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Archives for September 2018

Artistry and Craftsmanship

Sheri Dinardi · Sep 24, 2018 · Leave a Comment

You enter an art museum… you come around a corner… and there it is: a painting that immediately draws you in. Somehow through mere paint on a canvas it speaks, stirring your soul, even though the painting was painted long ago. Amazing isn’t it? This happened to me. I came around the corner to see Lady Agnew by John Singer Sargent at the Edinburgh Museum in Scotland. I couldn’t stop looking at her while admiring Sargent’s mastery.

“Lady Agnew”
by John Singer Sargent

As representational artists, we aspire to grow in the mastery of our own work. In this article, I will discuss how Craftsmanship will advance our Artistry.
Artistry
A masterfully painted artwork speaks with eloquence without a single word. This quality of art has the ability to communicate the human experience across language barriers. Master artists like Sargent have developed a sensitivity and ability to observe what they see and faithfully express even the emotion of the person they are painting.
How do accomplished painters achieve their artistry? Is it just exceptional talent? Certainly, each accomplished artist has a unique talent, an innate gifting. For that gifting to be realized other qualities come into play. When an innate gifting is paired with a desire and dedication to excel in the necessary skills, true artistry pours from the work. Before artistry emerges, craftsmanship paves the way.
Craftsmanship
Craftsmanship is foundational skills aspiring artists need to produce strong, convincing works of art. As a visual artist you need skills that train your eye to see and with practice to reproduce what you see.
Four Foundational Skills to Create Strong Works of Art

  • Drawing/Shapes: accurate placement and proportion.
  • Values of Light and Dark
  • Edges from sharp to lost
  • Color: warm and cool, as well as hue, value, and saturation.

By mastering foundational skills until they become second nature, we gain freedom of expression, for our aspirations to soar.
How do you find your artist voice? A few thoughts:

  • Practice with sensitivity as you are learning and perfecting your craft, the artistry needs to be there each step of the way.
  • Look around, as you go about your daily life. See beauty in common things, the color of distant mountains or the smile in the eyes of a child.
  • Observe light through the day, whether it is a rising sun casting long shadows or a light shining on a loved one.
  • Be inspired through the other arts. Go to concerts. Listen to music that moves your soul as you paint.
  • Paint from life. It is challenging and why we need those foundational skills. Here is a quote from my blog:

“At the studio that I paint at, we all show up, set up our easels and supplies. The model is set up in his/her pose. A flood of activity is taking place. Then suddenly the light goes on, the timer is set, and all is silent as we take in what we see and formulate our next steps. I feel blessed to have the privilege of standing before a living human being to paint him/ her. The beauty of the colors of light on the skin, warm and cool tones cascading over their form is something that doesn’t show up with such nuance and subtlety in a mere photo. Beyond the imagery is the personhood of the model that seems to emanate into the room. How do I capture it all with mere paint on a blank canvas? There is our challenge – to communicate life and beauty to our viewers.
Each of the two paintings pictured below were informed by a life painting experience. Even though they were both started on fresh canvas at home, using a photo; the memory of each experience was strong in my mind, especially the temperatures of the light. In both works, I hoped to capture the expression of the model, especially Moon Dance. Read more below.

Moon Dance
“Moon Dance” by Sheri Dinardi
Moment of Reflection
“Moment of Reflection” by Sheri Dinardi

“There was something compelling about her gaze that immediately drew me in. She had a delicacy and captivating fragility about her. As I looked into her face, particularly her eyes I felt as though I was drawn into her soul. My hope was to go beyond the mere image to capture her delicate expression in those moments while they were still fresh in my mind. ”
Aspiring to be an artist is a lifelong passion where you never fully arrive at perfection. There is always something new right around the corner to move you closer to your vision. We are each on our own path growing as fellow companions in our quest. We are never quite finished.
Painting is an expression of life.

