Artichokes, Oil painting on 8x8" Gessobord

After deconstructing one artichoke to paint in watercolor (previous post) I decided they were too old and worn out to bother cooking them, so why not paint them instead. I’m finding how important it is to take breaks when I’m painting. Each time I took one (because someone came to the door, I had to go to sleep or have lunch) I was surprised at seeing the painting with fresh eyes. It gave me a chance to strategize, stop futzing around in one area that wasn’t working and just needed to be scraped off and started over, notice that the values needed strengthening, etc.

At a certain point I recognized that this is as good as I can do for now. I’ll learn a little more and be able to a better on the next piece. That is so much more satisfying than trying to bring the piece to the level of the bar I keep raising or trying to make it as  good as the painting of other artists’ work I admire.  As a good friend said to me yesterday, “Compare…and despair!” and he was so right. Another friend pointed me to this from Desiderata:

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Artichokes, easel & palette in the studio

The multi-colored card on my easel is a Gretagmacbeth ColorChecker that I use when I photograph art work. Sometimes I use the white square to set my cameras “white balance. I always include some or all of the card when I take the photograph so I can compare the colors on the card to the colors on my monitor to see if I’ve got it right.

With the card included in the photo, I can correct the colors in the photo using the Levels tool in Photoshop:

1. Select the “white” eyedropper in the Levels menu and click it on the white square. This sets the white level so that white in the photo is pure white, not greyish. Sometimes this is all that’s needed.
2. If the black square doesn’t look black enough, I do the same with the black eyedropper in the black square. Setting this range of black to white really helps, especially when there is no black or white in the painting.
3. To remove a color cast (e.g. when the gray square looks greenish pinkish) I use the grey eyedropper on various spots on any of the gray squares until the color cast is gone and gray is gray.

Still Life with Tangelo, oil on gessobord, 12x12"

Inspired by Casey’s success with the Carder Method and frustrated with my own slow progress at oil painting, I bought the Carder Method video and  Color Checker tool. Below are step by step photos of my using the method to paint this still life, a brief review of the Carder Method and photos of my studio set up for working with it.

The Carder Method is designed to eliminate many of the problems that can make painting difficult. By creating an carefully lit, controlled environment, a painter can focus on learning to clearly see color and value differences while eliminating problems caused by variables such as changing light.

Click “Continue Reading” to see photos and read more….

Using a limited palette and a slow drying medium, you pre-mix colors for one object at a time, on a value scale of  about 10 steps (if going from near black to near white), from the darkest dark to the lightest light in each object. Then using the little Color Checker, you match the colors you see in your subject, small section by section, to the colors you’ve mixed, adjusting the paint for color temperature as you go. On the video Mark Carder also teaches foolproof drawing techniques using a proportional divider tool, but I felt confident enough in my drawing to work freehand, while still picking up some good tips watching that section.

I’ve learned from reading Munsell’s book on color theory how the human visual system is designed to compensate for changing colors in nature so that we always recognize a tree as green, even when a sunset has made it appear brown, or fog has made it a pale gray, or dusk has turned it black against a violet sky.

That same visual system favors our seeing colors as the same when they’re separated from each other. A red shirt and a red skirt will look like they match when across the room from each other. It’s only when they’re held  next to each other and in the same light that we can the differences.

The Color Checker puts the color you’re mixing visually next to the color of the object you’re painting and helps override that internal system. I’d been doing the same thing using a piece of cardstock but the color checker works even better.

I think the Carder Method creates an ideal framework for learning to paint with oils.  It’s opened my eyes to just how “off” my ability to really see color and value differences was before and put me on the right path to learning to see more clearly. There’s much more information on the Carder website and lively discussion on its Forum.

Of course, this method is the absolute opposite of painting plein air where nothing is under control, but I think I’ll be able to apply what I’m learning in the studio using this method in that wild and wooly environment too.

Here’s a step by step of the painting process and some photos of my studio set up for the Carder Method.

Thumbnail sketch before starting

Toned panel with yellow pencil and beginning of background

Background and table painted pre-blending

First attempt at jar

Box painted, jar wiped off & repainted

First attempt at tangelo, jar repainted

Tangelo repainted, box latches, bottle, jar pattern painted

Still life setup in shadow box

There’s a space in the back on top to drop down a background cloth: a slot made by placing the top not quite all the way to the back.

