Hang on! Spring is coming.

This is on the heavy kraft paper torn out of the Paperchase scrapbook. PR Velvet Black ink and gouache.


Below is another from Metro, done with Noddler's Nightshade and gouache.

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!

Gouache en Plein Air

I had decided to convert my regular sketch kit from watercolors to gouache, so I got out a small folding box with half pans and filled 'er up.

THAT didn't work at all.

Since the box wasn't sealed, it was impossible to keep the paints in the open pans at a constant moisture. They just dried up, cracked apart, and went all over.

I don't want to carry whole tubes, so I decided to make a variation of Jamie's great plein air kit.

I got one of those snap closure food storage boxes from the Container Store, about 8" x 5" x 2" deep. The kind that seals tightly with an 'O' ring.

Then I took a 6" x 4" x 1/4" piece of plexiglass and epoxied 10 of those little paint cups onto the edges of that. Above is the plein air box, shown open, next to a 7x10 Arches paper block. The box on the left, the lid/palette on the right.

In the box on the left there is a folded piece of paper towel in the bottom. The plexi piece with the cups is on top. There is a small water bottle between the cups, a piece of damp sponge at the bottom, an extra paint cup, and a tube of white gouache. The brushes are on the side and the cut-down palette knife is in the middle.

I laminated a piece of paper (which I had printed a neutral gray) onto the outside of the lid. I am using the inside of the lid as my palette, as you can see. The colors are much easier to deal with on that neutral gray background. (There is another rolled up piece of paper towel sitting at the top of the lid/palette.)

This is pretty handy, so far. If I can't keep the leftover paint on the inside of the lid from drying up and flaking off, I will have to clean the palette area off after each session. I am going to try to keep it moist by keeping that sliver of a sponge moist. We'll see.

The size is just right. The palette mixing area in the inside of the lid is a good size too. The only thing missing is one of those big water containers. Which could be carried separately.

My New Neighbors

This is Nooder's Nightshade ink on Waterford Aquarius II paper that I had tinted to a kraft color with an acrylic wash. I was worried that the wash was going to abrade the paper so badly that the ink would feather. But it didn't. Bravo ink! Bravo paper! (I should have more faith.) Sketch later touched up with my new Schmincke Horadam Gouache. (Gad but it's expensive!)

This bus brakes for sausages.

Bus. Front steps, columns, and leafless elm from the front of the National Gallery of Art. And a face from Metro.

Stay Alert!

This is a very nearly chinless lady on Metro, done in PR Velvet Black ink, later messed up at home with gouache. (I may like this kraft-colored watercolor paper better than the kraft paper. Hmmm!)

I am attempting to see how portable gouache is. It has such a tendency to dry out and crack apart, that it may not be very plein-air-ish. Keeping it soft enough to stay put and solid enough to stay put, simultaneously, is tricky.

Campania For A Day

I enjoyed my whole Birthday Weekend, including the Resident Associates seminar on Saturday, entitled Ancient Pompeii: Modern Views. It was organized in conjunction with the delightful show at the National Gallery of Art: Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples. (The first and the last speakers possessed very similar, very droning, very affected, very professorial delivery styles. Made you want to scream. Turns out they are married. Wouldn't you know!)

The third speaker, Professor Christopher Gregg, from GM had the most interesting section, about the pleasures and entertainments common in ancient Pompeii. I am thinking of trying to find a cookbook of ancient Roman recipes and try some of their fish dishes. Wonder what they will be! We also heard about Pompeii's Spectacula (or amphitheater), the venationes held there, and the Lupanar.

In any event, I made this sketch of Mt. Vesuvius and then the little map of il Golfo di Napoli below it, during the final speaker's section. I added gouache washes at home today. I like the way the summit caldera is rendered. Not exactly 'to scale' obviously, but it looks cool. Or, ummm, hot. . . . One of the speakers was asked about plans to excavate the 'Unexcavated' portions of Pompeii. His answer was kind of scary; he said that the heartily agreed with the policy currently in place to leave these areas unexcavated permanently. He said that these areas are well buried and that they will survive when the next pyroclastic event occurs at Pompeii. These buried areas will survive when everything that is exposed right now is destroyed. Not "if", but "when". When the next eruption occurs. Gave one the shivers.


This is 'The Forum at Pompeii with Vesuvius in the Background' by Christen Schjellerup Købke painted in 1841, now at the Getty in LA. The Getty Villa having been modeled on the Villa dei Papyri, in Ercolano.


