Paint Misbehavin'

Cobwebs in the Creative Attic

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 23:11:00 +0000

Egads, has it been a month since the last post?! My apologies, dear readers. I'd like to claim that I have been busy traveling to faraway exotic lands, or composing a opera or something, but the truth is that, were I to actually pass through an airport scanner, the results would look something like this:

This would probably be curiously described in some dust-collecting psychiatric text as something like "Unequivocal Sentient Dormancy", or "Complete Hibernation of Imaginative Oomph". A definitive understanding of this creative malaise was proving elusive, until I stumbled upon something eye-opening while perusing one of my favorite time-sucking websites:

This particular bit of graphic hilarity was posted by 'catfacemeowmers', and I was obviously immersed in the orange area when I discovered it. I have no idea who this person is, but the above chart seemed to provide surprising and unnerving proof that they had somehow peered into my very soul, or at least ruffled through the pages of my psyche. I have been haplessly over-indulging on the large pieces of the pie chart, whilst ignoring the tastier smaller slices.

Well, there's no better kick in the cobwebbed creativity than a good art challenge.

Some of the artists on Daily Paintworks are now posting challenges, and Carol Marine's One Color Per Stroke caught my eye. Since my Imagination had been under official Couch Potato status for the past month, a warm up with a familiar subject seemed in order.

Yep, my old friend has resurfaced to help lift the malaise. She was sketched on black gessoed paper using a white Conte pencil.

Since the color scheme will be predominantly warm, a cool turquoise underpainting was used.

When the underpainting was dry, the white pencil was wiped away, and the eye was defined.

The background was first, with each brush load of paint being modified slightly to adhere to the tenets of the challenge.

Then it was time to start defining her face. Not falling back into the 'dabbling" habit was proving to be a struggle.

'Wassup?'

7"x8.5", acrylic on paper

The brush strokes didn't turn out as defined as I would have liked, but simpler subject and a larger brush would most likely enhance that effect. It did feel good to clear out the cobwebs and brush some thick paint onto paper.

Now it's time for a snack. Followed by a nap.

There's No Business Like Snow Business (or...We're Off To See The Blizzard)

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 18:55:00 +0000

Snow is an obvious staple of a midwestern winter. We play in it, we shovel it, we sculpt it into interesting shapes. We marvel at the beauty of a new snowfall, and then curse it's inconvenience when we get behind the wheel of a car. We listen to the forecasts, plan accordingly, and dutifully clean and salt our walks and driveways when colliding weather fronts dump a few inches of the powdery stuff on our domain.

When the dire predictions of impending doom began to emerge last weekend, we peered at the foretold omens with skeptical eyes, having been taken in before by the cries of meteorological "wolf". More than once, prophecies of disaster have turned into nothing more than a bothersome dusting of white fluff. Adopting an "oh well, just in case" attitude, we stocked up on shovels and de-icer, and the usual staples of bread and milk (my list also includes chocolate and Diet Coke). (And maybe bacon).

Well, Mother Nature decided to more than live up to the hype this time. Pulling out all the stops, she treated us to blinding snowfalls, howling winds, and even a side show of thunder and lightning. In the northbound lanes of the illustrious Lake Shore Drive, three accidents in short succession blocked the roadway for all who followed, bringing traffic to a standstill, and quickly entombing hundreds of commuters in snow and ice encrusted vehicles. I guarantee the stranded motorists had at least these two thoughts on their minds:

" How the hell am I going to get out of here??"

" Why the hell did I drink so much damn coffee at the office??!!"

About ten hours later, rescue finally arrived; but instead of a prince on a white horse, it was a firefighter on a snow-whitened snowmobile. All of the marooned motorists were eventually rescued, and were rewarded with days of trying to locate their towed cars in the myriad of city impound lots.

When all was said and done, we only managed to obtain the status of 'third-worst blizzard in Chicago history", missing the top mark by a scant two inches. If it had only managed to snow another hour or two, we easily could have taken top honors. Thankfully, we weren't required to leave the house for any reason (not that we could have anyway), and even more thankfully, the power stayed on.

The only reason the dogs weren't handed snow shovels was due to their lack of opposable thumbs. They celebrated this biological advantage by gleefully bounding through the snow drifts as we spent hours digging ourselves out.

