Apples of Gold in Settings of Silver
Welcome to my weekly blog about life as an artist. I like to share little do-able tips for making things easier in this very full and busy life we lead as the people who wear all the hats.
Awhile ago I posted about painting like a millionaire. In this post I'm continuing that only with a slightly different approach. I picked this up in a DVD by Qiang Huang. He is such a nice guy, great painter, and generous teacher! I have always been ignorant of when or why to use synthetic brushes as opposed to natural bristle brushes. Other than personal preference, I didn't think there was a time to choose one over the other. I was so wrong!
Synthetic on the left, bristle on the right.
First I learned a handy tip for us frugal painters. When you use less expensive canvas, instead of oil primed linen, if you apply a thin coat of linseed oil with a paper towel to the surface, it will make your paint glide on much more easily. Gesso tends to soak up the paint like a sponge, but this solves that problem.
This shadow glows and you can see the transparency of the darks. The glow is from wiping some of the paint off.
Once you have the transparent darks in place its time to switch to the bristle brushes. These work best for thicker, opaque paint. You can mix it like I showed in the previous post and trowel it on for that juicy effect.
Some of the thick, opaque passages are shown here.
As long as you remember to leave some of the dark transparent areas uncovered by thicker paint, you will have a painting with lots of depth, allowing the shadow areas to look alive even though they're dark. The lighter areas will be thick and textured, making for a nice variety of paint quality on the finished painting.
The painting, close to being finished.
Happy painting!
Welcome to my weekly blog about life as an artist. I like to share little do-able tips for making things easier in this very full and busy life we lead as the people who wear all the hats.
Last week I wrote about workshop goals. This week I'm writing about preparing for a workshop. I've taught a few workshops and was astounded at the lack of preparation on the part of some of the participants. If you're paying hard earned money for a workshop, you want to get the most out of it possible. A little preparation can go a long way! So here are some recommendations for getting ready for a workshop.
My effort from a workshop
1) Decide what your goals are for the workshop
2) Purchase recommended materials for the workshop if they are appropriate. For instance, if you love the color the instructor gets in his or her paintings and the recommended tube colors are not what you usually use, you should get the recommended colors and brands.
3) Clean tools. Don't show up with a palette that has old, dried paint on it. Don't show up with brushes that are encrusted with dry paint and impossible to use. Unless, of course you can actually use them that way. There are some people who can and do.
A nice clean, loaded palette
4) If possible, view or read, about the method the instructor uses, so you have some idea of what's going to be taught.
5) Be open-minded. There's no point in taking a workshop if you aren't at least going to follow the instructions.
6) Get some rest before you go. Workshops can be pretty exhausting. Usually there's a lot of info to process and you're working under somewhat stressful circumstances. Consider taking notes.
7) Be prepared to cut yourself some slack and silence the inner critic.
8) Have fun!
April Morning Alley
Available at Deselms Fine Art
A few weeks ago I wrote about having a goal or goals in mind when going out to paint. It makes your chances of success much better. I think the same could be said for attending a workshop. Having a goal or knowing what your motivation is for the workshop can help you satisfy your reasons and enrich your experience.
There are quite a few reasons I can think of to take a workshop. Often the reason will be something like, "I want to paint like (workshop instructor)". That's a pretty broad and lofty goal. Most workshops last 5 days at the longest and are often shorter. You can't learn it all in that amount of time. Here are some possible smaller goals:
1) being exposed to a method or technique the instructor uses
2) new color combinations you hadn't considered before or new tube colors
3) camaraderie with other artists
4)getting the feel for a new method or subject
5) trying a new medium
6) gaining knowledge about an artists' life
7) marketing ideas
8) traveling to a new place
These are just a few I can think of. The last workshop I took was with Camille Przewodek at the Scottsdale Artist's School. It was a success in every way as far as I was concerned. I had no expectation of making a pretty painting. I hoped to follow instructions and see if I could grasp the principle behind the method. I wanted to meet other artists, to consider the whole thing as an adventure (leaving room for mishaps) and travel to an area I'd never been to before and generally enjoy the week. All of those things happened and I was very pleased. If I had gone expecting to impress everyone with my ability or to make a beautiful painting, I would have been sorely disappointed.
One of my paintings from the workshop. As you can see, it wasn't very pretty! But I learned a lot! The painting above, April Morning Alley, is a painting done after a lot of practice from the workshop.
How do you approach workshops? Do you have some suggestions to share?
Our chickens finally have gotten big enough to model for me! My first in what I hope becomes a series!
This painting is an original oil on gallery wrapped canvas. It doesn't need a frame and comes ready to hang, hanger included!
Welcome to my weekly blog about life as an artist. I like to share little do-able tips for making things easier in this very full and busy life we lead as the people who wear all the hats.
This week's post is about making an EDITORIAL CALENDAR. Do you have one? Do you wonder whether or not you should have one? Have you ever heard of such a strange sounding thing? Do you wonder what one is?
I had never heard of an editorial calendar until a few years ago when listening to some marketing advice. The term stuck with me but all I really could remember was that I should have one. That was at least 2 years ago, and I've finally gotten around to "making" one. I say making one, lightly. I'm not sure I really have it down, but I'm giving it a go. And that is why I am writing about it this week: it's on my editorial calendar to do so.
You may know, or you may be smarter than I and have it figured out, that an editorial calendar is a "writing-subject" schedule of sorts. I think people in the writing business have used them forever. Now that so many of us are in charge of all or most of our own promotion we may have need for an editorial calendar as we don the writer's cap. An editorial calendar can make your writing life much easier! Here's the way I've gone about it.
My "editorial calendar" for blog posts.
A few weeks ago I sat down and listed every thing I could think of to write about concerning life as an artist. I know I didn't exhaust the possibilities, but I came up with enough things to last the rest of the year! The rest of the year! I know they will last that long because I assigned the publish date to each one, using a pencil so I can make changes if I want to.
Once that was done, I did something similar with my newsletter schedule. I publish that twice a month for the most part. Sometimes more often, but at least that often. I keep a file on my desktop for my newsletter as well as a notebook. I jot down events and file pics of interest for each newsletter. It makes it much easier when the time comes! I also used upcoming events as things to include as I was mapping out my calendar.
A rough idea for newsletters.
This simple editorial calendar has definitely made my life much easier! How about you? Have you got an editorial calendar?
