Sidetracked Day 3

I stopped after work today and picked up some larger brushes and some Payne's grey (which was missing from my palette). So I got some real paint down fast today! Funny how using the right tools makes the job sooooo much easier!

I love working big! It really pulls me into the work fast and makes me much looser.

This is drying really fast each day, (I don't have a/c so my apartment gets really warm) so I might be able to ship this after all. Especially, if I keep working this quickly.

I am considering outlining with a gold metallic paint since this really makes me think of my Imari china. Once I am back home and can look at my china, I will be able to more readily decide.

I can always fine tune it once I get back on the mainland.

Sidetracked Day 2

Finally got a chance to work on this one again. Unfortunately, since I have begun packing, I am left with a small brush! So what I got done today was relatively slow going.

Once I stepped back to take the picture, I was pleased with how bright and colorful it is. Not only is the composition appealing, but the colors too.

I am really happy with how it is going.

The Judge Day 8--reworked layout

here is the reworked to the grid painting...I will look at this for awhile (not too long because I am running out of time before my move) and decide if this will work out.

The Judge Day 7--reworked layout

I will not surrender! So today I sat with PS and reworked my compostion using the rules that Michelle Grant offered to me. Once I am satisfied, I will start painting over again.

The picture has lots of artifacts in it from the layers in PS, so just ignore those.

I hope that I am understandiing the motivations that she discussed. I made the foreground large, the background medium, and the middle ground small. I divided the area into the 1/3rds grid and moved important elements around to the intersections.

The Judge Day 7--Verdict

I asked an artist, whom I greatly admire, to help me figure out why this piece kept bothering me.

Michelle Grant ( http://michellegrant.ca Canadian--which I don't hold against her ;)...) showed me how the layout was weak, but then gave me two great planning tools that I can use not just to 'fix' this piece, but carry forward to future pieces.

the pictures here show my piece grided with the 1/3rds composition rule and how the key elements don't line up with any of the intersections. The second image shows my piece cropped so that the key elements hit right on the intersections.

In addition, when planning a piece Michelle states, :The motive involves the division of space beyond the 1/3 rules. You decide which part of the space is going to be largest, and then the smallest, and then one will be the middle size. Here is a grid to hopefully clarify this theory.COLUMN #1 BACKGROUND MIDDLE GROUND FOREGROUND COLUMN #2SMALLMEDIUMLARGEYou take an element from Column #1, starting with your "BACKGROUND" for instance. You then decide which size it will be by choosing one of the sizes from Column #2. The Background could be Small, Medium or Large, but for clarity sake, I'll say the Backgroung will be Small.Then you decide on your Middle Ground, with a choice of Medium or Large, and I will say the I want it to be Medium in size. That now leaves the Foreground to be Large in size in relation to the other areas of the painting. The easiest way to decide this is to write out the Six Elements on a piece of paper into the two columns and draw a line across from Column #1 to Column #2, and none of the Grounds will be the same in size..."

Which makes sense.....so anyway, I am not going to crop this piece down because eliminating the top and the right elements does not appeal to me. But I will re-do this idea and lay it down right before putting any paint on it.

The Judge Day 6--stoopid tree!

I think I am just going to take that damn tree out of there!

The Judge---Day 6

I did throw some paint at it last night and I think the reason that the palm shadows bother me is because they don't match the mountain shadow---doh!
So I will change the palm shadows, much easier!
Have to work more form and shadows into the plants under the cat, too.

I got home from work and fiddled with the image in PS to see if my thoughts were on the right track.

I darkened the mountain form shadow, added some of the barn red up into the palm tree tops, lightened the palm cast shadows (they still need to have the angle corrected I think), put some shadows and lights into foliage, and worked on some overall color spots on the cat.

The Judge---day 5 ---thinking

well, I moved on to another painting that has been sitting for awhile so that I could think about this one.I need to put some warm reflective lighting on the shadow side of the cat, it is too jarring the way it is.other than that, I am not sure what else to do right now.....model the cat some more....put in the fence (but that is a last thing)...

hmm hmm hmm

the middle ground is blah, need to make it look like ground and grass and sand

the palm shadows bother me a bit, but that may just be from the blandness of the ground

need to work on that tree some more, the branches are still not right

ugh....have I mentioned that I don't like doing landscapes? but! this piece is for me, it is a memory piece of my wonderful time here in Hawaii, so I will persevere!

Sidetracked

I am doing this one for myself. It is inspired by a watercolor by another artist. It will always remind me of Waimanalo, Hawaii.

I think I will hang it in my dining room when I get back to the mainland.