The blizzard-induced sequestering wasn't all for naught; I did manage to try a couple of experiments using the Sea turtle and various acrylic mediums. They turned into disasters in and of themselves. Here's one example:

Pre-calamity:

Post-calamity:

I really must learn not to use India inks when I have my mad Scientist hat on, I don't have the feel (and apparently the eyesight) to tell when it's completely dry. I may have to attempt a turtle resurrection with this one, as she was coming along interestingly before the ink obliterated her facial features. Or maybe I have just created a new species called the Swirly-Black-Headed Sea Turtle.

Yeah. I'm going with that.

Grounded

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:36:00 +0000

No, I didn't stay out all night and now I can't leave the house for a week.

(Actually, that sounds quite appealing right about now...)

We're talking painting grounds, that particular surface or substrate that we choose to use for our art. This past Saturday I attended a "Gritty Grounds" workshop at Positive Strokes, our neighborhood art school and gallery. The class was led by Sandi Bacon, the local rep for Golden Paints, and was an overview of some of the products that can be used to create textured grounds for all media. Basically, it was a perfect excuse to have fun and splash some paint around on a cold winter day.

Did I bring my camera to the workshop? Of course. Did I bother to take any pictures during the paint splashing frenzy? Of course not. Next time, I promise.

Here are some of the results of the experiments:

This was my favorite. A thin layer of Light Molding Paste was applied to watercolor paper, then fluid acrylic color was washed over the paste. Once the paste was dry, the experiments began. On the left, more paste was applied through a stencil. In the middle, shapes were carved into the paste. And on the right, another thin layer of paste was applied which lightly veiled the original wash. Then more color was washed over the whole piece. Lots of wonderful texture and color variation!

In this example, fluid acrylics were washed and applied opaquely over Coarse Molding Paste.

And here, paint was washed over paper coated with Iridescent Gold and some Glass Bead Gel.

This time, paint was washed over Absorbent Ground for Pastels (I think, can't quite remember all the grounds. Must learn to write these things down....). After a little washing and scratching, a layer of Glass Bead Gel was applied over the left side.

Here's a close-up, angled shot of the Glass Bead Gel.

There were a few other fun paint-flinging experiments done, but they were slightly wet, and managed to adhere themselves together by the time I got home. All in all, a fun and informative workshop. Now I feel the need to don my Mad Scientist gear, and go apply some of this newfound creativity to some unsuspecting subject.

Oh, and speaking of workshops, I am positively lightheaded with anticipation to be traveling to Hilton Head Island to attend a Karin Jurick workshop in November. I promise I will take pictures at that one!

Motivation, Interrupted

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 03:20:00 +0000

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I can at least thank the force of gravity for that. It's been a simple case of being mired in the Doldrums, where any hint of a creative spark was promptly doused by a bucket full of "meh". My Muse took a vacation, and was probably lounging on a beach somewhere with the Travelocity Gnome.

To be sure that my brain was still working, and not reduced to just a gelatinous mass whose sole purpose is to keep my skull from collapsing inward like a dying planet, I prodded a few inert neurons into life and sat down at the easel to do a little alla prima painting.

Now, I'm not an alla prima kinda gal. I don't whip up a painting in a single sitting like a cake recipe. I tweak. I adjust. I calibrate. I fully admit that I'm powerless over my addiction to multiple layers of glazing. But this was all about zapping dormant creativity back to life, so here goes.

The sketch was done on black gessoed paper, then a Cad Red Light underpainting was applied.

First some background....

Then on to the turtle herself....

And finally, an alla prima painting:

I had to make myself put down the brushes and back away from the easel before my trembling hand could reach for the glazing liquid. But like the Polar Bear Series before her, I can see the potential for experimenting with various techniques with this subject.

Ahh...it's good to be back.

In With The New

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 00:08:00 +0000

...oh, hi. Didn't see you come in. Yes, it's me here behind this stack of Christmas storage boxes. We have successfully celebrated, caroled, and noel-ed ourselves into a stupor. After finally having the time to pose our reluctant bunch of canines in front of the tree for their annual holiday snapshot, the trimming and detritus of the holidays were swiftly packed, parceled, bagged and stored. Now the abode doesn't look like a halfway house for indigent reindeer and wayward elves anymore.

I hope your holidays were safe and sound, merry and bright, and you enjoyed the company of family and friends. As this new year gets underway, I wish you all health and happiness, and hope all of your New Year's wishes find a way of coming true...

