| Author | Message | ||
  marie |
Rekha, there was a contour drawing underneath, but then I let the paint run within the parameters I had established in the drawing. Sometimes I start with less drawing, but in this case the complicated shapes and the radical foreshortening called for careful drawing. It took about two hours. I wasn't watching the time as I was working, but my recollection is that the time was divided up as follows: * 20 minutes: working out a plan, placing it on the page, and figuring out the basic composition. * 30 minutes: drawing * 30+ minutes: painting, starting with a 1.5" flat brush in the big shadows. I used progressively smaller brushes as I worked into the curly things on his mane. * 30 minutes: second washes in the darker areas as well as corrections and adjustments. It's awfully easy to overwork things at this stage. | ||
Rekha |
Marie, the lion is a breathtaking piece of painting; I have been going back to look at it again and again. You write that you threw a bit of this paint or the other on a restricted palette. Did you not draw it first at all or just used paint to start your project? | ||
karen |
Thanks, Marie. I think I know what you mean about the quinacridones and thalos. They disperse very quickly. | ||
Joanna |
Hi Marie: having done photography as long as I've painted (or almost) and come from a family of photographers and painters, I can say the light in the cemetery on stone carving is indeed a place to study modeling of light. Your painting of course reflects that study JS Sargent did of a fountain (I think) in Rome and it's really wonderful. I echo the other poster here who is asking "will it be on sale?" Nice work. Wish I had time to paint these days. I have a series of sea, marsh and birds in mind but started a business last year and it's like a baby needing diapers and breastfeeding. Wahhhh all day long. My paintings decorate my office so at least they have a public audience. | ||
marie |
Karen, most of the lion painting was done in a single wash. I glazed/darkened some small passages where I didn't see any reflected light. I also darkened the entire sky considerably after I got home. Most of the time, I wet a small area and then dropped different pigments into the wet area. I tend to get better results with this technique when I stick to earth colors (raw sienna and burnt sienna) and synthetic inorganics (ultramarines and cobalts). These pigments tend to mingle and settle well for me. I tend to have trouble with the organics -- thalos and quinacridones and such -- in this kind of application. Maybe it's just me; I don't know. Eugene, I have a big, white, adjustable umbrella, and I love it. It does a terrific job of keeping shade on the paper, even though it doesn't do anything to keep me from getting sunburned. I keep the umbrella with me any time I work outside. I apologize for the delay in posting. I have been out of town (and out of Internet range) for a few days. | ||
garydoc |
Suzy, thanks for the clarification about the umbrellas...I went to WM yesterday and all they had was colored (which I didn't buy, because...) Now i'll go back and get one and won't worry too much about the color. (I'll look for one that has cyan, magenta & yellow to balance out the transmitted light) Thanks Garydoc | ||
Suzy |
I understand what you are saying about the colored umbrella however the white ones don't block enough of the radiant heat and glare from the sun and the black is too dark and too hot too. (I live in Florida so hot is HOT. I have several in colors and its not really an issue. I kind of feel, for me anyway, if Im trying to turn out a materpiece and light is critical I need to either paint it in the studio or stand on the north side of a barn for plein air. | ||
Eugene |
Marie, if you buy an umbrella, try to find a white or black one. The Brightly colored ones can really cause trouble by reflecting unto the painting surface. | ||
karen |
Marie, Your sleeping lion is beautiful. I have a very hard time controlling those gradually deepening washes. Are those done in one wash, which, as it dries you add more color to-- or do you wait for each wash to dry and then go in again to deepen it? If the latter, is that what people tend to call "glazing?" Jean Dobie-- the way I read her anyway--uses the term glazing differently--more as a technique to bring out vibrating color. The term gets used a lot and I'm confused about what it means? | ||
marie |
John, the "Escutcheon of Charles V" is one of my favorite paintings. That's a very high compliment. Suzy, that's a great tip about the umbrellas from WalMart. If I have to replace mine, I'll know where to go. Joanna, I have found the cemetery a marvelous laboratory for studying light and shadow. There are so many simple (and sometimes not so simple) white shapes. The experience has taught me so much about how values and colors vary from day to day. | ||
Joanna |
Not nutty--I was tempted for years to do a painting of a large angel on a pillar in a graveyard in New Hampshire. I never did, and one here in Delaware has equal appeal for a painting. Yours is stunning. I love it. | ||
Suzy |
Marie, Walmart sells an unbrella in their outdoor patio/poolside dept. that clamps on to any lawn chair for less than $10. You can only buy them this time of year so I always buy a new one each year. (I am outdoors so much at shows that eventually a big wind ups up along the ocean side shows I do and blows it inside out.) | ||
John Preston |
Marie, that's really excelent. I'm reminded of Sargent's "Escutcheon of Charles V" for the sense of light and palette. | ||
marie |
Midnight Baseball, I'm holding it back for shows right now. Once it finishes the show rounds, I'll probably want to sell it. | ||
midnight_baseball |
marie - what i want to know is if that painting is for sale! | ||
marie |
