Painting Lessons Journal

notes

2011-01-10T16:51:00.002-05:00

The elements and principles of design are the building blocks used to create a work of art. The elements of design can be thought of as the things that make up a painting, drawing, design etc. Good or bad - all paintings will contain most of if not all, the seven elements of design.

The Principles of design can be thought of as what we do to the elements of design. How we apply the Principles of design determines how successful we are in creating a work of art.

note - the hyperlinks within the text of this page will open information in a new browser window. After you have read that information the window can then be closed leaving this window open.

THE ELEMENTS OF DESIGN
LINE
Line can be considered in two ways. The linear marks made with a pen or brush or the edge created when two shapes meet.

SHAPE
A shape is a self contained defined area of geometric or organic form. A positive shape in a painting automatically creates a negative shape.

DIRECTION
All lines have direction - Horizontal, Vertical or Oblique. Horizontal suggests calmness, stability and tranquillity. Vertical gives a feeling of balance, formality and alertness. Oblique suggests movement and action
see notes on direction

SIZE
Size is simply the relationship of the area occupied by one shape to that of another.

TEXTURE
Texture is the surface quality of a shape - rough, smooth, soft hard glossy etc. Texture can be physical (tactile) or visual.
see notes on texture

COLOUR
Also called Hue
see notes on colour

VALUE
Value is the lightness or darkness of a colour. Value is also called Tone
see notes on tonal contrast

THE PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN
BALANCE
Balance in design is similar to balance in physics

A large shape close to the center can be balanced
by a small shape close to the edge. A large light
toned shape will be balanced by a small dark toned
shape (the darker the shape the heavier it appears to be)

GRADATION
Gradation of size and direction produce linear perspective. Gradation of of colour from warm to cool and tone from dark to light produce aerial perspective. Gradation can add interest and movement to a shape. A gradation from dark to light will cause the eye to move along a shape.

REPETITION
Repetition with variation is interesting, without variation repetition can become monotonous.

The five squares above are all the same. They can be taken in and understood with a single glance.

When variation is introduced, the five squares, although similar, are much more interesting to look at. They can no longer be absorbed properly with a single glance. The individual character of each square needs to be considered.

If you wish to create interest, any repeating element should include a degree of variation.

CONTRAST
Contrast is the juxtaposition of opposing elements eg. opposite colours on the colour wheel - red / green, blue / orange etc. Contrast in tone or value - light / dark. Contrast in direction - horizontal / vertical.
The major contrast in a painting should be located at the center of interest. Too much contrast scattered throughout a painting can destroy unity and make a work difficult to look at. Unless a feeling of chaos and confusion are what you are seeking, it is a good idea to carefully consider where to place your areas of maximum contrast.

HARMONY
Harmony in painting is the visually satisfying effect of combining similar, related elements. eg.adjacent colours on the colour wheel, similar shapes etc.

DOMINANCE
Dominance gives a painting interest, counteracting confusion and monotony. Dominance can be applied to one or more of the elements to give emphasis

UNITY
Relating the design elements to the the idea being expressed in a painting reinforces the principal of unity.eg. a painting with an active aggressive subject would work better with a dominant oblique direction, course, rough texture, angular lines etc. whereas a quiet passive subject would benefit from horizontal lines, soft texture and less tonal contrast.

Unity in a painting also refers to the visual linking of various elements of the work.

After studying these notes on the elements and principals of design, try this exercise

© JOHN LOVETT 1999

image to see an enlarged view.

Papa, Mama, baby

2010-02-23T11:40:00.000-05:00

Color and the composition Balance Formula (1,2,3 or Papa, Mama, baby, or mostly, some and a bit you choose how you can best remember)

Color IS part of composition and especially in the landscape. One sure way to make a boring painting is to use your colors equally dispersed throughout your painting. As an example, if you use equal quantities of warm and cool colors there will be no dominance and no variety making your painting uninteresting.

You can study color theory and try to apply what you know but above all if you can remember to check your color balance then your chances of making a successful painting will be greater. Try this 1,2,3 formula checklist:

1. Does your painting colors lean more to cool, warm or an equal mix of color? If your painting leans more to cool, then you need to consider where you will use some warmer colors to give the painting zip. Or, if you painting shows mostly warm colors you need to consider where you could use some cool colors. A good rule is to use the 1 part, 2 part, three part formula to keep the painting from being boring.
2. Does your painting have mostly dark, mostly light or an equal mix? Again, use the 1 part, 2 part, 3 part formula to keep the painting interesting.
3. Does your painting carry mostly pure colors, tints, shades or tones? Would your painting benefit from the using the 1 part, 2 part, three part formula in this regard?
4. Have you placed some color in your painting that contrasts with the main color balance in your painting but still with consideration to the balance formula? (Think red-green, yellow-purple, blue-orange.)
5. Are all your colors distributed equally or would your painting benefit from thinking 1 part, 2 part, three part?
6. Does your painting show color value ranges, temperature, intensity, various color planes, color textures and color shapes.

Color notes

2010-02-23T10:49:00.001-05:00

Color notes

http://artaction.resene.co.nz/color13.htm

http://www.color-wheel-artist.com/hue.html

Review what Complementary colors are

http://www.color-wheel-artist.com/color-schemes.html

Things to remember

1. Remember how our eye sees when looking through air. Value differences decrease with distance: the lights get darker and the darks get lighter. Values get closer together. You will not use pure white or pure black in distant areas of your painting.

2. All things have a basic color. This color (hue) does not change. We can only alter the basic color of objects. If we want to paint a red apple, then we will use variations of the red color. In other words, we will use red as our mother color and just add other colors to it to make variations we see in the apple which help us make the apple have volume instead of laying flat on the paper.

3. It helps to remember to use three values for our darks and three for our lights.

4. Colors in the light sides of objects are painted using warm colors.

5. Colors in the distant side of objects are painted with cool colors, but note that distant objects with light sides are painted with warms, but have cools mixed in too. The exception can be the light side of clouds. For clouds in the sun, you begin with ice cold white, tined with warms such as orange, cad red or cad yellow.

6. Colors in the dark side of objects are painted using cool colors.

When in doubt about a shadow color, use FUB.

&. Shadows are lighter as they move away from the object making the shadow.

Warm colors (light sides)

Cad Yellow Medium

Cadmium Orange (high value)

Burnt Sienna (Dark Value Orange)

Cadmium Red

Sap Green

Thalo Blue

Cool Colors (Dark sides)

Lemon yellow (Hansa yellow/Azo yellow or Yellow ochre

Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber mixed with yellow Ochre

Burnt Umber

Alizarin Crimson

Thalo Green

Ultramarine Blue

How to find an art agent.

