Rosebuds and Tripods

Two Rosebuds Three Ways

6 in x 6 in, oil on gessobord;
4in x 6 in, acrylic ink on bristol board;
2in x 3in, graphite in sketchbook

Recently I've been exploring two painting mediums after spending years in only dry media. The last few days, I tried a new process. I began with a sketch, progressed to an ink drawing, and finished off with an oil painting.

I did the sketch because I wanted to get a grip on the rosebuds before I grabbed a brush - I also needed to make some adjustments from my photo reference, and for me, it's best to work those out with a pencil.

Next I did the ink drawing, I really love this stage. The inks are such an immediate medium, there is always the element of putting down a stroke you can't change, but also the chance that the stroke you put down is better than you thought it would be.

Finally, I did the oil painting. I struggled with this one. I wiped the roses a few times, changed their colors, nearly gave up, and in the end just decided to stop. Looking at it this morning, I think it's better than I feared, but I definitely have some issues to resolve with the oil paints. (At this point in the process, I don't consult the reference, I use the sketch to guide me and make all color decisions from the canvas.)

To end, I have a question for all you talented, experienced people out there. What kind of tripod do you have? I bought a $15 one at Walmart a couple of years ago, I've used it almost every day. It has served me well, and I've gotten my money from it. However, the legs stick, don't come out evenly any more, and generally there is far more struggle than help from it anymore. Do you have a tripod that you love? Can you tell me the brand? (I can't afford one of those $200 jobs...I'm not a professional photographer...but I am an artist who needs a tripod to photograph her work. :-)

Value Study

This is a value study that I worked on last night...looking at it now, I've got some adjustments to make. I'm hoping to try some new things with this...like aqua crayons for an underpainting on aquabord.

I'll let you know how it goes!

See you for the sketch date on Saturday.

Confronting the Demon of Blurriness

This post is about the process of deciding how to compose a drawing, particularly in reference to backgrounds.

Last night I managed to squeeze in some sketching time. First, I did the outline drawing and value sketch for what I hope is my next CP piece. Then, as I was disgusted with that, I did a quick sketch from a WetCanvas! reference library image (thanks to terence_p).

Now about those flowers...

As I said, I created a line drawing from a photo I took on break. I quite liked the line drawing (although I will have to be careful about going too close to the edges.) Then I slapped on another layer of tracing paper and went for the value study. I liked the values for the flower petals (although I do wonder about being able to render them in CPs.)

Next I moved on to the background. (Yes, one ought to do it the other way, but this is just preliminary stuff, on the final version, I'll begin with the background.) In the reference photo there are dark leaves behind the flowers and small bright buds in front. I think I'm going to eliminate the tiny buds altogether because they will be a distraction. But the dark, slightly-out-of-focus leaves...how to render those?

Gut Reaction #1: Do the blurry leaves. However, I have tried to do that "slightly-out-of-focus" bit before and it is always a bit of a disaster.

Gut Reaction #2: Dark Background, nearly uniform, no suggestion of leaves. This is a good solution, but the trouble is that this is becoming my only solution! It's getting a little repetitive.

This Morning's Considered Reaction: Learn how to do a blurry background, even if I never use it. Maybe set this aside and just work on the background idea for a day or so.

If anyone has hints, tips, expertise, etc I'd love to hear it! Share it in the comments and we can all learn.

Web-Wise Wednesday 9/19/2007

Gawler Ranges, Australia, WIP
colored pencil on drafting film, 12 in x15 in
(see below for more information)
copyright J. Rose Welty

Web-Wise Wednesday - my weekly look at what I use around the web.

Site of the Week: Tutorial Man
This site is a massive collection of free photoshop tutorials. When I say massive, I mean massive. There are tutorials for several versions of Photoshop. Unfortunately, they all seem to be mixed up. But, even one tutorial that I looked at for a very old version of PS, was useful for me with the latest PS Elements.

Tutorial of the Week: Coloring Your Artwork
This tutorial was one of the ones that I found particularly useful in understanding how PS can be used in the art world. I haven't colored a sketch yet, but I do understand now how it could be done.

Gawler Ranges:
So I am continuing my series on the Gawler Ranges. My last piece was the same reference done in acrylics. This piece I will do in CPs. I started again with the grisaille technique. I've done about three hours work so far on this. I plan to do a little more on this, then flip it over and begin the coloring. I haven't done a CP piece this large before, but I just threw caution to the wind and went for it. Come to think of it, I haven't done any piece this large before!

Organizing Your Artwork

First, as I missed "Wed-Wise Wednesday" this week, I owe you a good link.

Last week, my friend Belinda wrote a great post on how to organize your artwork. I'd just begun thinking about this issue, how wonderful to read her post and realize that she had the answer. Belinda even has kindly shared her tables. So, my next piece is "001". I really do think this is a helpful system. I work regularly on two computers, so I have a job of keeping it all straight. This system is going to help me know what is where, and how to keep it all consistent.

