Painting, Not Polishing is My Cup of Tea

Silver Tea Pot;  8" x 10"; watercolor

I wrote a long drawn out post about polishing silver, which I did yesterday for some unknown reason. Then I deleted it; it was boring. This watercolor of the the tea pot that got painted, instead of polished, says it all: painting is more enjoyable than polishing. But then you all know that.

Only Organic

Only Organic,  10" x 12 1/2"; watercolor

my reference photograph

The vegetable drawers in my frig are not exactly the neatest drawers in the house. Far from it. During the winter
months, I just wipe them out when Honey brings the "only organic" vegetables home from the market.  But in the summer is when I deep clean them in the garden with my garden hose on the jet stream setting. In the summer, cleaning the bins is fun. In the winter, a wipe and a polish is all I can muster.

I don't care if we eat "only organic" or not. I prefer inorganic because organic spoils just minutes home from the market. Now that I don't do the marketing, organic is just fine.

What attracted me to this subject was the plastic storage bags filled with veggies one atop the other. To get a better drawing, I felt a strong  need for masking medium--but not strong enough to get me to use it.   I just went at this painting  in my normal free handed way.  I'm noticing I'm standing more when working with watercolors. Seated is just too seated. Rigamortis sets in. 

Photographic Saturday: For Reference or On Their Own

From the seat of my bicycle, the promise of warmer rides.

I took the day off art. I drove Honey for his post op check up and learned that eye drop duty is going to continue till the middle of May. The news didn't cheer us up. But checking in on all the blogs I admire did put me back on track--but not enough to go to the studio. Instead, I went through the photographs I took before Honey and I got involved in this medical procedure that's going on forever.


The Grand Rapids, Michigan photographs I liked well enough to show:

At The J.W. Marriott, excellent lighting design using multiple pendant fixtures
to create a big bang impression and provide the cozier feeling of a lower ceiling over diners in their restaurant.

A provocative poster at the Gerald R Ford Museum showing Ford and
Nelson Rockefeller storming a beach in the Middle East for the oil
aroused my politics. Every president since could be so pictured.
This piece of poster art could be the center of a few blog posts
from me on my dissatisfaction with the under use of our own energy resources due to
smaller picture oriented interest groups.

Betty Ford's Presidential luncheon china. I was happy to see
I would feel at ease dining at the White House. My mom often set her table like this
to teach us etiquette should we ever get invited.
I set my table this way too in case my kids ever made it to the White House.
You use the silver from the outside in towards the plate. The center piece is a too high; it blocks
cross table conversation--maybe that was the purpose?

The Streets of old Grand Rapids in The Grand Rapids People's Museum.
I love taking trips back in time when life was slower, wood mouldings were hand carved
and store clerks knew your name and you knew theirs. 

The Apothecary Shop with the Department
Store's windows reflected in the glass, a good
reference photograph for the future. I like the light blue against
the dark. I might also like a square format?

Grand Rapids, The Paris of Furniture Design.  You  can't get finished artisan carpentry like this
anymore and not pay with your first born. Note the moire fabric on the walls. I did a  pre Civil War circa
renovation and used delft blue moire on the walls. Gorgeous. Grand Rapids was a big furniture manufacturing
town at one time. Basset came out of there and Steel Case, respectable names with respectable design. My
dad was in the furniture business before Art Van cheapened  up the business (probably by out sourcing)
 and knocked a lot of folks out-of-business.

We went there to see the Robert Rauschenberg Exhibit, but couldn't photograph any of the works.
We were allowed to make our own composition on a magnetic board. Honey and I got carried away.

To lunch at Leo's. And now we're going to lunch at  the California Pizza Kitchen.

Waiting With a Friend

TIME FLIES IN THE WAITING ROOM

The Lady With My Lexus; iPad Finger Drawing; Brushes app

She was waiting. I was waiting. She was reading. I was drawing. Both of us were drinking coffee in the surgical waiting room.

