Home-Cooked Gesso

The messy studio - a far cry from the "gallery look" of last weekend!

I've finally decided it's time to bite the bullet and become a painter who preps my own supports.

"Support" is the general term for what an oil painting is painted onto, either a wooden panel or stretched canvas. I prefer wood panels to stretched canvas because the surface is smoother and more rigid.

Previously I have mainly used factory-gessoed wood panels, like GessoBoard. Gesso is the chalky white paint that is layered on a canvas or wood panel before you start an oil painting. But I've decided that if I'm going to spend 60 hours on a painting, I may as well spend a couple hours preparing the surface.

So being an all-or-nothing type, I dove in and spent 3 solid days layering 19 panels with 2 layers of rabbit skin glue and 5-6 coats of homemade gesso, sanding between each layer. My right deltoid muscle aches to say the least.

I used traditional gesso materials from Sinopia (glue crystals, chalk, and white pigment) and combined them using their traditional gesso recipe. For the wood panels I used ArtBoards of all sizes, rectangles and squares from 6 x 6 inches up to 18 x 24 inches.

I bought a single burner hotplate for using in my studio, and improvised a double boiler by nesting two old cooking pots together - two pots that won't ever be used for food again.

First I soaked the rabbit skin glue crystals in water overnight, which made a transparent, gelatenous gray lumpy mixture. Then I put the mixture into my double boiler, and when it warmed up it got clearer, runnier, and became a thin, watery glue. It spread really easily onto my wood panels with a housepainting brush, but immediately began to sink in to the wood and dried almost instantly.

Re-reading the directions, I found out I had to do TWO coats of the glue. It wasn't too horrible, and I have a good ventilation system in my studio, but there was definitely a distinctly funky odor. I don't know exactly how they make rabbit skin glue, but I imagine vegetarian painters don't use it.

Once the panels were sealed with the glue, I mixed together the chalk, white pigment, and remaining glue mixture and warmed it to make the gesso. It made a watery, not very paint-like liquid, so I had to play around with the proportions a bit. But I found it works best if it's slightly more watery than housepaint, so you can paint thin layers.

This was how I stacked them to dry, "good side" leaning down to avoid dust, but careful not to let the front surface touch anything. I got pretty good at perfecting a sort stable mutual leaning system. Every time I added a layer of gesso to a panel, I had to lean it up to dry, and by the time the last was painted the first was ready to be sanded, so I had to rotate them around quite a bit.

The sanding was the most tedious part, and my arm began to really ache. The second and third day I tried to use my left hand as much as my right to sand, so now both my arm ache.

Anyway, the project was a success - I now have 19 beautiful panels with a silky/chalky/smooth surface, plus a dozen teeny tiny panels that were just laying around the studio, for little oil sketches. Hopefully I won't have to do this again for a long time!

Michael Grimaldi Drawing Workshop

Melissa
graphite pencil on paper
about 20 x 16 inches

This is the main drawing I did over the last two weeks in Michael Grimaldi's drawing workshop at BACAA. It was drawn over about 8, three-hour sessions. (It's interesting to compare this drawing to my first BACCA workshop drawing I did of Melissa in March 2006)

detail

We started the drawings with a 2-dimensional, stright-line block in that I have described many times on this blog, for example: here, here, and here.

After solving the basic proportions and refining the block-in, we moved into seeing the forms as three-dimensional blocks in perspective.

To construct the major masses of the head, torso and pelvis, we identified bony projections and median lines to describe the roll, pitch, and yaw position of each shape.

I've roughly diagrammed a few of these with the red lines in the picture above. The points where lines intersect are determined by bony projections and places where the flesh attaches to the underlying bony structures. We look for indications of these on the surface of the skin, and build a concept of the box construction of each form: showing the perspective to identify tilt, position and distance.

Here are some of my notes from what Michael said in class:

Gesture, Proportion, Perspective
All three are inseparable, any error in one creates a series of problems in your drawing.

All the answers are within the drawing.

