Accepted in Virginia Watercolor Society show in Winchester, Va.

"Ascension" - watercolor on paper
© Kristen Colebank

Long, long time (a year, actually) since I last posted anything. I've not done much formal work in the last 12 months, but I have been playing and experimenting with several things, including a class last fall in oil painting and taking up plein air in both oil and watercolor. Both have been invigorating in many ways and have fed new ideas that I want to explore.

And now for some really good news! I've learned "Ascension" (see above) has been accepted in the annual Virginia Watercolor Society's juried exhibition. The exhibition will take place at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, Va., Oct. 14, 2017, - Jan. 7, 2018. MSV's website is https://www.themsv.org/, and the Virginia Watercolor Society website is http://www.virginiawatercolorsociety.org/index.cfm.

VWS has very strict residency requirements for their shows, but this past year they approved a provisional membership category for border-area artists who volunteered to help with a given VWS exhibition. Since I'm so close to Winchester and know the exhibition chairwomen, I'm helping with the show take-in and pick-up, and any other duties as requested. I am thankful for the opportunity to enter this year, and humbled that juror Mike Bailey selected "Ascension" as one of the accepted pieces. VWS has always put on top-quality shows, so I consider this a feather in my cap.

Long absence, acrylic and plein air

It's been a tremendously long time since I've posted anything. Unfortunately, I'm still not painting in a serious way, but I've tried to dabble in a couple of new things to try and restart my creative life.

Yesterday, I took a plein air class at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, Va., taught by a local art teacher, Cindy Redmon.

I've not really done plein air before (I did a plein air demo of sorts years ago at the local craft co-op, where I mucked around tremendously), and certainly not painted in a group setting for a while.

The other spin on this class was that the medium was acrylic, which I have no experience with.

Add in the triple-digit heat index in the Shenandoah Valley, and it certainly looked like it would be a very long day.

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However, it ended up being a very enjoyable experience. The gardens at MSV, which are part of the Glen Burnie estate, are magnificent. The class coordinator, Courtney, was great at taking care of our needs (and providing lots of water). And Cindy did a great job leading the class.

The sketch I've posted here is of the statue at the end of the Pleached Allée. I completely lost the light as I moved down the figure, so it doesn't make a lot of sense, but I did move quickly enough to get the light set on her face. I think that's the biggest challenge of plein air....the sun moves so quickly that the scene completely changes in no time.

The acrylic was really frustrating for me at the onset, and still was frustrating by the end of the day (the value shift as it dries is maddening), but it was oddly fun to make a different kind of mess. I'm not switching to acrylic, but I think I would like to play with an opaque medium a bit more.

If you are traveling through the Valley, take time to visit MSV and see the gardens. Learn more at https://www.themsv.org/

Day 5

Day 5

Day 5 of the 30-day challenge......Ummmmm........I'm not sure if I'm still on the right track or if I've ruined it. Until I punch the dark areas into the window and door, I won't know. But the suspense is going to have to wait until tomorrow.

And now the "rest of the story"

With apologies to the late Paul Harvey for my post title -- here's what happened between versions of Mumbles and Squeaks.

The problems with the first painting: Shadowed areas that got too dark too fast, and keeping those shadows even, yet interesting.

When I got too dark, I panicked, and tried to scrub things out. That ruined the surface of the paper, and then it would not hold paint without bleeding all over the place (ah the benefits of sizing!).

But the larger issue was the diagonal shadow cast from the little roof above the second-story door. That shape drew me to the scene to begin with, and it was so complicated, I could not paint it quickly enough to keep the wash even. Even trying to pre-wet the area with clear water didn't help me. I started getting splotches where wet areas would meet nearly dry areas...it was a mess. And I was so busy trying to just get the wash down, I was not making it look interesting -- it was just an ugly, splotchy shape.

So I walked away for several months and thought about those problems. I transferred a fresh drawing to a new piece of watercolor paper, but I decided that I would not put brush to that piece of paper again until I had developed a more thorough plan of attack.

My solution developed after watching a snippet of a John Salminen painting video. As you know, I'm a big fan of his work (see why at www.johnsalminen.com).

This video snippet was part of an advertisement for one of his painting DVDs, and it showed him using strips of cheap masking tape to mask out an area of a painting. He layered multiple layers of tape over an area, and then used a very sharp knife to cut through the tape and expose an area of paper, which he then painted with a wash.

Watching this, I questioned how it was possible to cut the tape and not cut the paper -- but I thought it was worth further exploration.

It turns out, if your knife is sharp enough, then you can feel your way along the surface of the paper without damaging it. So after several practice attempts, I decided to use that technique to mask around the primary diagonal shadow shape.

Since I had the freedom to lay paint on quickly with the shape's edges protected, I started playing with brighter colors in areas that I thought would have reflected light. Since the entire painting is painted with four colors -- essentially a yellow, red, blue and green, it was easy to brighten areas but keep the overall color palette in harmony.

Once I had that essential shadow shape down, I pulled off the tape and began to work on the rest of the painting. As the layers went down, I went back into the cast shadow several times to darken some areas and highlight others. With the primary shape defined, I found it easier to paint in that area and keep layers even.

So, I can't imagine doing an entire painting with that kind of layered masking approach, but I did find it helpful in getting a complex shape down on the paper. And it helped me get a painting finished!

"Mumbles and Squeaks"

"Mumbles and Squeaks" (11x16)

After a nearly 6-year ferment, I've finally finished this painting. Yeah!

