9.6.14 - Bulbs On a Ledge -

Bulbs on a ledge

6x6

Oil on Gessoboard

Not an expert on bulbs like Carol Marin, but she's inspired me to take them on, and here are some more in my series of them with one of my favorite composition devices (if it can be called a device? :)...a high horizon-line and focal point.

 

Happy Painting!

Reflections on "Aha's"

Reflections on "Aha's"

Oil on Gessoboard

6x6"

Today was a day of Aha's for me!  One "Aha" was that I now know that I really enjoy sharing what I'm learning with other artists!   Two, was that in doing so I got the satisfaction of experiencing my fellow artists having"Aha's" as well.   Three, this as we all tackled a concept that I first heard about from Kevin Macpherson in his key note address at the Plein Air Convention in April that packs a big punch of AHA!   (Amazing that I had never come across this wisdom in my years painting, but perhaps I just had to hear it when I was ready.)

What Kevin mentioned then, is that one of the secrets to a successful painting is never having light and shadow cross paths.

????

At the time I had no real clue what he was talking about.   And it wasn't until I read Liz Wiltzen's excellent blog post on the subject, along with her great pictures and explanations, that I could finally start to grasp how the "Power of Black and White" can help in understanding "the Essential of Truth Light and Shadow".   Take a look, read her blog and see if you will find it a little eye-opening as well!

What I added to her explanation in our lesson was to use acetate/vellum to put over our reference photos to very easily be able to distinguish the 2 values.  We would use a black sharpie to cover everything in shadow and leave what was in sun-light alone, creating a really strong graphic and still readable design, even without all the detail.  

This step really helps in, of course; simplifying!   It also helps me see how I can make the painting and the design stronger, whether my focal point works and how I can strengthen that focal point.  It's a also a good start-off point for creating areas of abstraction.

For someone who continually has struggled with "detailitis", "licking the canvas" and loosing my light and dark pattern this is a great exercise to practice!

Happy Painting!

Spring Bulbs

6x6

oil on gessoboard

To Bid

I've seen some great paintings of light bulbs that I absolutely love, so I thought I would attempt painting some myself.   It' was quite a challenge - lots of measuring and squinting.   

Since we recently moved and we had to get a lot of new lights - and bulbs, I've been a lot more conscious of all the different light bulbs that are available.   The type of light, the shapes, the strength...it's quite confusing actually...

And then for studio lighting it seems like a few years ago the only bulbs you could get to mimic outdoor natural light were the day light bulbs.   Today there are all the LED lights, soft, white, cool...but then a lot of them don't seem very strong at all....Can you tell I'm still trying to figure it out?   

To light this still life I used a small light I found at IKEA called Jansjo, that clips on and has a bendable neck.  It works great for getting those strong cast shadows.   Painting the LED light was also quite a challenge, trying to capture the somewhat violet part of the light in the shadow side and the pinkish color in the light that also seemed to have a light yellow highlight at the same time, not to mention the shape?!  I might have to give it another shot with a different set-up.  I like the green transparent bulb the best.  

Here's to spring!...it's coming fast.