2008-10-04T21:00:00.001-04:00

Do you know who your strongest competitor is? If you do, find out who their agent is and see if that agent can take on another client. You might find they don’t have an actual agent, but market themselves in other ways like placing ads in trade magazines. Recently Eric, the owner of Artspan, placed a full page in Art in America. I’ve seen similar ads in Art Review, Antiques and Art and Artist Advocate. Taking out a large ad in a national magazine can cost big bucks, but it can also give you big returns. You have to be ready for it in the way of the number of pieces you can have on hand at any one time. If you share the expense with say 5 other artists, then the cost is cut down and you all get great exposure. This is what Eric did. He ask all of us if we would like to participate and several did. This is one of the reasons I like Artspan. Eric is always thinking of ways to help all of us.

You can be your own art agent but if you can’t because of time constraints or just don’t have the skills, I think I’d start out with someone that might be willing to promote you for a percent of sales. Most of the time an artist gains a reputation for the work they create in their local town and then branch out from there as they have more and more work to offer. I’ve known many artists who have husbands or wives that work as agents for their spouse.

If an agent approaches you don’t pay money in advance. You don’t have to get a lawyer to help you with contracts but if you can afford one, it certainly won’t hurt especially if you are looking to do this for many years. Start out with your agent on a small scale and a small time frame so both of you can see if you have a good fit. Once you see that things will work out you can think about what you need in a contract to protect you and your work. I’m also sure that the agent would want to protect themselves as well by asking for an exclusive contract.

Why not try the Tupperware party approach… get your friend to act as your agent and throw some Jewelry parties locally and then get their friends to book parties … soon your work would be all over the place. I’ve often thought art could be sold like that too. Hook up with a decorator and have them teach people how to hang art. Hook up with a model and have her wear your jewelry and teach folks how to wear jewelry to the best advantage. I can see it now… get in touch with a civic group and tell them you have an idea for a program. Civic groups are always looking for program material that would be of interest to their members. Okay.. this idea is going to cost you.
:jest:

Wishing you much success! :drink:

Shadow notes

2008-08-29T09:18:00.002-04:00

Concerning landscapes:

1. Over half of all shadows are made from the sky color which is usually ultramarine blue, alizarin and yellow ochre in various proportions.

2. "For me, shadows are filled with light and air. I try to make the paint quality transparent in shadow areas to convey their airyness. In addition, the temperature of shadow areas is the opposite of the light source. If the light is cool, the shadows are warm, and vice versa." Donna Cusano

General:

1.Looking at any subject, you find two different types of shadows, cast shadows and form shadows. Once you begin to see the different types of shadows you will be able to take your painting further and make it more believable and interesting.

A cast shadow is what we think of when we sing the tune “Me and my shadow.” It the kind of shadow that is created when some object blocks the light source. For example, think of any object and then think of the shadow it would make if that object was sitting on a table or on the ground. The shadow you see is called a cast shadow. Same thing with shadows created by a flower blocking the light from another flower or a hat sitting on someone’s head. Even a nose can create a cast shadow. Casts shadows are the darker type of shadow because most of the light is being blocked out. Still there is color and a shadow isn’t a solid object… it is just a dark shape falling on a lighter surface, so some of that surface color has to show thru. Using transparent colors to create your shadows is a good idea but remember to make your shadows have sharp edges at the very base where the shadow meets the object but as the shadow leaves the object make the edges less sharp, less defined, softer and lighter.

A form shadow is the shadow that is actually found ON the object. Again it’s a shadow that is not in direct light. Mastering shadow form will help you turn an object making it have volume—three-dimensional. Form shadows are mostly soft having less defined edges and much lighter than it’s partner cast shadow.

Then there is the matter of reflected light, which I think of as a reverse shadow… lol, I thought I’d confuse you with that one.

Again, these are just notes cleaned up a bit. Hope I haven’t gotten anything confused.

2. Shadow color is determined by the light source and what the shadow is laying on top of. If you were painting a shadow on green grass and then that same shadow continued on to a pavement, the shadow would change color because the color of what the shadow is laying on top of would be different.

3. Reflected light is the light that jumps back onto the object from the light source hitting the ground, table, cheek other objects, as examples. Because it hits the ground, table, cheek or other object it will have some of that color in it but will be much lighter.

Color Wheel error

2008-07-13T21:36:00.002-04:00

Click any image to see an enlarged view.

Looking back at the first steps to create my very own color wheel, I see I made a mistake not in creating the color, but in placing it in its correct spot. Did you see my mistake?

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to work some more on the color wheel and do the first exercise.

Color wheel - spectrum colors

2008-07-09T15:36:00.002-04:00

Click any image to see an enlarged view.

Finished with my color mixing for today.

I made all the colors found around the color wheel using the recipes in the book I'm using. The only adjustment I made was finding a sub for thalo green. I decided it was close enough to viridian. I looked at the color wheel I had printed it off from the handprint site. I can't seem to find the exact one at the handprint site but I did find this one ... a value chart of colors all lined up against a gray scale value bar. I thought it was pretty cool and did answer some questions for me. http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/vwheel.html all the information at handprint.com is for watercolors but you can learn much that translates to oils and acrylics there. After all, pigment is pigment.

Here's my color mixing for today.

Another point I found interesting at handprint is this statement:

Because most artists have been trained under the "color theory" dogma that paints are just "colors", even knowledgeable artists or authors such as Michael Wilcox, Charles Reid, Susanna Spann, Jim Kosvanec or the late Zoltan Szabo do not always keep the distinction clear between pigments (colored powders), paints (mixtures of pigments and liquid vehicle) and "colors" (the product names given to paints). This results in frequent inaccuracies and outdated information in art instruction books, as explained in my book reviews. The editors at publishing houses such as Watson-Guptill, North Light or Watercolor Magazine share in the responsibility — after all, packaging and distributing information is their business. This confusion is an entrenched habit, abetted by the marketing techniques of art materials manufacturers, but a conscientious effort by artists, authors and publishers can put it in the past.

Color Study

2008-07-09T12:39:00.000-04:00

Click any image to see an enlarged view.

I'm beginning a study of color. I may have mentioned this a couple of times before, because I've started this color study several times and just got distracted. It would be good if I had a class that I had to show up to at a certain time and then get a grade at the end... that might help me finish up, but until then, I'm going to start again and again if that's what it takes. :)

For my study of color I'm going to use a book written by Arthur Stern called "How to see color and paint it". I may jump around a bit so I don't get bogged down in reading text and not getting paint on a canvas but I do intend on moving thru the exercises he gives. I've never made it past the third exercise before. There are 22 painting projects. I feel that finishing all 22 will give me a better understanding of where I go wrong with most of my paintings.

I'll post my progress if you want to follow along and welcome you to also post any exercise you might do too. Actually, if you would do the exercises with me, it might help me complete them. We could be classmates! :)

Get ready:

I'll be using 8 oil paints.
Alizarin crimson
Cadmium red light
Cadmium orange
Cadminum yellow pale
Phthalocyanine green
Phthalocyannine blue
Ultramarine blue
Titanium white

Palette knifes
Canvas
Palette
solvent and medium
view finder
set up box
easel
paper towels
pencil
tape
colored paper ... I may use material instead. (this is for taping to the set up box so you can change out the color of your background)
trash can
easel
lights

You might think listing these is silly but I'm also trying really hard to clean up my studio, so having a list of things I need helps me make sure I keep my essentials handy... ready to use.

