Schmid's List of What Could Have Gone Wrong

Zac,work in progress, day two

A lot went wrong with Zac till I started over. Now, he's coming along nicely, but  very sloooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwly...

And even with using the grid system for this second try, I noticed today, after a couple of hours painting, that my drawing  had strayed. I have to correct the position of his neck line and collar.  It won't be difficult, but it it turned out to be the  reason I was having difficulty  getting his chin line, which is a semi hard edge.

Drawing errors and edge treatments are two biggies on Schmid's list of "common mistakes and difficulties."

HERE'S THE DIFFICULTIES THAT DO PLAGUE ME FROM TIME TO TIME:

Careless drawing (not measuring),[enough].
Trying to paint things instead of color shapes. [I know this, but I sometimes forget].
Painting more values than necessary. [This is where I really miss being nearsighted. You can't paint what you can't see].
Incorrect temperature changes.
Inventing impossible color.
Miserly paint (too little).
Allowing too little time.
Working too close, not frequently stepping back to view your work.
Overworking what should be left alone [How do you know]?
Working from inadequate photos. [Remind you of anyone you know]?
Not squinting for values and edges .[This is where I really miss being nearsighted].
Painting shadows too light.
Painting too fast.
Painting too small without proper brushes. [I occasionally--regularly--get lazy. I hate cleaning tiny brushes].
Working from photos taken by others. [I did do that for those Unknown Children, but against my better judgement. I think I would do it again too, if I was getting paid. What can I say, supplies cost money].

HERE'S THE ONES THAT DON'T:

Too many sharp edges.
Unsuitable brushes.
Poorly stretched canvas.
Painting over life-size without a good reason.
Poor working light.
Too many highlights.
Muddy (wrong temperature) color.
"Pushing" bright colors arbitrarily.
Inappropriate paint thickness.
Excessively-thinned paint.
Cheap canvas, very absorbent canvas.
Aimless brushstrokes.
Showing off.
Faking it.
Excessive glare on the canvas.

I love this list. I think it's worth printing out in calligraphy and mounting on the studio wall. Schmid has put into words, what I only suspected after days of trying to get a painting right.  This list makes Alla Prima, Everything I know About Painting  a very worthwhile purchase, (even though reading it so close to my workshop experience set me on edge). To happier painting.                          

Finnegan Begins Again

Steve, oils, 6 x 9"

I love it when Dick Blick comes for breakfast.  There I was having mine and planning my new Steve/Zac attack when the doorbell rang. The UPS guy was standing there loaded down with the pastel supplies I ordered just last Saturday. He also had my 20 x 20 canvases, one of which will be for Mr. Fuz Zy Pants, next in line on the easel. For today, however, this Finnegan will begin again.

Zac, a new beginning.

I cut Zac out and rounded out Steve. He's fine for now, drying on the rack.  Then I  divided a previously toned piece of canvas into a grid and carefully penciled in Zac. The lighting is still half tones and difficult. I'm using a hole punched into an index card regularly to get close to the skin tones. With all this effort and quite a few superlatives,  Zac just might turn out to be Zac this time around?  --Then all I have to do is get the kid and the father together in a third effort--if it's still important to me.

You all are right. The photograph is not a good one. It's just a snap shot. The lighting is natural and the subjects were totally uncontrolled.  But I really do like Zac's expression. It's so fun kid. So I'm using it--just like I would be using a photograph when doing any other portrait. Portraiture requires working mostly from photographs with a couple of sittings at the end to firm up the painting.  Hopefully the artist can control the photoshoot  a lot better than I did this one, but then who knew where I was going to go with it?

Zac and Steve have matured considerably since I took this photograph five years ago. Other subjects I have drawn were deceased. Dogs and cats certainly can't be counted on to pose quietly for the painter either.I would say, photography is a major part of working in this genre. I would also say that the grid system is often a good way to cut out the hit and miss of free hand when likenesses are absolutely necessary or, as in Zac's case, difficult.  Had I given in sooner, I would have saved myself a lot of aggravation. But I do believe I'd like to get to the point where I can read all the connections without the aid of a grid. Maybe next month :-)

Dick Blick came for breakfast.

