Nuncketest

Week 2 Review

2012-02-16T16:35:00.001-05:00

Well, I've certainly been delinquent in my postings. The course work seems to consume me. So be it! Here's the week 2 work and Marcia's comments. I will wrap up week 3 and post soon. The new week's work will be colorful--pastel, colored pencil and mixed media!

Good work, John. Nice eye for composition, good shape, you're observing well.

Often I like to see those times in which a drawing is somewhat spare -- as if one doesn't feel the need to include each and every little thing. In this case, I'm feeling that it may be spare, bordering on unfinished. If it's a piece you're invested in, I'd like to see a bit more detail -- perhaps more stippling, root hairs...

Good work here, and my comment is very similar to the one I just reviewed: a little light on detail.

I suspect that perhaps you are simply inclined more toward color -- you'd rather put your energy into the work of something like the pine cone piece, maybe? In any event, for the work you include for your portfolio, you'll want to devote a bit more time to shading, detail.

Your color chart is awesome -- you've stretched the opportunities of color combinations very nicely. From what I've seen in the work this week in this exercise, I think I have a new favorite medium -- not in terms of doing myself necessarily, but I like what students are doing with it. It has an incredibly graphic quality. I can't wait to see the piece you created with the pens.

John, I can sincerely say that in the years of witnessing your work, here it is: this is one of your finest piece to date, in my view. It's -- well, it's kind of perfect. I really like your choices of color, the simplicity of it.

It's a fine illustration, it truly is. Would you permit me to make a suggestion?

A friend of mine runs a company called [edited]. I'd like you to find it on the web. Look over the work, study the pieces they select. Perhaps when you've amassed some other work, you might send an inquiry, tell him how you know me, and that I encouraged you to submit a piece, this lovely cone in particular.

I am thinking as I'm typing that it might be an opportunity for all of you. Steve tends to focus on natural, local elements, indigenous to our area here in central NY. This piece really has me thinking....this course is very exciting as it's evolving. My brain is turning in a different directions here...

Charcoal Artichoke

2012-02-13T22:38:00.002-05:00

Charcoal! This stuff is a blast. Smear it all around with my fingers. Spray a layer of fixative and work in some more. The exercise called for highlighting with chalk but I didn't like the smearing--perhaps the opacity of the pigment. Better to leave highlights, I think, by keeping the white of the paper.

Week 1 Review

2012-02-12T20:39:00.000-05:00

I have been busy at work on this week's exercises. Instead of working each exercise through, this week I'm first building all my transfers. Last week I got into trouble by not having clear compositions. There is nothing like a good foundation!

With Marcia's approval, I'll be summarizing our exchanges over the exercises. (Her comments italicized.)

I look at this piece, and think, my, how far you've come!
This pepper is rendered so thoughtfully. Excellent, soft shading. I particularly appreciate the highlights -- that you wisely left space in the piece, rather than feel compelled to keep going, and going. For me, that's an important and sometimes challenging aspect of illustration.
The main event for me is at the top, around the stem. I think that's particularly well rendered.
Something feels just a bit funky about the shadow along the right side, as if it's climbing a bit high, though perhaps this is sitting against a backdrop, which would explain it. Somehow my eye wants to see more at the tabletop level. Always a bit of a challenge, communicating feedback in this fashion, but do you see what I mean?

Great job, so bold!

I really like the suggestion of the bends in the leaves, and especially, how thin you've kept the stems. Your background is blackest black.
This is almost logo-like in quality, that is, it's representational, and could work well as a logo for a plant-based business. I like it.

I don't know why I find this so satisfying, but I do, I do. I find it pleasing to sit and simply look at this assignment. It's instructive, too -- worth displaying prominently.
Lovely experimentation with pencil, particularly with the softness of the effects in the lower blocks.

My only suggestion with this is that you also might want to see how incredible hard you can press on the pencil, to create nearly solid blocks of color. In doing so, what does the blend look like?

My journal:

I made it! Well yes, of course back for another fine course with Cornell, but also that I made it throughthe week! I somehow put off my work and then realized it was due on Thursday, not Friday. Duh!

So I'm thrilled that I'm all caught up and yet wondering if I had more time could make that pepper looka bit less wonky. I spent hours building form but might have overlooked the entire for the pieces.Whatever, I did enjoy the meditative aspects of building form slowly.

The high contrast piece was great fun and I really like it. Good negative space, repetition, strength. Ithought about adding some detail but felt it might lose focus. I first drew it in with a Micron and thenbrushed in india ink.

I used HP watercolor for both pieces. It's the very first time I try it with graphite and I love it. Goodsmoothness and seems to respond well to many layers, almost like it's spongy.

I will try pushing harder on my colored pencils and I think that HP watercolor paper may help as well.I'm looking for a smoother finish. Colored pencil, although not my fav medium, allows for interestinglayering, reminding me of egg tempera. I particularly like burnishing with white or cream, which seemsto add depth as well. I have a set of VeriThins that I'll work with on upcoming exercises.

I've a number of simple graphite drawings and some egg tempera work that I'd like to get into an onlinegallery. This week I reviewed past work, leaving me assured that this will be an easy setup. Testing aFlash gallery on an iPad failed as expected—no Flash support for iOS devices: iPad and iPhone. AnHTML gallery worked fine with iPad.

Next for the gallery will be to uncover and scan drawings and publish a test gallery. I am attracted tosimple galleries. No wild colors or backgrounds or music. Ugh! I will go with grays and unassumingfonts, leaving all the space for the art.

I became interested in a dedicated online portfolio when last fall I sold my first and only painting. Thatgot me all fired up but I've not filled in with much salable work. I then took part in an exhibition—goodexperience but poor showing.

I guess I've been leaning more towards finding my space in art. These days I'm interested in oils andOld Masters in particular. I grind my own oil paints and will soon process linseed oil. Can I joinbotanical with Old Masters? The Dutch did it well. I'm particularly fond of the work of Melendez andhave been copying parts of his paintings.

This course comes at a perfect time. It's a good shakeup as I try out mediums that aren't on my radar atall right now. And, I have to come with design ideas fast. I like that.

As always, your reflective writing is a pleasure to read. You have a way of looking critically -- or perhaps, thoughtfully -- without self denigration. You're rather matter of fact about it in a refreshing way. You also seem optimistic and upbeat in your tenor. I am going to be so eager to learn about the process of preparing your work for sale. I have known of a number of people who have done very well using etsy.com. Have you had any experience with this?

And I want to encourage you to exercise some ownership of and "adult learning maturity" in this course, in terms of what you get out of it. You may interpret the exercises as you wish -- for example, if there is a certain medium that is introduced, and you really are just not all that interested in going further with it, you could take that week to go more deeply into the exploration of Dutch masters and botanical works ( and yes, there are botanical pieces by Dutch masters here at Cornell, in fact. The detail in them is absolutely stunning). It's your course, and your opportunity to go deeply into those areas of interest. We'll all learn in the process! You're definitely exploring new terrain, as far as I'm concerned. (Maybe sometime you'll present a workshop to one of my classes at the university!)

More botanical ink

2012-02-09T23:00:00.000-05:00

I has troubles with this ink drawing. I wan't sure on my stippling and didn't want to overdue. I think I underdid! :-)

No worries. I'm already on to a new week's work.

More second week work

2012-02-08T23:00:00.004-05:00

Here's another ink marker exercise. I first covered the apple with yellow and then spotted in various warms, softening with hard rubs of yellow. I've a pen and ink root botanical coming and then the weekly journal to wrap things up.

Botanical Ink

2012-02-07T23:12:00.001-05:00

I was a bit intimidated by this exercise, flower anatomy with dip pen and ink.

