Orange Roses, a Beginning

This winter has been long, cold and snowy.

Not at all pleasant.

However, the sun room has been just that. Sunny. I love working there in natural light. So with the help of many bunches of roses I am working on several still life drawings/paintings in Colored Pencil.

These orange roses present a real challenge. Orange is not an easy color to work with, and getting all the small shade differences in them to make the roses seem real is not easy. Something that is also presenting a challenge is the leaves. So many minuet value changes. How to work with them and have them come out as leaves, not just blobs of green.

Like all drawings the initial stages makes one wonder why you started this and if anything will come of it.

I first used erasable pencils to draw it in. Orange for the roses and stems and white for the vase. Using a light touch so as not to inscribe the surface of the paper.

I am working on Colourfix paper, in a neutral gray/blue. This surface has a sanded tooth, much like pastel paper. It can be hard on pencils, but it does hold many, many layers of colored pencil. It is also very durable and allows both blending and burnishing. It will also take many applications of solvents, whether you use mineral spirits or a blending pen. Not all papers do. Some are much more delicate and cannot take multiple layers.

One of the first things I did was try and locate the highlights of the flowers and leaves and underpaint them with white. This way, when I add the orange these areas will naturally be lighter than the rest of the leaves and petals. I also used crimson red on my darker areas of petals and purple on the darker areas of leaves and stems.

I do know that the vase and the distortion of the stems in water are going to give me fits, but if there is no challenge, is there any point in continuing?

Flowers for Still Life

One of the nice things about holiday flowers is that they all go on sale the day after. So the day after any holiday, but especially St. Valentine’s day, all the really pretty flowers are available for take home.

Makes getting subjects for artwork much easier and affordable. The bigger the holiday the wider the selection available.

Yes, many of them are damaged, and some faded. Don’t overlook the imperfections, however whe
n selecting interesting subjects. 

Still Life with Pots

Started a new painting.

A still life based on a photograph posted at about.com/painting.

Here is the post with the possible still life photos we had to choose from

http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=ab-painting&tid=18949

I choose F the one with all the pots

http://forums.about.com/n/docs/docDownload.ashx?webtag=ab-painting&guid=01fb6f6c-b3b8-489d-ac8f-75fd7c94701d

So started with that composition.

 

 

This quickly turned into a rather nice composition with bright blue pots.

I did use two new pigments, Indian Red and turquoise. Two I was not that familiar with.

I was given the Indian Red, and used it for the first time on my Holly Hock painting. I bought the turquoise a while back but never used it.This seems the ideal painting to try that one out

Roses, Roses and more Roses

Started some new paintings, of roses.



Bunch of Roses

I love white roses and have been using them to teach value in art classes, so I decided I would paint a few paintings of roses.


One is 11 x 14 gallery wrapped and the other is 16 x 20, wrapped canvas, but of standard depth.



The first I started by simply painting a streaked background, then when it was dry, just putting random roses in a sort of bunch.



I started to layout some stems with the thought of putting them in a clear vase, but I don't think I will. I will leave the stems vague, and little to no leaves, and I am not going to paint in a vase at all. The way they are bunched together, it implies a vase, but only by suggestion.





single White rose

The second, smaller canvas will be of one perfect open rose. The background will be mostly muddled greens and yellows, but with a couple of leaves and fallen petals, but lacking in detail, except for the central rose itself. That will be detailed. But nothing else. Right now there is a second rose in the background, but I think I will paint that out, it competes with the first rose and adds nothing to the composition.



Drawing Classes

 

Busy week at the Renaissance Art Gallery studio. Wednesday’s drawing classes are all working on different projects. Some are doing their own version of the 3 Red Pears still life, but others are on different subjects all together.

 

working on perspective drawing

One student is preparing a portfolio for college entry and is working on a perspective drawing. Another is starting cartooning.

 

Evening classes are working with color pencil as a medium and learning the tricks of the trade, so to speak of working with these wax based pencils.

Using a solvent on Colored Pencil

beginning cartooning

Squash and Pomegranate, a Drawing in Colored Pencil

 

 

Done yesterday instead of cooking them.

 

Worked on pastel board with colored pencil. Not completely happy with this pastel board for colored pencil. Still have not found the perfect support yet.

 

Working on Still life--Still

Making progress on the still life drawings of 3 red pears.