The Postman Rang Thrice

ONCE

to show how I wrapped up smorgasbord Monday, by finishing pepper painting #3. Zac's eyes would have stressed me out after a full day of home maintenance. Today and the rest of the week, housekeeping slides as usual while I work at painting and Ellis works at work till we meet for a glass of wine, some cheese, some conversation followed by dinner and Scrabble. I play both sides. He got mad at me and threw the tiles years ago when I beat him with once spectacular seven letter blitz.  He seems to hold a Scrabble grudge.

Peppers #3. Alla Prima Watercolor, 7 1/2" x 7 1/2"

It was still wet when I took the photo. I started the painting last Saturday and didn't like how it was going so I abandoned it for the weekend. Picked it up again after all the laundry had been returned to drawers whiter than white. I began by running it under very hot water to soften up the paper. Then went back in to firm it up/ fog it up. I was working from memory. The peppers I had left out all weekend had black spots, pruny skins and penicillin growning on them. They went into the trash another expense for YOUR ART,  Ellis, who does the grocery shopping, quipped. I put peppers on his new shopping list. 

TWICE: 

Zac's Eyes--nose, mouth, hair, you name it, I hate it. The one thing good that is happening with this painting is that I find I'm putting together a Caucasian skin tone formula. I really prefer Naples Yellow to Cadmium Yellow Medium. It's calmer, not as blatant. And I'm leaning back to Burnt Sienna rather than Transparent Red Oxide. Burnt Sienna doesn't take over the whole mix with one tiny little addition.As for Zac, I've had it. He's way out of whack. He looks like he's some sort of Black Seed. There's six ways to start a painting obviously free hand wasn't the method to choose for this one. I'm shelving it, chalking it off to learning. But it isn't the last you'll see of it. Expressions like this do fascinate me--maybe because I saw so many of them when my boys were growing up and horsing around? Those were joyous times.

Before throwing in the towel--the brush, I noted his nose was too long,
as was his chin. He really is getting over done. Better to call this a sketch
and move back to my three guys till the canvas for Mr Fuz Zy Pants arrives
the end of the week, where I hope I will be a lot more successful. How hard can an
expressionless cat be?

AND THEN CARMI GOT ME WITH HIS CURRENT PHOTOGRAPHIC THEME: GROUNDED

 This foundation was poured during happier times.
Out of the construction business, floating about in the art world the last three years,
I've  never felt so grounded as when I took this photo and this project was going on.
See other interpretations  of grounded at Carmi's site. Link above.

Monday Smorgasbord

Transfered this photo to computer this morning. It isn't the picture I intended to take last night, but  I like the murkiness. I really am not too swift when it comes to taking pictures with my Smart Phone. You can own one, it doesn't make you brilliant. I didn't have it set to auto and the flash bounced off the windshield obliterating the sky which was to be my focal point.   

Sunday was a day of devices. I downloaded Infinity
on my iPad . I discovered I could freeze the action in movies 

By freezing the frame, I discovered a new source for a lot of fast drawing action.
My quicky this morning.

Then there's laundry  come around hell or high water. Looks like there's going
to be some ironing to do too. Yuk.  A day of art interruptus.

Watercolor set up as I left it. Saturday. I gave all painting a rest .  Today, I
noticed it really is time to cook those peppers. I'll cut out the black spots.

IN THE STUDIO STEVE AND ZAC WAIT AND WAIT AND WAIT.

This is where I left off to go play in the water last week. I marked where Zac's left eye should be, now I just have to get it there. I have improved  the lighting on Steve. Taken at noon, his skin tone on the left  has been brought up to nearly white. I'm still working on the values of Steve's left side and Zac's more shaded skin tones.  Zac's highlights wouldn't be as bright as Steve's; Steve is blocking him from the sun.  Do you see why I turned to peppers last week? Nothing but hard work her.

AND THEN A TUNE FROM A TV COMMERCIAL MADE ME FORGET TODAY'S SMORGASBORD OF ACTIVITIES : It reminded me of Zorba's (Anthony Quinn) Dance on the Beach in Zorba The Greek, a great movie, great actor, and great painter. Quinn is inspiring.

Anthony Guinn's painting of Zorba. Aren't multi-talented people disgusting. Don't you wish...

Quinn's own style..  The colors of Mexico, his origin of birth; a Cubic double portrait.  

