A Mystery

You remember this little painting (The Reader) that I demo'd a couple of posts back. She was accepted into the FCA show that I'd entered her into which was great news. I figured she was dry enough so I applied some varnish as usual and set her away to dry.


Look what has volunteered to light up my sky. This is one of those rare gifts that can come along when you are making art. Where did all those tiny stars come from? Pixies? Well the left side of my brain says of course there was some kind of chemical reaction from the varnish.


Probably, but I have used the same varnish on hundreds of paintings and never seen this before. Also, the little milky way only appears in the sky area of the painting. Not a speck anywhere else. Curious, but I'll happily take it. Any theories?

This morning I tramped around the back country scouting out locations and subjects for the winter. I am really looking forward to painting snow and winter light effects this year.

Any of you painters out there seeing potential here? How do you select your subjects and what would you leave in and take out of these spots?



I'd be interested to get some comments from other painters and get some different input on your process when painting outdoors. I will be working in this area soon and will try and demo a few landscapes in upcoming posts.

The Scribe

Since my last post featured "The Reader" I think today's is appropriate. One of the benefits of my portrait project is meeting people I likely wouldn't have had I not ventured out into this idea.

Don Gayton is an very accomplished writer (see more at www.dongayton.ca) as well as an excellent subject for painting. For a painter of people there is nothing so fun as a beard.

His portrait which I call "The Scribe" was successfully juried into the FCA 70th Anniversary show at the Granville Island Gallery in November.



Notice how engaging the eyes are and yet if I enlarge them you can see that not much detail is in there. You have completed them yourself. Sometimes less can be more. Also you can see how I've intentionally heightened the value contrast in the sunlit eye. This would not happen in reality. His pupil would contract and the value would be lighter. I liked this better as it pulls you into his eyes. Art defeats illustration in a case like this.





I am going back outdoors to paint again. The fall colours are here now and I'm looking forward to painting the winter this year.

Working Small Pt. 2

OK, jumping back into this. This morning the paint seems to be pretty stable. I guess I have saturated this canvas with enough oil that I can count on this retaining its strength.

I looked at the modeling of Mekfira's face, particularly her forehead. I wanted to warm up the parts of her face that are turning from light into shadow so I put more red in there. It's not really accurate to observed colour but the value is right and its more visually exciting. I want to draw attention to the star of my painting which is this lovely young girl.
You will also notice some stars appearing in the darkening canopy of sky.

I'm putting in more cobalt into the sky which by value contrast makes the stars pop .

Blogger isn't showing it so well but the sky is deepening and I've amplified some highlights on the clothing.
Here's a closer look at where Mekfira's face is at.

This painting is called "The Reader". When I initially painted Mekfira's portrait I was inspired by her involvement with the book she was engrossed in while sitting for me. The written word is able to transport us all to unlimited worlds and experiences. That is the idea I'm trying to express here.
I need to let this piece rest for a while and I will decide tomorrow whether it needs more work or not.

I have decided to finish this off tonight. It's always good to get comfortable and sit back to consider what if anything a painting may need. In this case I can see some weaknesses.


I decided to deal with the clothing with a stronger value range . This, I think you'll agree clarifies what is in sun and what is in shade. I thought the braids on the right needed a bit stronger work so darkened them some. There was a little annoying negative shape beside the ear that was distracting so I knocked it down. I think I'm happy now.

Working Small

Today I'll illustrate the process of creating a particular painting. It's pouring rain outside and I'm not interested in fighting the weather so I will try to pull this little project off.
I want to enter an upcoming juried FCA show and it stipulates that submitted works must be no larger than 165 sq. in. I don't usually work on such a small scale but it is good to try new things. I had to beg a chunk of canvas from my friend Will, knock together some stretcher bars and staple the thing together. This is some heavy mill cotton, more like leather but I was able to fight it to the ground. It is coated with some kind of smooth sealer suitable for Will's Giclee printing. I don't want to paint on that so I mounted the canvas un-primed side up. This could bite me as you will soon see.
Why the weird aspect ratio of 20" X 8" you ask? I have an idea for expressing a BIG idea on a small scale. 20X8=160 so I am within the guidlines. I used wide stretcher bars so I can wrap the canvas eliminating the need for a frame. This will be fun.
I will be basing my painting on a portrait I did last week of a little girl named Mekfira. I set up the completed portrait and am painting from it. Here you can see my initial block in starting to take shape.
I am already in trouble with this unprimed canvas. It is so thick and so THIRSTY. My oil paint is disappearing before my eyes. I won't turn back because I have to get this finished within a couple of days for the deadline( I didn't intentionally procastrinate, honest) . It would be smarter to prime this thing but I decide to persevere and just see what happens.
Establishing main values--feeding the beast more paint!
I want some springlike, youthful coloration as a base. There will be sky behind so I start laying some blue in; it keeps soaking back but eventually it starts to level up and behave like oil paint.
More modeling and fiddling with the hair. I think the three braids on the left are too similar so I'll start to push them around a bit once the paint stars to behave.
Okay, a little head refinement. I am warming up the lower horizon portion of the sky now.
Mekfira has some little coloured plastic decorative things in her hair. I'll start to pull some colours down into the clothing.
Okay, I think I better let this dry a bit overnight and see what I've got to work with tomorrow. I'll post this much tonight and carry it through in the morning. See you then.