Godzilla Pears

The initial title for this was 'Pears in a Field'. Clearly too conservative.

I am regretting missing the Bill Creevy workshop in Albuquerque, so I've rounded up all the old texture-makers that I can find 'round the house. And am playing around. The trees turned out well here.

(About 8" x 11", pastel on prepared paper.)

She's not a tomato

This is about 3" x 4", done with watercolor, gouache, and watercolor pencils.

Hugging a Pear

About 5" x 6", in pen and ink and watercolor, extending across the centerfold in the 'kraft' sketchbook.

Moment Pear

This is on a collaged base. It's about 4" x 6" in the Midori Traveler. Done with gouache.

Please. Stop with the pears.

This is about 4" x 5" done with gouache on the "Kraft" paper notebook insert in the Midori Traveler.

Yes. More pears.

This is ACEO size = 2-1/2" x 3-1/2". Gouache on Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper.

Wait. More pears?

This is about 8" x 5" overall, in the Midori Traveler, on the Rives BFK "Tan" paper. Done with gouache and some watercolor.

Pears and beer

About 3" x 4-1/2"; done with gouache and with "opaque watercolors" on St-Armand "Colours" paper.

Saint Amand (aw heck, close enough) = "patron saint of all who produce beer: brewers, innkeepers and bartenders (and presumably also hopgrowers). He is also the patron of vine growers, vintners and merchants, and of Boy Scouts."

October Pear

This is about 5-1/2" x 7" on Rives BFK paper and is done with by golly practically every medium I have in the place. Begun with an ink-in-brush-pen sketch, worked over with gouache, picked at with wc pencils, and then finished with pastels.

Pear on Rock

Körtét Trio

This is about 7-1/2" x 9", on 140lb cold press watercolor paper. I began by 'gluing' empty and cut-open Mandarin Orange Spice teabags and other teabag scraps onto the paper using Colourfix primer as the adhesive. Next I painted on 2 or 3 coats of white Colourfix primer. I let the whole thing dry overnight.

The underpainting was done with Neoart Aquarelle water-soluble "wax pastel" crayons, washed with water. I liked the way the crayons left a texture on the teabaged areas of the surface. (I dug the crayons out to see if I still liked them. I am trying to resist the urge to buy the ridiculously expensive DS Watercolor Sticks.) I was worried that the waxiness might interfere with the adhesion of the pastels, but it wasn't too bad. Especially after washing with the water. Anyway, nothing a little SpectraFix between layers didn't solve!

The painting is about 85% Panpastels and the rest soft sticks. I like the lost edges, especially on the right, and I like the reflections and the overall crustyness of the surface. I don't like the middle pear or its stem. Both look nervous. C'est la vie.

Blue Tablecloth

This is 9" x 12" on reverse beveled foamboard. I glued down some cut-open bouquet garni bags and then sealed the whole surface (including down the bevels all the way to the edges) with clear Colourfix primer.

The gouache underpanting is below on the left and a work-in-progress pic is on the right.

Questions/Issues:
-- Is it too unbalanced with the underneath of the table on the lower left and nothing to balance that weight on the right?
-- Would another pear, lying on its side, partially behind the right-most pear do the job?
-- Or does the busy texture of the cheesecloth on the upper right balance it enough?
-- Or should I just give up the bevels and crop it?
-- The pans don't seem to do well on the cheesecloth. The pastels sticks, on the other hand, do wonderfully. This needed one very thick spray of SpectraFix in order to move forward with pans. Is there a better primer mixture that I can use to prime the cheesecloth? Or should I just stick with the sticks.
-- Does this need a rear (back) edge for the table, a "line" where the tabletop turns into the back wall? Or is there enough depth as it is?







Framed, below:

Walking Pears Over

Finished version of the piece described below.

Lesson A: I like the application of the panpastels on the velour paper. But the paper on it's own is too bland and smooth.