Splish Splash

Peppers, alla prima watercolor.

Wet into wet, my favorite way to play.  I'm not willing to settle down just yet to more complex work. I'm fine just playing in the water.  I was going to roast these veggies, but they're still fit to be painted. Once roasted, Ellis won't know they were slightly wrinkled. By the by, I've stopped reading Schmid's book. Too much info was coming at me and turning me off art just the way it happened years ago. My own drummer is very stubborn and shuts down when boggled down with information.  As many art books as I buy, I really don't like reading anybody's how to. Doing so sets me back.

We'll Have Pancakes Instead

 Bell Peppers  and a Bermuda Onion on A Dick Blick Catalogue, Watercolor Alla Prima

I had no intention of starting a conversation concerning socialized medicine versus the free enterprise system, or the cost of medical care. My little paragraph yesterday was simply a little story about shit happening in a waiting room full of  people who had been up all night shitting.

Today was a carefree day. I have no stories to tell. I didn't feel like painting or doing anything seriously, so I got my bell peppers and a Bermuda onion out of the fridge and did a wet into wet painting with watercolors. The peppers and onion were to be roasted for supper, but we'll have pancakes instead.

Waiting

I'm next, iPad, Alla prima drawing

This is the guy who arrived at the clinic at the same time we did. In an orderly world, he should have been on the table;Ellis had already been called. But the minutes ticked as he waited to hear his name. Then a nurse came into the lounge to say, "Dr. Soandso had just arrived. He had an emergency. We'll be calling his patients in the order as scheduled. He's very sorry. " This guy grabbed his head of unwashed, tangled locks and moaned loudly as he bent low between his legs with despair. He had lived through  hell the night before, arrived on time,  had a belly ache from his ordeal, was starving to death, and his doctor was late coming to work. His predicament caught my sympathies and attention. His profile of angst occupied me till I was called to retrieve my honey.

Tied At The Hip

A Panda in Beijing, alla prima watercolor, inspired by a cover from  Harper's Bazaar.

Ellis and I are tied at the hip. As much as we've tried to avoid that happening, after fifty two years together, when one of us is not up to par or involved  doing something unpleasant or scary, the other one is affected.

All day long today, my love has been restricted to drinking nothing but liquids and eating nothing but jello or soup broth. He's starving. He's anxious. He's very apprehensive about having to drink the gallons of crap the doctor prescribed to clean out his system. He's having a colonoscopy. As necessary as this test is, it's a bear. You'd think they would have come up with some prep a little bit less violent.

All day long, I've been as anxious as he is. I tried to take my mind off his distress by painting,  but nothing good came of it. My heart wasn't in the studio; it was upstairs napping on the couch. I kept wishing it was tomorrow when we were back in good spirits  as we head for home around eleven o'clock.

This is a  watercolor from the past.  After a day of going no where with oils, it looks like I had some fun doing it. The female figure is sort of a mess, but I like it. It fits.

Happy 5773

Yahrzeit candles.
Where once there was one to light, now there are too many.

Happy New Year. Today the Jewish New Year of 5773 begins. Yesterday four Roths got together to celebrate. No painting was done. Instead, we ate hamburgers and chips on the back deck talking and laughing, being together and missing those of us who moved too far away to come home.

 Eighty degrees, sunshine on leaves rimmed with red, the ambiance for this special occassion was delightful. I was going to make the traditional brisket with potatoes slowly roasted with chopped onions, celery, carrots, and a liquid mix of beer and barbecue sauce, but there were just the four of us. Being that one of us was a teenager, his nana opted to make something a teenager might prefer. To fancy up the menu, I made caramelized onions instead of slicing a Burmuda. They were a hit. But I told Zac, if anybody asks, you had brisket. Hamburgers on a High Holly day is outrageous. We hugged on it.

After the late lunch, we lighted Yahzeit candles and said a prayer in remembrance of family members who had passed away. There were quite a few--enough that if we lit one per person, we'd have a fire hazard, so we opted for four to cover the seven who are missed. Then we walked down to the lake, each with a slice of challah bread, to throw our sins in the water to be cast off...and snapped up by creatures of the deep.

