Unruly Chives

I have been feeling weird lately, I don't know why.  Can't figure it out. I don't know if it's me or just the energy of the world in general but I feel strange, fatigued, and uninspired. There's nothing wrong or anything concerning going on, I just feel really weird and blah. And I don't feel like painting.

I'm sure this funky haze will pass eventually.  I decided to just let it be and be where I am and not worry about it, even though it has been going on for several weeks now. 

But in the absence of painting- both plein air and studio work, I decided to just do some sketchbook work instead.  Small pages that don't require a lot of time, thinking, or commitment but still keep me doing something.  Normally I don't show sketchbook work, but today, wow I messed up and I should have known better and I'm very annoyed with myself.

I started a new book and all I'm doing in it are little plant paintings in watercolor and colored pencil.  Just something small and nice to do. And a couple of days ago I did a little drawing of my crazy chive plant.  I called it Unruly Chives.

Today I felt like taking out my oil pastels and I did a page facing my Unruly Chives, which was a huge mistake.  How could I forget that oil pastels- if you go all the way to the edges of the page- mess everything else up on other pages?

It messed up my (very nice) page of Eastshade Bloomsac, and I was Not Happy abut that.  I salvaged it as best as I could.  I'll probably end up re-doing it on another page. 

I will have to re-do this page. :(

The new unruly chives also messed up the other unruly chives so I just have to leave it and say that's what happens when something is unruly. I want this book to be nice and neat so it bugs me.

Seriously though, how could I forget that about oil pastel?

It's ok as long as it is taped off... as it, like chives, is definitely unruly.

Aesthetics of Painting and Photography

These are just some thoughts that are my own opinion and perspective as a painter about painting and photography, why they are different, and why no one seems to know they are different.

They are both art forms, but they are different media and not necessarily interchangeable.

If you don't believe me, ask yourself "Why is it so hard to photograph a painting?"
Because we all know it is.
Because a camera can't get everything.

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A good photograph does not necessarily translate into a good painting.
This is something that people learning to paint from photographs often discover the hard way.

The other day on Facebook someone posted a photo as reference for a portrait commission, asking for advice.  It was a very nice professional photograph, and it would make a terrible painting.

This situation is so common.

WHY?
* Lighting.  Lighting in a painting is so important, most especially in a portrait.  You want good lights and good shadows.  A well-done professional portrait photograph is fully lit from all angles.  This is great for photography and awful for painting.

*Composition: As a painter we really have to think about what makes up a good composition. It needs a focal point, it needs shadow and light, it needs to convey something unique. A snapshot where you can see someone's face is just that- a snapshot.  A painting wants to be more than that.

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Paint can do things photography cannot do.
When working from photographs, information is lost. A camera has one eye and so we have to know about and correct lens distortion.  Additionally, a painter must choose what to focus on and a lot of that is done in edges.  Paint can capture subtle details that one generally does not see in photography.

Look at these paintings, none are mine.

Katherine Stone

She is so good it is sick.

This is representational painting at its finest.

This is painting aesthetic, this is what paint does.

Anna Rose Bain

She is also so good it is sick.

I don't think a camera could ever replicate her work.

Jeremy Lipking

IMHO Jeremy Lipking is one of the top 5 greatest living painters.

I have had the pleasure of seeing Jeremy Lipking's work in person, and I assure you, it is drop-dead amazing in a way that no photograph of his paintings can ever convey.

And his work is photographed by the best of the best.  It comes close but the real thing just blows you away.

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Your painting looks like a photograph!

Painters don't really say this to each other. People who don't really understand painting say it, and it is a nice compliment, well-intended and appreciated, but if another painter said this to me I would think something was wrong with my painting.

WHY?

Because the intention of most representational painting is not to look like a photograph.

The intention is to look like real life.

That's why we work from life. That's why we observe so closely.

That's why we study.

A photograph is the interpretation of real life through a camera lens.

A painting is the interpretation and representation of the real world through the human eye.

It is more direct.

The skill set needed to create the painting is much different.than a photographer's skill set.

Have you ever said to a musician playing live music, "Wow, you sound just like a recording!" ?

Probably not, and this is the best way I know of to sum up why "It looks like a photograph!" is....., well, I love when people like my work, and I truly appreciate when people make the effort to compliment, but if you really want to appreciate a painter's work, maybe leave photography out of it.

A photograph is NOT the highest attainable standard to represent the real world.

The real world itself is.

A good representational painting does strive to be lifelike- as compared to the real world, not a photograph.  Even if we do use a photo reference....believe me, all that working from life practice and training gets used.  I can tell, for the most part, when someone has faithfully rendered a photograph and they have never worked from life. It .... looks like a photograph....and in this context that's not really a good thing because they have copied all the errors the photograph may have had, and the lighting is flat.

