Robin Lace

I am in between things and the holidays have interrupted my schedule. I  am suffering from studio withdrawal and can hardly wait to get back to my new series…. So, today I thought I would share another drawing that I did recently for the Miniature show at Centre d’Arts Visuels. This is one of the four I have completed in the series called “Robin Lace”. It is called "Closeup". This fall I was doing the usual clean up before winter set in and as I removed one robin nest from under the balcony it crumbled in my hands. Evidently it had been from the previous year. I was about to throw the other one into the bag when I noticed the intricate design a line of blue polyester made among the branches and the mud. It reminded me of lace. With that in mind I searched through my box of lace and set up a still life. As always, the negative space was the part that intrigued me. I had learned long ago in order to paint or draw a believable bit of lace I had to concentrate on the negative spaces and the different values those spaces created. I also knew it did not have to be perfect. I set up my tripod and screwed on my drawing/painting board that I use for ‘en plein air’ work, took out my pen and was soon lost in the mark making. Standing on cement in one spot too long hurts my feet. My husband suggested I place a piece of carpet at strategic points around my studio and that helped quite a bit. The other thing I did to reduce my discomfort was discard the shoes that had long since lost their support value. Still, after an hour and a half, my legs begin to complain. I stretch, have a cup of coffee, contemplate a different project and return to it in the afternoon or the next day. It is so much easier to draw with a little practice. I plan to continue….but first….

A New Series

I have six canvases started. I have pondered the next step for months. There is only one way to move forward. Move. So I began to play. A little gold, a little tissue paper, a whole lot of imagination. I put in some transfers from my collection of life drawing. I am considering clothing the images. At the moment the main considerations are value and repetition. There are circles within circles and a strong horizontal line. I know what the painting is about. I know what I wish to create in the way of mood. In the end I may have less control than I think I do. All I know is that I am on the right path. There is a certain excitement that tingles through my body as I shape the movements, stand back and contemplate. This is fun. Definitely fun. I will keep moving, following the inspiration and I will let you know where it leads me.

Hotels

Architecture is not my favorite subject. Everything has to line up just so and follow the rules of perspective. It is very time consuming. With the deadline looming I was wondering if I had chosen too long a process when I had decided to transfer the photo images. I took the original photographs and I enlarged them on a photocopy machine. One was just large enough. The other two needed to grow by using the grid system. I could not find my plastic sheet with the grid but in my search I found a forgotten piece of plexiglass which I quickly gridded up and threw the maquette under it. The enlarged photocopies went under the grid as well and I was soon satisfied with the shell of each structure. My light table is very useful at times. I turned it on and stood on the stool. Too short. The only horizontal surface in my studio that can accommodate the light table is about five feet up. The one foot stool got my head just over the rim…. Out came the two step stool. Just right. All I had to remember was not to step off of it thinking it was the floor… Once the shells were traced on the back of each sheet (the images were going to be reversed in the transfer so this was a necessary step) I began to add the details freehand. I stopped in and had a photocopy made of each drawing before I went back to my studio and then pasted them to the surface of the vignette. As I waited for that to dry I began to labour over the other structures at the bottom of the piece. I took a break and added the sky. This was going to work! The next day I scrubbed off the paper, touched up the drawings, finished the lay in  and began to paint the bottom. One more day. Yes, I was going to meet the deadline. I like being on time. I like it when my customers are pleased too. All in all this was a very satisfying challenge.

