GOOD LIGHTING AND SPACE

Hi Folks,

I can not emphasize enough how important it is to paint with good lighting and in a roomy space. Recently I volunteered myself to do a demo at a Sunday art event with the end piece to be sold as a fund raiser. Upon arriving I was disappointed to find it was being held in a poorly lit very cluttered space. I tried t make the best of it and after 2 grueling hours left my ‘piece of art’ to be auctioned off on a small local social media site. it didn’t sell! When I went to pick it up and brought it out into the daylight I was appalled at the colours. Instead of all the lovely bright greens I knew to be in the original photograph I used, the colours were dark , muddy and uninspired. It weighed so heavily on me to have even attempted this under such dire conditions and produce such a dark piece I could hardly wait to get back to my studio and repaint the whole canvas. Which I did! I then sold it in a silent auction to raise funds for my students annual art show. So in the end it found a home and raised money for a better cause.

If I had a nickel for every time a student said to me, ” I painted for hours last night and when I got up in the morning the colours were all wrong, they were so dark and muddy” I’d be rich! So good lighting is important and that mean day light ! I recommend if you can only find time to paint at night to invest in a day light lamp or purchase day light bulbs from a Home Depot or lighting store and put them into your own light fixture.

Best light though is good old fashion day light, preferable NE or NW light so not to get the harshness and extreme shadows created by a southern exposure.

What about space. It too is important. I can always tell when a student is painting in a small cramped space as the picture again will be uninspired and feel crowded. Painting in a closet is not a good thing , although it may be nice to be able to close the door and leave all your stuff out. Try and find a space where you can stand back from your work often so you can see at a distance what needs to be changed.

Happy Painting

Cheers

Georgia

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CONTRASTS – SHADOWS AND HIGHLIGHTS

Hi Folks,

One of the more challenging questions often facing a student is:

Should I make my bright areas brighter or darker areas darker? Another conundrum!

You try, I know, to paint what you see but that is not good enough. You have think as an artist and use your colour sense i.e. using secondary colours on your edges, in shadows and in areas that in the back ground. You also need to make sure your tonal values as well are enhancing your perspective i.e. bringing areas closer and or make them recede. Remember dark makes things come closer and light makes things recede. As well you need to make sure your tonal values are in balance. A lot to think about but it all makes for a better painting!

You think you are finished but when you stand back to appraise your work, your tonal values seem to have a sameness. Your first thought is perhaps you have to make the bright colours brighter but they already seem so bright. Instead, go the other route and think perhaps you should make your dark colours darker, using dark purple for areas in the background and dark blue for those areas in the fore ground. Then stand back you will be amazed how your bright colours pop now because you have increased the contrast between your lights and darks. It is the opposite of what you thought you should do.

But you now have to make sure both your lights and darks are in balance. Squint and look at only the lights first, then look at only the darks. They should be in balance and your eye should move around your canvas, coming to rest on all 3 focal points.

Always stand back from your work often and when you feel you are finished, leave it for a few days then look at it with fresh eyes, assessing if everything is in balance. The final check is to ask yourself are your contrasts in balance and enhance each other and does your eye move around to all 3 focal points ending at the rest spot. If all of these work sign your painting !

Happy Painting

Cheers

Georgia

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LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES

A few missteps to look out for

Improper cropping of a photograph

Not using enough colour

Edges not rounded

Tonal values all the same

Hi Folks

I assume in a perfect world there would no mistakes but we don’t live in a perfect world – thank heavens – because it is by making mistakes we learn. Or so I’ve been told. First step though is to admit to or at least see you have made a mistake. Ah…. there is the problem you say and it’s true. How do you see what you have painted may not be perfect or correct? To your untrained eye it may look great! So perhaps there in lies an answer. You need to start looking at what is well established great art and really looking at it with a critical eye, seeing how the composition works, how the use of colour keeps you engaged etc. Taking drawing lessons would go a long way in helping you see how design and composition is important.

If you are using photographs make sure they have been taken by a good photographer who knows how to take good photos as they too will be well balanced and have all the compositional elements I talk about i.e. 3 focal points. You will be able to crop a good photograph as well and still have all the elements needed. One thing to look out for when cropping a photo though is to make sure you crop it so it has the same dimensions of your canvas i.e. if your canvas is square you should cropped your photo into a square or if your canvas is a 16 x 20 try and make your cropped area as though it was a 16 x 20. Makes your life so much easier and yet I see all too often a student painting on a rectangular canvas using a square image. Mistake number one! Easy remedy! Matching you photo size to your canvas size.

If I had a penny for the number of times I say to a student , “paint like an artist using your colour knowledge and see more than the obvious colours. The more colours you can use the more natural it will all look.” When that light bulb goes on, the student’s work soars. Mistake number two – not using enough colour.

Checking your edges. Making good use of your secondary colours – orange and purple to round your edges. Mistake number three! Not rounding your edges using your secondary colours especially orange and purple.

Checking your tonal values. Are they all the same? Things far away need to be lighter/ less intense and things closer darker /stronger. Mistake number four! Tonal values need to reflect perspective.

I just heard this phrase and it is so true ‘ real growth comes through taking chances’ ! So take chances, make mistakes and you will grow!

Happy Painting

Cheers

Georgia

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>ON YOUR WAY TO BECOMING A PROFESSIONAL ARTIST

Hi Folks

FORGOT TO SIGN YOUR ART WORK –

I must admit I am guilty of having done this! It’s so embarrassing but it happens. It is especially annoying if you have had it professionally framed and even worse if it is behind glass. What to do? Well, there is no simply solution except take it out of the frame and sign it. It is something that should be on your ‘ to do’ list , to always check your work before it leaves your studio or home.