Both of us drove the same color, same model Lexus. I got the info from fill-the-time-chatter.  Our two cars were parked next to each other in the lot. Both of us would be driving our spouses home from their eye surgeries and would be administering eye drops every two hours the rest of the day. We would meet again  for their post op check ups the next morning. We were sharing a moment that she will  probably forget. My finger painting and our chatter will be in my memory forever. The time really flew.

BETWEEN THE DROPS: MATISSE

Matisse Out of The Blue; iPad Finger Drawing; Brushes app

There was no energy left to finish  the watercolor I did manage to start between eye drop sessions (below), but plenty of time to regain my inner peace settled in the lounge chair with the iPad. Honey and I were exhausted from up at six AM, drive across town to hospital to do something we'd rather not. With our apprehensions and fears behind us, however, Matisse showed up out of the blue as Honey dozed on the couch.

AND WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS IS GOING  TO BE?  There's one in every home and they all look something like this, but not as pretty.

The unfinished watercolor on my plexi pizza board.

My Little Red Bird

PAINTING  RELIEVES TENSION 

Alessi Kettle; 10" x 10", watercolour

The Portland Building for all you artists
living in the Portland area.

Particularly when there's nothing riding on how it turns out.

The Alessi Kettle was designed by  Michael Graves, Architect and designer for Poggenpohl cabinetry, which our company represented in the Detroit area and I specked often when designing contemporary kitchens and baths.

I fell in love with the little red bird whistle the minute I saw it.  I had to have one for the my cooktop in the galley kitchen in our new apartment on the twenty second floor  where  aquariums weren't recommended.  The water sloshed out of them on windy days;  the building swayed.  So much so, that once a year I had the maintenance man  named Phil come up and rehang my chandelier, which was  suspended from the ceiling with four airplane wires. After a year of swaying in the wind, one wire could be counted on to disconnect. I loved having a guy named Phil around.

I gifted my kitchen clients with the Alessi Kettle when their kitchen renovation projects were completed.  They loved the little red bird as much as I did and still do.

Baby Eyes and Eye Drops

My eyes are on the eyes of the infant on the easel and Honey's  eyes the next week and a half or more?

My soul-mate's second cataract operation is tomorrow so I'm on eye drop duty.  Honey  can't do eye drops to himself; he has an aversion to sticking his finger in his eye but none to me sticking a finger in his eyes. We have four sessions on the agenda today. Tomorrow eight and then progressively less and less sessions till our eye drop crazy opthomologist is satisfied. April has definitely been Eye Health Awareness Month at our house.

Happy with my  infant's hands, I'm now carefully, slow-dancing around his facial features.  I discolored the photograph deliberately so you can see where I'm going into his mouth with that newborn sucking lip coloration, his flattened wide nose and his swollen shut eyes from the birth ordeal and eye drops they give newborns.   The upper eye that you see, is slightly open. In the reference photo, I can see the iris oh so slightly and I want to catch that.  I want to catch that lip too. And his hairline is oh so soft and gentle that I've been blending and blending to get it believable.  I'm using my tiniest brushes and lots of medium for more fluid lines. Doing a lot of scrumbling as well. God I hate that flash.

I have been working on the older boy's hands too. And yesterday, I was surprised to see the cradling arm was too short.  I lengthened it and now need to rework  those skin tones again.

It's so odd when you've used the grid system to lay out  the drawing  with pencil and then everything needs adjustment when you bring in the paint. The boy's arm was short about an inch!

I'm rounding the clubhouse gate though and given that I'm home on eyedrop duty I should finish with plenty of drying time between now and Mothers' Day.  I still have to look up acceptable varnish periods.  Dan Kent gave me a suggestion, but I forgot.

For My Sleepless New Neighbor, Princess AndthePea

Who asked me to take down my one wind chime that has hung on the back patio for thirteen years. And for myself who has been so annoyed at her chutzpah (nerve) and my immediate compliance with her request that I have become an asshole too. It's not a cowbell. It's an artisan chime hung thirty three feet or more away from her unit in a sheltered spot and only tinkles when the wind velocity exceeds 45 mph. Its seldom heard decibles are immesurable. It brings good che.  Excuse me. I have to go practice my piano finger exercises; it's seven AM.




THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT. IT BOLSTERED MY CONVICTIONS. I HUNG THE CHIMES BACK WHERE THEY BELONG; MY CHI CAME BACK; MY HOUSE WAS IN ORDER. I SAT DOWN AND WARMED UP FOR MY PORTRAIT SESSION.

First Corn; watercolor  on Reeves; 6" x 8"

Okay, One More App Tryout: Lucus Asketch

Lucus,  A combination of  iPad drawing Apps using first Asketch
for the charcoal drawing, then Brushes for color and line.

Okay, finally, I doodled a guy--still with long lean face--but male.  The lights and darks are jumbled, the hat visor could be better formed and he hardly has an ear, but once again I was concentrating on how to manipulate the tools in Asketch, then transfer over to use the tools in Brushes. I tried to write my name, but it came out sloppy, similar to my dad's signature, which was extremely easy to forge on report cards I didn't care to show anyone.

Now don't tell me that once I get a grip on it. The iPad isn't a great sketchpad for working out ideas without dragging out a lot of  stuff.

Now who is Lucus? Damned if I know. But if I was to guess:  He's the guy who lives down in the hollar in a broken down cabin with a front yard littered with the carcasses of dead farm machinery.  He owns a large herd of cattle branded  with a swastika, who roam freely in the foothills of the Sierra mountains.You don't want to get in his way. I hear he has some tattered white sheets tucked in his crawl space--so you certainly do not want to put a mezuzah on your door-post. The guy's a loner and doesn't cotton to strangers of any persuasion.  The speed limit through the hollar  is 25mph, but I would suggest strongly you drive by quickly.

And there my children is another free association iPad drawing along with a crock of fiction from L.W.R.
Happy painting on the real stuff. 

Who Are These Women?

My  Apparition; 10" x 13," oil pastels on Strathmore drawing paper.

Does this woman look like this woman? Who is this who keeps creeping into my drawings? I did this drawing thirty four years ago. Then a gal who bears  resemblance to her doodles up two days ago on the iPad. Who is this woman and why does she haunt my art?

"THEY" (psychologists/psychiatrists), say we tend to draw faces when left on our own. We've seen so many of them  in our lifetimes, some get tucked away in our subconscious till they spill out in drawings years later.

The iPad woman, Mrs. Aster I've named her, reminded me, while I was drawing it, of this drawing from 1978. I hunted it down and pulled it out of an old portfolio. Sure enough there is a resemblance. Who the hell is she?  Then I went around the house looking for the other faces I  had made up spur of the moment.  Thankfully, they didn't look like her. They were  incomplete by comparison.


Free association drawing  can be very successful for as long as you can keep consciousness out of the picture.  You can for a while, but eventually your head comes back and you start making judgments on values and composition and balance, blah-blah.  While you started with just a pencil, soon you find yourself popping up and down going for your oil crayons, your acrylics, whatever you think is  necessary to solidify,  finish the job and figure out  exactly what it is you are doing. And that's when a doodle becomes an art piece.

Another head that appeared magically.

 Some doodled artworks are more imaginative and unique than others. The better ones are  those where you still have a feeling something more should be done, but you don't know what it is, so you just stopped.  If  you were  lucky, you were smart enough to leave well enough alone, sign it and walk away. Sometimes, you never signed it. Such was the case of the women who haunt me in my living room nightly.

These two heads in my very large painting in my living room tug at the anatomist in me regularly to come fix them . I absolutely won't. Their malformed, ambiguity is, I suspect, the life of the painting and what the painting is all about. If I fix the short-comings, I'm sure I'll kill it. So, I've never titled it. I never signed it. For all I know, I might still be living it?

