At Last!!

Finally!  I actually finished the crocus painting.  And I don't care for it.  Don't get me wrong, lots of things worked out really well.  But the pistils got funny at the end.  I don't like the "fuzziness" of the pistils.  There's no definition in them.  I blame this on the fact that I used a photograph and not a real flower as a model.  This would mean that I couldn't intimately understand how the pistils were shaped and that ignorance translated into the image.  I also don't like the "graininess" of the colour in the pistils.  Not sure what that's all about...but whatever.  It was an awesome exercise and I'm glad I did it!  I will likely try it again soon with summer on its' way and SOOOO many flowers to draw/paint! :)

Another thing I learned in this project was how to re-flatten the paper.  When you paint with water, the paper gets all bumpy and curled (if you don't stretch it, which I didn't, as per Birgit's instructions).  Fortunately, Birgit also showed how to flatten the painting by wetting the back and letting it smooth itself out.  What I learned was - don't let the water get to the painting side of the paper!  I watched her do it and it seemed simple enough, but when I did it and flipped the painting over I noticed that not only were there places where the water seemed to have gotten to the paint (i.e. water drops), but the excess water on the back seeped to the front (naturally) and wet the paint.  Go figure.  I mopped up the damage as best I could, but on the whole I consider this a success.  I've never done any of that before and now I know what NOT to do!!

So after doing so very little painting today, I decided it was time to put the paints away for a while.  I was VERY excited over the success of the crocus and I admit that I was getting over-ambitious considering my skills.  My thoughts were moving toward much more difficult pieces and it took a while to realize that I wasn't ready for those just yet.  Thankfully my daughter being ill helped me step away and more carefully consider my situation here.

Now I am back to the owl piece I want to do.  Unfortunately I've had absolutely no luck finding the pictures I took, so I broke down and searched the web for a likely model.  I found a few images of Great Horned Owls.  They have awesome faces!  I plan to carefully draw one out to figure out how to render feathers, etc, and also how I want to present an owl in a finished piece.  I like owls.  I don't get to interact with them ever.  But I like the way they look and what they represent as a symbol.  I think they could be a lot of fun to study.  I'm looking forward to this project!  Here's my first rough sketch:

Crocus III

I came away from my studio feeling very positive about the direction this painting is going.  This a huge turnaround from how I felt yesterday - once again I struggled against the panic and fear that seems to go with working creatively for me.  I did win out in the end.  I pushed past the fear and walked into the studio, sat down and started the routine of preparing my paints, etc.  It's amazing how routine can quiet the mind and absorb fear.

Anyway...I worked more on improving the shadows in the petals.  I read somewhere (maybe James Gurney?) that objects that face the sky will reflect blue in their shadows, while objects that face the ground will reflect reds/browns in theirs.  I could see that effect in my reference photo, so I tried my best to follow it.

Then I worked to define the veins in the petals.  One thing I've definitely learned from this project is that when you are doing veining, do them first.  Veins should be under the shadows not above them.  It doesn't show well in the picture, but in the real painting it looks to me like the veins are above the shadows.  I also decided to darken the areas behind the flower to better allow the flower to "pop" in the painting.  After this I decided that this was about as much damage as I wanted to commit and chose to remove the masking on the pistils.

After looking at my reference photo for a bit, I decided that it would be easier to mask over the dark portions behind the pistils in the middle.  This way I could work unimpeded and the values would be more fluid.

I've never added masking to a painted surface before, and I noticed that the colour started to move into the masking.  I'm really hoping that this doesn't mean that the mask is absorbing some of the pigment.  We won't know until I lift the mask unfortunately, but if it has, I am determined to try to paint the dark areas back in.  I decided to prep my paints and palette for the oranges and yellows needed in the pistils and then I started my first wash.  I kept going, adding darks and lifting lights until I started making mistakes.  Then I figured I'd quit while I was ahead :)

We're not quite done yet, there's more definition to put into the pistils, but I can definitely see the finish line!  I like how the orange of the pistils has added some warmth and life to the painting - not just a focal point.  If you compare this image to the one above, before I added pigment, the painting seems very cool and lifeless I think.