The fish swarmed the dock to feast on road rage, chip gluttony,procrastination, candle stinginess and hamburger cover ups as soon as the tidbits hit the water. This walk is called the Tashlikh walk. I had never heard of it as a kid. It took getting to be a nana, me brushing up on all the holidays, and us moving to a lake to put this lovely tradition into play.

The Tasklikh is one of my favorite things to do on Rosh Hashanah. The intimacies shared at the lake, the recollections they bring to mind and the discussion of values binds young to old. I'm sorry the rest of the Roth gang wasn't there. They were missed.

As the world has grown bigger, family gatherings have gotten smaller. It's  sad. As the world is growing into a global community, family units are breaking up with the expansion as the economy takes members where ever they have to go to make a living. That is good, but not as good  as when aunts and uncles and cousins, parents and grandparents filled a small house on Elmhurst, down the block from the synagogue, wall to wall with generations of warmth, total loyalty and love no matter what on the holidays. It's a bitch actually as traditions die.

Before Sunrise, Peace

Artwork IS Work

Zac is starting to make a recovery from reconstruction surgery

The cat's eyes are the cat's meow and the focus of the planned painting. 

As I left the studio this morning, Zac's right eye (facing) still hadn't been raised, but his head had been downsized and the values in his hair have been improved.  The high noon light is doing weird things to the skin tones, mixing cool with warm. Zac has overall cooler tones than Steve, yet  some of Zac's tone are intermixed with Steve's warmer ones and visa-versa.  the skin tones of both of these guys are not balanced out yet. There's a lot more work to be done.

 If you don't have a likeness, you don't have an acceptable portrait, (drawing).  If you don't have the right skin tones, (colors and values), you don't have an acceptable portrait. 

So you just keep working at it. Though I'm talking to myself and using a lot of superlatives, I'm loving every minute. Portraiture fascinates me. I get totally absorbed and very determined.  Zac's expression is what is holding me to this. I get this one down, what's so tough about a half smile Leonardo?

Not tortured enough, I chose a photograph from Taylor's FB photo collection  (perhaps taken by my son Steve) for the painting I promised her for Thanksgiving. I figure, the way I work and not being a cat person, I better get started on it. I blew up and cropped in  to what's important to me; and I decreased the exposure to get as dark as possible and still (barely) see the whites of Taylor's eyes and highlights on her nose and jaw line.  It is not Mr. Fuz Zy Pants who will keep me interested; it's Taylor's role in the composition as a secondary lead to the focal point.   I'm thinking one color, monochromatic, but first the drawing.

Zac Gets Forty Whacks

A total redraw of Zac was the decision of the day.  Steve is coming along just fine.
Why should I scrap him, due to me not having enough balls to set things right with Zac?

Poor drawing, not enough measuring was my decision as I sat back and looked at this portrait closely.

I decided not to let it go. My objective is to master portraiture--at least get pretty good at it. Letting poor drawing slip by would mean achieving any degree of success with this genre would never happen.

There was something about Zac that was troublesome from the beginning. There was something about the size of his head that wasn't right. I should have caught it then. I didn't. I didn't want to. I had gotten his mother's eyes just right. I didn't want to lose that. Today, using Steve who measures out fine and is looking good, I remeasured, pinpointed the errors and went in again to make Zac Zac. His mother's eyes weren't good enough to keep him on that canvas malformed forever.

Giving him forty whacks with the brush was scary. Poor baby, looked like a zombie from one of those video games when I left the studio. But that's what success takes.  Next painting, poor measurements, to the extent of having to do a total redraw, won't happen. I hope. I know.

And you know what else I know?  Painting a portrait from a reference photograph is just fine no matter what you read. as long as your edges jive. Edges are mostly soft in real life with just a few hard dashes here and there.

Too Much Information? Don't Paint.

WATCH THE GREENS DANCE

Golds and reds are creeping into the greens as I write.

Today was a bum day in the studio. I came to hate my portrait of Steve and Zac. What happened was I read Vianna's blog. The  paragraph that grabbed my interest:

The first time I heard that remark, I thought, “Huh?” I spent so much time painstakingly reproducing every inch of a painting to look exactly like the photo or the set up. I took great pride in my ability to render but my art suffered for lack of editing. It also affected my enthusiasm; copying is tedious work.

She was right. Damn it.

Then I read Carolyn Andersen, Viannan's mentor's Thoughts on Painting. That article underlined what Vianna had written.

