Another Plein Air

Last Friday the hubby and I went to Herb Parsons Lake, about 15 minutes from the house. It is one of our favorite outdoor places.  My dad used to take our family there to fish and to picnic.  When my husband was a senior in high school he caught his biggest fish ever there.  The fish still hangs on our wall (in a back bedroom on a remote wall.  Hey, the fish is old.) Anyway, hubby fished, and I practiced painting outdoors in a hurry before the light changes techniques. It was a unusually cool morning for July in the south.  I added the kayaks at home from photos I took.  I'm not sure I got those right.

"Fisherville"

6" x 8"

Oil on Panel

NFS

When I was a child we called the lake Fisherville Lake. I don't know when or why the name was changed.  Maybe we just called it the wrong name. I love the place.  It  has a 7 mile hiking trail around the lake that my husband and I enjoy, especially in the fall. 

Plein Air!

Today was a magnificent day.  I should have been outside painting today!
Here is the finished plein air from a few days ago.  I did most of it outside, but had to finish up the flowers inside, because the weather would not cooperate!  I really enjoyed the experience.  I went out today and tried to scout out some areas for my next plein air attempt. Driving around takes up so much time, and I kept thinking that I could be home painting.  Oh well. . . . found a few promising places.

Morning Garden

8" x 10"

Oil on panel

NFS

Finally, painting again!!!

I was beginning to think I would never get back to my easel.  I have been trying to be courageous and disciplined to be a "plein air" painter, but it is not easy in the heat of summer.  I started something a few days ago but could not finish before the sun moved too much.  I was going to go back to it yesterday, but the sun and clouds would not cooperate.

It was hot and very buggy.  The flies would not leave me alone!  However, I stuck with it and enjoyed it.  I will try to finish this next week, I hope.

So I decided to paint inside yesterday and finish something I had started earlier in the week.  When I try to jump start my painting experiences, I alway go to a car - especially a red and shiny car.

Beemer Princess

8" x 10"

Oil on Canvas

$150

This was from a car show I happened across last year.  There were lots of old beautifully restored cars, but this little Beemer princess was sitting alone worshipping the sun!  Love her. 

If you wish to purchase this painting go to

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/janis--mccarty/princess-beemer/243979

Watercolor pencils

I spent several hours yesterday trying different techniques with my Prismacolor watercolor pencils.  Here is what I learned:

1.  You cannot expect to use them like watercolor.  Big broad loose juicy  watercolor strokes did not work for me.  When I used a very wet or sort of wet paint brush I moved the color around but the pencil mark remained.  I didn't like that look. My brush had to be slightly wetter than damp. (Does that even make sense?)

2.  It is better to layer colors and then wet the pigment to blend.  I tried putting on one color, wetting, layering on another color, wetting, etc.  Didn't like that.

3.  I had to think of them as colored pencils and not watercolor.  It is about mark making not about painting. It is a somewhat slow process.

4.  A smaller brush worked better for me.  I learned to use it like the pencils, watching my strokes and contours.  When I teach painting to my students, I always encourage them to be painterly and not to draw with their brush.  With this medium I felt like I was drawing with my brush. But that is okay.  It worked.

5. Just like painting, some of the pencil colors were more intense than others.  You have to experiment with these colors for blending.

6.  It is difficult to lift color.  I didn't try an eraser or an electric eraser.

7.  I liked smoother paper more than textured.  I had more success with a drawing paper than with a watercolor paper.

8.  The watercolor pencils would be nice for sketching on locations.  I used a small (#2 round watercolor brush), but a small waterbrush would work well too.

Here is my quick little practice painting from a photo I took many years ago:

Final Sketchbook Test

I have finished testing watercolor sketchbooks. (For now.)  This final book is a Daler-Rowney Cachet.  It is probably my least favorite.  The paper has a texture that I didn't care for and behaves like hot press paper. When I tried to glaze over a color, the first layer lifted or made water spots of some sort.  It did lift quite easily for corrections or refinements.  But, when I pulled up the artist tape I had used to create sharp borders,  it tore the paper badly.

.

 On the left side in the sky, the paper actually tore into my painting. (I think you can see it.) I freaked first, then I glued it down with some diluted fabric glue.  The glue said it would dry invisibly, which it did, except for the sheen!  I should have tested it first.  Also, as I was brushing the glue on very carefully, the paper started to disintegrate.  

The tear is on the edge to the left of the house.  

Oh well, it is just a sketch.  

