Tag Archives: painting

June 16, 2015

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Spent about an hour this evening working “en plein air” at Marymoor Park. This time it was hazy and beginning to cloud up, so the colors weren’t as brilliant and the shadows less defined.

I began with the sky, using a mixture of Cerulean Blue and Titanium White. I really wanted to mix in a bit of yellow and red to replicate the warm, sunset air I had seen the night before, but this evening, the light was much cooler because of the clouds, making the visible patches of sky appear blue.

After painting the sky, I mixed in some Raw Umber and painted the distant treeline, taking care to soften the edges. Next up were the trees on the upper left, using a lighter, more saturated green made with Prussian Blue, Yellow Ochre, and Raw Umber. The highlights in the trees are Cadmium Yellow with a bit of Yellow Ochre. At some point I began losing the light and switched to darkening values across the painting with Raw Umber and the green I used for the trees. The plan is to cover some of these darks with lighter leaf and grass textures.

Plein Air Marymoor

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Plein air painting this evening at Marymoor Park! Twas a beautiful afternoon, with nary a cloud in the sky as I made my way past a long line of cars queuing up for an A.R. Rahman concert in the park. Once past the concert traffic I made my way to the dog park and then onto the Audubon Bird Loop. I stopped at this lovely spot, which I had scouted the night before.

It was halfway through the golden hour so I rushed to set up my pochade and block in the painting. I spent 25 minutes in total on the setup and the block in. The plan is to return another day to start on the color.

What a wonderful evening! After packing up and saying “hi” to some dogs, it was beginning to get dark, but I could still make out the dying embers of the sunset as I made my way back to the truck.

Basement Studio

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Here are two shots of my basement studio. The light stands are actually $20 floor lamps from Home Depot. Each holds a clip lamp and a inexpensive fluorescent fixture designed to go under a cabinet. These fixtures hang from s-hooks and are secured at the bottom with a little painter’s tape. The large canvas in the back is for the pipe wrench, once I figure out the design. New Wave palette on the floor, leaning against the easel. The actual pipe wrench can be seen poking out of a box in the lower left corner of the second image.

New Wave Palette

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I’m trying out a new palette from New Wave – it’s their Grand View Confidant model. The palette is gigantic, but very light weight and it has an ergonomic design which rests nicely against my hip. The wood is beautiful and the finish like satin.

Before I got the palette I would mix up strings on a piece of glass, but as I’ve started working on larger paintings, I have found that I do better standing, with the palette in hand. I still use strings, but with the palette, I tend to mix each stroke individually, which leads to a more interesting and realistic painting. Painting this way also seems quicker and easier.

May 25, 2015

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Today I painted a broken layer of red over the green on the handle. My string was based on Cadmium Red, desaturated with Terre Verte Hue, and darkened with a mixture of Raw Umber and Prussian Blue.

I really like the effect of the broken color. Painting the red went much quicker than the green, since all I was doing was changing the hue, while leaving the value alone. The technique is quite versatile – dabbing the paint gives a solid fire engine red, while rubbing it in yields anything from a desaturated red to a neutral to a green. Really cool.

May 17, 2015

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I’ve covered the bottom of the handle with a dark green in preparation for a layer of fire engine red. The idea is that flecks of dark green will show through holes in the red paint. This should make it look like the paint is flaking off of the handle from years of wear.

The green on the handle is a bit warmer and lighter than I would like, so before adding the red paint, I will probably sponge on some dark blue to bring down the value while leaving patches of cooler color to show through the red.

The jaws are almost dry enough now for the next layer, which will be warmer and rust-colored.

I also need to fix some drawing errors in the linear gear and the knurled knob.

Natural Sponge Textures

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I’ve been experimenting using natural sponges to create rust textures for my Pipe Wrench study.

This example uses Golden Heavy Body Artist Acrylics on a canvas panel. I first painted a mixture Raw Umber and Burnt Sienna across the entire surface of the panel, using a large, flat brush. Once this was dry, I used the sponge to mottle on blobs of pure Raw Umber and Burnt Sienna.

This experiment was a great success. Next step is to repeat it in oils, and possibly add in some notes of green.

May 12, 2015

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This evening I started painting the bottom layer of the metal texture for the second Pipe Wrench Study. Right now the color scheme looks dramatically different, compared with the first study, but this will change as I scumble a warmer, rust colored, texture on top of the green.

Here’s a close up view. The charcoal circles on the left are critique notes, drawn directly on the canvas.

David Shratter

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I love this painting by David Shratter. The design is the essence of simplicity, but close inspection of the craftsmanship in that paint surface reveals layer upon layer of complexity. One really nice touch is the use of broken color in the background. The top half uses a broken blue gray on a magenta ground, while the bottom uses a broken neutrals on a blue green background.

The piece is in the permanent collection at the Tacoma Art Museum and is currently on display as part of the The Still-Life Tradition in the Northwest exhibition
March 1−June 7, 2015

Duet V, David Shratter, 2002

Detail of Duet V by David Shratter