Let me tell you about Esther. Having had no prior drawing experience, Esther signed up for my Beginner Drawing Class at the Lincoln Senior Center several years ago. At its completion after 12 weeks she was ready to move on to the Advanced Drawing Class that I offer as a follow-up to the Beginner Class. When I noticed that she had signed up for BOTH the Beginner Class and the Advanced Class I thought she had made a mistake. "No mistake", she said, "I have so much more to learn and I want to repeat the Beginner Class to make sure I didn't miss anything." And that's how it went for a few years. Esther enrolled in both my Beginner Class and my Advanced Class continuously. She worked diligently taking in all the information she could to help her in her drawing process. In addition to drawing she mastered the use of color, as well, creating her own distinct style of a bright colorful palette. Yesterday the Advanced Drawing Class worked with charcoal drawing glass objects - no easy task. Below is Esther's charcoal drawing of a glass candy dish. Esther just turned 90 years old.
PREPARING FOR AN ART EXHIBIT (II)
The group meeting for my upcoming exhibit was cancelled due to snow so it will have to wait another week. In the meantime there are other things I need to do in preparation. The paper work and fee have been sent in to the Gallery. The Gallery requires a fee for participation in a Group Exhibit. This includes rental of the Gallery for the duration of the show, designing and printing all publications, including a poster for the front entrance, 100 postcards for each participant, 50 exhibiting brochures, title cards, and re-designing and framing our bios. A portion of the fee will be refunded if we volunteer as a gallery sitter 3 times during the year. The gallery also is paid a 25% commission for all work sold. This is relatively low compared to other local galleries. The commission helps to keep the gallery running as exhibits are offered to the public free of charge. We can only include 2 "not for sale" (NFS) pieces in our collection. Out of 15 pieces I will have 1 NFS. (Continued in another blog.)
GOUACHE PAINTING
Some people have noticed that my painting of the ice skates (the feature painting on my website, business card and on my promotional material for my upcoming exhibit) looks different from my typical watercolors. Well, it is! It is painted in gouache. Gouache paint is a heavy, opaque watercolor paint that is less wet-appearing and has stronger color than traditional watercolor. You can buy gouache paint in tubes, however, I was taught in college to mix white watercolor paint to the other watercolors to produce the opaque effect. If you (accidentally) mixed your white with your watercolors you would have noticed that the paint color appeared "milky". Well, by doing that you made gouache! Painting with gouache requires a different approach than traditional watercolor. With watercolor you preserve the white of the paper, but with gouache you can actually paint with your white. For the ice skate painting I mixed a cadmium red with white to produce the background color. When that dried I drew the ice skates on the painted background. Then I proceeded to mix white with any color that I used to finish the painting. I could actually paint with the white color on the darker background to produce a nice contrast. It was a very different approach than I was used to with transparent watercolor, but I had a lot of fun with it.
AN UNLIKELY (OR NOT) COMPARISON
As I was blogging about my favorite artists, I noticed a similarity in the paintings of two artists that were born a century apart. Similar are the vibrant colors, subject matter, and perspective. I found this very interesting and wondered if the younger artist, James Michalopoulos was influenced by the elder artist, Vincent Van Gogh. In my research I discovered that both painted the French landscape, and both used a palette knife. I was unable to find any direct mention of Michalopoulos being influenced in his work by Van Gogh, but what I did find was very interesting. Several contemporary artists mentioned both Michalopoulos and Van Goth as their influences.
