Edges

Getting ready to drip the edges

Inevitably as one works away in the contented bliss of one’s studio, there comes a time to finish what has already been created. Although not at the same level of creativity, finishing edges can present their own challenges.

Adding drops

Then the question of attitude determines whether finishing edges is a pleasure or not. At times, I find myself grumbling. When I recognise the growing negativity in the atmosphere around me I stop. Recognition, awareness is always the first step. In the realisation a choice is born: either I curtail the grumbling and embrace the circumstances with joy or I leave my studio for the day in hopes my mood improves with sleep.

Spraying the drops

Often timelines do not permit for extra sleep. The choice remains. Either I embrace the circumstances or I make life miserable. Occasionally I take a break and go to a different project. When I return my attention to edges I seek to lose myself in the flow of following textures and drips while keeping an eye on the main image. 

Images must match

The colours must match. The tonal values remain the same. Losing the corners requires special attention. Watching for drips running into the finished face is essential if I have forgotten to prepare the edges beforehand. In the end the effort adds much value to the painting.

Matching edges using the same technique

Finalizing the edges of each work proves easier when the initial drips and drops are done at the same time as the main surface. So much easier. Occasionally very little needs adding to the initial drips and drops to complete the illusion of continuity. 

Colours, shapes, lines all must match

I thought I was done with this piece. Varnishing was the next step. A casual glance granted me a glimpse into the mismatch of shapes along the edge. This would never do. I took the time to perfect the finishing by reworking the shapes. Gratitude for the guidance of a casual glance made me smile. Even in finishing edges there is much for which to be thankful. Life is good.

 

 Don't forget to drop in my open studio this Saturday, 27th September from 10am to 4pm. Coffee is on! New work is up. Even a draw....see you there!

Painting

"Communion" 30x30in ready for extraction

With the drawing and extraction competed, I move into the painting phase. Where to begin? A focal point perhaps. The red kerchief happens to be in the darker section of the notan study. Yet the vibrant colour attracts all kinds of attention.

Painting in an interesting spot

  

The very beginning stages of filling in the spaces between drips and texture allow lots of space between shapes. I use serendipitous drops of paint to locate possible eyes as on this occasion.

A closer look

Paying more attention to the value study, I continue to fill in the spaces. I make several important changes as I move along. The reference photo, for example, really does not lend itself to balanced colours. I had decided, in this case, to use both phthalo blues, red shade and green shade, to vary the garments on the figure to the right. I repeated the colours on the left as a balance. These decisions are all about composition.

Painting in the shapes

Most of this painting is in the shade. Recognising the green foliage to the top and left, I know I must have a way to repeat the colour elsewhere. I choose to begin with green rather than blue for the water knowing I will fill the spaces between the shapes with blue later.

Painting the lines between

Variety is the spice of life. The variations in the colours of the rocks come from the prepared mixes, blue and orange, red and green. With the two neutrals and the other four choices variety reigns. Pure colours usually fill the in between. They give that extra pop to keep the eyes interested.

Another closer look

Once I have filled the in between, I take a long look from a distance to determine whether the tonal values are consistent. I adjust as required. Sometimes the drawing is not quite correct, sometimes the shapes need a tweak. Are we done yet? Not quite. 

Almost finished

A few finishing touches await before the painting is complete. After that, a series of mundane tasks, not involving a lot of creativity, fulfill requirements for showing any work. We may get the instructions all done before the end of the year, hopefully before my workshop in October!

Drawing and Extraction

 

Notan study for "Accord"

 

Picking out the shapes in the chaos of drips, drops and texture is the real challenge. While drawing and extracting, one allows the photo reference to slide into a vague memory as the mind is more and more involved with the selection of size, value and placement. The notan study done previously becomes essential.

Measuring and Grids

A watercolour pencil marks the changeable parameters of shapes and movement. It is very easy to give too much authority to this line. Slavishly following a straight path in a natural setting is appropriate only in the context of something human-made. We like straight lines and even placements. Nature does not. So some of the drawing must be redone and some lines disappear during the extracting.

Watercolour pencil and alcohol extraction

As I gaze into the labyrinth of possibility my mind shifts to another universe where negative spaces reside. Negative space is the area around objects, the neglected nothing we often ignore. Drawing nothing is vastly contemplative. Extracting is just another form of drawing. Time vanishes. Quiet reigns. God is in control.

