Wednesday, May 29, 2013

The Letter (wip?)

Like quite a few of you, I've just finished (maybe finished?) painting from what I consider is a masterwork. The artist was Mary Brewster Hazelton http://www.askart.com/askart/h/mary_brewster_hazelton/mary_brewster_hazelton.aspx and her painting of The Letter is one of my favorites. 
 I started with a grid for this one and, it seems to me, I was on a better track with the face at the start than the finish. I must have wiped her face off at least a dozen times. Mine looks more like her slightly younger cousin. In my defense (a lame defense,) I was painting on a 11x14 canvas and the original is on a 38x32. I was using a magnifying glass at the end to capture her face but her face is only about an inch and half so..... I'll stick to that as an excuse. I am quite happy with how I captured Mary's color pallet (I was using an article from The American Art Review as a reference) but the dress in the Askart pic seems to be greener. And yes, I certainly see my other mistakes; I should have moved the figure over at the start so the table wasn't too wide, the shawl color ( I admit I liked it too much to change it) and her hands are too far apart. And then there's her face... It's a sweet face, doncha think? I could attempt just the face on another canvas, right?
But other than that....I had a blast painting her! And isn't that what it's all about? Ah, the learning....ever learning curve.
Cheers all! And God's peace.
ks

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Tea in the Sahara


Hi and Hellooo out there,
I had saved this inspiration from a calendar eons ago and finally got around to it on a "repurposed canvas board." I had wanted to limit my pallet to five paint colors but I ended up with seven after deciding the purpley sand dunes needed more...purple. Purple is my friend. (I always have to tell myself that cause I forget about purple and how good it is.) The smaller version of it is all I could capture with the scanner and second full size one was taken outside in the shade. The colors are much more like the scanned one.
Enjoyed painting this. Oil on canvas board 11x14. So my little friend and I will now trip off through the sand dunes, listening to Sting sing about drinking tea in the Sahara.
Cheers. (My hero of the day is Angelina Jolie, but there are so many unsung heros in this world of ours.)
ks

Friday, May 10, 2013

A little bit of randomness

Hi all.  Last week or so was hot, wind, fire, followed by rain and cool. It is a little disturbing, especially to have fire storms in May. Usually we have a bout of that in October. Been working on some paintings but I'm still tinkering with them so just some drawings to share. The first three are on Mi-teintes pastel paper, charcoal, pencil and white charcoal. I like the feel of Mi-teintes. Just enough "crispness". 


 And this last one is on that darn Bee paper. It is too soft! No bite to it at all! I know I've complained about it before but it makes it hard to get clean edges. (So why do I continue to use it?) I think I'll call it a day on drawing them and carry their story onto some sort of painting surface. That way I can separate them even more and increase the drama Dean Cornwell-like, smoke and battlefield behind him and whatnot, letters in their hands, get rid of her pointed chin. Ha!
This months issue of Drawing Magazine has set my mind spinning and now all I want to do is draw. But when do I ever not just want to draw?
Cheers all! God's peace!
ks


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