Packing for A Painting Trip

Ms. Colleen Parker · Sep 17, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Recently I had the pleasure of taking a trip to Maine with other painter friends. This was not a workshop. We wanted to get together to paint beautiful scenery, talk about our shared passion and enjoy each other’s company.
Packing for such a trip can be a challenge. This was my fifth time to prepare for air travel with my gear and I have a system I’d like to share that works well for me.
If you are bringing paint with you it will have to be in a checked bag. Another option is to ship it ahead of time. There is always a chance that your bag won’t make it to your final destination, though items shipped are occasionally lost as well. So far I have taken my chances with the airlines. If you will be in an area with an art supply store and you don’t want to check a bag you could also opt to buy paint once you arrive. You can’t fly with mineral spirits so some kind of arrangement has to be made for that unless you use water mixable paints or some other medium. (I have a friend who has painted with nothing but vegetable oil when traveling!) For this trip, I shipped mineral spirits to a friend who was coming by car.
Supports can take up a lot of space in the suitcase and add significant weight. I allow myself 3 canvases/day- 6″x8″, 8″x10″ and 9″x12″, a total of 12 for 4 days of painting. I’m talking about cut pieces of canvas, not stretched or mounted. I bring 3 plastic corrugated sheets cut to fit my wet panel carrier. On each, I tape the panels for day one and tone them with burnt sienna.
Canvas cut to the desired size with a little extra for the tape.

Now taped to the plastic panel along the drawn lines, toned. I use black panels to keep the light from coming through the canvas while I’m painting.

My panel carrier can hold 3 of these. The canvas piece can be any size as long as it’s small enough to tape on the panel that fits in your carrier.

I put the remaining canvas pieces in a storage bag with my roll of artist tape and pieces of wax paper. (Don’t forget the tape!)

At the end of the first day, I remove the paintings, tape new pieces on the plastic panels and tone them. And so on each day. At the end of the trip, I have a very thin stack of painted canvas pieces which I put in the storage bag with wax paper in between each. The last day’s paintings go back into the wet panel carrier still taped to the panels. Any smudges/accidents that occur in transit are usually very minor and quickly touched up. And for the “keepers”, refer to my post on mounting painted canvases on panels.
I have previously posted the contents of my backpack.
For travel I re-arrange things. I can’t include the small can of extra mineral spirits which I usually carry in case of spills. I have to put my paint container in the checked bag and I pack it like this- the jar with extra tubes in it is for my used mineral spirits once I’m there. It will be left behind for the trip home. I only bring small tubes on trips and I bring an extra tube of blue and white along with solvent free gel.


The label says “artist’s pigment in vegetable oil”. So far my paints have not be confiscated. I also put my pochade box and my empty mineral spirit can in the checked bag. Metal containers can hold you up in security even if they are empty. This time I put my tripod in the checked bag also. This freed up lots of space in the backpack which was my carry-on. I filled it with toiletries, pajamas, sunglasses, Kindle, etc. My brushes, a reusable trash bag, and smaller painting accessories stayed in the backpack.
My checked bag weighs about 8 lbs. when empty and is 24″ x 10″ x 17″.
This is how I pack the bottom of the suitcase- the glass jar is rolled up in a painting towel. The turp can is also in a baggie because it will likely be dirty for the trip home.

The bag with the blank canvases is in the top zipped compartment which keeps it from getting creased. Next, I put a plastic sheet on top.

This keeps my clothes separated from gear, more important for the trip home in case there is wet paint on anything. There is plenty of room in this bag for paint clothes (one pair of pants, one top for every 2 days, my collapse-able hat, a hooded water-proof windbreaker) and something to wear in the evening (one pair of nice jeans and some tops). I put one pair of flats in the suitcase and wear my athletic shoes on the plane which I wear while painting. I wear jeans on the plane which gives me an extra pair just in case- I often spill coffee on whatever I’m wearing on the plane. If your hat doesn’t collapse you can wear it.
So here is what I have to manage in the airport- if I carry a small purse it fits in the backpack too.

This time we stayed in an inn with no elevator so I was glad I didn’t have more stuff, and getting through the airport was a breeze. I wear the backpack so I have a free hand for the coffee I’m about to spill….
More on painting trips later. This is just “Packing 101”.
Have paint will travel!
Here is a link for the plastic panels. Cut them to fit your carrier.