From one of my early publications some fifty years ago...

one of my earlier attempts. ;-)

White Pine Cone

2012-02-06T16:52:00.001-05:00

I shuddered when reviewing this ink marker exercise. Ink doesn't erase and tends to spread a bit. The pens have large and small tips, and even the small tips seem likely to bump into neighboring detail.

Well, after all that hand wringing, I'm rather thrilled with the results. My small set of markers doesn't include any whites so I went with Bombay white india ink and a brush for the pine sap. The markers do allow for blending and I was able to pull the black with umber to create some transitioning. Also slipped in a bit of orange for highlights.

Art Markers Chart

2012-02-05T20:16:00.001-05:00

Prismacolor's Premiere Art Markers are used for a few of this week's exercises. These are a new one on me and after poking about for a while found little control with tone but began noticing how well they layer and mix. Finally found that rubbing a lighter color (yellow) over a darker (umber) that I could lighten highlights.

This chart is based on the first exercise that calls for experimentation and a starter painting, and then a finished piece. More to come. :-)

Wrapping up week 1

2012-02-02T22:18:00.002-05:00

Part of the graphite exercise was a small piece based on pencil charts.

This exercise was based on composition, negative space, repetition, etc. I resisted any detail on the leaves.

Today's been a mad scramble to wrap up the first week's work. Didn't realize until hours ago that the week ends on Thursday. Oops! My images are all uploaded. Now I'll journal out the week for my last assignment and then it's right on to week 2.

Colored Pencil

2012-01-30T22:05:00.000-05:00

This first week is about increasing familiarity with graphite, colored pencil and ink. A basic chart of my Prismacolors, the beginnings of a primary color wheel and a greens chart have kept me busy.

I'll admit it. I don't get very excited over colored pencils. Still, I had fun mixing colors. The greens chart is about columns over rows, four layers. The layering reminds of egg tempera and this chart may come in handy when I get back to that medium.

I can see how the choice of support makes a huge difference. This Stonehenge paper has a tooth that doesn't fill easily, leaving lots of white space. I'm reading that watercolor or vellum papers work well for colored pencil.

More pencil work

2012-01-29T23:32:00.002-05:00

Starting with last night's chart, I've added values with a couple of Wolff carbon pencils. Next I recorded values using a Munsell neutral value scale. Lastly I built a half-step Munsell chart. More graphite work to come but next up is a bit of colored pencil.

Pencil charts

2012-01-28T23:21:00.002-05:00

My first exercise of the first week of six uses graphite. Here's a chart of my Faber-Castell pencils in various grades and tones. Although it doesn't carry well in this scan, the hardest pencils seem to lean towards warmer tones. I really spent hours with this simple chart, taking time to experience the feel of each hardness on this Stonehenge paper.

What's up

2012-01-27T16:01:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been a while since the last post. The new Hammond keyboard has been holding my interest--so many buttons and controls to learn, as well as getting mesmerized with the sonic possibilities. The keyboard action is a delight, just the right amount of springiness. The keys are set up to support glissandos so easily.

Snow from the two previous storms has all washed away. Heavy rains and warm temps are back with no snow in sight. Is this really winter?

Today begins my Cornell botanical illustration class. I will dig into first exercises this evening and begin posting results soon. It's a smallish class of five students and beginning slowly with only two of us checking in so far.

Seeds

2012-01-22T20:47:00.000-05:00

The seed order arrived last week. Later I'll be starting these for container planting on the deck and expect as well a small herb bed for the perenials. The thyme and lavender are special winter-hardy species. Years ago I had a thyme patch that would take nearly half the growing season to completely recover from the previous winter so I'm hoping for a hardier herb.

The lavender is specifically for the bees--in fact all these herbs are bee friendly. My yard is already rather hospitable for bee, bird and mammal but there's always room for more, isn't there? :-)

Rosemary, Lavender, Sage, Basil, Thyme, Tomato

For the record, yesterday was Second Snow. Will we be making up for Winter's tropical beginnings?

First snow

2012-01-20T19:03:00.000-05:00

There's really been three previous storms of less than an inch total but I'm going with this three-incher as first snow. After all, it is the first shovel exercise of the season. By this afternoon it was all over--trees shedding their snow, skies bright and clear.

South side of yard.

My favorite grass.

Nuncketest still with open water.

Working bud detail

2012-01-19T00:07:00.003-05:00

Just a couple of hours on the bud. As I tried building detail, I noticed that I'd lost the overall form. I'm learning to move in and back away while brushing.

Another session today of fruitless searching for oil processing supplies. The Internet to the rescue! Canning jars arrive Friday. And the local hardware store is ready to help--they will take an order for pool filter sand.

Bits and Pieces

2012-01-17T16:35:00.002-05:00

Although quiet on the blog, there are developments coming together.

Finally, after weeks of pondering and decisions, I'll soon have a new keyboard. On and off for years I've worked with general purpose machines--those with piano, organ, brass, strings, synth, voice, and more. My new instrument is a Hammond XK-3c, a close electronic clone of the Hammond B-3. I couldn't be more excited! Long time readers may remember that I dropped out of band when time became cramped. Well, I'm back with a new kick ass band. Two of the members are from a band we had back in the 70's! Moving to this new keyboard is an experiment in focusing intently on a particular instrument. I expect the new keys by the end of the week.

I'm collecting materials for hand processing linseed oil, as I read and reread instructions provided by Tad Spurgeon in his book and on his website. Tad has been most helpful, quickly answering my questions in depth. At this point, I know what I need. I'm used to "we're out of canning jars" as I wonder where to buy swimming pool filter sand. Snow shovels come easier than these summertime supplies.

Work on the rhody continues, albeit spotty. Lately I do spend time simply looking, learning what might be next steps. I know I want to kick back the saturation on the leaves and stay on the warm side. With light glazes, I am heading in that direction but there's nothing significant so show. Funny how that works out. Sometimes I can work for an hour and the painting shows huge changes. Other times, after hours of detail on lots of little things, there is not much apparent change but I feel good about cleaning up those loose ends.

And that's that! More soon! :-)

Rhody work continues

2012-01-14T23:32:00.002-05:00

Although this image probably looks quite similar to the previous post's, there are hours here of cleanup and light glazes for the leaves.

This evening I've focused on the bud, trying to develop form and detail. I've been taught to apply unifying washes of very light titanium white and white glazes were applied a few times. But also, a light verona green earth helps to pull form together. I'm finding that dry brush stippling is helping me reach the texture.

More work on the rhody

2012-01-13T02:47:00.000-05:00

I'm enjoying my sable filberts with egg tempera. From a point or line to a wide swath, this brush seems to work well for me. I'm itching to get to the detail, though I know I must take my time and work from the large to the small with color and form.

American Chestnut

2012-01-11T17:23:00.003-05:00

From Wikipedia:

"Once an important hardwood timber tree, the American Chestnut is highly susceptible to chestnut blight, caused by an Asian bark fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica, formerly Endothia parasitica) accidentally introduced into North America on imported Asiatic chestnut trees. The disease was first noticed on American Chestnut trees in what was then the New York Zoological Park, now known as the Bronx Zoo, in 1904 by chief forester Hermann Merkel. While Chinese Chestnuts evolved with the blight and developed a strong resistance, the airborne bark fungus spread 50 miles (80 km) a year and in a few decades girdled and killed up to three billion American Chestnut trees. It is thought that panic logging during the early years of the blight may have unwittingly destroyed trees which had resistance to this disease and thus aggravated the calamity."

I've visited this tree previously with a leaf drawing and a summer view. In years gone by the road would be peppered with spiny pods from this tree.

Here's a closer look at the stump sprouts.

Some of these sprouts are sadly already dying off.

Filling In

2012-01-09T22:11:00.002-05:00

Here is a progression of work from late last night and again this evening.

