Susan, Painting: May 2018

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Color Change, and: Cats Project

I've continued to be flummoxed by the color of the tunic, which appears in the reference photo as a nice shade of blue in the shadow areas and brilliant white in the sunlit ones. But when I paint it, the color's too intense, even when I think I've lightened it up. Today I tried a new tactic, and added some muddier green-greys since the colors in the water would be reflecting on the tunic. I might try a glaze with some red in it once it dries. In any case, I think it's less jarring.

Meanwhile: a year or two ago I decided I needed to make some money, and started a series of cat paintings to be printed up as posters. It never went anywhere, but the sight of the little unfinished cats in the studio makes me feel guilty. Picked up on this one today:

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

And; Inching Along On The Buildings

You wouldn't believe how much detail there is on these buildings. I started at the top today but got bored and worked a few places in the center as well. It will be a while before this is done.

At Least This Is Done

The repaint of this one is finished. I can still see some things that I'd like to re-do, but it's time to just wrap it up and take it off to the gallery.

Mistakes

I don't know how this happens; the reference photo is right in front of me and yet I mis-measure and draw lines in the wrong place. That's what I discovered on the window frame behind the girl's head— that thinner dark vertical line just doesn't exist in the photo.

After adding in some brushy bluish strokes to soften the neon greens in the hillside seen through the window, that whole area now looks too soft to me. Will have to go back with darker blue and pick out some detail.

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

This Needs To Dry

So, I worked on some very small places on this piece tonight; some of the restaurant patrons, the table settings, window reflections, brightening up a few white spots, etc., but really all over the place. Now I have to wait for all those tiny places to dry before I can get back to it. You'll notice the little boy in the right side window— he needs to be developed. As does the right side window. I would love for this to be finished, but there are still places to paint.

Roseanne Barr and America; Plus, The Chrysler Building

I am going to get political here for a moment. We in the United States are not all racist lunatics; note the number of people who attended the Women's March on Washington just after the inauguration. Roseanne Barr today apologized for a racist comment she made on Twitter, and ABC, despite the fact that her show was its top moneymaker, cancelled the show after a mere 11 hours. There is hope. There is an incredible amount of disinformation— lies— spread by the administration and its minions on a daily basis, but I am hopeful that the 60% of the population that is not stupid or crazy is going to prevail.

So. Here is the latest iteration of the Chrysler Building:

Balancing Yard Work And Painting

...Or, trying to, at least! The weeds are getting completely uncontrollable, so it's vital to get them before they take root. At the same time, I feel more energized about painting; when I catch a glimpse of this one out of the corner of my eye, it amuses me, and I want to finish it. Not so easy a task; I spent over an hour on it today and did not get far. Blending takes A LOT of time.

Monday, May 28, 2018

Two Women (And Some Mannequins)

Late this afternoon I spent an hour and a half picking up where I'd left off on this one. I mostly confined my attention to the two mannequins just left of center, and also the face of the striding woman.

Then tonight I lightened (again) the tunic and worked on the skin:

And that's it for the night.

Ducks!

I really am closing in on this one. Added the ducks, did a little on the clouds and reworked some of the tree foliage this evening. Need to do the ripples made by the wake of the ducks.

Selfies, And The Green Wall

Here's what I was planning to do on Selfies this morning: heighten the orange color that shows up in the ceiling in the reference photo. Instead I got started in the corner of one of the middle panels and then just worked down from there. The stunning orange and yellow light on the ceiling will have to wait until next time.

I showed this one to a friend of mine, and she likes the green wall. It has a lot more paint on it now than when she saw the image, though. I still think the proportions are off on the waiter, so will have to fix that; and, sorry for the glare; I worked on this last night under a Verilux lamp.

Thursday, May 24, 2018

This Will Have Ducks, Part 2

I've still been plagued with insecurity, so have just taken some time off. But then a couple of paintings started beckoning to me ("Finish me!" "Don't you want to work on this foamy sea water?") so after running around doing errands this morning, I got back to two pieces.

This one went remarkably well— the softness that I'd been looking for in the cloud edges finally came about. Not much left to do! The ducks and their watery trails, a bit of softening on the trees, a little ripply detail in the foreground, and that should do it.

Moved on to this:

Believe it or not, I lightened up most of the purple. The garments are actually white, but in the reference photo, everything's violet blue. I guess I need to go lighter still.

