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Norway Maple: finished, combined posts

Friday, April 9th, 2010

Norway Maple, 36H x 48W x 3D inches acrylics, gel paste on canvas, wrapped sides painted, navy colored narrow frame.

Thumbnails: Combined, edited posts of progression between Dec. 8th, 2009 – March, 2010. Started December 8th, 2009: modeling gel is available in varied textures, finishes and viscosity. Acrylics paint can be mixed with the medium or when dry paint can be applied over top. 3) January 18th, 2010: applying modeling paste to the base painting and sculpting with a small trowel.

Jan. 28th:– used a dry brush so paint would catch mostly on the textures, and kept the feeling soft. Intentions are to maintain the fresh pure colors. Studied from a distance for about a week after this stage to contemplate what the next move will be.

Feb. 27th: lighter background colors were added in order to open up the space.

Feb. 28th: Adding a solid patch of turquoise to lower left and some tiny details like that may ground the whole thing, but that’s about it; am leaving it out of sight for a while. This really is a carnival of color, I love it!
March 9th: Subtle changes since last post…have been working more on tones in the background which weren’t planned initially; I had hoped to use only pure colors without the usual layering, but it’s otherwise too hard to look at. Also am connecting a few shapes horizontally, and it’s almost “there”, but ‘2D Pinecone’ was started in the meantime to avoid overworking this.
March 6th: Thanks, Virginia for taking the time to write and digitize a detailed, objective critique. I sure appreciate your opinion about what might improve this.

Viper’s Bugloss

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Viper’s Bugloss, 18H x 24W inches soft pastels on paper.

It’s tempting to pick these for wildflower bouquets, but the plant is very irritating to the skin, so are best enjoyed left where they are, growing en masse in summer fields beside the highways in eastern Ontario, Canada.

I was curious about the name… according to the Encyclopedia of Herbs and Herbalism edited by Michael Stuart (c. 1979, 1987 ISBN 0-9999-48911), they were formerly one of the most respected plants used for the treatment of viper’s snake bite venom.

Norway Maple, work in progress

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

Norway Maple, work in progress: 36H x 48W x 2D inches acrylics, will sculpt edges of leaves with modeling paste medium on canvas. Gallery wrapped sides painted. The watercolor classes really helped with awareness of color choices, keeping those colors pure and marks fresh, and also a desire to leave more abstract elements alone; less realism and more expressionism. All of those things will be magnified in this painting.

After today, blogging and Artwork will be infrequent until mid-January. Driving up to western Canada, there will be plenty of snow-covered trees and winter photo opportunities along the way to Alberta, B.C. and back. Working up until the last possible moment, I started this painting of purple Maple leaves that were seen in Madison, WI during late August. Modeling/Molding paste will be applied, then painted with acrylics when dry, this will be a 3 dimensional-ish painting.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Exhibition Opening Dec. 1st

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Chapala Wind, 11H x 11W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas, wrapped sides painted

Upcoming exhibition: monthly featured artist at Oxide Gallery in Denton, TX. Among the items on exhibit: most of the Magic Square series, Dawn at Bell Rock, Sounds of Silence, Polypore Fungi, Shadows of Summer, Eastern White Pine, and three of the vintage chairs. Opening Reception Tuesday, December 1st, 6:00 p.m. – 8 p.m., and the show runs until December 31st.

Dawn at Bell Rock

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

Dawn at Bell Rock, Arizona – 24H x 18W x 2D inches acrylics on canvas, wrapped sides painted, trim frame. Below: phases 01, 02 and 07

Orange Milkweed

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

Orange Milkweed, Kentucky 15 x 22 inches watercolors on paper, sold

Driving from Texas to Ontario one summer I had to pull over to take photos and a closer study of the vivid orange bouquets growing beside the highway in southern Kentucky. The colors are irresistible, and this is not the first or last time I’ll portray this subject. All plants and trees contain medicinal and useful chemical properties in their leaves, stems, roots and flowers.

I looked up Orange Milkweed in the most informative books about plants, The Encyclopedia of Herbs and Herbalism edited by Malcom Stuart, which contains details about every plant I have ever sought to find information for. According to it, Appalachian Indians made a tea from the leaves to use during religious ceremonies. One common name for this plant is “Pleuracy Root”, as it is still useful to treat infections of the respiratory tract including pleurisy It is used as a diaphoretic, antispasmodic, carminative, expectorant. Color also has enchanting, supernatural energizing properties!

Angel’s Trumpet

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Angel’s Trumpet (Brugmansias) San Antonio Riverwalk, Texas – 14H x 22W inches watercolors on 140 lb. cold pressed premium, white mat

Value study

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

Angel’s Trumpet value study, San Antonio Riverwalk, Texas –12 x 16 inches Tombo pen wash on 140 lb. WC paper.

The Tombo pen is a two-in-one water-soluble marker available in colors as well as black. One tip is medium-fine and the other looks and behaves like a Chinese paintbrush, where thickness of lines can be controlled. What’s more difficult to control is that black once it’s on the page! It’s something to pay attention to when painting the colored version.

Preliminary studies are useful with watercolors because if, in trying to correct and re-work areas, the integrity of the paper is easily lost, especially on inexpensive papers. Still, on a traditional watercolor a lot can be done by adding water to pull out the dark where it’s not wanted, and push out areas of paint with dry brushes. Some places in this study have built-up 3D edges created by the paper bits because I pushed them around so much with a stiff brush to correct things, but traditionally this is not acceptable.

Actually, come to think of it, that might be interesting to deliberately sculpt the paper in strategic areas – like objects in the foreground – by saturating it with too much water, then while painting, brush the resulting paper bits into piles and mold them with a stiff brush. I may try that in the final colored painting of this scene. This proves once more that every single painting is an experiment to find ways to turn disadvantages and limitations into advantage and innovation.

Even though WC and Acrylics are water-friendly and watered-down acrylics is the method I use to start most canvas paintings, I’m noticing a few outstanding differences : 1) an off-balance composition seems to be more noticeable with WC, definitely not as correctable 2) improved attention to drawing, details and ultra-conscious 3) requires pre-planning and foresight to keep the work fresh and clean 4) commands enough confidence to swish the paint on quickly as if it was not planned.

San Antonio, Texas

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Buildings, San Antonio, Texas, 22H x 15W inches watercolors on 140 lb. acid free, cold pressed premium paper, white mat

The Campsite

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Thumbnails: 1) Value sketch using Payne’s Gray 2) Oct 21st in progress 3) finished, left detail. This is the 2nd week of the watercolor course offered by Jo Williams.

The Campsite, Maine, USA – 15 x 22 inches Watercolors on 140 lb. acid free cold press premium paper, 22H x 28W” professionally framed, dark cherry wood with brass title plate.