Life Studio Wrap-Up

For several months a number of friends and colleagues have been getting together on the last Sunday of the month for a life drawing/painting session. Yesterday was the last session before a long summer break - we won't get together again, at least in that setting, until the end of September. We didn't have a large turnout, only six of us, but there was some very good work accomplished.

I chose to tackle the water miscible oils again. I'm really enjoying them, and I love walking into my studio to be met by the odour of oil paint. I suspect I will be painting less often with acrylics in the future.

This is a small study, 12"x16", on a previously enjoyed canvas panel. I framed the face with the hair and dark clothing first, blocking it in very quickly, trying to get the big shapes in the right proportion to one another. Then came the longer, often frustrating construction of the face itself - reshape that cheek, warm up the nose, scrape off the eyes and try again, try to get that little quirk in the corner of her mouth... It just goes on and on, until either time runs out or you don't think there's anything else you can do, short of starting fresh.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing to compare with joy of creating an image, either on paper or canvas or the digital screen. But don't let anyone ever tell you it isn't work!

To be honest, while the likeness to the model is evident, it's not a very good portrait. But as a painting exercise I'm quite pleased. And I can't wait to get together with my painting buddies again in the Fall.

Big Day at Riverwood

Yesterday was a big event at Riverwood Park in Mississauga - the official opening of the MacEwen Terrace Garden. This has been a long, on-going project, and the city planners are rightfully proud of the product. Not that it's yet finished - they expect there will continue to be improvements over the coming years.

Visual Arts Mississauga, as one of the partners in the park, was involved in the activities, including several painters on site, mostly doing plein air demonstrations. I was pleased to be part of the crew.

It was an unsettled day here, mostly overcast with the threat of rain and thunderstorms, so I set up under the shelter of the front entrance to VAM's Art Centre. I had a great view of one of the towering Eastern White Pines, over the rooves of the MacEwen Barn and the utility shed. I purposely chose a vetical orientation to accentuate how imposing the big pine was on the scene. Working with water miscible oils I started the way I usually do, blocking in the composition on a toned panel, indicating the general silhouette of the subject.

I generally like to get in the lights and darks early, and that usually means getting the sky area blocked in pretty much right away. Even though it was very overcast, there was a fair bit of variation in lights and darks and warms and cools. Passersby were very interested and several came back more than once to check my progress.

I next worked on the mid tones and shadows of the midground maples. The colour wasn't anywhere near as intense as it would have been on a bright day, and I have dulled it a bit more to keep the interest on the pine.

I reserved the darkest darks for the pine, and had a lot of fun with the shadow shapes. Again, because of the day, the colour is somewhat subdued, but the big, dark shape of the pine against the lighter sky dominates the composition. The rooves of the buildings are metal, probably aluminum, and they tend to reflect what's happening in the sky. Throughout the session, as the light varied, sometimes the rooves were lighter than the sky, sometimes darker, so I had to make a choice about what was best for the painting. My preference was to use the roof colour to help frame the tree a little, and redirect the viewer's eye away from the bottom right corner, at least a little.

Overall, it was a good day, about 2 1/2 hours painting time. I'm pleased with the 12"x16" sketch, but I may tweak it a bit in the studio.

Figure Studies

I've really been enjoying the opportunities I've recently had to spend time drawing and painting from the figure. It's been quite a while since I spent any time in a figure class, and it's been great! Yesterday, for the first time in years, I got up the courage to take out the oils, and spent the afternoon with a bunch of friends making this small study. These are water miscible oils, as the studio in question doesn't allow solvents, and I like to have a thin, washy paint for the underdrawing. For the rest it's just paint straight from the tube and a tiny bit of oil to assist with flow.

This is small, 12x16, and it took me most of the 3 hour session to bring it to this stage. Overall, I'm very pleased with the visual quality, although it's not a particularly flattering portrait of the model. I'll be drawing her again at Visual Ats Mississauga's Open Studio life session on Thursday. These Thurdsay sessions have been extended through the spring, starting April 4th.

Below are some recent drawings from these sessions, done with carbon pencils and pastel pencils on toned paper.

Water Miscible Oils

I've been playing a bit with water-miscible oil paint, also sometimes called water-mixable or water soluble. This is mostly due to concerns with using potentially harmful volatile solvents in a small, less-than-optimally ventilated studio. I've decided that I'm not convinced. There doesn't seem to be that much in the way of actual benefits, aside from the ease of clean up with soap and water. And I can do that with the M. Graham walnut-based oils anyway.