I took the reference photo back in 2005 or 2006. It's a building in downtown Oakland, Md., that may or may not still be there. I've not been in the downtown area there since the day I took this photograph. Something about the long cast shadow caught my eye, and I quickly snapped a photo.

That quick shot helped contribute to my long journey. It included all kinds of visual distortions that distracted from the essence of the scene. I loved the basic idea -- but I did not feel comfortable in my drafting skills to render the scene correctly. I had to make a transition from copying to drawing -- and I didn't think I had the wherewithal to do it.

Finally this spring, I made the effort at translating the photograph into a detailed line drawing, and I think I eliminated and/or minimized most of the problems from the shoddy reference image. I'm still aware of one problem -- but, as usual, I didn't see it until it was far too late to correct it.

After making the drawing, I took my first shot at the painting. You may remember an in-process image of that painting from the spring. Well -- let's say that didn't go anywhere. And everything went back into the drawer again.

I'll explain what happened between the first and second painting attempts in my next post. Stay tuned!

Back to class

 

During my absence, I've not painted a great deal, but I have taken two painting workshops. I find that I have to take workshops to reinvigorate my attitude from time to time.

The first of these workshops, in mid-April was with my mentor, Jane Paul Angelhart. I've now taken three workshops from her, and I would never have attempted portraiture without her influence.

The little girl above is one of the class exercises Jane distributes to her classes. She provides photo references and 7x11 pieces of watercolor paper with the basic outlines of the subject already in place. The reason she does this is to expedite the instruction process. This is not a drawing class. The workshop's goal is to teach people how to use her particular palette of "circus colors" in depicting a child's face. So the focus is on mixing and glazing pigments.

That said, it's always amazing to see how a group of nine participants, all starting from the same point, with the same photo reference, end up with nine very different interpretations of the subject.

I have worked on this project for a few hours since the workshop. My goal has been to try to push the rounded shapes of her face, and to more accurately depict the darker side of her face. In my portrait of A., I don't think I went far enough in creating a sense of distance and shadow on the far side. So far, I've been more successful here. But then, I also find it so much easier to work on the portraits of subjects when I don't know them personally. For me, it's much more stressful when you know the subject.

Building form

 

I am working on a new painting -- and I've really given the paper a workout with this one. My early washes were much too aggressive, so I've done quite of bit of scrubbing with sponges and brushes to regain control.

I "know" as more detail is added, the preliminary washes will recede and feel natural, but sometimes it's difficult to "know" one thing and "feel" another.

First washes in house portrait

These are the first washes I applied after transferring the grid drawing to my watercolor paper using my light box.

I struggled with the foreground, given the sense of slope, and all the shadows. My first attempts looked awful, with squiggly shapes dominating everything. It was too busy, mostly resulting from my attempt to freelance those washes. I ended up scrubbing nearly all of the foreground away, and starting over (I'm so glad that Arches paper is durable).

My next attempt at the foreground started with some light pencil outlines of the main shadow shapes, and followed by careful application of paint in those areas with a smaller brush. Experts always say you should use as large a brush as possible, but I always get into trouble when I try to work that way. So I fell back to my dependable No. 6 round, and softened some of the shadows' edges as I worked.

When that dried, I applied additional washes over the lawn, darkened some areas of the shadows, and scrubbed away some other areas to soften the edges. Thank goodness the area seemed to come together this time.

The background was completed by wetting the entire upper half of the paper, excluding the house shape, and applying Cerulean Blue for the sky. Then, while that was still wet, I dropped in mixtures of Cad Yellow, Burnt Sienna, and Hookers Green to create soft blossoms of foliage. Some of the tree trunks were masked out prior to the wash applications.


Next, I continued to define shapes within the house, particularly with the first shadow washes. I mixed the shadows on the siding with a host of pigments....can't completely remember what I used now, but I struggled to keep them somewhat warm so they would mesh with the siding. I also worked hard at trying to vary the density and edges of shadows on the right section of the house that were cast by nearby trees. Variations there were necessary to make the shadows realistic.

New ideas

I'm trying out some of the ideas from Lynn Ferris' workshop, specifically the idea of mixing colors on the paper rather than on the palette.

I did a fast sketch of this scene on a piece of 140# cold press Arches, stretched over a board. Then I plunged in -- and immediately hated how it was turning out.

But I keep plugging along on this. I have no plans for it -- it's purely an experimental exercise, but it's slowly growing on me.

What I'm most unhappy with is the background foliage. It feels like a flat, green mass, with very little sense of depth.

But what I'm most pleased about are the blacks, the shadows within the building. I'm worked hard with using the complements together there, mixed on the paper. (They're permanent Alizarin Crimson and Pthalo Green, by the way).

So an interesting experiment so far. I'll see how it comes out.

House model complete

It's rough, and I guess it looks somewhat comical, but this model does provide me with the information I need to move forward with this project.

My cutting tools did not provide the control I needed to make really clean cuts, so there are plenty of rough edges in the foamcore, as you can see. And I know my front steps and window frames are twisted as well.

But I can't explain how much fun it is to direct a strong light at the model and then move it around. I love watching the shadows that help define the shape of the structure move and twist with the changes in the light's angle and strength. I also enjoy examining how some edges are sharp and well-defined, while others are soft and fade away.

These are the elements that really draw me into painting: the interplay of light and shadow. The relationships are endlessly fascinating.

I believe the general dimensions of the house are correct, aside from the porch depth being a little too deep. I also have to take into account that the house really was situated on a slight slope, so that changes some of the proportions when I start drawing. The front corners of the porch are also angled in real life, but to simplify the model construction, I did not replicate that shape.