Shadow box side view

Studio set up

On the right of the photo above, you can see a bit of the black-out shades from Ikea covering the windows. There is a black cloth velcroed to the ceiling on the upper left to block the light coming from the overhead light (48″ wide color-balanced 4-tube fluorescent lighting,  all 5000K). I’d painted the wall behind my easel a neutral mid-value gray (Benjamin Moore Whale Gray#2134-40 Aura Matte Finish, eco-friendly, no smell, one coat coverage) to get rid of glare when painting. It also to help with photographing what’s on my easel.

Orchid in watercolor #2, 12x9"

On Wednesday night I completed the last page in a sketchbook with some writing about the frustrating process I’d been through with the orchid painting. And then, as I did one last sketch of the orchid in the book (below) I realized how I might be able to actually make the painting I’d originally envisioned. It would be one I could do simply and be able to write about as the six-step process the publishers needed.

When I woke up on at 6:00 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning I realized I had to give it another try. The image above is the happy result.

My sketchbook breakthrough

Tonight my watercolor group met for dinner and a chance to share what we’ve been painting this month. When I showed them the two versions of the painting they liked both but Susie said that in the first version they looked like evil man-eating orchids, which is certainly how they felt to me. In the sketch above I thought the orchid looked like it had packed his bags and was running away, suitcases in hand. (Good riddance!)

Here is one of the MANY pages of tests and samples I made in trying to find the right pigment combinations to make this painting work.

Orchid watercolor test page

I decided the pigment that gave me the color I wanted was Winsor Newton’s Quinacridone Magenta but like most quinacridones,  it wasn’t very civilized, trying to spread everywhere.

Orchid Painting Steps

What finally worked was painting the veins first on dry paper, wetting a petal, painting cobalt blue just inside the perimeter and then dropping in the Quinacridone Magenta in the center, letting it spread and then blotting up a bit of the paint as needed.

Busby relaxing amidst orchid chaos

At least someone got to relax in the sun. When I left to make a cup of coffee Busby napped amidst the orchid chaos on my desk. You can see the original reference photo peeking out from under him, with a pile of false starts at the painting behind that.

Pomegranate Revealed, oil on board, 9x12"

Happy New Year! Thanks for hanging out with me this past year! Even though I’ve had a nasty cold all week I managed to get in some pomegranate painting between nose blowing, naps, and chicken soup breaks, but not nearly as much as I’d hoped to do over my year-end vacation.

Pomegranate value study in oils, 8x5"

I only had enough energy to be in the studio for a couple of hours a day but fortunately the pom waited nicely for me. I started by doing a value study in oils (above), trying to sort out where the darkest darks and lightest lights are and just how dark and light they are.

Pomegranate quick study, oil on board, 5x7"

I did a small study next since I knew I didn’t have more than an hour or so of painting energy. I had fun with this and feel like I’m starting to find a way to get loose and sketchy with oils.

Pom under Reveal bulb

I used a GE Reveal light bulb in my lamp which gave everything a pinkish-lavender cast and that’s why I named the painting “Pomegranate Revealed.” GE says they are “specially made to filter out the dull yellow rays produced by standard incandescent bulbs.” I’d bought it originally thinking it would simulate daylight but it doesn’t at all. I usually use a fluorescent 5000K bulb 40 watt bulb (equal to 150 watts) which does a better job of producing clean light.

Cropped in Photoshop to 8x10"

When I compared the final painting and the studies I realized I liked the original composition with less background better so I experimented with cropping the painting in Photoshop. It’s not hard to cut the board down if I decide to crop it for real.

What do you think? Do you like this cropped version or the “final” version at the top of the post better?

Daylight Professional Artists Lamp & Karin Jurick Easel Panel Holder with painting in progress

Two recent discoveries have made my painting life easier, brighter and more enjoyable: the new Daylight Artists Professional Lamp and a new prototype version of Karin Jurick’s tabletop easel that serves as a panel holder in a regular easel.

First a disclaimer: I was given both of these items as samples to try out. I offered to write about them here with the condition that I would say exactly what I thought, whether positive or negative, no holds barred (whatever that means… something to do with wrestling perhaps? So funny how sports terms have infiltrated non-sports language).

The Daylight Easel Light

A London representative from the Daylight Company emailed me, saying that he had read my article about lighting and color temperature after being referred to me by another artist/blogger, Erin Hill, who they’d featured on their website. He asked if they could feature me next, and I agreed (see my “feature” here). I told him I’d been using their Combo Lamps at my watercolor table for many years and love them (see them in use in my studio–6th picture here).

