I Should Have Painted More Leaves

I should have painted more leaves this fall.

#152 - Fall Leaf - 6" x 6" gesso board - regular palette

I must remember not to go back and paint in the leaf veins. I had fun with the background. On one paint stroke, I hadn't mixed the paint very well on my brush. The brush stroke turned out swirly-looking, so I did the entire background that way. I also went back in and outlined the leaf in gesso. One of my friend's leaves a broad distinct outline when she paints. I like how it looks, so I am experimenting.

The Mystery Of The Ellipse

Last night, while I was feeding the cats, I browsed through one of my beginning drawing books. The page I landed on happened to show a bunch of drawings of ellipses. Something clicked in my brain.  I realized that I tend to either draw an elliptical shape more like an oval than an ellipse or I tend to draw them like a long rectangle with the corners made into curves.

When I got home tonight, my brain was fried, but I really felt the desire to draw something. Out came one of my favorite mug from the cupboard and I thought about, drew, and played with the idea of ellipses. On purpose, I started with trying to draw the basic shape of the mug, prior to measuring the depth versus length of the ellipse.

As usual, my initial drawing turned out more oval than reality.  The width of the ellipse was actually about 2-1/2 times longer than the depth and I drew it more with a relationship closer to 1-1/2 times. I slowed down and really tried to see the actual proportion and, honestly, I could not. I could see it when I took a picture, but I just could not see it in real life. While it's frustrating, it's useful to know (and hopefully remember) that I should do a simple check of the proportions prior to drawing elliptical shapes.

On several sheets of paper, I played around with drawing an elliptical shape with the general proportions of the top of my mug. I also discovered that my ability to draw the changing angles of an ellipse could use some work. From the angle I was working the angles are more severe on the outer edges than towards the middle. If I drew slowly, my shapes looked goofy. If I just tried to draw a quick upper arc and lower arc and attached them, it went much better.  Another option would be to do an initial light under-drawing in the form of dashed lines. For some reason, it's easier to draw the change in angles in dashes rather than a continual line.

While this post may sound critical, this evening's experiments with ellipses were enjoyable, instructive, and fun.   

Habits

My painting habit is in a good place. While I still draw everyday, I have lost focus. I need to work towards getting this back and building good habits and strategies for my drawing practice.

Rescued, Mostly

This one did not have a good start. Several months ago, I would have left it half-finished, but I am trying to push myself a bit more. I put this aside on Saturday, but returned to it on Sunday, Monday and today. My goal was to rescue it from something that I would not post on the blog to something that I would. The face angles of the face and overall shape are still a bit off, but it feels like I rescued it, mostly. Trying to go further with it would have changed the experience from learning to joyless.

#150 - Cat - 6" x 6" - paper - palette with alternative blue

My alternative blue, ultramarine blue (#1400), is not as opaque as my usual color, phthalo blue red shade (#1260). This should not be a surprise, since the back of each tube of Golden Heavy Body Acrylic paint shows several key features about the paint color. One of  these is the transparency versus opacity of the color. Still, there is a vast difference between reading the back of a paint tube and experiential learning. This experience is giving me a new understanding of transparency and opacity and what that means when you mix colors together.

I Have A Lot To Learn

I have a lot to learn. I don't say this as a bad thing. It's actually quite a good thing. I am trying to think more before I do, to pay more attention while I am doing, and to engage the editor rather than the critic. The critic in my head frequently tells me that this or that photo would be too hard for me to paint. That kept me from trying to paint a picture of Minnehaha Falls that I took last year. As a way to push back, I plan to have two paintings going at one time. One is more in my comfort zone and one is not. Minnehaha Falls is not in my comfort zone.

Another change is that I am starting each day out by painting. Most mornings that means five minutes, but that is enough time to dash downstairs, paint a few strokes, clean my brush, and start on the other morning routines. This is a much better use of time than scrolling on social media. This new habit started on Tuesday morning, my first day back from the cabin and the first day back at work. Between the happy feelings from the cabin and taking a few minutes to paint, it was a good morning and that carried through most of the day. This morning, I started to sketch out a new painting, so it's not always about picking up the paint brush.

