The Hidden Gallery

Okay, I guess I got carried away and forgot to make a scan before it got to this point...These are the very first layers of watercolour paint.  Things look flat at this point.  The colours, the shapes, everything.  I've started shading with cobalt blue and highlighting with some rose dore for the mermaid's skin then washed over everything with yellow ocher.  I've also started indicating some of the background elements with more defined shapes.  Whatever bleed I was losing my mind over has now been resolved.  I've incorporated the bleeding ink into the watery paint.  Thank goodness!  Judy's art looks even more amazing with colours added!

Working through the email i've neglected over the past couple weeks.   I'm down to 56 emails.  wo'hoo... back on track soon I think hope.

Part VI and the finished painting next!

OMG... is all I could think when I touched wet brush to paper... I must have been on crack when I was at the art store because I didn't buy a waterproof black marker.  D'OH!

I almost cried...then remembered all the brown ink was indeed done with waterproof ink and felt a tremendous relief!!!  phew!!!  After that, I just decided to work with the bleeding.  It's an underwater illustration anyway so a little watery-ness won't be too bad, right?  That's all I could hope for at this point.  I almost had a heart attack because I thought I ruined the Judy's art!!

OMG!  Raptors took the Nets 106-69!   o____O  wo'hoo!

Next...part V!

Phew!! No major mistakes!  I'm so relieved!  In fact I am almost pleased with the results!  There is no way I could have inked this well if it was not for Judy's gorgeous drawing and her skillz.  Her body proportions are so accurate and the mermaid's pose so graceful.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate that! 

I think I am often guilty of "manga"-ing my illustrated characters.  It's a style I suppose I've developed, however, it has turned into a very bad habit.  I think that was one of the things that really rubbed my life drawing teacher the wrong way.  I mean, not like the time he screamed, "YOU WRECKED YOUR DRAWING!!!!" at me then angrily stomped away kind of "rubbed the wrong way", but still this bad habit of mine must have troubled him quite a bit.  And no wonder.  It has certainly become a curse at times and at others, quite a lovely accident... But I'd still prefer it if I did do life drawing accurately and not so stylized sometimes....

That's what practice is for, right?

Well, now that I'm a little too far away from Toronto School of Art for open Life Drawing, I'm going to have to find another studio or skool that I can maybe bike to.  Has to be less than $10 a session.  Otherwise I might have to resort to doing life drawing self-portraits in the mirror and jeezzz... i sure don't want to have to resort to that...i already don't like posing for reference photos and i don't like painting or drawing from photos...

Our high dollar...oh how it has been a blessing and a curse!  My whole business structure must now re-adapt...

We don't have cable...I didn't care until the Raptors started playing again!!!  Here's the cracked out part...  since when the hells did I start caring about NBA basketball?!?

Next... part IV

I had to think long and hard about what I wanted to with Judy's drawing.  Because she used really heavy paper with lots of tooth, I considered using a more water-downed acrylic paint and try to use it like I do with my paintings on canvas.  But after some thinking, I thought that it would not be a good idea because I tend to layer quite heavily.  With many heavy layers, I wasn't sure if the paper could handle it and I wasn't about to find out.  Instead I went for the good ol' panned watercolours.  I figured the paper could take a lot of layering and the washes may be more brilliant with so many layers.

Painting this with watercolours means inking the drawing as well.  Of all the things related to art, I think inking is the most challenging for me.  I do tend to mess up and I've ruined many a potential painting with my lousy inking skills.  And of course, this also meant I had to pick an inking instrument.  Do I dare go old skool and use the dip pen and an open bottle of ink on this textured paper?  Too risky, I thought.  So I thought a marker would be better.

It didn't take me long to decide how I wanted to ink this painting.  I thought I would go art nouveau with brown and black marker.  So, I started with the brown sakura.  I always start inking on the minor elements of the artwork so I can find my pacing for smooth lines before attempting the figure or the main focus.  I decided to outline in black, but my black marker had died...

One of the most bestest things about my new location is that the art store is just down the street!!!  I can walk there or bike there anytime I want!  No more TTC downtown just to buy something like a black marker!  I also picked up some blank cards and an eraser.  Art supply shopping is about the only shopping I don't really mind too much...phew!

Part III next...

Check out these new websites where you can buy cool, handmade things!

The community art market:
lov.li

and independent art and design:
www.elsewares.com

I've already seen quite a few beautiful things there!  Then you can visit www.lov.li/users/thehiddengallery where I have started listing art!



In another earnest effort to create more real estate around here, we moved the furniture around again.  I had misplaced the Alice painting unfinished for weeks.  And I found a whole bunch of unfinished paintings that I had completely forgotten about including this WIP:




Out of sight, out of mind!

Anyway, Larv told me he thought I was doing better because he noticed I was reading again.  That's a good sign.  And, I've started making my weekly pilgrimage to the library again.  More blogging.

Because we moved the furniture around, I haven't really been able to use the easel for big drawings of late.  Acrylic paintings are still left undone until I figure out the jenga solution to the problems.

This new arrangement allows me to look out the window from my desk.  My neighbours across the street have a huge big screen tv in their living room.  I can see everything they are watching when they leave the curtains open.  They recently got a Nintendo Wii and I have been watching vicariously as they play.  lol

continuing from this post



I don't know why, but the face changed.



adding some wings

( comments... )

My bad for not sharing my art with you... so here is a WIP for you... I don't know where it's going...



I'm using acrylic paints on stretched canvas.  I cover the canvas with a 'ground' which is just a layer of colour on the canvas.  I think when I work with oil, I don't usually use a ground and will start painting straight on to the canvas.



This is the really 'ugly' stage of my painting.  I'm working really fast and just 'blocking' in the shapes with solid colour.  In this case, I started with just white and burnt umber.  Hopefully, limiting my colour choices will force me to evaluate my values more objectively.



I'm still sticking with only 2 colours.  I've blocked in most of the shapes and have started refining the figure.  I think my head is too big and since I don't have a 'free-transform' when I go old skool, I decide I better fix it now before it gets outta hand.  lol



I arrogantly think that I've established the values accurately and decide to add some colour to refine the shapes.  I add a light green for contrast and add colbalt blue to darken the shadowed areas.  You can see where I've been dripping paint...lol  The next day, when I take a look at my painting, I think to myself, "wtf?  I thought that was green, not yellow!!" and realize once again how important it is to work in consistent light....

More to come!  I'm giving you fair warning!  lol