Month: December 2019

I am in the process of getting a feel for oil paints. So many people say that oil paints are so easy and forgiving. I just seem to make a gloppy mess with them. I am hoping that just painting as much and as often as possible will help me learn how to deal with it. So, here is a study. An artist that I like to watch on youtube said to do monochromatic studies while getting used to oils, so I am trying. I must say that it is helping quite a bit with the values. If anyone saw my “first oil portrait”, you will see what I mean. LOL! Also, something that I did with this one that I did not do with that first one was that I drew the picture on the canvas with a pencil before putting paint on. That first one was “drawn” with paint. Not a good idea for my first…

“Sculpture is the best comment that a painter can make on painting.” — Pablo Picasso

Well, I bit the bullet and did an oil portrait. I know it is really bad, but I am very happy with how it turned out, because, for some reason, oil paints are very difficult for me. I need to use them regularly and after a time I am pretty sure I will get used to them.

This first photo is my initial underpainting using burn umber and white with solvent and medium. I learned that mixing a lot of white with earth pigments makes grey. LOL!

I also learned, from fellow artists, that the above was not a finished underpainting. I thought it was, but after doing another layer on the underpainting, I must confess that they were right. This layer is done with burnt umber and white with no solvent or medium, just right out of the tube.

After that layer dried, I applied color. I am still learning how to make skin tones, how to add medium, how to blend, how to shade. I guess we can say I am still learning how to paint with oils. LOL!

I like it. I do hope that I will improve greatly, however. I am pretty excited to have finished my first oil portrait (even if she is a little strange looking…) YIPPEE!

“When I paint a person, his enemies always find the portrait a good likeness.” — Edvard Munch

Some more fun with oil painting. I am painting over some acrylic disasters while I am practicing my oil painting, so that is why there is a ridge down the apple picture. LOL! No, it is not some obscure emotional symbol. The apple, with it’s green companion of the other day, may well adorn my kitchen one of these days. The cottage, below, was fun to paint. I held my long brushes at the very end and tried to make it loose and painterly. I think I got it. LOL! Nothing great, but great fun.

“Her modest looks the cottage might adorn,Sweet as the primrose peeps beneath the thorn.” — Oliver Goldsmith

Yippee! I feel like I have finally gotten something good with oils. I am now working on a red apple to go with it. LOL! (The reddish apple at the bottom is an acrylic painting that I did a couple of years ago.)

“If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.”  — Edward Hopper

I have a table set up on the back porch with scattered bird seed, a couple of saucers with seed, a flower pot with seed, and a nice artistic piece of firewood standing in one of the saucers. The birds apparently agree with me that it is quite appealing. Out of 500 photos taken so far, I have gotten about 15 good ones. Here are a few:

Mr. Nuthatch was the one that landed on the wood most often. I had the camera focused on the wood and the bird had to land right on the right spot to be focused. That is why the Caroline Wren on the bottom is not sharp, but the wood is sharp. LOL! Well, I have begun trying to learn colored pencils with my own reference photos:

“It’s impossible to explain creativity. It’s like asking a bird, ‘How do you fly?’ You just do.” — Eric Jerome Dickey

This is from one of the colored pencils courses at The Virtual Instructor. I have some Berol Prismacolor pencils that are about 30 years old and I have tried and tried to use them and was a dismal failure. I just bought a complete set of new Prismacolor Premier and wow! They are wonderful. I guess my old ones were…well…OLD! LOL! I have a lot of practice to do to get good with these things, but I have some hope, now. This hummer is on black paper.

I have been wanting to use colored pencils, because, as much as I love pastels, it is a bit difficult storing them or framing them. I believe storing and framing colored pencil artwork is much easier.

I watched the videos several times and then turned them off, pulled up the reference photo, and went for it. I tried to match the teacher, but that is stressful. It is more fun for me, and easier, to learn how and then go off on my own. LOL! Matt is a great teacher and I appreciate him very much.

A flash of harmless lightning,
A mist of rainbow dyes,
The burnished sunbeams brightening,
From flower to flower he flies."

-- John Banister Tabb

Well, I finished my end of the swap. I can’t wait to see his portrait of me. Vanity, vanity! All is vanity! LOL! This portrait swap is almost like doing a self-portrait without that particular angst. Anyway, here he is. Mixed media on Strathmore toned mixed media paper. I hope he likes it.

“I tell you it’s no joke to paint a portrait. I wonder that I am not more timid when I begin. I feel almost certain that I can do it. It seems very simple. I don’t think of the time that is sure to come when I almost despair, when the whole thing seems hopeless.” — William Morris Hunt