Props for your paintings!

This is a large basket of artificial fruit and

vegetables that I have collected over quite

some time. One year a student gave me a

gift of several pieces that were really well

done. You can see the lemon and orange at

the front (or bottom) of this basket from the

collection he gave me. Some artificial fruits

or veggies are really poorly done, but even

they have their uses -especially for me when

I am teaching basic drawing. But I always

keep my eye out for well done fakes! The

best ones I ever got were from Williamsburg,

Va. They have an enormous place just outside

of town (williamsburgpottery.com) and I found

these things in the flower section. I'll have to

photograph them for you to see. The onions

were especially fantastic!

So keep on the lookout for such things for your

own work. I used to only use real fruit and

veggies for my paintings. Then I read that

Cezanne used fake fruit and so I quit buying

these things!

Composing from your photos

When I see a scene that I would like to paint, I take a long shot of it, then close up shots.

The reason? Because when you photograph a long shot, there are things that are not clearly visible in the photo.

Therefore, taking closer shots of the same subject gives you more visual information.

This was a series of shots from last week when I was down viewing the

glorious cherry blossoms in

Washington, D.C.

There were families and couples everywhere, but these two were in a setting that

worked for my painting purposes!

Testing the colors for a specific palette

Some time ago, I purchased these small

canvas boards. I bought so many of them

they turned out to be 35 cents apiece!

They were going to be for my 4 x 6 inch

daily paintings. But they were not smooth

enough, and even lumpy in places.

So they took on a new life and I have used

them to demonstrate various techniques to

my students.

This is a really good use for them. When

you are going to use a color palette that

you are not familiar with, make a sample

on a small board like this and keep it for

reference as you paint. Mix white with each of

the three primaries to see how they look going

lighter and lighter. Then mix the secondary

colors under them. The last thing to do is

mix the grey these primaries will make, and

add a little white. And then mix the same

primaries to get your brown, also adding a

bit of white.

Why is this important? Well some primary

colors that you might use will not mix the

secondary colors you may be used to getting.

In the above example, because the primary

yellow is lemon yellow, it's paleness will not

get you a powerful green or orange. Having

made such a sample, you won't be in for

a surprise!

When a painting is almost done.....

Here is a way to try out a change to a painting that is nearing completion.

In the first photo you see the painting.

I am thinking that perhaps this painting needs another branch, but where to place it?

In the second photos you see a piece of colored paper with tape on it, and in the last two photos you see two different placements that I tried out.

Now why would I do this? Well sometimes you have a painting that has so much work in it that if you place a new element in it with paint and don't like it, you have to do quite a bit of work to take it out AND repaint what is behind.

This example is just that - an example.

I would not use a color so different from the painting, but I wanted you to clearly see what to do so I used a very different color. If I were really doing this for myself, I would use a piece of brown paper and I could tell much better how the placement would look.

This is something I developed on my own and when needed, it has been very effective.

I hope it helps you too!

Fan Brushes

When one is in the art store staring at rows and rows of brushes, it can be overwhelming. I know a lot about brushes, but I too will often just buy new ones to try them out and expand my tools.

Fan brushes always attract the eye when brush shopping because they are so different than most other brushes (I did see a 'brush' made of a bird's wing once in an art store in Santa Fe).
They come in various sizes, but they also are made of different bristle materials and that is what I want to tell you about.

First you can get a fan brush in hog's hair bristles. The bristles are stiff and are good for dragging wet paint that you have applied to get certain effects. I have used this brush to pull paint over the "edge" of a painted cloth and it helps to show the change of direction of the cloth falling over the painted edge. Sometimes I just pull the applied paint while it is still wet and sometimes I use a slightly different color and put it on top of the color already applied.

Secondly you can get fan brushes made of very soft acrylic bristles. These are not good for the job I mentioned in the above paragraph. They are for blending paint in the most delicate way.

I would suggest you try out these things on a sample board or canvas paper til you get the hang of it.

Also, if you pick paint up off your palette on your fan brush, don't pick up big clumps of paint. You made need to thin the paint down a bit with linseed oil (or whatever medium you are using) so that the paint will flow off the brush easily. You will have to reload the brush often, sometimes with every stroke. Notice that a fan brush is thin and is not made to hold a lot of paint, therefore you have to reload often.

You can use part of the fan brush, the side edges. You don't have to use the whole thing. Sometimes you need to use one of these but the entire fan shape is too much for the job. Just load one side of it and do the job!

Tip: if someone can tell you used a fan brush for effects in your painting that isn't a good thing!
You don't want it to look gimmicky. Keep it subtle.

Compose everything! Happy 2010!

Most of us are probably not working in our studios

or on our art just now. I trust you are all enjoying

the season of sharing time and love with family

and friends. And perhaps you too have composed

something lovely for them to enjoy, letting the artist

that you are create something wonderful.

I wish you and yours the most delightful and

fulfilling year to come. Compose it beautifully!

Transferring a drawing to canvas is done by placing the drawing face to the glass of a window (in the daytime!). Then you go over the lines with charcoal, taking care to make the coverage a bit wider than the actual line in the drawing. For complex areas (here it is the hair) just cover it all with charcoal.

Now place the drawing face up on the canvas. Adjust it to fit as you want it placed. Then with a blunt pencil (a sharp one will poke holes through the paper), go over all the lines of your drawing. Do tape it in place so you can lift it occasionally to see if you got it all transferred.












Here you can see the tape holding the drawing in place, and also the blunt-tipped pencil.


















In this last photo you see the drawing which is about to be lifted off. Note that the placement of the drawing over top of the canvas is slightly tipped. This is because the student wanted to place it that way. Doing drawing transfers this way gives you that flexibility of placement.

Even though there is no photograph here of the drawing on the canvas, understand that after you have it done, you will need to touch it up with any corrections or adjustments you want to make. Also you may need to make some of the lines darker so they don't disappear under the first thin layer of paint. DO SPRAY IT before you begin painting!