Painting from Photographs

I just spent the last many weeks putting together a series of lessons about what a person has to know in order to successfully make paintings from photographs. A few words here and there to my students about this didn't really get all the points across.

Maybe I'll have to post some of the information here.

Let me know if you are interested!

Paint Small!

These paintings are all 5" x 7". If you have never

tried painting in a small format I suggest that you

try doing it. You can see from the variety of

subject matter that you can do simple or

complex with these little pieces. You can also

explore subject matter as well as styles of painting

(abstract, realism, impressionistic, etc.) and not

have it take a long time. Thus you can learn rather

quickly some new painting paths you might like

to explore.

Such panels can be purchased, but you can also

make your own. I buy a large sheet of masonite

and have a friend cut it up for me. Then I prime

them with gesso layers, sanding between each one.

Two layers seems to work fine.

Have fun!

Sharing student work

A few posts ago you would have seen the lacy part of this

napkin. Now you can see how well the student painted it

here!

It is very important to be able to show the subtle variety

of tone changes in order to fully render form on a two-

dimensional surface. That is what this student has done by

careful examination of each change of plane and the

appropriate tone for that part of the fabric.

Using a ruler is sometimes OK

The first photo is of the canvas on which I am doing the

preliminary drawing. In the lower corner you can see the

image I am working from.

I use a ruler when I need to really get long perspective lines

right, or else I can be in a situation after applying paint where

I have to make a lot more adjustments. Moving paint around

is messy! So get it right at the very beginning.

HOWEVER, I do not use a ruler once I am painting. I follow

the drawn lines carefully with my brush, but because I am

not using a ruler, there is life to those lines. They don't look

mechanical.

In the second photograph, you can see the image I am using.

I took the photo and had it blown up into a color copy that was

large enough for me to see what I needed to see! Then I

decided the composition needed some changes and so I added

pieces of paper around two edges to add to the image. You can

see the scribbled part that looks like a border.

After doing the above, I made a grid on the painting that is

proportionate to the canvas and started drawing!

Keep some of your own art

After some years of painting, I realized there were pieces I had done that I should keep.

So do the same yourself.

Build a collection of pieces that you keep for yourself.

The basis for your decision will be your own personal 'take' on it.

That is as it should be.

Some of your children should live at home.......

And then you can let the majority of them go out into the world!

Organizing your paint colors

As time passes, you will most likely have more and more paint

colors. This is how I easily find them. I have taken various

containers and labeled them with their basic color names.

(These are all oil paints.)

You will also see that I have a small set of colors which I have

left in the box below these containers. In a few cases, I

decided to keep the same brand of paint together.

These are suggestions that might make it easier for you to

find your colors more quickly, if you have quite a lot of it.

But the other thing it does is that you can easily see when

you are low on colors and can restock before you run out!

Prevent Liquin from drying up

I went through a lot of bottles of Liquin

before I figured this out. They would dry

out and I would have to throw them away

without getting my money's worth.

So now I turn the larger bottle upside

down and then there is no air there

to dry out this very useful medium! The

smaller jar that you see is where I put a

small amount to work from. If you look

carefully, you will see that the glass part of

that little jar is lighter in color than the big

bottle. That is stuff that is all dried up

on the sides of the jar. I just pour about

a half inch of Liquin in that jar and with

all these clever tricks, I now get my money's

worth!

I hope you find this helpful.