I need to contruct a set up box. So that's what I'm doing today.

Time to move on

2008-06-24T11:05:00.002-04:00

Click any image to see an enlarged view.

It's time to move on. I've broken the dry spell and am inspired to go on to the next painting. This final edit is not what I had hoped for but learning to push values from the darkest darks to the lightest lights is good for me. The final painting is too green, but like I said, it's time to move on. After all, all three of the paintings have about 5 pounds of paint on each of them. Just teasing. :)

Gray Scale

2008-06-23T18:57:00.001-04:00

Click any image to see an enlarged view.

corrected values

2008-06-23T18:46:00.003-04:00

Click any image to see an enlarged view.

Corrected values... some correction on color

Plein Air Ocean studies

2008-06-23T16:39:00.005-04:00

Click any image to see an enlarged view.

Slowly I'm being able to stand to paint. I've taken some old plein air paintings out from the storage room and have tried to finish them up and get them framed.

I am really rusty and feel the need to do some color work so I'm going to try to do that the next few days.

To see what I'm talking about, take a look at these in gray scale and then I'll post the color images next. The gray scale images look so much better in my opinion.

March Newsletter

2008-03-05T13:48:00.002-05:00

March 2008

To: Plein Air Georgia Members
From: Phyllis Franklin in Thomaston, Georgia

I have great news. Jim Greenwood of Acworth, Georgia has agreed to manage and keep PAG on line and serve as a board member. Thank you so much Jim. I know I hear applause and cheers from everyone. Thank you too to BJ Wright and Jo Adang who have agreed to stay on as editors and advisory board members. I too will stay on as an advisory board member to lend support to Jim.

Look for a letter from Jim soon telling you of plans he has for 2008. Also look for a membership invoice to come to you. When you get this invoice, just follow the instructions given to you by the Pay Pal folks. Your support moving PAG forward is so appreciated.

You do not have to become a member of PAG to participate in most events but by becoming a member you will show your support for the organization, its mission and activities. We also provide a Yahoo discussion group which will alert you event news via email and encourage you to join at your earliest convenience. Go to www.yahoo.com and select groups, enter the name Plein Air Georgia in the group search box and that will give you a box to click and join. Joining the discussion group is not mandatory but just nice if you want to receive news via email.

It is an honor to be a member of PAG. At Plein Air Georgia, we have no preference as to style, materials used, or artistic interpretation. These are all personal choices that contribute to the unique expression of each artist while they paint 'en plein air'. Likewise, we think honest work by novice or professional is equally valid. The challenges and rewards of plein air painting are open to all. Although many of us are not die-hard plein air purist, we all enjoy painting outside and enjoy networking with fellow artists who enjoy the same. Some of us claim the title of plein air artists and others just enjoy the occasional outing. No matter how much or how little you are able to get outside and paint, all painters and patrons alike are welcome as members of PAG.

Join us for Workshops- paintouts- forum discussions, friendship
There is always something new to learn to push us beyond our comfort zone. Our mission is to serve the membership by providing a means to communicate with each other, share event and workshop information and provide a showcase for our work

To join, send an email to pleinairga@yahoo.com requesting membership. An invoice will be sent to you. Please provide us with the following:

Name - Email address
Website URL if you have one
Short Biography or artist statement
Physical location – town – county -Local art organization
Three or four images of your work in jpg or gif format along with art size, title and medium.

We are excited to have you as a member us no matter if you join with full membership or just join the Yahoo discussion Group. If you would like to become a contributing editor or serve on the advisory board for your area with post capabilities to the news blog, which feeds into the PAG web, let us know and we can set that up for you. Web membership is not required to be a news correspondent nor is membership at the Yahoo discussion group. What is important is being able to stay informed so we don't miss an event, resource or opportunity that takes place somewhere members might like to attend. If you have questions, just send a message to pleinairga@yahoo.com and that will reach the PAG staff.

Jo Adang
Phyllis Franklin
Jim Greenwood
BJ Wright

November Colors

2007-11-09T10:17:00.001-05:00

The colors outside are finally showing in some spots around my neighborhood and I'm anxious to get out and paint but don't think thats going to happen anytime soon. I'm making good progress with my knee and all the other stuff going on.

Test results for anemia are encouraging as this new med pack is doing it's job and I finished up yesterday with a very painful physical therapy session for my knee that has bursitis. Once this bursitis goes away, I hope I NEVER have another attack. It's the same knee that had the broken patella a couple of years ago. I'm going to do everything possible to keep my knee healthy for sure. At least now I can walk a bit, sit a bit and get some things done like the ton of clothes piled up in my laundry room. Today I'm going to walk to the mailbox and see how that goes. If that works, I'm going to get myself out to the studio tomorrow. I also hope that I'll be able to sit at the computer and share some art things I've been reading.

I miss keeping the girls more than I thought I would. Strange how life makes it's twists and turns and all the things you though you knew about yourself change. Some pleasent and some not so.

Hope you all are going well.

Jack the Koi

2007-08-31T21:06:00.000-04:00

The end of August and the sky is overcast with the promise of rain. The goldfish in the pond pretend they are koi as they splash their fins in and out of the cool morning waters. When we are children it’s fun to play dress up and prance around like the princesses that our mother’s tell us we are. It’s good to watch the fish playing and remember the play times when we were transported from everyday life into a fantasy world. What is it they say? All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Jack the Koi
En plein air 08-31-07
8x10 framed without mat
Soft Pastel on Canson
Framed & ready to hang
$100.00

Contact phyllisfranklin@hotmail for availability

Click any image to see an enlarged view.

Colored Pastel Paper

2007-08-31T20:47:00.000-04:00

This morning I woke up early, before dawn, and got myself together for the day. As soon as it was light enough I went out in the yard to the goldfish pond and sat with my pastel pencils and some dusty red canson paper taped to a slick masonite board. I watched for a bit as the fish played around catching the early morning bugs. I guess everyone was waking up and wanting breakfast. The birds were singing and the frogs had gone silent I suppose in fear I would see them.

The fish in the pond are just ordinary goldfish, but one has a fancy tail and I guess that makes him special. I call him Jack. As I sat thinking and drawing I thought about the paintings I had looked at the night before of wonderful koi swimming in a pool. Jack had all the moves of a koi, but just wasn't a big and he was just orange all over, not spotted like some koi are, but like I said he had the spirit of koi. So, I pretended he was a koi just like pretend when I was a little girl and wanted to be a princess. Before my hour was up I had finished my work and felt really good about the painting, so I hurred to get it under glass and framed.

The Canson paper I used was a dusty red color so I just blocked in Jack letting the paper show thru. Working on a red background and letting the background pop thru everyonce in a while is a good thing to bring harmony to a painting. Keeping your colors limited is another way to bring harmony. I put down a dark blue layer around Jack and then proceeded to layer in yellows and some greens over the dark blue which produced different shades of green all the way across. To finish the painting up, I used a cerulean blue pastel which worked well with the red paper.