Practice your signature before you sign your painting, placing it in the lower Right hand corner. No need for a date.

TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS OF ALL YOUR WORK

As students you may think this is not necessary but it is for a few reasons:

1. It is a good way to keep track of how much you have improved.

2. One day you may be in a position of mounting a retrospective of our work or applying for a grant and you will need to provide images of past efforts .

3. Placing these images in a portfolio is a excellent record of what you have done and what has sold.

PORTFOLIO

A portfolio is not just for professional artists! As I’ve mentioned above it is an excellent way to keep a record of your work. When you are part of an art show it helps clients see what you have done and if you add a red dot on those pages it shows what you have previously sold. All this makes potential clients realize you are serious about what you are doing.

In setting up your portfolio find a good leather binder, using heavy plastic pages to insert your written pages and images. The first page should be your Cover Page with your name at the top in bold letters, under which list the medium(s) you work in , then your style and lastly perhaps place an image. Leave nothing for the client to assume. The next page should be your Resume, listing your achievements, art
shows, exhibitions, gallery representation, number of years you’ve been painting etc . This page can be a problem for some if you have not done much so you may need to keep it simple listing art programs you’ve taken. The next page can be reserved for an Artist Statement. When you write this page , again keep it simple and not too ‘artsy’. I’ve read too many of these and then wish I hadn’t. They can be a turn off for clients as well, so I often suggest for artists to skip this page all together. Mount the photographs of your images a single one per page, under which place it’s title, size, and medium. Place a red dot on the page if it has sold.

BUSINESS CARDS

Again this shows potential clients you are serious and business -like. All in an effort to help sell. Your cards do not have to be fancy, in fact keep them simple. Use a clear large font, listing your name, title – i.e. artist and contact information i.e. phone number and email address and website if you have one. No need for street address.

Happy Painting

Cheers Georgia

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THE SUMMER IS OVER NOW IT’S BACK TO PAINTING!

Hi Folks

Now my fall classes are in full swing I am hearing comments like the following over and over again:

“I think I’ve forgotten everything”

” I did nothing over the summer”

” where do I begin”

” I’m confused and feel anxious”

This is more common than one may think so how and where does one start?

There is no simple answer except jump right in. Start with something small and simple. Work on a small canvas and find a simplified image. You don’t want to over whelm yourself. You want to build your confidence back up and nothing succeeds like small and simple.

You may find you are over blending and so you need to resort to the Rules of Three:

Three brush strokes and stop

I have stood behind students as they paint and asked “how many brush strokes do you think you just used?” Their answer is usually ”around 10″. They are always amazed when I tell them ….. 36… or some number that is well above and beyond their expectations. No one should take more than 3 – 4 brush strokes with one tonal value or colour before mixing and using another.

Three colours only – mixed together to create a new colour

Again students are very successful at making ‘mud’ or nasty greys. All because they used more than 3 colours.

Three Focal Points

You need to move the eye around in your painting and so you will need 3 focal points and one rest spot. This can be in the shape of a triangle, the letter Z and in some landscapes you can stack your 3 areas.

Remember to keep your brush strokes consistent and this is important to remember when painting a landscape with lots of sky. We tend to want to blend the sky colours and then resort to a more painterly approach for the fore ground, giving the impression that perhaps two different painters have painted the picture.

Talking about skies, the best way is to use a criss cross brush stroke and work it fast, painting one corner first and then move on to the next. When it dries you will be amazed how blended it appears yet still allowing some brush strokes to show. Often times it takes 3 – 4 attempts to get the completed look, colour and tones that you want. Don’t despair, skies can be tricky. You need patience and a strong arm. I always say this is how I keep my arms toned – at least my right arm!

Happy Painting

Cheers Georgia

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GOING BIG!

By going Big I do not mean simply painting on a large canvas i.e. 36 ” x 36 ” or larger, which has it’s own challenges but I mean you also need to enlarge the image you want to paint from. You may think it is an easy process but it is not. Not all images are easily enlarged. The composition can often become distorted when you crop and enlarge a photo. You still need to have all the design components of 3 focal points and a rest spot. Think – Georgia O’Keefe – and you get the picture – no pun intended

To start with, you need to have taken either a very good clear up close image or you can use a good clear well defined photo that you can enlarge certain areas of it. This is not the same as cropping a section of a your 4 x 6 photo and trying to work from that. I am saying you need to enlarge an area of a photo using one of your camera modes, save it as a separate picture then print it. Or once on your computer you can use what ever APP you have to crop, enhance and enlarge areas of your photos to save and print. I do all my enlargements, cropping etc. while my photos are still on my camera.

Once you have a nicely enlarged image to work from you can map it out on your canvas. Do not try and use a grid – use your eye to develop your image. I say this as you will see the proportions of your image will be dictated by the size of your large canvas and so it should be. You may want to continue the editing process as you map out your image, something you will not do if using a grid.

The next step is to paint an under painting. Not only will you be using colours to enhance your tops colours but you will be establishing your tonal values and seeing if your proportions are correct. I spend more time painting in this area than ever before especially when using a large canvas. I’ve found that I can easily make corrections at this stage without concern for finding and using the complex colours that I am seeing. Before I move ahead I check I have well balanced proportions, design and tonal values. The more time I spend on this stage the easier I know it will be for me later when all I have to do is think about colours and hues.

Now I can move to my top layer of that I see. I can push myself in this area as it is mainly all that I have to think about. How lovely is that!

Happy Painting

Cheers

Georgia

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