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So this is a bit long and congrats if you made it to the end.

Truly, nothing makes me happier than making someone else happy with my work.  And it is always good to be gracious and accept a well-intended compliment for what it is.  But now you have some insight into the mind of a painter who would never say that to another painter, and why.

Snowy

Here is a little quick snowy color study.

5x7 Sennelier oil pastels on Colourfix-primed Stonehenge.

Mad!! Under the Sea

Once a long, long time ago there was a large salty sea. 

Over the ages, the sea dried up, leaving barrenness behind, 

and a few salty puddles.

All this land used to be under the sea, but now it's not. 

The salt and residual minerals cause a foggy iridescence.

5x7 mixed media.
oil pastel then an acrylic iridescent coat, then finished off with oil pastels. Matte and iridescent.
This is something I started earlier this year and I'm really trying to finish stuff before starting new stuff.

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I'm really curious to see what was under Carey's sea, because the painting-start she showed me earlier ... well, I'd like to see what was under her sea.

Mad: Finished

This week I thought I would be smart and choose "Finished" as the theme so i could finish my lobster and maybe even that cloud landscape from forever ago.

Because I didn't want to start something new.

I haven't been doing all that great lately, and that makes painting really difficult.

So I did not finish the lobster or the clouds, but I have this misty lake little aceo oil pastel.

Because I could not post something unfinished for a finished theme.

Carey finished something here.

Mad ACEO: Snow

We had a mid-week theme change...theme is snow!

I got three done. All are 2.5 x 3.5" oil pastel on bristol.

The first two have a double coat of acrylic glitter glaze, which is really difficult to photograph.
Oh well.

Re-Directed Storage

I have written here and here about my reluctance to de-box my oil pastels.

But I did get a box for them.

Except I ended up using it for all my different ACEO papers.  It really is perfect for that.

The oil pastels still remain in their original boxes. The open stock are in their own small box.
Maybe they will just have to stay that way.

Mad Aceo: Oil Pastel

Carey and I did an oil pastel theme this week.
I used only Sennelier oil pastels, including my metallics and iridescents. As much as I tried, I just cannot properly work in oil pastel without solvent in the under-layers. Gamsol is wonderful stuff. I also used my grey color shapers, which also work well with the solvent.

Ghost Topiary
with acrylic glitter glaze
Black Artagain paper

Gold-Tipped Cactus
with acrylic mica flake medium
Sennelier oil pastel card

Moon Basin
Sennelier oil pastel card

Last Leaf
black artagain paper

Dusk Clouds
Sennelier oil pastel card

Here are Carey's oil pastel ACEOs.

One Dilemma Solved (PRT)

One out of two oil pastel dilemmas is solved.

You, my lovely friends, voted for the landscape set but i went with the portrait set because there was far less overlap to what I already have.

I love 40% off coupons.

I did get a box that I think might work nicely for my oil pastels but I have not yet made the leap to
de-box them.

Wonderings (PRT)

On Tuesday, I faced a massive dilemma of indecisiveness:

Do I go to yoga or not?
All day I was in a state of not-able-to-think-limbo.

Sometimes, it is hard to tell the difference between what I should do (go to yoga), and what I need to do. Often, the answer to both is the same. But sometimes it isn't, and I couldn't tell, which was maddening.

If I did not go to yoga, though, I was going do some oil pastel testing and schedule a few blog posts.

Well, I ended up going to yoga in a last-second decision, so answers to oil pastel wonderings happened last night instead.

The oil pastel wonderings:
When I did the oil pastel rat portraits, I worked on un-primed archival vellum with my rather ancient cheapie Holbeins.  I used a solvent wash for the under-painting which dried almost immediately.  Layering was very fast and easy, and I could knock out a 9x12 portrait in 30-40 minutes. My ancient cheapie Holbeins are much harder then Senns and are very easy to control with the method I was using.

Ancient Cheapie Holbeins

So I needed to see combinations of ancient cheapie Holbeins and Senns on primed and un-primed paper, with grey and white color shapers, solvent and no solvent.

Carey also had the experience of solvent sitting on top of colorfix. I completely understand how it is dislike-able.

Basically, it is oil pastel workflow experimentation.

 Vellum, half primed with Colorfix

It's not supposed to look like anything

I primed some vellum with colorfix. The bottom is the plain paper surface.