So I have prepared a new support: I glued a piece of velour over a piece of rough Saint-Armand (which had been glued to a piece of illustration board). It'll have the tooth of velour but the texture of the Saint-Armand. (Detail on the difference between tooth and texture.) Will mess with that tomorrow!

Lesson B: The foreground reflections look cool. Might try for that again.

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BONUS Pic: Der Löwenmensch, the Lion Man, crafted in Germany 30,000 years ago. Thirty - thousand - years - ago.

Walking Pears Under

This is the underpainting for Walking Pears. We'll see what becomes of it.

Size is 8" x 10". Bottom-most support is illustration board. Pasted on that was a piece of bumpy Saint-Armand paper. But not all the way to the edges. It floats. I covered the entire surface with a few layers of Golden's Fiber Paste and Colourfix primer in clear, in alternating stripes. There is a piece of Hahnemühle Premium Velour Paper pasted on the right. The underpainting is done with some soft pastels wetted with water, but mostly with gouache. The square of velour paper got pretty soaked but seems to have dried okay with no pull-up or buckling. Good so far!

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BONUS: Neolithic Video---> Archaeology Today presents cute Norwegian fellow "Oystein Prytz shows us his expert flint knapping skills in making a . . . Core Ax". Jeg vil følge deg til grotten.


Extra Special BONUS: Book link --> The prehistory of the mind : a search for the origins of art, religion, and science, by Steven J Mithen (1998)
-->Prehistory Timeline

The Purple Plains

9" x 14" overall size. Support is rough-edged Saint-Armand Colours WC paper (very bumpy surface) attached to a slightly larger piece of foamboard. And the whole ensemble covered with clear primer plus Golden's Fiber Paste in some areas. I scratched into the sticky paste a bit, to make a fine lined pattern.

There are a number of layers of pastels, the earlier ones washed with alcohol here and there.

I'd like to see if I can preserve an underlayer of pastel in a more settled way, without the gel mooshing it all together. Maybe a layer of finishing fixative . . . from a pump spray bottle, so I can get a thick layer . . .

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BONUS PIC: This is a "quadriptych" (not a real word - - the correct term is actually polyptych) in oil, by Susan Abbott, from the back of the 09/10 Art League School Catalog. Wonderful contrasts! I'd love to see the originals. Susan is a delight!

BONUS Word of the Day: symbolosphere. Look it up.

For Cryin' Out Loud

More experiments with Golden's Fiber Paste, which I like. (It's texture seems to eliminate the additional step of having to apply the pastel primer on top of the other, more slick impasto gels.) This is 10" x 12" on crummy illustration board that buckled and warped under the pressure of all this gunk and stuff on top of it. Note to self: buy only good thick high-quality board.

Click on the pic to open a bigger version, where you can see the texture. :)

It's about 95% panpastels and just a few jots or tittles of the soft sticks.

Sieve Mom or Pears In Winter

This is 8"x10" on reverse beveled illustration board. Latest gel medium is Golden's Fiber Paste, which is very nice! "This medium offers a dry film that has the appearance of rough handmade paper."

I put down a haphazard messy layer of very soft pastels broadly, as an underpainting, and then palette-knifed on this new paste. Then I brushed the more prominent ridges out with a stiff brush. (I am not a valiant warrior.)

It dried nicely transparent and offered and excellent tooth for the pastels. But here is a passage from very interesting usage note from Golden, entitled Using Gels and Pastes: "A 1/4 inch thick film of a Gloss Gel will take a week or two, even in ideal conditions (70-80°F, relative humidity of 50% or less, and a moderate flow of air in drying area) to develop clarity. When humidity pushes over 80%, the same Gloss Gel may remain cloudy for several months."

What is cool about this is that my small studies might be still evolving and changing, as the various gels and pastes dry and cure. I like that idea!! I like not knowing how these will end up.

In any event, this pear piece is about 60% panpastels and the rest very soft sticks. I don't know if it was the new support or if I was particularly attentive or if it was just the lighting, but I could actually see the pastel particle sparkles on this one.