James Michalopoulos
Vincent Van Gogh
WHERE TO PURCHASE ART SUPPLIES
As a teacher I have heard many horror stories of art supply purchases gone bad. If you have ever been to an art supply store you can see why, to a beginning artist, the choices are astounding. If you are looking to buy paper you have an array of choices, drawing paper, watercolor paper, charcoal paper, etc. With watercolor papers alone there are so many varieties that are often categorized in lbs. (What does that mean?), textures, pads, blocks, and individual sheets. Naturally, if you are taking an art class the best thing to do is to get a supply list from your instructor. But there might be times when you just want to experiment but don't want to make an unnecessary expensive purchase. Some of the Arts and Crafts chains (Michael's, for example) can be a convenient place to buy art supplies. They usually offer good discounts but can be limiting to the professional artist. Also, the salespeople there may or may not be experienced in offering advice in the fine arts. We have a local art supply store, Blick, which is very good and its location near one of the best art schools in the country (Rhode Island School of Design) mostly assures that you will get top notch advice. It also has an online store (www.dickblick.com). Lately I have been ordering my art supplies online at www.jerrysartarama.com. The prices are very good and they also have chain stores that will match online prices. One thing I like about the site is that it offers a great customer service and a "live chat". Many websites offer a live chat which is a service where you type your questions to a real person and you can have a back-and-forth help session. On JerrysArtarama website the live chat is located in the upper right corner of the Home page. Ordering is very clear and easy and takes only a few days to arrive. They also offer a guarantee. Free shipping is offered for purchases over a certain amount. If you are in a class your could do a group order to save on shipping. However, we all know how quickly art supply purchases can add up, so you may not need a group order, lol.
FYI - Watercolor paper is labeled in lbs. often 90 lbs. or 140 lbs. This will be the weight for each ream (500 sheets) of that particular paper. Therefore a paper with a weight of 140 lbs. will be thicker and thus heavier than one with a weight of 90 lbs.
IS WATERCOLOR THE HARDEST MEDIUM TO MASTER?
Time and again I hear from prospective students how hard watercolor painting is. Maybe it is because I have been painting with watercolors for so long that I believe it to be one of the easiest of media to be involved in for several reasons: it is one of the least expensive, has the easiest clean up, it is portable, and when you get control of the medium, it is physically effortless. "When you get control of the medium", ok, that might be the difficult part, but not because it is labor intensive, but because you have to change your way of thinking about painting. Most people (especially those who have mastered acrylics or oils), tend to think of painting as an application activity, this is, one in which you physically take the brush and coat the paper with paint. With watercolor it is less about heavily applying paint to the paper but more about guiding the paint on the paper. It is hard to give up this control. Because watercolor is so heavily based in water the paint almost "paints itself" and your job is to guide it. You need to step back and let the watercolor flow onto the paper. You need to have a more gentle approach so that your painting does not become overworked and muddy. If you work "heavy handed" where you apply pressure to the brush as it strokes across the paper you will actually lift off water and color from your painting.
Another misnomer about watercolor painting is that you cannot fix your mistakes. This sends prospective watercolor artists running to other media. I have "fixed" countless errors. I have even taken watercolor paintings out of their frames years after I painted them and reworked them. Once students learn that this can be done it gives them so much more confidence and motivation to continue with a medium that is so rewarding and fun!
PREPARING FOR AN EXHIBIT (I)
You may have noticed on each page of my website is information about my upcoming exhibit. I thought you might like to know what goes into preparing for participation in an art show.
I am a member of the Rhode Island Watercolor Society ( a future blog). Each artist member can participate in a 3, 4 or 5 person show once every two years. My last exhibit there was in the spring of 2014 so I was anxiously waiting for my turn again this year. I have been painting for the last two years with this show in mind. When the email came from the RIWS to sign up for 2016 shows I acted quickly to secure a spot this spring. Although the Gallery has continuous exhibits, only about 3 -4 shows each year are available for 3,4 or 5 person shows. I prefer the spring because it is the time of year when people are coming out of winter hibernation and looking for something to do. Summer in RI is a difficult time to lure people away from the coast. I was assigned a 3 person show for the month of March with the opening reception scheduled for Sunday, March 6 from 2 - 4 pm. About one month before the show opens the Gallery will send out guidelines for the show and set up a meeting between exhibitors and the chairman of the Hanging Committee. At this meeting the Hanging Committee will relate their needs as far as what information they need to hang our show, for example: What painting we want for our "feature painting" that will be hung with our Biography, whether we want our paintings to hang separately or to hang in a mixed order (Most exhibitor prefer mixed because all visitors will see all art work this way rather that viewing just those of their friends or family.), and any other special requests. They also need a detailed, numbered list, with prices, of each of our paintings. A business card should be secured to the back of each painting. Paintings need to be clean and wired, ready for hanging. There are approximately 60 spaces in the Gallery, so therefore each artist in the group can exhibit 15 - 20 pieces depending on the size. (Continued in another blog)
JAMES MICHALOPOULOS
James Michalopoulos is an American painter based in New Orleans. His paintings are representations of New Orleans life and landscapes. They are colorful and feature exaggerated viewpoints and skewed perspectives. He achieves a textural image by using a palette knife. Michalopoulos has served as the official artist of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival six times. His festival posters are sought after and collectible.