Daylight Professional Artists Lamp with easel clamp

When he generously offered to send me their new Professional Artists Lamp (above) to try out I was appreciative but skeptical. I’d bought and returned many other “full spectrum” or “daylight bulb” lamps in the past that were total failures because the light was too weak, too blue, or both.

When I set it up on my easel and turned it on I was surprised and excited. I thought my lighting had been really great: an overhead fluorescent fixture with four 5000K bulbs (8th photo down in studio pictures here.) But the difference is amazing. In comparison it felt like I’d been practically working in the dark before. The first painting I completed under the light sold immediately and I think it’s partly due to the color vibrancy the light helped me achieve.

The direction of the light and the position of the lamp are adjustable (the arm is flexible but firm). It comes with a table clamp and an adjustable easel clamp. I was worried there would be too much glare on a wet oil painting from the lamp but it hasn’t been a problem. The light seems to evenly cover the paintings that I’ve tried it with (up to about 18×24) and it’s helped when photographing paintings on the easel too.

Karin Jurick Table Easel and Panel Holder

When I bought one of Karin Jurick’s tabletop easels, it was with the idea that I would use it initially as a panel holder thinking it would fit in my easel as sold and as a table easel for times I don’t want to stand to paint as I usually do. I can’t paint sitting at my easel because I have a large, thick, floor mat in front of it.

I wanted a panel holder because it’s hard to get my favorite 1/8″ Gessobord panels to fit into my aluminum easel designed  to hold stretched canvas. I’d tried Carol Marine’s panel holder, but it only works for panels up to 6″ high and I rarely work that small (her new one goes up to 8″ high).

Unfortunately, even though it folds nearly flat, it wouldn’t fit in my easel (my sense of spatial relations is terrible–I don’t know how I thought it would!).  So I wrote to Karin and her partner Brett to ask about dismantling it to use as a panel holder. Brett liked my panel holder idea and offered to experiment with making one instead. I was delighted!

Karin Jurick Panel Holder; 1/8" thick 9x12" Gessobord (with a bit of paint on the panel holder from today's painting)

Their standard easel comes with a permanent wooden ridge at the bottom and a sliding brace that locks in the panel from above with thumbscrews on the back. For my prototype, I asked to have a sliding bar at top and bottom so that I could scoot the bottom bar up to adjust the vertical position of the panel. I love it! It works really well and I’m so happy not having to try to line up and wedge the 1/8″ panel between the narrow edges of my aluminum easel.

The sliding braces are designed to support all thicknesses of panels or stretched canvas. I use very thin 1/8″ Gessobord panels so the sliding bar was thicker than my panel. Since my lighting comes from above, that was casting a small shadow at the top of my panel. I easily resolved that by placing a same-sized piece of foam core board behind the panel to fill the gap. Voila! No shadow, and my Gessobord is held tighltly in place and I can paint all the way to the edge of the panel.

Both the tabletop easel and the panel holder are nicely constructed, sturdy, and work very well. You can get all the details about the tabletop easel here. The panel holder is nearly identical except that it doesn’t have the base (and in my case, has two sliding braces instead of one fixed and one sliding).

If you painting on panels of any size, I highly recommend their panel holder. Since this is a brand new product, they haven’t set the price or shipping cost yet, but Karin and Brett would love to hear from you if you are interested or have questions. You can email them at kjurick@mac.com.

Meyer Lemons Bowled, oil on linen panel, 8x8"

These lemons came from my little Meyer Lemon tree which produces the sweetest, plumpest lemons. I planted the tree from a small pot about 5 years ago and now it’s as tall as me. I really like the Centurion Oil Primed Linen Panel I painted this on, except that it takes much longer for the paint to dry than when painting on Gessobord because it doesn’t sink in to the oil priming.

A= Still life table beside easel

I set up the bowl of lemons on my new rolling, adjustable (from 28″ to 45″ high) still life stand, also known as an Over the Bed Table on Amazon where I got it with free shipping (good thing because it’s not light). Since I was taking a picture of it I thought I’d also describe the other items in the photo since I’m so happy with my painting set up.

A = Rolling, adjustable height Still life stand/Over the Bed Table

B = Karen Jurick’s “Alter Easel” which I love for holding thin panels instead of trying to balance them between the narrow supports on my easel. Works great!

C = Daylight Studio Lamp for lighting the still life (not visible is the Daylight Artists Easel Lamp that is attached to the top of my easel to light the painting (that I was given for free by the company and liked so much I bought the standing light).

