Working bud detail

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.

Rhody work continues

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

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.

Filling In

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

Starting a new piece

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.

A Warmer Green

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

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.

Lily Framed

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.

Crabapple Framed

I couldn't wait. Last night I spent a few hours on the painting and today picked up the frames. It's not mounted yet, just dropped in to see the look. I like it! There's still some cleanup and signing. It will need a bit of shimming to keep the panel properly in place.

Dried Rose Study

Here's a little exploration with my dried roses. This was so enjoyable--I've really missed my egg tempera.

Retracing My Steps

As soon as I peeled the masking off last night I knew the  frame was too cool and dark. Today on the road for a few hours I saw stone everywhere, and most of it was of lighter values than my work. I noticed a lot of warm colors too.

Tonight's work is a bit too pink but I think I'm working into better hues. Next up is to lightly incise any edges, mask with acetate so the leaf shows through, and then blast the entire frame in one operation. Later I can work in overall shading and bevel details.

Tomorrow I begin my first in person botanical art class! Actually, this would have been my second weekly class... Somehow or other I botched up the schedule. Is this what happens when one retires? :-)

Stone Starter

Here's a start on the stone, with a couple of lessons learned:

• Don't place masking tape on egg tempera--it dulls the surface. I may need to redo the front-facing surfaces. 
• Keep the razor knife away from the board. I actually cut through the gesso and created some chipping. Trying to fill in with white.

I like the reflected light look on the bottom rail and want to apply that to the right side. I think that might pull the leaves and frame closer together.

Will there be a background? Hmm...

(If the frame looks ever so slightly twisted, it's because my scan was a bit off.)

Stonework Begins

It won't look like much for a while but there's already a good bit of work here, measuring and masking. Next I sponged in a starter layer of vine black and titanium white. The poison ivy is masked out with a sheet of heavy paper as there will be some serious toothbrush splattering coming up.

Next up is to tape over the bevels and finish the front facing surfaces. Then a flip of the masking to the front surfaces as the bevels are finished.

I'm planning to simulate carved lettering into the bottom surface in one line: Leaflets three, let them be.
Font design and placement will take some time.

Once this is complete, I will return to the poison ivy for wrap up. That's the plan! :-)

Dry Brushing Technique

This evening rather than glazing per se I applied thin layers with a dry try technique. I found that I had to get the brush nearly void of paint like I do when glazing. I could drop in details with concentrated paint and strong glazes with slightly watered down paint. I think I'm catching on to the balance between glazing and stronger applications--they both have a place.

This might appear obvious, as it now does to me, but it's something that I seem to have overlooked.

My Easel Setup

I thought I'd show off my new setup. That's my iPad on the left, strapped in with its shoulder harness. ;-) A couple of strips of artist tape keep it from sliding off the ledge. I can gesture the surface and kick up the image size too. This setup works really well for a guy and his bifocals!

Of course, working from life is the way to go. I wish I'd been able to better light this subject but I was boxed in by the roadway and without gloves and proper packaging so I wasn't taking this specimen home.

From this side by side comparison, it's easy to see that I need to warm up the subject considerably. That's for tonight's work.

Glazing Away

In the spirit of glazing I spent a few hours this evening building color and form. There's an art to understatement, to using very light glazes and holding a cautious eye. It's easy to get carried away and push just a bit too far. Once all these layers set up, perhaps a light scumble with white to pull in some of those dark greens.

Mix or Glaze?

I'm usually a daily poster but yesterday was one of those days--flat tire, cat sitting for the neighbor getting a new hip, and rescuing my sister from the airport. Airlines (initials are United Airlines) that overbook suck.

What began as an experiment in glazing various earths against green earth quickly turned to an obscene mess of a chart and already in the rubbish. Okay, that's what learning is all about. I gain most from my mistakes.

So rather than glaze I decided to push the blueish leaning green earth around, mixing with a yellow and a red ochre. Obviously there weren't  going to be any high chroma colors but how many greens really are that screamingly intense green any way?

With yellow, the greens pulled nicely warm. Same for the red.

Now to the question that's been gnawing at me for some time. Mixing versus glazing. Egg tempera is about glazing. It loves to be glazed. Twenty (or forty for that matter) layers a day is easy. It hums with depth and luminance. Can I get the same color in glazes that I can in mixes? And vice versa?

The first two rows of stripes are mixes. Just quick mixes: top with yellow; next with red. I left out plenty of gradation. The last row is glazed. Gradated yellow or red. As I glazed along I occasionally dropped on another layer of green earth. There are something like twenty layers at the top of each stripe. (The stripe in the middle is the pure green earth control.)

I guess I've always gone on the assumption that mix and glaze can provide the same result, at least as far as base color is concerned. And, I think there's a fine richness that achieved only with glazes. I wonder... Would there ever be occasions when I wouldn't be able to mix or glaze to achieve the same base color? Is it dependent on the medium?

Earths Color Chart

It's simply amazing the colors available from natural earth pigments. I tried to match up values to my Munsell chips by mixing the pigments with titanium white. My favorite colors are the top row delicate pastels and the bottom swatches as they are clear pigment and offers some degree of transparency. The middle tones have a slight chalkiness that might lend well to peach fuzz or plum bloom.

As I work these exercises I wonder how often I might mix white heavily. I suppose it could be frequent if I was looking for a very specific look but even then I expect that I'd be glazing to add depth and luminosity.

This work is only in part about Munsell and really more about just taking the time to play with and explore my pigments.

Crabapples Redux

Following encouragement from Dorothy on my crabapples painting, I've put in some effort the past two evenings. There's more work ahead but I'm liking where this is going.

More Ivy Work

I got in some work on this last night and again this evening.

More munsell coming soon. I am assembling color charts. Three down, seven to go.