No Matter What, Paint

Hannah Apps · Sep 10, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Gary
“Gary,” 20” by 24,” Oil on panel

I love to paint most everything but my passion is doing figurative work, especially portraits.
Nothing is more satisfying than to first capture a person’s likeness and then catch at least a glimpse of what I think of as his or her spirit or soul.  I relish that moment where I stand back and realize that I have done what I set out to do.  Sometimes, of course, I fail.  However, I succeed every now and again.
I have been working on a quick portrait study of my son’s girlfriend, Amanda, a woman who does not see herself to be as beautiful as she is.  As I have worked on the painting, I have been thinking about vulnerability and self-confidence.   My goal in this portrait is to show it all:  the beauty, the vulnerability, and the immense spirit that this young woman possesses.  As I paint, I worry that I can’t pull it off.  And thus, arise my own issues of vulnerability and lack of confidence in my own abilities.   I did catch Amanda’s likeness in the underpainting which was done in a rub-out technique on a panel.  I was then able to solidify the likeness as I put more color and dimension on the portrait.  But can I make her spirit shine through?
“I Really Love You, But…….”
“I Really Love You, But…….” 20” by 24,” Oil on panel

I think many artists struggle with these same self-doubts and look in many places to find coping strategies.  I mention a few of my own in hopes that they might resonate with you.
First, I want to continue to learn about techniques and materials.  I graduated from a wonderful comprehensive atelier program that was really focused on drawing skills, techniques and materials.   But, I continue to search for more.  I have found along the way, that for an endeavor as intensely personal and subjective as painting, a staggering number of experts give hard and fast rules dictating what they believe is the only way to successfully paint.
That leads to general questions:  Who do I listen to?  Why should I listen to anyone?   If painting is a way that we artists can express the passions and emotions in our souls and hearts, why should any expert be given the power to tell us how to express ourselves?  For every book I have read on portraiture that stresses that you must know anatomy, there is another one that sets out measurement rules for the length of the head and placement of eyes, etc., not to mention those that use a sculptural approach to narrow down the masses until the portrait emerges.
Underpainting in burnt sienna on a yellow ochre primatura. 12” by 16,” Oil on panel.

So what do I do with all of this conflicting advice and information?  I love learning.  I use many of the techniques at different times depending on my mood and what I am trying to accomplish in a particular painting.  Learning about someone else’s method always yields something new that I can explore and adapt to use in my own work.  But, at the same time, I do not think there is a best way to paint or an only way to paint as long as basic conservation procedures are followed so that the painting will last over time.  I do not find the conflicting advice confusing as much as comforting.  Artists have found so many different ways to communicate their visions.
Block in of flesh tones.

I also study paintings in museums and online.  How does a particular artist paint eyes or lips?  What do they do to make the person’s spirit shine through?  I watch videos and sometimes attend workshops particularly if the artist’s style or technique takes me beyond my comfort level.  Learning is energizing but what I learn is not gospel.  I do think limited palettes lead to color harmony, but I do not always use them.  Sometimes I want to add a color or a lot of colors.  Why not?  Just because pigments were severely limited for the early masters does not mean that we must limit our own choices.  I like starting with a live model and then working from photographs before finishing the painting with the model.  Photographs are great for capturing the likeness but leave a lot to be desired in terms of capturing light and emotion.  But I use photos and I am always glad to have the opportunity to take them.  I like candid shots that show expressions and typically use several photos of the same person to get a sense of their expressions as well as their features.  Some artists say “never work from a photograph.”  I say why not if it helps me achieve my goals for the painting.
Mostly finished portrait sketch

Sometimes I do quick portraits and other times I take my time.  Is there a right way?  Not for me since what I want to do is to reveal emotion.  I think the most important ability for an artist is to be able to draw accurately.  I have to constantly draw to maintain and improve my skill level.  It is a case of use it or lose it.  So where does my self-doubt come from?   Is it from my quest to always get better and the fear that I might not be able to do so?  Is it because I worry that others will not like my work?  Is it that I compare my work to others and find mine lacking?  Is it because every painting can’t be perfect?  Is it because so many people are better artists than me?  Is it because the painting process is satisfying but not always fun?  I think my self-doubt stems from all of the above and much more.
So what do I do about my fears and worries?  I put them aside and I paint.