D = A silly maul stick (just the top shows) that doesn’t work very well. I’ve seen people using canes instead, hooked over the top of the painting to provide support for your hand when painting details.

E = Masterson Artist Palette Seal with a lid that seals like Tupperware and with a pad of palette paper inside (the palette paper is a recent discovery that I LOVE because it saves so much time from having to clean the palette.) I keep the palette in my freezer when I have paint left over. Once thawed (in a few minutes) it’s in perfect condition for the next painting session. The palette is on top of an upside down plastic drawer from a defunct rolling cart to raise it up high enough for me to use without bending over (I’m 5’10″).

Not lettered but in the picture is the beautiful silk sari fabric my friend Barbara gave me for my birthday for just this purpose and the ancient microwave cart that holds my palette and supplies. Not shown is the rolling plastic taboret I’ve had for 20 years that holds my brushes and other stuff.

OK, I know I’m a gadget girl and many of these things are not necessary. But I feel like painting (and life) are hard enough, why not have great tools to make it easier? There are lots more pictures of my studio under the category “Studio.”

Point Bonita #3, Oil on Gessobord Panel, 12x9"

After I did the watercolors I posted yesterday, I set up the sketch, the watercolor and my iPad displaying the photo on the table beside my easel and painted the scene once again, this time with oil paint. After a month or two of being totally frustrated with oil painting, trashing everything I made and about ready to give it up, suddenly painting was easy and I was loving it!

Point Bonita Painting set up in studio

The entire painting worked like a charm except the foreground mount of dirt and ice plant which was the last thing I painted and which I did over and over. It kept trying to call too much attention to itself. I think I finally successfully muted that foreground while still keeping the light on it.

Then I was looking at some delightfully free and vibrant oil pastel work on Aletha Kuschan’s blog which inspired me to try the scene in oil pastels too. I know nothing about oil pastels so I quickly read a few how-to’s on the web and dug in.

BUT before I show you the drawing, I have to say that I made a fatal misstep: I chose a sheet of the totally wrong paper to work on. Instead of starting small on a sheet of white or blue pastel paper, I chose a large sheet of brown Stonehenge drawing paper. What was I thinking? Brown under a turquoise sea?

Point Bonita #4, Oil pastel on Stonehenge paper, 17x13"

It was impossible to cover all the brown paper because even though the oil pastels got really thick in some areas—so thick that no more could be applied—in other spots they just wouldn’t cover.

Although my Holbein Oil Pastels are very old, purchased for a small project I did more than 20 years ago, they were still in good shape. But I didn’t have the right colors, and I had trouble blending. I didn’t have blending stumps, didn’t want to use my fingers and was wearing gloves which didn’t work. I tried a paper towel but it just smeared and left paper towel lint.

Compared to paint, oil pastels seems like a lot of extra work, having to fill in so much area by scribbling over and over. And it was messy; my gloves and the pastels got dirty from colors transferring onto them.

But maybe if I knew what I was doing, or had used the right paper it would have been easier or less messy? (Not to say that oil painting isn’t messy! Everything I own has paint on it!) I like the look of oil pastels done well so I’ll try another experiment with them. But on the right paper this time! Any tips?

Art supplies and tea on right side of table & sketchbook, ink & watercolor, 4x6"

These are some of my special drawing table items: my cigar box supply holder, my watercolor brushes and pens, and a coaster under my cup sent to me by illustrator Mick Wiggins in response to a fan letter I sent him about the series of posters he designed for BART, our subway system.

Lamp and squash on right side of table & sketchbook, ink & watercolor, 4x6"

And here’s the left side of the same drawing table with my funky little table lamp for lighting still lifes, the wall grid for hanging supplies with paper towel holder, and the base of two combo lamps at the back — and some squash for sketching that are still (a month later) awaiting cooking.

Table still life, full spread in sketchbook, 4x12"

Here’s the full spread as it appears in the sketchbook. I drew the cup twice because I wanted to practice ellipses. I feel a little sad looking at the pictures because that much loved studio is no more. It’s under construction to become a studio apartment instead.