Starting a new piece

2012-01-08T23:50:00.000-05:00

It's so hard to get started. I mean really hard. And so I feel great tonight, finally deciding to take a chance on a rhododendron closeup in egg tempera for the Flower Show.

Here's a peek at my initial masking. The panel on the left is my second gesso refurb and it came out just as nice as the first. There's something quite liberating knowing that I can always renew a gesso board when things, as they sometimes do on my easel, go very wrong. This evening I'll be sponging in initial layers of the background. I'm trying to hold the camera close by so that there will be lots of work in progress shots.

I like this design--such interesting negative shapes. And, sharp and soft edges are already appearing.

Around the Lake

2012-01-07T23:12:00.001-05:00

Today was windy, sunny and warm--Boston a few degrees shy of the 1930 record of 63º F.

More Gesso

2012-01-07T00:29:00.001-05:00

Here is the refrigerated leftover from my previous gesso session, fresh out of the fridge.

After adding a bit of distilled water and warming the mix over warm water in a double boiler arrangement, the gesso was a lighter consistency than last time. As the temperature dropped off, the gesso began to set up--at some point becoming too thick to brush. I was just playing, searching out the limits of this medium.

For finishing I didn't bother with the scraper, instead going straight to the 400 grit paper. I found the paper loading quickly as the gesso, although dry to touch, was still a bit wet. Increased drying with a hairdryer helped as did switching to a sanding block. A couple of slaps and it's clear of sanding debris.

I will let this board dry overnight before final sanding with 400 and then 600 grit paper.

Easy Gesso

2012-01-03T23:28:00.002-05:00

Last night I cleaned up an old gesso panel, sanding off all traces of a previous painting. I was left with a panel full of pin holes that had not previously surfaced--a perfect panel for testing. Using Natural Pigments (NP) Easy Gesso Extra Fine, I began to get the feeling for panel making.

This NP product comes with rabbit skin glue mixed with calcite and titanium white, ready for a 1:1 mix with warm water. Let this stand for at least two hours to gel up, warm slightly and paint it on. I placed a bowl of gesso mix above a pan of warm water and then spaced out, leaving it probably too warm for too long.

My mix was horribly peppered with chunks of mix that I learned to avoid by not dipping the brush too far into the bowl. Clearly I need to work on proper mixing, or at least pay more attention when heating the mix. Also, perhaps I was being so careful to avoid air bubbles in the mix that I didn't get a good smooth mix. Whatever, it was a good start on learning about handmade gesso panels.

Sanding between layers wasn't working well, probably because I couldn't find a sanding block. So instead, I used a scraper. It's a great little tool for creating a smooth surface but once I found my sanding block, 400 grit did a much better job. It cut faster and didn't leave behind shading that I attribute to the metal. For the final sanding, I switched to 600 grit.

Here's the smoothest panel I've ever felt or seen. And, not a pinhole in sight.

OmniFocus

2012-01-02T20:11:00.002-05:00

After months of poking about with various task management tools, I've settled on OmniFocus from The Omni Group. I'm having a good time collecting web resources into each project. Simply highlight any text, right-click, and send it off to OmniFocus Inbox or right through into the select project. It's already handy having all my data nested.

Projects become richer by adding task lists. I've often done well with lists, and I'm hoping they will work for me here. This app is loosely tied to the "Getting Things Done" (GTD) model. I tried the true GTD model in my IT job but just couldn't put any heart into it. My goal is simply to create to do lists and a virtual file cabinet.

I have this application installed on both of my Macs and tied to a free Omni Group secure online service for sharing my data. Sort of like Google Docs. The app syncs every hour and can be forced at will. There are even versions of OmniFocus for the iPad and iPhone.

New Year Plans

2012-01-01T16:13:00.000-05:00

Last year at this time I laid out a few goals and luckily hit them all. So in the spirit of New Years, here are this year's intentions:

A portrait of Timothy. He has the most lovely green eyes--green earths in egg tempera seem just right here.

A piece for NESBA's exhibit at the Boston Flower Show.

Koo has lots of egg tempera workshops scheduled for this year. My tentative plans are for two weeks in September at her New Hampshire studio.

Linseed oil processing along with oil medium and egg-oil emulsion explorations.

Continuation of old master copy work. I'd like to add in some early Italian Renaissance masters.

Meld art work with around the lake studies.

Charles Bargue drawing course.

Tonal studies as detailed in RationalPainting.org.

Cornell online botanical illustration course.

Musical adventures.

A method of keeping track of these goals as well as home projects slated for this year.

Well, that about does it. Some of these items might sound a bit cryptic but will soon unfold.

Thank you, dear, dear reader, for your support and friendship via comments, emails, phone calls and in person discussions. You inspire me.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T22:44:00.002-05:00

Best wishes to all for a Happy New Year!

May this year bring you love, peace, joy and fine health.

More of the same with dry glazing

2011-12-30T23:38:00.000-05:00

Still playing with dry glazing. Last night's glazes dried easily in less than a day. I'm really having a fun time with this piece. It's such a different direction and it feels great to simply poke around exploring.

I'm experimenting with trying to pull a look of blue from vine black adjacent to ercolano red. Lighter tones seem to work best.

Glazing Leanly

2011-12-29T23:31:00.000-05:00

The previous session used hand-mixed paint and a lot of linseed oil for glazes. This session I used no extra oil, rather relying on a lightly charged brush of pure paint in the style of dry brushing. This kind of glaze, being lean, dries quickly. I find better control with dry brush glazing, getting lots of colors in without the paints mooshing together.

Not quite sure how I ended up with that upper left mess but I'll be cleaning it up next.

Glazing Chart

2011-12-28T23:30:00.001-05:00

The horizontal rows are glazed upon the vertical columns. There is a real richness that is not conveyed in this photo--not sure if that effect will remain once dry. This chart is becoming something of a meditative device. Just look at those wonderful glazed browns in the fifth column. Right now they're my favorites.

Abstract Glazing

2011-12-28T01:39:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's chart is still drying. I need to get a better glazing medium, probably some sun thickened oil. Until then, thin mixes with linseed oil do dry slowly and don't provide for much durability. But, it's just fine for practice.

I'm working with those same glazes here and they remind me of the delicacy of egg tempera. I think I'm leaning towards the thin and smooth oil painting, that is compared to an impasto or alla prima method. This is a small painting, only about 5" wide. The pastel assignment in my upcoming course is framed as a landscape. This piece could just be my pattern.

Glazing

2011-12-26T23:08:00.001-05:00

After reading that the order in which oil glazes are applied make for different colors, I had to stop, and think, and really came to no conclusion. I figured the best approach was to simply give it a try, so here's the first night's work. Once dry, I'll glaze horizontally and then compare.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T22:30:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!

Pastel Ranges

2011-12-22T22:25:00.001-05:00

Here's a quick test of the range of each pigment. There is a noticeable difference is hardness among these pastels, and especially noticeable towards the pure pigment end of each set. The yellow ochre and viridian were particularly scratchy. The black iron oxide was very soft, buttery is probably a good analogy, with the sticks breaking up easily. The white was soft and I think that influenced the light side of all the pigments.

Happy Soltice

2011-12-22T01:03:00.002-05:00

Although this is the first day of winter, it's 56° F here after midnight! In the spirit and survival of wintertime, I'm going through the ritual of The Seed Catalog. Been dealing on and off since the 70's with Johnny's Selected Seeds. Seeds are almost as addicting as dry pigments.

Here's the Brandywine heirloom tomato. Reminds me of a tomato that might have been around in Melendez's time (Spain 1716-1795).

Look around for a place to sow a few seeds.

~ Henry Van Dyke

Polarization

2011-12-19T21:00:00.000-05:00

Here's my old apricot copy job with some light unifying glazes. This first image was taken with my new circular pollination filter adjusted for minimum glare.