Normally you frame pastels using a mat and spacers to keep the paper from touching the glass, but you can frame pastels next to the glass if you are sure you have the paper secure so it will not rub or shuffle at any time. I took care to tape the Canson paper with archival tape to an archival backing board and then framed next to the glass. Yes, you lose some of the sparkle, but in this case, framing next to the glass actually helped the illusion of Jack in the water.

Jack the Koi
En plein air 08-31-07
8x10 framed without mat
Soft Pastel on Canson
Framed & ready to hang
$100.00
Contact phyllisfranklin@hotmail for availability

Painting with Pastels

2007-08-19T17:54:00.002-04:00

Click any image to see an enlarged view.

Yesterday I painted with pastels and took some progress images along the way. Here they are:

First I sketched in the ducks using Derwent pastel pencils and started placing in the negavtive shapes around the ducks trying to leave the white of the paper as much as I thought would be good to have in the water and leaving the ducks completely white. I did get some blue into the ducks, but at this point it was like a very light wash, so it didn't matter much. For this painting I was glad that I had white Wallis sanded paper because I think it helped the water sparkle and also helped speed the painting of the ducks. I haven't painted with my pastels in quite some time and was surprised when I found white paper because most of the time I use the Belgian Mist, professional sheets. Sheet size for this one is 18" × 24" and I've taped the paper to a full sheet of foam core with blue painters tape. For the first few swipes of pastel and water as I wanted to be able to take it off the foam core if I needed to. I wasn't sure how wet I would get the paper and wanted to be able to dry the back with a hair dryer if I did get it too wet. Fortunately, working quickly worked for me and the paper did not get too wet or buckle a bit. I did not pad the paper with newspaper like I do sometime. Padding with newspaper helps me not get so heavy with my strokes for some reason. I tend to fill up the tooth really quickly because I do have a heavy hand. Wallis paper is touted to be able to take 25 layers, but they didn't use my hands to do the test. :)

Then I used some water and a sponge brush to make the blue pastel liquid and sink into the paper. I did this quickly and with as few brush strokes as I could manage and still get the flow of the water like I wanted it to be. I confess, some of the water helped create a water effect without my help. :)

Note: You can use water, denatured alcohol, Gamsol which is 100% pure odorless mineral spirits or Turpenoid as a wetting agent to turn the pastel into a kind of liquid. I've tried all of the above and have found that using Gamsol as the wetting agent seems to hold the colors better.

Adding in the shadows for the duck feathers was lots of fun, along with adding in the oranges for feet, beak, and a little on the feathers just to keep them from being too clean. :) Pastels, as any other media reflect color from the first colors put on the support as well as the support color itself. The colors you first put down might not be visiable in the end result, but are very important because of their reflective nature and color mixing effects.

More refining and headed for the last touches of sunshine. I've used a very limited palette of ultramarine blue, cad orange, burnt sienna, and a few greys. This makes it easier for me not to make muddy areas and certainly sets this painting up as a very effective complementary color study.

Done.

I used Rembrant soft pastels and Derwent pastel pencils with a final touch of a white pastel from my own collection of handmade pastels I made several years ago. I did not put this painting on my easel but rather propped it up on the counter and used some newspaper to catch the dust. I did this on purpose so I could lay the painting down on the counter or prop against the table or hold in my hand to sketch and work with the strokes for the ducks. While I layed in the water, I did move the painting around to let the pastel move with the water I applied to liquify the pastel and set it into the paper much like you would a watercolor wash.

Final image is 23x17 unless I crop a bit, and I don't think I will.

Critique from Elin Pendleton

Nice, Phyllis! You've handled the reflections well. The critique for improvement would be to get the water beyond the duck heads to "lay down" more by the addition of some burnt umber to the blues, and perhaps lighten them a bit (lighter, bluer, grayer with distance).

Your whites on the ducks seem very cold to me, so perhaps an addition of a whisper of either cad orange or cad yellow medium to the lightest parts would warm up the sunlit sides.

Painting Children - More tips

2007-07-20T13:35:00.001-04:00

I recieved another set of tips for painting children so I thought I'd share them here:

1. Don't paint babies if what you want is THEIR portrait. They don't have their personality yet so wait until they develop one. Babies almost always look like any other baby.

2. If you shoot photos outside in the sunshine, don't shoot them at midday because it will give you dark shadows under their noses and rings under their eyes.

3. If you are shooting photos for reference have them dressed in clothes they normally wear. You don't want an uncomfortable child. Let them pose for you if they are posers but try to use the photos you take that are natural poses. Give them their favorite toy, pet or let them play with something new you've brought along.

What to do with an ugly painting

2007-07-11T13:58:00.000-04:00

I’m sure that most of us have paintings that fall into the categories of good, bad and ugly. I’m finding that to have a painting that I really think is better than good tends to run the course of about one out of three. So that leaves me with at least one painting in the bad or ugly category and I have to decide what to do with it.

The first thing I remind myself is that all art is a great experiment. I don’t care how long you have been painting or how accomplished you are, each time you create a work of art, you are experimenting and each experiment will turn out differently. Have you ever tried to paint the same painting? Did it turn out the same? Some of us have track records that turn out successful paintings all the time, but even if you are this kind of artist, you are still a student for we all learn every day from each painting we do.

The second thing I remind myself of is that an old ugly painting doesn’t have to go to the landfill gallery unless I just give up and I shouldn’t give up without trying to save it at least one time. There are some things that can help me make a clean start or work-over my painting that I’ve used successfully before so I run down my list and see if I can salvage my painting by using one of these (choose the one that fit your medium).

· Spray it with oven cleaner and take off all the old oil paint
· Sand the oil or acrylic paint off and reapply gesso
· Cut it up and use it in a collage
· Soak the paper in a tub of water and rub pigment off gently with hands
· Cut the canvas or paper into strips to be used as bookmarks
· Use a product called sansodor which is a W&N solvent for oils
· Try reapplying a sanded surface when working with pastel papers
· Crop the ugly parts and reframe
. Take the canvas off and save the stretcher bars for new canvas
· Turn it into an abstract
· Flip it and paint a different painting with the old painting as a ground
· Try glazing
· Turn it into a mixed medium painting using inks, casein, egg tempera or gouache

I’m sure that you could add more ways. Make your own list and the next time to are ready to make a donation to the landfill, remember you can try one of the things on your list to save that painting. If all else fails and you don’t want to try anything new, you can go ahead and make that trash donation and still call yourself successful because you have just cleaned and organized your studio.

Better photos of Carley Ann's Portrait

2007-07-09T13:50:00.001-04:00

Click any image to see an enlarged view.

Carly Ann's portrait is finished

2007-07-08T21:43:00.000-04:00

Click any image to see an enlarged view.

I'm finished!

I can't say I am totally happy, but I think I should leave this as it is and move on to the next challenge. I feel good about everything I've learned and I thank everyone for help and support.

These images are taken from my old camera which only is only 1.3 mega pixcels. I can't believe how much technology has improved since I bought this camera in 2000. The camera I use today takes images at 8.0! I wonder what we will be doing five years from now.