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Interruptions

I feel guilty when I'm not painting on a weekday, but there are things that come up that need to be attended to. Hopefully, I'll be able to spend tomorrow painting, and the entire eastern seaboard is supposed to be socked in with rain for the next week, so I won't have to do much gardening...Meanwhile, here is what I worked on last night:

Monday, May 14, 2018

Ocean And Pond

Over the weekend, I put in a few hours on these two paintings. The blue-violet on the woman at the beach is WAY too dark, but I've rationalized it by deciding it will be a nice under layer, and I'll just lighten it up here and there.

I'm happy about the colors of the sea and sky; they look natural to me.

There's been some progress on the pond painting, too. It doesn't look as blotchy in real life as it does in the photo, and I did a lot of blending and glazing to soften the cloud edges. Still some work to do on the bottom half, but it's looking better.

Friday, May 11, 2018

Looking Forward To The Weekend

I feel kind of worn out, and have only managed to work on Selfies this morning. I might get back to work— it's a hot day outside and the Dungeon Studio is nice and cool— but then again, I might just loaf around. I do feel like I put a lot into the figure on the left and the area surrounding him:

Thursday, May 10, 2018

The Gauntlet

Mixing the greys for the top area is tricky. There's a lot of red in them, and they have to look transparent in some places, too. You can see the wet paint in the upper left hand corner; I put in a good solid hour on it and some of the mannequins, and the lower back wall this morning.

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Shallow Water

Talk about a tedious project— I'm looking as closely as I can (it's really boring) at the surf patterns and trying to sketch them in. There's going to be a lot of color adjustment, the water as seen through the foam is sort of a greenish grey in some places and light brown in others.

Here And There On The Big Giant Hand

Skipped around the picture plane on this one; now time to let it dry.

This Little Scene Makes Me Happy

With the shadowy figure on the left now visible, I think you can get a better idea of what I'm aiming for. There's another figure, too, on the right in the bar window: a woman waiter shaking a cocktail mixer. I can't wait to get to her, because the light she's in casts shadows on her white shirt that are a combination of violet and orange. What a challenge that will be, and if I can pull it off, what a visual treat.

The Struggle Continues!

I decided the eye was too far forward on the first girl on the left, and some of the other drawing was off, so I'm starting her over. Also, I don't like the fact that she has the same expression on her mouth as the girl sitting opposite from her. They both look like they're pouting. Changes are in order, but now I must re-pot the little spinach plant and plant those dahlias. Hopefully there will be no more snake encounters.

I did make some progress on Girl #4. And it turns out Cad Red Light, Viridian, and Ultramarine Blue make a nice shadow-on-skin mix.

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Using Up The Roll Of Painter's Tape

I did get to work on the two I mentioned earlier, though having the TV on and listening to the political news was distracting. I stuck to taping and painting edges rather than getting too involved in mixing color and trying for the illusion of realism. But as it did this morning, I set a good foundation for what comes next on these paintings.

Because this one is on a thin panel, it bends back against the wall and the dark detail on the right side looks distorted.

Next: I do like the way this one is coming along.

Taping Off, and Red and Grey

If you look at the previous posting of Selfies, you can see how irregular the black window frames are. I got tired of looking at them this morning and taped off most of them, then painted them in a standard Ivory Black (which I'll modify with other colors over time) to neaten up the edges.

Taped:

After painting:

Then I moved on to taping the top edge on this one and also working some detail in the lower left part of the window near the mannequins' feet:

And finally on to Emergency, since I already had some black, grey and red mixed for The Gauntlet. After a break I think I'll tape off a few edges on the Chrysler Building painting, and For Rent. Seems like that's the next logical step with those two anyway.

Monday, May 7, 2018

Squaring Off

The T-square is a very useful tool when it looks like your buildings are leaning a bit, so I straightened them out and then re-worked the color on the brownstones again. They are tricky, and it's easy to lose track of which plane is which.

I'm going to try to take the rest of the evening off. It's been a long painting day.

The Waiter

When I looked around at the paintings in progress, this is the one I really wanted to work on this afternoon. I'm not sure about the size of the head; it might be too small, but I just really wanted to get to the figure. I love the fact that the tiles will pick up the reflections in the room and the white shirt of the waiter.

Selfies Moves Along, and Wildlife I Do Not Like To Encounter

I feel fairly settled today as far as painting goes, and it was a pleasure to add some detail on Selfies this morning. What I like about Selfies is the fact that it's broken up (more or less) into twelve rectangular panels. (The area on the left is a little irregular.) So it gives me permission, so to speak, to just concentrate on one panel per sitting instead of working all over the place.

This morning I painted what would be Panel 8 if you start at the top left and move from left to right; it's the one with the blue jacket sleeve.

Then there was this as I stepped into the garden this morning:

!!!