This head showed up first in the painting process.  It's the head of a young bride,
at least that's what I suppose she is . She's running towards the right of the painting.
She's wearing stiletto pumps with a red bow and yards of tulle.

She's stopped  midway by a giant, seated female  figure with this head that
has no cheek bones, hardly a chin and a smashed in nose, not at all anatomically correct.
 This unfinished figure is motioning her to come closer--maybe luring her closer?

And the story ends far right with a straight forward,  nude, buxom female
 and the profile of a larger head looking back.


PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ABOVE THREE PAINTINGS ARE  THREE DETAILS FROM A MUCH LARGER 
PAINTING, (12'-0" X 6'-0"), THAT COVERS AN ENTIRE WALL.  IT'S A FREE ASSOCIATION  PAINTING i PAINTED IN 1980.

Move Over David Hockney

Miss Aster's Asters pushed way over the top with  iPad's Brushes

Miss Aster's Asters; my first
doodle with  iPad Brushes

I had a hell of a time just trying to figure out how to draw a line. It took me some some minutes--felt like an hour. I felt like an old Samsonite Luggage commercial where a baboon is banging a piece of luggage around his cage and it still won't do what he wants it to: open. The I finally got a line. Then I figured out the color--whatever tint  of shade you can dream up. I spent the whole evening  learning the ins and outs of the program. You'll notice I really liked the dot, dot, dot tool and got carried away like some kid. As we were turning out the lights for the night, I spotted a picture that suggested photos could be brought into the mix...first thing this morning I got my new toy and tried that out. I imported the three previous
iPad drawings I did and incorporated them into Miss Aster's space. Then fooled
around some more to blend them in. Of course the picture is way over the top.
But over doing is just the thing to do when learning something new. It gives
you ideas for future figure paintings as Brushes calls it.

Some women my age knit. Some play table games. Many belong to book clubs. I fool around with whatever has to do with making a mark. And there's lots of fun marks to be made-- and  easy sketching practice with no mess to be had with this new age device. It's well worth trading a painting.  The app was about eight dollars--less than a movie--or a good glass of chardonnay. I now have three sketching app. I can probably drop one, but not till I'm as good at it as David Hockney.

The Studies Begin for My Guys

You can't start too soon preparing yourself for the next portrait. So I started my new adventure with this sketch. I used a photograph I took twelve years ago, but the camera must have been set to auto. I quickly surmised there was a flash. I do not like to use a flash ever when taking photographs to be used for a painting reference.  I don't like the shading on the faces either. Even with the flash washout, their skin tones are red and will have to be adjusted. As far as the drawing goes, I got a better likeness of one son than I did of the other in this first  drawing--but, all in all, not too bad for a first, free hand try. The study took me about two hours with no music.  I kept thinking Linda, turn on BB. But I was too busy comparing shapes and  noticing proportions and  taking note of points in common. The session flew by.

This PM, my baby hands got happier. I had my music on.

My third son will be in this portrait as well. He is sitting a bit to the left of his brother on the left. Studies of him will be private. He shuns Facebook.

Studying the drawing this way is advantageous. The translation makes where I went wrong clearer to me.
Like my youngest son's eyes--and the shape of his hair. You do notice that both of my guys have facial hair. I haven't a clue why they like it. They both do have chins. and strong jawlines.

Blew It! But Not Altogether.

This underpainting on the left  no longer exists; all that remains of it is the painting on the right. A pity. It was a good abstract. But had I left it alone, this painting wouldn't have happened.

 I totally blew the orange horse--overworked it--but I suspect it was overworked yesterday. I did like my development of  the right portion of the painting, so I cut the bad out and kept the good. It's small and narrow, (3 1/4" x 8"), but  charming. You live, you paint, you screw up, you learn what's a mess, what's worthy of saving.






AFTER MY DISASTER, I FIRMED UP THE FIRST PAINTING: After a couple days of observation, I decided when painting a carousel,  one needs a firm grip on some solid color.