...especially the artistic ones!

Oh, The Weather Outside Is Frightful

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 19:42:00 +0000

Okay, maybe not frightful, but it's fraught with the type of frigid cold that usually assaults the Chicago area in the middle of January, not the beginning of December. I believe it's Mother Nature way of ordering me to stay inside and goof off. Who am I to argue with the perfect excuse to toss some tinsel and trim the tree?

Whilst tossing and trimming, I came upon my most favorite ornament of them all: a tiny penguin that's so cute that merely gazing upon him has been known to completely thaw the very coldest of grinchy hearts.

See what I mean?

More unpacking turned up more penguins (albeit not quite as cute), so a tinsel time-out was taken to do a little fun sketching and experiment with a recently acquired set of Cretacolor AquaStics (oil pastels that are water soluble. Woo-hoo, I'm all over anything that can be construed as watermedia!).

In this sketch, the AquaStic was applied to the paper, and then gone over with a wet brush. Not bad, but unless the pastel was applied heavily, the tooth of the Canson Acrylic paper was pretty evident, as seen on his textured, ample belly.

This time the wet brush was rubbed across the Aquastic first, and then applied to the paper, creating a smoother, looser watercolor look.

The Aquastics certainly bear more experimentation. I can see them being a useful, easily portable plein aire tool. And for weather wussies like me, that means plein aire-ing when the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the temperature is balmy, and your water container doesn't freeze solid before you've even had the chance to dip your brush into it.

Back to tossing and trimming. Time to find a special spot on the tree to hang the cute little penguin.

Sitting On The Fence with a Broken Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 21:44:00 +0000

I'm back from my self-imposed hiatus, my dears, and I have missed you all terribly. I have oodles of blogs to read and much to catch up on. Life, once again, reared it's ugly head and demanded time for other things besides art and blogging.

I actually have been dabbling in art the past month, just not in the form that you're used to seeing. Some of the wood fence that surrounds our patio needed replacing, so we started researching options. I wasn't happy with the flimsy examples exhibited at the big box home-improvement stores, and was even less happy with the gaggle of estimates gleaned from several fencing companies. Being a Custom Kinda Gal, it was time to take matters into my own hands.

We have an affinity for the Craftsman style of architecture, signified by simple, elegant designs using natural materials. Of course, trying to incorporate this refined style into a 50's tract ranch is sort of like putting perfume on a pig, but...it's our pig, and it's smelling a little sweeter with every project we do.

Lots of internet research turned up the Gamble House, an extraordinary example of the style by Arts and Crafts architects Greene and Greene. One particular detail in the house caught my eye: the angled pieces in the upper parts of the windows that are said to simulate the rays of the rising sun.

Well, we can all use a little more sunshine in our lives, right? With this detail in mind, I sat down to design and build a fence. (Yes, stand back...I have power tools and I'm not afraid to use them.)

A few sketched plans and several lumber purchases later....

... a fence began to take shape.

After a couple of weekends of work, I had my sturdy, custom-built fence at a fraction of the cost of having a fence company build it, a money-saving strategy that would make my penny-pinching Scottish ancestors proud.

In between jobs and fences and holiday get-togethers, we were caring for one of our kitties who was recently diagnosed with cancer. Yesterday, we chose to end Maxxine's battle, and she is now at peace.

Maxxine was 16 years old. I found her and two sisters in a hollow log when they were about two weeks old. I took the kittens home, bottle raised them, and of course couldn't part with them and kept all three. Samantha passed away several years ago, and Gracie is still fat, happy and healthy.

Maxxine definitely wasn't the smartest sister, but what she lacked in cerebral abilities she more than made up for in cuddliness. She had a raucous meow that she used frequently, and had a purr that was so loud and deep that you felt it in your bones. If you closed you eyes, you would swear that you had a cat-sized motorboat sitting in your lap. With Maxx gone, the house just seems too quiet.

Queen Maxxine Jean the Jellybean

1994 - 2010

Thank you for sharing our lives these past sixteen years.

A Kinda Likable Oops

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 15:16:00 +0000

In between pressing winterizing tasks around the house (it got into the 20's here last night...brrrrrrr. I was all set to complain about it, but the poor folks in northern Indiana got several inches of snow, so I'll just shut up), I was determined to fit in just a bit of art. So I did a quick giraffe sketch (gotta go with what you love), and then for a change of pace, quickly outlined the sketch in India ink.

