Getting the hang of it

I'm slowly getting the hang of Aquabord's characteristics in a wet-into-wet application. You can see the difference between the larger fall in the foreground and the upper petals (on irises the lower petals are called falls).

I had painted the fall first and was still struggling with the unfamiliar surface. Then I moved into the upper petals and there, in a smaller area, I started to get the hang of things. I then went back into the dominant fall to improve its look, but I'm not sure that I managed that.

One observation so far: the colors are definitely vivid. You can see the underlying layers of permanent rose in many areas, so there is a sense of depth, but I prefer the textures that developed in the upper sections resulting from a single mingled-color wash. The texture adds to the ruffled look that characterizes this particular bloom. Once the paint is down, it seems difficult to go back in and recapture that effect if you've lost it.

I'm tempted to wash out one area as an experiment, and then see if I can recapture the texture with a fresh application of paint. I'll keep you posted.

Iris on Aquabord

It feels as though summer is nearly over, and I have little painting progress to show for the last several weeks. In truth, I have two projects in the works, though my time for painting has been a little sporadic of late. 

I'll save the other project for another day, but here is my latest "Lunchtime Painting." Yes, yet another iris (easily my favorite flower), but the twist here is the surface on which I'm painting. It's not paper.

This is a 5"x7" piece of Ampersand Aquabord (formerly known as Claybord Textured). It's a a masonite board with a ground of kaolin clay on the surface. The company, and some other painters who regularly use the material, compare its painting qualities to cold-press paper, only lifting paint is much easier, they say.

I worked on the support in a workshop a few years ago and found it to be somewhat interesting. In the wake of that experience, I had purchased some small pieces of Aquabord. However, they've been  in a desk drawer ever since.

Given my painting doldrums, I decided to pull out  a piece and give it a try. And it's been a bit of a struggle so far.

I've been very much in the habit of developing these iris paintings with thin, watery glazes. The 300-pound Arches has been particularly well-suited for that kind of approach. But when I attempt the same procedure on the Aquabord, the outcome is very different.

First, the drying shift is deceptive. Normally, on paper, the paint looks very vibrant when wet and then lightens and loses some saturation as it dries. On this surface, the paint looks chalky and dull when wet, and then dries into more vibrant colors.

Second, it's difficult to soften edges and melt one color into the next because I don't have any feel for the hydrodynamics of the kaolin clay ground.

Finally, when things dry, there is a curious mottled effect that remains, often looking as though I had sprinkled a bit of clear water on the surface. I think it has to do with the textured nature of the ground. It's not unpleasant in this instance because of the texture of the flower's petals and falls, but it's unexpected.

So, it's been a learning experience thus far. I almost think that this surface demands more of a drybrush approach, or perhaps a very hard-edge, posterized style. Watery wet-into-wet seems to be problematic. But, I'll also admit that I'm a newbie, and I'm going to keep plugging along and experimenting on this project.

The watercolor painter I'm most aware of who is using Aquabord is Ali Cavanaugh, who has been featured in several of the national art magazines. She describes her painting process as "neo fresco secco," because she was inspired to paint on plaster surfaces, and then found Ampersand's product lines fit her needs. Her painting process is similar to that of egg tempera, using small overlapping strokes. To read more about her process, click here.

To see more of Ali's paintings, visit her website at: http://www.alicavanaugh.com/

Peony

Peony

I've finally managed to complete another lunchtime painting. I've been working on this one for a while, and it took two starts to get something that I liked.

This is based on a photo taken by a budding photographer who is a cousin to my husband. She was showing several of her photos during a family picnic last year, and I was struck by one image in particular -- a closeup image of a peony in bloom.

I asked her if I could use the image for a painting, and told her that the resulting piece would be hers.

So, it's been a year, but I finally have a small painting (4"x6") for her.

I like how this painting is divided into clearly warm and cool sections. Many of these colors aren't present in the source photo...I embellished as I built up glazes, and punched up colors to build a sense of depth. Warm colors tend to move closer, and cool colors recede.

Mark making with markers

The folks with the Grant County Art Council hosted a "paint-out" last Saturday at Welton Park near the Grant-Hardy border.

Not very many people participated, but those who came had a good time and worked on some scenes of the South Branch, which borders the park on its way through Petersburg Gap.

I was meeting someone, so I could not stay for the entire session. I decided that I would use my limited time to play with my Prismacolor Markers and sketch -- it would be quicker and less messy to clean up when my lunch partner arrived.

The top scene is of a stand of trees lightly kissed by the bright noon sun.

This bottom scene is mostly made up...I'm getting better at imagining and simplifying scenes, so this one deserves a small pat on the back. Several canoes went by while I was working on the tree drawing, and I thought it would be fun to play with very simple shapes and reflections in an imagined scene on the river.

The markers are a little hard to get used to. I really wanted to smoothly transition from light to dark in places, and with the markers that sort of nuance is difficult. They're best in a posterized sense..mass strong, simple shapes, and use a minimum of values.

I bought the markers so I could develop thumbnail value drawings as a precursor to painting. As usual, the markers have remained in a coffee cup on my desk, and the brushes have reigned supreme. But, this was a good opportunity to play, and I like some of the results. I really had to think about moving shapes forward and back based on values and relationships to surrounding shapes.