We need to find the points on the body that yield the most information about perspective possible. These are the distant outside bony projections.

This pattern of points starts having a profound meaning about the subject's three-dimensionality.

Let the drawing inform what your next decision will be.

Make a three dimensional drawing without relying on value - the plotting of points and median line tells you what the perspective is doing.

Look for the constructive anatomy and the perspective as a foundation for the drawing.

Anticipate without inventing: Hone the ability to see your environment through knowledge.

Drawing is like diffusing a bomb, all the concepts are a form of deconstructing and reverse-engineering.

There are two extremes, monotony versus mayhem. Our goal is to find a balance between the two.

Composition is the "composite", the entire experience of the image, from design to texture to paper to size, everything that affects the view's experience of the image.

Cut of the light - the angle of the shadow is perpendicular to the light

The image above is a detail of the small value study I did in the upper right corner of my drawing, about 3 x 6 inches. Michael encouraged us to make small tonal studies before moving forward with making a full tonal drawing. This really helped solve a lot of the major tonal decisions - otherwise it's too easy to mix light and shadow and make inadvertent holes or protrusions.

The lower part of my drawing shows how I blocked the terminators - delineating where the light slips over the horizon of the form. These terminators seem much softer in life, but there is a distinct moment where the shadow ends/terminates and the light begins.

To find the terminators, which can be confusing when seeing light slide over a complicated form, Michael encourages us to find "the cut of the light" - the angle of the line perpendicular to the direction of the light source. I've diagrammed some of that here:


I also wrote down the artists and films Michael referred to in his lectures this week, here's the list and links to the best resource I could find about each (in no particular order):

Artists/Paintings/Art Movements
Brunelleschi - created/discovered our current understanding of perspective
Harold Speed
Munich School
Ashcan School
Antonio Lopez Garcia - Dream of Light
Vicent Disiderio
Neue Gallery, NY
Reubens - Rape of the Sabines
George Bellows - Use of the Golden Section
Gericault - Raft of the Medusa
Balthus
Chardin
Walter Murch
Damien Hirst
Wim Delvoye
Tim Hawkinson
Neo Rausch
Marlborough Gallery
Betty Parsons

Films
Michael references films constantly so I asked him to name some of his all-time favorite ones. This is his list, in no particular order and off the top of his head while we were talking:

The Conversation
Memento
The Lives of Others
Miller's Crossing
The French Connection
Blade Runner
Collateral
The Third Man
Kurosawa Eloru and Stray Dog

If you are interested in studying with Michael, who is a fabulous teacher, please visit Bay Area Classical Artist Atelier. He also has started his own school along with Kate Lehman and Dan Thompson: Janus Collaborative School of Art in New York.

NOTE: As Usual, My Caveat
Everything I post on my blog is my own highly subjective and filtered interpretation of my studies. My notes don't necessarily accurately reflect the teachings of my instructors, in fact my teachers may disagree or find some of my expression of their ideas to be inaccurate. The best way to understand their teaching is to buy their books and take their classes.

Blog Mentions

In addition to the writeup on the Haight Ashbury Beat, I was also pictured and listed on Emma Krasov's art review blog, "Art and Entertain Me".

Thanks, Jeremy and Emma!

Open Studios 2008 Recap

Thanks to everyone who stopped by, and especially those who bought artwork, my open studio weekend was a huge success! I sold 28 artworks, had 126 people sign my guest book, and I estimate over 400 people toured my studio - sometimes standing in line to wait because my little space was so crowded. It was wonderful to talk to neighbors and art lovers all day and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I'm also thrilled to have already been written up on the Haight Ashbury Beat blog - scroll down the page and you'll see one of my gold-leaf-goddess collages with a nice description.

So, my blog is officially 2 years old, and it's made me very introspective about the last 24 months of my life as an artist. Two years ago I had not yet discovered the classical realism movement and the contemporary masters who would become such a huge inspiration to me. Two years ago I was mourning all the years I had been away from painting. Two years ago I was facing my biggest fears about returning to it.