"Sieve Mom", n. the female version of helicopter parent

To knead, to merge = impastare

I made the mistake of buying the most perfect pear yesterday at the grocery store . . . More experiments with impasto and layering with transparent gels. This one is done with Golden's Heavy Gel (Gloss). I put it on only the pear shape. It dried both quickly and nicely transparent. But the glossiness was trouble. I had to add a layer of clear primer to get any hold at all, which obscured the transparency. Live and learn! (It comes in a matte version. Must try too.)

It's about 6-1/2" x 8" on Japanese print paper that I glued to a piece of cardboard. I like the raggedy edges.

This next one (below!) is done with Talens' Heavy Gel Medium Matt, applied to the pear shapes and to the tabletop area. It dried quickly too and semi-transparent and only needed a coat of fixative in order for it to hold pigment. This medium is a 'keeper'!

It's 8" x 10" on a piece of peachy-toned illustration board, sealed with clear Colourfix primer.

Both of these were done with about 90% panpastels and about 10% with very soft sticks. (The more I use the pans the more I look forward to the dark set that is coming.) First I laid in the big shapes with soft pastel sticks. Then I palette-knifed on the gel, on top of that first layer, which picked up and spread the pigment.

The pans were rubbed into the texture a bit. Last I put the final touches on with the soft sticks, just flitting over the tops of the textured surface. Interesting effect.

Zen Garden

I trust the leaves are a bit better on this one. But they were hard.

It's 7-1/2" x 11", on illustration board which is beveled along the edges, so the ground colors go down the bevel, right to the edges. It's prepared with clear Colourfix primer. Underpainting done with pastel sticks, washed with alcohol. And sealed again with clear primer.

I used all pans, about four layers. I used regular pastel sticks for the stems.

The source pic is below. I took it myself, so this one isn't "after" anyone else's work.

I might be done with pear plan, finally.

Chili-peppear

This is 8" x 10" on illustration board coated with primer, as usual. And also done with a few layers, and all pans, except for the stems. IRL this is more hard-edged and marky. Not so dreamy.

The underpainting is below. I did that with gouache.

It is after a Creevy oil stick demo painting on page 167 of his book.

I am not sure yet if I really like the pans. I will persevere.

Two useful links, from Donna Aldridge:

• pdf on how to decide what color of Art Spectrum Colourfix pastel paper to use: Which color should I use?
  
• New pan pastel video demo: Stormy Landscape
• All of Donna's panpastel videos are here
  

Keep a sharp eye

This to-do list is adapted from Donna Aldridge's post here:

• Look for the various PLANES on the different parts of the subject.
• Notice where the LIGHT is “strong” and where the SHADOWS are “strong”.
• Pay attention to the HARD, MEDIUM AND SOFT EDGES.
Look for the WARMS AND COOLS within any given HUE.
• Don't let things get picky/fussy---but instead look for making or keeping INTERESTING VARIATIONS.
• Pay attention not only to what is happening within any of the objects but rather look at what is happening on 'EITHER SIDE OF THE BORDER' everywhere within the painting.
• ----and then just keep looking at the painting over all and what it needs to make it striking!

(This pear piece is about 6" x 9", done entirely with pans, except for the stem. It's on white Wallis "professional grade" paper. As usual I did a bold and wild underpainting in bright complimentary colors using sticks and washed with alcohol. And then I promptly covered it up.)

Bonus Ovie PIC! Ovie after the 2009 NHL Awards Ceremony. Posing with his second Pearson, his second Richard, and his second Hart. The hardware he does not have is the Tall Cylindrical One. [sigh] That's the one that comes with a parade. A parade that we have never had. "Personal stats is good, personal award is good. I just want to win one award and that’s the Stanley Cup.” Amen, Ovie!

