Leaning Gourd

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"Leaning Gourd"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

Since the holidays is around the corner I wanted to paint a festive theme. Some people might argue pumpkin is not very festive for this time of year, which is a valid point but I think the colors are fitting.  I want to thank everyone who stops by my blog and takes the time to look at my work. Thank you for doing so. I enjoy sharing my process and thoughts on painting. I know the journey of learning this difficult medium can be long and stressful, if I can share my knowledge to help some people with their journey then I feel I have accomplished something. I am so grateful for the artist I reached out to when I started out on my journey for helping me. I wanted to create a blog where I can do the same and share my knowledge as best as I can. We are all on the same boat trying to decipher this complex language of painting.  Thank you everyone and Happy Holidays!

I started with a thin application of raw umber for the drawing stage. Once the drawing is complete I paint the background and wooden board. I keep colors general in this stage and really thin. 

I start painting in darker value forms to the wooden board. Once that is complete I paint in lighter value forms.

Once the wooden board is complete I start painting in the pumpkin. I first lay in a thin application of the general values, somewhat a big form modeling stage. I go back and forth with the brush without lifting it, I keep the pressure pretty light to control the values. Once that stage is working well I move onto the smaller middle to darker value forms. I apply the paints a little thicker to cover the thinner application but being careful of not getting to thick. I am also conscious on the pressure I am applying to the brush. At this stage I start dabbing the brush for the areas that need finer rendering and when the edges need to get softer I go back and forth with the brush with a very light touch. I like to go back and forth with dabbing and keeping the brush on the canvas. Usually in the later stages I tend to lightly render the areas by dabbing on the brush and then going back and forth with out lifting the brush. This approach allows me to control the values and the level of rendering, it also gives me options with the type of textures I am trying to get. 

I then paint in the middle to lighter forms in the pumpkin. I apply the same rendering approach as mentioned above. Once the pumpkin is complete I start painting the gourd. I first paint the big form modeling by painting in the general values wrapping around the form. At this stage I am not worried about the smaller forms or "details". I am just worried how the value and chroma wraps around the form. 

Once the big form modeling is working well I then paint the smaller middle to darker values forms. I then do the same with the smaller middle to lighter value forms. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! Cheers!

Pumpkin & Gourd

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"Pumpkin & Gourd"

4 x 6 in 

Oil on Canvas Panel

I wanted to stay on the theme of gourds and include a pumpkin. I couldn't just leave the gourd by itself, included the pumpkin as a central focus with a dominating presence. The story can go many ways when reading into the painting, its definitely behold of the viewer.

I started with a dry brush approach by just using raw umber and no mediums. In this stage I want to get the drawing as close as I can get it. When I start painting I want to make sure the drawing is as close to it as possible.

Once the drawing is complete I painted in the background and wooden base with its local colors. Once I painted the local colors in I painted the lighter values in the wooden base to give it more form. I want to take the wooden board to a close finish this will allow me to concentrate on the pumpkin and gourd and now worry about coming back and finishing it.

Once the wooden board is complete, I started to lay in local colors on the pumpkin and gourd. I apply a thin coat of paint trying not to go thick, remember fat over lean. In this stage I also paint big form modeling with the local colors. This allows me to concentrate how light wraps around the form. I am not worried about the smaller forms or "details" just how light wraps around the form. I am also keeping the values in a middle tone, not going to light or to dark. I'll apply the dark's and lights in the smaller form stages. I like to spend a lot of time in this stage getting it right, if it works well in this stage then the subsequent stages will go by smoother.

Once the local colors are working with the big form modeling, I then start to paint the darker smaller forms. I start to apply the darkest tones as well in this stage which will make certain sections look brighter.

Once the darker smaller forms are complete I then paint the lighter smaller forms . I repeat the same process as I did with the darker forms by putting in the lightest values. 

Hope you enjoyed this one, thanks for stopping by!

"Pumpkins"

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"Pumpkins"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I wanted to discuss tonights blog about painting what you feel and not exactly what you see.  I was going through an old sketchbook I had in college and just loved the gestures I was producing at that time.  I would always draw everywhere I went (I still do the same today), just concentrating on line quality and capturing the story to the figure along with its gesture.  When I went to Italy I started just concentrating on the technical aspect of drawing and painting, not exaggerating the pose anymore or giving it life.  One can easily get distracted by painting exactly what he or she sees instead of breathing life into the subject, there's a big difference between the two.  I think it is good to learn how to observe and practice your skills in capturing the correct measurement and so on, but giving the drawing or painting a life feel is completely different.  Once you go through training and venture on your own you have to understand what makes a drawing or a painting sing, what makes it moving, what makes it speak to you, of course depending on the particular style your into.  As for me my favorite artist always have the ability to make you feel your in the scene and moves you emotionally, and it's not because they painted or drew something photo realistic.  When you pick up the pencil or paint brush always remember what you put down is what you feel, if you'r not feeling what you'r drawing or painting then how is the viewer suppose to.

I plan to start a separate blog with just sketches that I have produced through out the years and what I am still producing.  Sketching is everything to me and I believe it deserves its own arena.

I start out with a thin application of raw umber for the drawing stage.  I went further this time wanting to have a more concrete drawing before starting to paint.  After the drawing is complete I filled in the background, the reason I did this is to create an overall tone of which the palette will be effected with chroma and value.

This process is a bit different than my previous paintings, its more painting within the lines and conforming to the drawing.  I started painting the pumpkin by just adding the overall value of the shadows and not worried about the details.Then I added the lighter values to compliment the shadows and see how much I have to push the tones.  

I then went back to the darker values and added its details and did the same with the lights.  I push things here and there until it felt right.  I repeated the process with the second pumpkin, this time adding the big cast shadow. 

Once I was done with the main part of the pumpkin I moved onto the stem and just repeated the process.

With the base I painted a general color, this is to give the overall impression of its value.  Then I painted in the darks and proceeded to do the same with the lights.

Finito!

The same applies to this painting as what I mentioned in the opening paragraph.  I am only taking the painting to the stage of what I feel is right, where it starts singing to me.  I don't care about every grain or indentation in the pumpkin, I do care about getting its correct proportions to a point.  I want to put down just enough information where I feel the particular texture or mood I am going for.

 If I don't blog before then, I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!  

"Propped Squash"

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"Propped Squash"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

Well I'm glad this week is over, I'm extremely exhausted and can't wait to kick back and relax, in reality I'm going to be stretching canvases and painting which is relaxing as well.  I wanted to continue todays alla prima painting from yesterdays whimsical approach, I liked the dynamic of these two objects and how they can tell a story.  I'm happy to have painted these guys so much, I just love painting texture and seeing how I can better my technique with intricate areas.  Each of these objects have their unique textures to them you can't just apply the same approach to each of them.  I'm ready to move onto another subject matter it was fun though painting these two guys, hopefully I'll paint them again soon.

I've added pictures from a collaboration I did with a local artist name Peter Geyen, it was a project we were working on for a long time.  Essentially Peter does eight pieces to put on display in the busiest location in Minnesota, it's through a charity which is great because all the money goes towards them.  He approached me to help him out with a couple pieces and I gladly did so.  The only areas I helped out were the face in the first picture and the background which is in charcoal in the second picture.  I also did a painting of a sky for him to go along another painting, which he will use in the future.  Doing this type of project is something I haven't done before and I have to say I loved every minute of it, the collaboration between everyone was great so many ideas and to see so much good art coming out from different people was awesome to see.  I definitely went out of my comfort zone and loved every minute of it.  If anyone is around in downtown Minneapolis you should go see these pieces, they're great to see in person.  They are located in the IDS building in the main lobby, the pieces will be up for two weeks.

I painted the head on fiber glass which was interesting to say the least, i've never painted on that ground before and it was basically painting on glass.  

I did the background on the brown piece with all charcoal, the idea behind the landscape was to have a death valley feel.  He wanted lines to show cracks in the ground and hills in the distance, i've messed around with charcoal before but never like this, like I said before I loved every minute of the experience.  I'm excited to work on more pieces with Peter and see what else we can come up with.  Hope you guys enjoyed this one, thanks for stopping by and viewing.

These are the other pieces on the other side.

"Pumpkin on Top"

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"Pumpkin on Top"

10 x 8 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I hope everyone is having a good day so far, I just finish painting this fun picture.  Balancing the pumpkin on top of the squash was a challenge and seeing how great they looked together you know I had to paint it.  As mentioned in the previous post I've been so busy lately and doing these have allowed me to slow down and just have fun.  It's great painting whats in front of you and play with the paints as best as you can, being so busy at times I just don't have the time for it.  I am realizing the more I do these when I'm extremely busy the better I feel after.  I've become addicted to doing these alla prima's which I don't mind and actually love doing.  I can see how doing these benefit my larger paintings that I'm currently working on and that was the whole plan from the beginning with these small guys.  

I apologize for not making process photos with this painting I'm really pressed for time so with the time I do have I get to paint it, take a photo and post it.  I did notice not doing process photos I went so much faster than what I usually go, which was nice to just go straight through a painting.  At the same time I do love sharing my process and my thoughts behind it, so don't worry this will not become a normal habit.  Thanks for viewing, hope you enjoyed.