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!

"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!