So here is a small (approx. 7.5X10 inches) sketch of a ballerina tying her slippers. It is in oil pastels on clear-gessoed matboard. I used to love ballet so I enjoyed sketching this ballerina. I really need to work on honing my figure and skin-tone painting skills. I don't do it often and to be honest I often avoid it.
Ballerina - oil pastel on matboard (approx. 7.5 x 10 inches)
Most people don't realize how much goes into creating a piece of art. Here is an example of a work-in-progress (WIP), an italian landscape in oil pastels (OP).
I have been painting OPs on scrap pieces of acid-free matboard for a while and love it. But for the board to be really receptive to layering of OPs, it first has to be coated with clear-gesso and allowed to dry for 24 hours. Next comes an underpainting, which basically gets rid of the stark white color of the support and is useful in case there's not 100% coverage of the support by the OPs. An underpainting can be done in a single color like I've done here. I chose a red watercolor underpainting because the scene I'm painting has a lot of oranges and greens and little bits of the underpainting showing here and there will bring some vibrancy to the end result. I then sketched my scene with oil-based colored pencils. Another option for underpainting is to basically recreate all values and colors in the final painting using paint (watercolor, acrylics, gouache or even oils), which basically means that you're painting the scene twice.
WIP: Italian landscape - red underpainting and sketch
After the underpainting is done there's a blocking in of colors as can be seen below where I basically use the OPs on the side and establish the main colors and values (lights/darks). Please note that this picture does not accurately capture the colors that I've used for the block-in, namely some greens look too yellow. There's something about photographying complementary colors--red and greens in this case--that confuses the camera and no Photoshop can fix it. But anyways, you get the idea about the block-in stage. So far, I've spent about 3 hours on the painting but there are many more to come as I keep layering the OPs and adding detail to complete this wonderful landscape scene. Keep tuned for the next stages.
WIP: Italian landscape - Block-in
Even in the flu I've managed to paint some these past few weeks. It's tough to hold a brush and paint with the constant cough but I think it makes for loser strokes (LOL!). Anyways here are my latest acrylic paintings on gallery-wrapped canvas. I'm in a poppy painting kind of mood. It's my favorite flower (in addition to tulips). I love all the shades or reds, oranges, yellows, pinks, etc. that they come in. They scream passion to me. Hope you like them too!
Red passion - acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas (12x12 inches)
Sherbert shades - acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas (12x12 inches)
Poppy and buddy - acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas (28 x 22 inches)
Ok, fans and friends, here we go again. I entered a new oil pastel painting ("Pink Trio") into the Daniel Smith art contest AGAIN. Could you please vote again daily for the entire week?
Thanks!!!!
Pink trio - oil pastel on illustration board (15x20 inches)
This is my latest painting of an elephant in watercolor (12 x 9 inches Strathmore watercolor paper). It is based on a reference image from the site Paint My Photo. It was fun painting this guy or girl. Below you'll also find a painting of a sheep family. It's amazing how hard it is to depict a white/cream animal. I seem to be in an animal-painting phase lately.
Elephant - watercolor on watercolor paper (12 x 9 inches)
Sheep family - watercolor on watercolor paper (12 x 9 inches)
So here is an update of my painting "Mangoes" using oil pastels. This one was so relaxing to paint. Problem is I wanted to eat the mangoes, my favorite fruit ;) It is 15 x 22 inches on clear-gessoed watercolor paper using Erengis, Mungyos and Sennelier oil pastels. I would call it 95% done. Just have to look at it for a few days.
"Mangoes" - 15x22 inches oil pastels on watercolor paper
My friends and supporters, my painting "Red rock" has moved to the monthly voting gallery in the Daniel Smith art contest. I know it's a lot to ask but please consider if you can vote for it every day of the month of February. I'll send a reminder every day. Thanks a lot for your support. The monthly prize is a $50 gift certificate for Daniel Smith products, which is good but what I really want is for it to go to the annual voting so that it can be seen by JUDGES then.
