There is a lot more “ink” these days than beer or yarn, but as far as those go, there is a lot going on in the background. I guess I will need to post some of my knitting projects or sewing projects (“yarn”). Cooking, too (the “beer” part). Paint (“ink”) takes up most of my time, though.
I am continuing with the oil paints and just love the sensuality of mooshing it around on a canvas! I also like being able to work on my sense of contrast – lights and darks – as I have done with a few pears.
When I am finished with a painting, even though I use low odor solvents, the smell lingers, more so when the house is closed up to keep it warm. Because of this smell, I have some drying shelves set up in the garage, which is pretty cold. It takes a long time for the paintings to dry unless I use Gamblin’s Galkyd Gel, and then they dry almost overnight.
Now that you know this, I painted this painting about 2 weeks ago using linseed oil as the vehicle as well as Gamblin’s solvent-free gel, but not the Galkyd. Drying time is very slow. I just got some walnut oil mixed with alkyd by M. Graham, which should speed up drying time and, I hope, give that lovely ooziness that makes oil paints a lot of fun. Maybe I will check that out later today.
I chose this subject to work on a few things: values, color, distance, depth, contrast. Overall, I am pleased with this painting. I like the brighter yellow between the tree branches on the right as I think it leads the eye in. Someone on a forum said it was too bright and might need to be dulled down a bit. That is something to think about, but my magpie self likes that but does see what the person means. But how much should that yellow-orange be dulled, and so on. Maybe I will play with it in PS.
Above is the desaturated image. I do this to look at my values. Success! Isn’t it interesting to note that the bright yellow-orange becomes a middle grey when in black and white?
I have a couple of other paintings out in the garage drying. I’ll get those out in a few days. Scanning a painting is far nicer in result than photographing as there is minimal glare. The only problem with the scanner is that sometimes the software does not like to merge the sections – luckily I have a few different ones as back up and seem to work quite well.
11×14 oil painting on cotton canvas panel; scanned on Epson V600 at 600 dpi and 48 color bit depth.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 
I always find it amazing to see how an artist can take a series of brush strokes that are, in isolation, just blobs, daubs, and slashes of colour and texture, but which when combined reveal a picture that gives the impression of far more detail than is actually there. It’s a wonderful talent.
It’s a nice picture. It makes me feel like I’m there.
Thanks, Fishyfisharcade! I am so happy you enjoy the painting and I appreciate your comments – they mean a lot.
I don’t think the yellow is too bright -N! But then art is subjective!!
I think the yellow is just fine, there without being intrusive to the whole. Very nice job!
Thanks, Anne! You are right – art is subjective – but sometimes other people have good things to say that you don’t notice when you paint. But here I agree with you – I like the yellow and find it rather nice. On the forum I mentioned in the post, someone said the vines behind the trees were in a straight line, and that one was a good observation.
Thanks, Fraggy! The more I looked at the painting, the more I liked the yellow, and decided it could stay. Lots of opinions and thoughts are good to hear as they can point out things otherwise overlooked, so I do like getting feedback from others. Fresh perspectives!