In Progress-#2

This is after my first day of working on laying in the main colors. I quickly blocked in the background and started adding detail to the part of the blanket that's wrapped around the baby. I changed the position of the face, and added detail there. I quickly blocked in shadow colors on the arms and legs. I'm having a few problems with the skin tones and the temperature changes. I think that I may need to make the local skin tone warmer, with the shadows warm, as the light is fairly cool. Right now she looks kind of corpse-like...YUK. The colors in the reference photo aren't very good, and I wanted to warm the whole thing up a bit, so I am kind of guessing at the colors at this point...tricky...anyways, I'll have more soon.

Nap Time -- In Progress

Okay, so I'm on to something new. This is a large painting, one of the largest I've done. It's 24" x 30", and so far, I'm enjoying the size for the clarity of detail and features that can be attained. This is almost life size. Since this isn't a daily painting, I thought I'd post some in-progress shots.

So this morning, I thought I'd work on my painting while the baby napped...isn't she beautiful when she's sleeping? I started to get ready, ate some breakfast, kicked my husband and son out of the house (well not really, they went willingly) and prepared my self mentally to start painting, when, of course, she woke up. No painting during the daylight hours again today. I heaved a big sigh and collected her from her room. We had a bit of a snuggle together, and she left my lap to go and play. Now, I do a pretty good job of baby-proofing, but something always seems to show up when I least expect it. This time it was a pin-cushion...missing the pins.
Oh My God! Where did she find that and where are the pins. I found one soon enough, sticking out of my foot! I pulled it out and blood squirted all over the carpet. As I'm trying to clean up the blood, I notice that Rhiannon is being uncharacteristically quiet, so I limp over to where I thought she was admiring her portrait, only to find that she is adding her own artistic touch with a blue wax crayon. I hope that oil paint sticks to wax! You can see her beautiful scribbles at the top of the painting, from one side to the other.

Anyways...About the painting...I learned my lesson with the last painting, and this time I did some planning. After taking the reference photo, I cropped it to get the best composition that I could and did some thumbnail sketches. Then, using a wonderful program that is a free download, called "Oil Painting Assistant", I gridded the reference photo and printed it, and then, using the same ratio, I gridded my canvas. On smaller paintings, I usually don't do this, I just rely on my eye, but on something this large, it's easy to really screw up proportions.

I lightly sketched the image onto the canvas with a #2 pencil, leaving out unnecessary details,and then re-enforced my pencil lines with a mix of burnt umber and hooker green. Next, I used a mix of hunter green, burnt sienna, cad yellow med. and white and I laid in a very fine wash of the local blanket color. I kind of use it as an underpainting to fill in the white of the canvas. I do the same with the skin tone, burnt sienna, cad yellow med., aliz crimson, ultramarine blue and titanium white, and the hair, for which I use a mix of the skin tone, with a bit of burnt umber, I think. Then I start to work in some of the major dark areas, and wipe out some of the lightest areas. I put in a bit of red on the lips, ears, nose and fingers, where the blood is close to the skin. All of this is basically an on-canvas value study that will later be covered with thick paint. It helps me see the beginning of the painting as a whole, and determine if I need to make any major changes in value, composition, etc...I know, this is a step that should be done as a thumbnail, and I did do some, but I find that it is not always successful. The last painting I started looked great as a value study, looked great as a thumbnail, even looked great as a 12 x 12 painting, but when I transferred it onto a bigger canvas, it was just plain boring. The large format didn't do it justice at all, so I wiped it off and started this one.

Well, now on to laying in the real thing. I'll try to post an in progress picture tomorrow.

Paniolo -- Hawaiian Cowboy

Well, I just finished writing this whole post a few minutes ago, and somehow deleted it! Now I have to start again...DAMN! Sometimes I hate computers!
Anyways, I want to thank the wonderful girls who left me some great feedback. I took your advice and now I have a painting that I'm pretty happy with!
I lengthened the mane and tail, and made them fly out, adding to the sense of movement. I definitely feel like this makes it far less static. I spaced out the back legs slightly, defined them, and added a longer shadow. This, along with the longer tail, balances the painting out and makes the horse more grounded. I took away most of the dust behind the horse, and added some color to the dust in front. I defined some of the background shadows, and values, and evened out the color in the mountains.
All in all, I feel pretty happy with it now. Of course, there's still things I don't really like, but don't know how to change, or if they need it. Artists are their own worst critics! But, if anyone sees something that still might need help, let me know. I, unlike most, love constructive criticism!

Fresh off the Easel

It's finally done...I think. I'm not quite sure I'm satisfied, but I don't really know where else to go with this one. I've done so much to it already, that I should have planned in the beginning for. If anyone's wondering if it's really worth while to do those thumbnail sketches...IT IS!! I only did one, that I was pretty happy with, but, it didn't work when translated to this big canvas. It used to have three mid-ground figures, and a background guy on a horse, and a guy leaning against a horse in the far background. I decided it was too busy, and after many attempts at just trying to FIX everything to make it look like it was supposed to be there, I systematically began eliminating things, until there was nothing left to eliminate. This would all have been much easier to do before the painting was near completion...with the thumbnails...but once again, my initial enthusiasm for the subject overtook my logic, and I dove right in without proper planning. NEVER AGAIN! This one was so hard.
I want to put this one out for critique. I desperately need input from other artists, so if anyone thinks this painting needs some help, or could use something else, please drop me a line. I would appreciate it so much. Like I said, I'm not really sure if it's done or not, so let me know what you think. It also needs a title. "Fresh off the Easel" just isn't going to cut it.
I really want to thank Eduardo Amorim, the amazing photographer whose photo was the inspiration for this shot. Check out his work at Flickr by clicking on his name.