CHUCK CLOSE (1940)
Chuck Close is an American photo realist painter. He is best known for his massive-scale portraits using creative and intricate patterns in an unconventional way. Despite severe physical health issues that have worsened over the years, Close continues to paint but in a more abstract and less precise style. Currently Chuck Close's position atop the American art world remains unchanged. Below is an image of one of his self portraits and a sectional close-up.
EDWARD HOPPER (1882 - 1967)
Early in his career, Edward Hopper worked mainly in oils and printmaking struggling to make a name for himself in the art world. He kept a studio in Greenwich Village and spent summers in New England where he had a home in Truro on Cape Cod. He used several locations in that area as the subject matter for his paintings. His paintings expressed emotions of loneliness and mystery. These themes are evident in his iconic piece, Nighthawks, 1942. After marrying in 1923, his wife encouraged him to work more extensively in watercolor. By the time of his death in 1967, Hopper had been reclaimed as a major influence by a new generation of American realist artists.
JOHN SINGER SARGENT (1856 - 1925)
John Singer Sargent was born in Florence to American parents. He studied art throughout Europe, notably in London and Paris. He was considered to be the lead portrait painter of his generation. His portraits were both formal and informal, some not without controversy. His painting, El Jaleo (1882), sparked the interest of Isabella Stuart Gardner which led to a life long friendship between the two. After Isabella acquired the painting she reconstructed a room in her museum (Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum, Boston) to highlight the work. Sargent painted roughly 900 oil paintings and over 2000 watercolors. Naturally, I am drawn to his watercolors. Because I cannot post all of them, I am posting two that show his versatility.
VINCENT VAN GOGH (1853 - 1890)
Everyone has heard the story of Van Gogh cutting off his ear, but there is so much more to the artist's story than that. Van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who influenced many artists of the 20th century. His body of work consists of portraits, self-portraits, landscapes, and still lifes, including the well-known sunflowers. Early on his paintings had a somber palette which grew in intensity and color over the years. It was hard to select just two works to exhibit here but the two paintings below show the progression of his painting from an early work to a later one.
WINSLOW HOMER (1836 - 1910)
Winslow Homer, born in Boston, was an American landscape painter who worked in oils, printmaking, and watercolor. Beginning in 1884, Homer made many trips to tropical locations and watercolor became his preferred medium while traveling. He painted many watercolors during the 1880's in the Bahamas and Bermuda. Here are two of my favorite Homer watercolors.
MY TOP SIX FAVORITE ARTISTS
Aside from the obvious, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, listed are my top six favorite artists in order of birth:
Winslow Homer (1836-1910)
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)
Edward Hopper (1882-1967)
Chuck Close (1940)
James Michalopoulos (1951)
If the works of any of the above were exhibited nearby I would rush out to see them.
I WISH I HAD PAINTED THAT
I am not a big fan of portraits. Basically, because I find them too subjective and formal, and the composition uninteresting. Occasionally I come across a portrait that is interesting and unique. I have even been commissioned to draw or paint pet portraits. I am always on the lookout for examples of art that can demonstrate good composition to my students. Recently, I came across this watercolor and I absolutely love it. I like the fact that it is not a typical portrait. I love the informal setting and that it is painted in non-local colors (Local color is the color that the subject actually is.). The personalities of the dogs really shine through. It is a work of art that can be appreciated by many and not just by the owners of the dogs. I wish I had painted that!