And here's the same shot with the filter allowing maximum glare.

And lastly, here are my new pastels all laid out nicely.

More Pastels

2011-12-18T19:09:00.000-05:00

I cut yesterday's solution in half for this evening's work. A tool I neglected to mention is latex gloves. They sure make cleanup easier. I also made up a good amount of white and used it all.

Here is tonight's work. Black Iron Oxide, Raw Umber Green, French Ochre, and Gold Ochre. I found that rolling out on paper towels was easiest for controlling the sticks.

I'm going to refrigerate the solutions just in case I decide to whip up another batch. But first I think it's time to try out the product! Besides, my Old Master copy work is waiting for my return.

An interesting byproduct is that these pastel sets make a good color chart of my pigments, nicely detailing what pigment mixes with white in oils and egg tempera would look like.

Rolling my own

2011-12-17T23:08:00.003-05:00

This afternoon the gum tragacanth came out of refrigeration and warmed up for a few hours. Then with a bit more warmth on a double boiler, the solution was nearly lump free.

4 ounces of solution was mixed with 12 ounces of distilled water (1:3) to accommodate a few selected pigments. Different pigments require different strength solutions. (More on that in a later post.)

For the white base, used for white chalk and tinting other pigments, 2 ounces of titanium white was dry mixed with 6 ounces of chalk.

2 ounces of the white base materials was mixed with 4 tsp of the 1:3 solution. (A second batch was later mixed.)

The first sticks were made of white chalk. Then quickly came ultramarine blue reddish (2 tbsp pigment and 2.5 tsp 1:3 solution).

An often described process is to divide pure pigment sticks into quarters and mix down with white, continuing to quarter and mix down. I found comfort in simply mixing my own tonal range by eye. Sometimes I'd mix straight pure pigment and white; sometimes I'd start with a bit of a previous stick, a method somewhat similar to the quarter and mix down method but without the structure.

Here's a set of viridian all mixed out. (1 tbsp viridian and 1.75 tsp 1:3 solution)

And here's the viridian set rolled out.

Now with a comfortable process established I was able to focus on extending the tonal nuances.

And here's the chromium oxide set. (2 tbsp pigment and 1 tsp 1:3 solution)

Some of my pigment/solution recipes might be off. I tried to keep ongoing records but kept getting caught up in the process.

The sticks should be dry within a day or two. In the meantime, I'll get into my earths.

I'm rolling on the thin side and don't know if there will be a durability issue there. Some pastel makers shape into triangles as they like points and sharp edges.

A couple of lessons learned:

Mixing 450 ml of gum tragacanth starter is a lot. Half that would still be plenty. I'm only using teaspoons of diluted solution and many pigments require even more diluted solutions.
Mixing lots of white is useful. It is used in every stick except the pure pigment.

When I first began making sticks, it didn't take long to think that this effort was going to be a real pain. Once I got into the swing of it I began to enjoy the process. It's really thrilling watching the tints develop.

Gum Tragacanth Continued

2011-12-16T16:58:00.001-05:00

From Kremer's gum tragacanth specification sheet:

Gum Tragacanth is the dried exudate produced from Astragalus gummifer, which grows particularly in Iran. Tragacanth has the food additive number E413 in Europe.

Solubility: in water to a soft, stiff, opalescent slime.

From the Karawan Trading Corporation:

Tragacanth is one of the oldest gums known and its use dates back to 5000 years ago. This plant is used in traditional Iranian medicine for improving the human immune system and alleviating side effects of other pharmaceuticals. It is much used for the suspension of heavy, insoluble powders to impact consistence to lozenges, being superior to Gum Arabic, also in making emulsions, mucilage, etc. It is also employed by manufactures for shifting calico, crape, etc.

The gum is obtained from the plant . The farmers start harvesting from May and finish in September. In the west of Iran, where the weather is colder, it lasts until October; the farmers call their harvesting seasons spring and autumn. According to our experience the viscosity level in spring harvest is higher than in the autumn. The roots of the plants are scored with a special knife. The dried gum then seeps from the cuts and is collected by hand. It is later sorted by colour into different qualities.

From my kitchen:

Yesterday's mix is thickening and still with blobs of gum. Tomorrow I'll wrap up the solution and just might start making pastels!

Gum Tragacanth

2011-12-15T20:30:00.000-05:00

There's to be pastel work in the upcoming Cornell course. So with all these wonderful dry pigments here, I figured why not try whipping up my own pastels. My latest Kremer order arrived today with, as well as a couple of new earths, a 100 gram bag of Gum Tragacanth.

Gum Tragacanth is a popular binder material for pastel making. The standard starter recipe is 1 part gum tragacanth to 30 parts distilled water. This evening's batch was 1 tablespoon to 15 ounces or, in metric, 15 ml to 450 ml.

Adding the gum to the water didn't lead to any immediate dilution.

And stirring only seemed to get clumps stuck all over the spoon. I'm reading that it can take up to two days for the gum to dissolve and form a gel. The mix should be refrigerated during this time. And that's where this is now at. Tomorrow we will take a peek at the expected progress. And by then, I should have some direction on next steps.

Edge

2011-12-14T23:24:00.000-05:00

Here is a set of before and after shots that hopefully show how I am working with edges, particularly with the top apricot. My hard edges do have their place but there is a subtlety and beauty to be had by varying the relative hardness and softness of edges.

Along with edge experiments I'm exploring glazing. First needing some light scumbling for a base, I'm applying light coats of transparent earths. As well, I am developing shadow with warm umber glazes. It's all a slow moving but satisfying process.

Radiant Oils glazing techniques for paintings that glow by Arleta Pech arrived today, filling me with inspiration. Right off, I picked up a great suggestion, photographing oil paintings with a polarizing filter to reduce glare. There's one on the way here. And of course, this book is filled with exercises and ideas for glazing from an artist who first worked in watercolor and then applied her glazing to oils. More on this book as I work my way through.

Before edge work and glazing

After edge work and glazing

Cornell Botanical Illustration III

2011-12-13T23:17:00.000-05:00

Cornell opened the course web site today and the course begins at the end of January. It's time for me to fill in as needed with supplies and get up to speed with requirements. For now, let me share these clips from our instructor Marcia's introduction:

Working from life

You will need to have some access to plant materials for drawing: houseplants, gardens, stems from the grocery store or florist, produce, collected leaves or twigs, etc. They need not be expensive, and can be very simple, but it is critical that you work from life. There will be times when working with a photograph or other image is tempting, appropriate, or perhaps necessary. For the requirements of this course, however, unless we ask you to use an image or a photograph for the photo, please work from the 'real thing.'

My Philosophy as an Instructor

This is a course that you are likely taking for your own personal enrichment and proficiency. As such, I hope that you are intrinsically motivated to complete readings and all assignments, including optional assignments, to devote considerable time to drawing, and to communicate with your colleagues freely and often in an effort to get the most from this course. I will assign readings, and I will assume you read them; I will not "test" you on content because I do not believe that should be your motivation. You will get from the course what you put into it.

Our communication will be positive and will focus on course content. Rude or offensive language, and overly critical commentary will not be tolerated. It is a course taken for enrichment, and the way we communicate with one another will be constructive.

Please be open with your feedback and feel free to contact us with any questions. Open dialogue is encouraged.

Meanwhile, I continue to make incremental improvements to the apricots painting. Posting at this point wouldn't show much change but I'll get out a wrap up later this week.

A bit more work on the apricots

2011-12-11T20:12:00.001-05:00

Some subtle changes here, glazing the apricots lightly to bring out a bit of red. I've been scumbling in white for next day glazing--there's a lot of that going on with the leaves.