As I began to fill in the form with some acrylic ink, the India ink began to run into my nice, clean colors, giving the giraffe an undesirable muddy skin condition. In my haste, I had grabbed the water soluble India ink, rather than the waterproof one. Oh well. I had already begun, so might as well go with the flow, so to speak. After that, ink was just brushed on with abandon.

After all was said and done, I rather liked this girl, if for nothing else than for her spontaneity, looseness and complete lack of an over-calculated attempt at control. She's fresh, if a tad mucky, and was a blessed half an hour of just devil-may-care painting.

Tonight, the part of the Blogger will be played by....

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 14:54:00 +0000

Hello all. Furry Critic here, filling in for Mom who is over in the corner babbling something incoherent. I think she's having some sort of existential artistic crisis.

She's walking around mumbling things like 'textured lights' and 'limited palette' and 'cohesive body of work'. I don't quite understand what that means, but it's keeping her busy in that stoo-dee-oo. Not to worry, I take her out for walks and make her play ball in the yard. But if she keeps babbling, I may need to take her to the vet.

So in the meantime, we wish you all a safe and happy Halloween. Now if you'll excuse me, I see a pirate, a princess, and a cute little Chilean miner coming up the front walk, and I simply must go complement them on their costumes.

Cones of Learning

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 00:02:00 +0000

These are a few studies based on the self-assignment "Make Something Interesting Out Of A Not So Interesting Photo". Just like the farmhouse studies, the photo was reduced to a four value, black and white image so I couldn't possibly cheat. All of the colors and values had to be dredged up from the imaginative depths of Right Brain.

Funny what happens when you have to throw away the safety nets and are forced to dust off an atrophied imagination. I wouldn't have thought twice about this exercise when I was a kid; I would have happily applied a rainbow of color without a second thought. Now as an adult, the idea is met with a bit of trepidation, and a feeling of floundering around, looking for a lifeline. I wonder when I lost that devil-may-care creative childhood spark. Oh well. Best not to test the water, just jump in with both feet and start splashing around.

Just like doing the Zentangle Polar Bear, these studies became a little freer and easier as I went along. I could just picture my decrepit Imagination, slowly getting up out of a rocking chair, slightly bent over, joints creaking, then stretching a bit and loosening up. I hope for the day when, just like in childhood, my Imagination is dancing a jig.

Drawing the Line

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 01:43:00 +0000

Well, one of the assignments I gave myself was to start sketching on a regular basis. Since I know myself to be a stern taskmistress, and I didn't want to get a detention from myself, a quick jaunt to the art store produced a small sketchbook that I could carry around and use frequently. It's being put to good use around the house, and here are some of the results:

Cheyenne in her favorite "watch the world go by" spot: the front picture window.

Maxxine sitting by the same window indulging in her favorite autumn passtime: stalking the falling leaves.

A maniacally merry mouse sculpture.

There are certainly more than enough of these lying around the yard, I can take one or two in to be sketched.

Whaddaya know...this is quite a bit of fun, and a nifty way to get a quick art fix when sitting down and unpacking all the art supplies just isn't feasible.

Down on the Farm

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:28:00 +0000

Let's have a little fun and do a value experiment today. I wanted to take a fairly simple subject, reduce it to four values, assign color to the values, and go from there.

Wading through the massive photo collection on my hard drive, I unearthed some photos that brought back fond memories.

When I fledged from the parental nest at 18, my first rented domicile was this farmhouse. The house, barns, other various buildings, and the surrounding 55 acres belonged to a friend's parents, who had retired from the farming life. Although it appears to be in a bucolic rural setting, this farm was the last tract of open land in a busy, sprawling suburban setting. It was bordered on the east by a six-lane expressway, on the south by an apartment complex, on the north by a strip mall, and on the west by neighborhoods of cookie-cutter suburban housing. Not wanting to see their former home plowed under by development, my friends parents chose to rent the house and lease the land, while spending their golden years in a smaller, more comfortable, and less drafty abode that required much less upkeep and maintenance.

Although a bit run down, the house was gorgeous. It boasted the large country kitchen of houses of the era, beautiful, hand-crafted wood trim and floors, and an incredible panel of stained glass that topped the living room window. (It was also haunted by the benevolent spirit of Aunt Marge, but that is a story for a later post). It was so large that I didn't need to make use of any of the five upstairs bedrooms, having more than enough room to comfortably live on the main floor.

