Atelier Sketching: Braque Method

Love this method of getting proportion down by free hand, then moving into the shading...

Here is the same concept a few steps back, before the shading...

Note Card Sell Out!

So as my 19 year old son thinks I have sold out...

 

But I have to admit, I have enjoyed getting these together.  I just shipped by first order of 4 sets to Texas this morning.

Besides I do like knowing people are still enjoying my work!

And now I am loving my newest resource in art publishing which I am sure you are already aware of, Vistaprints.com

Would you like some?  Send me a email at KathleenCalhounStudio@gmail.com and would love to set you up!

Sure Thing at the Shore Dog!!

Doing alittle pop-up exhibition at the Shore Dog Café in the West End RVA...

My first foray into Photoshop PR stuff.

I love this place because the space feels more like a gallery than a café.  So I got to eat drink yummy stuff while doing my install!

Will have notecards of my work there early next week!

Reserving The Whites

Whew what a fall!!  How does life just take off like that with no warning?!?

I know you can relate, right?

Well now things are back in a more predictable groove, let me show you one of the main reasons I have not been posting here,

It is because I have been posting, here.   A blog I have set up for my watercolor students.

Enjoy!

SYNERGIZING

SYNERGY powers ACTIVATE!

Wow wish I had some rally cool visuals here but alas, I did not use the camera that much when I was in NYC last weekend. Instead I was completely blown away by what two different art specialists said in two very different situations...

 So some file images will have to do...


I came across some really cool concepts from Erica Hindrichs (Department Head of the Pratt Institue of Architecture and a wonderful docent at the Metropolitan Museum (whom I really wish I had gotten her name)

The need to synergize concept and skill...

whoa

so as usual this revelation caused me to immediately run to the dictionary and then use my handy dandy cut and paste tools to relay it here..

synergy

[sin-er-jee] 

noun, plural synergies.

1.

the interaction of elements that when combined, produce a total effect that is greater than thesum of the individual elements, contributions,etc.; synergism.

2.

Physiology, Medicine/Medical. the cooperativeaction of two or more muscles, nerves, or the like.

3.

Biochemistry, Pharmacology. the cooperativeaction of two or more stimuli or drugs.

 Hmmm...so of course this prompted me to keep digging...

Well not quite this literally, but you get the idea...

Word Origin and History for synergy

n.

1650s, "cooperation," from Modern Latin synergia, from Greek synergia "joint work, assistance, help,"from synergos "working together," related to synergein"work together, help another in work," from syn-"together" (see syn- ) + ergon "work" (see urge (v.)).Meaning "combined activities of a group" is from 1847.

Still quite mind blowing for me, gotta chew in this for awhile...

Atelier on a Budget BIG Boost!

First, a quickie "En Plein Fog" sketch of mine off the coast of Maine in Bar Harbour...still going to hit the back mountain range with a tint of dull viridian wash, (but it is easy to forget those finishing off details when being stalked by vicious sea gulls, really...tale my word on it)

Along the Shore Walk:Bar Harbour Maine

watercolor sketch

So I am actually sticking to my studio challenge this year and found the best resource to help keep me on track!  This amazing book, Classical Painting Atelier: A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Studio Practice by Julie Arisitides.

I have been devouring it on vacation and the really wild thing is, she is not telling me anything new, but just like I blogged about earlier, it is the order and operations that is the mind blowing eye opener to me!

Now really looking forward to devouring this other book of hers...

Classical Drawing Atelier

Uncle Joe Portrait

Uncle Joe

12”x9”

watercolor

This one was actually like a walk down memory lane.  While working on Joe’s eyes, and facial contours I found myself constantly connecting to other family members who have (or had) the same features...Mick Mick’s eyes, my mom’s smile.

So I think I got a gift out of this too!  

Not-So-Quick Study

Cap-to-Cap Varina

Watercolor

9"x12"

Why after 30+ years in this field, am I constantly amazed, bummed, stimied (insert your own adjective in here...) that making art takes so much time?

Getting Wilder with Watercolor!

I am always amazed at how creating and teaching in the arts cuts across all social barriers.  I have been honored to work with the homeless, the handicapped, even a few "jet setters". But was still blown away when this guy strolled into my watercolor class this spring…

Former Virginia Governor

L. Douglas Wilder

Yup that Doug Wilder, first African American governor of Virginia and the first of the whole United States since reconstruction, VP candidate contention several times, decorated Korean War Veteran, and driving force behind many Black History and Slavery Museum projects. 

In fact he kept appearing in on the front page of our newspaper in-between classes.  Can honestly say I have never had a student do that before...

Coffee Detox?

In fact I had just given up coffee and for a split second thought perhaps my caffeine withdrawal was causing delusions.

Student Work from the same class

(pretty convenient, huh?)

My next thought was that he must be in the wrong place and really here for a reception or press conference.  We do occasionally host those sort of things at VisArts where I work.* 

*In fact our current governor had been there about a year ago when I was teaching.  But since we only passed each other on the stairwell I did not think it was blog worthy; just side note worthy…obviously.

Just Doug

So of course my first question after, “Are you sure you are in my class?”  was “How should I address you?  Mr. Governor?”  “Nope” he said  “just Doug is fine.”

And boom just like that I am on a first name basis with a famous, public historical figure with libraries, schools, named after him.

And oh I get to tell him what to do.

 (OK if I said that was not an ego rush, just for a moment, I would be lying like a rug.)

What Doug Taught Me

Then after the rush, I got nervous…what if my teaching is not up to his standards?  What if he is not pleased with his work in my class?  Will he announce at his next public speaking engagement what an awful teacher I am? (That was an actual dream of mine, crazy huh? Perhaps I should start drinking coffee again…).

Doug working on a childhood self portrait

Happily I had absolutely nothing to worry about.  Doug was honestly one of the most upbeat, hard-working, open-to-suggestion students I have ever worked with in almost 30 years. He obviously put in many hours of work in between classes.  Just look at these studies he did….this from a man who said he has never had any art classes before mine...

                            Study of Michelangelo’s David Eye and Mouth
                                                                  (Braque Method)

  by L Doug Wilder

Loved what he told me in the second class. I think he was using the same voice tone he used with the state legislators when trying to get his budget through. 

“You know this (homework exercise) took a lot more time than I had originally allocated.”

To which I responded

“Welcome to the art world Governor.”

I even told him his work ethic makes me glad I voted for him.  He told me I should be secretary of state.  (Pretty sure he was joking since I think it takes just a little more than a couple of art degrees       for the job).

But what a great class it was! Everyone did fantastic work (maybe we were all trying to impress Mr. Governor, who knows?).  We all also agreed that if Doug could get some watercolor sets and paper to the presidential debates there would be a much more civil and thoughtful dialogue going on than what we have seen in this election cycle so far.

Finishing Strong!

Or maybe he can exhibit his work with another politician-turned-artist who also have a “W” in his name.  

What do you think? 

I think Doug should get top billing if they do...

Figures and Faces

Academy on a Budget Continues...

Figure Study
oil on canvas
16”x20"

Self Portrait
oil on canvas
11”x14"

Believe it or not my eyes were really in that much of the dark. So I decided to make the hair the focal point.  

With the figure that intricate tattoo was like a painting within a painting!

Monotone in Progress and Beyond

The first major fruits of my Year of Academy On A Budget...both are about 90% finished...

Pulling My Ear

Watercolor
12”x16”

Class Still Life

Oil on canvas
16"x20"

Rock and Roll Monotone

Had almost as much fun rifting on the french ultramarine blue as this guy did with my son’s guitar.  Worked on it a bit more but forgot to take a finished photo.

Oh well will have to do another then, right?

Think I did a better job with the fact in this study.  It is bigger and gave me more room to maneuver

“Matchmaker, Matchmaker...” Color the Traditional Way

One thing I am learning over and over again this year of Academy-On-A-Budget, it is just a sequence of the obvious that makes for masterful technique.

                                           It’s all in the sequencing boys


In other words, "Duh...why didn’t I think of that ?" or more accurately, "Duh...why didn’t I put those together in that order?"

Well better late then never, right?










So with the help of my two AOAB master teachers, Colin Ferguson and Christopher Wynn, I am learning not only how to mix, the possible combinations but WHEN to mix them.

This is where these lovely cards come in as my Duhoooh moment...

Color swatches and Recipes

Of course you paint a swatch to the edge so you can compare it to the real thing by holding it close to the actual object!

Guess

Mix  

(tiny portions first so as not to waste any paint)

Confirm

holding up the swatch to match...I needed to go a smidge lighter....

then write down the recipe and keep all the sheets.  With the longer view of all this stuff in the still life, I have about 10 pages of paint swatches and their recipes

So it seems to be working but man does it take a WHOLE lotta time!  Especially when it comes to remixing it all, the mixing lights and darks.  Wow those old masters have patience and persistence!

Adding and Subtracting Value

First a quickie walk through of my latest still life...

...sketching from observation...

with oils I like to work with the figures first

...putting down the underlayer with a lot of liquin...

...grisaille in the objects...

Now a quicker walk through with my palette. This shows how I work with tone...

First it is light to dark with adjustment for dabs of paint in-between...

...mixing them and comparing with the nearby value scale to make each step in equal to the others...

...sometimes mixing in between values if I feel the composition needs it (and drapery ALWAYS needs it!)....

...adding more paint as I use up the first batch (and comparing with the existing splotches to make sure I make an accurate match)...

Finally time for clean-up. 

In Class Study and the G word

Grisaille today Color tomorrow

For those of you who were like me until about two weeks ago, and had no idea what that G work meant...a greta explanation and history from wikipedia...

"Grisaille (/ɡrᵻˈzaɪ/ or /ɡrᵻˈzeɪl/; French: gris [ɡʁizaj] 'grey') is a term for a paintingexecuted entirely in shades of grey or of another neutral greyish colour.^[1]”

A grisaille may be executed for its own sake, as underpainting for an oil painting(in preparation for glazing layers of colour over it), or as a model for an engraverto work from. "Rubens and his school sometimes use monochrome techniques in sketching compositions for engravers."^[3] Full colouring of a subject makes many more demands of an artist, and working in grisaille was often chosen as being quicker and cheaper, although the effect was sometimes deliberately chosen for aesthetic reasons. Grisaille paintings resemble the drawings, normally in monochrome, that artists from the Renaissance on were trained to produce;”

LOVE this part...

" like drawings they (grisaille) can also betray the hand of a less talented assistant more easily than a fully coloured painting. “

So is a grisaille the renaissance’s way of saying, put up or shut up?

UPDATE  Instead of grisaille today and color tomorrow,  it is more like color in a month.   Apparently this grisaille layer needs to be completely dry before color can be added.  In fact it has been two weeks and the professor says no we still have to wait...sigh...