The Week Begins

I'm hoping to get some paint on most of the works in progress this week; the yard calls, however, and there are many dahlia bulbs that are sprouting and in need of a nice bed in the soil. So we'll see what happens. Meanwhile, I tried some sand color in the foreground shallow water and painted in the horizon on:

One thing I can tell you right now, though, is that shoulder on the left side of the painting has to be fixed; she looks too hunched over.

Sunday, May 6, 2018

Trying Out Some Color

The beach scene, as I mentioned, needed to be adjusted as the colors were far too light. I'm trying out some darker tones today. I've asked my cat what he thinks, but he has absolutely no opinion.

Saturday, May 5, 2018

Progress, Or Just a Great Big Mess?

I need to soften the cloud edge reflections in the water. There are only a couple of places in the foreground where they're actually sharp. The colors slide into each other more gradually in the photo than they do in my painting, and I've got to figure out how to make it work. But I do think it's better than it has been.

One more: I worked on this last night, mostly on the first girl on the left. I think her nose is too short, so will have to fix that the next time around. The lighting was from an overhead natural light lamp, but it gives me an idea of how the painting might look if I graduated the background.

Friday, May 4, 2018

This Painting Is Taking Forever

I think I started this in 2016. There's a huge amount of detail, a lot of lines that need to be painted absolutely straight, careful gradations, etc., so it takes a lot of time. If I work (like I did this afternoon) on multiple places on different areas of the picture plane, I have to stop and let everything dry for a few days so i won't smear the wet paint.

Once it's done, I'm going to have to find a good home for it. Should I approach the restaurant owner? Should I offer it to one of my galleries? I don't know what's the best way to find the place where it will be most appreciated. Sending paintings that you've loved and worked on for a long time off into the world is like sending your kids away to college. Except you know you'll see your kids again.

Waiting

Here's this morning's work. I discovered a measurement error where the tile meets the right side of the bar window, so corrected that. I'm much happier now that much of the white space has been covered. Painting the tile is going to be fun!

Thursday, May 3, 2018

Trying Out Color

Got to sleep late last night, as Michael Avenatti was on the Stephen Colbert show; then around 6am helicopters started buzzing the are for about 20 minutes. On top of everything else, I had a medical appointment this morning, and got back later than I would have liked. As a result of all the disturbances I just haven't been able to get into the painting zone today; this is why I hate having any kind of claim on my time. If I don't have a whole day free from any obligations, it's hard to get my head into gear for painting.

This is all I've been able to work on so far. I'm trying to mix the correct colors for the ocean. The entire figure, by the way, has to go darker— when I look at it against the white background, it just looks too pale.

I did, by the way, stretch the canvas for that atmospheric beach scene, and will be starting that one soon.

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Slightly Impressionistic

After a break late this afternoon, I felt like picking up the brushes again. This is just a start: I think the shadowy areas of the skin need to go darker; there should be more contrast between them and the areas that pick up some light. But I like the colors.

There are two more paintings I want to start. One is an atmospheric beach scene, and the other is a rooftop hotel bar with some unusual color lighting. That one is waiting for me to decide on the size and format. It might be 12"h x 18"w.

Tomorrow: Evening Star and The Chair.

Two More

It seemed like a good time to make the two parts of the building below the window— in front of and behind the woman walking— consistent. The right side looked unfinished, and I wanted to bring the two sides together. That's pretty much all I did on this painting, but it makes a difference. Next time I'll get back to the window decor.

Then I moved on to the fire extinguisher painting, which seems to be coming along pretty well. The painting session went a lot easier than I thought it would; the blending didn't give me as much trouble as usual. I have to start thinking about the "white" color of the label— what other colors should I mix with the Titanium White to make it look realistic?

Tiling The Wall

I'm painting the initial, experimental layer of green on the back wall of the restaurant, leaving spaces around the tiles for the grout, which will be a lighter color. The tile itself has a shiny glaze that reflects some of the lights and it also varies slightly in color from light to dark. So there's plenty of work to do.

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Good Afternoon

After a break I got back to painting; below is a detail of Selfies; I worked on a lot of tree reflections in the window in front of and around the girl's face. To her left— eventually— there will be some distorted brick from the building across the way.

Here's the big picture:

Grey and Red

I'm limiting the number of colors on this painting, especially with the neutral colors, in the hopes of keeping the gradations on the glass and the cabinet consistent. So I'm leaning heavily on Sennelier's Gris Froid, and much of the red is Winsor & Newton's Winsor Red Deep. It's beginning to get easier to work on it— the more detail I put in, the easier it is to figure out where the next lines and shadows are supposed to go.

And I broadened the figure and added some more detail here: