Clouds Roll In
Originally uploaded by lessherger
ONe of my cloud studies. This one painted at Dane Street Beach in Beverly, MA. I'm working simply here, just a few colors of paint, a couple of layers, the clouds don't give me time to do much before they are gone. All my cloud studies are available on my artfire page here
Stilly Sunny
Originally uploaded by lessherger
ONe of my cloud studies. This one painted at Dane Street Beach in Beverly, MA. I'm working simply here, just a few colors of paint, a couple of layers, the clouds don't give me time to do much before they are gone. All my cloud studies are available on my artfire page here
Occasionally I find a European or South American video that is very much outside American conventions on art and sketch booking, or art journaling. This is one of them, brightly colorful and raw, and very different from the style I see a lot of on Youtube.
Sky Study Early AM 3
Originally uploaded by lessherger
One of my early cloud studies. This one painted on my back porch in Beverly, MA. I'm working simply here, just a few colors of paint, a couple of layers, the clouds don't give me time to do much before they are gone. All my cloud studies are available on my artfire page here
I’ve been working on a variety of materials these last few weeks and they all respond differently to paint and thus make it handle in different manners. Here are the different materials I’ve been working with:
Gesso’d board: I prep my boards with 4 layers of rough gesso. The gesso texture responds much like primed canvas. The paint spreads smoothly and evenly over the gesso. Because the gesso I use is very rough it tends to be hard on my brushes.
Stonehenge paper, raw: This is a printmaking paper, it’s meant to be soaked and blotted before being pressed into copper plates under extreme pressure, as such it has little to no sizing. That means that it’s super absorbent. I can feel my brush sticking to the raw paper and skipping. This can be used to good effect if known in advance, but it also means that if you want to work in a wash you have to be careful.
Stonehenge paper, 1 watered coat of gesso: The thin coat of gesso leaves the texture of the paper behind and stops the super absorbent effect of the paper. This effect could be achieved with a thin watered down coating of matte medium or acrylic medium as well. I did have some texture from the gesso but not much, I would rub the medium or gesso on with a sponge next time to eliminate the texture totally. The brush moved around on the page much like on a smoothly gesso’d canvas or board.
Stonehenge paper, 2 coats of gesso: This performed like any other gesso’d surface. The brush moved around with ease, little skipping, the texture showed through in the painting and there was little paint absorbed into the gesso. Kind of a waste of paper really, in that it’s a fantastic paper and I could have gesso’d something less expensive and gotten a similar effect.
Fabriano Artistico 140lb, cold pressed, raw: I was surprised to find that this paper was fairly absorbent. I found it less so than the Stonehenge but I could feel the difference between this paper and the Stonehenge. Less skipping of the brush and less paint absorbed. I found the texture pleasing, but then this is my paper for choice for watercolors and art journaling. It’s not too rough, not too smooth. This was good paper for acrylic.
Fabriano Artistico 140lb, cold pressed 2 coats of gesso: I know there are watercolorists screaming in agony right now at the thought of me applying gesso to such a perfect paper. It was scraps left over from an art journal project… Don’t kill me. Love it, same as any gesso’d surface the paint performed as expected, little skipping, nice gesso texture. The cold pressed texture also showed through and was doubly nice. Though a blasphemy in some circles this was quite nice.
Strathmore 140lb Cold Pressed, raw: Strathmore cold pressed is my go to sketch paper for art journaling and sketching. It’s cheap, easily available and binds up nicely into a journal with no cracking. I found that this paper was less absorbent in the raw state than the other papers, which made it very nice to work with raw. It also has a very pleasing rough texture that I love. The backside is smoother and still not that absorbent. I found that the brush responded just slightly less smooth than it does on gesso’d paper. Few skips and drying of my brush. I was able to work in a wash easily and enjoyed this paper quite well.
Strathmore 140lb cold pressed, 2 coats gesso: This performed as any other gesso’d surface.
Gesso’d recycled poster: This stuff is a lot of work for little reward. Each sheet takes 4 coats of gesso and then I have to be careful of the gesso peeling off the surface. It annoys the bejesus out of me. However, I do love the lettering and colors that peek out from around the edges. If I sanded the pages (sure add ANOTHER step) the poster would work better. I love it as a gesso’d surface but get annoyed.
I’ve picked up a few other papers to mess around with today. Since it came out high on my list of good stuff so far, I snagged a new size of Strathmore Watercolor paper, at only $4.99 @ ACMoore it was a good deal. I also snagged a Canson XL Bristol sketchbook. I’ll be testing that out in the upcoming weeks. I noticed that Strathmore now has Bristol out in a little 6×6 inch pad, which I thought was super cool. Also the new size of sketchbooks/journals seems to be 6x12inches. It’s an odd but lovely size.
Anyway, I’ve added links above to everything but I don’t get anything from the companies for linking to the vendors. (But hey if any of the vendors or companies wants to throw me a bone fo doing so I’m game;)
Glazes seem to be a mysterious thing to many. I’m going to blow the lid off of them right here and now.
There are a couple of ways to mix a glaze. The idea is to give some transparency to your paint. So you can do it with water. The problem with adding too much water to acrylics is that it thins the adhesion (aka gluing) power of your paint. I try to never go more than 50/50 water and paint. Water allows you to get some really neat effects that you can’t get with other methods of glazing. It lets the paint get really runny. I like that in some areas.
Another method is to use glaze medium. Glaze medium has a runny consistency, pours well, dries clear and is essentially the binder in acrylic paint. It’s great stuff. Liquitex makes a great glaze medium as does golden. Golden has 2 finishes, gloss and satin. While I’m a liquitex paint fan, I’m a fan of Golden’s mediums, mainly because it does come in satin. Adding glazing medium to your paint will make it both translucent and glossy. You can add as much glaze medium to your paint as you want it will dry and it retains its ability to stick to the canvas and previous layers. You can also then add water to your glaze.
You can also use matte medium and gel medium as a base for your glaze. These have a thicker consistency than glaze medium. These work well if you want to work impasto or just wish to have your brush strokes be more visible.
Different paints have different tinting strengths. You’ve probably noticed this as you paint. Some colors you have to put heavier coats and more coats to cover the previous layers. Some colors will cover over any other color with a single thin brush stroke. This will affect how much paint you mix with your medium to make a glaze. With most of my colors I start with a 50/50 mix of paint to medium. I mix it thoroughly and then test it on a spot on my pallet. If I think it’s too opaque I add more medium. There is no scientific mixture to demystify how much paint to add, just get a scrap of paper or a spot on your pallet to test things. If you really want to go thin start with 75% glaze and 25% paint. You can always add a touch more paint, or another layer of glaze.
The great thing about glaze is that you can build up layer after layer of color and get a mix of colors or just the final darkness you’re seeking. The thin layers of glaze also allow light to filter through. The old masters used it to build up layers of paint that seemed to glow. And the reality is they did in a way. Each thin layer of glaze reflected light through the paint. You can also use pure color in glazes that overlay each other. They will mix visually to create a different color.
Glaze medium and other mediums tend to dry faster than pure paints. You can add what is called retarder to the mix, or more water. But Be aware that occasionally when you go to reach for you glaze you may find it dried out on your pallet!
You can also buy pre-mixed glazes, but where is the fun in that?
I’m back at the DayJob, vacaation is over. I love the people I work with, enjoy my job and find it to be generally a good time. Today my first day back from vacation I’m exhausted. I slept poorly last night after letting my body dictate it’s natural daily rhythms for a week plus a few days. Getting up at 5am was a shock to my system. Driving at 6am was even more of a shock. Sitting in my 80 degree office for 7 hours was even more of a shock. I was beyond busy all day, righting wrongs and finishing things and doing stuff all day.
It keeps my mental lines clear but by the end I feel as though I’ve accomplished nothing. It’s not like when I spend a day painting or working in the studio, or hell even the garden and I feel accomplished.
Don’t get me wrong I like my job but it’s certainly NOT my passion.
Tonight exhausted I nearly canceled my UStream. Instead I took a 15 minute power nap, awoke not so refreshed and decided to plow through the show. It nears 9:30pm here and I’m still wired and excited by the art I made. I spent 2 hours chatting with like minded people. I’m jazzed. I’m excited about art.
If I didn’t have to head to the DayJob tomorrow I’d stay up late and begin working on a canvas I have in mind, a Birth of Venus riff that I think will be hilarious. It’s a response to a nasty comment I got on yelp and I think my idea could be kinda fun. But this is the kind of thing I think of when I’m done with the show. More art, more ideas, more more more.
What I’m not thinking of is the DayJob.
That troubles me to a point as I need to be invested in the DayJob until December of 2011.
Shall I start a countdown?
Back when I was in high school my art teacher organized a field trip to Cobscook Bay State Park. It remains today as one of my all time favorite places in the state of Maine. While at the retreat we had 3 local artists (all successful) painting and drawing with us live. At 17 it was an amazing experience. One of the guys (the guy who does the paintings for Coast of Maine compost) was about 2 hours late but we all grouped around him anyway, watching him closely. I’ve always thought of how cool it would be to have something similar now.
I'm kinda of bummed we didn't get to go this year.
So perhaps for next year we should schedule an artist’s retreat at Cobscook Bay campground? Maybe not with the classes, unless someone wants to organize those, but a group of artists sitting around campfires at night and wandering out into the landscape painting. I’ll be there at some point. I’ll decide wellin advance and post up info, so any other artists who want to travel to the state can do so at the same time. I’ll warn you though, the good campsites are taken well in advance!
Over the years I’ve had a lot of people tell me horror stories about their art classes in both grade school and high school. Due to these experiences, such as an art teacher tearing up a kid’s art in front of the whole class, many quit taking art, though they have a love for it.
I decided that I’d create an online art class that was kinder and gentler. Obviously you won’t need to do a public critique like you would in a live class. I’m focusing on the basics, but explaining every step. I’ll tell you why I’m showing you everything. I was never the kind of teacher to poke fun at my students but I’ve designed a gentle approach to this class.
I’m using PDFs with clear instructions, sharp photos as well as live UStream videos. Using UStream allows me to record up to 3 hours of video and save it for you to peruse as you wish. It allows me to interact with you live..
Taking this class will teach you better how to use a pencil to create an image in your art journal. I’ll answer questions about other media if asked. I’ll be a resource to you while you take this class.
Check out the class supply list and a more detailed description here.
Though I had my pochade box at the ready for my trip to Maine, in absence of the other things I needed to get ready. I spent no time in Maine painting. I’m regretting that now, but the reality of it is that what I really needed was to relax and not think for a few days.
Sometimes I make art on auto pilot and sometimes it involves a lot of thinking on my part. Sometimes I just don’t feel it. I know that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. During my time in Maine, though my pochade never left my trunk, it was at ready in a moment’s notice, I just didn’t feel it.
Instead of my intended 4 days of arting, I kicked back, relaxed and spent a lot of time talking to my family. It’s not often I get to see both of my brothers, my Grandmother as well as my parents when I visit, so it was especially nice to see them all.
So today amid the mix of household chores that need completing I plan on getting back into the process of art. I’m going to start right now, my pochade box is still at the ready. I’m going to head outside to the patio with my coffee and paint some cloud portraits. Care to join me?