VIDEO DEMO: Wax Paper and Ribbon

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Wax Paper and Ribbon: FINAL (SOLD)

Wax Paper and Ribbon SOLD
oil on panel
12 x 12 inches

See the previous post for this painting

This painting will be showing at San Francisco's ArtSpan Open Studios Exhibition beginning with the Private Preview Gala October 4th. Each participating artist submits one piece to include in the show, so it should be a pretty eclectic event.

I will also be opening my studio to the public as part of ArtSpan's Open Studios for the weekend of October 11 & 12. More details coming soon.

Wax Paper and Ribbon: Session 10

session 10 (detail)

(previous detail)

See the previous post for this painting

I worked most the day on the wax paper, but after nearly 3 days staring at the same texture my mind just about revolted, so I switched in the late afternoon to working on the pedestal bowl. It's silver but it's all tarnished and it was SO much fun to paint. I barely had to fiddle, just cranked out the whole layer in one pass. I'll probably deepen it later with some glazing when it's dry, but it's fairly done I think.

I really like the feel of working on a layer of transparent medium - I coat it all over the area I'm going to work in, and then the strokes go on silky but just a tiny bit of grab, especially if it's had a few hours to set. I just use a simple medium of 1 part stand oil and 2 parts linseed oil.

Wax Paper and Ribbon: Session 9

session 9 (detail)
click image for larger version

session 8 (detail)

See the previous post for this painting

I spent all day working mainly on the wax paper. I found myself making very different brush strokes than usual. I haven't been paying much attention to brush strokes the last few months because I decided that worrying about my marks was making me pay more attention to my painting than to the subject. So I decided to abandon ideas about mark-making and just pay attention to the subject exclusively.

But here they are, creeping back in. I'm actually excited about it, because I feel like I am making the marks in response to the form I see, and not in response to an "inner eye" idea of what a mark should look like. These marks have a light, feathery touch and flick up at the tail. But it's totally different from how I painted the ribbons, unfortunately.

It will be interesting to see how (and if) this painting comes together.

Wax Paper and Ribbon: Session 8

oil on panel
12 x 12
work in progress

See the previous post for this painting

I worked on refining the ribbons more, and another pass on the right half of the wax paper but still fairly general values, nothing specific. I also did a layer to darken down the background, and applied a layer of transparent glaze overall.

I've been having trouble with the under layers "lifting off", and I think it's because the medium I was using contained turpentine/thinner. I switched to a medium of just linseed and stand, no turp at all, and I'm hoping this starts sealing down each layer so I'm not struggling so much with applying the paint.

I'm still filming, but I'll probably just post a nice big movie of the whole process at the end.

Wax Paper and Ribbon: Session 7

session 7 (detail)

session 6 (detail)

See the previous post for this painting

I spent some time today on the ribbon area, this is a close-up of the before and after.

Wax Paper and Ribbon: Session 6

12 x 12 inches, oil on panel
in progress: "ebauche" underpainting

See the previous post for this painting

I had a studio drama today. I tried to make a tiny adjustment to the wax paper in the setup, and accidentally knocked an entire loop of ribbon off of the silver platter. The loop then flopped over the rest of the ribbon pile, pretty much distorting every inch of the curls. AACK.

I held my breath and spent several tense minutes nursing all the loops back into their respective positions. For several horrible moments I didn't think I'd be able to salvage it, and imagined all the work involved to re-draw and repaint it - I've already invested 20 hours of work onto this little 12 x 12 scrap of board. But thanks goodness, the satin fabric had some "memory" of the curls they have been sitting in for a week now and eventually they settled back into a fairly close semblance of their original position.

Anyway, it sounds small but I was pretty shaken imagining 5 days of work nearly negated, and had to stop painting and watch an hour of TLC "What Not to Wear" to recuperate. Drama drama.

Once calm I resumed painting and managed to finish the second layer of underpainting. I even remembered what it's called, this opaque underpainting: "ebauche". I guess that's what I am doing.

I'm excited to have such a developed foundation to start the "real" painting on. With the earlier stages of contour drawing and underpainting there is no magical illusion, just preparation - all the work but little satisfaction. It will be fun to paint on this surface where I have already taken a stab at the drawing, value and color decisions.

Now the painting needs to dry before I can continue, which is good timing as I have a friend arriving from the East Coast tonight to visit and won't have time to paint for a few days.

I am continuing to film the time-lapse, but editing it and posting it take a lot of extra time so I won't be posting the videos very often.

Finally, thanks to those who have written me such encouraging emails and comments. I consider this my own personal art journal but it's always really nice to know other people are enjoying following along, and I think all artists need as much encouragement as we can get. So thank you, it means a lot to me.

Wax Paper and Ribbon: Session 5

12 x 12, oil on panel

(detail)

See the previous post for this painting

After completing the umber underpainting yesterday I started the opaque layer.... at least I thought I did. I am trying to keep the paint fairly thin and under control, and also within a slightly reduced value range (I'm not going up to the lightest lights yet) so even though I am using color plus white and the paint is more opaque, it's functioning more like an underpainting.

