin to understand how happy this makes me.  Before this discovery, the nearest large art supply stores that I knew about were in Colombia, SC  (3 hours drive) and Raleigh, NC (4 + hours drive).  That's not exactly a quick run to the store. 

Sure, in a pinch  I can always go to AC Moore,  Michael's Crafts, or  a couple of small mom and pop stores in my area for a tube of titanium white paint, but just try to get an unusual brush or  an odd size canvas in a hurry from any vendor nearby. Ha! 

I've had to  rely upon the online superstores for any unique supplies.  Not that I have anything against online shopping if I know exactly what I want, and have the time to wait for it.  Unfortunately,  sometimes  the only way to know for sure whether a brush or paint will meet my needs is to talk to a real live person, or to be able to examine the supply in person. For example I've been needing a fan brush for a specific project, but it had to be a stiff enough to do the job ( and I had no way to calibrate bristle stiffness).  I just couldn't be sure of what I was finding online,  but it took me less than two minutes to find the right stiffness when I could feel the bristles. 

So no more guessing for me.  This place is an hour away,  and seems to have a nice selection of all things arty. It won't be too much effort to make a run once a month. If I coordinated with some artist friends it could even be a nice outing.  You can check the place out yourself by clicking on the title to this post which is linked to their website, or visit them at:

Artist and Craftsmen Supply 143 Calhoun St.

Charleston, SC 29401

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