THEN I FOOLED AROUND TILL LUNCH:  Watercolors aren't finished till matted. They need air to breathe--especially when the blog page has a charcoal gray background.

AND I WILL TOO GET THOSE TINY LITTLE HANDS IF IT KILLS ME--AND IT MIGHT!

Another couple of hours spent with oils and little baby hands. They are painful to paint, but I think I'm making progress. An artist I ran into advised don't make them as wrinkled as they are. Thinking I know best--we're all so egotistical--I ignored her advice for a while, then after getting too detailed and ugly, I started to simplify. She was absolutely correct. The hands have started to improve.

Online looking for glazing guidance, I ran into a wonderful portrait artist. Jess Bates is his name. His site is basically to promote his portrait business, but it also offered tutorials. I read one then browsed through his other pages.  After reading what he tells his clients, I felt so much better about how long this painting is taking me.  Bates said a painting can take four to six weeks to paint and another month to varnish That's for a painting coming from a professional. Naturally, being a novice, of course this painting is going to take  me  a tad longer. I immediately relaxed. My Mother's Day deadline is off. I do plan to finish before then, but I really do think it should be varnished correctly. A proper varnish coat is what will keep the painting in the family  for years.  For other novice and not so novice portrait artists, I added Jess Bates to my blog list. I intend to spend some more afternoons with this man.

Enough Poking the New, I Have a Debt to Pay

Carousel 3, The underpainting. Wet into wet
watercolour interrupted by a friend dropping in.

From what I can tell from my crash reading/research course, it seems that portrait painters have set recipes for skin tones. They have a Caucasian recipe, an Asian recipe, a Black recipe and a Brown skin recipe. I now have a recipe too: for Caucasians: lots of Titanium white,( though Flake white is more off white and better says some for mixing skin tones), Cadmium yellow medium, Alzarin Crimson --be careful not to use too much of either one, a couple of hairs is enough--and raw umbra. are my basics. Then for cool tints a bit of Ultramarine blue or Veridian.
These are the oils I have repeatedly placed on the palette for the two kids. This is the palette of the two kids.

I've quit poking around with the iPad, downloaded some apps and now I have to pay my debt. I want to deliver the painting before Mother's Day--that's sometime in May--maybe the second Sunday? I've lost track, since I've lost my mothers and my own kids have flown the coop to other parts of the country. But we do watch TV and I'm sure the commercials for jewelry and Victoria's Secret will start soon and tip me off that the holiday for the benefit of jewelers and lingerie boutiques is around the corner. then I will be off to the next...

For my next portrait adventure, I've chosen to do my three grown, middle aged sons. I have many photographs of them as little boys, only one where all three are together as men.  Again I won't get to take a multitude of photographs to find the right one, but at least the one I do have, I took and  didn't use a flash.

The flash lighting on the two babies above, (the older boy is just three), is driving me nuts. I also want to darken the upper right-hand  and left-hand corner and leave just flecks of light as the plane would be lighted if the light was coming from about 8 o'clock over my left shoulder as I held the camera peeking in to say good night.

Taking Another Turn Around : Carousel and Sketchpad

 TWO SKETCHPAD DRAWINGS FROM TWO DIFFERENT APPS,

Sketchpad 3, iPad free download, was what I used for Saturday's drawing
and this one. This App doesn't have the sophisticated color range
 of Sketch Pad Pro which sells for a dollar. I kept it anyway.

This one is Sketch Pad Pro (SPHD) for one dollar.
Being able to clear the drawing with one touch and lay in fields of color are an
advantage, BUT the tool bar keeps disappearing--and that's annoying.

Carousel 2, 2012, watercolor on 140 lb. Reeves

I DID MORE INVESTIGATING BETWEEN LAUNDRY LOADS
 and found Autodesk Sketchbook Pro for sixty dollars. After a lot more practice and seeing just how much use I have for mechanical sketching, maybe I'll consider it? At first read, Autodesk seems to be quite the App.  It looks great for graphic artists. I am not one, but I would have liked to try it out online, but I couldn't find a way. I think you should be able to sample before purchase.

