Painting – Page 7 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Another Tale of 3 Paintings: Tanglewood

Yesterday was Painting Disaster Day. I suppose it had to happen after a couple of good rounds. It was also nearly 100F, and even with the air conditioning on, I was hot and cranky, and that doesn’t make for good focus. Anyway!
I took this photo last month, and rather like its moodiness. The dead leaves and bright new leaves create interesting colors while the trunks create interesting lines. The first attempt to reproduce this painting in some form or another began with pastels, then gouache, and finally watercolor.
This pastel painting is rather clumsy, but I have found in doing these kinds of series that usually the first one, in whatever medium I am using, is always the starting point. I learn more about the picture as I paint it. 9×12 on Mi Teintes paper.This is the second in the series – a small 6×8. What I did differently here than my usual gouache is I used Arches hot pressed paper and worked to keep my gouache paints thin (cream consistency) and moist while I painted. The smooth paper and smoother paints made painting a lot easier. It turned out pretty good!
Finally the watercolor. This is on the reverse side of another painting, on 16×20 Arches cold press watercolor paper. As both pastels and gouache allow for opaque overpainting of other colors, by this time I had a pretty good idea where light and dark were and could plan ahead. I used frisket on the tree trunks and in areas where the leaves are hit by the sun. Keeping these areas masked off let me apply broad washes across the paper without losing the shites.

Altogether, I am pleased with this series. I think I may redo the pastel painting as I have some new pastels to try out! Meanwhile, I am looking for some buildings for my next triad (or “try-at”) of paintings.

So, Wuzzup?

Wuzzup?

I have been following my New Year’s resolution pretty steadily. Painting, photography, study, socializing, reading, and doing things I enjoy. Somewhat scheduled, somewhat not. I kept a record for about a week of what I did in the morning and afternoon – in between which was lunch and a nap usually – and thought about how I felt about my day. In general, I found I enjoyed each day a great deal more. I didn’t do the same things every day (other than the usual boring daily routines), but found I did enough to find satisfaction.

Doing some watercolors was satisfying. I hope to do some later this morning before heading out to meet up with a friend. I haven’t done any gouache this year, but that is also on the agenda. Here are some of the paintings.

I also read some fiction – a favorite novel from the 1940s – and started some nonfiction, a book about photography I received as a Christmas present, Behind the Camera. It’s nice to sit outdoors with a book and a cup of coffee or tea, put my feet up, and read. The weather has varied from chilly to warmish, and so have I!

Add to that, I have been learning about a camera which I recently bought: a used Pentax (Honeywell Asahi) non-MLU (mirror lock-up) 6×7 camera. It has been frustrating and fascinating. First, the thing weighs in about 5 lbs. Lugging it around is amusing. I pulled out a tripod. It takes 120 film, and you get ten 6×7 images out of it – supposedly. Out of the 10 exposures I made, only 3 came out, and all came out under-exposed. No idea why.

As a result of these mishaps, I loaded up more film, and logged every picture I took. And did it with a second roll, too. I bracketed my images as well as varied exposure factors to get the same picture exposures (i.e. 8 @ 1/30 then 5.6 @ 1/60) using Lomo Color Negative 100 film. I took the two rolls yesterday morning, and dropped them off around noon.

Here are the three images from the first roll, which is Portra 400 – what a waste!

Pentax 6×7 Kodak Portra 400

Yashica D – Fuji Pro 400 H

I am really curious as to what comes back from the photo lab – hopefully fairly soon. If these are also dismal failures, back the camera goes to the vendor!

So, nothing exciting in my life, like flying to Paris for lunch on a whim. But, some satisfaction, and some frustration, just like real life!

Curbside Daisies

I haven’t picked up a brush in weeks. I did an ink and watercolor sketch a few days ago, but no painting of any sort. Life got in the way, as well as other interests needing a lot of time – photography in this case. Now I hope to get back to daily painting because I miss it!

The other day, I was out and about. Looking down, I saw some bright pink daisies in the sun, falling over the cobbled pavement of the street. Hmmm, let’s paint ’em!

And so I did.

Themes: A Bit Rocky

For whatever reason, the last few weeks have found me discombobulated. Nothing seems to be consistent – pursuits and interests are all over the place. Painting is sporadic. Drawing is sporadic. Photography is here and there and which camera and which film and which what and where? We all get like this, and in some ways it can be a fallow period wherein we just flop around until something clicks. Other times it points to ennui and aimlessness and a need to renew and refresh. Or take a breather.

Retirement gives me time. I want to use it. For awhile I was on a sort of schedule – get the morning stuff done, then sit down to paint or draw in the studio, when the light is best. And then a glimpse out the window and the pull of good weather moved those activities to the afternoon. And the good weather pulled again. Afternoon coffee, too, has its attractions, and that pulled me out of the house to meet up with a friend or just go out on my own. When Josh is off work (Sunday to Tuesday) other activities occur. Having gone from always being around people – students, fellow teachers – to being home made me realize how much I like being around people. Suddenly I am chatting up sales clerks and yakking with strangers. It’s bizarre, after years of being so exhausted at the end of a 10-hour teaching day and not wanting to even text someone, to find myself wanting to have guests and visit friends and family, make a phone call.

There is a restlessness here that is like a dream that you find yourself in. There is a place to go, but you cannot find a pathway. It’s foggy but not unpleasant. It’s confusing and enlightening. What it is, I think, is a need for a destination. When I want to change something in my life, whether vague or quite specific, I set myself a goal. For example, if I want to improve my drawing, it becomes a goal, the destination. I leave the pathway there open and assume I will get there. It generally works. However, in the area of creative endeavors, I suddenly am finding myself perplexed and confused – so many things, so much I want to do, and I am running out of time for all the things I want to do! I think of scheduling myself – but schedules are something I feel guilty about breaking once I make them. Rather a quandary . . .

The overall theme here is just my own personality. I am one of these people who finds something of interest, pursues it intensely, and then finds something else. It’s rather magpie. Glinting and flashy gets my curiosity, which in and of itself I think is fine, but it is the lack of ongoing pursuit of a particular art that gets me into trouble – the lack of consistent practice. When I lack consistent practice, my mind and eye wander. Trouble happens. When my interest is piqued, I collect. That is the magpie. My collections are ridiculous. They take up space. I need to divest myself of much in my collections and divest myself of stuff. In our younger years, we acquire – in our older years we divest and reinvest in the stable themes of our lives, whatever that may be.

So, goal? Divestment? Mastery? Continuation of gaining skills? Boredom has a bit to do with this, a lack of days structured by work schedules? Writing, as always, helps clarify problems – but not necessarily the solutions!

Chrysanthemums

Years ago I did Japanese ink painting, along with Chinese painting. Chrysanthemums are a traditional study. Here, I tried to work with the gouache in the same fashion – following the same formula – as in Oriental painting. Because the paper and pigment are different, it doesn’t work out the same, although the brushwork is applied similarly.

Using what I learned from the first painting, while I held to the constructs I had learned in Asian painting, I applied the principles of gouache here. I built on layers and worked over areas I wasn’t too thrilled with.

Being familiar with how different painting techniques are applied is very handy. This knowledge can be applied to another area (here, painting) and modified to fit the needs of the medium. Painting is like opening up a brand new world! It is quite an adventure.