The Third Vignette

I knew I was supposed to do something last night. I have this habit of keeping a daytimer which is quite detailed and accurate. There is another habit I will develop to make it effective….I will read it! Our routine is a little disrupted again. I came home to a dark apartment. Martin is gone to a funeral. My daughter suggested a movie after supper. I am addicted, I admit. Then I finished a sudoku…. Well, I am feeling great this morning and anxious to get into my studio. I plan on driving as the sun comes up. It is so beautiful in the morning. I hope to get most of the painting done today. What you see is the third small panel, about three feet by four feet. I know it does not look very close to finished but, hey, the deadline is Thursday. The white squares are transfers. I took quite a while to do the drawing on the buildings and I was impatient to see how it would look so I took the first layer of paper off the top rectangle. It just needs a little scrubbing. Much to my surprise a cheap plastic scrubber, one that can be purchased at any supermarket, is the perfect tool to lift the paper residue…. And what is a transfer? Trade secret! Not really. I do not believe in secrets. There are several ways to do a transfer. My preferred method involves drawing in the dimension I wish to place on the panel or the canvas then having a photocopy made. Usually the drawing is too large for ordinary copy machines and it needs a blueprint copier instead. The paper is thinner, so much the better. I put a layer of gel medium on the surface of the panel and carefully place the copy with the print down on the surface. Using a rag I press out the extra gel and remove the inevitable wrinkles. Leaving it usually overnight, I wet the surface in the morning and gently scrape the excess paper off with my fingernails, finishing with a scrubber. Fun!

Time to March

Here it is Tuesday evening and I have a definite intuition that it is still Monday. My husband assures me that my notion is erroneous.  I am very thankful that when I pulled up the blog site I had installed a photo at least. I know what to talk about it! This is the second of three panels I am painting for Morinville’s St. Jean Baptiste Park. Parades. I had no idea how many different parades they could be. I have led a sheltered life…. The one that interested me most was the oldest. At one time there used to be a procession from the church, through the streets with stops at each house that had requested a blessing. Lots of kneeling, lots of prayer. As we move closer to our era there is less about prayer and more about food, finishing with a pancake breakfast. Lots of fun and sometimes lots of indigestion.  I had completely forgotten to sign my work as I slapped on the varnish. Leaving one small corner for the finishing touch I walked away to let paint  dry. I have learned, the hard way, that it is best not to rush things. Varnish has a tendency to take metallic and felt pen off. It needs to be protected by a coat of gel medium and gel medium removes writing too if it is not allowed enough time to stabilize or  it is rubbed to vigorously. Everything in its own good time

Contribution

It is busy these days. My deadlines are looming and there seems less time than usual to get everything done. Busyness. It is time to reconsider. This is the first week of Advent, time to pause and make room at the inn for peace, hospitality and joy. I will take some time today to sit, or, even better, to walk. A little exercise clears the mind. In the meantime there is one out of three projects done for Wednesday. Two panels are due, one on the contribution of two extraordinary people in the medical field and another on celebration in the form of parades and processions, plus a maquette for a third panel on local hospitality establishments, the hotels. A maquette is a sketch illustrating preliminary ideas made for approval of the concept before the painting is done. I have found that the more complete a maquette image is, the easier it is for my client to decide whether or not he/she approves of it. The three panels are destined for the St. Jean Baptiste Park in Morinville. It is a lovely park and the installation of the murals and panels is very pretty. This is the medical themed image. It is less complex than the parades and portraits are always fun. Of course the ease of the project depends on the clarity of the source photos which is not always the case. I am usually very thankful for the hours I spend drawing from life. It is amazing what can be fixed with a little knowledge and experience.

Sticks and Links

It is Monday again… Some weeks are shorter than others I swear. This one is especially short because I do not have anything written for this morning, so what do I write about? Well, I do have a new mini series of pen and ink studies that I am preparing for Centre d’arts visuels next month. It is mostly about sticks and stones and chains that bind and robinlace. I have eight of the ten I plan to show done. This project has been so much fun I plan on continuing the exercise. Drawing has always been my favorite thing, pen and ink my favorite medium. Pen and ink helped me discover the mystery of disappearing lines. I rarely use an eraser. The trick is to start off lightly. With pen and ink ‘lightly’ usually means a series of dots. It is important that the instrument used is consistent. I have trouble when the ink suddenly starts to flow more abundantly at the moment I need a light, barely visible line…. Grrr. If it is early in the drawing the heavier line does disappear too. As the drawing progresses, as I add darker and more, all the mistakes in the beginning fade into the background. Unless one is looking for mistakes, they remain imperceptible. Of course the mistakes remain because I leave them there. Can you find any?