A mountain of Qtips develops

Ultimately, I tread softly. Selecting the shapes used to begin with either the gesso foundation or the dark mix of complementary colours. Light or dark? Often, I begin with light. These days my method of preference is extracting the shapes rather than painting them. So instead of applying the gesso shapes I use rubbing alcohol and Q-Tip’s to lift the paint. 

Even with the lines and extraction confusion reigns

Skies are usually light although they need not be. Water is usually dark, yet, not necessarily. To avoid the unnatural straight edges, I focus on them first, deliberately exaggerating irregularities and angles. Little shapes within the bigger shape in various sizes excites the ocular nerve. Gradually I adjust the lines to accommodate the runs and the edges of textural marks. 

So now the painting begins (Rest Stops)

Standing back helps me see the whole better. How much do I fill in? How much do I leave? How do I unite the whole? The answers vary according to the results of drawing and extracting. Each mark requires a decision. Bigger? Smaller? Wipe it off and try again? Break up that straight line. Re-enter a contemplative mode.

Original photo: Jericho Lake New Hampshire 

Contemplation removes me from my small, controlling self. Letting go of control and listening to the guidance offered allows me to see more clearly. I become one with the bigger plan and the flow finds the perfect shapes easily. Although I begin with a photo, the drawing and extracting lead me into new spaces. Life is so good.

 

Throwing Paint

 

Before I proceed to throwing paint, I go back to the photograph and the quick notan study to determine where I would like my darkest darks.

Now for the fun part! I enjoy accidents. I find there are more happy accidents when I use more than one gray so I arrange bottles within easy access. Two sets of grays and the original pure colours. Next, I select a brush and begin to fling paint at the surface, carefully aiming (without a lot of accuracy) at the areas I have chosen to be darker than the rest. I make sure the brush (usually a #10 round) is clean each time I change colours. Throwing paint heals the soul.

Once I have thrown sufficient paint at the panel I pick up my spray bottle and begin turning the canvas as I spray. The gobs of paint become drips and the drops turn into branches twisting into a mayhem of twigs and stems. Judging whether I add to the chaos, I may begin throwing paint again. Perhaps a third time will be necessary after it has dried. At this point, the pure colours are often the last ones.

Placing the canvas on the table I wait for the paint to form puddles. There are certain areas where I do not wish the paint to collect, in particular along the edges. Using a piece of paper towel, tissue or toilet paper I remove the excess water before it creates a visual problem.

I step back to get a distant look at the vague value shapes and decide to let it dry. Occasionally I return to check on edges and puddling in the wrong places. Once dry I place them at the end of the room to determine whether another throwing paint session is in order.

 

Colour Harmony

Beginnings of "Even the Rocks"

My world is gray these days. This is not an unhappy place to be. Rather, I enjoy the colour combinations complementary colours make. My goal, colour harmony.

Gather the ingredients 

For the past little while I have used a balanced mix of two in two different sets. Equal proportions produce lovely grays and blacks. No two combinations produce the same result. Exciting accidents happen with a little water spray. For a more exciting colour harmony I threw in a few drops of pure colour. 

We begin with blue

In pursuit of these accidents, I decided to widen the gray colour range. The texture, coloured gesso base and multi-layered individual colours remain as my awesome surfaces. Widening the range means finding more spice bottles and slanting the middle toward one complementary colour or the other. To widen the colour harmony further, I add a second combination in more spice bottles.

Now for red and green

Once three bottles are primed with GAC 100 and liquid medium (50-50), a little water (about ten percent) is added before pure colour is introduced. Now we have the middle gray of the original orange and blue with two more in the same range. Instead of equal proportions, more orange than blue goes into one jar and more blue than orange into the other. Now we have the original colours and the gray of equal proportions as well as two others to add to the mix. My other favorite combination is red and green.

Red and green make purple?

The reason behind this innovation came from my disappointment with the lack of separation on the canvas. When I first began using the gray mixtures, the colours were not quite blended and they separated into beautiful puddles after the spray and drying time. I wanted more happy accidents while still creating colour harmony.