BACK TO BASICS: COLOR

David Dibble OPA · Sep 3, 2018 · Leave a Comment

In a fall post last year, I spoke about the importance of value in the hierarchy of a painting’s success. Color was the third item listed:
1. Drawing
2. Value
3. COLOR
4. Edges
In this post I’ll briefly share a few thoughts on color. Before anything gets discussed about color, let me give two caveats:
1. Though color delights and has huge emotional impact, it really is the frosting on the cake; value and drawing are the cake itself. Far too many people jump into color without a proper foundation.
2. There are as many ways to do color as there are people. There’s not one right way. There are a lot of ways to do it wrong, but while some prefer strong color, others tend towards muted. Both (and a lot in between) can be right.
There isn’t time in a blogpost to cover all of the basics of color, and no one wants to read pages of color blather anyway, so the following are a random smattering of thoughts on color that have made sense to me over time. They are in no particular order of importance, and are not absolutes:
• Find the dominant value shapes in a composition, and then look for the subtle changes of temperature within those shapes. Almost never does a plane not have a subtle temperature shift of some type (sorry for the double-negative). Look at a white wall sometime: it will be warmer with bounce-light towards the bottom, cooler towards the sky, really blue at the base where weeds or bushes block the bounce-light, etc. These subtle shifts are what give things life and reality.

• Color really is all about context, about what a color is next to. For example, sometimes making something feel more red is about making everything else less red, rather than trying to add more saturation.
• Limits help color harmony. More colors on a palette doesn’t equal better color in a painting.
• Blue is the coolest color, and orange (blue’s complement) is the warmest. The warmer a scene needs to be, the more it shifts to orange, not yellow or red.
• Mix a light violet (Ult./Aliz/White) and use it to turn forms as opposed to using gray (b/w) (I learned this from Lipking). This is dependent on light conditions of course. The idea is to basically use the sky color (the indirect fill light, not the direct light) to turn planes away from the light.

• Mixing a little bit of each of the primaries in each mixture will give things more naturalism and harmony (not in equal proportions, obviously). This isn’t always true, but surprisingly often it is.
• Nature has a lot more red in it than we think.
• Deep shadows are almost always warm. (i.e. the holes in rocks, the deepest parts of tree shadows, etc).
• Humans are mostly very warm objects covered with a translucent cool colored skin. The earth is that way too — a giant mineral ball with a scattering of cool colored plants. Thus the warmth is going to show through in the gaps.
• To subdue greens, use red or drag some pink subtly over the top.
• Use complements to control saturation (i.e. cut a green with a red, orange with blue, etc)
• For stronger color harmony, decide on a dominant color and mix it into everything. The choice of dominant color is based on the overall light temperature for the chosen time of day + the emotional mood I want to convey. For example, in a dusk scene perhaps I’ll mix in a little bluegreen with everything but desaturate it to be more emotionally subdued (see attached example).

• Use juxtaposed temperatures to give things excitement (i.e. color charm). I’ll often paint a base layer warmer, for example, and then drag slightly cooler paint over the top (after the base layer has dried).
• One color can be a strong accent, but not two, generally (or else they compete). For example, if the barn is red and you want to push that, don’t make the grass and sky the same strong saturation, or it will be too much. Again, choose the main actor and then everything else sings harmony to that.
• Mixing up piles of paint helps prevent the inevitable thinning down of already weak mixtures. Doing so ends up giving muddy color because we are often too lazy to mix up more and thus keep adding more thinner to stretch it.
• The strongest color is generally found in the mid-tone/transition– i.e. where a shadow turns into light. Pushing color transitions allows for more muted color in the light while increasing the feeling of brightness/intensity. This isn’t just a trick, it happens all the time in nature.

• Generally, on location, I need to add 10-20% more saturation so that it reads correctly once indoors (where it isn’t being blasted by natural light). Otherwise my paintings tend to feel dead once inside. This also helps me to have a clearer idea of what I saw once using it for reference later on.
• When confused about a color on location, just do a little ‘finger wedge’ to isolate it and break it down into the three basic components of Hue, Value, and Saturation and trust what you see. Some people use a cardboard or plastic viewfinder for this. I tend to lose those things so I just use my fingers.

• And finally, if you’ve read down this far, I’ll give you the real secret to improving color sense quickly: MASTER COPIES. When I give this assignment to students, I have them do the first few by printing out a physical photo of the painting they want to copy, and then dab bits of paint on it as they are doing the copy to exactly match the color. This trains the eye to get over preconceptions about color and usually helps them realize just how much red is in the environment and how muted most of nature really is. Sometimes I’ll do these in oil or gouache (or even in three-value grayscale), but it really is one of the only ways I know to try on someone else’s color sense and understand new ways of seeing. Do them small, do them quickly (set a timer), and do a lot of them.
Happy Painting!

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