Here is another lovely view of Vesuvius, from the beach of Naples, entitled 'Am Strand von Neapel' painted by Oswald Achenbach, probably around 1885.

Black? What?

Goodness me, I don't know! This is about 6" x 7-1/2", gouache on black Arches cover. I have seen some very nice pastel and gouache work on Somerset Black Velvet and this is a test to see if I want to order some. Next test will be pastels on the Arches black.

The Somerset Black Velvet is considerably heavier (250 gsm) than the Arches cover (136 gsm). Interesting! Might be like illustration board.

Gouache en Plein Air! Here is a great pic of a perfectly adequate gouache kit for relaxed and happy plein air work. Thanks, Jamie!

Aphrodite Venus de Capua

I visited the Pompeii show at the National Gallery of Art -- Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples -- and enjoyed my first glimpse very much. This is a quick sketch from one of the only benches in the entire exhibition. (Why do they do that?)

Aphrodite = Venus









I used PR Velvet Black ink in the Lamy Vista, later washed with the waterbrush and some gouache for background tint.

ONE random thing

This is done on Daler Rowney pastel paper, cut to fit and and snapped into my 7"x8" everyday sketchbook. The initial sketch is with Noodler's Red-Black "near bulletproof" ink in the old trusty Lamy Vista. The gouache was added later. I like the lights of the gouache on this blue paper. Will do more with my new paint box!

I have also been using an old Bloomies shopping bag, turned inside out, and pieces cut to fit my sketchbook. The kraft color is nice but it's too flimsy. I have received two excellent kraft paper sketchbooks sold by a UK company called Paperchase that have much nicer much thicker kraft paper. I want more of 'em so I don't have to be too careful about using them up.

There are some wonderful kraft paper and cardboard box sketches from our local Mr. Christian Tribastone here. And some nifty gouache sketches done by Jamie Williams Grossmanon on kraft here and here and here. Real nice!!!

Inspired by all that I have made up a small paint box with gouache. I am going to try to get out with it this weekend and sketch. Some of the colors are real runny (mostly the Graham brand tubes) so I am having to leave it out all night to get it to dry out and "set up" a bit. So when I close the box the paint won't run all over. We'll see how hard they are tomorrow morning.

Tree: Waiting

Tree in Norwood Local Park. About 4"x 4", on tinted (did it myself, with watercolor wash) Aquarius II wc paper, done with a Kaimei "Natural Hair" brush pen, and then watercolors and gouache later. From the front seat of my car on a frrrrrrrrigid + gloomy day but I just effing HAD to get out.

Soundsuits, from Mr. Cave

This is an image from NYC's Jack Shainman Gallery of Nick Cave's Soundsuits. These are waaaaay cool. Saw a review of a show of his in Sunday's WaPo (scroll to the bottom).

Back to the Slog?

After all the revelry, excitement, and celebration of the past few days, are we all back to the same old slog? This is a little (7"x4") top o' the hill "study" that I found while tidying (re-arranging) the desks. It has a nice spring breeze going through it. What shall we do to get ready for Spring?

The Crash of Two Realities

I am trying to reconcile the two "creativity" workshops that I took this past weekend with the resumption of school this week. I suspect that there are common threads between them but maybe I'm too tired to concentrate hard enough to see 'em.

Postscript: Here are some other pix from this past weekend's workshops. Okay, I admit it: it's still all twisted.

Bundled Up Turtled Up

Getting closer and closer to Inauguration Day. Today Virginia feels marginalized and victimized. Hey! Who said the War of Northern Aggression is forgotten? As per Alexandria's Congressman Jimmy Moran: the closing of all the Virginia bridges is "security on steroids." Paaaaah-leze! Like the Secret Service ever gave a flyin' fig about the every-day functioning of this city. Of course it's security on steroids. C'est leur point fort. Ils sont goons. Qué será, será, eh?

Happy New Year!

Sketchbook page from the last day of the year. Detail of the edge of a cabin (and some other nearby neighborhood elements) in New Market MD. About 7"x7", on grey charcoal paper, on the spot (albeit inside the car --- hey, it was about 29º and windy!) with pen+ink and then (later at home) with watercolors, gouache, and mushed-up watered-down pastel (for the sky). Cool.

(This was scanned using the new HP Photosmart that Santa brought. Works wonderfully!!)

Merry Christmas! Here's a Clump o' Trees . . .