I'll take better pictures tomorrow when I can take them outside and use my newer camera which is on batter charge at the moment. I did take a B&W just to see my values.

I'm ready for my critique. Please do not hold anything back. I need and want to learn as much as I can from this piece and trust that all of you will be honest with me. If you want to wait until tomorrow for better pictures, I'll understand. Most things did not change from last image, but I did finish up the shoes and of course, you'll notice I made the bush big again. (sigh)

Thanks again for all the emails with advice and support.

Hanging paintings

2007-07-07T20:45:00.000-04:00

I didn't paint today but instead brought the painting of Carley Ann into the house so I can see how it will look hanging. I can't decide where I want it to be but I'm glad I brought it in. Paintings look so different when you hang them on the wall and lighting is so important. I think I'm going to hang it in the blue room which is actually a sitting room right across from the dinning room. When it's done and has found it's place on my walls, I'll take a picture and post the image here. Here's saving a spot for it.

Click any image to see an enlarged view.

Next project - Inventory Storage

2007-07-04T20:21:00.000-04:00

Click any image to see an enlarged view.

I'm working on getting my studio cleaned up and organized. I know this sounds like a broken record, but get the studio organized is taking me more thought than I anticipated.

The first problem I have is finding space to store the finished paintings that are not hanging in the gallery. Then there is the problem with storing paintings that I want to revisit and maybe finish up. Most of these are plein air studies. I want a quick way to identify them without having to pull them all out to find the one painting I want to work on that I've identified by looking thru my inventory book.

My inventory book is of the loose leaf variety. The pages have all the necessary information on them along with a photograph of the painting. I have my paintings tagged with the inventory tag number and try to store the paintings with the tag visible. My inventory tag system is based on the date I finish the painting or stop working on the painting and photograph it for the first time. I name my image file the same as the inventory tag which looks like this example using todays date: 070407 and if I have more than one painting, the tag would look like 070407a etc.

Sometimes the tag is just written on the side of the canvas, other times it's on the clear bag cover of panels. This works pretty good but I'm always on the look out for an easier way to sort and store the paintings for easy access.

I'll keep you posted if I find any interesting ways beyond the usual. When I get mine done, I'll photograph it and let you see my progress with that too.

Check lists

2007-06-30T21:57:00.000-04:00

Click any image to see an enlarged view.

Funny how the list that I keep on my easel to reimind me what I need to be reminded of keeps growing.

Patterns
Symmetry
Colors
Complementary colors
enhanced colors
texuture (physical and visual)
Compostion focus
interesting crops
pointers
movement
proportions
presentation
framing
Paint with your eyes
Think what things might become
Let the brush talk
Be in love with change
Find the elegance
See the big picture
Make it a pattern
Identify the extraordinary
Don't get gauche
Keep it fresh at all costs
Take your time

Compositional integrity. A composition that knows its edges, balances internally and "works" in the "big picture." The superior creative eye often simplifies and is not distracted by minor elements or extraneous detail.

Sound craftsmanship. No sloppy craftsmanship detected. Artist appears to be grounded in accepted means of application, order, and seems to have knowledge of media chemistry. Work looks like it is not liable to fall apart shortly.

Colour sensitivity. Appears to have understanding of colour choices—complementary, analogous, etc. Often shows colour paucity and attention to sophisticated grays. I hate to use the word "taste," but I will.

Creative interest. Subject is creatively different so that it attracts, leads and holds my attention to the artistic and creative elements within the work. I often become aware of a greater creative mind at work.

Design control. Artist appears to have an understanding of how the eye is managed and led by the design, flow and activation of a work—effectively 'seducing' me. I often have the feeling of a masterful eye managing mine.

Gestural momentum. Brushwork or line-work is often expressive and has bravura, bravado, courage and élan. It often shows variety of stroke and is generous in the "hand made" conveyance of visual energy.

Artistic flair. Artist does something beyond blind representation and/or just moving the materials around in some form of lazy play. Work has style and panache and captivates in its artistry. "Wow, that's artistic!"

Expressive intensity. All stops are pulled to enhance the central idea or general motif. It can be a "look," a mannerism or an illusion, but the intensity convinces me of the presence of a non-jaded, passionate, particular author.

Professional touch. Artist avoids amateur methodology and gives a direct, confident, seasoned look to the work. Some people seem to know what they're doing, others do not. Professionals often, but not always, tend to leave their strokes alone.

Surface quality. Up close and personal the surface is intriguing and a joy to cruise. This may be because of the texture, handling of pigment, or the complexity of surface abstraction, gradation, or other quality—anything that makes the surface fascinating.

Intellectual depth. Artist gives me something to think about. There is an enduring resource here—not just a pretty picture but a thoughtful metaphor or other device that has staying power without retreating to sentiment or kitsch.

Visual distinction. The art has a look of uniqueness, either with style, subject matter or handling. It looks different from what I've seen before, or if similar, arrests the eye with a unique feeling or look that denotes "character."

Technical challenge. Artist has chosen something that requires above average skills or technical ability. Not just something that anybody could do. I love to see artists challenge themselves, take the technical risk, and win.

Artistic audacity. Artist is "in your face" with some element that dazzles—skill, idea, technique, or some other in spades of the above mentioned points that makes me sit up and take notice.

Some of these were given to me by artist friends, others are just things from workshops, workbooks or personal observation.

Bottom line, I know my list will keep growing because I'll keep learning and that's exactly what painting is all about.

Working Small

2007-06-29T21:47:00.000-04:00

Click any image to see an enlarged version

Lesson Plan to try

Working small

Take a 6x8 panel or paper and divide it up into four rectangles. Create four thumbnail sketches to use as reference for your small works painting.

Limit your palette. Premix colors for each major color/value in the painting (no more than around 8 colors or so or if you want to limit further, try just three plus black and white. Using a mountain landscape as an example, you would need to premix the sky color, the light and shadow for the upright trees, the light and shadow for the ground plane, and the light and shadow for the slanting plane (mountains).

Limit your time spent on each painting to no longer than 20 or 30 minutes. Don’t keep working on a painting that is not working… just move on to the next one or try the same painting with a fresh panel, different light, different angle, perspective, etc.

Working small has great benefits with economy of time, material, and learning. Once you have a successful small painting, you can expand the ideas to a larger works with ease since you’ve already worked out the majority of the problems and tried the same set up in different lights, etc. Use every painting you do as an opportunity to design and problem solve. Work from nature or life as often as you can. Work to capture the essential information. Practice objectivity to critique your own work and make your own check- list of things that you want to pay special attention to.

There are so many things to paint and so little time to get them all done.

Hands, shoes, hair adjustments

2007-06-29T18:56:00.001-04:00

Click any image to see an enlarged view.

.:.

Click any image to see an enlarged view.

Today I've been working on trying to get the hands in position, resolving some issues with her hair, and getting the shoes in ready for shadows. Small changes in some places and big changes in others. I still can't quite get the color of her skin right. Looking at the image I see I will need to go back and adjust the shape of her chin where I cut in taking the hair off her shoulder and putting it to the back. It's still fun. :)

Background and foreground adjustments

2007-06-28T16:36:00.001-04:00

Click any image to see an enlarged view.