All six grays 

Keeping to one colour combination tends to be somewhat limited so I continue to throw more than one at the canvas. Now instead of three combinations, I capitalise on nine, two sets of complementary colours and their original pure colour sources. Throwing paint is still an adventure. Spraying and turning the canvas to create trails of different colour is still exciting. One never knows how the colour harmony will exactly look in the end.  Next time we will explore the results of throwing colour at the canvas. Life is good.

Notan and Grid

 "Deep White/profondeur blanche" 40x40in 

Sometimes gazing at the pretty panels created with the multiple layers, I wonder if I should just stop there. Nah. The photo reference beckons.
So, I turn my attention to the question: why does this image inspire me? Often the movement catches my eye. The play of shapes, light and dark, create the movement. A notan study clears the clutter but first we need a grid to determine where the centre of interest lies.

Grids help poor photos

Far from perfect my photos challenge me to correct compositional errors. I use a one-inch grid system most of the time. Smaller photos require a half-inch grid. First, I decide the format. Is it square or rectangle? Sometimes that depends on what canvases I have available or on which series I happen to be working. A frame of two to three inches surrounds the grid to block out unwanted parts of the image. 

Another example

As I place the grid over the photo, I pay special attention to the rule of thirds. When divided into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, the lines cross in four locations. Any image supports four ideal positions for the centre of interest. Other considerations avoid positioning anything interesting in the centre of the photo and leaving the horizon along the centre line. Central positions tend to block movement of the eye around the work. Of course, any rule can be broken.

Finding the essential

Now we turn our attention to the larger shapes and the art of notan. Notan reduces the image to black and white. Most of the time a notan study can be done in a few seconds. Sometimes the exercise requires persistence. We do not want to spend too much energy here, so the sketches are small, about two by three inches. Essentially, we want a pleasing abstract, a variety of shapes moving together to create a flow with a dominant value, that is, more black than white or more white than black. I sometimes include a third medium value as well.

So much fun!

Once we have a workable format we move into throwing paint. Such fun. How I manage the colours, mixing grays and encouraging chaos is the subject of my next blog. Basically I aim the paint at the darkest areas that the grid and the notan have revealed. Until next time, have a wonderful month.

Layer After Layer

Magic

 A few weeks ago, molding paste took the centre stage as I discussed the beginnings of my neomosaic process. This foundation dries overnight. Proceeding to the next step we prepare containers of gel/gesso mixtures in the hopes that this layer will act as a binding agent to keep the various additional colours working together. (I wonder if dark matter is doing the same thing for the universe…)

Essential Ingredients

As I have mentioned before, I do enjoy creating accidents. Although there are satin gel mixtures on the market, I prefer mixing my base using a fifty-fifty mix of regular gel gloss and liquid gel matt. My intention aims for a fluidity somewhere between regular and liquid gel and a sheen somewhere between gloss and matt. Each mix holds its own surprises and forms the basis for subsequent layer work.

 

Three ready for gesso mix

Into another airtight container I add a second fifty-fifty mix of gesso and my gel mix. Now comes the fun part! Complimentary colours. I will go into the art of colour mixing in another blog when I widen the gray range. For now, let it suffice to say that my favorite combination is blue and orange. Putting too much pigment into the gesso mix creates a dark gray. At this stage of the game the layer should be light. So, I use three containers: dark, light and lightest which come in handy for refining the image at a much later time.

 

Magic mix

Once the layer of gesso mix dries, again over night, we begin applying thin layers of each complementary colour and a metallic.  Thin is good. Separate applications create lovely accidents. I fill some more airtight containers combining gel mix with some iridescence and a small amount of one pigment.  I repeat the process for the second colour. Each layer allows the other to show through eventually blending into a glowing surface.

 

Keeping my hands clean

In addition to the basic two hues, I begin with a layer of metallic, either gold or silver. A particularly beautiful combination is Phthalo Blue green shade with Quinacridone Burnt Orange and gold. Awesome! This layer ties in with the three circles I use at the end and determines whether I use gold or silver leaf.

Two very different panels

Since mixing the colours together to form grays kills the magic, I prefer to keep them pure and separate. I consider the photo inspiration to determine which of the two colours will dominate, cool or warm. The last layer applied reigns supreme. The highly textured surface catches the colours in various quantities and produces an exciting debut for the forthcoming masterpiece. 

 

Yes, well, perhaps. Life is full of surprises.