I resided here for almost three years, loving the house and the space, exploring the remnants of farming life that were stored in the barns, and throwing spectacular Halloween parties. I probably would have lived there much longer, but in those years both of my friend's parents passed away, and the family chose to sell the land. The photo above was one of the last ones taken of the house before the bulldozers arrived. The area now boasts 55 acres of townhomes. Ain't progress grand? To this day, I carry a soft spot in my heart for old farm houses.

I chose a photo of the south face of the house, taken on that last day. (The photos are black and white because I was taking a photography class at the time, and we were learning to develop b&w film.)

Then I ran it through Photoshop, reducing it to four values.

Next, I resurrected my set of colored pencils, figuring it would be easier pick ready-made colors. I matched four of my warm greys to the greys of the value photo, and laid a thick line of each down on the paper. Then patches of selected colors were placed next to the lines to determine the value of each color. Two versions of the house were tried, one more of a warm-dominant, the other a cool-dominant.

Obviously modulating intensity wasn't a concern; just putting mostly pure color down based on it's value. A fun and intriguing first experiment, but I think I need to find an even simpler subject that has less of an emotional connection. Like maybe a tree. In a field. By itself. 'Nuff said.

Giving Up Those Nagging Artistic Addictions, or A Tale of Two Brains

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 17:30:00 +0000

In an effort to push my basic skills up a notch or two, it's time to start heaving aside the artistic crutches I've been relying on, and make my brain actually think about what to do when applying medium to substrate.

The first crutch to be examined is "Elements of Working From Photographs". Here's what I find myself clinging to that needs to be flung aside:

Having to have a 'wow' photo to start with. When working from photos, a good artist should be able to take the most mundane photo and turn it into something interesting to look at. If a photo is that spectacular, just take it and frame it...don't bother to paint it. Assignment: Find some simple, unassuming photos, and make something appealing out of them.
Having to directly transfer the photo in order to duplicate it exactly. If you're not painting a realistic portrait, then does exactness really matter? Does a landscape painting fail because it's not an exact copy of said landscape? Nope. Get creative. Add stuff. Move stuff. Make the painting better than the photo. Time to work on those atrophied drawing skills! Assignment: Transfer the photo subject to the substrate by freehand sketch. And start carrying a sketchbook around, and get in the habit of sketching for fun.
Letting the colors of the photo dictate the colors that are painted. I spend far too much time trying to duplicate the colors of a photo. Time to start making hue, value, temperature and intensity decisions on my own. Orange trees? Great! Blue dogs? Why not! Assignment: Work from black and white photos.
Painting only from photos. All of the above indicates I'm in a "Copy Rut', and it restricts putting any of my own twists and feeling into a piece. Assignment: Start painting from real life. Or better yet, from pure imagination!

Even though some issues have been identified and solutions proposed, I'm finding myself in a somewhat suspended stasis, vaguely yearning for specific instruction and direction. Whatever could be the reason? Why, it's my snarky Left Brain demanding a step-by-step learning syllabus before embarking on anything different.

Aarruugghh! Great, another crutch. Left Brain is now insisting on wasting incredible amounts of time scouring the Interweb, researching and investigating, planning and assigning, ordering and cataloging, until it comes up with a suitable linear synopsis to follow exactly. Phooey. That's the reason there's a lack of feeling or spontaneity in my work. Left Brain insisted on literal copies and exact colors, and things being just so, which basically is the antithesis of any creativity.

Time to let Right Brain have some free reign.

Bug Zapped

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 20:21:00 +0000

Sorry to have been away, but some nasty little germs went all Rambo on my poor bodily defenses and took no prisoners in the process.

Thankfully, with the aid of much chicken soup, a comfy couch, a dog who will happily lay on my feet and keep them warm, endless old movie reruns, and more than a few days of being in a feverish semi-vegetative state, the germy little monsters have finally waved their victory flag and are off to decimate their next victim. I'm just beginning to be able to breathe somewhat normally again, after ingesting what had to be a tanker truck full of antihistamines.

Inhale. Exhale. Repeat as necessary.

The blog is still a work in progress, but I didn't dare to attempt any changes while in a state of quasi-delirium. Many of you have mentioned the lack of a colorful header - fear not! - one will be designed after a final decision is made about the template.