I'm fiddling and that's my usual routine when I'm just not happy with something. I worked on the background and adjusted the size of the bush in the front. I'm happy with the background and think everything will come together when I lay some of Carley Anns hair back in at the top of her head. If it still doesn't look right, I can lower the yellow grass line.

I'm also fiddling with her hair on the left side of the painting.

Hair Sample

2007-06-19T12:55:00.000-04:00

Click any image to see an enlarged view.

Just for reference, here is a sample of her hair. In the photograph her hair is wet.

Bear and Hair

2007-06-19T12:35:00.000-04:00

Click any image to see an enlarged view.
Still trying to find the right blonde for her hair.

Painting advice from my friend Booker Thomas Poole:

1.

Phyllis....try using a combination of burnt and raw sienna, yellow ochre, and mars black on Carley's hair....hold on the hands until you've finished Carley's hair and you are satisfied with her face...believe it or not, you have painted a very challenging portrait in record time! Paint on Phyllis!!
__________________
http://www.dazzcraze.com

Mars black was only to be used to "darken" the burn't and raw sienna....I see no problem using black as much as I see using white as potentially problematic...white used with certain colors can "bleach" that color out---too much white can make a painting look "washed out"---the colors are not as brilliant, or lively as they could be.
__________________
http://www.dazzcraze.com

Hair and Hands

2007-06-18T20:28:00.000-04:00

Click any image to see an enlarged view.

Still trying to find the right formula to paint her hair. I see I need to study a bit more. :)

Boxwood

2007-06-18T16:17:00.001-04:00

More adjustments... and I'm happy with the background and the size of the boxwood.

Bricks

2007-06-18T12:18:00.000-04:00

Back trying to resolve the problem about the brick perspective and finally deciding that what I need to do is downplay the bricks so as to keep the focus on Carley Ann. I darkened the bricks somewhat and will probably do back over them again with another layer of dark glaze to further push them out of focus. I also keep tinkering with the background around her head as I'm not happy with what I keep doing. Again... working these problems out by doing a thumnail sketch and sticking to it would have solved this problem right off.

Click the image to see a larger photo.

Incisors

2007-06-15T20:43:00.000-04:00

I also worked a bit more on her teeth hoping I could get them to look better.

Background, Ribbon, Bricks

2007-06-15T20:18:00.000-04:00

Just making adjustments and refining... actually changing my mind and trying out new things which I know I shouldn't do, but can't seem to help myself. :)

Hair

2007-06-14T10:45:00.001-04:00

Background adjustment

2007-06-14T10:29:00.001-04:00

Background and mouth

2007-06-14T00:31:00.000-04:00

Two things I haven't been happy with and am still not quite happy is with the background and Carley Ann's mouth/teeth. Here are the latest changes. I'll probably work a bit on the mouth area tomorrow with rested eyes and then move on to hands, legs, feet and shoes. Oh yes... and hair. :) When Carley Ann's mother and daddy saw the portrait last week they wanted her to have teeth, so I made an attempt to put them in, but now that I look at it, she looks better with just a hint of teeth showing.

Painting tip from my friend Booker Thomas Poole:

Very nice Phyllis!! The way that you introduced the plants is well done--nice, but not an "attention eater". Now Phyllis, here's your next challenge...take a good look at Carly's mouth--notice in the photo that her teeth are barely showing....to "de-emphasize" her teeth, take some burnt sienna and a touch of red and go inside her mouth lessening the visability of her teeth--darken her top lip and keep her bottom lip highlighted....her teeth are "aging her" just a tad---so work on her mouth area...Phyllis, you are just about at the finish line with this one...WELLLLL DONE!
__________________
http://www.dazzcraze.com

Adding pink flowers

2007-06-13T22:12:00.000-04:00

Click on any image to enlarge.

Adding green plants

2007-06-13T18:54:00.000-04:00

Click on any image to see a larger view.

Painting Advice from my friend Booker Thomas Poole:

Phyllis, the flowers behind Carly is not a concern for me...you can add a bit of detail, and that's all that they will need. I'd be careful about the flowers that you've put up front...that will mean more detail....the focus is on Carly...you've painted her well enough where she can "stand on her own".....adding flowers is a nice touch, but be sure that you keep Carly as the star of your portrait!

Today's updates

2007-06-13T14:34:00.000-04:00

We had a storm last night and the lawn service is doing some clean up. My trip away for a few days will need to take a back seat while I attend to some storm damage around the house. This will give me some time to work on Carley Ann's portrait in between directing the lawn service people. So, I'm painting today. :)

Busy week ahead

2007-06-10T13:12:00.001-04:00

For the next two weeks I'll be busy with all kinds of projects so I'll have plenty of time to think about what I need to do next. Hope I get to paint a little on this one and keep the momentum going. Tomorrow and Tuesday I have a high school student coming to help me clean my garage out and some other projects that have been needing attention. Weather permitting, I hope to be able to get outside and paint in the early morning or late afternoon on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and visit some artist friends including Maureen in Americus and Shirley in Smithville! Saturday I have a meeting with the gallery folks and that's a full week of stuff.

Bricks

2007-06-09T22:54:00.000-04:00

I painted a bit early this morning and posted where I'm at now, but then Anna Claire came to stay with me while Brent, Terri and Carley Ann went to the Atlanta Aquarium for the day. I brought Carley Ann's painting into the house so that I could just look at it and decide what to do. Funny thing is that I can see the errors so much clearer just looking at the photo thumbnails. I wonder why that is. Anyway, I see that my bricks are not all going in the same direction SW to NE correcting that will help too I hope.

If I get to paint tomorrow I might lay in some of the flowers in the pot. I don't want them to have a lot of detail ... I don't think.... I need advice on this. The flowers are in the focal area, and would add to catching the eye of the viewer... but don't know how detail I can really get with painting them since I'm not really a detail painter. What would you do? Dawn Whitelaw gave me some good advice in the beginning, so I'll refer back to that, but if you have suggestions, please let me hear from you.

Covering up bricks and making adjustments

2007-06-09T09:33:00.000-04:00

Sigh...

Working on brick perspective

2007-06-09T08:18:00.000-04:00

I know I have something wrong, but just can't seem to get it right, so I'll keep working.

Hair?

2007-06-06T23:10:00.001-04:00

Anybody have any tips for painting hair?

Painting today

2007-06-06T22:26:00.000-04:00

I don't have an image to show you of what I painted today because it is so very little. One thing I wanted to tell you though is how much I am enjoying my new studio space. The north light is great because it is constant and I can open up all three sets of french doors and get all the fresh air I want plus let the light flood in. One set of door is on the east side, another on the north side and the last on the west side. This makes for great air circulation without the air conditioning. When it gets hot, I can turn on the air, but I'd rather just open the doors. :)

This all confirms my gut feeling that the garden house should be used for a studio rather than just a place to sit and enjoy the garden... and store a few gardening tools. :) This way I get to combine two of my passions... painting and gardening. :) I'm finding I'm enjoying both of them more and more each day.