We worked last week on thumbnails and the idea of creating the layouts there first. Thumbnails are a good way to work out problems in artwork. You can make sure of your design. Also, you can discover what is going to give you trouble in the larger work, and work out solutions. This is a way to "audition" your objects.






You can also work to isolate and identify both the basic shapes and what is important in the design.



Basic layouts and sketching are blocked in, and we are working on the base layers. Some are working in colored pencil others in graphite

 

 

 

We all started with the same 3 red pears, but each layout is different as each artist finds what is important to them.



Thumbnails

Doing thumbnails can help you work out both the layout and make sure you understand the values you want to work into your artwork.

 

Thumbnails, to be effective should be done in the same aspect ratio as the finished work.

 

So decide how big it will be.

 

We are working on 5x7 still lifes. Our thumbnails were worked 2 1/2 x 3 1/2, which is the same height to width ratio.

 

Each work will be done on different surfaces, and has a different viewpoint.

 

Back to the Pears - Still Life

 

 

A good still life takes some thought.

 

 

Take your time setting it up and look at it from every angle. So a few sketches to see how it looks.

 

Try doing a few gesture sketches to see how the relationship develops between shapes.

 

Go over the values and see if there is enough contrast to be interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walk around it and change the lighting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Change your point of view.
• Try sitting
• Try standing
• Get closer,
• Get further away
• try different media

 

 

 

Still Life: 3 Red Pears

Three Red Pears

A still life.

 

Wednesday Art Classes at the Renaissance Art Gallery are starting a new still life. We have done still life drawings before, but we have worked from still life settings that I assembled.

This one is different. 

This one the students have assembled. 

They all must contribute to the set-up and concept.

3 Red Pears in a white bowl.



First we had 3 red pears.

 

 

 

Very nice pears.

 

And a white bowl.

 

Not bad.

 

Sitting on the table it was fine, but could we do more? Change the way we look at the setup?

 

3 pears with room lighting
 

How about looking at the lighting?

 

 

Pears taken with flash

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lighting is an important part of any work of art. Where is the light coming from? How strong is it? How does it effect the shadows and shading?

 

Working with different light and light sources we could see just how much different lighting effected now only shadows, shading but color itself! Opening the blinds and setting the bowl where the natural light from the window could fall on it, totally changed the entire look of the still life.

 

3 Red Pears, photo taken in natural light

 

 

 

 

Red Pears

Red Pears

Opps, I did it again.

No, not broke your heart, but bought fruit by how it looks, for its color. As subjects for a still life. It just captured my heart.

This week the produce was especially colorful. Maybe it is the fact that winter has finally broke here. The weather is cloudy and rainy but warming up. Things are starting to bloom. 

These absolutely gorgeous red pears, the red/green mangos, the acorn squash with it shiny dark green and a splash of yellow, how could I resist? And those red onions that are really a deep purple? How can you say no to them? And don’t get me started on peppers! More and more the regular grocery store is stocking more than just the green. Now we get the golden yellow and the bright orange.

 

The influence of the Spanish culture is really being felt in peppers. Where once you might only find a few jalapenos, we now have at least 6 different little hot peppers, each with their own fire, and color. It is enough to make an artist go broke! 

But at least once the painting is done you can eat them! 

Buying Produce

Went shopping today. Bought bread, cheese and produce.

Produce seduces me. I hear its siren call. The shapes and colors screams – ME - ME - ME, BUY ME!!!!!
I find peppers a joy. They entice me with their colors and shapes. Large, small round and crooked. Purples so dark as to be almost black, yellows to rival the sun add in tomatoes and you have the making sof a great salsa or a wicked still life.

You see—I am an artist. Everything I see suggests a painting or some other work of art.

This week I succumbed to squash. Heavy bodied winter squash. Butternut, acorn, spaghetti and turban. The hard shelled winter squash come in such a range of shapes. Have you really looked at a Hubbard? I just love the warts! And don’t get me started on gourds. I look for the perfect size for my small family, but also for its looks. Even though they lack the bright colors of summer fruit, their shapes do make up for it. Add a pumpkin and you have it made!

At home, they get stacked on the counter. I can’t simply let them be. Before they are eaten they must be painted.

Still LIfe with Bear

What about you? Every been reluctant to use something up before you could get it down on paper?