I have some difficulty photographing oil work, particularly with glare from shiny surfaces reducing detail and desaturating the image. The painting looks a lot better here, especially the bottom half. I'll be working on this.

Ramalina farinacea

2011-12-10T17:28:00.001-05:00

While clearing fallen limbs at Mom's I came across this fuzzy little lichen, Ramalina farinacea. This is a composite photo of ten images stacked to increase the depth of focus. Field of view width is ~1.5 inches.

Lichens always remind me of the soft and subtle green earths.

Still at work

2011-12-09T22:47:00.001-05:00

I've been poking away near daily with this copy, adding detail and glazing to bring in more accurate coloring. More to come.

Concrete Results

2011-12-08T17:11:00.001-05:00

The pot released without too much effort, except for the pencil that had to be snapped and left buried. Here is a rotation about the pot, showing off the color variation.

The inner cup buckled, resulting in this unevenness.

Every heard of hypertufa? I hadn't until Joyce mentioned it. There are tons of examples available on the web and most of those I saw didn't get into coloring. My kitchen definitely cannot support a hypertufa factory. I will keep telling myself that...

Concrete Fun

2011-12-07T17:17:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I got in a long overdue concrete repair. It was drizzly but warm with colder weather predicted so I had to get out there. (I'm an excellent procrastinator.) As the work went on, I thought about mixing in a few pigments to color things up. But as the rain began coming down harder, I tossed the thought and hurried to finish up.

Today I pulled down my simple forms. Not bad! :-)

The wheels were turning today and one thing led to another. Hey, why not trying making a small concrete pot colored with my pigments? Having 500 grams of Lemon Ochre, I figured that'd be a good selection.

The plan was to set the red cup into the plastic container so I pushed a pencil through for a drainage hole.

As this was going on I thought about adding a second pigment so I colored only half the concrete.

I chose English Red Deep, a mix of red German earths, for my second color. Then a mix of both concretes for an orange!

I dropped in a base of red, inserted the cup, and began adding layers from red to orange to yellow with a top off of red.

I found that the Lemon Ochre was not a strong coloring agent, requiring a good deal of pigment for that subtle yellow. The red, on the other hand, was intense. Just a little bit and the color took right off! I began thinking about which pigments might be powerful. Perhaps Viridian? Probably the synthetic organics--phthalos and quinacridones?

The red cup was popping up out of the concrete and after pushing it back in repeatably, setting the cap on the container worked well. Only thing is that the cup collapsed a bit, distorting the inner round shape. Clearly, more supportive forms would be useful.

Tomorrow we'll see how this works out.

Umbers

2011-12-05T23:11:00.000-05:00

I found my burnt umber pigments and mulled up a couple of tubes. From left to right: Burnt Umber Reddish, Burnt Umber Cyprian Dark Brown, Raw Umber Cyprus Medium. Here you can see the wonderful range from red to green. Isn't this amazing from the same basic earth pigment?

I can imagine using the Cyprian Dark Brown for a grisaille underpainting to set the tones and then applying light glazes of transparent pigments for color.

By the way, the burnt really stands for the heat treating of the umber to warm the color and in some cases increase the transparency.

Glazing and filling in

2011-12-04T23:27:00.001-05:00

Work continues...

Yesterday's glazes dried quickly, leaving me optimistic for more of the same today. Melendez seems to be in general a warm leaning painter and I tried glazing with various pigments to create warmth and build form on the fruit. Having a white or light scumble underneath the glaze brings out a bit of luminosity.

I've been using raw umber for my darkest darks but I think it's too cool, with a slight greenish bend. I glazed the umber with burnt sienna and like the results. (The upper left hand corner is a good example.) I will have to look through my box of pigments for burnt umbers. I so need to inventory my pigments!

Here's a view from one of Timothy's favorite perches, sitting on my piano while gazing out into the yard.

Development

2011-12-03T22:43:00.001-05:00

Today I wandered about, here and there adding form and color. I tried glazing simply with added oil. Not a lot, but I wonder how it might affect drying time?

Greens are fascinating. I think I am dirtying them severely on the white palette and they still look very green on the panel!

Form and Color

2011-12-02T23:20:00.001-05:00

I started this evening with the apricot to the right, with the intent to simply take my time--no easy task for me as I tend to rush things along. I know I will learn more and achieve better results by relaxing into my painting and letting it move at its own pace.

On the right I spent more time with color, the left with form. Which is a better way to proceed? Ah, it's probably fine either way. Careful observation and slow execution are no doubt more important.

Don't push the river,
It flows by itself.

~ Fritz Perls

Roughing In

2011-12-01T23:30:00.000-05:00

Just the beginnings here but already I realize that I must mix my colors prior to picking up a brush. Just these evening a talented artist and I were discussing the merits of preparation. No harm down here but point well taken.

Preparations

2011-11-30T19:58:00.001-05:00

I'm planning to copy a portion of this Melendez painting. The highlighted section is a full page in my Melendez book. I'll be building a transfer to lay out the larger shapes. But first, I thought I'd make a few preparations.

Rather than use my existing oil paints, I wanted to try my hand at my own. Here is an English Burnt Sienna. It's a lovely rich red that I've enjoyed using with egg tempera. I've mulled enough to fill a 20 ml tube. Note the dramatic color change with oil mixed in.

During cleanup, I used the leftovers to lay down an initial layer. I've read that in this painting that Melendez put down two layers of red so perhaps I'm getting a good start. I guess it's quite common with oil painting to begin with a base layer or a grisaille rather than a blaring white surface. You can see here how I use one panel for two paintings. (The tomatoes and melon paintings are on my other panel.) This picture doesn't do the sienna layer justice. It's really so luscious that it looks good enough to eat.

Here's Bohemian Green Earth mulled and in the process of being tubed. I want a warmer green that the Nicosia Green Earth. This pigment is a very fine grind and requires a lot of mulling.

I also want a warmer yellow and this Gold Ochre looks good.

These three paints just seem to feel right together and will, along with Flake White, probably form my palette.

Tomorrow I will transfer the image and rough in the shapes.

New Cornell Course

2011-11-29T21:44:00.001-05:00

Cornell is offering a new course and I'm registered! Botanical Illustration 3: Advanced Techniques. We'll be touching upon lots of media--pencil, charcoal, chalk, pastel, colored pencil. Exciting! See the full syllabus for all the details.

Here's the full list of Cornell's online horticultural courses. Check out the Botanical Illustration 1 course for an image of one of my drawings from that course.

Back to the brush

2011-11-28T22:01:00.001-05:00

Just couple of hours work here this evening to try shaping up this piece. The two tomatoes on the right have received more attention right along and it shows. I dropped in form with Nicosia Green Earth, surprised by how well it worked. Highlights are white with Lemon Ochre but they look stark white, leading me to try a yellower mix next time. Also need to work on grounding the fruit as right now they look like they are floating about.

I have three Melendez copy practices in various states of completion and I really want to start a fourth with apricots.

Hachiya

2011-11-26T22:19:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I spent some time in the produce section of the market, particularly in the exotic fruit section. I came across this beautiful Hachiya and just had to bring it home for study. More to come!

Oil Cleanup

2011-11-25T21:14:00.001-05:00

I've had some difficulties with oil separation, particularly with Lemon Ochre and Ercolano Red. I had an inkling that I might experience this as Natural Pigments grinds their pigments with linseed oil only. That is, no additives at all. From what I can gather, every other oil paint producer at the very least includes aluminum stearate to eliminate paint/oil separation. As an experiment, I've squeezed out a little less the half of each 50 ml tube, left behind any puddly oil, mixed with a palette knife, and loaded into 20 ml tubes.