And I thought that's right. I've gone beyond where I wanted to go with Steve and Zac. I was copying a photograph. I went downstairs to the studio and tried to loosen it up, but I had gone too far; I had pushed into formal portraiture. I removed my attempt to correct strokes and went to read Schmid. He was writing about starting a painting and zeroing in on what interests you. Everything else doesn't matter. The thing that attracted me to paint Zac and Steve is the difference between their expressions: Steve, the father, is sweet and loving; Zac,the boy, was a smart-ass eleven year old.

My head was spinning from all the information I took in over the day. I ended up removing Steve and Zac from the easel. I mixed all of the paints left on the palette together to make a lovely, warm, yukky gray, good for the monochromatic, 'blocking in method.' I'll try tomorrow, without reading a thing.

I should have painted greens. I was going to, but Vianna's post side tracked me and I ended up having a day like the day I had when I took a tennis lesson on serving the ball. I was pretty good at serving walking onto the court, but not walking off. After the lesson, I couldn't serve to save my life. No aces were coming off of my racquet; my head was filled with what-you-should-do pointers from the pro.

Bottom line: If you're reading about how artists make art, don't paint that day and expect anything worthwhile. You need time to absorb the information. Instead, go out on the deck and watch the trees dance with the wind.

Interesting fact: Schmid paints on lead primed canvas or masonite. That allows him to go back to a totally white surface if he has to. Gesso primed canvas absorbs the colors that stain.

What Did You Do Today Honey??

His ear, his nose, his beard, the transition between him and his son., today's area of concentration. I
think he's got a point incisor, a little bit too much Count Dracula for me.

I painted an ear lobe, a nose, a beard, a connective passage between two faces and I'm not done. With painting, like construction, one part has an effect on others, (joinery is everything). With painting, I'm always correcting the drawing, balancing color values, hardening or softening edges. With construction, all of that gets worked out before-hand on papers that are disposable. Construction is easier than painting alla prima.

Then I took a photograph of the woods behind the house. It was all different shades, albeit values, of green. Green is the hardest color to mix exactly right. Sometimes, I think there aren't enough green paints on the market to reproduce the greens we see in nature. Green would be a challenging painting challenge. Am I up to it? Are you up to it? Might be interesting to try if you have some time? Tired of working closely on Steve's nose, I'm going to try it tomorrow as a long warm up. Color values are the most challenging of the elements in a painting; they are worth a lot of effort.

Greens in Western sunlight.  I'm going to eliminate the blue, dead tree trunk smack dab in the middle up top.
If you care to try, send your efforts to me: l.roth2@comcast . net. We'll compare. 

Too Little Time? Don't Paint.

No sense painting, if you have too little time,says Schmid. I didn't have much time today. I had two doctor appointments nearly back to back. But I did manage to squeeze in an hour in the AM and a half hour in the PM. With a painting that's well underway, that's enough to define a few things, work out a few values, scrutinize how it's going. Steve and Zac was just the painting for today's schedule. I made a little progress, but had to keep a lid on it. Working too fast in a short a period of time is the biggest reason we make mistakes and have to spend unnecessary time making corrections. Schmid's warning makes a lot of sense.

Tomorrow, I have another appointment, but it's in the morning. Steve and Zac will get a  session of reasonable length in the PM. I schedule all my check ups in September or October. I do not like being dragged out of the house/studio when the temps fall and the snows come. With a reasonable number of hours to spend, Zac's shirt will become more of a shirt, his hair more hair-like and Steve should become more Steve.  

Alla Prima Still Life #1

My Acrylic Table With IPod

Still life is not my favorite genre--actually, far from it. Yet I chose to do one to get the drift of alla prima, painting from life. I staged no set up. I painted my acrylic paint table just the way it is,in need of straightening. The spread of brushes and paint jars was too ambitious for a first attempt, but I kept painting till I ran off the 9 x 12 canvas. I let the composition be whatever it turned out to be. I did no predrawing--even with an oil wash. I just painted patches of color. This is the result.

Best For Last

This is my favorite the Sargent drawings in my book. I'm fascinated
by his range of blacks and his control of the charcoal.  His composition is very contemporary.
This Angela Lansbury look alike lady looked like she had the mumps till I had another go around.

Not my best. Sargent's best. I saved this one to study last first thing this Saturday morning. I figured a short warm up of 20 to 30 minutes with charcoal while my oil paints defrosted. An hour ten minutes later I was still seeing values in the black I'd missed. It is the most complex drawing in my book of Sargent sketches. So much for dash offs. I'll be doing this one again.

I'm giving my boys a rest, I want to read Schmid this weekend. I want to reorganize my studio. I want to expand it into the adjacent, connecting storage room. When I get into these reorganizational moods and  looking for space, you know I'm getting very serious.

I went to visit a new follower today, Helen H. Trachy, from Quebec. She's an oil painter interested in portraiture and still life. Her lovely painting of Falls's first apples, plus what I read yesterday in Alla Prima, whispered that maybe I should get back into still lifes and flowers for further studies of painting shapes and values? I've never been a fan of painting things that didn't move, but I would be painting alla prima, from life, without photographic distortions. That's a move in the right direction.

So thirty minutes with charcoal copying the masters and thirty minutes painting coffee cups and pots and whatnot. My dance card is filling up. Well, you're going to do something or you're not.

I LOVE RICHARD SCHMID!

Michael, charcoal, 9 x 12.  Close enough. 

I LOVE RICHARD SCHMID! He put into succinct words things I knew, but didn't know I knew. By page ten, his book, Alla Prima, instantly became my bible. I'm thinking I should have bought two copies; this one is going to get man-handled. (If you buy it, do go for the paperback copy. It handles well. hardcovers never stay open to the right page).

With regards to my painting of my three guys, his advice to first KNOW what you are painting and what you want from it. I never thought about that before. I thought, "Gee I'll paint my three sons." I thought how I wanted them to look: not like the unknown kids I did. That painting was a copy of a photograph. I didn't want to copy a photograph.

My vision of the painting back then was likenesses, but not really. I wanted to make a painting sort of like one I saw in the movie Wall Street. It was three ghoulish heads, limited colors, on a  dirty gray ground over the couch in Bud Fox's decadently decorated apartment. It was anything but traditional. Now I'm not sure that I can actually do ghoulish to my boys; they are my boys after all, but Schmid's words made me recall what  I was thinking then and why the photograph I was using really wasn't all that important.

Now months later, the painting has gone wrong--or as Schmid say's I've gone wrong.

  According to Schmid: Only two things can go wrong in a painting:

      "1) Painting something that is not there in a subject; 2) Not painting something essential that is there."

Also:

     "Those two errors can only occur within one or more of the visible elements:  Color, Values, Drawing, or Edges."

My Guys went wrong when I went into color/values before  getting a solid drawing.

I darkened out the background, darkened their hair. And started drawing into their features  using dark, light and one  midtone.  (Sorry for the glare, the canvas was wet). I didn't touch Steve very much yet--but he won't escape my brush.

When I started the painting I rushed into color/values way too quickly.I was trying to paint quickly. I was wrong. I really did not spend enough time drawing or measuring.  I'm making up for it now. I studied Michael in charcoal yesterday and worked on that sketch again today. I'm satisfied. I found key elements that have to be  in the drawing and the painting. I might have to do studies of Jon and Steve as well?

The painting I began redrawing yesterday, I attacked again today. I immediately darkened the background and got rid of the fussiness in their hair. I simplified.  I contemplated a monochromatic approach to the skin tones. Mine were all over the place. I decided a limited palette of  light, dark and a middle skin tones would do.

By page fourteen,  this man had me  back on track.  I'm so glad I signed up for Vianna's Newsletter. If I hadn't,  I would never have met him. This has really been a great summer for me.

Cover To Cover.

From this study, the bridge of his nose needs to be widened, his eyes aren't that close together.
His nose is more aquiline too. And a harder line needs to be added under his chin. But I had had it. 

My $50.00 eight foot runner from Overstock.com
No more arguments with Honey over art tracks.

Last carpet installation: a runner I bought online from Overstock.com for fifty bucks, that runs between my studio and the bathroom. I am now covered. I can leave my studio shoes on if I have to go powder my nose. I was getting exhausted changing shoes every time I left my art space.The inexpensive, color coordinated, busy patterned runner will not show charcoal or sienna or dioxinine or anything else I may be wearing on the bottom of my shoes walking out of the room.