On the art front, I learned that my Jasiri painting did not make it into the Cincinnati Art Club's Viewpoint show. It's a little disappointing, but it just means that I'll have to work harder, learn more, and put a better foot (brush?) forward for next year. Congratulations to the 70 artists that made it into the show, and a big thanks to all the folks who work so hard to put the event together.

Now that I've managed an update, the wooziness is taking over again. Back to the couch....

Blog Rolling

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:32:00 +0000

I'm working hard on this blog reconstruction. Really I am.

I think I like this template a bit better, but I lose some customization ability (and ah'm all about custom-I-zation, baby....ah should call this post 'Pimp My Blog').

There has to be a 12-step program for Blog ADD. If not, I think I'll start one when I finally finish tweaking this one. Ironically, it's the ADD that will prolong the time until the final tweak.

Along with another episode of Extreme Blog Makeover, there is actually some art to be seen here. This is a quick study that will hopefully grow up to be a painting someday.

Tiger study

Acrylic ink on watercolor paper

I loved this photo reference for two reasons:

There's a great abstract quality to it.
It's a shining example of 'Cat-itude'.

Felines of all ilks have seemingly perfected this pose of 'nonchalant disdain'. They feign indifference by turning their back on you, yet one ear is continually pointed in your direction like a furry radar dish, making sure you are still hovering in the area, ready to spring forth and grant their every whim.

They've got it made.

Blog Fog

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 16:34:00 +0000

This little blog redesign is a definite work in progress. I'll be trying on templates like a soon-to-be bride tries on dresses.

I'm shooting for a light neutral post background that will not compete with the artwork colors, with dark lettering (apparently easier to read). As always, I'd love your opinions on the various stages of remodeling, since you're the one who has to look at it to read it. Bad fonts? Silly colors? Annoying backgrounds? Can't read the darn thing because it hurts your eyes? Please let me know.

A Pair O' Bison

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 04:33:00 +0000

Recently, we took some friends up on their offer to spend some time at their place in the Wisconsin heartland. While perusing the local newspaper over breakfast one morning (all three pages of it), we came upon an ad for tours of the local bison farm, and decided "why not?" We finished our eggs, and off we went.

The farm was beautiful, and the tour was quite interesting. After being guided through the various barns and corrals, our little handful of tour-goers climbed onto a tractor-pulled wagon, and were driven out into one of the pastures to commune with one of the bison herds. While other wagoneers fed ears of corn to interested herd members, I was busy snapping pictures of some of the more photogenic bison. One that particularly caught my eye was one of the large bulls in the herd, stoically keeping an eye on the proceedings. His head looked to be approximately the size of a Volkswagon Beetle, and his coat was starting to thicken up prior to the inevitable arrival of winter. He was gorgeous, and patrolled the herd with the self assured air of the 'Big Man on Campus.

Big Man on Campus

Acrylic Ink on Bristol board

And just for some loosening-up fun, I did a wet-into-wet, high key version.

Big Man 2

Acrylic Ink on Bristol board

The dog portrait is temporarily on hold right now. Did you ever have trouble 'seeing' where you're going with a painting, and aren't sure of the next step? Now every time I go into the studio, it stares at me from the easel, seemingly mocking my Artistic Brain Freeze. I am hoping doing some quick studies, like the bison, will thaw out my creative neuropathways.

Dog Daze

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:47:00 +0000

Critters, critters everywhere. The next entrant in our creature parade is Payton, the beloved dog of a friend.

As photo references go, this one isn't going to be easy. It's a head on shot of a black dog, with no discernible light source. Another photo taken in late afternoon light was provided, so I'm going to try to recreate those colors on this reference

Here's the sketch on a black gessoed panel, complete with annoying glare.

The first layer of underpainting.

Additional underpainting....

There's going to have to be a lot of subtle coloration done in those darks, otherwise he's going to look as flat as a blackboard.

More work will be done on him a bit later...Woe is me, I have to spend this absolutely gorgeous day outside catching up on gardening chores (picture me with the back of one hand pressed against my forehead, the other patting my heart) It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it. :-D

Psychedelic Giraffe and Blog Repair

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 02:59:00 +0000

After a few days of frantically trying to catch up on everything I let lapse around here, it's time once again to sit down and catch up on what's going on in the blog world.

Here's the continuation and completion of the giraffe:

The first layer of the background was filled in, and the salient spots were chalked in on her face.

