Trial, Error, Error, Repeat

Yesterday was another day of website building.  There are some things with WordPress that drives me crazy, such as when I post the link to my website on Facebook, it doesn't have a thumbnail image on it, and I've tried all the tutorials to fix the problem, but it persists.

Inspite of that, my website is coming along, I am making progress with it.  I've imported past blog posts there, and for a while I'll be posting on both, but soon I'll be moving.  I hope that those who have followed me on blogger will come over to my wordpress site and follow me there as well.  It can be found at http://ArdentReflections.com.

In addition to the website work, I've been adding up the cost of doing business as an artist over the past year, comparing that to what I've made in sales, just to find out how much money I've made lost as an artist, I won't share details, but I will say that I can see where the term starving artist comes from.  I didn't expect profit over this year, but I did expect a smaller deficit than I saw.  Oh well, there were a lot of expenses that I won't have to repeat any time soon, like buying a canopy for art shows, tables for the canopy, a cart to move supplies with at art shows, etc.

Last but not least, I actually got a little painting done, I'm still not happy with the clouds in my sky, but I'm getting closer to what I want.  One thing I am figuring out with this sunset though, is that I have to stop in between colors and let things dry, otherwise my oranges, and purples mix into brown, and my yellows and blues mix into green.  Here are two photos, neither one seems to really be right in color, the first one comes closer but is brighter than the painting really is I think...oh well,  what can you expect from a cell phone?

During my next session I will bring the purple and then blue up further in up in the sky, and cover those strange finger like projections I called clouds, then I will try puttin in some less finger like clouds, I can see it in my mind now, when before I couldn't, so hopefully I'll be able to translate that onto the canvas.    Then I'll bring more color into the darker blue water, the lighter blue area is actually going to be covered with land, as is the horizon line, so that the bay comes between where the viewer "stands" and the other side of the bay.  I'm not really concerned about how much experimentation this is taking, I mean after all, this is how I've learned EVERYTHING I know about painting so far, by trying, messing up, and trying again, until I get I get it right.

Thank you for reading! If you liked what you see, please consider following this blog with Google Friend connect, or follow me on Google+, or if you prefer, you can follow by email and get notified each time the blog is updated. See the right hand column to follow in any of these ways! I welcome your suggestions on how to make this blog more interesting to you!

Fine Art America is the place to go for Prints of all my Paintings.

 

My etsy shop is the place to go to buy my originals and request commissioned work. A few select prints are available here as well!

More Progress, and a Title!

Well, yesterday I posted some progress photos of my latest painting, and asked for suggestions on the title.  Today I put in several hours of work and I'm pretty much finished with the painting, I do need to do a little minor touch up work where a stray drop of paint has landed or where an earlier layer of color shows through a top layer that is supposed to be opaque, I'll also paint the sides of the canvas in black all around, and then put an isolation coat on and a coat of varnish... but the basic painting is done.  Once the touch up is done I'll set up good photography equipment and take a high quality photo to post, but for now, my cell phone photo is going to have to do.

I've also given a title lots of thought, and to me, each of the sections in this painting is like a door or portal into an isolated world of optical wonder and illusion.  So I'm strongly considering the title "Inlets to Illusion".

Thank you for reading! I welcome your suggestions on how to make this blog more interesting to you!

New Abstract Piece in Almost Done!

Well, I've been working on a new abstract piece for my sister's "red and black" room, and I've nearly finished it.  I thought it might be nice to post some photos of the process today, then in a few days or  maybe a week or two when I'm finished, I'll post a photo of the finished piece.

First, I started off with a 30x24 inch canvas, and the only three colors of paint I would use for this painting, pyrrol red, titanium white, and mars black.

My first step was to cover the entire canvas in a coat of titanium white, of course, the canvas is white so this may seem silly, but it does serve a purpose, it gives me a much smoother surface to work on, and insures that later if I need to use some white to cover up and mistakes or splotches (or arm prints), the spot that I cover with it will match the background of the painting.

The next step was to use mars black and randomly divide the canvas into sections by making lines from edge to edge in a freeform style, and then to paint a black border all around the edge.

Then I proceeded to add details and designs into each section, using only the three colors I mentioned above.

 

Each time I worked at it, I added a little more detail, and tried to use different designs in each section. I decided to also make designs in the black lines that divided the canvas, but not in the border around the edge.

Some sections took longer than others, because of the extremely small detail I chose to use.  I started the painting on August 5th, but not only did I put in a lot of detail, I also became a grandma, took a three week road trip to my home state of California, and dealt with the holidays, so its now December 30th, and the painting is still not completed.