Portrait workshop project

I've been playing with a project from an April workshop that I wanted to share.  Jane Paul Angelhart returned to the Shenandoah Valley in April and conducted a workshop for VECCA.

Jane had prepared three portrait projects for us to work on through the three-day workshop. Since I'm so meticulous on these portraits, especially at the beginning, I didn't come close to finishing the first two projects, and I missed the third day altogether because of work commitments.

However, weeks later, I've finally finished the little girl from the first day of the workshop, and I thought I'd share some images of my progress.

For her class participants, Jane provides reference photos and a 7x10 piece of watercolor paper with several critical outlines pre-drawn. Those are the red marks you can see on the first image above. (I'm posting these images larger than I normally would because they are class exercises.)

This first image is my favorite because I love the hints of color on beautiful, clean paper. There's something so fresh about an image at this stage.

As you can see in this version, I've skipped quite a few steps, but mostly the changes involve building up the skin tones of her face by using washes of Daniel Smith's Quin Coral, Perinone Orange, Quin Gold, and MaimerBlu's Sap Green. I also used gentle scrubber brushes to soften and alter the line of the highlight along her forehead.

 

Finally, here is the finished version, which includes several more washes along the background, additional washes on her shirt, refinement of the shape and shadows of the ear, and some more touches of wispy hair. I didn't want to fuss too much with secondary areas such as the ear, because that's not the focus of the image. Her eyes, as well as the shape of that beautiful highlight, should be the dominant element. 

I cannot stress enough how much I have learned from taking two workshops from Jane Paul Angelhart. She is an extraordinary teacher, who provides the right kind of guidance from the onset. I never thought I could paint portraits because my early attempts at mixing skin tones were always disastrous. But Jane's palette, and her enthusiastic demonstrations and advice make all the difference.

Mill at Babcock

Glade Creek Mill at Babcock State Park

So here is the colored sketch of the mill at Babcock. I'm not very skilled at these on-site exercises, and I really need to practice more to get better. I'm all for another weekend at one of West Virginia's state parks to give it a try!

Vacation sketch

We had a great time at Babcock State Park this year. Unfortunately, it rained more that we would have liked, so our outdoor activities were somewhat limited.

On our only sunny afternoon, we were quite industrious, hiking to the famed Long Point to see a spectacular view of the New River Gorge Bridge. On our return to the park, we wandered down to the Glade Creek Mill to enjoy the scenery and sunshine.

I settled on a rock by the creek's banks, and drew this scene. I then tinted it with my handy travel brushes that carry a water reservoir in the handle, but I have to admit the results were less than stellar. I've used the brushes before while on vacation with some success (see this post to understand what kind of brushes I'm describing), but I was unhappy with this effort.

So, the sketch you see below is actually a new drawing based on the original sketch, and I will tint it using my regular watercolor brushes. When drawing I use pencil first, then go over that sketch with Pigma Micron pens in three thicknesses.

When I've added the watercolor, I'll post a new image.

Postcard promotion

I promise I will post about painting soon... or at least as soon as I put my brush to paper again.

But in the meantime, I had to share this wonderful card that I received in the mail today from Anne Finlayson at VMRC. That's my painting in the bottom corner, and I am so surprised and elated to see that they chose that image for the promotional cards for the show.

Anne also sent one of the color brochures listing all the participants. That piece also includes some images of the accepted artwork, and "Wisdom Watching" was included there! So I'm really happy and humbled to see images of my work alongside the pieces of other artists. "How did that happen?" pops into my head every time I see them.

So, as the card above indicates, the show opens May 29 and runs through June 30 at the Park Gables Gallery at the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community, 1491 Virginia Ave., in Harrisonburg, Va. Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Faces finished

Here are the long-promised close-ups of the faces in my most recent painting. So far all reactions to the painting have been positive, and I'm generally pleased with how it developed.

The faces have been developed using Jane Paul Angelhart's palette of transparent and semi-transparent colors. However, I did substitute one of her stalwart pigments, Holbein Olive Green, in favor of MaimeriBlu Sap Green.

I have found in difficult to work with the Olive Green in some past paintings because it pushes toward orange tones when glazed with reds and pinks. I found that the Sap Green was more neutral in skin tone applications. I want to test that idea further in my next attempt at a portrait.

One Moment

Well, I've wrapped up this painting just in time for the entry deadline to the West Virginia Watercolor Society show. I've been working on this for about eight weeks, including the drawing, so I admit that I've reached a level of fatigue that says it's time to stop.

This is only my fourth portrait painting, so I'm still struggling with some things, but I am certainly pleased with how her face turned out. In the post where I had included closeups of their faces at an earlier stage, you can see how the lines and texture of her face were created with little bits of color.

It looked rough at that point, but a simply wash over a larger area melted all the bits together into a realistic portrayal. I'll try to scan the faces again so in a new post you can see a close up view of what I'm describing.

Honestly, I had a lot more trouble with his profile. Not having the lines and features of a face made it more difficult, and then there was the problem of creating a sense of texture in his weathered profile. My first washes were very much like my previous portraits of children...very smooth. And for him that was completely wrong. So it look a long while to build up enough thin washes to create the illusion of a mature adult's skin, but it finally worked.