The first colors were blocked in.

Several layers and glazes were added.

And here is the final result:

Jasiri

24" x 12", acrylic on hardboard

I submitted this to the Cincinnati Art Club's Viewpoint Show. I have my fingers and paintbrushes crossed that it gets accepted into the show. If it does, that'll be a big first in my fledgling art career.

There was a submission deadline for the show, and I didn't leave myself enough 'comfort time' to get her done. You think I would have learned by now, but I cut my time too short, and wound up doing marathon painting sessions to finish her by deadline. Now I see at least a dozen things that I would change, but it's too late. I need some 'simmer' time to take a break from a piece and come back to look at it with fresh eyes. Lesson learned.

And another lesson learned...I had the yen to clean up the Picasa account that Google so happily supplies when a Blogger account is created. I went through what was there, sorting and organizing, and deleting the things that somehow seemed to multiply on their own, or no longer seemed useful or pertinent.

You know when you go to delete something, and a little dialogue box pops up and says "Are you sure you want to do that?", and you just mindlessly click "Yes, of course I want to do that, why do you keep asking me, you're really getting to be an annoying little dialogue box." Well, I failed to completely read the annoying little dialogue box. If I had, I would have realized that the annoying little dialogue box was telling me that whatever I deleted from Picasa was also simultaneously being deleted from this Blog.

!@#$%&*?#%!!!!!!

I had wiped out about three quarters of the blog photos before I realized the swath of destruction I was creating, and there was no way to undo it.

Well, there were a lot of bloggy-type things I needed to catch up on. Add 'replace photos' to the list.

Enough Lollygagging, Back to Work!

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 01:26:00 +0000

With the bears now in the rear view mirror, another creature calls out to be painted. Only one of these is planned, the thought of one hundred of anything else right now makes me woozy.

A 12" x 24" board was gessoed, and a thin layer of Fiber Paste was applied.

A favorite creature of choice, the enigmatic giraffe, was sketched on the board. This particular giraffe is of the Reticulated variety, and her name is Jasiri.

Another layer of Fiber Paste was applied with palette knives, sculpting the giraffe, and starting to 'raise' her from the background. Parts of her anatomy, like the nose, are getting thicker paste layers to 'force' the perspective a bit.

Two more layers of paste trowled on. I'm going to need a cement truck full of Fiber Paste at this rate. I wonder if they sell it by the tanker full.

And since I like working on a black background to create a somewhat 'batik' look.....

Her raised outline is my guide now. Tomorrow I'll chalk in some more guidelines.

The Finish of the Last Bear in the Challenge. #100 - Depth

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 23:38:00 +0000

Here it is my friends. The last of the light values were added, and now the challenge is complete.

Depth Bear

I can't thank you all enough for following this for the last one hundred and some odd days, for your words of critique, support, encouragement, and just plain making me laugh out loud. All of it played an integral part in the completion of this challenge, and you have my gratitude.

Another project looms on the horizon in the immediate future, but until that one gets started...

...I need a nap.

Artistic Polar Bea......Oh, You Know.

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 03:59:00 +0000

A quick update from the easel -

A layer of wax and a layer of paint later...

Another layer of wax (a little too thick) and paint...

He's looking very mosaic-y because I'm trying not to completely cover the layers below. I'm thinking one more thin layer and a satin top coat, and we can bid a fond farewell to our ursine friend.

Artistic Polar Bear Challenge: 100 Ways In A Bit More Than 100 Days. #100 - Continued

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 01:52:00 +0000

Well...things didn't go so well with Bear 100. You see, when I was doing the Acrylic Encaustic Bear, I made two batches of the acrylic 'wax'. One was the 'refined beeswax', which was used on the Encaustic Bear. The other was an 'unrefined beeswax', a thicker, denser, more opaque mixture that I was planning on experimenting with later. Guess which one I mistakenly used on Bear 100? When the 'wax' finally dried, the bear was almost completely obliterated.

Humph. Bear 100 - take two.

As I cleaned the studio today, finding piles of bear art everywhere, I was mulling over the whole 'texture and depth' conundrum. Maybe I was trying to do too much at once. Perhaps the texture part of it should be separated into 'visual texture', like the layers in the Encaustic Bear, and 'physical texture', like the use of the Fiber and Molding pastes (aarruugghh.....my inner High School Science Geek is rearing her ugly head!).

