This and That

Janus is finished. I kept it very graphic which made it the easiest painting. I enjoy mythology which is why it is a reoccurring theme in my paintings. The "tunnel" or "flames" he is walking through is my opening front door.




Dryad is still not right and I have yet again painted out her left arm and hand. When I painted out M I did not hide the repainting of the image. I like the idea of the 'process' showing on the ... eventually ... finished picture. So I struggle on well out of my comfort zone.





I am trying not to get bogged down in detail with Darkness. I do keep forgetting!!!!

Painted myself into a corner!

The left hand and arm has always been wrong and I have kept on hoping I could make it work. So today I have painted them out and will re-draw later. Should have done this a long time ago!!

Gah!

Time to dry

Snaps to show where I have got to with Dryad. Behind her head is darkness with oblique light showing form. The figure is lit in full light. The tree has more light at this level but from a less oblique angle.

The area where I painted M out is in darkness. I have used Artisan Water Mixable Painting Medium mixed with paint for glazing the darks. It works well but takes a seriously long time to dry and the picture must be covered as all the dust will adhere to its surface. When I am in the funds I think I will try a bottle of the Artisan Water Mixable Fast Drying Medium.

So this will be a good time to rest her for a fortnight covered from view. When I return to her I can see with fresh eyes and hopefully not feeling so dark. I shall show pictures from my drawing book during this time.

Rain and the Dark

It has not been a good week for painting with the rain making it very dark. I went out with my friend Miss T on the best day to see the churches at South Leigh and Fairford.

Dryad with removed handmaiden

I did not have to scrape the paint back in the end. I decided that I liked the strong marks I had made when painting M out and will allow that to develop. It never ceases to amaze me that no matter how much planning I put into a painting it take on a life and direction of it's own once under way. Once again the colours are not right in the photograph but I am happy to show it to visitors to my studio.

Back to paint!

Painted M out at last ... with way to much emotion ... may have to scrape back in the morning!

"Stop" in Photoshop

Gone as far as I want to in Photoshop. A lot of the subtly of tone is gone when 'saving for web'.

Still in Photoshop

I am in less pain with the arthritis but need to wait a little longer before I can paint. I am impatient to start playing with oils but I know lots of ideas have been developed/discarded or moved forward with quicker in Photoshop.

Dryad still in photoshop

Arthritis is bad so I do not feel able to paint on a big canvas. I have continued drawing in Photoshop.

Moral censorship problem with 'Dryad'

I have always been surprised by the concern expressed about my nude paintings as I regard them as non sexy or salacious. So in painting 'Dryad' with a view to trying for the 2009 RA Summer Exhibition my only concern was carrying it modestly covered on public transport as 'the nude' has an established place in art.

However ... I have always known that indecent photos of children were against the law. Nan Goldin's innocent photos of her children were removed from exhibition last year because they were considered pornographic. It has now been proposed that drawings and computer-generated images of child sex abuse would be made illegal. I can not see the RA being controversial so with reluctance I am going to cover M in my painting. My apologies to SueC and M as we are all innocent of any indecency.

Lighting

It has rained and rained here. The light has been poor so I have only been able to work on the small paintings and of course my flash work.

My friend Miss T has visited a local church which still has medieval wall paintings covering its' walls. I am ashamed to say that I have never seen them so will cycle over on a good summer's day to see them.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Well ... for once the photo looks better then the original! I have been glazing the darkness back and adding some mid-tone glazes. I am very unsure about this painting but experience has shown that I should keep going. I may end up where I did not originally planned but it is usually a worth while journey.
Again I have been glazing the figures in the dark areas of the crowds. I do not plan to add any significant colour to the watching people.
I've decided to put M into more shade so this small sketch is trying to work out the shadows.
I've been glazing transparent colours on the figures and painting with more meaty opaque paint on the tree
I, once again, am having to wait for paint to dry. So ... a small thumbnail for the new painting. I shall call it 'Rock and Roll Morris'. I based this on the May Day dancing last week-end.

Still feeling in the dark ...

Guess the body part?

The close up of the arm shows the beginnings of getting the painting right. Trouble is that I got here by accident and not by design.



The photographs do not show the colours well. I think for the final photo it will need to be out with the tripod ...

Charcoal Sunday

It is peaceful in my studio on Sunday morning. All I can hear is the distant sound of warfare from my son's Xbox. Now I have moved into using oils I am having several pictures on the go to allow resting time for drying.

'Transmogrification' aka 'Dick' now has its under painting finished and will need at least a week to dry. I have started a new charcoal drawing called 'Waiting for the Light' . It is on a cotton canvas 23. x 31. cms. I am enjoying drawing directly to canvas with charcoal as it is so easy to modify the marks with a putty rubber. I have started experimenting with using the dust for a mid tone.

I remembered to check for smuts this time before I went out!

Sun-burn

Painting needs at 7 days to dry before I paint her sun burn out.

Nudity

I have been getting a lot of comment from people about drawing a "naked" SueC. Looking at her with my artist's eye I am aware of shape, colour, form etc. I enjoy the challenge of painting a figure and like telling a story. I am not disturbed about her full frontal nudity.

Shape Welding

I like detail in my paintings but do allow it to blur the focus of the narrative. 'Dryad' needs the figures to weld with the tree. I want to show the texture of the bark but at the same time have soft flesh and a sense of life blood flowing in unison with everything. I am at real risk of drowning in detail with this ambition.

So I was interested in 'Gurney Journey's' post on “Hip Hip Hurra!” by the Danish/Norwegian painter Peder Krøyer. He discusses how by "shape welding" this artists keeps control of the complex details. He defines "shape welding" as:
"The trick is to cleverly arrange the elements so that adjacent tonal shapes fuse together into larger abstract patterns."



Looking at my image in black and white will help me decide if I am achieving this. I have a long way to go!

Colour and arthritis

I am moving away from neutral colour and starting to add colour glazes. I got excited and spent to long painting. My arthritis is very painful as a result.

Room size matters!

SueC's left arm and hand has not been right. I think I am on the way to solving this now ... bad drawing. I have a small house and am not able to move far enough away in the room to see the painting as a whole. So the lesson is ... get perspective of the whole picture when working on a large painting.

Still underpainting

The under-paint paint colours are drying quickly but I am worried that I have let the blacks get to dark. I am finding Elliott's book confusing and am irritated by the preaching tone at times