I must note with emphasis that I am in no way complaining here. It's just the way it is. These paints are meant to simulate conditions that existed in the time of the Old Masters. Please see this Natural Pigments document for details. I am using these pigments for the pure pleasure and excitement of exploring times of old. There is lots more cool stuff from this period that I'm getting up to speed on, stuff that'll be coming out soon enough, especially now that this ratty old cold is finally slipping away!

Over time, will these new tubes display separation? If so, how long will it take to separate? We will find out!

Free oil in the Lemon Ochre.

Free oil leaked from this closed tube.

Ercolano Red mixed and ready for tubing.

All tubed up and ready to go.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T00:01:00.000-05:00

I'm a daily poster but this cold has knocked the stuffing out of me. I think I'm finally on the mend and soon to be back to my regular antics.

Happy Thanksgiving, dear reader.

Just a little bit

2011-11-21T22:50:00.001-05:00

Not really thrilled with where this is going so I didn't do too much with the melon and cleaned up the pears instead. This darned cold won't let go and so my mind's not very sharp--not a proper time to experiment!

I feel like a melon

2011-11-20T23:55:00.001-05:00

This melon is slow going. Once it's all in place I plan to glaze in the form. I'm wondering what might have best for underpainting, as well as if I should have varied the webbing color to match form. Before or after with the form building, that is the question. Another thing is I can't tell if Melendez used impasto here. I will be looking closely at this painting when I visit the MFA.

Midnight

Well, I just couldn't leave it partly complete. I'd have to wait another day before glazing.

1:30 am

Back to copy work

2011-11-19T22:59:00.001-05:00

After a couple of down days with a nasty cold, I'm back to my copy studies. This evening was about filling in and a bit of form building. I'm experimenting with how to handle the melon's webbing.

Lazurite Pigment

2011-11-18T18:17:00.001-05:00

Common Name: Lazurite
Alternate Names: Lapis Lazuli, Ultramarine
Color Index: PB29 (77007)
Composition: Na₃CaAl₃Si₃O₁₂S
Specific Gravity: 2.34
Refractive Index: 1.50
Particle Size: ?
Natural Inorganic
ASTM Lightfastness: I
Opacity: Transparent

Lazurite is a mineral of the rock Lapis Lazuli, other minerals being calcite and pyrite. I'm familiar with Lapis from my gemology studies, the finest quality grading out with no visible calcite or pyrite, just a deep rich blue. (Personally, I preferr to see pyrite veining even if the costliest, the rarest, is without.) It's common in the trade for lapis to be dyed, detectable by swabbing with acetone. Sometimes it is not even lazurite, but a simulation of dyed sodalite.

I was completely stunned to discover that the Ultramarine we commonly know of in our paints (with the exception of the very few paints that use natural lazurite, like Natural Pigments) is a true synthetic! Coloration can vary with differing amounts of sulphur but it's the real deal!

From The Craftman's Handbook written in 15th century Florence by Cennini Cennini, and translated by Daniel V. Thompson:

Ultramarine blue is a color illustrious, beautiful, and most perfect, beyond all other colors; one could not say anything about it, or do anything with it, that its quality would not still surpass. And, because of its excellence, I want to discuss it at length, and to show you in detail how it is made. And pay close attention to this, for you will gain great honor and service from it. And let some of that color, combined with gold, which adorns all the works of our profession, whether on wall or panel, shine forth in every object.

(If this piques your interest, the text that follows this quote continues on page 37.)

New Books!

2011-11-17T23:13:00.001-05:00

A few books arrived today, two inspired by the cloth in my Melendez copy practice, the last by my growing interest in Renaissance artists and materials. A couple of these books have portions online with Google, links provided in case you'd like to take a peek:

Drawing the Draped Figure
Drawing Drapery from Head to Toe
Art in the Making: Rembrandt: New Edition

The drapery books are interesting and inspiring, and I'm already paying more attention to pulls and folds.

And then there is this sweet book I just ran across, most of it online here: The Artistic Anatomy of Trees and for offline use a PDF download.

A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Botanical class ends

2011-11-16T20:16:00.001-05:00

I thought I'd show you the results of today's last botanical class. Sarah had me work on the beet and spinach leaves, fixing up color and adding form. All these little sections of leaves can be broken out as spheres or ovals or other individual shapes and the form turned on each. At the end of today's class we all placed our works out for review. My beet leaf was a hit! :-)

Back to the oils

2011-11-15T21:34:00.001-05:00

As I question if I have bitten off more than I can chew, I settle into just one object and try to bring it along a bit. Then move on to another. Piece by piece, I am learning a good deal about modeling in color. Just what color is that shadow? How does that color change as the form turns through shadow into local color into highlight? Try to notice all the gradations on the way.

And as I gain a bit of satisfaction as form develops, only to sigh as I see errors or more detail, it's all a dance of learning and I love it.

A Break From Oils

2011-11-14T21:46:00.001-05:00

I missed last week's botanical art class and Wednesday is to be the last class. I've been so wrapped up in oils that I've disregarded my botanical work. This evening I went in and added work to each leaf as the goal of this class was to complete this exercise. More on the class after it wraps up.

Color Swatches

2011-11-13T20:32:00.001-05:00

Here's the MFA's Melendez image where I've sampled colors and build swatches. Lot of surprises! Didn't realize how wide could be the tonal range with the cloth and melon. That the cloth shadows are so warm. That front pear is so much more yellow than green. The red on the pears is a lower chroma than I'd expect.

It makes me think that I can model in the melon with a considerable range of tone before working in the webbing.

Another thing... I can try mixing colors with my small set of paints prior to actually painting.

This image was created using Photoshop CS5. If you'd like to know how it was done, drop me a note. It's not really difficult, just a bit tedious. Next time I'll make the swatches larger. Click the image for an easier to see view.

And a wee bit more

2011-11-12T18:04:00.001-05:00

A few hours late last night and another hour today fills in most of the painting and begins a bit of modeling. That's all for this evening--playing out at a party. Happy Birthday, Bob! :-)

A Third Practice Piece

2011-11-11T22:57:00.001-05:00

I'm experimenting with stand oil with the pears; it may take days to dry. So in the meantime, there's a piece I'd like to make into a larger project. The MFA Boston has this Melendez on display and what could be better than to see an actual painting? When I visit I will try to get good reference photographs.

In the meantime, I'm working on a portion of this painting from a closeup in the Melendez book. Although my painting is 11.5 inches high, the actual painting is about twice that size. I plan to make my final painting full size.

Here's about 5 hours work starting from transfer. I'll take a break now and then go back in for more.

Copy Practice Pears

2011-11-10T22:58:00.001-05:00

I fell back to some work on the pears. That background is actually a large melon with a string wrapping. More string to come.

From Luis Melendez Master of the Spanish Still Life:

The melon is wrapped with a string ending in a looped handle and tied to the stem, indicating that it was hung up high and stored away from the heat and damp of summer for preservation over the winter months.

I'm picking up new tricks all the time. This evening I learned to turn form with subtle mixes with white. There is little to no real white in most Old Master paintings. Some artists will mix a "string" of a color with different values, having the set ready to build convincing form.

Copy Work

2011-11-09T23:55:00.000-05:00

This work can be addicting! I was up almost all night on this one and the pears.

More Practice

2011-11-08T23:43:00.000-05:00

I started a second practice copy to have a few in the queue. This is good in case something needs a lot of drying or I get into ambitious day.

My red is off, more looking more like a pumpkin. I may have to grind up something or other to reach those truer reds.

Copy Practice

2011-11-07T21:26:00.000-05:00

I'm beginning to copy sections of Old Masters paintings in oils. I really like Luis Melendez still lifes and I'm working from close up photos in the book from yesterday's post. 11" x 8.5". I'll be refining this painting while working on a few more.

A portion of Still Life with Pears, Melons. Cask, and Plates with Fish.
Luis Melendez. 1764.