But, it is getting much closer! As I got closer to the end, I decided I wanted a few more "just" black and white sections, so I added a striped sphere like section on top of another section, and also did several sections with no red.  

So, I still have at least 4 more hours of work on this just to finish the painting, then I'll need to put on the isolation coat and varnish. Last of all, I need to come up with a title, I am toying with "illusions" as a title, but I am unsure right now if that is what I want to call it, feel free to comment with your suggestions!

Thank you for reading! I welcome your suggestions on how to make this blog more interesting to you!

Stretching Myself

One of my Index cards from the ICAD challenge.

Before I first started painting in June of 2012, on those index cards that seemed so innocuous but proved to be carriers of the deadly "art attack" virus, I had no idea how much I had missed art in my life.  You see, way back when, years ago, in Junior High School and some in High School, I took great joy in creating.  Drawing, using oil pastels, markers, colored pencils.  I didn't paint much back then, though I'm sure at some point I must have used paint a little, I really don't remember, but it certainly wasn't a medium that I used regularly... at any rate, at that time I really loved art.  For some reason, shortly after high school, I stopped. Perhaps it was because the responsibilities of adult life left little time for it, and little money for supplies.  Perhaps it was because of other issues I was dealing with that caused me to feel unworthy of something that would bring me joy.  Perhaps I just didn't get around to it.  For whatever reason though, art was no longer a part of my life.  Occasionally I would do crafts, make Christmas ornaments, crochet baby clothes, something like that, but drawing, or "painting" with colored pencils or pastels, was completely forgotten.

After starting the ICAD challenge though, I quickly realized I was hooked, not just on art, but in particular on painting.  It wasn't long before I wanted to move beyond the index cards and onto a canvas.  Since then, I've painted and painted and painted.  Having had no formal training, I have learned most of what I know by trial and error, often with many errors repeated again and again (when will I finally automatically paint background objects BEFORE foreground objects???).  I've watched a few how-to videos, and read a few books, but mostly I'm self taught... I've been learning to paint by PAINTING.  Eventually I might like to go for my BFA, but in the meantime I just continue to paint.


Recently, the gallery owner where my work is sometimes displayed suggested that I take part in a local juried show.  He felt that it would give me more exposure, and also give me a chance to see how my work compares with other local artists and to get feedback from more people.  I looked over the work I had, and felt that there were many things I had learned recently that didn't show in those pieces, so I decided to create three pieces specifically for the show, being mindful to apply everything I've learned up until now.  In other words, I wanted to really stretch myself to the limits of my current skills and abilities, so that I would be submitting the very best work I am currently capable of producing.

Here is the first piece as it took shape:

This first photo shows the work after my first painting session, I have no idea how much time I spent up until this point on it, but it was all one painting session.  I used three reference photos I had taken, but didn't copy directly from any of them, just used them to spark ideas and give a general outline of what was happening.

I decided to block in some general darks and lights in the background, so that when I added background trees gaps in them wouldn't show stark blue sky, because I've noticed in some of earlier paintings that sky showing through like that often makes the landscape look flat, or fake.

Then, here is the second in progress photo, a little more has changed at this point, one back ground tree has been added, and one more foreground tree.

Then I added the other background trees.  Notice that I made them lighter and less distinct than the ones in the foreground, I've been trying to learn to implement atmospheric perspective.

On to progress picture number 4, here I have lightened the trees in the background more, plus added some more foreground elements. I know that the picture looks very different in color here, but it hasn't changed.  All but the final two photos were taken with my phone, and it is very sensitive to changes in lighting.  The slightest difference in available light causes a whole different color cast over everything.

Next I simply added more detail in the foreground, such as some flowers on the bush in the lower right hand corner, and some more reflected light on the pond.

Then I thought I was done, so I took a good picture with my good camera, but afterward, I noticed that the sky above the background trees looked "dirty" because of all the times I'd painted over to obscure the trees a little more in trying to achieve the atmospheric perspective:

So I fixed the sky, and then took another picture with my good camera.  I printed several samples to compare the color to the original, and edited until it matched.  And here is the final result:

So there is the painting that will be my first entry into the juried show.  Because I am keeping it for the show, I can't offer it for sale yet, however prints of it are available on my Fine Art America page, and if the original doesn't sell during the show, it will be offered for sale afterward either in my local gallery, or in my Etsy shop.

Thank you for reading! I welcome your suggestions on how to make this blog more interesting to you!