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| Two colors, nine values for the grisaille |
My work habits have changed. I've become fastidious. My mom is probably spinning in her grave. Ellis is wondering who is this gal?
I was a sloppy painter. Then, I added a multi drawer tambour for paint tubes and reference photos and a wall with a drying/observation ledge; those additions pushed me towards Professionalism, a town North of Dabbler. Since then, I have continued to improve my work place and as I have, my work comes easier. It's a damn good thing too, for the complex painting I've taken on demands no messy distractions.
Since Schmid, I've added a 20" x 30" glass palette placed over a 20" x 30" middle gray piece of foam board that I clean every evening. I've hung a cork board for references. With my hands free and seeing them from a distance, squinting down and handling loaded brushes of light and dark values has become the norm. My palette knife has become more than a fast way to paint.
I am using it for what it was originally intended. Mixing gradations of values with fresh paint is the first task after the lights are on in the studio. Thoroughly cleaning brushes and reshaping them with Da Vinci Gun Arabic is the last task before turning off the lights.
I have become meticulous. I haven't had to clean my sink since last July when Schmid's insistence on cleanliness hit a nerve my mom couldn't. Cleanliness in the studio yields uncontaminated colors on the canvas, he said. In September,Todd's class slowed me down and gave me plenty of time to care for my tools.
I'm no longer in a rush to finish my painting. I am in a rush to train my eye to read a value and mix it accurately on the palette, not by trial and error on the canvas, as I used to. Patience and serenity has replaced urgent production. Add BB King's blues to the tidiness and the studio turns rosy. It's a fun place to be. The irony is: White takes a long time to dry. White is dominant in the window area of my selfportrait.
Since Schmid, I've added a 20" x 30" glass palette placed over a 20" x 30" middle gray piece of foam board that I clean every evening. I've hung a cork board for references. With my hands free and seeing them from a distance, squinting down and handling loaded brushes of light and dark values has become the norm. My palette knife has become more than a fast way to paint.
I am using it for what it was originally intended. Mixing gradations of values with fresh paint is the first task after the lights are on in the studio. Thoroughly cleaning brushes and reshaping them with Da Vinci Gun Arabic is the last task before turning off the lights.
I have become meticulous. I haven't had to clean my sink since last July when Schmid's insistence on cleanliness hit a nerve my mom couldn't. Cleanliness in the studio yields uncontaminated colors on the canvas, he said. In September,Todd's class slowed me down and gave me plenty of time to care for my tools.
I'm no longer in a rush to finish my painting. I am in a rush to train my eye to read a value and mix it accurately on the palette, not by trial and error on the canvas, as I used to. Patience and serenity has replaced urgent production. Add BB King's blues to the tidiness and the studio turns rosy. It's a fun place to be. The irony is: White takes a long time to dry. White is dominant in the window area of my selfportrait.
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| Indirect and Direct Painting, a detail from Linda |
The woods in my backyard cannot be seen from the viewpoint I chose for my reference. All you can see is a wall and the railing of our deck. That would not do. So I replaced it with this improvised landscape painted wet into wet freehand with no grid and no under-drawing. The tonal range is in the lightest end of my nine value monochromatic color scheme. It's a long drying time out for this area.
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| The reference photograph. Everything was fine except the view out the window. |