A great day for closing the door on rugs and for lunching with friends. A fair study day with Michael.

That expression of his is hard to map. I figured charcoal was the medium of the day. I did two  one hour studies. The last one was closest to the truth. Tonight, I'm going to resort to the grid system. Dissatisfied with the painted version of yesterday, I went back into it, just drawing. Why did I use blue? I had a pile of it.

Redrawing Michael

From the charcoals, I learned his smirk distorts his face. One side of his mouth is up. The other down. So while his eyes, nose and hairline are angled down on the right, his chin is very slightly tilted in an opposing angle. His mouth however, is straight on with his earlobe. Lucky thing this is a painting only this mother had to love and doesn't really have to finish. But I will. I'm stubborn that way. Plus it really is an excellent exercise.

 On my doorstep after lunch, I found the book to end all books on oil painting, said Vianna Szabo, my local hero and nationally recognized pastel painter. I can't wait to get my teeth into it. The grid system study can wait. I'd rather soak up all of Richard Schmid's knowledge on Alla Prima painting. From the price of this paperback copy, bought directly from the artist for a  much lower price than Amazon, there's pure gold in these pages.

This is Vianna Szabo's most precious book; number one on her best art book list.
 I had to have it. Her work is phenomenal. I want my work to be phenomenal too.  What's
that about a cold day in hell?

A Balanced Meal

APPETIZER:  CHARCOAL COPY OF SARGENT'S WILLIAM KEATS

Twenty minute warm up with Sargent, William Keats, Charcoal. 9 x 12
Nice play of contour drawing combined with laying down values.

MY ENTREE: MY SON MICHAEL

Before I took this photo at the end of the day , my thumb just had to mess up a too harsh jaw line.
Tomorrow is another day. But his expression is being softened and his nose shortened.
The bitch about this painting is that it's coming from a reference photo where I used a
flash. I don't know what was I thinking.  This painting is still very wet--thus the sheen.

 DESSERT:  PASTRIES OF COURSE

Chocolate cannoli needed highlights. These acrylics  are still wet, so the color is
still too vivid. Acrylics dry a shade or three  darker. Some rose color may have to be worked in?

It was a full day of painting.  In addition, I laid carpet. I can no longer stand on cement for six hours. I had 

a piece left over from when we carpeted the lower level great room. I dragged it out of storage and laid it

down. We should never have stored it standing up. There were all sort of bent corners and rippled sides to trip on. I sprayed the edges with water and  by lunch, the carpet was laying better.

You get older, your legs do not like standing for long hours on cement.
A piece of carpet makes my painting life more cushy. Take a good look.
How long do you think this carpet is going to be this clean?

 

Show Up And Something is Bound to Happen

Michael is recovering from Memorial Day 

Memorial Day, I made a mess
of Michael.

My painting plans aren't overly ambitious. My cup isn't overflowing. Taylor x Four (We) and I've Gotta' Crow (JD) haven't been laid out on canvas yet; they are not paintings, just charcoal studies that would make good paintings. The only two on my list that need finishing is Steve and Zac and My Guys.

 Though Steve and Zac is closer to finish than Guys, I started in on Guys first. The painting  was started before the workshop I took last month. I was curious if I could rework it using what I had learned. As it stood, the three heads were just sitting there looking amateurish. Why not try to bring it up to some higher level?  I am the client and the artist on this one. This is the perfect painting to experiment on.

 Memorial Day, I attacked Michael. I had left him with no mouth and dull skin tones.I was having trouble with his jaw line and neck. Why not try to fix that which was broken anyway? I made a mess is why.

But I showed up for work again today eager. Things got a little better, but I didn't have as much fun as I did with the charcoal sketches. Charcoal I can handle; I've got a lot to learn about handling oils and brushes loaded with oils. It's going to be a long winter.

Nixed by Mr. Fuz Zy Pants

Mr. Fuz Zy Pants, charcoal, thirty minute study, 9 x 11.

I have no idea what the measurement points are for a cat, but I'll figure them  out.
This drawing is my first pass ever at a cat.As I was drawing him, I felt my nose clogging up.
He's a long hair on my long list of allergies, an itchy addition to my full Fall/Winter schedule.