It is oil on gallery wrap linen 36 x 40 inches.

I wrote to the artist Lauren Johnson and asked for copyright permission to do this piece for myself. She very graciously agreed. I only hope that I can do justice to her fantastic original watercolor.

You can see her work at this link http://www.laurenjohnsonartist.com/Site/Welcome.html

See if you can find the piece that mine is working off of!

The Judge---day 5

I worked on this yesterday alittle but it was so hot that I couldn't stand it. Sweat was dripping off my face, I was sticking to the panel, so I gave up.

this morning I got up early and started on it.

When I first look at it I think, oh there isn't that much to do, but as I work I find more and more corrections to do.

But I have not started hating it yet, so that is a good thing!

thinking about the colors

I need to tone that barn down so I have been thinking about it and consulting my great little color mixing book, The Watercolor Painters Pocket Palette, by Moira Clinch.

I think that a glaze with yellow ochre will give it the temperature that I need. Then burnt umber glaze for the shadowy sections of the siding.

The palms are coming in nicely but the umbrella shaped tree (not sure what it is exactly...I will look it up in Google) is too one dimensional. I need some sky holes in it and more shadows. The branches need to go back away from the front plane of the tree too. everything is all on one plane.

The riding arena has a good start, and it looks just like it feels when you are out there: hot!

I noticed that subconsciously I have made the painting in two halves of bright light and subdued light. I will have to think about this development and decide if I need to change it or let it stay that way. I think since the painting is very horizontally banded, that my intuition took over and did that to balance it.

I will leave the cat really until last because otherwise it will distract me from the environment that shapes it/him/her.

I am also going to leave the fence along the long backside of the arena for last because I will put it in and then not disturb it.

So this is really how I work; lots and lots of thinking, some actual painting, more thinking,...

kind of boring, huh?

today's work on the judge

I am happy with what got done today. I am taking abreak and then going back to it.

I find that I work the whole panel at once with this piece. As opposed to the panel that I did for Le Cadeau du Cheval, I worked in sections.

I think that as I get more paint onto the surface that I will probably do it sectionally. Right now, I am trying to keep the whole united in temperature and color range.

Dropping in the first indications of shadows makes a big impact.

I am also happier with this cat's body shape than I had previously.

I have to flog myself to work on the foliage under the cat. It just is such a chore. I am happy with how the background is falling into place.

As always, this artwork is copyrighted to the artist only. NO COPYS.

noticing a bit of anatomy lately

Since I have been working harder on my riding than my painting, I will share that I have been noticing the anatomical connection of the horse's head to neck right behind the ears. It is very flat and square shaped when you sit in the saddle and look at it. The bridle sits into it quite nicely.
The other thing that I have noticed, and this is very different between my two horses, is the flexion of that area when they graze.
My gelding, the Grand Prix level horse, has tremendous flexability there. My mare not as much. This probably is also from the conformation of their necks. His is longer and he has a nice wide jaw for the throat to fit into. Her neck is shorter and thicker, not very pretty at all. But the dressage training will help that. I wonder if she will be willing to put up with the slight discomfort of giving more and more behind the jaw as we move up the levels. It was difficult for my gelding.
I digress.....what I noticed is how he has more flexion forward when he grazes and hers follows the topline of her neck more closely.
Both things will now be incorporated into my artwork.

Distracted from the Judge

bleah it has been so hot and still, I just could not sit by the window and paint. the last time I tried my arm kept sticking to things......my knee has been bothering me and it really hurts to sit or be otherthan horizontal for any length of time....I am getting ready to move again and that planning has distracted me.....I had to organize a dressage clinic.....I had to ride.....I am at a phase where I am afraid of "ruining" the painting because it is soooo darn precious.......END OF WHINING>>>

So the main thing is that I need to just lay some paint down. You would think that at this stage of my life that big fear block would have gone away. Nope, it doesn't. And it is a factor that seems to affect most artists that I know (well, some I only know from online comm, but all the same). The really successful artists are the ones who soldier through with the confident knowledge that they will produce good artwork no matter what.
My hero, Bob Clark, has a routine that he follows and it gets him down to work quickly and focused like a laser beam. You can see his work at www.robertclark.com
So heigh-ho, heigh-ho back to work I need to go!

oh, ps--this arts & crafts, craftsman style of painting is not written about much. I went to the bookstore and online to try and find source materials but in the end only found one book (magnificent, beautiful, $50, walk away-walk away) that was worth having. I will buy it after I am moved and settled. So now I am thinking; hmmmm maybe I should put a book together! Now there is an audacious idea! One for my retirement days I think!