Now, two years later, I am completing my 24th week of intensive, full time training under some of the most important living masters teaching today, through classes at BACCA, Gage Academy, and Studio Escalier. My studio work has begun to take shape and with the recent still life paintings this summer I've found a direction I want to persue for a series. I'm starting to feel the ticklings of recognition, and also a pull to teach.

I'm finding that with dogged pursuit, momentum grows.

Who Does She Think She Is (the movie)

Watch this movie trailer, looks like an amazing film about women artists and motherhood.

Juror's Choice Award

Tonight I walked into the Preview Gala for the San Francisco Open Studios Exhibition, and there was a big ribbon tacked next to my painting - turns out my painting received a Juror's Choice Award!

See previous posts about this painting here

My studio is open next weekend, October 11 & 12, more info at www.artspan.org, please stop by!

And Now for Something Completely Different: Collage!

Wow, I had so much fun....

I used to do a lot of collage (before I got back into painting) and I have boxes of cool vintage-y stuff I never got around to using.

After a month of having the flu, setting up my space for Open Studio, and attempting a new painting that completely flopped, I decided to have some fun and haul out my stash of goddesses, divas, and french postcards...


This is just sneak preview of some layouts I'm playing around with, had fun photographing them with my new camera lens - shallow depth of field is yummy!!

Next step is to lacquer everything down with layers of gold leaf, sepia stain, tissue papers and varnish... it's so fun to get back to my little collages! Stay tuned for scans of the final images - all of which will be framed and for sale at my Open Studio October 11/12!

In other news, I decided last-minute to sign up for Michael Grimaldi's drawing class starting in just a few days. I'm so excited because I thought I wouldn't be able to do it, but in the end the scheduling came together.

Finally, a reminder my studio will be open as part of the official San Francisco Artspan Open Studios October 11 & 12, 11am-6pm both days. I also submitted my most recent oil painting, Wax Paper and Ribbon to the open studios artists group exhibition. There are opening events for that show this weekend October 4/5 and I'll be at both events, hope to see you there!

Le Shed

I had my studio built last year in a tiny space where a decrepit tool shed used to be. I designed it to fit against our odd-shaped bay window-ed house, avoiding a medallion window we wanted to preserve. So it's like a puzzle piece wedged into a concave shape between the house and the outer fence. Anyway, it will be open for Open Studios so you can check out my quirky little Art Shed if you are local!

This is a sneak preview of my for-sale paintings framed and hung for my opening, and also a preview of the new setup for a little painting of lilies I am hoping to crank out quickly. It will be interesting painting flowers, because my last 3 paintings took 3 weeks each, and these flowers will change much faster than that! How did the Dutch masters paint all those ephemeral dewdrops and beetles?

UPDATE
Open Studios for my neighborhood is the weekend of October 11/12. My studio will be open both days 10am-6pm. There are some good brunch places in my neighborhood, so make a day of it! You can get a guide listing all the open studio locations at most coffee shops in San Francisco. The map will also be included in the Bay Guardian newspaper the week before. Email me sadiej [at] gmail.com for my studio address if you need help finding me. More info at www.artspan.org

VIDEO DEMO: Wax Paper and Ribbon

Click here to see a higher-quality version

Click here to see previous posts about this painting

New Website Launched

You may notice that the header at the top of this blog looks a little different today. You'll see that it now has navigation to the rest of my newly updated website. Please take a look around and let me know what you think!

