Paintin...

I wasn't going to post the painting I did on my first plein air outing. But after thinking about I thought what the hell, I will post it. Even though I do not like this painting, the whole point of starting this blog in the first place was to track my progress and progression as an artist. I am actually starting to like this painting. The reason being that I can look at it now and see all of the things that need to be improved, or how I could have done it better. So, I am learning a lot from this painting and, from that outing. There is another plein air outing coming up this Sunday, and being that it is a bi-week for the Steelers (they generally meet at 2:00, an hour into game time), I am planning on attending.

This is oil on 10 x 12 panel. It is a view from Mt. Washington looking down the Monongahela river valley ( Monongahela is a Lenape[Native American] word for "High bluffs", or "falling banks"). The Southside of Pittsburgh is on the right.

I hope to return in a year and paint the same scene to see how much progress I have made.

Sketchin...

Haven't done much sketching this past week. I took a look at the image from this weeks drawing thread at wetcanvas. I loved the image so much I decided in stead of sketching it, I would try to paint it. This is oil on a 10 x12 panel. It took about 2 hours or so to complete. My egg shapes are funny, but I think I captured the light pretty good.

I added a new playing card painting to my painting blog.
Click here or the link on the right.
I have two more (#4 and #5) complete, just waiting for them to dry so I can scan them and post. I also completed a 10x12 oil that I will post as soon as I am able to either scan, or take a good picture of it.

I have been so consumed with painting that I haven't given any time for sketching. I haven't
had a chance to participate in the drawing forum over at WetCanvas. Bums me out cause I like to keep my drawing skills sharp. In the meantime, I have done a little work on the "etching" project that was discussed on an earlier post. Here is the start of a "logo" that will be used for the "Greatest Materials Moments" event.

Paintin'...

Well I went out on my first plein air adventure yesterday. I found out about a local group (Plein Air Painters of Western Pennsylvania) that meets every Sunday at various locations. So I thought I would give it a shot and packed up my paints and headed out. I was nervous about attending being that I have no experience painting in plein air, but with much encouragment and support from Kate, I braved it. Glad I did because it was a good experience. Yesterday the location was at the Mt. Washington overlooks. It was nerve racking being that there is a lot of scenery to take in, and being that it was a beautiful day, a lot of people about.

There were 4 members of PAPWP that day. They were very encouraging and greeted me with a warm welcome. Ron was a great guy and I hope to join them as often as I can. I haven't decided if I am going to post my painting from that day, I think it is quite terrible. I will look at it again and see if it strikes me after the fact.

Sketchin...

Here are a couple of sketches I did sitting around the campfire this past weekend.
These are headshots I sketched from a Magazine my wife had with her.

Plein Air...

Here is my first attempt at a plein air painting. This a view of the campground we where staying at. It is more of a rough sketch than a complete painting. The brushes I was using were horrible(cheap brushes in a canvas roll from Michaels), and I never finished the foreground. Got to start somewhere though.
I think I did a good job of capturing the light, but the color and composition are not so good.

I really need to come up with a better way of taking pictures. Again, sorry for the blurry pict.

Pochade Box...

Two weekends ago I spent the day building this pochade box. This is a mock up I built using a picture of a Guarilla Box as reference. This one is built using MDF and holds five 10x12 panels. I will build one out of hardwood once I feel that the dimensions and features are to my satisfaction.
It was fun to build, but I doubt that the MDF will hold up over time. I went on a camping trip this past weekend and got to use it. Will post those picts next.

Still can't seem to get a good picture of the painting I did. So in the meantime here is a shot of my easel with the painting on it. The two smaller painting are on playing cards that have been primed. I use these little cards (3 1/2" x 2 1/2") to use up some of the paint I have left on my pallete and experiment a little. These are the same size as ATC's (Art Trading Cards), although I haven't gotten involved in trading these cards.

Ramblin'...
The sample etching went off(postings, 8/28, 8/30). It was well recieved and looks like we are going to proceed forward with the woodcuts renders for the rest of the top ten moments. I will post the progress.

I finally got to do some painting last night. Only got to work for about an hour and a half but it was great. I am working through the Helen Van Wyk book on color mixing. A great guide. I worked the first study on Thalo green using the lettuce and green pepper set up. I am pretty happy with the results. It is a new of approaching oils for me, but I like where it is going. I tried to snap a picture of it last night to post, but the oil was still wet and the reflection was too bad in the pict. Hopefully tonight or tomorrow I will be able to get a good picture of it.

Finished Sam Painting

Finally here is the completed painting.

Painting Sam Continued...

Here I begin to add color to the lighter colored fur of Sam. I believe I used a mix of Titanium White, Blue and Yellow Ochre. I add color to the white of Sam's eye and to the highlight on his nose. These are the lightest areas in the photo and will help me establish my brightest color on the canvas.







Here I begin to add more dark color, A mix of Burnt Sienne, to the contour of Sam's face. I am slowly beginning to build up some detail on Sam's ear.








Continuing to build up color and detail in the face, while bouncing back and forth from the ear.










More detail to the face and ear. There is a touch of blue in the darker body color. For some reason my camera picked it up off the wet oil paint when I snapped this shot. Probably because at this point I am really starting to build up some paint on the canvas(compared to the thin layers of the underpainting).







