Mer has whiskers!
Sep. 28th, 2010 10:20 am
A couple of those white lines are chalk, not paint. All that is left is to wait another day or so until I'm certain the whisker paint is dry, then brush away the chalk.
Dude.
I painted! \o/
A couple of those white lines are chalk, not paint. All that is left is to wait another day or so until I'm certain the whisker paint is dry, then brush away the chalk.
Dude.
I painted! \o/
A bright piece of oilcloth under my tabletop easel makes the desk much more happy (and me, too).
Got the oilcloth from The Fabric Farm.
Maybe I could still paint the fronts of the desk drawers orange...
Got the oilcloth from The Fabric Farm.
Maybe I could still paint the fronts of the desk drawers orange...
Well, my first ever oil painting class--and the first art class I've taken in nineteen years!--has come to an end. And I'm way behind in documenting my progess with this painting.
It's still not done, but it's really close now. And Deb, my teacher, gave me some input yesterday that's already made huge improvements in the part of this painting that's been bugging me all along: the orange side of Mer's face.
(Also, Deb showed us a painting that she's been working on as a value study to show to another of her classes--guess they're having problems understanding values. OMG. It looked amazing. Just shirts hanging in a closet, but they looked so crisp and like linen, like I could just reach in and feel the cool smoothness of the fabric.)
(And if anyone's keeping track, the topic of discussion for Class 5 was adding details and the discussion for Class 6 was varnishing. I plan to sign up for this class again tomorrow.)
I think I'll wait until she's finished before doing a post that really documents the progress of the details. For right now...
Last time you saw her on the left, now on the right.
(Once again, I was having some difficulty with my lighting. She's prettier in person.)
It's still not done, but it's really close now. And Deb, my teacher, gave me some input yesterday that's already made huge improvements in the part of this painting that's been bugging me all along: the orange side of Mer's face.
(Also, Deb showed us a painting that she's been working on as a value study to show to another of her classes--guess they're having problems understanding values. OMG. It looked amazing. Just shirts hanging in a closet, but they looked so crisp and like linen, like I could just reach in and feel the cool smoothness of the fabric.)
(And if anyone's keeping track, the topic of discussion for Class 5 was adding details and the discussion for Class 6 was varnishing. I plan to sign up for this class again tomorrow.)
I think I'll wait until she's finished before doing a post that really documents the progress of the details. For right now...
Last time you saw her on the left, now on the right.
(Once again, I was having some difficulty with my lighting. She's prettier in person.)
A little more Mermer painting
Aug. 20th, 2010 09:17 amA little over two hours more work on Mermer's painting last night.
I've been unhappy with the orange side of her face. And now that I know more about glazing, I understand that this base color doesn't have to be the exact right color. If I can get the shapes to the point where I'm happy with them, then I can fine tune the color with countless glazes (if need be).
I worked on simplifying the orange shapes and making there be less little things going on over there. Also worked on darkening some of the black that I applied in class on Tuesday. (Note: It's a lot easier to get it right the first time. It takes multiple layers of black to look black if it's been put on top of orange.)
I also added an all-over glaze of brown-black to the background. (It looks really solidly black in the photos, though.)
( cut for large pics )
And for fun, here's my main means of taking painting supplies to class:
Yes, it's an empty bucket from 35 pounds of cat litter.
Here it is with canvas glued onto it. (I took it to class for two weeks before actually covering the "Tidy Cat.") I ran out of the glue I was using for this. Not sure if I'll bother to get more just to cover the two corners where plastic still shows.
Inside the bucket, it's also all about recycling. (Maybe because I feel guilty about all the paper towel use.) Salsa jars are for solvent. The big clear plastic "cup" with the palette knives in it was the cover for a spindle of 50 CDs. My tall cup of brushes (not pictured) fits inside it nicely with room for the palette knives to circle round it. That cup is a Starbucks travel mug that had been sitting unused in my cupboard for over a year. Big square tea tin holds paint tubes. Small round tea tin is for painting mediums.
Haven't quite decided what to paint on the canvas. But it will be bright and cheery. :)
I've been unhappy with the orange side of her face. And now that I know more about glazing, I understand that this base color doesn't have to be the exact right color. If I can get the shapes to the point where I'm happy with them, then I can fine tune the color with countless glazes (if need be).
I worked on simplifying the orange shapes and making there be less little things going on over there. Also worked on darkening some of the black that I applied in class on Tuesday. (Note: It's a lot easier to get it right the first time. It takes multiple layers of black to look black if it's been put on top of orange.)
I also added an all-over glaze of brown-black to the background. (It looks really solidly black in the photos, though.)
( cut for large pics )
And for fun, here's my main means of taking painting supplies to class:
Yes, it's an empty bucket from 35 pounds of cat litter.
Here it is with canvas glued onto it. (I took it to class for two weeks before actually covering the "Tidy Cat.") I ran out of the glue I was using for this. Not sure if I'll bother to get more just to cover the two corners where plastic still shows.
Inside the bucket, it's also all about recycling. (Maybe because I feel guilty about all the paper towel use.) Salsa jars are for solvent. The big clear plastic "cup" with the palette knives in it was the cover for a spindle of 50 CDs. My tall cup of brushes (not pictured) fits inside it nicely with room for the palette knives to circle round it. That cup is a Starbucks travel mug that had been sitting unused in my cupboard for over a year. Big square tea tin holds paint tubes. Small round tea tin is for painting mediums.
Haven't quite decided what to paint on the canvas. But it will be bright and cheery. :)
Didn't have any time to work on this outside of class in the last week. So... before class pic on the left, after class pic on the right (I had a little trouble getting the camera focused correctly, too.).
There's less detail now, but things are getting corrected. We learned about glazing in class, but I wasn't ready yet to start that step. I hope I get plenty of time to work on her this week. I want to get the shapes in her head sorted out and put texture back into the scratching post bit at the bottom. Then I can start playing with the glazes and that will help put the gray shadows back into her white floofiness and help make the dark background and her black fur a little richer.
I'm thinking about taking another six weeks of this class, too. Monday evenings, Mid-September through Mid-October. (But this painting should be finished by then.)
There's less detail now, but things are getting corrected. We learned about glazing in class, but I wasn't ready yet to start that step. I hope I get plenty of time to work on her this week. I want to get the shapes in her head sorted out and put texture back into the scratching post bit at the bottom. Then I can start playing with the glazes and that will help put the gray shadows back into her white floofiness and help make the dark background and her black fur a little richer.
I'm thinking about taking another six weeks of this class, too. Monday evenings, Mid-September through Mid-October. (But this painting should be finished by then.)
Class yesterday was a pretty solid three hours of painting. It was more difficult than I expected at first, but then it started going well and was relaxing.
( pictures under the cut )
( pictures under the cut )
Changes to Mermer's underpainting
Aug. 9th, 2010 09:14 amOn Saturday, I fussed a bit with the underpainting on Mer's picture. It was about two hours altogether (including time trying to match the previous grays). All in all, it's not very different.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
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