What's so great about having a studio you might say, I thought you said you were a plein air painter. Well, yes, I love plein air, but having a studio to go to and keep all your supplies handy, keep you painting going for days on end and being able to clean up right on the spot, leaving your brushes laying on the table ready for the next session really appeals to me. I'm finding that I may become more and more attached to working in the studio and just keeping a small set for jumping in the car and heading off for a plein air adventure. :)

Tomorrow looks like it's going to be another great studio day!

Carley Ann, minus the other girls

2007-06-05T20:36:00.001-04:00

Well, I think I got a little too carried away with trying to put Anna Claire and Cocoa-puff in the painting, so I took them out and now Carley has her very own painting. I'll have to do one for Anna Claire when she gets around 2 1/2 like Carleys.

I feel better about this painting as it looks tonight. It's cleaner and has focus. :) I know the bricks are not placed right and I'll be working on that.

My three girls

2007-06-05T17:20:00.000-04:00

I worked on the teeth some more. I still think they look a bit bright. Maybe a glaze would knock them down a bit, but I'll try that later. After looking at her face in the light of the day, I'm really unhappy with that yellow around her eye socket... I'm afraid to go back in, but think I need too. I can tell I'm really going to have to study to do flesh tones. And... that first mistake of using that pastel pencil to sketch in my drawing was a horror to tame as much as I have. I've also added in the way I want the background to be. I don't want much back there and the colors might be too strong, but I'll wait and see as it progresses. I can always go lighter and less intense to make it go back.I have the composition as I want it now. Anna Clair's mom came to look at the painting progress after VBS today and we talked about scale deciding that Anna Claire looked too big for the size I had Carley Ann so I've made her smaller. I hope this will work, but if it doesn't I will have learned another big lesson. I added Cocoa-puff in to complete my three girls and took out the Ivy leaves so there would be a easy way into the painting and keep if from being too busy. Hopefully the bricks will have enough texture, color and structure that nothing else will be needed. I don't know yet if I will try to paint them as realistically as possible or if I'll do them more painterly.... probably more painterly as I really don't want folks to linger on the bricks. That's about all I've done for today. I'm tired and ready to rest for the evening. So much fun... so little time.

Adding Anna Claire

2007-06-04T23:46:00.000-04:00

I've got the block in done for Anna Claire. Here's the problem I think I'm going to run into... porportion... how much smaller is Anna Claire than her sister. I'm going for it anyway.I took away one column and will fuzz out the background when I figure out what to do. I also added some ivy on the bricks and the corner of a bush. I may put Cocoa-puff in too... just because they love her so and she's another one of my girls.

Paintin advice from my friend Booker Thomas Poole:

Phyllis, you can work it out on paper....the size of the paper doesn't matter, but getting the scale right does. Try working it out on an 18 x 24 sheet of drawing paper....get the scale of Carly on the paper as close to the scale of Carly on your canvas....this will make it easier to "transfer" the correct scale to your canvas. One other thing I should mention to you Phyllis, and this is an old trick to mine....after you've gotten your drawing the way that you like on your paper...turn it over, and take soft graphite or pastel and cover the back of your paper...making sure that the covering completely covers the drawing on the other side. Once that is done, you can turn the drawing back over...being careful, and making sure that the surface that you're going to lay it on is NOTtoo wet---if it is, wipe away any excess paint, making sure that the surface is as dry as possible. Next, you "re-draw" your image--pressing against the canvas, and when you've finished, the image should be "transferred" to your canvas---it might be light---in that case, you can draw a bit harder to make sure that it did transferred. It's a little work, but it can truly help you with your scale. For future paintings....your decisions should be definitive...honestly, I would not add any other images in the process, once I've begun to paint--my concern would be that your concern with getting the scale right on another image would frustrate you enough to take away from the original commitment to paint only Carly....I love your "boldness", but I must say that you might focus only on going through with the process of painting Carly, and once you've successfuly done that, (and I'm sure that you'll be successful), then you can take on the "fresh" process of painting them both in a brand new painting!
__________________
http://www.dazzcraze.com

Final Face for Carley Ann

2007-06-04T23:42:00.000-04:00

I decided that I would add Anna Claire into the painting. I don't know if I can get the scale right or not, but I'm going to try.

Here's Carley Ann's final face. I'm not finished with hair, but that can wait. I want to get Anna Claire's face perfect now. Her mother and dad came to look at it and they wanted her teeth, so I dropped a few in. I would have liked to have left them out, but in real life the painting of them looks like real teeth, so I'm okay with them.Edit.. again the image looks grainey with lines across it. It's probably because I'm shooting inside with lights instead of natural light from the sun. The painting looks so much better than this photograph.

Sunday

2007-06-03T22:08:00.000-04:00

I took the day off to consider what to do next. :)

I think I'll be working on the hair getting it to be blonde like her real hair is and checking to see if the hair line is correct. Also, I'll be adjusting the eyes around the fold line and the under lid of the eye socket.

This next week I'll be busy with VBS so I don't know how much time I'll have to devote to this painting. I do want to think about adding Anna Claire to this painting since I'm happy with it so far and my children seem to be too.

If you have any suggestions, please post them. I would be so grateful.

Painting tip from my friend Booker Thomas Poole:

Phyllis, I use these colors, titanium white, cad red, yellow ochre, and lemon yellow. The titanium white and the cad red are your base colors, with yellow ochre and lemon yellow for making the flesh cooler or warmer. You can mix green on for darker tones and shadows--(true green). You can acually purchase "flesh" color at most arts and crafts stores--but you still will have to navigate through your tones. (ligts and darks).
__________________
http://www.dazzcraze.com

Beginning Hair

2007-06-02T18:35:00.001-04:00

Canvas Covered with Paint

2007-06-01T14:15:00.000-04:00

Today I've been working on getting paint all over the canvas and making some adjustments just to keep my head straight. I think I've figured out what to do with all that blank space to the right of Carley Ann... if she turns out to my satisfaction, I'll see if I can slide Anna Claire in beside her. :) For now I'll just leave it blank.

Painting advice from my friend Booker Thomas Poole:

Nice Phyllis! Very good start! Here's my suggestion: (this is how I paint my portraits--you don't have to do this, but from what I can see, you are painting your portrait like I paint mine.) When painting portraits, I try to consider the entire composition, and I try to avoid focusing too much on one area--this allows me to build up my entire composition all at once--it also allows me to make decisions on what background colors will work best with my subject-(there are times when the background in the photo may not necessarily compliment my portrait subject)--I make sure that my portrait subject is the main focal point--if the background is too intense or the colors don't compliment the colors on my subject---it would be difficult for the viewer to focus on the subject itself. As for using charcoal and worrying about the strong lines--try to tone down by erasing as much as you can, but in the future, you can spray drawing with fixative spray. You are doing great Phyllis!!! I'm actually painting Carly as well, and I will post the steps I took soon...coooool Phyllis!
__________________
http://www.dazzcraze.com

Getting paint on the canvas

2007-05-31T14:03:00.000-04:00

Well, I decided I'd go ahead and make some decisons and get some paint on the canvas to get me going.