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

Wax Paper I

Wax Paper I
11 x 14 inches
oil on panel

I began with a detailed contour drawing the same size as the final painting, and then transferred the drawing to the panel:


It was so much easier to do the underpainting having solved many of the drawing issues already. I used brown and black, and just used paint thinner to lift the paint off again for the lights and whites:

Stage 2 of the underpainting, still using just brown and black and thinner:

A first pass of basic color. I was worried at this point that I wouldn't be able to capture the feel of the wax paper's transparency, but I felt better when I refined the lower right corner of the wax paper shape and started getting a feel for it:

This is where I missed photographing a few stages. I worked especially hard on the ellipse shape of the rim of the dish, it's so easy to make a painted rim look distorted:

Now that the pitcher and dish were complete, I spent the last several days of work just focused on the wax paper, moving from lower right up to the top:
The completed painting:

NEWS: Two July Shows

I currently have 18 paintings on display right now. Nine are at my eye doctor's office, Dr Marcus, who likes to show a rotating series of art on his waiting room walls. My work will be on display through July and August, and the office is located at:
512 Westline Drive in Alameda, CA

My second show is at Frank Bette Gallery, also in Alameda, and there will be an opening with wine and refreshments this Friday July 11. I'm honored to have had all 9 paintings I submitted accepted to their group show "Still, Life". Frank Bette is located at
1601 Paru Street at Lincoln Ave, Alameda, CA

Oh and an update on the Stow Lake landscape I started last month.... due to the fog and also the smoke from forest fires, there hasn't been a clear sunny day in San Francisco for a month! Even when it is mainly sunny the light has a disturbing filtered feel to it, like we are living in air the color of weak tea. I'd like to paint outside again, but summer in San Francisco may not be the season. We usually have our nicest days in September, oddly enough.

Sneak Preview: "Wax Paper I" and Thoughts on Realism

Wax Paper I (detail)

11 x 14 inches
oil on panel
(work in progress)

This is just a cropped detail of a larger painting I am working on right now - so far 26 hours and counting. My good camera is broken so I've had to photograph the stages with my inferior "point-n-shoot", but the good camera is being fixed soon so when the painting is done and the camera is fixed (whichever comes later) I'll post the final painting and all the stages.

I decided that posting frequently was making me feel like I had to complete something "postable" every few days. Sometimes a little pressure is good, but sometimes it makes me rush my process. So I'll be posting less frequently, but when I do I'll have something substantial to show, and I'll still publish all the process photos.

In the meantime, here are some thoughts I've had rattling around my head about realist art - or maybe it applies to non-representational/abstract art as well:

When we look at a painting we are confronting a situation of real/not real. Our minds flutter between these two paradoxical concepts embodied simultaneously. This flutter quickens to a thrum, and it is in this space, the simultaneous holding of the paradox, that our beingness is felt.

When we create, we are experiencing beingness – the loss of awareness of self, the loss of awareness of past and future. Nothing but the present moment exists, a true experience of reality. This state is difficult to enter, but in recording it an artist shares the experience. Looking at a painting we get a glimpse of this state of being.

The act of painting elevates the subject. Mundane objects are infused with an epic, monumental quality. Like a scent that fills us with longing for a certain afternoon years ago, a memory, the shadow of reality, can often strike us more deeply than the original. Paintings are the shadow of reality, the record of a memory. Through painting we reveal a depth of reality in the moment that can touch us more deeply than the subject itself.

Stow Lake, Golden Gate Park

On the Bank of Stow Lake
9 x 12 inches, oil on canvas board
Session I, work in progress

My paints finally arrived successfully from France!! I don't know what that crazy "pick up your package at the post office in France" message was on La Poste's web site, all I know is the box arrived today!

I was so excited to have my paints and brushes back that I immediately strapped my paint kit onto my to my bike with bungee cords and rode over to Golden Gate Park a few blocks from my house.

In the middle of the GG Park is a circular lake with an island in the middle called Stow Lake, and I knew I'd find something beautiful to paint there. I just loved this spot with the trees hanging over a quiet patch of water.

I decided to spend a whole session on just the values, and save color for another day. It was a good approach for me because just working with dark and light feels simply like drawing with charcoal, which is a lot more comfortable. I'm hoping I can keep the organization of the composition and the feel of the filtered sunlight once I start using color.

Anyway, thanks everyone who wrote sympathy and encouragement for my temporarily lost paints, I was really upset to think they were missing and your emails really cheered me up!