Athos, Aramis, and . . . Malus

This one is a little more grounded on a tabletop. Whew! The deeper question here is: when will I be able to get over my infatuation with pears? Is it the shape that so sings for me? Dunno. Maybe with this apple that snuck in here I can start to edge over into other fruits and vegetables . . .

This is 8" x 10" and done with all pans, except for the pear stems. I used nice illustration board that I had coated (two layers) with white Colourfix primer.

I did a gouache/watercolor underpainting in complimentary colors (well, almost) and sealed that with clear Colourfix primer.

I used the new SpectraFix Fixative between the layers of pastels. There are about four or five layers. (I am still not sure how to use this stuff to compliment my "color symphonics". Are you supposed to shake it before use or not? Are you supposed to spray with the piece horizontal or vertical? How far away? I shake and spray horizontal and get bubbles and drips, which -- lucky for me -- fit right in with what I am doing.)

The underpainting and the source pic is below.

Pears on the Plains, Twister Bearing Down . . . !!

More pans, but I am not as happy with this one. The background is too bland/blended. Need to have the sticks out at the same time, so I can do some more satisfying, more dense and scumbled applications on the background.

I really like the Sofftart.com Flat Shaper tool. It's easier for me to use than the mini-palettes. Flatter? Stronger?

(Another take on these three pears.)

I was Wingeling it.

In this one I experimented with some impasto gels and other sticky stuff to create texture and layers, as per Creevy, my idol:
•Acrylic Fluid Matt Medium
•Galkyd Gel
•Liquin Light Gel (formerly Wingel)
They all were messy and the Galkyd and the Liquin dried very slowly. The matt medium was too liquid to really do much impastoing. I am going to have to try that on another piece all alone to really get a notion.

The Galkyd and the Liquin, both clear and sticky, did really make some pronounced impasto texture on the base. (You can see some by the Galkyd on the blue background, especially on the left and around the pears.) Both were hard to control with a brush, so I believe that a palette knife is the answer here. (Plus I won't need gamsol to clean a knife!) Next time I want to really try to do layering with these, instead of with the fixitive. But they take so long to dry, you have to be patient. We'll see. (The Galkyd is still sticky, about twelve hours later. Hmmm. Not very practical.)

This Three-Pear is about 8-1/2" X 12" on white paper, using mostly pans and a few sticks at the end, for concentrated color. The more I use these pans the more I miss a good fat selection of darks. Which is on the way. Whew.

Pans Can Fly

Here are some pears with my new PanPastels! I had always thought of these with a bit of suspicion, since the whole technique -- application with foam pads -- seemed (to me) to demand or force blending blandness. I was inspired to reconsider when a colleague who needed to get her looseness back decided to do a series of paintings using the pans! Whoa! If she chose this medium and these tools to get loose then it was time for me to take a look.

I ordered the Landscape set, which has some oddball colors in it. It is a 20-pan subset of the now-up-to 80 pan full set. Q: do I need the full set? Can I stay loose with these? They really are fun.

In any event, this pear piece is about 6" x 8" on that nifty Japanese print paper. The underpainting is shown here, done in watercolors and gouache, sealed with clear Colourfix primer. I used about four layers of pan pastels, layered with my new casein fixative, which seems just fine. In some cases the fixative goes on really thick and wet, which I like.

You can make fine marks with the pans and pads, but I wasn't getting them chunky enough for some areas where I needed heft, so chose to do the pear stems (and some other spots here and there) with regular very soft sticks. In the case of the stems, with a new color for me -- Schmincke Quin Violet -- a real fat strong red burgundy. Nice color!

Old Baldy

This is about 6" x 8" on this nubbly Japanese print paper that I found yesterday on/in my desk. (This mystery paper is really nice. It has deckles on all four sides. Pretty!)

I first did an underpainting with watercolors and gouache in compliments of the final layer. A bright golden green for the wall in back, strong Ultramarine blue for the pear, and a dark quin magenta for the tabletop. The paper really sucked in the pigment. It was bright and lush.

Then I covered it all with one thin coat of Clear Colourfix primer.