This is about 7-1/2" x 10" on very rough Saint-Armand Colours paper in a washed denim color (nice flecks in it, obviously hand mixed / hand made). I coated it with clear Colourfix primer. Then I started out with a big sloppy mess of an alcohol wash, washing in the (sort of) complementary colors to what I was intending for the finish layer.

One question is this: What's the difference among a water wash, an alcohol wash, and a wash done with Turpenoid? (And here is the answer to that question.)

Mr. Enormous Ear

Experiments with an alcohol wash underpainting, coloring a "print" of an old sketch, and a strange Art Deco color scheme plus eerie detached (sleeping?) floating-head subject, the later two attributes both ala Redon.

Well, c'mon. Practice is good/useful in it's own right, I suppose.

I have just received and watched the DVD Plein Air with Pastel: A Complete In-Depth Demonstration of Pastels as a Wet & Dry Medium, starring Greg Biolchini. He spends quite a bit of time and energy fiddling around with the alcohol underpainting. Interesting.

The best part of the DVD were the sounds of the birds happily singing in the forest throughout the entire demo. It took place in the woods somewhere in North Carolina and it was a lovely day. Real nostalgic for (a) North Carolina and (b) summer!!!

La Coquille Genteel?

La Coquille Odilon Redon (22-1/2" x 22-3/4")
I am not at all sure what to make of this turn-of-the-20th century French artist Odilon Redon (1840-1916). His drawings and pastels are both thoroughly creepy and quite lovely. About this particular piece, according to Roseline Bacou in Odilon Redon Pastels (1987), "The source for this well-known pastel is one of the shells which Mme. Redon, a native of the Ile-de-la-Réunion, liked to keep around her. This work, now in the Musée d'Orsay, was placed on the fireplace mantel in the Redon's living room . . . and often served as the starting point for Redon's musings." (page 178)

As I was reading that Bacou book, I turned the page to this piece and I kind of softly shouted, with surprise and then instantly with pleasure. So I had to post it. This shell, it talks.

Determine the Extremes

The painting sequence / process, from Professor Bob Rohm:

1. Formulate the Idea - Why am I doing this? What do I want to communicate? What's the point? Have a concept, a raison d'etre. It may change, but have one initially.
2. Simplify the Shapes - Six to eight shapes. Lay 'em in.
3. Average the Values - Four values. Decide and depict.
   
4. Average the Colors - Each value shape becomes a color shape. Assign colors. Decide on relative temperatures.
5. Determine the Extremes - Find the darkest dark, the lightest light, and the most dynamic edge.

Done! The rest are just modifications and refinements. Questions for the rest of the process:
-- How much detail?
-- How much information?
-- How much color variety?
NB: "Always make these modifications in relation to the extremes that you established. Nothing you add should be darker, lighter, more intense, or more dynamic than your established extremes."

[From The Painterly Approach: An Artist's Guide to Seeing, Painting, and Expressing, by Bob Rohm (2008)]

Glove? Deprived of.

Back to drawing again! This is a page from my everyday sketchbook, done with PR Velvet Black ink and (the faces at the bottom) with Noodler's Red-Black ink in my two Lamy pens with the calligraphy nibs (one for each color!). On Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper, size approximately 7" x 8". I added some watercolor and some gouache (the blue!) later.

Navajo Man

This was my best drawing from the Crash Course In Drawing class this past weekend, using a grid and transferring the layout from the photo. It's overall 18" x 24". Done with charcoal, Char-Kole, and chamois, paper towels, and erasers!

The instructor, Deirdre Saunder, was great! It's a shame that she doesn't teach more classes at the Art League. I'd sign up.

Winners in New Mexico

See the winners of the Pastel Society of New Mexico's National Show 2008, here. I especially like the work of Bill James, the winner with this, and Lelia Hall.

Jowl Study

Here is a pastel paint-by-numbers piece, using one of my carborundum prints as a base drawing.

I wanted to test some of my brand new Intense Darks II from Ludwig. The spaces on either side of her head are layered with some really interesting deep deep reds/burgundies. Very nice! 'Tho you can't see them here. Leastways I can't on my monitor.

It's about 7-1/2" x 11", on real bumpy Saint-Armand 'Colours' watercolor paper upon which I ink-jetted a blow-up of my print. I then sealed it with a coat of Colourfix Pastel Primer in clear.

Sycamore Scaffolding

These are some sycamores below my window. As the season moves on I'll see more and more of the white bleached-bone skeleton. They say the best way to learn to draw trees is by careful observation. Maybe I'll make these my special study. Since they are quite handy.