Now that I am happy with the detail of the face and feel that Sam is complete, I start to paint in the background color.

Here is the inked version of the etching sample I needed to create. My brush/ink skills are not very strong. I feel it is a little sloppy. I was hoping that the sloppiness of the ink lines would mimic the "bleed" and line break-up that occurs when prints are pulled from an original wood etching. I am not entirerly convinced that this will work. But it is up to the boss's at work to decide if they like the look. Besides I am usually my worst critic.

Painting sam...

My brother was checking my blog the other day and was asking about my process for the "Sam" painting I did(posted 8/19). It so happens that I photographed the process as I went along. It has been several years since I painted this so I will do my best relate my thought process as the painting progresses.


First I sketched out Sam on the canvas board. Its a pretty detailed contour sketch with some marks to indicate highlights and other notable features. (sorry about the photos) looking back on it now, I should have paid better attention to the composition of sketch.









At this point I lay down an oil wash of Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna. This will be my body color. I am guessing at the actual tube colors I used being that I did this some time ago. I then took a Q-tip and a rag and began to "pull-out" the highlights to reveal the canvas below. I then took a darker mix and layed in the shadow and darker areas of the body.







Here I begin to build up my dark areas while defining some detail and highlights. I tend to build up to my dark/light tones, sneeking up on a balance that I like. I do this more out of fear than anything.










I continue to build up my color and detail. Working the larger areas first.

If anyone is actually following along out there, you may remember I mentioned creating some illustrations as woodcuts(posted on 8/24/06). The following images are samples of the woodcuts they would like me to recreate.




The following image is from a cover of JOM. The monthly magazine that the organization publishes. This image of a electron microscope may not be one of the final acheivements voted on, but this is just for a sample piece to see if the exacution will work well or not.



This is my sketch so far. Not only do I need to make it look like a woodcut, but I replaced the person sitting there with a more sixteenth century looking figure. I think it looks good so far. I hope that when I ink it, it will have the look I am aiming for.



I posted this at wetcanvas to get some input from some fellow artists. you can check that out here

Sketchin...





Finally got a change to squeeze a fews of sketching in. This is another challange from the weekly drawing thread at wetcanvas(WDT@WC). I thought this would be a fun one to approach a little differently. I used black and white charcoal on a grey watercolor paper. I think it worked well. The trexture of the paper made it difficult to blend, but it lends to the "feel" of the sketch.

Rambling...

It has been a busy week and I haven't had a chance to do any drawing. I was approached last week at work about an illustration project. The organization I work for is celebrating it's 50th anniversary (in its current inception). To honor the occasion they will be rolling out a top ten list of the greatest engineering achievements of all time. The idea came about to illustrate these acheivements as woodcut prints, simular to ones created in the sixteenth century. Should be a fun and challenging project to work on. I did some experimenting with different ways of executing a rendering that would mimick this look. I think I will use a #2 fine brush and black ink on Bristol board to acheive the effect. Will post the progress

I am getting ready to start doing some painting. I have been looking at different artists and techniques. I think I am really going to love plein aire painting. I love the loose style and painterly brushwork of this style of painting. Soon I will begin my color theory training, I could get away with just jumping in and painting, I have done well in the past simple using my instincts to guide me through a painting when it comes to color. I feel, however, that it is time to start learning the ins and outs of color so that I can better acheive the look and feel of a subject that I may be looking for.

I found this great instructional link on wetcanvas for preparing your own panels using masonite(hardboard). I am going to do that this weekend. I figured I could get 36 10x12 panels and 4 6x12 panels from a 4'x8' sheet. Cant wait to get this done so I can start working through my color theory book and begin putting some paint to canvas (or board as the case may be).

Old Painting...

Sam, Oil on canvas board, 12" x 18"




This was a commision I did for a former co-worker. Sam was her true friend and when he passed she wanted something to remember him by. This was only the third time I painted in oil. This painting is when I really started to like oil's and saw the potential for me to work in this medium. In, fact I took the money from this commision, went out and bought a bunch of oil paints, new brushes, mediums and the like. Unfortunatly, I not yet painting anything in oil and in fact this was the last painting I have done. That was over four or five years ago. That will change soon though.

Sketchin'...




Finished my eye sketch. Ended up filling a whole page in my sketch book with this. It was hard to know when to stop working on this. I could just keep layering and layering the graphite on this but figured it was best to leave it be. Truth is the eye kept staring back at me while I was working on it and it is giving me the creeps. I swear I saw it blink once or twice. :-)

I forgot to keep track of the time I spent. I guess about three hours.

Sketchin'...




Got another challenge from the weekly drawing thread at wetcanvas. This time it's an eye. This is my progress so far. I spent about an hour, of and on, working in this last night. When I am drawing or painting, I get completely lost in time. I need to make a point of keeping an eye on the time when I am doing any drawing. It will make it easier for me to set aside time in the day to work on some art projects.

Being that I don't have anything new to post and haven't done any sketching, I figured I would present another painting from the past...

Old Paintings...

Untitled (Leopard), Watercolor, 1997



I painted this leopard for a fundraising auction to help local women's shelters.
It is probably one of my favorite pieces that I have done. Which always seems to be the way with the ones you let go.
This is a watercolor on colored paper. I just love the mood of this painting. I wish I still had it. But it was for a good cause.