Dreamland - 8" X 10" Colored Pencil on Ampersand Pastelboard

Dreamland - 8" X 10" Colored Pencil on Ampersand Pastelboard

New Year and finishing old paintings:

As 2017 came to a close I found myself trying to finish some abandoned pieces in the studio, ones that had their starts for various reasons and were set aside for a moment, then another moment.... and so forth.  Commissions get in the way, teaching and so does life it seems.  When my work takes a back seat, it always seems that "artist block" has a little more to do with my not getting back to "it".

This little portrait study was intended to be an exercise in the shadowed skin tones on an infant as well as a subject for a demo I did at the gallery I show my work at, Crossroads Art Center.  The sweet little guy in the photo is not a grandchild but a family friend's baby.  An innocent sleeping babe's photo whose devoted mother posted on Facebook.  It was a photo that I found very intriguing, as well as full of softness.  After commenting on her sweet photo that I would one day like to paint her sweet baby boy, I couldn't get it off my mind.  She of course gave me permission to use it as a reference for a future piece.  (Getting approval before using someone else's photo is a MUST, I wouldn't have otherwise.)

Demoing at Crossroads Art Center Reception

My intrigue was a self imposed challenge of sorts, one I have mixed feelings whether or not I have succeeded.  But of course we artists have always been afflicted with the "Artists Curse", self critical to the tenth degree, as well as the plague of "Am I finished----no wait-----maybe just one more ---- tweak".  We all suffer from it from time to time, oh yeah, how many years and paint over's did the Mona Lisa get?  Even Leonardo had the curse.  But he had the luxury of using oil, usually an opaque media that can be painted over or wiped off.

Colored pencil is not as forgiving.  Depending on the surface used you can make some major corrections but rarely do they completely go away.  The sanded surface of Ampersand Pastelboard can successfully be erased with a vinyl eraser with the hopes that only a ghost of an image remains.  See my older post: "Powhatan's James River Plein Air Study - Sticking It Out In The Rain"  for a sampling of what can be painted over in colored pencil on this pastelboard.

But I digress, the conundrum for me on this piece was NOT major erasing or corrections at all it was the later, endless tweaking.  You see the challenge for me was "Can I create a painting in colored pencil of this sweet baby softly sleeping WITH all the dark shadows caressing him as he sleeps, WITHOUT creating skin tones that make him look ashy or dirty?????  For colored pencil the translucence of layering skin tones on my normal white background isn't too difficult, but settling the figure INTO the shadows of a sleeping baby's crib?  Well that was it!

I did lighten the image up a bit from the photo his mother sent me.  And made it a tad larger so I could see all the gradual changes in tone.  I cropped in to focus on the highlights and then shadows under of his lashes and to the light that catches on his rounded sweet features.  My rendition is lit a little more yet, but I think doing so helps show the internal glow of this innocent soul.

I actually love creating skin tones on the sanded surface because it takes so much of my waxy Prismacolors.  With the combination of my heated Icarus Board* and brushes to soften the waxy pigment and blend the pencils "like buttah".  Applying many many layers, building numerous colors lightly, brushing, and building over again, the sanded surface slowly fills with pigment and the shades blend into skin.  You see it's the filling of the surface for me that helps with the painterly look which is my style.  No surface speckle remains.  And when sprayed with fixative and then several layers of varnish the sanded board is completely smooth to the touch.  Thus making it difficult to tell what the media is.  I love that!!!!

*The Icarus Board invented and patented by Ester Roi and built by her husband Mario, is a godsend to colored pencil artists who love wax based pencils.  No solvents are needed, no odors, toxic fumes to blend the pigment, just warm heat.  And in January this is a welcomed thing.  Please click the link above to her website and enjoy the art and information she shares about it's use.  I recently purchased the larger fully heated board that can strap to my drawing board or easel if needed.  The larger heated surface helps me work faster and bigger as needed.  I used to use my previous board only when I need to blend backgrounds, make highlight corrections to soften edges at the end of my process.  But I have found that I love the larger board over my older version (half hot and half cold).

I had great fun creating the woven thready look of the baby's trusty companion bunny, snuggled up close to his face.  And it was a source for noodling and fiddling to get the sewn on eyes to look thready and stitched.  I've since learned this bunny had a washer/dryer debacle and I think lost the battle.

If you feel I have accomplished my goal of a "soft shadowy portrait without an ashy look"  let me know in the comments below.  And as always your comments are appreciated.

Gloria

Recreating A Master - My Girl With A Pearl Earring

                                                 My Girl With A Pearl Earring 16 X 12
                                             Colored Pencil On Ampersand Pastelboard

This is a piece I worked on as an example of what can be done with colored pencil for my class of advancing CP students, Recreating A Master.  Of course most master works we think of are paintings so it was my goal to teach my students how to accomplish that painterly look with CP.  And as a tribute to Johannes Vermeer's, Girl With A Pearl Earring - I posed my granddaughter Cora in a head scarf and clothing similar to Vermeer's Girl.  By the way I had the pleasure last year of seeing this painting in real life at the Louvre Museum, in Paris.  And mine is almost the same size, except in inches not cm.  Below you will find the photo I worked from for capturing Cora.

I didn't have a blue scarf for her head, nor the right clothes but her Mom had a jacket that was of similar color to the original, See below, (I believe I can show the real image here since it's a master painting and his copyright has expired).  Johannes Vermeer painted this in 1655.

