Here’s a study I did in 2016. It’s fine. I watered down gouache to make this illustration. It’s fine. But whyyyyyy?
Back to school
It’s been a minute.
I’ve continued with my daily at practice, although a lot hasn’t happened in a sketchbook. I designed a garden, renovated a house, learned how to bake sourdough (like the rest of North America). My house is in a constant state of being painted. Finally, I got the itch to get back to making personal art. And when I did, I found myself butting up against my abilities.
What does that mean? For a long, long time I felt at a loss for subject matter — what I wanted to address or focus on through my art. Finally, I have a lot to “say” but can’t capture it the way I want because I don’t have enough mastery of my tools. So I’m putting myself through DIY art school.
I’ve been painting forever but mostly in oils. In actual art school, I focused on printmaking. But for many reasons, watercolor feels like the best medium for me right now. Problem is, I’ve taking exactly ONE watercolor workshop in my whole life.
It’s fun being a beginner. Anything is possible! It’s that whole new-backpack-fresh-new-notebook-back-to-school feeling. 🙂 I’m just going to post here along the way, (really) to document this journey for myself. I could keep an actual notebook but I’m “traveling light” these days.
12-color split primary palette from the Van Gogh pan set
What I learned:
- what colors I have ready-to-go, along with their specifications (gradients, transparency, granulation, etc.)
- the essential 12-color palette
Portrait study: Quaranteam
Oct. 5: I’m going to set this aside and perhaps come back to it later
I liked it better at the glowy stage. Not sure what happened between then and now.
Happy with the sleeves and dark areas but struggled with the middle. Not sure if it’s salvageable.
- Fixed the eye and neck
- Need to fix the slices of couch behind the figure
- And the paws
- Still lots of work to do on the shirt
- Still need to do the eyebrows
Reflections:
I really like the idea of stylizing the work overall. It’s not photorealism like Rance Jones. There are aspects of my style that have been consistent for 30 years (see Siesta drawing from 1993).
But there’s a more graphic quality to it now. I can see the design influence for sure. The more formal qualities, the shapes on the face are the same as on the fabric. I like that. It’s almost like… yes, it’s all paint. And the rendering is so much more controlled after taking Louise de Masi’s one class. I’m going to do more because there’s no pressure there. I can keep focusing on technique.
I’m very pleased with this composition. That is also a style thing. All my paintings have really strong angles. I like using the angles to create focal points. I like the limited color palette. And the values that lighten as you go up but then the contrast in and around the face.
When I’m happy with the painting part, I want to scan it in and see what I can do with the background — what if I put it on a solid yellow background or what if I render the background in illustrator as flat shapes?
Darkening the face, the glasses, the hair
figure: 227; shadows 408, 366+662, 567; hair: 708; pants 533; outside window: 675 plus spots of 227; shadow of window frame: 408; couch: glaze of 756 with spots of 227
I kind of love the colors in this stage – so glowy!
- the spot above the right eye and shape of the lips
- fill in the couch color in between dog’s legs
study #2: shirt wash: 708; background wash: 227, 234
dog: 408, 411, 708, 568, 339
first study
Assessment: Good start. Love the color choices — the limited palette, the hues in the shirt and the greens in the background. The composition rocks — the strong angles, the weirdness of having the dog upside down with her eye right on the edge, the strong lines on the shirt, thelines in the windows. Love the splashes in the background
Water control sucks. Used the wrong brushes, especially in the shirt. The dog’s face is all messed up — couldn’t figure out the actual drawing.
Consider “melting” the curtain more into the background
inked line drawing
initial sketch
Reference photo