Coming Soon, I promise!!

I know, this isn't it, but this is proof that I've been doing something creative while on holidays. I got this tired looking portrait of my DH last night while he was watching TV. I haven't had the light to paint at night since I've been here, and that is usually the only time that I have to paint...AFTER THE KIDS ARE IN BED!! That's my time, when my muse can come out and work uninterrupted. It's amazing how much one can accomplish in those few hours before sleep comes knocking. So, I bought a clip-on light today with a full-spectrum bulb, so I'll be able to paint in the evenings. BUT...My painting's almost finished! I have been working, really. A few more days, I hope, and it should be done. It is a big one, 18"x 24", no more of these 6 x 8's for me, I'm going big! I felt the need to breathe, stretch out that painting arm. That said, this one is sure presenting me with some problems...Have you ever started out, and the underpainting turns out amazing, and the first layer looks amazing, then one part looks really amazing, and then all of a sudden, the whole thing looks like crap!?!!???!@#$%^&*()_!!! I can't believe it, the first few days I'm like "Wow honey, this is going to be the best painting I've ever done," and now I can't even stand to look at it!
Well, I bought "a BOOK" today, and it's going to get me out of my rut, I know it!(fingers crossed behind my back) Is it that I put too much pressure on myself? Did it become all TOO Important?
All of the above... and, I met Jia Lu the other day, maybe that is what it was. She is an absolutely incredible, internationally acclaimed artist whose paintings sell for like, $120,000. She is so sweet, and unassuming, but I almost cried when I met her, I felt so inadequate. It made me question my abilities, my art, my purpose as an artist...all of those things. I was depressed for about four days after, and my husband said I should stop trying to put pressure on myself to paint while we were on holidays. It was affecting him and the kids, and well, me. But it was good, because last night I had an epiphany, an AH HAH moment. I realized what it was that was bugging me about the whole thing. I hadn't been totally sure before what my purpose as an artist was. Being a mom of two small children, with very little time to paint, I spend my few hours before I drop off from exhaustion, doggedly painting from whatever good photographs my crappy little digital puts out that half-ass inspire me, or, I ask photographers who are much better than me for permission to use their work. I realized last night, that the problem with this, is even though for the most part, I paint from my own photography, that these photographs lack intention. I mean, I take the picture because I see something that is paintable, but there is no conscious thought, no planning, no intention other than to create a pretty picture. So, that the painting produced from such a photograph, is just a reproduction of something pretty, with no thought behind it, even if I tweak it and omit busy things, etc...
What touches me about Jia Lu's work is the creativity, the thought process behind the painting, etc...I hope I don't sound like an insane lunatic, it's just that I think I've finally GOT IT! I need something more.
So I decided that I will get models, and set up scenes, and if I have to "photograph" them because of the time restrictions of being a parent, I will, after doing some value and color sketches. Or if I see a scene that screams out to be painted, I will ask people for permission to take their pictures. (Oh yeah, that's another thing. I am a people painter. That is my passion. That is what touches me.) I've tried to paint for ebay, or what the market demands, or on commission, but the artist inside of me rebels, and I end up getting stuck and blocked.
So to all of you artists out there, IF YOU WANT TO BE A HAPPY ARTIST, BE AUTHENTIC!!
( Not that I would pass up a thousand dollar commission if it came my way! LOL!

New Painting in the Works, Finally!

So here it is, the sketch I promised...I'm not getting near as much painting done as I had hoped. I'm going to have to get more disciplined, I guess. There's just so much other fun stuff to do and sights to see in Hawaii. I'm taking lots of pictures for future paintings, and visiting as many art galleries as time will allow.
This has all thrown the kids for a total loop. My once almost weaned daughter is now up every two hours a night to nurse. If I don't nurse her, she won't sleep sound, so that every time I so much as sigh, she wakes up screaming, demanding "Sa Sa", (the Nuxalk word for nurse). So I'm back to total, ridiculous exhaustion. I even checked out the SuperNanny site last night to see if she had any words of wisdom that I hadn't already exhausted. Not so. Nothing works. So I give in.
My usually sweet-natured son has become a whining, demanding troll. He complains all day, and makes his sister mad or hurts her on purpose. We're in Paradise, but the kids just know that their world has been turned upside down.
Well, if I could get them back on schedule somehow, things might start to settle a bit.
For now, I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and just hoping for time to paint.
I got the underpainting done today, and it's a big one-18" x 24". It's going to be fun. I'll keep you posted.
Ciao for now.

ALOHA!! from Maui

I still haven't painted anything new...I'm embarrassed. But, I did finish my commission (and I forgot to photograph it before I sent it off), and it has been so busy since Christmas...excuses, excuses. AND...I'm in Maui! It is so beautiful here, so inspiring, so amazing. I feel like I've come home. This is where I'm supposed to be. There is so much art here. So many artists, so many galleries, so much opportunity, and I did finish the sketch for the painting I'm planning next. If I can figure out how to install the scanner here, I will upload it tomorrow for your viewing pleasure. Anyways, aloha and mahalo from paradise.