Crocus II

We had glorious weather this weekend - I was finally able to tackle all the dead brick-a-brack in my garden and yard!  It's been driving me crazy ever since the snow started to melt!  The only downside is that today I am VERY sore.  And also weary in a sore muscle sort of way (does that make sense?).  So because of this I had to push myself into the studio today.

I figured that since I wasn't as "in touch" with painting as I have been, that I should take things slow and follow the steps.

I added some shadows on the right hand petals with a bit of blue (perhaps too much in some spots and not enough in others), finished the bottom-most petal and tested out some dark in the corner.  I also added some more red/pink to the top petal and attempted to darken the veins.  But for some reason I didn't feel that was enough and decided to add a bit more.

I added some shadow to the bottom-most petal and some dark contrast in the centre of the flower.  There's also a bit of work on the left-most petal and some more dark in the other two corners.  I had to force myself to stop at this point.  I could feel the painting getting away from me and there are some definite oopsies already!  

It's nice to work with the dark tones because I can neaten up my edges a bit.  Also it's bringing the flower out a bit which I like.  I'm surprised at how much more I can see needs to be done though.  I had expected this to be a faster process than it is.  It gets tricky when you are trying to only work in one area at a time so you don't have any bleeding of pigment.  I have to wait for everything to dry before I move on, but I can already see that I need to dull down the blue in the one petal, darken another and enhance the veins in at least two petals.  And then I get to work on the pistils!

I really like taking the pictures of the painting in process.  For one, it makes the image smaller so the mistakes don't stand out as much (always nice).  For another, it allows me to take the image away from the studio so I can see it with fresher eyes and better determine what it needs.

I'm already starting to plan out the next project.  I can't decide if I want to take a break from painting and do a pencil portrait or if I want to try out a different watercolour technique.  We'll just have to wait and see!

Raccoons and Crocuses

I'm a bad natural artist.  I was driving home late the other night when I noticed movement at the curb.  Being a keen observer of the natural world, I took a closer look and found that it was a raccoon!  "Cool, a raccoon", I thought to myself (I may have said it out loud too in a kind of gleeful squeel, I don't remember).  Did I stop the car and take a picture of the creature for future compositions?  No.  I was more than a block away before I realised that would be the appropriate response for a natural artist, and by then I was sure the animal had scurried away to wherever they go.  Note to self: your cell phone has a camera and you should must take pictures whenever opportunities arise!!!

Moving on...after struggling with fear and anxiety for about a day, I decided to take a deep breath and maybe see how the crocus might go.  This was a monumentus event.  Because my skill and experience in painting isn't what I'd like it to be, my natural inclination is to avoid any projects that could result in abysmal failure.  However, it seems I have an adventurous nature and tend to tackle big and scary things head-on.  It was an interesting 24hours, but the adventurous nature won out by applying logic - scary things don't get less scary by avoiding them.  So, I took the plunge.

I was careful not to think too much about what I was doing and followed the required preparation steps in a calm and methodical manner.  I figured that maybe if I creep up on it from the side, it won't see me coming and might turn out well - who knows?  I tried not to drag my feet in collecting my water, preparing my paints and transferring the image to watercolour paper.  That would be avoidance and what's to avoid in collecting water and preparing paint?

After doing the snowdrop picture, I thought I should try to keep the drawing to a minimum.  It probably isn't necessary to draw every vein in the petals.  Of course my anal nature did get a hand in and I think there's too much detail in the pistils and stamens, but we'll worry about them when we get there.  There's a whole bunch of other things to worry over until then!

Okay, so the first thing I thought I should do is apply masking to the pistils/stamens.  Because the petals of the crocus are purple and the pistil/stamens are orange, I felt it would help in the continuous movement of the paint on the petal to not have to worry about painting around stamens/pistils.  I poured out some of the masking fluid onto a lid and diluted it a bit with some water.  I used a popsicle stick to apply it to the painting.

