Today was one of those days that I was struck with 'canvas fear', or 'paintbrush paralysis'! If you've ever put brush to canvas you'll know exactly what I mean, especially if working in layers. The fear that whatever you do now will spoil what's gone before and that there will be no way back. I just stood there gawping at the piece this morning. My paints were all made up, brushes all clean, medium all mixed, but I just couldn't get started. I did that thing where you start bargaining with yourself...i'll just make a cup of tea first, then, ok i'll just put on a washing first, then ok, i'll take out the recycling. I'm used to canvas fear when i have a pristine new white canvas out the wrapper. My coping mechanism with that barrier is to put a toned raw or burnt umber and white mix colour over it. Psychologically for me it's an easy way of starting and also helps judge tonal values when i come to painting the actual figure or scene. After an hour, having done all my chores, and almost heading out to ask if anyone else needed any chores done, and having made a second cup of tea, I picked up a size 6 filbert and added some tone to the left hand guy in the pic below's cheek. Barrier broken...even if it was the wrong value tone and took me another while of chasing oil around his face to try and correct it. I'll have a look at him tomorrow with fresh eyes and see where to chase the oil paint.
Hope you're having a creative day! Speak soon Davy Added a splash more colour to the background of "Innocence And Experience" from the 'Wallflowers" series of oil paintings I'm working on. I enjoyed painting the fancy pink flowers, and they matched the look I was going for - old wallpaper styling of the 50s/60s. However, moving on to the various green leaves on the vines I just couldn't settle on the right shades at first, as each particular type needs to have it's own little palette. When it came to the leaves in the middle of the two guys, the ones that are wrapping around the flower head, I thought, why not embolden them with some lines. They look a little blurry at moment, but i'm thinking of them a couple of layers from now, with added detail, and hopefuly they'll look pretty sweet. Hope you're having a creative day!
Speak soon, Davy The poor old Duke - I hadn't tickled him with a brush since October. The Christmas season came upon us, and i was busy adding new designs to my online shops. I was also lucky enough to receive a kind offer to display some of my illustration work on Cafe Wanders gallery walls, so it was fun to curate that collection. Some pieces have gone to England, France and even as far as Paisley! I've added more to the wall, in case you want to treat yourself to a wee 'heilan coo' etc I've also been busy with the other figurative paintings of "Innocence and Experience", and , "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys", from the "Wallflowers" series, but today was the Duke's turn. Subconsciously I think i've been avoiding him as I'd started off both the face of the horse and the Duke's, along with his little traffic cone hat, using wee finicky brushes. It was a thought to try and work on his jacket etc with those same wee brushes - it would take forever and a day. I just stood staring at him, sitting there, jauntily astride his big beast, when i grabbed the biggest brush I had (Da Vinci size 10), plopped it in some medium, then a big dod o' paint, and just attacked the horses neck. Again and again pffft, plop, swishhh, and before I knew it I had laid down some tonal values. These will serve as a guide for the next layer up when i work on the details. I'll leave hm to dry for a few days and come back to him with fresh eyes.
Hope yer having a creative day. Speak soon! Davy Firstly, Happy New Year! I hope 2017 brings you everything you wish for! Me, well, i'm looking to devote even more time to painting - perhaps even revisit some of the half finished canvases I have tucked away, guiltily hiding in the corner! Today though, i've been working on "Wallflowers". It's a nice size of piece measuring 32 inches by 20 inches, and i'm enjoying working to that size. I've been concentrating on the fella on the right's back, building up the muscle form. Looking forward to the next layer where i'll work in more detail on it. The next stage with this piece will be adding finer detail to the plants and insects, birds in the background. It's actually based on the old wallpaper designs of yesteryear, hence the name of the "Wallflowers" series name of which this piece "Innocence and Experience" is a member. Hope you're having a fantastically creative day too.