This is the painting that I started on Tuesday morning. I finished it last night. One of my goals was patience. I tend to get overwhelmed and in a hurry with a more complicated scene.

The result after several mornings shows the pool of water unconnected to the falls above. I'm not good at seeing this type of thing on the fly, so having a break is good. Even with this problem, I was pleased with the different values in the water, especially the bright white. Up until this point, I'thought that I could get a bright white color by adding more and more white to a brush that was already loaded with another color (especially if that other color was light in value). Not so! I tried this many, many times and it never worked. Slowing down gave the editor in my head a chance to come forward and recognize a truth. If you want bright white or ever-so-slightly off white color, you have to clean your brush first. Mini-breakthrough.

This shows the painting further along and look! The falls and the pool of water are attached to each other.  

I finished this painting last night. When I look at it, I can see that I need to develop a better vocabulary of brush strokes. I'm not sure how to represent all of the undergrowth, trees, and shrubbery. The green parts near the falls could also use better texture or something. While I could go back and continue to fuss with it, I'm  done. I learned what I could and I'd rather try it again at a later date. 

#149 - Minnehaha Falls - 8 x 10 on paper - palette 1

While I'm not sure the completed painting is a success, the experience was. I tried some new things and learned a lot.

Two Fresh Palettes At The Same Time - Urgh!!

We returned from the cabin today.  As I was putting away my painting stuff, I realized that I wore through the paper in the palette with my standard colors.  It's been a long, long time, since I've done that.  The paper in the Masterson's Sta Wet Palette is tough.  Plus, I think I used to mostly rub my paint through the paper rather than get it picked up in my brush.  Anyway, I had to set up palette 1 with fresh paint. In addition, palette 2 with the alternative blue paint is also really fresh.  A fresh palette is annoying.  Looking down at the white color of a fresh palette is unsettling, plus color mixing is easier when the palette has been used.  Lastly, it takes me a bit to get the right amount of moisture when I set up a new palette.

I finished the following painting up at the cabin, using palette number 2.  Since this palette is still too wet, my paints were runny and I needed extra layers of paint to build up the colors.  This is the first completed painting using the alternative blue paint.  It made mixing grays more challenging and I had trouble getting a neutral gray.  I'm not complaining.  It was fun!  It seems as though the ultramarine blue is not as powerful a color as the phthalo blue red shade.

#148 - Ella (8 x 8 using alternative blue)

I feel like I'm exaggerating the different values, but I'm not really.  It just seems that way, especially when the lightest values are really light.  When I'm painting them, they seem harsh, wrong, and way too light, but after a short time I can see how important this is.  I used to do this with my knitting at times.  I'd try to compensate my love of bright colors by sometimes picking colors where the values were too close.  It's taken a long time to recognize this habit.  Hopefully, I'm on the road to conquering it.  

I was going to post this one yesterday, but decided to wait.  I had to add back a tiny bit of black gesso to the eyes. 

Flashlight

I was treated to a late-in-the-year visit to the family cabin of my friend.  It is a magical place and I have been fortunate to be able to come here for 20 plus years for a visit in the summer with a big group of my friends.  This time, it was my friend, my hubby, and me.  It's quiet and peaceful.  Since work has been so busy and crazy, it was a welcome time to relax and watch the leaves change color.

There is a wonderful, old, metal flashlight at the cabin.  When I was here last summer, I tried to draw the flashlight head on and I just could not do it.  Last night, I grabbed it and and gave it another try.  I did a warm up sketch first.  The body was way too long.  Especially when I look at an object straight on, I still can't eyeball this, so I did a quick measurement and a second, quick sketch.

I could have done another sketch of two to refine things, but didn't feel the need to do so.  I felt like I could see the front of the flashlight in a way that I couldn't 1 1/4 years ago and that my drawing vocabulary is slowly expanding.  That was enough.