Above you see a value study for my piece "001". :-) It is from a reference photo by Susan Borgas on her FreeSnapShots blog. She just returned from a long holiday, no doubt she'll be posting again sooner or later. She is a fabulous artist with a generous spirit. Her photos are really something to check out.

Monet and the presence of light

River of Light by Douglas Skeggs is one of my resources for Monet this month. There are several books on Monet, and I doubt that this is one of the highly ranked ones, but it is helping me to understand Monet better.

The picture referenced in the following quote is Terrace at Sainte-Adresse:

"The subject matter of this picture has begun to slip into second place. Monet is no longer interested in what he looks at, only in what he sees: in this sense it makes little difference to him whether he paints his aunt's portrait or her parasol. What is quite evident is that light has now become a physical presence in the painting. " (p.36, River of Light, Skeggs)

Of course, everyone talks about Monet and light. But when I read the above quote, the penny dropped in my mind. Ah, yes, that's it. I guess that I've always seen movement in Monet's work, but never asked myself movement of what - movement of light. Light as a presence, extending itself all over surfaces in a scene - itself being the action of the painting.

The image at top is where I've come to with the poplars. Honestly, this just isn't what I had in mind when I started this piece. I had a large tree, maybe even a forest in mind. In this post, I describe how I came to wanting to draw poplar trees with light in and amongst them. These few leaves just aren't that. So, I'm off to a new piece, with a short reflection:

What I learned here:

• I like using a grisaille technique, it really helps me.
• Colored pencils are magnificent on drafting film and I almost never want to use them on paper again. (To me, they feel like painting should feel!)
• You can back away from drawing trees because you are afraid of their structure, but then you'll find that leaves have structure too.
• Copic markers for my tool of choice for value studies.
  

Fine Art Friends

In May of 2006 I decided to challenge myself to draw for 15 minutes a day. I needed an outlet in the midst of the crazy life of a stay-at-home mom to three boys under 5. Drawing had always been something that I did now and then, but it was time to make it a regular thing. So, I started drawing for 15 minutes a day, no excuses - no "too tireds", no "nothing to draw", no "I'm not good at this." Just 15 minutes a day to lose myself.

Well, that led into researching information and techniques online, which lead to becoming a regular blog reader...leading to becoming a regular blog writer. All these things have been very good for me - I truly believe that I am a better wife and mother because I have my artwork and blog. I believe my family would agree. :-)

Anyway, I recently realized that I was missing another key component. I really need a group of fellow artists who would be brutally honest with me - so I can grow as an artist. A couple of months ago Maggie Stiefvater encouraged her readers about her own group Fineline Artists. And I thought, "well, yes, lovely, but how to find the people?" Then recently Katherine Tyrrell made a similar point in one of her posts. I suddenly realized that I already knew a group of people.

So I decided to email 3 other ladies whose blogs I read on a regular basis, and who I have had some email contact with. I sent them an email asking if they were interested in joining up as a group for the purposes of critique, encouragement, and laughter (laughing is always a good thing!) I made it clear that I would understand if they were not interested, but I wanted to try. All three came back eager to do it. We swapped some emails and now we have a private blog.

So, I am very proud to announce that I am a part of Fine Art Friends...with Belinda Lindhardt, Jo Castillo, and Kasie Sallee and Valerie Jones. I have to say that I am very excited to work with these ladies, I admire all of their work.

If you are looking for a similar group, start one. People can always respectfully decline your offer. All the ladies above have more experience than I do. I honestly feel amazed that they agreed to do this with me. I was very nervous sending out that email - I didn't want to lose the few friends I had made on the web! Already, this group has been a good thing for each of us. I would strongly encourage anyone thinking about joining a group to do so.

The image at the top is a detailed value study for my poplar tree experiment.

Value Studies

Alright, so inspiration hit as I was working on that Monet tree. One "scene" that often captivates me is hearing the wind blow through my trees and seeing the sunlight dance on the leaves. When I've had enough of life and need a break, I often go out in my back garden and watch the trees in the light - and if it's dark, I just listen. Fourteen of my trees are hybrid poplars, they have big waxy leaves that shine when the sun hits them. They make the most wonderful sound when the wind slaps the leaves together. I just love hearing that sound and watching the light.

Seems like a Monet moment doesn't it? Anyhoo, I've been playing with how to capture that. I started out wanting to do a large chunk of tree. Then I moved to a couple branches with clouds and sky behind. Then downsized to a clump. I'm currently down to around five leaves and blue in the background. Well, no harm in starting small.

I decided to do my value studies in a new way this time. I read Jana Bouc's post about Copic markers and value studies (found via Katherine's web roundup). I so had to try that. Above you see my efforts. I think I love these markers for this sort of thing - very quick to color a space, two tips to use for line and blocking in. My only regret is that I don't have a more middle gray, I just couldn't quite gauge the colors ordering online. I shall have to remedy that, soon.

More on Monet and light tomorrow.