Then whaled away with the pastels, all soft. There are three layers of pastels-plus-fixative.

BONUS! Girolamo Frescobaldi's Toccata (Full Orchestra) arr. by James Higgins

Pears on Red

This is gouache (and a little watercolor, especially that wonderful acidy DS Green Gold) on Arches rough, about 6" x 9" after cropping. It is after a pastel that I saw the other day, by Barbara Noonan.

I scrapped on the thick red-orange paint in the background with the palette knife, which was kind 'o jazzy. I can see that much of the gouache fun is going to be the impasto aspect. Cool!

Pauvre Mauve Pears

This began as a sort of tea-stained board. The pear color is the 'compliment' of that tea-colored surface. Blue-violet being the compliment of the drab ochre. Palette below. The four there in a row that all look black are actually various tints of a wonderful deep deep Terry Ludwig aubergine (technically a "violet"). Neat color!

Inspirational pears here.

Cautionary Pears

One of the key elements in these exercises is knowing when to stop. Clearly an element that has yet to sink in with me. As you can see, the shadow is particularly worked nearly to death. Practice! Practice! This is about 8"x10" on Canson Mi-Teinte blue paper. I like the look of the bare paper edge when I take the masking tape off. It somehow brings the whole thing back to a baseline of some kind. It would work even better if some of the blue paper were peeping through. Better on rougher paper.

I am eager to try out the clear Colourfix Primer on the colored St. Armand very rough watercolor paper. Will it let the color of the paper shine through? Will it do so with the addition of some more pumice? With some carborundum? The "support" prep part is really fun for me too. Why is that?

Can these pears be saved!?

This is 7"x10" on very rough watercolor paper that I coated with white 'Fine Tooth Colourfix Primer' and then toned with deeply pigmented watercolor. I put red under the green pears and green under the reddish background. I got so much into the layering that I ended up nearly smearing. I had to spray it with workable fixative often. The 'tooth' of the primer isn't as good as the that of the sandy papers. Maybe I will add more grit to the primer and see what that does.

By George . . . . !

. . . . I think I may be getting it. This is 6" x 9", done on Wallis "Belgian Mist" paper, with Nupastels. This whole layering thing is very riveting. Also Belgium is a great place. So the paper is definitely helping.

The Learning Curve is steep indeed

The pastels learning curve is taking me for a ride. Pears rulz. I suppose.

Below is a page from the everyday sketchbook. Gouache+pen+ink+watercolors on darker colored paper. Quebeçiose St. Armand 'coloured' paper rulz. Although those pink legs look a tad skanky.

Q: How many days until the beginning of hockey season?
A: 27 days, or 653 hours, or 39,234 minutes, or 2,354,063 seconds
Addendum: SOON!

Bruised Pear

Old, tired pear with bruise front n' center.

Pear Plan

Day One? K! Day Two? Dunno!

Summer Slump

The Arf Arf Days of summer are in full swing. Note to Tourists: Stopping at the top of a moving escalator on Metro is generally not practical. You could get trampled!

Q: How many days until the beginning of hockey season?
A: 70 days and 1,686 hours.
Addendum: [sigh]

My Figure Drawing Class is going well, despite my sloth. I really enjoy drawing 'from the figure' and may sign up for open figure drawing sessions. Someday.

My experiments with pastels are going very slowly. The noteworthy mess that the whole enterprise makes is daunting. Despite that, I have a plan predicated on my friend Samter Petuel's stellar+inspirational example: a Pear A Day, with these variations:

• different color schemes (analogous, complimentary, split complimentary, complimentary with the "discord"
• different lighting effects, different directions
• different points of view, such as straight on and from above
• different kinds of strokes - cross-hatched, scribbled circles. layers, layers with intervening fixative
• different surfaces
• different colored surfaces
• different kinds of pastels, hard, soft, pencils

The theory and framework are there. Where is the get-up-and-go? We'll see.