My new studio is wonderful and almost done. Just need to move in my flat files and painting/canvas storage rack, which hopefully will get done this weekend. Then just a little more work on house, apartment and studio and I’ll be able to get back to my happy rut of living to draw and paint instead of living in topsy-turvy world

View from inside looking out to the deck

Hi! Come on in and let me show you around my new studio. The concept for the studio began in 2000 when I bought my cottage, a 1940s duplex. I planned to use the front unit as my home and the rear unit as my studio while still working at my “day job.” When the time came that I could leave to paint full time, I planned to rent out the back apartment for extra income and convert the 400 square foot garage to my studio.

The rear unit studio was wonderful and I spent many happy hours painting and teaching there. But the new studio is even better! Even though it’s near my house, it’s completely separate so the distractions of laundry, dishes and computer; the nagging of cats for dinner; email and phone calls disappear and painting time flows uninterrupted.

Before the tour, here are “before” pictures of its former life as a grease-monkey garage where my son worked on cars.

The garage before it was transformed and the 1970 Firebird Cody was (still is) restoring

The bare garage walls had 40 years of grease and grime and Bondo dust and the concrete floor was badly stained and cracked. The only electricity came in from an extension cord.

Huge engine under construction

Backyard before door and deck

The only entrance was the heavy and awkward sliding barn doors on the driveway side of the garage. Now I’ve transformed the old garage from a place for pursuing a passion for pistons to a passion for paint.

Deck and door to studio

I added the doors and deck (though the contractor’s mistakes led to it not being a two-steps up raised deck as planned–but it is level unlike how it seems in the photo). The high-maintenance funky grass is gone, replaced by gold fines which makes it feel like a beach. Now it’s a great place to set up a still life and paint outdoors and I love eating lunch and reading out here too.

Here is a 6 minute video tour, and below that, pictures with more detail.

In the video and photos below, you can see that I love good art tools. I have collected this studio equipment and supplies over many years of painting. Much of it I bought secondhand or long ago. 

Drawing and Watercolor area, to the right of the door

Ancient drafting table, chair,  taboret holding paints and supplies, Combo lamps (great lighting for watercolor), flat files for storing completed watercolor paintings and drawings. A board with a foam pad on top of the flat files makes it a cozy spot for reading or for use as a model stand.

Watercolor table, still life stand and easel

Light stand,  adjustable “over bed” table for holding still life setups, foam core homemade shadow box, iPad and nifty iPad stand for displaying photos to paint from, taboret with Watercolor palette, and Sorg easel (my Christmas present to myself—literally: it was on sale for half of Jerry’s usual $700 price on Christmas and I couldn’t resist this extravagant but wonderful gift.)

Oil painting area

On the old microwave cart is my oil painting palette: a tabletop easel holding a sheet of glass at an angle (which I learned from Rose Frantzen; it’s good ergonomically but frustrating when the paints slide down), with a piece of gray paper beneath it. The mirror is for looking at a painting backwards which is a great way to find mistakes. I stand when I paint on this thick Anti-Fatigue mat which helps my cranky back. The Daylight Studio Lamp above is ok but I like the one in the previous picture better. (Photo taken before I got the secondhand bookcase in the next picture.)

Easel, still life shelf, double flat file/standing workstation

On the ceiling between the beams you can see the foil reflective-backed insulation. Hanging from the ceiling are 8 sets of 2-bulb fluorescent light fixtures with daylight (5000K) bulbs.  I also use 5000K bulbs in my light stands so that my palette and painting subject are lit the same.

That’s an Ikea Billy bookcase with glass doors (Craigslist find; cheap and already assembled). I bought the flat files secondhand years ago and they were a bit rusty. The white spots are where I painted over the rust. The tabletop is just a sheet of melamine board and makes a handy standing work station.

Rolling Blockbuster DVD rack, file cabinet, rolling industrial wire shelving

When my local Blockbuster Video went out of business I bought this large rolling DVD rack for $10. It’s great for displaying art or holding paintings that are drying. To it’s right is a secondhand file cabinet and to its right: two large industrial wire shelving units on wheels. Behind them are the folded tables I set up for watercolor classes.

Behind the rolling rack: canvas and panel cabinet

You roll the DVD rack out of the way to access the wooden storage unit my neighbor built for me that stores blank and painted canvas and panels.

Screen and former garage doors with stereo

The Ikea screen hides messy stuff. The tall chair is where I perch to look at a painting on the easel to see what it needs. The garage door on the left still opens, the one on the right is sealed and has a narrow shelf for paintings. These paintings are part of a series in progress of people at work. The old stereo and TV are great for listening to audio books or painting DVDs.