Top row: Senns

Bottom row: Holbeins

Left to right: straight oil pastel, blended with white color shaper, blended with grey color shaper, turps wash

On Colorfix

Senns: I like both the grey and white color shapers, but the white a little more. The turps sits on top of the surface which I do not like at all.

Holbeins: Same, except I like the grey color shapers a little more than the white ones. The turps sat on top.

Un-primed

Senns: I like the grey color shapers a little more, the turps dried immediately! Love!

Holbeins: I like the white color shapers a little more. The turps dried immediately, but I already know that. :)

THEN... I had a Great Idea!

Whoa!

Now, I know you can use oil mediums with oil pastel, but acrylic?  Hmmm.  This is cool, especially if the medium is iridescent!

I added it to my sample sheet.  It dried quickly and additional layers go on nicely. It did not smear/dilute the oil pastel, which was my main concern.  But that makes sense since it is water-based.

So I put iridescent medium over the little piece I started on Monday.  It is drying and I will put another layer on it tonight.

More layers necessary

Rose-Colored Panels (PRT)

I needed some motivation, so I asked Carey if she wanted to paint last night.  Something low-commitment. Small. 5x7. Oil pastel. She said yes because she was thinking the same thing.

First, I had to extract a 5x7 card out of a larger sheet of Bristol.

Of course that is a Derwent pencil!

Then we decided to prime with Rose Grey Colorfix.

In one thick layer.

We both actually washed the brushes we used! (you kind of have to, since the primer is acrylic)

And then the painting started.

I used only Senns.  Normally, I like to do an underpainting with solvent.  I did a little but I don't like solvent on top of colorfix. It sits on top and the surface stays too wet.

Color Shapers:  I used my new gray ones (the ones Carey likes) and the white ones I normally like.

My Verdict: I like both very much but I found myself using the white ones a little more.  Senns are very soft and the white color shapers, with a gentle touch, work the surface very nicely.

Masterpiece not required, this certainly is not, but hey I got to the easel!

I might work it a little more tomorrow, when the surface sets. It is about 10:15pm and I got completely exhausted all of a sudden. Time to sleep!

Carey's oil pastel is here!  

Go check it out because she knows how to rock those oil pastels like no one else.

Two Dilemmas (PRT)

I have two (2) oil pastel dilemmas.

Dilemma 1: I have two new-ish sets of nice Senns and a large set of really old student-grade Holbeins. The Senns are *so pretty* in their boxes.  See?

24 Assorted and Iridescents

I also have some open stock Senns.

Pretty Open Stock

As pretty as they look in their boxes, maybe they need their own box where they can live all together. Carey said it is a matter of finding the right box.  She has a really nice box and was able to de-box her Senns, so there's something in that advice worth taking.

They probably should all live together- my larger set of old Holbeins and the Senns...it is such a big leap to de-box them though. Sennelier does some really nice packaging.

I guess I will start looking for a good box.

Dilemma 2: I got a 40% coupon for Blick and that might mean more Senns.
Do I want the landscape set or the portrait set?

Color Shapers

Color Shapers?  Huh? What the heck is that?

Ohhh, let me tell you.  They are WONDERFUL. They come in all shapes and sizes, and two (2) degrees of hardness.  The grey ones are hard and the white ones are soft.  I only have white ones, because they are for pastels and that's what I use them with.

Color Shapers

So what the heck does one do with a...brush-looking-thingy-that-isn't-really-a-brush?

You blend with them. You can cut in color with them. They give more control and flexibility than fingers, though fingers are still very valid. You can do broad and detail work with them. They give a lot of control. They wipe clean very nicely.

And you can use them with oil and acrylic, if you wanted to.

Everything about Color Shapers is good except for one thing: they are expensive.  Though in the grand scheme of things, they cost what brushes tend to cost.

My favorite ones are the flat chisels and the taper points.

Here are some oil pastel topiary cats that live in my sketchbook.

Meow

Carey also loves Color Shapers. 

I hope she shows her favorite worn-down stubby one in her post.

Portraits from Ratfest

I use oil pastels exactly once a year- at Ratfest to do commissioned portraits. This year I did 5 portraits. It makes me so happy to make other people happy with my artwork.

All are 9x12 on archival vellum.

Cactus Monday: Train Edition

This past weekend was Ratfest. I thought of you, Cactuteers, on the train home. So I made this Cactus-tree on the train with my awesome travel watercolor set.

Watercolor 4 x 6



HCM!

............
Speaking of Ratfest, it was very fun again this year. Portraits were very much in demand, and i was able to recover the costs of the trip and then some. I also did the cake again, of course.

Some portraits and the cake:



Water-soluable graphite, 9 x 12



These are all done in oil pastel 9 x 12: