Class Demo -- Painting Paints

Today's lesson:
Painting is about simplifying what you are looking at.  Simply said, it is however one of the most difficult skills for students to realize and a crucial part of learning how to "see" as a painter.  With this demonstration, my main objective was to show the student how to block-in a drawing without using contour lines, and instead, using large broad brushstrokes to form blocks of shapes existing by way of color and value.  This approach to drawing will help you simplify.

I first grouped the three tubes of paint and painted them as one large shape, much like a silhouette (I included the cast shadow as part of the silhouette).  After blocking-in my shape, I then treated the background as a shape and blocked it in.  I now have two shapes--the shape of the paint tubes vs. the shape of the background.  I then proceeded to paint the smaller shape of the cast shadow within the larger paint tubes shape... now I have three shapes.

Next, I continued to brake-down the paint tubes shape into three individual shapes, then, blocked-in the smaller shapes within.  I identified these shapes within as being: shapes of color, shapes of blacks, and shapes of whites.  I now continue on this path of creating smaller shapes within larger ones, where needed.  But before I do, I will step back from my canvas and investigate how I am to go about orchestrating my shapes.  Meaning, now that I can objectively see my shapes in a more simplified manner, I can now better plan out which shapes I want to emphasize and which shapes I choose to understate.  I can do this by making certain shapes more or less colorful, darker or lighter in value, or softer or harder edge intensity.  I can also make objects recede by introducing more of the background color and value into that object.

 Keep in mind that you want a certain amount of mystery to what you are painting.  Meaning, you don't want to have to spell out every detail, only those which you find the need to do so... leaving other details to the viewer's imagination.  Implying detail, is another way of saying it.  I target and go after those features or characteristics which describe or capture the essence of whatever it is I'm painting... much like a caricaturist–or, reference Rembrandt's sketches and you'll see what I mean.

March 15th—Painting Demo of Nick Georgiou

This exercise focuses on the beginning stages of a painting and what factors need to be analyzed when developing one's own process.  An artist will want to create a strong beginning, or foundation, in regard to his or her philosophies in order to set themselves up for a successful journey.  Having a strong idea of one's own approach, intent, mood, technique, and other considerations must be made well before ever picking up a brush.  It is not enough to set out and just make a pretty image or render something realistically.  What is key, and what makes it art, is infusing your subject with emotional content, your skew on the world, your unique perspective on how you see... this is what makes art profound and this is how an artist connects with other human beings.  

With this in mind, it is important that the artist connects with their process and establishes some kind of clear internal language or dialog.  Becoming familiar with one's voice and developing it, is the core foundation of art in general.  If a student adopts these concerns, then he/she will no longer hinge their expectations on the ultimate result... rather, the process of discovery is what becomes of importance.  Many times a student will tell me, "I want to know how to do it the right way... what I'm doing is wrong.".  In response, I would have to say that there really isn't a "wrong" or a "right" way to create art.  However, I do strongly believe that if you are not being honest with what you are doing, not following your true intentions, not objectively seeing what you are looking at, and not being true to your inner artistic voice and not following your instincts... then I would have to admit that there is a "wrong" way to what it is your doing.  Point made, when it comes to technique... it is entirely up to you.  There's no wrong way to create your own language.  Perhaps what is wrong, is that technique has trumped your concerns when intent and idea should be the main focus.  

Here are a few things you'll want to investigate when developing a process for yourself:

• Sketching-in the drawing: 

            Think about... rather feel... how you like to make your marks.  Do you like to make swooping lines or shaky lines?  Or, maybe you choose to make no lines at all, and instead, you prefer to block-in shapes with a large brush.  Or, do you like to use a small brush?  Do you like to use poignant color for your underpainting?  Do you need an underpainting?  Do you like to start with a washy sketch then followup your lines with bolder darker strokes, or do you like to establish a tight drawing from the get-go?  Do you choose to use pencil, charcoal or paint?  Establish a basis of questioning that you would like to find the answers to. 

• Blocking in your shapes:

             Look at your shapes as being abstract.  No matter if you're painting a portrait, landscape or still life, you will want to pay attention to how transparent or opaque you like to apply your paint in this sketchy blocking-in phase.  Reduce and simplify not only the dark shapes, but also the shapes made by the lights.  You will find negative as well as positive shapes.  You can then design your shapes accordingly... along with designing colors and values.    

Other tips:

• Simplify what you are looking at and reduce it to three elements... then two, then one.  This applies to value, shapes, depth, color, etc.  

• Don't forget to be expressive and tell the story of how you see what it is you are looking at.  Feel what you are doing.  Maybe this story is just told to yourself and no one else, but there needs to be some kind of "idea" or direction to what you have in mind or what you want to accomplish. 

• Forget about the end product.  It is not important.  Act as though you are discovering new things you've never discovered before. 

• Be expressive.

• Tap in to your child self.  Paint from your gut and with your instincts.  Think of physical ways to help you do this.  You may want to hold your paintbrush, not like a pencil, at the end and grip it with your hand.  Paint using your arm and not your wrist or fingers.  

• Step back and distance yourself from your painting as often as possible.  You'll want to do this to get an idea of the painting as a whole, looking at it from an overall standpoint. 

• Experiment with color, line work, opening yourself up to discovery—especially at the beginning stages. 

Artist of the week—Marie Louise Motesiczky, oil 1937

Here's a good example of how painting instinctually and with a strong foundation can yield masterful results.  You can see everything talked about in my previous post, all in this one little painting.  It's that easy!

3rd session - Painting a still life

Confident Brushstrokes...
For this phase of the painting, I've now added thicker to thick paint to model the form of the objects. These strokes are lighter, more colorful and more accurate in terms of color and value. I'm now interested in achieving a certain level of realistic detail. To do this, apply a thick brushstroke of paint and leave it be. Then apply another stroke of paint next to it and also leave it. All along, gauging how best to describe the object with as few brushstrokes as possible. After an abstract mosaic of strokes are applied, I can then sculpt them if needed by pushing and pulling the paint around with a brush... much like sculpting form out of clay. I can soften edges or make them harder (blur or sharpen edges). I can model even more detail later on if I choose... however for now, I have resolved this area of the painting enough. I have committed to the object, dealt with it, applied thicker paint to work with, identified any issues I may have been avoiding and resolved them... now it's time to move-on and do the same with the next area of the painting.

There's a certain amount of resolving an area of the canvas, adding detail and dealing with any issues you may have before moving on to the next. These issues may have to do with the drawing, value, color, edge intensity and so on. Decide how much detail you want to include and how much you choose to exclude. Then, move on to resolve the next area in the same manner. This will help you to identify your issues, deal with them and commit to your decisions with confidence. It also helps in getting the painting to a finished level in the event you become stumped, are avoiding issues, do not know where to go next or get caught in a state of limbo and don't recognize why. Without having a certain amount of confidence and committing to a decision with confidence, even if it is a wrong decision, then you won't have confident brushstrokes.

2nd session - Painting a still life

Ok, in the last session I established a washy tone on the canvas for a ground (as seen below). I sketched in the basic objects and their shadow shapes for placement and size. I got an idea of where my foreground, mid-ground and background are going to be. Now, in this session, I want to begin working with thicker paint. I want to start to make color decisions and establish values. I've put away my turpentine and I am now using linseed oil.

I've corrected my drawing a bit further, then applied a generalized color to each object with consideration to preserving any shadows or darks that I want to keep intact. The vase is gray and green, the small jar is red, the ashtray is blue, the nail is rusty brown... and so on. Just paint a brief generalization of what you are looking at. This generalized color being applied is often slightly more muted than the final brilliant brushstrokes that will come later. Meaning, they are slightly more drab, more dull, more gray, and a shade darker in value. It's not always the case, but generally speaking with oils, you want to work from dark to light. Compared with watercolors you want to work from light to dark.

I mostly just want to get something on the canvas now so that I have something to work with later... it's some kind of starting-point. The blue of the ashtray may not be the exact blue I want... but it's a good starting-point that I can now ask myself, "Does it need to be a cooler blue? A warmer blue? Or, do I need a more intense blue?"... and so on. As a result, this is the blue I have now. It's more important to look at this blue in terms of how best it relates to everything else (the other colors, the other values, the quality of light and the background). At this point, I have the flexibility to make these design decisions.

Another reason to just get a color on the canvas now, is so that you can begin to describe the planes of the object and deal with your drawing issues. You can also make adjustments to the value of the objects vs. the background. These are all just starting points that will be revised as you develop your image but you need now to have an idea of where you're going with these issues. The issues being: color and value. What is the color of your object going to be? What is the value of your object going to be? How do they relate to your background? How do they relate to one another?

Tips:
- It sometimes helps when drawing an object to paint around it, by painting "negative space".
- Think in terms of value: Is that something dark or light in value and how does it relate/compare to other objects, or to the rest of the painting, or to the background. It's more important to have "nailed" the value of something than it is to have nailed the exact color of something.
- Look for shifts in color temperature: Is something cool, warm or neutral?

Oct 20th Class Painting demonstration

Here's a recap of today's lesson:

Sketch-in basic shapes (placement):
- To start, I had a blank stark-white canvas. With paint and a brush I quickly sketched the basic shape of the vase and its supporting shapes of the ashtray and small glass jar. This was done only to get an idea of the size of the objects and their placement on the canvas. I didn't concern myself with the specific shape of each object.... I was concerned only with the size relationships (small, medium and large) and how these basic shapes (triangles, circles, squares or other) relate to one another AND where on the canvas they're to be placed. That's it. *Tip: when sketching, look for motion lines and directional flow to help loosen up and be more expressive.

Tone the canvas:
- I then applied washes of color (using 80% turpentine + 20% linseed oil) for the background and shapes.  This color was created based on warm and cool temperature shifts that I personally picked-up on when looking at the still life. I'm not too concerned with color accuracy at this point... just throw on some interesting color and value... and be expressive. By doing this, I'm toning the canvas and getting rid of the stark white.  This phase is like painting with watercolor... but with oils instead. *Note: you can tone your canvas beforehand (before you start sketching-in) and you may want to use only one color, such as a gray, green or a brown. This is just the way I did it... this time. 

Blocking-in general color:
After I've toned the canvas I put away my turpentine and using linseed oil or Liquin, I proceed to then block-in the shapes for my objects and their shadows with slightly thicker paint. At this point, you can reestablish more accurately your drawing, if desired.  However, make more of an attempt to think in terms of "painting shapes".  Meaning, not with contour lines but more with painting solid core shapes from the inside. Paint the plains of an object and start with it's core.  It doesn't have to be perfect, you can refine things as you develop the painting, if needed.  However, I think you'll discover, many things outside of your main focus will not need to be refined and will be left, as is, in their initial lively state.  *Tip: You can also help establish a shape by painting the background around the shape.

Now, this "blocking-in" phase is about applying a general color that's a close resemblance of the color you see. It doesn't need to be exact.  You can exact it later, if desired.  It only needs to be within the "general ballpark" of that color and value.  Try to paint the mid-tone of that object.  This is because, later on, your going to be painting into it with lighter paint (the lights) and better pinpointing the temperature of the light source and the value of that color.  I generally apply this ballpark color one or two shades darker than where I want to ultimately end up.  Later, the final brushstrokes will be the exact color, temperature and value that I want... but, for now, this is a good start.  I will be able to go darker or lighter where necessary to sculpt detail later.  Regardless, this "ballpark color" is important to establish.  For instance, later on when I paint my lights over this ballpark color, the brushstrokes will pick up this color below it... I can lighten or darken this color but it will continue to be influenced by the color I put over it.

*Tips:
- When I start laying in the paint with oils, I generally paint from dark to light and from thin to thick, e.g., I put down a darker color/thinner paint and sculpt it by applying a lighter color/thicker brushstroke.
- Fat over lean method: Fat over lean is used for a wet-on-wet application of paint, when thicker paint is applied over thinner paint. Or, paint that has less medium is applied over paint that has more medium--medium being: linseed oil, turpentine, Liquin or other.
- The light in this still life is cool. It is cool natural light coming in from the windows and cool fluorescent lights from above. So, this will greatly influence the color and how you mix.  So if the light source is cool, then the shadows will be warm.

Avocado in oil