Color Color Color

From the Heart e-course, this week is all about color. Building up a color palette based on Master's painting.  This palette was made up of a warm and cool of each primary, raw umber, and white. In the lesson, we used a Sargent painting.

Cadmium yellow- lemon yellow - cadmium red - alizarin crimson - ultramarine blue- Prussian blue -raw umber - white. I added a second cool blue to the palette, a primary blue. 

Various mixes

I preferred the Prussian blue over the more turquoise blue

Using a blending app or blending in Photoshop we took our ink sketch from the previous week and blended it with a discarded painting of Pauline. This was used as an inspiration of how to develop a different way of seeing and using color in a portrait.

Composite using Photoshop

My Version 

10 x 13.75 "

Oils + cold wax

Still too timid!

Berthe Morisot pastel. Pauline introduced us to this marvelous impressionistic artist. Because being a woman she was less known than her contemporaries like Monet. She is an expert draughtsman. Worth looking at and learning from her work which has a very contemporary feel.  Because she was a woman, her death certificate stated no profession. She painted over 800 paintings.

Using a photograph of Berthe we used pastels to make a portrait. I had 2 small sets of pastels and box of pastel pencils stowed away because never felt I connected with this media. But I took the dive, we are on a learning experience!

Pastel Study

Berthe Morisot

9 x 12 "

Tinted Canson Paper

Pauline suggested that I break up the right white line

Revised

9 x 12 "

Tinted Canson Paper

More color

9 x 12 "

Tinted Canson Paper

A Berthe oil study without a drawing. Another exercise to dive in! This time only using 3 primary colors; cadmium yellow, cadmium red, and ultramarine blue, along with raw umber and white. Was way out of my comfort zone! Mainly used a palette knife.

My palette oils + cold wax

Mixed a grey 

First layers

Oils on paper

14 x 14 "

WIP

Oils on paper

14 x 14 "

Second Layer

Lots to fix here

Still Around and Kicking

Can't believe that my last post was at the beginning of the month and here I am the last week! So much happened that kept me away from blogging, although I wrote many in my head.

Still doctoring my sprained ankle which is much better. Have had a checkup and still have to wear my air-cast till the middle of July but have started going back to the pool. Since the best position was lying down with my ankle up, could do much computer work. Blogger on the tablet is not the same.

My daughter's cat Mishmish was found after being missing for a month. Posted her photo on the community google group. A Miracle! Lots of good people out there!
Yes, I am cat-sitting two cats while my daughter + family are having a grand tour of the far east!

Mishmish

A few days before going missing!

This week was the last lesson of our workshop. That is the workshop that is run through the regular channels of community activities. We were in for 3 whole months of "vacation". Luckily we organized with Reuven, our mentor, that we will be able to continue meeting in a different location during the months of July and August. YAY!!!!So only September we will be on vacation, which has all the holidays. The first month will be devoted to learning from the ground up "oils". Although I work in oils I never really got instructions from the ground up. Learned by doing, which has its place, and tutorials from the web. It will be an introduction to oils for those who work in acrylic. The second month we will delve in on "mixed media".We will also be a smaller group.

Wide Fields of Your Imagination

Matte Board

31.5 x 24 "

Oils + Cold Wax

Was thinking of developing this in color over the monochromatic layer but Reuven said it stands on its own.

Last week I started my e-course with Pauline Agnew, From the Heart - Painting the Face and Figure with Feeling!  I will show some of the first-weeks exercises.  Can't believe it's the end of the second week. Each exercise is a world of its own and should be done many times to really feel the effect. Not only does Pauline show us through her demos, but she also prepares excellent slide shows of various artists and explaining how important it is to learn from the masters.

Exercise I

With eyes closed draw your face while tracing your face with your non-dominant hand! Then taking a colored pencil draw your face with eyes closed by memory! This is a great warmup! As you can see mine is all over the place! Pauline says that's good.

Face Scan

Exercise II

Looking at a portrait sketch by John Singer Sargent make a drawing paying attention to the lines and ways he described his subject. Another great exercise. We are always told to learn by copying, and until you really do it you realize how true this is. I will certainly do more of his sketches as well as others!

My Sargent Sketch

Exercise III

An ink drawing from a photograph! Never did ink before. Was really freaked out! Pauline's critique was that I should have done one more layer of stronger ink.

Ink Sketch

Excercise IV

Remember the face scan, exercise I.  Do a charcoal sketch over that from another of Sargent's work!

Charcoal Sketch I

The critique was to try to define left side of the face in the shadow more

Revised Sketch

Lost some of the vibrance and paper had lost its tooth

Pauline agreed that it faded but we learn by doing

The difference in background color due to one photographed outdoors and one indoors.

Didn't spend time on photo editing!

All for today, off to the pool, I've earned it!

Silly Absurd Funny Ridiculous Whimsical Humor

Silly Absurd Funny Ridiculous Whimsical Humor. Those were the concept words for our latest home project. WOW, what a project, I needed Jen here beside me with some great malarky ideas! Maybe Jen will make an e-course, I'll be the first to sign up! I don't think of myself as a humorous person, it is something that I should develop if one can. It certainly would make life a bit easier.  It was hard for me to relate. Wanted to do a comic of myself, didn't quite work out, thought of making myself into my animal soulmate, the owl. Then I did a Buddha painting in the Sketchbook Revival series, now sadly offline. (Can be purchased ). Stumbled on some laughing Buddhas and developed on that theme. More on the whimsical. I also did make an owl portrait. If I brought a smile then I succeeded!

Buddhas On The Line

Presentation

Buddha on RISD Alumni Bulletin 

Watercolor Pencil

8.75 x 10.75 "

The Magazine is intact!

Buddha

Pencil Sketch Watercolor Pencils

9.75 x 13.75"

Two transfers 

crayons

Pen 

9.5 x 12.5

Two Transfers

Crayons Pencil

 Pen

9.5 x 12.5"

Whimsical Buddha

12.5 x 9.25 "

Pencil and Crayon Sketch

Photo Montage

6.5 x 11.5"

RISD Cover Transfer on B&W Mandela Transfer

Crayons Colored Pencils

My Owl Soul Mate

Luckily I did these before my sprain. Used different materials and methods. At first, I didn't like the Whimsical Buddha but it has grown on me and is now my favorite.

Enjoy and smile

Haven't a clue why my lightbox has stopped working!