SATISFIED FOR THE TIME BEING, I WENT BACK TO THE REAL THING:
 I  warmed up for my oil session with watercolors, what else! I took another turn around  on the Carousel. This time I didn't use tube paints; I went back to the pads, which I think I prefer.  I can mix the colors easily with just the right amount of water. The colors are brilliant and go down clear. I don't need a big deal palette. And I can work fast. I started this painting yesterday with a wet on wet underpainting and firmed it up today. The carousel reference photographs are really making me think about doing a large acrylic.

New Age Etch-a-sketch

WHAT FUN I HAD TODAY PLAYING WITH SKETCHPAD ON MY IPAD!


I don't have it down pat yet, but I'm loving the learning process and don't care how long how painful the curve is. I traded  the portrait of the children for the IPad 2. Being that it was my first portrait in oils since I don't remember when and it is taking me forever to finish it. I thought it was a great exchange.  I'm now "with it." What fun it's going to be polishing my skills while watching some of those silly TV shows--Practically Legal comes to mind--or in waiting rooms where the others won't know I'm sketching and not gaming. --I already have a complaint though. There's no gray and I can't mix the colors. I'm going to have to think David Hockney and cross hatching. Oddly enough, Hockney is the book on the table in this first attempt.

Carousel, The Watercolor, Not The Musical

I did ride the Stillman carousel made in 1928 by that company and loved all four and a half minutes. The only thing missing was cotton candy afterwards.

This is my first watercolor interpretation of this photograph I shot from astride my horse that went up and down as we went round and round.  The carousel is in the pavilion  of the Grand Rapids People's Museum. The pavilion extends over the Grand River. The ride was a gas, as Sammy Davis Jr. (Who) would have said.
I didn't get dizzy at all--or nauseous.

 I was moved to get out my watercolors by Dan Kent's (Dan's Canvas) post yesterday. It was something he said Frank Eber said: "Try not to do too much" with watercolors. That's what I had forgotten! I read nearly the same thing  in my most favorite wc book: Painting Outside The Lines by Linda Kemp, which first got me to buy some tubes and actually try the medium. The author praised it for allowing spontaneity. I loved her paintings and you know I love spontaneity. I intend to do a few more alla prima interpretations of the colorful carny ride I loved as a kid and again on my wedding anniversary.  I was just sorry there weren't more people adding to all the glorious colors -- but then, it was nine thirty in the morning.  I wanted to make sure no little kid was going to make me feel sorry for him just because I got the last horse. I feel satisfied with this painting; it's a step in the right wc direction for me.

The carousel pavilion in Grand Rapids as seen from the 23rd floor of the JW Marriott

I kept zooming in to see if the lights were on in the carousel
so I'd know the museum was open.

Wild Day With Wild Daffodils

Watercolour , Wild Daffodils #1

Water Pencils, Wild Daffodils #2

Wild Daffodils

Where the wild daffodils grow behind my house. This time  out,
I photographed back towards the house to show you the terrain.

The crop has multiplied since last year. I also noticed,
it's moving closer to my house. I'm thrilled.

I was determined to hike--no, trek--out into the woods the other day and cut some before they died. It wasn't easy. In fact it was so difficult climbing over all fallen trees and through the brush, I was sorry I didn't take my phone along in case I fell or poked my eye out. Luck was with me, an appropriately sized walking stick came off in my hand. It got me to my destination and got me back again.

 Yesterday I did the first, very weak, watercolor to loosen up after painting in oils for a few hours; I was tired, and the painting looks it. It isn't agreat as a painting, but okay cropped as a header. The second one I did today in between dosing out eye drops to Honey. He had cataract surgery this morning. He's doing fine on the couch. I'm exhausted. They knocked him out with great drugs. The worry over his ordeal knocked me out; I hate it when Honey isn't Honey. Tomorrow, after the post op office visit, back to  my portrait and hopefully Honey will be back to being  himself.