Month: October 2016

Building a Painting, Part 3: The Ravens Have Landed!

“Needless to say, urgings by ravens are ignored at one’s peril.” 
James D. Doss

In Part One and Part Two of Building a Painting, I explained how the wooden surface was prepared and why using an imprimatura to begin the painting on a color ground is a good idea. Then I shared how my version of the Nordic forest was designed, transferred and painted in gray and yellow. Next the words Hugin, Minnin, and Munninn were added. Now the urge is on to get those ravens in the painting, and like James Doss said, “Urgings by ravens are ignored at one’s peril.”

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Background painted and ready to go!

I envisioned the background as a painted theater backdrop with the ravens on stage, forming a triad, the yellow band from the landscape to be in the middle. I drew each bird individually, to scale on tracing paper, moving them around until they made a pleasing composition. Like baby bear’s porridge, just right!

A second piece of paper was laid on top of the birds, and another tracing was made so that all the birds are on a single sheet of paper. I’m having so much fun that I decide to go all out with the drawing. Once done, I realize that, Holy Audubon, after all that effort I can’t trace over the top of this drawing. So, what the heck–I do one more tracing, this time leaving out details. I also add a suggestion of a ledge or cliffs and a downed tree.

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Can’t stop drawing! The ravens are now drawn on a single sheet of tracing paper.

I flip the drawing over to prep the tracing paper. But before I begin, I get the impulse to see how this reversed composition might work in the painting. Much to my surprise, I find this composition more to my liking and decide to go with this view.

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The line drawing after it was reversed, resulting in a more pleasing composition.

To make the transfer, I rubbed the reverse side with graphite and then used odorless mineral spirits to dissolve the graphite. Once that is dried, the drawing can be flipped right side up, placed on the board and the image traced.

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Detail showing using graphite on the reverse side of the tracing paper.

 

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Almost done with the initial shading with graphite.

 

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Using odorless mineral spirit to dissolve the graphite, making a transfer surface.

 

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The line drawing is evident with the graphite on the back. Once traced, the image will be transferred on the board.

With the image now transferred on to the board, I can begin putting the first layer of paint on the birds using a blue-black hue, thinned with medium.

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The ravens are beginning to appear, like magic!

Cliffs, rocks and the fallen tree are in place and adjustments made to the background. Time to let things dry before the next layer is added.

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Here’s the first layer with the birds, cliffs and fallen tree.

Next in Building a Painting: The work continues with redefining the subject matter and adding details and fine tuning.

This Week in the Studio

I’ve been working on, you guessed it, another raven painting! This time I will use the raven as a stand-in for the mad monk, Savonarola, best known as the force behind the “bonfires of the vanities”.

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And, of course, there’s been the grand run-around– dropping off artwork in Pontiac, going to Frankfort for an opening reception and the like. To find out where my work is on display, visit News and Views or to see in the real, stop by River’s Edge Gallery in Wyandotte.

 

Color My World

Artists are just children who refuse to put down their crayons.

Al Hirschfeld

I’m about to admit to a not-so-secret secret, a guilty pleasure I feel no guilt about, and just the thing that takes the sting out of summer slipping away, making the shortening autumn days more bearable. My secret? I have my very own Time Machine. It’s yellow and green and it can teleport me to the past, put me down in the present, or slip me forward in time. My time machine is a brand new box of crayons!

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In elementary school, we usually got the 8 crayon set. If we were lucky it was Crayola brand, with the recognizable yellow box, the flap that lifted to reveal the crayons in a row, like soldiers, alert and waiting for our commands. They stood, sharp and unbroken, the enveloping paper not yet torn and discarded. They represented the magnificent drawings that were the future. They were the perfect partner to our coloring books, like Tom and Jerry, only better. Teacher told us to write our name on the box, cautioned us not to break the crayons in half, to make sure they got returned to their proper place, and never rip off the paper covering. There was something pure and holy in that experience.

What a lucky day, birthday or Christmas, when in place of the 8 crayon box there was the 24 crayon box or even better, the 64 crayon box that came with–oh, be still my beating heart– a sharpener! Round and round went the crayons in the little plastic sharpener, small slivers of crayon shavings everywhere.

And the smell that is so recognizable that it cries out: CRAYONS! To this day, when I open up a new box of crayons the first thing I do after admiring their perfection is to lift them up to my nose, close my eyes and inhale deeply. There is magic in that smell, the perfect art perfume.

Written on the side of the crayons were names like Maize, Blizzard Blue, Thistle, all colors now retired, and new names added that are as fun to say as to use: Purple Mountains Majesty, Jazzberry Jam and Timber Wolf. As society’s expression grew to reflect the country’s diversity, the names of some of the crayons changed; the funky peachy color that was called Flesh and a reddish-orange color known as Indian Red were justly renamed. Thank goodness, because how can the multiplicity of the beautiful colors that make up the human race ever be confined to only one or two crayon colors.

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Eventually our brand new crayons became broken and worn, and they were tossed in boxes and bags, melted for other art projects, or just neglected until they were thrown out by parents and teachers. I have such a box in the studio and classroom, and regardless of their state of being, their immediacy and simplicity makes them the perfect drawing tool. The bonus is that they play equally nice alone or with other art media. Often I like to combine them with mono prints, such as in my piece, “Comin’ Thru the Rye.”

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“Comin’ Thru The Rye” etching ink, soluble wax crayons

Lest you think crayons are just for kids and students, think again. I’m not the only artist that finds crayons a handy medium for expression; even the great Pablo Picasso used crayons to draw. In fact, at a recent art auction in South Africa, a crayon drawing by the Maestro fetched 3 million Rand, or about $220,000 US dollars. Think about that the next time you tape a crayon drawing by a young budding artist to the refrigerator.

So let’s celebrate our creativity this season by treating ourselves to a new box of crayons and going on a little time travel. Go a bit crazy and get yourself the big box with the sharpener, spring for bling and get some glitter crayons, or try out some of the many different shapes, colors and types of crayons that are out there. I can’t wait to see how you color your world!

This Week in the Studio

Spending time working on paintings for the 2017 November Exhibit at the River’s Edge Gallery. Never too early to get behind!

Next week I’ll return with a post about building a painting, as Munninn, Hugin and Minnin are coming along nicely and my painting about Thought, Memory and Desire is just about done.