Then I mixed the colours I wanted and tested them on a spare sheet of paper.  So far so good.  Nothing scary in these steps now are there?  Course not.  Now we just need to wet the paper on the first petal.  Go on, you can do it.  No big deal.  See?  That was easy!  Now add a little paint...just a bit more...there you go!  Once I got the first petal in, the rest wasn't so scary.  I kept an eye on my reference picture for accuracy, but I wasn't too concerned if I missed a vein or the colour was a little off.  It's the technique and the "feeling" of a crocus we're going for here.

After what felt like 10 minutes, but was actually an hour and a half, I had to step away because I'd finished all the petals.  It's at this point that my excitement can get the best of me.  I know because I've had previous experience with this.  I have had perfectly good projects go sour because I didn't stop when I should have.  It's kind of like when you go to the gym for the first time in ages and things are going really well...you start to get that high and all your muscles feel strong and your joints feel loose...and you say to yourself, "I think I could handle another 20lbs", or "I think I'll go for a run too, that would be fun"...and then you wake up the next morning and every muscle in your body is demanding payment for the treatment you've given it?  

That's kinda what happens in art too.  Things are going well.  You want to keep going because things are going well.  Then there's a small mistake.  You try to fix it.  Crap! You've made it worse.  That's okay, you can still fix it...oops no you can't.  Now it's truly broke and there's no coming back from what you just did.  It's either back to the drawing board or start something completely new and forget this ever happened.  Oh, and now that high you were feeling has turned into an ugly depression because what kind of a crappy artist ruins their own stuff like that...blah blah blah.

So, I figured it was time to walk away before I did any real damage.  I'm not sure how I feel about the image at this point.  I like some things, but not others, and it's too early to tell how it will all turn out.  I'm trying very hard to drown out the voices in my head that are screaming their opinions (they aren't the ones doing the painting anyway).  I think it's a good thing I have the weekend to step away from it and come back Monday with a fresh set of eyes.  Here's where it stands at the moment:

Life Interference and crocuses

Life interfered with continuing work on the skull today, so I decided I would instead start work on the crocus painting.  I'm not as confident in my painting ability/skill as my drawing, but only practice will solve that (so they say anyway).

In a previous post I mentioned that I had taken some pics of the crocuses blooming in my back garden.  I picked the one I liked the best and I think I will try to imitate Brigit O'Connor.  If you've never seen Brigit's work, here's her webpage: www.birgitoconnor.com

She is a watercolour artist, very realistic, including images of landscapes and uber-close-up botanicals (or as I like to call them, "flower genitalia" - because it's really a close-up of the pistils and anthers).

While I may not be confident in my painting skills, I do at least understand the steps required.  I took my chosen pic and did a bunch of computer manipulation.  Because it's so hard to get the camera right up close to the anthers, I had to do a bunch of cropping.  This took longer than you'd expect because I was also looking for good compositional elements.  I tried to follow the "golden rule", while still keeping the image interesting.  Then I sharpened, increased colour intensity and turned it black and white.

I printed off both the colour and black and white images and moved to the studio.  Before I can even think of painting, I have to do a line drawing of the image.  I chose to do this on a piece of sketching paper (if I worked directly on the watercolour paper I run the risk of damaging the paper with multiple erasing and drawing).   I frequently referred to both the black and white and colour references to do this.  The colour image sometimes blurs lines and sometimes sharpens depending on where the colour is and the same with the black and white, so I've found that using both really helps to keep the lines accurate.

When I was drawing the flower, I kept it loose at first with a 2B pencil.  Nice big shapes and free whole-arm motions (I stood over my paper the whole time).  Then I started with the anthers, detailing the various waves and bumps and lines, using the other shapes to keep the relative position of the pieces.  Then I moved to the petals, repeating the same process.  I have a nice pen eraser that really helps to define the lines when they get too thick and messy.  I use the drafting brush to remove any eraser bits so that I don't smudge the picture with my hand.

I still have some detail work on the lines in the petals, but this step is almost complete.  Next I will transfer the line drawing to watercolour paper using my light table (a.k.a. window) keeping my lines faint, but dark enough to see.