Here is a link to vote. Please remember you can vote daily for the entire month of February.
I've been working on several pieces lately in different media. Each medium has its unique properties which keeps me entertained and on my toes. For those artists who follow my blog, drop me a line and let me know what your favorite medium is. I'm curious to know whether you paint on a single medium for weeks or months at a time and then switch or if you are all over the place like me ;)
Last night I painted this giraffe in watercolor. It was exciting dropping the paint and letting it do its thing in the background, but painting this guy (or girl) was awesome. I used watercolor pencils for details for the first time in this piece. I have used WC pencils before for sketching but here I used it after the painting was almost done to add some details. I saw someone on youtube doing this and wanted to try it myself. Basically, if you dip the watercolor pencil tip on water before drawing with it and/or paint on top/next of a wet area, the ending result is more natural as you get broken pieces of pigment that merge with the watercolor. In other words, it looks less as something drawn and more like something painted.
I also worked some on laying in the basic colors for this oil pastel (OP) painting of mangoes, my favorite fruit. This is such an exciting piece due to all the bright colors. Next step would be to push the OP into the paper and blend the different colors together. After that I'll add more layers of OP to refine shapes and add detail.
This morning I spent a couple of hours working on my orchid in oil paints. Below is a picture of how it looked like before I made the latest changes. I will post those in a few days once the paint dries. I have glazed some phthalo blue and lamp black on top of the background and added details on the main bright pink/red leaf. But I still have a ways to go with it.
Giraffe - watercolor on watercolor paper (9x12 inches)
Work-in-progress - Mangoes - oil pastel on gessoed watercolor paper (14x21 inches)
Work-in-progress - Pink orchid - oil paints on canvas (12x12 inches)
I've been working on this oil pastel of a lavender field for quite some time. It has been so much fun to do. There's something about painting landscapes that is sooo freeing. I think in part it is because I have a different mindset when painting them--I feel less constrained by the shapes and matching things exactly and I can let go. The piece is on a 15X20 inch illustration board which has been coated with clear gesso (to provide tooth so oil pastels can be layered better). Although I like it as a whole, I think the best part is the lavender and lonely tree in the bottom 2/3 of the painting, so I'm thinking about maybe cropping it as shown. What do you all think? Crop or not? Leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts.
Today I also got my brushes wet and worked on a few watercolors for a while. It has been a long time since I've done anything with watercolor and although it was one of my main mediums for a while it is a high stress one, so I have been avoiding it. I have always loved poppies and so I painted a couple of poppy fields. The first one was a disaster because I overworked it. I spent about 1.5 hours on it and it ended up in the bin. I just spent about 30 minutes on the second one and I think it turned out a lot better, looser and more spontaneous. It is a record for me because I usually spend hours on paintings.
Lavender field - oil pastel on illustration board (15x20 inches)
Lavender field - oil pastel on illustration board - cropped
Poppy field - watercolor on watercolor paper (9 x 12 inches)
I have to say gouache is a delight to work with. It is basically opaque watercolor and is a very versatile medium that is under-appreciated. It can be thinned and used like watercolor or used opaquely with a similar look as oil paints (except it is matte and cannot be used too thickly due to risk of cracking). It is one of the preferred mediums for illustration due to its extremely fast drying times and matte finish which allows for easy reproduction.
I had this 10 tube gouache set from Daler Rowney which I bought about 7 years ago but never used. I got motivated to try it a few months ago after seeing some awesome work on the artist website wetcanvas.com. You can see some of my gouache work in the Gallery section.
Below is my latest gouache painting. It is based on my own picture which I took when I toured the coast of California with family back in 2007. I'm falling in love with seascapes and this one was so much fun to do. Even though I signed it, I still consider it a work in progress (WIP). I'll have to look at it for a few days before I call it done and move it to the Gallery.
Seagull - gouache on matboard (11 x 15 inches approx.)