A New Book

2011-11-06T22:54:00.001-05:00

This book recently arrived. Melendez is one of my favorites and it was a real treat to take in the MFA's Melendez exhibit back in March 2010. I'll be checking this out to select a practice painting. (Setting up acrylic panels this evening.)

The exhibition is over and I picked up my paintings. Sales were few and far between. Still, it was a great experience, meeting lots of nice folks and having the opportunity to hang out in a gallery with a bunch of artists. Cool! :-)

Hughes Donahue Exhibition Open

2011-11-05T22:46:00.002-04:00

I had a great time at the exhibition opening, meeting some interesting and talented artists and chatting it up with attendees. Many were interested in egg tempera, giving me the opportunity to talk on and on with one of my favorite subjects. The hours flew by!

Oak Leaf in Oil

2011-11-04T23:42:00.000-04:00

Here's a quick one in oils. This medium is so different! The paint is available for mixing right on the support, for hours. I learned a bit about smoothing with a fan brush. Tried mixing paint with oil to lighten consistency. Began working with a brush for each paint. I'm putting in hours with oil paint instruction on YouTube. It's an awesome resource. Only thing is that I feel like I'm painting while wearing mittens! :-)

Leaf Awareness

2011-11-03T22:53:00.001-04:00

I have of late often received the counsel to look closely at leaves. It came up in a few ASBA Conference presentations and again in my botanical class. The class was visited by a few waves of visiting children and Sarah did a fine job of raising awareness on the diversity of leaves. More that once a kid hung out to my side, asking a few questions. My question back was "Hey, you must be an artist?" The answer was always yes. We'd then get down to tool talk--media, subjects, etc...

Leaf awareness came back to me today while shopping in the produce section. All the colors! Kale's blue-green and celery's yellow-green. Beets, lettuces, collards, and on it goes. A flurry of blurred greens fading one into the other.

And while lugging my groceries indoors I was again caught up with fallen leaves--oaks and maples and crabapples and all those I still can't identify! Like the examples below, I am scanning leaves for subjects for when the snow is flying. This one might make it into egg tempera and oils.

Scan cover down to flatten leaf for detail.

Scan cover up to capture dimensionality.

Back To School

2011-11-02T23:11:00.000-04:00

Things have been hectic around here lately but I am still participating in my botanical art course. Two more classes to go! There was no class last week with the ASBA Conference taking front place. And with distractions of oil paints, an upcoming gallery exhibit, and rehearsals for a birthday party gig (I'm so out of practice), I didn't get to very much homework.

Today's class focused on reds. Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Winsor Blue Green Shade, and Raw Sienna made for a color that matched the salad leaf surprisingly well.

An Oil Experiment

2011-11-01T18:42:00.002-04:00

I'm trying to recreate my egg tempera lily painting in oils. Very thin glazes and lead white are drying to touch in less than a day. Except for the lead white, these are all earth colors--Lemon Ochre, Ercolano Red, Nicosia Green Earth, and Cyprus Umber Medium. (All Rublev paints from Natural Pigments.)

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Noah's Garden

2011-10-31T22:33:00.000-04:00

One of the ASBA Conference presentations involved learning to recognize ecosystems--the plants, insects and animals and their dependencies. Bringing it home was a recommendation for Noah's Garden. With technology being what it is today, I was able to order the book from Amazon on my iPad via the hotel's wifi while the presentation was under way!

This book a story of how the author built up her few acres with natural plantings rather than a general how to. There are a series of appendices that detail plants for butterflies (other pollinators missing) and larvae and berrying plants. There's also a list of helpful books.

I've been thinking for some time of natural planting my little yard and perhaps next year will be my opportunity. Actually I am part way there with a few hollies and crabapples. There will be plenty of time to plan as the snow flies this winter.

Early Winter Storm

2011-10-30T21:52:00.002-04:00

The storm has safely passed through this area. The snow is now nearly melted but earlier caused broken limbs and a short power outage. I'm very lucky. Here's a quote from the local newspaper The Boston Globe:

Hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents remained without power this morning after a major nor’easter that dumped rain and up to 30 inches of wet, heavy snow. Authorities said the storm played a role in three deaths, two in a car accident and one because of a power line downed by the storm. One National Weather Service forecaster expressed astonishment at the magnitude of the unusually early storm, which began two days before children were expected to make their rounds for Halloween. “Fifteen thousand years ago, in the Ice Age, I’m sure they had more snow,” said Bill Simpson. “But for the modern day, this is unbelievable.”

By late afternoon around the lake one would never know of the brief winter encounter.

New Brushes and New Friends

2011-10-29T22:38:00.000-04:00

After posting last night, I began shopping in the Rosemary & Co catalog and read that squirrel doesn't have a snap back. And today, by special request of the ASBA Conference managers, Rosemary was back for sales this morning! She confirmed what I read and I tried a wet squirrel brush as well.

From there, I ended up with a few small Kolinsky filberts (aka cat's tongues) in sizes 0, 2, and 4. Nice little brushes!

Today marked the close of the ASBA Conference, but still with post-conference workshops taking place. The past two days are rather a blur at the moment. I've absorbed so very much information from botany to color to the business of art shows to genetics to the work of grant recipients to the very latest in sophistocated online botanical resources (of which I will be volunteering for beta testing and images--more later as that develops). I've also met many artists and made many new friends.

I've turned into a true night owl since retirement and these early mornings flying down the highway have left me jet-lagged and just plain bonkers, but it's surely been worth it.

ASBA Conference

2011-10-28T21:07:00.000-04:00

It was a full day of fascinating ASBA presentations as I provided technical assistance for the following:

But before the presentations began, I happened upon Rosemary of Rosemary & Co. She is a wonderful person, very friendly and informative. I explained my wish for a soft brush without a hard point, something for small area egg tempera washes. Rosemary immediately replied "Squirrel!" and handed one over. Somehow I was of the idea that squirrel was a coarse fur. This brush was so soft! There were not many with her so I'll be looking through the catalog and placing an order soon. And in the catalog I also ran across rounded Kolinksy's (series 66, series) and red sable (series 79), more brushes I'd like to add to my tempera set.

More Charts

2011-10-27T22:30:00.003-04:00

Here's a bit more of my foundations homework. Not terribly exciting but I'm getting to practice washes.

During a short visit to the ASBA Conference I got to see the Rosemary's Brushes presentation. There was a wonderful camera screen arrangement and got to see her (the owner) assembling Kolinsky sable brushes by hand. I wonder, would Timothy mind giving up a few tail hairs for a little experiment? Hmm? Now where did that cat disappear to? ;-)

Botanical Palette

2011-10-26T23:56:00.000-04:00

There's no botanical class this week, what with the ASBA Conference going on. Part of my homework is to wrap up color charts. First up is the complete palette, just laying out the colors. I've drawn out the remaining charts and labeled the pigments so tomorrow should wrap those up.

The Natural Pigments order arrived today--earth oils, lead white, linseed oils, and these cool little one ounce jars that are just perfect for egg tempera mixed pigments.

ASBA Conference

2011-10-25T23:38:00.000-04:00

The annual American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) Conference is taking place this week. Botanical artists from the world over are joining together at the Boston Marriott Newton hotel for meetings, gatherings, tours, presentations, and workshops, all hosted by the New England Society of Botanical Artists (NESBA). Imagine, all these talented individuals enjoying each other's work and sharing their knowledge and techniques.

If you're in this area, you might like to check out the Small Works exhibit:

Boston Marriott Newton
Grand Ballroom
Friday 7:30 am to 9 pm
Saturday 7:30 am to 1 pm

More that 100 works of botanical art with maximum frame dimensions of 9" x 12" will be on display. For more on the behind the scenes efforts that went into making this exhibit possible, see this link.