                                            Johannes Vermeer's Girl With A Pearl Earring

I chose to make the clothing more similar to Vermeer's and scarf color.  I chose to change the turban like yellow scarf into Cora's pony tail.  For several reasons, but mainly to make her be well, My Girl.  Cora loved posing for me and especially liked getting to wear the red lipstick.  My pearl earring was not as large as as the one in the master's but it seemed to fit.

Working on this was a love in many ways, it's my oldest granddaughter, it's my tribute to Vermeer's piece, (one I have always loved) and I enjoyed trying to get CP to look like a painting.  The jacket and scarf were very much an act to replicate what a brush originally did.  

Checking in after a long hiatus from the blog, teaching and traveling have kept me from posting but I promise to get you all caught up on what I have been up to as we set into the cold months.  My students will show some of their master works at my January Student Show at Crossroads Art Gallery and My Girl will be hanging there also.  Enjoy Thanksgiving Day Everyone!

Gloria

Triple D Game Farm - Montana, Incredible Photos

                Exploring Dora - Siberian Lynx  10 X 8 Colored Pencil on Suede Mat Board

At the end of August I had a simply awesome experience at The Triple D Game Farm and Preserve in Kalispell, MT.  The photography and animal portrait workshop with Gemma Gylling, CPSA, a great colored pencil artist known for very moving animal portraits, didn't disappoint.  For more of her work go to:
Glassgems Studio

Triple D Game Farm is a great photographers resource for shooting wild animals in their natural setting, free of leashes, and cages.  And the young ladies who are their handlers Heather and Lindsy are so very capable, brave and knowledgeable.  Not only knowledgeable of these wonderful animals but of lighting, placement and just plain ole' "What makes a great photo"!

Day One:  I had the most incredible first day, photographing an endangered Amur Leopard named Kupalo, and a shy female Siberian Lynx - Dora.   Had someone told me I could shoot 965 photos in less than 3 hours with these animals I'd have laughed.  We were at times within 6 ft of Kupalo, a 2 year old male about 90 lbs. of pure energy and developing predatory skills.  Amur Leopards are as few as 30-40 in the wild and 300 in captivity.   Heather who raised Kupalo from a cub, worked with him so gently and skillfully, allowing him to be the playful young man he is, providing us with some wonderful photos like the one below.

                                                         "KUPALO" - Amur Leopard

Dora was shy and so very elegant in comparison to Kupalo's raw energy and male curiosity.  The finished CP portrait shown at the beginning of this post, was accomplished from a zoomed in photo I had taken on Day one.  In the afternoons we worked with Gemma on the techniques she uses on suede mat board for capturing the fur on her project of a Mountain Lion.  On day 3 we had the choice of following on with her project or moving to one of our own.  I chose the later.  And the above cp painting is the result.  Once I'm sure it's finished I will spray it with fixative and then frame behind glass.  Something I've been trying to get away with (framing behind glass) but needed for this surface.  My hopes are that I will be able to create the same soft fur textures on my favorite Ampersand Pastelboard.  So stay tuned for my further adventures in wildlife art.

I concluded the Montana experience with a couple days exploring Glacier National Park with my sister and her husband along with my hubby before moving on to Helena for a few days.  And many many more landscape photos for future cp paintings.  This is truly a wonderful area of the country and colorful too!

Jamestown Sea Captain and my busy summer.

                                                               Jamestown Sea Captain
                                                   Colored Pencil on Graphix Frosted Acetate
                                                                         17.25 X 11

Each year I find that summer seems to play tricks on a person, it sounds like a long season, "Those lazy hazy days of summer".  But in reality they are fffffffffaaaaaaaasttttttttttt!  Whizzing by at ultrasonic speeds, no time to catch your breath, enjoy, or even get art enough art finished.  Life as you can see has crept up on me and my summer plans.  The portrait above has been waiting to be called finished for many months now,  and for a variety of reasons.  This guy was a wonderful character we came upon on a trip to the Jamestown Settlement a couple years ago and he played the part well as he stood in charge of the ships upper deck.  So I knew I needed to capture his relaxed but confident nature.

I had worked on Graphix - Duralar (Brand name) before, in a long forgotten workshop given by Robert Guthrie at a CPSA convention, several years ago.  But it was Suzanne Vigil, a portrait artist in northern VA who inspired my completion of this portrait.  The double frosted surface (frosted on both sides of this graphic film) created smooth skin tones so easily.  But and I repeat but, your layers are limited to about 4 on each side of the surface.  Like any new surface it takes a little getting used to.  Lifting color is as easy as a vinyl eraser, used gently as to not make a slick area on the surface.  It is acid free and archival so it meets my requirements of a surface suitable for creating lasting art.  Click here for a link to  the Dick Blick   page to see more about the surface.

Working on both sides of the acetate was a little confusing, as when working on the under side you are working the mirror opposite of your image.  And while that might not be confusing on a floral or still life, on a portrait I found it tricky. (To keep facial proportions correct for a likeness.)  Until I realized I could flip my photo in Photoshop and work on it in reverse.  Unfortunately, it took me a while and some cursing to figure this out!!!  Transferring onto the surface is easy because you can see your image thru the surface and should be done with a slightly lighter than a mid-grey pencil, graphite works also.  All in all I may try this again for CP portraits but it requires matting and framing behind glass, which I'm trying to get away from.  But skin tones are so smooth and hair and beard stubble is fun to create.  So who knows.

Photographing the image was a challenge as it is shiny after the layers of pencil are added.  Thank you to my son Chris and his great photography skills in helping me to finally get a good image.

I will tell you, that working on this surface prepared me for the next new one I will be featuring in my next post later in the week.  So tune in for my update............. along with my CPSA convention notes.

Hope your catching up to your summer plans...........

Gloria