Yesterday I attended an on line live chat with artist Dawn Whitelaw sponsored by The American Artist Magazine that was very helpful to get me going with this portrait. During the chat she answered a couple of general questions and then sent me a nice follow up email.

Advice from the chat: Dawn Whitelaw

Phyllis, if you know the sitter it always brings something else to the ptg. If you don't know the person,
you have to make an assessment about them in a short time. With children you have to imagine who they will be in the
future. There will be characteristics that are inherent, you get a sense of what they are going to look like when they are
older. Look at the parents or the siblings. you want to get the characterstics of them that will stay as they age.

Advice from email: Dawn Whitelaw

Phyllis,

Here are my suggestions for the portrait of your grand daughter. Remember that they are suggestions. All I can tell you is what I would do. The ultimate decision is yours. I would keep the background very simple.I am attaching two roughly done ideas. Because the light on the subject and the background is different, you run the risk of having the figure looking "cut out." To help prevent this, some light needs to travel into the background. I lightened the sides of the columns and enlarged them a little bit. I would eliminate the fence, and buildings in the background. . I brought some more white flowers in to the big pot. The flowers in the background could be left in to echo the flowers in the front. I would not add more pots of flowers in the front. On her face, keep the creases under her cheeks warm and lighter than the photo reference. I also lightened some of the foliage in the pot behind her hair. I would love to see your results. Good Luck

Thought process: Make the background fuzzy, only have one plant, increase the size of the columns. Find a way to fill the right side of the canvas without taking the focus off Carley Ann,

Mistakes: I think Carley Ann should have been closer to the center of the canvas. I also think I should not have used that black pastel to block in my drawing. I'm going to use some sealer to help get rid of the pastel dust, but I don't think it will help that much. I may have to put several layers of paint on the canvas to get rid of all that black and get her skin color right.

composing

2007-05-25T23:08:00.000-04:00

Refining

2007-05-25T21:41:00.000-04:00

Advice from Thomas Booker Poole:

Nice Phyllis! Now remember, "less is more", and stay away from too much defintion in Carly's face...you've done a very good job with her eyes....soften her cheeks...try to avoid the temptation to draw strong lines...soften her mouth area.....the purpose of doing all of this is to "transition" this thought process into your painting. 85-90% of a person's likeness is "in the eyes"....and you are more than almost there.

face close up

2007-05-25T19:53:00.000-04:00

Beginning a Portrait

2007-05-25T19:43:00.000-04:00

First time trying to do a portrait. Hopefully this will look like Carley Ann Franklin Angel.

30x40 canvas

Painting tip from my friend Booker Thomas Poole. http://www.dazzcraze.com

Phyllis, here's some things to keep in mind when doing children's portraits. First and foremost, be mindful of what kind of canvas that you use when painting portraits-especially children. I use Fredrix Style 589 Portrait Canvas for all of my portraits---it's a smoother canvas--excellent for the softness of a child's face. Keep in mind the softness of Carly's face-(what a wonderful face! )--Keep in mind the expressiveness of her eyes--the "softness" of her facial features. When you finally start to paint her--remember "less is more"---use color and highlights to emphasize features on her face. (will illustrate this evening) Today, once you are comfortable with drawing her-transfer her to the canvas using the grid--NO PAINTING YET...only concern yourself with making sure that she is "rendered well"---drawn well on the canvas--that the composition is what you desire---study the her tones--lights and darks---study the relationship of her AND the background...become very familiar with the overall composition---make sure that it's placed where you want it on the canvas....my thought is that you'll spend the day making sure that she is drawn as best that you can---if she is a well-rendered drawing, then she shall be a well-rendered painting!!!! Looking forward to this evening, and I'll check in at some point today!!!! By the way, I like your first sketch....remember that her eyes are her best feature---keep them soft...keep the propotioned in relation to her face...not too large.....

Granddaughter Carley Ann Franklin

2007-05-09T20:30:00.000-04:00

This is begging to be painted. :)

Studio Inventory

2007-05-08T18:55:00.001-04:00

Will post paintings in inventory soon.

Callaway Azaleas

2007-04-23T17:35:00.000-04:00

Spring Dance I'm calling this one. Working en plein air this Spring at Callaway Gardens.

Center Composition

2007-04-23T16:10:00.000-04:00

.:.

Sometimes the focal point is just smack dab in the middle, but having interesting colors and textures that surround the main focal point create supporting focal areas that can move the eye around making the compostion work. Quoting from Edgar Payne, "the placement of the main point of attraction in composition is important. Regardless of its location on the canvas or whether it is large or small, it needs balance by it surrounding parts. If the main attraction area is small the rest of the picture should not over come it by presenting similar or equal interest. The principal attraction should not be placed too near the edge of the canvas."

Peppermint Azalea

2007-04-23T08:50:00.000-04:00

Azalea!

2007-04-23T08:47:00.000-04:00

Azalea walk close to gardens restaurant April 2007.

Walking the Azalea Trails of Callaway

2007-04-23T08:34:00.000-04:00

Azalea Walking Trails April 2007 Callaway Gardens

Azalea Walking Trails

2007-04-23T08:32:00.000-04:00

Azalea Walking Trails near the Gardens restaurant Callaway Gardens April 2007.

Stickability

2007-04-21T21:22:00.000-04:00

"With the student who has real "stickability" a genuine failure is often better than a half-way success." Edgar Payne

.:.

Why paint; why paintings?

2007-04-16T10:29:00.000-04:00

We enjoy paintings and painting because all of us need a distraction from our lives. In paintings as well as the act of painting, we find peace of mind and relaxation. Even more than that, we all have the need to express ourselves, to understand each other and to be understood. Paintings help us communicate with each other on a different level than language.

Reading Books

2007-04-14T18:22:00.000-04:00

I've long been a collector of art books, art books about paintings and art books about painting. The reason I collect art books is two fold. First, I enjoy looking at art that others have done and second, I enjoy reading about the lives of other artists either my contemporaries or those that have long since pasted this Earth. Each book I pick up gives me clues to how I either want to paint or a clue to a particular method or material. The problem is I find myself carrying them around without really reading or putting them under my pillow at night, I guess I do this in hopes that somehow by osmosis the words will process to my brain and will be forever more mine. Well, for me there is always hope.

Painting 99

2007-04-13T11:51:00.000-04:00

What is the first step to creating a painting? For the most part, it's found in the thinking process. How you think and of course how you learn is the greatest single factor in any creative process. Except for those with natural talent or genius all of us must find our individual way by studying the different methods that others before us have found to be successful. King Solomon said "There is nothing new under the sun." so with this in mind I begin my studies. It's my goal to be able to apply something I've learned to a painting I do each day. Given my current schedule, it might not be possible to keep up with a painting each day, but I'll certainly do my best.