PRICING
Professional or student artist, you may find yourself in the position of offering your art for sale. Usually the dilemma is how much should you ask for your work of art. There are a few things to consider, one being, what the market will bear. Unfortunately, like many things, I have seen the prices for art fall over the last several years. When you consider the money spent on art supplies, lessons, and framing and also the time spent actually creating the work of art, you may never realize the value that you put into the piece. To arrive at a price that I ask for a painting I ask myself, "At what price am I willing to part with this piece?" This can be quite inconsistent from painting to painting. The longer you have a painting may lessen your attachment to it. On the other hand, a particular painting will forever hold a spot in your heart.
CREATING YOUR OWN COMPOSITION FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES
While snowshoeing at the Von Trapp Resort in Stowe, Vermont one early spring, we came across horses gathering maple sap from the trees. Not to miss a "photo op", I followed them taking pictures along the way. When they stopped in front of the sugar house I knew I had found the perfect picture for a painting. Well, not so perfect - there weren't any trees with buckets in the nearby vicinity and I loved the way the maple buckets hung from the trees. When you are an artist you can tweak your subject matter and composition. I tell my students, "You can't put five legs on a horse (well, I guess you could...) but you can add or take away from your composition if it makes sense. This is, if you are a representational artist , as I am. So you can see how I changed my composition in the painting from the photo sources that I had.
PLEIN AIR PAINTING
I often get asked about plein air painting (painting on site or painting outdoors). Although it is not my choice of painting ( I would rather paint indoors), it can be a very rewarding experience. Plein air painting with watercolor does present some additional concerns. First, your paint will dry much quicker outdoors especially during midday. If you bring along a water, spray bottle you can spritz your painting as needed. And there may be more distractions outdoors. The better you are prepared with your materials and subject matter the more focused you will be. Also, it may be the time to work more simplified than usual: smaller paper, fewer paints and brushes, and a less congested area. There are many groups that gather to paint outdoors. This may be the best way to start and pick up additional tips from others.
WATERCOLOR PAPER
Recently I have shared information about watercolor paints and brushes. Today I will address my favorite watercolor paper. It is very important to use good watercolor paper. Actually, it is very important to use very good watercolor materials all around. I have seen beginning watercolorists become frustrated that they cannot achieve the results they want. They blame themselves and and become discouraged with the entire process. Many beginners scrimp on materials because they are not sure that they will continue with the medium. But beginners are the ones who should invest in the best materials they can. As a experienced watercolorist, I can make my way around inferior materials but it is frustrating. Experience has taught me to solve problems and plow through to get the results I am looking for. A beginner does not have the foresight or experience to realize that the problem is with the materials and not with them. Watercolor paper comes in many sizes. It is better to get a smaller size of a good paper than a larger size of an inferior brand. Watercolor paper comes in single sheets, pads, or blocks. Blocks are in a pad form but it is sealed all the way around so that it doesn't "buckle" when it gets wet. Presently, I am using an Arches Watercolor Block, 140 lb. cold press. It has a bit of a "tooth" (texture) to it. I I also use a pad of Strathmore, 140 lb. cold press for practice and demos. Cold press paper will have a texture and hot press has a smooth finish. Strathmore, Arches, and Fabiano are good papers to start with. Experiment with the different textures to see what you like from rough to smooth.
WATERCOLOR PAINTS
Yesterday, I posted information about the brushes I use. Today I will give you a list of the paints that are in my palette. The first 12 paints are the ones I highly recommend if you are just starting out in watercolor. The colors that follow are optional but a welcoming addition. I like the Winsor & Newton brand and they have a student line, Winsor & Newton Cotman that are very good. Once you have your basic palette of colors in place feel free to peruse the watercolor paints at your local art supply store (or online) and supplement your palette with any other colors that appeal to you. Art and painting shouldn't be a strict experience. Experiment and have fun!
Cadmium Yellow Cadmium Red Alizarin Crimson Indian Red Sap Green Hookers Green Light Cobalt Blue
Ultramarine Blue Purple Payne's Gray Yellow Ochre Burnt Umber
Cadmium Yellow Pale Magenta Intense Phalo Green Hookers green Dark Cerulean Blue Indigo Raw Sienna
Burnt Sienna Van Dyke Brown Ivory Black
You may have noticed that I do not have White in my palette. I will say more about that in a future post. Stay tuned and check back often!