I find myself thinking several steps ahead: not painting what I want the final painting to look like, but thinking what the next layer of paint will look like on top of what I am currently painting. But I feel like I'm in deep water, I guess because I am sort of teaching myself at the moment.

By the way, a fellow artist blogger who is re-teaching himself to paint and draw using traditional techniques has recently come back online after a break from blogging with some astonishing work. I think you'll enjoy seeing what he's up to, here is his site: Learning to See

Wax Paper and Ribbon: Sessions 3 and 4

underpainting (sessions 3 and 4)

oil on panel

See the previous post for this painting

My goal was to really work to get the large major areas of value correct in relationship to each other, so when I start with opaque paint at a more detailed level I'll know I am working within the correct general range of value as it relates to the whole painting.

I'm trying to keep the edges soft, because putting in a hard line can make problems later on if I want to correct something. I'm also keeping the paint very thin and in control. Any two values next to each other are kept very close at this stage, no big jumps. I've found that forging ahead to carve out the lightest lights is satisfying and gets instant "popping" results, but can make problems for me later. Therefore, the whole thing looks a bit dingy at the moment.

Sorry no video demo today - I've filmed it, but we're having technical difficulties.

Wax Paper and Ribbon: Session 2

preliminary drawing (session 2)
graphite on panel

Yeah I know, this one looks nearly identical to the previous version. It's hard to believe I put another several hours into it. But there are always drawing errors that dog me throughout the painting, so this time I'm trying to resolve the drawing issues as much as I possibly can.

Wax Paper and Ribbon: Session 1

Wax Paper and Ribbon

preliminary drawing
graphite on panel

I've started a new painting, this is the drawing I've done directly on the prepared wood panel.

I've been taught to do the drawing on paper first, but I've found that when I transfer (trace) my contour drawing to the panel, too much is lost. My linework is degraded so much that I have to spend a lot of time correcting on the panel anyway. So now I draw directly on the panel from start to finish.

The drawing lessons I learned from Juliette Aristides, Ted Seth Jacobs, and Tim Stotz are what I think about most while I draw.

First I rely on the block-in method as taught to me by Juliette. I use long, straight lines to find the major "tilts" of the contours - I try to make just 4-5 lines at first to summarize the entire composition, being as accurate I can with the overall tilts.

Then I break down these straight lines into smaller segments, and compare the drawing constantly to what I see in life, until I have a straight-line block-in that I feel captures the overall proportions and feeling of the composition. The block-in has to have the strength and harmony I see in life... if it doesn't I'm not done with it yet.

When I am happy with the block-in, I gradually switch to a more detailed contour, based on Ted's and Tim's methodologies. I think first about movement - looking for large, curving lines of energy and movement throughout out the composition. I watch for movement lines that flow through the entire setup, and look for "events" (folds, shadows, structures) happening along those lines.

Our natural inclination as humans is to simplify and straighten and align, so I constantly fight against those tendencies. Weird shapes are hard to conceptualize and something twisted and tilted inevitably ends up smoothed and straightened when we try to understand it. The key is to make shapes as unusual and specific as they are in life. As Ted says, "draw a portrait of every shape". I like that... a portrait is specific and unique, not generalized or simplified.

The other thing I do is "check the feeling" a lot. I stop drawing and ask myself, how does it feel? If the subject feels warped, crumpled, leaning or twisted, does my drawing feel the same? Feelings say a lot. I want drama and energy in my drawing, and I feel drama and energy when I see the light filtered through a twisted and crumpled piece of translucent paper. My painting will never be successful if I don't capture that feeling.

Next session I'll spend time refining the drawing further, and maybe move on to the first layer of the underpainting. If you are interested in seeing this painting progress, please subscribe to my blog for updates by entering your email address in the right column.

VIDEO DEMO: Wax Paper II

This movie is hosted on YouTube, which greatly degrades the quality. Click here to see a better quality version of the video demo.

Wax Paper II - SOLD

Wax Paper II (SOLD)
11 x 14 inches
oil on panel

After my last experiment with painting crumpled wax paper, I decided to really challenge myself and crumple up the wax paper and wrap it around a vase - and for a little extra snappiness put in a second crumpled piece of wax paper to kind of hang over the edge of the table and cast a shadow.

Yeah, I thought it was a good idea.... but I had no idea what I was committing myself to!!

Anyway, instead of taking process photos, this time I filmed the painting process. My husband helped me set up his super-duper professional movie camera to take one picture every 10 seconds for 60 hours. But it's going to take me some time to edit it into a nice little movie, so it will be a few more days at least before that's posted.

If you haven't yet, please sign up for my mailing list in the right column so you can be notified when I post the movie!

UPDATE:
> Watch the video demo of how I made this painting