My Fall/Winter Workload:

Steve and Zac , oil on canvas, 9 x 11
It is an afternoon away from "done and move on."

My Three Guys, oil, 18 x 30,

This painting has been patiently sitting in the studio waiting for the big finish.
I'm going to keep them rough, just the way they were started. They are my first
attempt at taking liberties with a reference photo. Michael was a seat away
from his brothers; I brought him in closer. Steve also sat a bit away from Jon.
All three were being patient with me as I took the photograph of the three
of them together like they were, but aren't anymore. 

I've Gotta Crow has  to be painted. I like the composition
of this charcoal. JD's pose could be any twelve year old boy. They
are full  life and not so full of themselves as they like to pretend.

And  We, me, wants to do this one. After the cat.

My granddaughter nixed the four-in-one portrait of herself. She thought it might look like she was too full of herself; she wanted a portrait of her cat, Mr. Fuz Zy Pants. I'm on it; she had a point. I'm not a cat person. I AM, however, a Taylor person. So I did chose a reference photo from one of her FB albums that has her in it. Now we'll both be happy.

I can tolerate cats when my GD is in the picture.
My reference photo for Mr. Fuz Zy Pants.It's loaded with half values

I'm going to do the four-in-one  of her for myself. Portrait artists need samples of their work, a resume,  a portfolio. This is my objective.How else do you find your niche  than by painting  your genre-of-choice non-stop?

My dance card for the Fall and Winter season is filled : Steve and Zac; My Guys; I've Gotta Crow (JD); and We. Very ambitious. Maybe overly so? Nevertheless, that load, and maybe a pastry or two thrown in  for fun, should keep me happily busy till Spring. 

I think I'm out of my mind. An old broad with pipe dreams. But portraiture keeps me thinking; keeps me intrigued; keeps me eager to go down to the studio--indeed, wakes me up in the morning.   I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but I'm
really enjoying the meal.

I saw Mary Martin in Peter Pan on the stage. I was immediately flown away to Neverland with Peter.  A cherished, specially guarded part of me still lives there. It's the part of me that paints pastries.

We

Not an easy time with this fifth drawing.

This is pretty much my idea. Some attention to the continuity of hair high lights between the images must be considered.

My Charcoal kit, no longer has just charcoal and a knead eraser in it. This drawing made me add my stubs and my home made mahl stick, a paint stir stick to which I added legs (height) cut from another stir stick. It's a good size for small drawings. You can use glue and wait forever, or a staple gun. I liked the gun.Tip: one knead eraser isn't enough. A few are needed if one wants to keep working after one eraser has turned black and is in need of cleaning. Cleaning knead erasers is a good TV/time on the phone pass-time.

I started out thinking I'd put all of these portraits  on one large canvas. That format is risky, but I do think it would be a dynamic piece for a dynamic woman. The other choice is four separate paintings, which would give her decorative hanging options. Then I could separate them on the larger canvas with a white plus sign, but these images are not separate. They all belong to the same gal. The title of this painting is "We."

We are hitting the museum this morning for a look at Vermeer's Woman Holding a Balance. Vermeer did a total of 35 paintings in his lifetime. So for all of us non daily painters, there's hope that we can still strike it big taking our time with a limited output. To the right you see
Woman Holding A Balance, Johannes Vermeer, 1665, oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Widener Collection 1942. Vermeer painted during the Dutch Golden Years. He was born in 1632, died in 1675 leaving his wife in debt.

Picasso and Matisse, on the other hand were successful in their lifetimes. An exhibit of their drawings will also get my attention this morning.

Last week a light bulb went off in my head. I have an observation wall right here on my computer. I put Zac and Steve as I left them in progress as my desk wallpaper. Casually observing the painting days since, I've noticed what needs darkening, what need lightening up, what needs a hard line, what needs to be softened. When I get back to the picture, I know what to do. The same thing happened with a couple of Taylor sketches. As desktop wallpaper, where I fell short showed up real quick. This morning, I fixed the eye in the portrait on the lower left side.  The eyes are all important in this work, but that babe's eye was missing highlights. Not anymore. Last night I tweaked the the sketch I featured today. The computer is an important art tool.

Your computer, your observation wall is wall space is limited
--even if it isn't.