And if you plan oncoming, please do let me know. During those times, I will be around as a monitor supporting presenters and have breaks during lunch.

Paint Making

2011-10-24T23:06:00.002-04:00

Impatient for my paints and oils to arrive, I mixed up a few dry pigments with flax seed oil from the fridge. My mixes were rather on the liquid side, smooth and shiny. I'm excited of the possibilities--I have dozens of dry pigments!

There is an oil technique of applying colored glazes over grisaille but, unlike my situation, the grisaille is first allowed to dry. My colors mixed with the grays and my brush picked them up too. Won't do that again!

My tonal charts mixes with Radiant White (safflower oils mix) are still wet whereas the pure peach black (mixed with linseed) is dry to touch.

Here's a photo of me the muller at work. I was asked to supply a mulling shot for a slide show.

Playing With Oils

2011-10-24T00:38:00.000-04:00

Just a little fun with my oils. I tried a technique of laying in patches of tone and then smoothing out. I was surprised to find yesterday's paint still wet until I remembered that the while is mixed with safflower oil. It could take days to dry so although the Gamblin white does provide a very bright white, a linseed oil based white is needed.

Oils Value Chart

2011-10-22T23:15:00.003-04:00

The panel was finished up today. All together, there are two coats of Golden GAC 100 front and back, and three coats of Golden Gesso on the front and one on the back.

Using Munsell value chips (2-9) and a few oils, I practiced mixing values and applying with palette knife. I started with a brush and soon found it quite a waste of time, once I realized that mixing took place with the palette knife and not the brush.

Paints used are:

Gamblin Radiant White (Titanium Dioxide; Safflower Oil)
Wiliamsburg Ivory Black (Amorphous Carbon; Linseed Oil)
Holbein Peach Black (Aniline Black and soot from lamp; not sure but probably Linseed)

Safflower or poppy oil is sometimes used with white to reduce the slight yellowing of linseed oil, so this Gamblin white will push the very high end of white in the Munsell scale, perhaps as high as 9.75. (In fact, some oil brands are mixed exclusively with a non-linseed oil.)

Holbein's Peach Black is known as one of the blackest blacks, pushing the low end of Munsell down to 0.5.

I'll be picking up an extended Munsell value chart that better displays values. It presents in quarter values with, for deeper blacks, a glossy finish.

And lastly, there's a Natural Pigments order on the way: earth oil paints and grinding oils.

Having a stock of dry pigments is so exciting! With an appropriate binder (gum arabic, egg yolk, linseed oil) I can produce watercolors, egg tempera, and oil paints, all from the same material.

New Still Life Box

2011-10-21T22:32:00.002-04:00

Here's a new still life box assembled with a sheet of black foam core and a bit of scotch tape. I'm hiding it from Timothy, afraid if he gets his paws on this one that it won't stand up like the old one.

Below are a couple of quick shots testing things out.

Another little project going on here today is prepping a panel. While picking up the foam core I grabbed a piece of hardboard and this evening put down the first coat of Golden's GAC 100. I will apply a second coat and then come layers of acrylic dispersion polymer, aka "Gesso".

Well, we know that this acrylic stuff is not real gesso and certainly will not work at all with egg tempera. But as prep layers for acrylic and oil, it's a fine product. If you are guessing that about to dabble into oil, well...

A Warmer Green

2011-10-20T23:57:00.001-04:00

I found a bag of lemon ochre and that with Bohemian Green Earth brought me a warmer green. A Verona Green Earth from Natural Pigments is a similar pigment and with a smoother grind. It's the sample to the right in the image.

I will need to mull the Bohemian as it is rather clumpy and takes a lot of palette knife work to work smooth. (I still seem to miss some clumps that only become apparent as the paint settles.)

Kremer has a couple of yellow ochres described as greenish so there is soon to be an order for these and more.

Pigment Testing

2011-10-19T23:57:00.001-04:00

These minerals, yellow ochre and green earth, simply will not reach into high chromas and so won't match up with the hosta photo or actual leaf. I may give them a go any way.

Just before I stopped I remembered a new green earth, Bohemian, came in last week. It's on the yellow side. The Russian green earth I used most of this evening was definitely bluish--probably good for shadows but not for local color.

I think my yellow ochre leans warm. I'll dig through my box of pigments for a lemony ochre but I think it may be time for another Kremer order. Good excuse to pick up a few more pigments!

I'll play around more with color while I get off a few shots with proper lighting, something with Old Masters properties. That scanned image won't make it here.

Green earths, yellow ochre, titanium white.

Hosta Starter

2011-10-18T23:57:00.000-04:00

I often have a fit of time starting a new project. I figure that I should have a pocketful of ideas ready for development. Alas, that intent is undeveloped.

This Hosta scan has a luminosity that I think will work nicely in egg tempera. I want to follow the botanical process I'm being taught before getting down to the actual panel.

I won't know until I get to the color studies if I can pull this off with natural minerals only, no synthetic organics, that is. I think it will come down to the available chroma of my green earths.

Hughes/Donahue Gallery

2011-10-17T19:59:00.002-04:00

Today I dropped off the Crabapples and Lily paintings with the Hughes/Donahue Gallery. Signed a contact and set the titles and prices. There are 20 artists and each can present up to 3 pieces.

My Sig

2011-10-16T19:45:00.000-04:00

Back when I sold my first painting I was scrabbling to come up with a signature. I settled on a hexagon with my initials. Don't you know, I forgot to sign to sign my new panels before framing. Today I went in carefully marking off the hexagon and thought that Holbein Rich Gold (G 643) gouache might work--that and a double aught Series 7 got the job done nicely.

Panel Mount and Frame Finish

2011-10-15T20:42:00.000-04:00

The framing tools order arrived today. The Fletcher FrameMate made for an easy job!

My first pin driving attempt went well.

Pins are held held in place with a magnet.

My first panel pinned in place. It held so tightly that there was no need to shim the panel to one side.

Job complete! Double-sided tape holds the dust cover paper in place. Paper edges were sanded for a nice transition. Pilot holes were first drilled to prevent wood splitting. D hangers were screwed in lightly to allow for hanger movement.

I love my feeling of independance being able to frame my work. Grinding and mulling pigments add to my satisfaction. I must begin making my own gesso panels.

Process Overview

2011-10-14T22:12:00.000-04:00

After finding my first mixes a bit on the yellow side, I remixed with stronger blues. The squares lowered in value and chroma too.

Here's the tonal study with each leaf numbered.

And finally the start of a painting. To the right is the palette and mixes with corresponding numbers from the tonal study. The idea is to work with the color chart and tonal study and real leaves. The darker tones of the green leaves first get a layer of Lemon Yellow Nickel Titanate, an opaque pigment. Next a few layers of an appropriate green are added with the edges smoothed with a separate brush clear water.

That is pretty much this week's homework. I will probably take some time to practice this process with a few more leaves. And, I think it's time to revisit my neglected botanical art library.

If all goes well, tomorrow I'll be learning how to mount my panels in frames!

Back to Homework

2011-10-13T23:38:00.001-04:00

Here's part of the class's palette. This week's homework has us building a simple green mix chart. I botched up a couple of labels across the top but the pure paints are across the top and down the left.

You may notice that there's a split primary palette in here--warm and cool yellows, same for blues. We're using these paints for color matching to the lettuce mix. Sarah says we match to real leaves and not photographs. My grumbling fell on deaf ears. :-)

Lily Framed

2011-10-12T20:47:00.000-04:00

I'll soon meet with a local gallery owner for his last exhibition of the season. Each artist can present up to three paintings. I plan to go in with this painting and yesterday's crabapple.

I've ordered up all the needed framing equipment: FrameMate, points, wire, hangers, and dust cover paper.