Speak soon! Davy Today i've tackled the face of the fella on the right. He's looking a bit less 'cave painting' and more 'ruggedly handsome'. Not trying to make him too smooth though, as i'd still like to keep him a little rough around the edges compared to the fella on the left. Kinda going for an innocence versus experience vibe. Tomorrow i'll give their bodies a little tickle with the paintbrush, and maybe run a comb through their hair too!
Have a creative day and speak soon! Davy I've spent today adding the next layer to the face of the fella on the left. Blending a little - but not too much as I like the roughness of the layer below. Another thing i'm trying to do is retain a sense of innocence about him, whilst his pal is a little more 'knowledgable'. I feel myself, he's lost a little of it in this layer, but when i move on to do the next i'll aim to inject a bit more naeivity back into those eyes! Hope you're enjoying the progression of this wee piece too!
Speak soon! Davy I've told you before that i love to see the process of a painting. To see how it's all come together - the stages that an artist has worked through, the problems they have encountered along the way, and how they have fixed them. The truth is that every piece of work throws up its own challenges.
But, that's the fantastic thing about art, you just keep learning! You break through the particular barrier that presents itself and then you're armed with knowledge on how to cope with it the next time. I find that youtube, or internet searching, forums etc are fantastic for getting me out of a jam, as there will always be someone who has faced the same predicament. On this particular piece I had the matter of the face being out of proportion - it was slipping off to the left, like a melted candle! The trick to fixing it - look at the piece in a mirror. You see the brain tells the eyes to see what it expects to see, and the mirror trick shows us what's actually there! The above image is the stage that the painting is now at. I'll work some more on this layer, then let it dry for a few days before tackling the face and body again. When it's finished i'll pop all the stages up in a little slideshow. Hope you're having a creative day, and speak soon! Davy Today I did a wee bit more to the 'Tea And Oranges' painting. Just adding a layer of colour on top of the grey tonal values layer. As you can see the paint is still quite thin - 3 parts thinner to 1 part medium, so it still looks a little 'subdued'. I can't wait to get started on the next layers where i can brighten it up a little. The only troubling thing is that the medium (artisan fast drying), is separating from the thinner (artisan thinner), and I keep having to whirl it around with the bottom of the paintbrush. It's turning gloopy, so maybe i'll have to look into trying another medium, or check to see if the fast drying medium has somehow spoiled by sitting on my shelf for too long. I'll do a bit of research on the net, and see if anyone else has had this problem. As always, hope you're having a creative day and i'll see ye tomorra!
Davy Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You!Today i've been blocking in the background plants, flowers etc, in my 'Wallflowers' painting. It's still hard to leave them as blocky when I just want to fire in there with a wee teeny brush for details..but if I did that, the colours would just all mush together and look like mud. Patience wee grasshopper...patience. When I was hanging the piece back up on the wall - high enough that my cat won't contribute to the scene by wiping his tail against it, I decided to have a check to see if the guys eyes were following me about the room. Aye, these beggars are certainly getting a good eyeful. I'll need to make sure i'm amply covered after my bath to protect my innocence.
Hope yer having a creative day, and i'll see ye tomorra! Davy Taking The Rough With The Smooth!Well, that's the 'Butterfly Guy' blocked in using grey tonal values which will act as a guide for the following layers. I started out today using a 'Flat' brush, size 8, and just stuck with it. I've been saying that I need to stop using the wee teeny brushes on these bottom layers, and just work from large size brushes downwards the further along I go. So only using the Flat brush was great, and a bit of a challenge when it came to making smaller marks, but, as usual, i'm enjoying the process so far, and hey, it meant only one brush to clean! I keep looking at his right foot and am sometimes horrified at the roughness of the paint, and then the next minute thinking it looks fine. I'm going to smooth it out and define it more on the next layer, but i want to retain some of that roughness too!
Hope you're having a creative day, and i'll see ye tomorra! Davy |
Whit's he up tae noo?The blog posts of David Brodie, a Scottish artist based near Glasgow. Archives
October 2018
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