Thanks for the kinds comments. Eugene, I *love* to draw. Several thousand hours of figure drawing have helped with the draftsmanship. Although I had never done much plein air work before this spring, I am having lots of fun with it now. One of the things I have learned is that an umbrella comes in handy to keep some shade on the paper. I have one of those white umbrellas you're supposed to attach to a french easel. The problem is that I don't use an easel and prefer to rest the paper on my lap. I have rigged with umbrella with a piece of pvc pipe, an l-bracket, and something that looks like a big twist-tie. I attach the whole contraption to the lower part of my leg. It's very geeky-looking, but it works beautifully. I can provide more details if anyone is interested. | ||
SutureSelf |
Marie, I also flipped over your painting. The values are wonderfully natural and evocative. Your very effective use of cool direct light and warm reflected light is both simple and gorgeous. Brava! Jerry Fried | ||
Eugene |
Marie, I love this painting too! Tremendous control for a plein air painting. You draw very well. And I wouldn't guess it was a cemetery painting-- it doesn't look at all spooky. | ||
marie |
Thanks, Suzy. I was pleased with it. The sky was ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, and a tiny touch of quinacridone rose. Overall, my palette was very restricted. Most of the painting was raw sienna, burnt sienna, ultramarine violet, and ultramarine blue. Aside from the quinacridone rose in the sky, I think there was also a touch of cobalt blue in the paw. | ||
Suzy |
Marie, I love this painting. I really do. Not just a little but a lot! I think it has a marvelous composition, use of values and has a real quiet energy. Bravo...in 90 degrees??? You're crazy! What did you use on the background sky? what was your pallette? | ||
marie |
And, Eugene, I always look forward to seeing your watercolors. Please keep them coming. | ||
marie |
Here's one of mine from a couple of weeks ago. Yes, it's another nutty cemetery picture.  It's a 12x16 plein air piece, done in 90+ degree weather and a code red smog alert. Not pleasant painting conditions. | ||
Eugene |
How about posting some of your watercolors? I'm tired of seeing only my work. I'm sure you are too. | ||
Suzy |
Howard..A full 8 color does run a little bit more money but that is not the issue for me. As you may know I am a commercial artist and run huge runs of paper product.(5000 pieces per image is my minimum) The industry runs CMYK. If I get an 8 color separation then convert it , it will never print in CMYK as well as one originally scanned in CMYK...just like a piece scanned in RGB and then converted will not have as good a look. Things need to be scanned in the format they are going to be used in. Because I do run so much of my commercial art, if I did want to include some fine art prints on a run I want them ready to go in CMYK (I can gang up several different prints on one sheet. If there is even a sliver of space left on a sheet of paper, I layout a card or bookmark or tiny print of something.) If I did want to run an eight-color, I'd just cut some sort of deal with the printer to rescan it for me. Right now I only do 8-color by commission. | ||
Rekha |
Eugene, you live in Utopia! | ||
Eugene |
Rekha. Yes, that scene is very typical of the Lancaster County Countryside. The Amish farmers use only "horsepower". No electricity except for generators for electricity to cool milk (required by law) They do a beautiful job of keeping our land prosperous and quaint. | ||
Howard |
Suzy, Just curious why you get a CMYK scan rather than not a full 8 color scan. Is a full-color much more expensive? Howard | ||
Howard |
Eugene, thanks for the detailed response. I found it really helpful. I don't live that far from you, but I live closer to Philadelphia (I'm about 20 minutes from it.) Howard | ||
Rekha |
Eugene, out of curiosity I googled the image section and found this rather quaint horse-pulled ploughing. Does this still happen there? http://www.painetworks.com/photos/hy/hy1866.JPG | ||
Eugene |
I’ll try to answer your questions. Howard: No special technique in taking the photos of paintings. I use my Digital camera (NIKON Coolpix 775) I used to take them outside but have found the results are just as good if I take them inside in bright light near a window. Be sure the painting is in good light but not direct sunlight and be sure the light is even, without the even the slightest shadow on it. Put the unframed painting on an easel. Put the camera on a tripod. (this is extremely important) Set the camera on “automatic”, frame the painting on the viewing screen and shoot. Do not use the flash. If the flash goes off there is not enough natural light. Be sure you are shooting head on or you will get camera distortion. Transfer the photos to the computer and crop out unwanted backgrounds. I have a mac with an iphoto program for editing which makes cropping and color adjusting (if needed) easy. I’m not familiar with other computers but I’m sure any photo editing program would work as well. The size of this painting is 10 x 14. A quarter sheet, which I do mostly now. Occasionally a half sheet, but I no longer do full sheets because I stand to do them and I’m getting too old for that. Marie. I already have slides of the Lancaster County show piece. I had them taken by a professional. It was also shown previously in a national show, but did not win an award. The shows were juried by slides. Rekha. The painting is of the Lancaster County, PA, Amish farmland where I have lived most of my life. The Amish children are from my imagination, I’m afraid I real life they are too busy with farm chores to pick daisies. A.N. Thanks for the critique. I agree, the cut out look is always a problem. However, the green in the background is much bluer in the painting than it appear in this reproduction. | ||
Suzy |
Eugene, I do paint bigger than 12x17 ..a lot bigger for my fine art and for large pieces to hang in my booth at shows. But I guess I should have clarified what my slides are used for. I was refering to slides used to enter and jury into shows. They want to see a representation of my work so I only paint 12x17 size...so I can scan and make slides easy. In my commercial work I rarely paint a central image bigger than 8x10 and then all the little icons to go with it are usually about 3" each. (I then manipulate them using photoshop to form one image. I do however paint them all on a quarter or half sheet and scan them all at once then cut and divide them onto individual images. In my fine art I (Full sheet size) I just take it down to a local place that does gicles and have them scan it for me. They give me a disc to take home and I then manipulate it on photoshop and get it ready for slides that way.(They charge me about $35 for the full size, CMYK scan)..not a full 8 color scan. | ||
A.N. |
As much as I like the pastoral feel of the piece (reminds me of the Cornwall countryside) I have two problems with the painting) if you don't mind a bit of constructive criticism): 1. There seem to be too many hard edges, especially with the figures and buildings. The net effect is that the people and buildings seem to be cut out and pasted on. 2. The greens are too uniform in hue, too uniformly warm and derivative of sap green, I believe. The foliage behind the buildings should be significantly bluer than the near foliage. The near foliage should have more color contrasts and value contrasts. The far distant foliage should be bluer still. These are my personal reactions and not meant as "fact". I like the painting. | ||
Rekha |
What an accomplished piece of work, Eugene! Is this a painting of where you live (present/past)? It seems the flower pickers have almost completed their job...... | ||
marie |
Another great painting, Eugene! Is your painting from the recent Lancaster County show one of the ones for which you are having slides made? That one was super! | ||
Howard |
Eugene, That's a great photo of your painting. What did you do to get it to come out so good? Did you photo it outdoors? Howard P.S. What's the size of the painting? | ||
Howard |
Suzy, I found that the Epson Expression 10000 XL scans up to 12x17 documents. Is that the biggest you do? If you scan larger ones, how do you do it? Howard | ||
Eugene |
Thanks for the info. I ordered slides from iprintfromhome and it was very easy to do. I don't have a scanner so I sent shots taken with my digital camera. Will report on results later. HAPPY 4TH OF JULY  | ||
Eugene |
Thanks for the info. I ordered slides from iprintfromhome and it was very easy to do. I don't have a scanner so I sent shots taken with my digital camera. Will report on results later. HAPY 4TH OF JULY  | ||
Suzy |
I have an Epson Expression 10,000 XL Its new and ran me $2200.on the internet. I Love it...BIG "L"! Its so nice not to have to stitch together worked scanned on a small scanner. | ||
Howard |
Suzy, What's the make and model of your scanner? Thanks, Howard | ||
Suzy |
I have used www.colorslide.com for about four years now and have been VERY happy with them. As a matter of fact I actually have had several jurers tell me at shows how great my slides were at the show. The guy who runs the company is named George and he is wonderful to work with if you are "Techologically -Disabled" I have sent many other artists that I;ve met on the art show run to him and they have all been happy too. I send my images to him by downloading to his site over the net..FTP. He talks you thorugh it. I use ditigial scans of my work. (I have a large commercial scanner than scans a half sheet so I can do big stuff.) I then digitally inhance my work the way I want doing color corrections etc and send them off. Three days later I have slides..clear, crisp, sharp and fast. I originally found him by just surfing the web | ||
marie |
And ... I upload the photos to my account and then place my order. It's pretty straightforward. Just be patient while the files are uploading -- it takes several minutes. | ||
marie |
Hi Eugene, I use http://iprintfromhome.com/, and I have been very happy with them. I have used their slides for shows as well as printed brochures, and I have been pleased with the results. Several of the slides I have printed with them have been accepted into national shows. On the last batch, I sent them one piece that I had hired someone to photograph professionally a year ago. The only difference between the digital/mail order slide from iprintfromhome and the professionally photographed slide was that the professional slide had a slightly crooked edge where I had applied tape to black out the wall behind the artwork. Their prices are reasonable. I think they charge $2.50 for the first slide and $1.25 for additional copies from the same file (or thereabouts). They charge $7.00 for priority mail shipping, however, so it's to your advantage to process several slides at once. Their turnaround is quick. A week or so ago, I ordered files on a Thursday night, and the slides arrived in the mail on Monday morning. iprintfromhome.com is not the only company that does this sort of thing. There may be others that are equally good. I have been happy with them, so I haven't shopped around too much. | ||
Eugene |
Marie or Suzy, Sometime ago,one or maybe both of you posted the address of a company that made slides from digital photos. I can’t locate the old posts-- would you repeat it? Questions............. Is the quality of the slides good enough to use in national competitions? Must you order quantities? Are they expensive? Do you e-mail the photos to them? |
