I had every intention of following Jean Spitzer's advice to give JD a rest. I was going to pick up where I left off in my pastry series. The canvas has been prepped for months--maybe six? While Ellis hates my chocolate mice, I adore them. They're weird.
After my morning coffee, I went down stairs with purpose and never got past the watercolor station set up on the bar.
It was a mess. I had left brushes scattered about. The paint tubes hadn't been put back in their slots. Yesterday's garden painting was just laying there in harms way. I looked at it and thought,"You know, that corner should be lighter." And the morning was shot. Not only did I lighten the corner, but I tore off a third of the painting. That top part wasn't very good. Sloppy.As I was putting the altered piece away, there was a remnant piece of 140lb paper. From memory--and because I hadn't emptied the water container from yesterday and the water was relatively clean--I soaked the paper, mounted it and did a wet-on-wet sketch of JD. Who else? It came out resembling a smaller boy with an extremely homely face. I kept trying to make him better looking, but with no luck. I went for lunch while he dried. He didn't get any better looking when I came back. That's when I noticed on the reference photograph that JD's face was really red oxide/with a tad of burnt umbra. I gave the ugly kid's face a swipe. I liked it. I made a mental note. I cleaned up and went on to the studio where I completed--or as I think of it--went as far as I could go with JD's charcoal drawing. I'm satisfied. Now I can rest and enjoy some pastries over the weekend.
The crop worked very nicely. Well done.
ReplyDeleteThanks Roger. I thought so.
DeleteCara Linda,hai tutto!Un carboncino molto incisivo,un acquarello con i colori giusti e sei riuscita a rendere brillante il giardino con un crop!Buon fine settimana con i dolci che ti sei meritata,dopo tanto lavoro duro!
ReplyDeleteIt did click today Rita. I'm feeling pretty good. For a while there though, I was choking on how much I had bitten off. I do have a dogged ambition that keeps me chasing what I want to catch.--Maybe it's called stubbornness? You have a good weekend too. Tomorrow, I'm going swimming and dining with friends who don't give a hoot about art. Poor souls.
DeleteI admire your stubbornness! I need some of that for my cows.
ReplyDeleteI like both watercolors, the crop of the flowers looks great! And you must dream JD by now!
I do have JD on the brain. I thought I'd take a break and paint pastries for a bit and let what I learned percolate. Maybe you should do that with your cow? If you'd rather not, you could try making a copy and cut out the cows to see if adding more cows is closer to what you're after. Thanks. Cropping is a valuable tool.
DeleteThe drawing has everything that you would want, great gesture that reads true and charming features that I'm sure are a good representation of the young man who is your muse. Love the looseness of the other two.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mick. It's about time. Watercolors are nice fillers considering my lack of skill with the medium, but I was getting a bit concerned when I wasn't getting anywhere near to a likeness. Today felt good.
DeleteI am very impressed!
ReplyDeleteMe too JJ. I'd thought I'd lost it. Thanks. May the force be with you.
DeleteA very smart face is looking at us.
ReplyDeleteA good outcome!!
Thanks M. I hope the kid is smart, for sure he's cocky. He's twelve and a looker. There's trouble ahead.
DeleteExcellent - charcoal and watercolors! I love that you seem to know when to keep redeeming and when to stop. And it seems like you always get to that final ta-daa moment when it all comes together! Now you can have your pastries - and make a batch to eat as well:-)
ReplyDeleteWell I don't know about the watercolors, I really feel inadequate in that realm, but the charcoal did come out--not as quickly as the others I've done. It was a struggle. I'm sure the painting is going to drive me up the wall as well.
DeleteI'm not going to eat pastries; I just like to look at them, photograph them and paint them. I had a trip-tyke going before I decided to give this year to portraiture. I thought I'd squeeze panel two in over the weekend. I'm not a fast painter. As much as I say don't think, react to what the painting tells you to do, I am deliberate and do like to give the paintings I'm working on time to rest so I can get a fresh eye.
These both pieces are beautiful, Linda. love the colors on the flowers!
ReplyDeleteThanks Hilda. Keeping an eye out for the possibility of cropping, is not a bad idea. Just because we painted the whole piece of paper, doesn't mean every passage was a good one. That upper portion was very weak. Being able to SEE your work clearly and unemotionally is very important in this work.
DeleteYou are too kind to me! I am sure you have so much sensibility that you are a fabulous photographer too. You do something unique,what I do - everybody does. love your paintings, I am studying them well,and they are so nice!
ReplyDeleteBut you do it better than everybody else. You have an eye for the shot. I shoot a lot, I figure there's got to be a decent photo in there somewhere. I really do enjoy photography. I used to have a black and white darkroom and develop my own film. I spent hours looking at negatives through the enlarger, a Bessler that's still in the basement; I can't bring myself to get rid of it. They were so many good hours of pure joy. This digital age, I'm lost. I used to like to set the camera manually, every which way--you know bracketing, trying different exposures. Those SLR were a lot less susceptible to hand/bodyshake. If there were computers then, I would have had blast. Enjoy your Maria craft. You're good at it.
DeleteHere you have got a very good works. they ar very beautufyl. The hands of the child are very well, I think that the hands are very dificult for painting. Congratulations
ReplyDeleteThank you Eva. Hands used to scare me off till I did my hands. I did a lot of hand drawings, all of my left since I draw with my right, Then I modeled them out of Plasticine and made a plaster mold. From there I made paper sculptures and grouped them all together in a single piece. I called it Tenacity. I haven't been afraid of hands since. Bottom line draw them and draw them till you're sick of them. By then, you'll understand the structure and a hand will never scare you again.
DeleteLinda, I would definitely paint from this sketch. His left arm is such a good lead-in to the rest of the sketch, and you stay there with the face and his right hand doing the thumbs-up. If you don't paint it, I will. :)
ReplyDeleteI am going to paint from this sketch with the aid of the others. In the little, ugly watercolor, I was looking as the colors he was wearing and considering will I keep to them? I don't know, but I do like the white stripe down his left leg.
DeleteYou are a very brave woman, Linda! For starters, cropping…? Is more likely to crop my hair than a drawing. But, it worked and the painting is wonderful! So, I’ll keep that in mind. Drawing and photographing pastries but not eating them, that’s another act of bravery. I have a special affection for pastries.
ReplyDeleteYour handsome young muse looks beautiful in both charcoal and watercolor drawings. I specially like the colors you used; they make JD sparkier –if that’s possible.
Warm regards.
Cropping is just a tool. Why not use it when there are parts you like, and parts you can't believe you painted? The world doesn't have to know you messed up on a section.
DeleteThank you. I think I may stick to what he's wearing. I like the colors too.
As for pastries, I do love to look at them in display cases in the bakery. The colors are luscious, worthy of painting.
Wonderful.
ReplyDeleteSometimes just saying "I'm done" is enough to give one a fresh eye.
Definitely worked here.
I am feeling really good. The success of that drawing energized me. It was getting me down.
DeleteToday, I'm cleaning the studio, organizing my reference photographs and painting banana dream pie--having a grand time. I forgot how much I like to paint pastries.
Man I love the way that drawing turned out! I see why you initialed. Superb! I also like your watercolor study. Now that I am doing more work on canvas, lord knows what I am going to do, I am so prone to cutting down my finished product on paper!
ReplyDeleteAye, there's the rub Dan. After I posted that watercolor, I "played" with it again--lightened the upper right corner some more to fade it out into the background. I found a flat course bristle brush very handy for light scrubbing and learned a new technique. I'm glad you mentioned that picture and I saw your comment now. Yesterday, I was going to look up how much to mat and frame the thing and forgot all about it.
Delete