So, let's go with trying to create visual texture and depth with Bear 100. Taking what was learned from doing the Encaustic Bear and sort of turning it on it's side, I decided to start with dark values. The plan is, as each layer is put on, the values will lighten, causing the lightest areas to come 'forward' physically and visually. Hopefully that will create the sense of depth and texture I'm looking for.

Step 1: Drawing the bear on a black gessoed canvas board, outlining each area that has a different value.

Step 2: Painting in the first values.

I just whipped up a new batch of acrylic wax, less opaque than the batch that was used on Encaustic Bear (and much less opaque than the wax that now covers the previous Bear 100). The wax needs to sit overnight to let bubbles escape, so first thing in the morning, our new Bear 100 gets waxed.

It's becoming the Neverending Bears.

Artistic Polar Bear Challenge: 100 Ways In 100 Days. #100 - The Start of the Very Last Bear

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:44:00 +0000

Well, the grey matter seems to be in more of a working order today. Time to finish up on yesterday's bear, and continue on to today.

Once the gel had dried on yesterday's bear, it was peeled off of the glass, and flipped over. Thin color washed were applied, letting them glide and pool over the slick gel surface.

Once that had dried, the image was flipped again, and color washes were added to the front of the image, letting the colors visually mix with the background colors.

Totally Acrylic Bear

Yes, I know, this one is pretty awful. Well, they can't all be successes. I'm laughing at the absurdness of it myself. You know where this one is headed....

Now...onto the final, the ultimate, the number 100 of 100, the concluding...yes.. the very last bear.

I thought about this one quite a bit. What to do for the final bear? I wanted something fantastically eye-popping to end the series, but decided that the whole idea behind doing the series was to stretch myself artistically, and try methods I probably would not have tried before. What did I like? What caught my eye and make me say "Wow, I'd really like to incorporate that technique into future works?"

There are two things that really rev my artistic engine: texture and depth. So I'm going to experiment with combining some of the 99 previous methods to achieve this.

The first step is a little texture, as used in the Batik Bear. Fiber paste was loosely applied to a wood panel, and when dry, the bear was blocked in.

Once that was dry, like the Encaustic Bear, a layer of acrylic "wax" was applied, thick and textural.

And that's where we'll leave it for tonight. I want to play with this final bear, think about the combination of methods, learn what works and what doesn't. Whatever works out of this experiment is going to be used in future pieces, and define where I'm headed style-wise.

Stay tuned, we're not done yet. And yes, maybe I feel a little bear withdrawl coming on, and can't quite give him up yet.

Artistic Polar Bear Challenge: 100 Ways In 100 Days. #99 - Drawing With Acrylic....Sort Of

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Walsh) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 01:06:00 +0000

I woke up this morning with an unexplainable case of Fuzz Brain. Basic Brain was taking care of all of it's usual tasks - I was able to breathe, stand, walk, and talk somewhat coherently, but anything much beyond that was taking a concentrated effort. I found myself standing in the middle of my kitchen, knowing I needed to do something but couldn't remember what it was. Thankfully, the loudly meowing, cranky fuzzball undulating around my ankles awakened me from my stupor, and reminded me of the task I set out to do ("...oh yeah, feed the cat").

I was at least able to find my way into the studio, but fresh ideas about how to create today's bear were not forthcoming. I poked Right Brain with a mental stick several times, but all that issued were used ideas of past bears (...."collage"...*poke*..."color scheme"..*poke*..."substrate"...*poke*.."just do another collage, and stop poking me, dammit, I'm tired."). A CAT scan taken of my skull would show Right Brain lying in a deflated, amorphous heap, currently incapable of creating a novel concept.

In desperation, I grabbed the nearest thing within reach - the Clear Tar Gel. I poured a puddle of it on the glass palette, then drew the bear into the wet gel.

Acrylic Drawing Bear

Rather than swirling color through the wet gel, I wanted to paint transparent color on the front and back of the dried gel, creating optical color mixes. The problem with this logic is that it takes the gel a full day to dry thoroughly enough to lift off of the glass, so it won't be dry until tomorrow.

Apparently Left Brain isn't functioning up to capacity, either. Anyone know where I can get a new one?

So while we wait for the gel to dry, a guest artist has offered their take on the bear for today's blog.

Annette's Bear

Tomorrow - the finish of #99, and the final bear of the series.