Washes done with water as solvent are really only practicable in the first layer of paint, and the wash doesn't look or feel anything like a turps or mineral spirit wash. You also want to be sure the water has completely evaporated before you start any overpainting, or you might compromise the paint layers. There are driers for these paints, but they are just as smelly and noxious as the alkyd driers for linseed oil paints. The cost is considerably less than most artist grade paint, more like student grade, so that makes one wonder about the longevity and quality of the products. So, the verdict from me seems to be: carry on in the old tradition, just be very careful with my solvent use.

This painting (9 x 12, masonite) was done with Lukas Berlin WMOs, which I got because they were on sale. There was a stickiness to the paint that was very uncomfortable, and when it had dried, the colour had sunk to a very matte finish over most of the surface. I'll use up the remaining paint, but I won't be eager to buy any more.

Veterum Non Immemor

I  recently spent an afternoon along the banks of the Credit River in Port Credit, ON, scouting potential painting sites. I had gone with a couple of places specifically in mind, but they left me somewhat disappointed. I sat for a while sketching ducks, geese and swans on the river, and prepared to head home. On my way to the station, I was struck by this scene.

"What?", you ask. Well, it's a small building, made of river stone and concrete. (The river is only about 300 meters away.) It's actually built into the side of a hill, the long-ago bank of the river. Behind it, on the top of the ridge, is a cemetary. I think this is a charnel house, the building where bodies were stored through the winter when the ground was frozen too hard to dig. And on the lintel is the inscription, which I did not attempt to render, "Veterum Non Immemor." I think a rough translation might be "the past is not forgotten," or something to that effect. Times like this I wish I'd taken high school Latin; if you can offer a more accurate translation I would appreciate it. I plan to do some research at the adjoining church to see if I can dig up a little history.

This is oil on a 9 x 12 panel. I think one of the things that really grabbed my attention was the strong contrast between the bright blue of the sky and the intense red of the bush, as well as the lost, half-forgotten, overgrown appearance of the structure. In the midst of a bustling village, it was somewhat lonely. I know the composition needs work, but this is one sketch that I really look forward to working up into a larger painting.

Playing With Oils

I have hardly touched oils in many years, for a variety of reasons. Mostly, for the past few years I have been concerned about solvents, as my studio space is both small and poorly ventilated. A year ago I picked up some M. Graham oils, because the walnut oil base can be cleaned up with soap and water, I thought perhaps a big plus. There were some challenges, from both the aspect of re-aquainting myself with the medium and the the particular feel of these specific paints. But I have managed a few successes, I think, such as "From the Channel." (16 x 20)

Recently I picked up a few water-mixable colours, because I am a bit intrigued, and I wondered about using WMO mediums with standard oils. So I did a sketch, using some elderly paints from my student years and a couple of really cheap bristle brushes that I had received as a gag gift. I used a simple triad palette of Ultramarine Blue, Permanent Rose, Yellow Ochre and Zinc White, with Winsor & Neweton's Artisan Fast Drying Medium and Artisan Safflower oil. I gave an 8 x 10 panel a thin imprimatura with a bit of Fast Drying Medium and a mixture of Rose and Ochre, and let it dry for about an hour. The initial drawing was executed with FDM and a dark dull purple, then all the overpainting was done without any more medium. This is a quick sketch, about an hour. I washed the brushes out in the Safflower oil and then again with mild soap and water, and the brushes cleaned up like a dream. And I got a reasonable sketch out of the experiment.

Two In A Row

I'm pleased to report that I have recieved an Honorable Mention for the second consective time in an on-line painting challenge at Artist Mentors Online. The challenge this time was produce a painting without using a brush. Finger painting was encouraged, as was palette knife use. My offering is a an oil sketch, 9" x 12".

I've never been terribly fond of the palette knife as an actual application tool, but I gave it a go, as well as fingers, Q-Tips, cut up credit cards, paper towels and corrugated cardboard. I will admit that I was surprised at how pleased I was with the results of the knife on the the large rock shape.

You might notice that this painting resembles the image from my previous post. In truth, this one was done first, as a memory exercise; I used no reference. It seems to me that a memory exercise like this is valuable in a couple of ways. One, it tests your powers of observation. Have you really been looking, or just passing through? Secondly, it will emphasize the elements that attracted you to the image in the first place, the elements that inspired you.

My only visits to this area of Georgian Bay have been in full, sunny daylight, and I've never been at this place in a storm, so I don't what possessed me to create the stormy atmosphere, but I think this is a successful concept. I'll likely paint a larger, more finished piece based on this sketch. I might even use some palette knife...