This is a building on the island of Île d'Yeu.  I'm not sure if it is a house.  It was from a photo I took and I don't remember what it was. (Maybe JB will know.)

I also painted this next one earlier in the week when we were off for snow and ice.  I could not make this thing work, and I am not happy with it.   I will put some of the blame on the paper and some of it on the artist.   The only reason I am posting it is because I loved this place. 

It is from a photo I took in the south of France in a village called Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, which translated means St. Marys of the sea.  It is in the Carmague area along the Mediterranean Sea.  These people believe that Mary Magdalene and two other Marys landed there after the crucifixion of Jesus. There are many legends surrounding these women, so who knows?  Maybe it is true. There are beautiful wild horses that run wild in the salt marshes of the region.  AND there is a huge gypsy pilgrimage that takes place here every year!

It seems so overworked. Every time I tried to glaze and add a layer of color, the underneath color lifted.  I should have stopped and left it alone. 

So these are the sketchbook I loved the most:

My favorite is the Kilimanjaro by Cheap Joe's.  A close second was the very inexpensive Cotman.  And I think I did finally love the Moleskin.  The top sheet in the pad curled a lot, but the second one did not.  And at first I didn't like the texture, but when the little paintings were finished, I liked the way they looked. (See earlier post.)

So now I will try some watercolor pencil sketching on these three pads and see what happens.  I have both Prismacolor pencils and Derwent to try. I have never been very successful with the watercolor pencils.  Maybe I just need to practice.

Page #2 Altered Book

So, yes, I am very behind on my altered book. As I posted before, my students have challenged me to complete an altered book by the end of the school year.  This is an assignment I give my Art 3 students every year.  I started one at the beginning of the year with the students, but never made it past Assignment 1.  They have completed 11 assignments, so they told me a few weeks ago that I must have my second page done by Feb. 14.  Well, I completed it today, only 10 days late. The subject I chose was very difficult and took a great deal of time to complete. 

This is the assignment:
For this week’s lesson in acrylic paint I want you to recreate a famous painting to incorporate into your theme.  You may interpret this however you like.  Remember, this must be a famous painting.  If you are unsure about whether it is in the “famous” category, check with me.  You may create your own variation of the painting to include in your theme, or you may do a work of your own art with a miniature of the famous painting somewhere in the composition.  In your design “hide” the name of the artist.

My book is about the trip I made to Turkey and Greece a few years ago with  a close friend.  My famous art page includes the Deesis Mosaic from the Hagai Sopia in Istanbul.  The is a mosaic that I had seen in art history books for years.  When I came around the corner on an upper lever of the Hagia Sophia and saw the mosaic, I was surprised and excited.  I knew it was there, but had forgotten. The mosaic had disappeared for a while and had to be restored.  Much of it is missing, but is still breathtaking.

I decided to I paint Joy and myself in front of the mosaic. The prospect of painting the two of us made me very nervous.  We had not taken a picture of ourselves in front of the mosaic, so I had to find another photo of us to incorporate into the work. It was a fun trip and the painting was difficult but fun as well.

Also, I "hid" the location within the painting.  I used a very dark colored pencil on the very dark area on the right to label this "Hagia Sophia, Istanbul."  Here is what this looks like.

You have to turn the book to the light to be able to read it.  I tried to use a font that was similar to some that were in the museum itself.

The Hagia Sophia was a Christian Church from the 5th century until 1453 when Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks.  It then became a mosque until 1931.  At that time it was made into a museum housing both Christian and Muslim relics.  

Reviving Watercolor

I had a tube of watercolor that had dried up and was rock hard.  It wouldn't squeeze out of the tube. That doesn't usually bother me because I can just cut open the tube and rewet the paint with my brush.  However, my husband put some of these empty paint tubes in my Christmas stocking, and I have been dying to use them.

 So I put the hard cakes of dried up paint in a little dish and soaked it in water.  I covered the dish with plastic wrap for several days and left it.  It absorbed all of the water but was not completely soft.  So I put some drops of gum arabic on the cakes and mashed it all together with several makeshift tools.  I did not have a muller, but found some rounded objects and ground it all together.  Then I used a palette knife to blend it until it was a smooth texture.  I scraped it into the bottom of the empty tube. I poked down in the tube with a toothpick several times to release air bubbles.  Then I used a paper towel to clean up around the bottom opening.  I folded the  bottom several times and then took it to my husbands vice.  I pinched it with the vice, being careful not to pierce the tube.  Voilà- a new (ish) tube of Ultramarine! Not necessary but Fun.