Cabinets, sink and me in the mirror

The homemade (and homely) cabinet on the left holds my journals, the little red basket is for carrying stuff to and from the house/studio. The black cabinet was free from a neighbor and holds tea, cups, reference books and a microwave on top. I repurposed the mirror  from a former workout space.

Floor plan, furniture & equipment to scale

As you can see in the floor plan above that my Interior Designer sister Marcy Voyevod made (after measuring everything and making little cut-outs of the furniture and gear to move around and fit), there is space in the center of the room for tables for up to 10 students when I return to teaching watercolor, sketching and journal binding.  The tables are folded and stored behind the wire industrial shelving units.

View from deck door looking in

The concrete floor was badly cracked, stained and occasionally damp. I researched every possible method of dealing with concrete floors and found no good solution. Then I spent some time on the Garage Journal forum (where I felt quite out of place!) and learned about RaceDeck flooring. It’s as easy as putting together Legos to install, and “floats” above the concrete. The channels on the bottom of each tile mean moisture is not a problem and no preparation other than sweeping is required. The teenage boy next door and I laid the 400 square foot floor in one afternoon.

Phew! Putting together this post was almost as much work as doing the remodeling! I hope you find it useful and that it’s not too much information. I tried to edit it down but it’s still really long.

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 9″x12, oil on panel

I just sold the painting above and wanted to varnish it with a protective layer before shipping. I’ve been afraid to try traditional damar-based varnish which is prone to drips, bubbles and yellowing. I knew that somehow at least one cat hair would embed itself. So in the past I used a spray-on varnish (which has its own disadvantagse) or just shipped sold paintings without varnishing.

The ORIGINAL 2-part Gamvar

I’d read that Gamblin’s Gamvar synthetic varnish was easier to use and very archival, developed based on research at the National Gallery of Art. But it came as a two-part kit that you have to gently mix, every hour over eight hours. For me, that is a recipe for failure. I knew I’d get distracted and miss an hour just like when I make a cup of tea, forget about it, and hours later have to throw it out and start over.

New Gamvar Pre-Mixed Picture Varnish

Now it comes Pre-Mixed! Gamblin just released a pre-mixed version of Gamvar in a 2 oz. bottle containing enough varnish to cover 40 square feet. I called Gamblin with some questions that I didn’t see answered on their website. Their technical support people were on other calls so the operator connected me to their president who cheerfully answered my questions. You can’t beat that for customer service!

My questions and his answers were:

• How long does it take to dry/how long before I can ship? Two days to ship, one day or less to dry to touch.
• How soon can you varnish a painting? Best to wait 3 – 6 months, but you can varnish with Gamvar as soon as the painting is dry to the touch, or if thickly painted, when it is firm underneath the surface of the painting. The mild solvent in Gamvar won’t dissolve the surface paint.
• What kind of brush to use? For my 9×12″ painting, he suggested just using a large filbert hog-bristle oil-painting brush. (I used a #12.) He said that regardless of the size of painting or brush, the bristles should be less than 1/4″ thick or they’ll suck up too much varnish.
• Should the painting dry flat or standing up? Either is fine. Since the varnish is the consistency of water and you apply it VERY thinly there will be NO drips. (And he was right!)

Before I got started I watched this video on the Gamblin website:

He made it look so easy. And it was! No finesse, special talents, experience, or special brushes required. It’s not sticky, oily or smelly. (But do have proper ventilation anyway.) It’s so thin  that it won’t leave brushstrokes (although the shine can bring out the brush strokes in the painting).

The instructions below include tips that Gamblin tech support gave me when I called them again with more questions after varnishing a few paintings.

How to apply Gamvar Picture Varnish (with tips for troubleshooting)

1. Try to work in an area where dust or pet hair won’t be a problem and remove any dust from the painting first. I gave each painting a swipe with a clean Viva paper towel (a blue “shop towel” or a lint-free cloth is OK too, but don’t use regular paper towels; they leave lint). Cover your work surface and wear gloves if you wish.
2. Pour a small amount of the varnish in a separate container (I used a disposable plastic cup) and close the jar to prevent evaporation. Dip the brush just a bit so it doesn’t soak up too much varnish and wipe it several times on the side of the cup to remove any excess.
   (TIP: You really need only a tiny amount. Start with much less than you think you need.)
3. Brush it on vigorously, scrubbing it in, like he does in the video above, corner to corner, crisscrossing, going back and forth until the surface is completely covered. When the painting is covered with no missed dry spots (tilt it to towards the light to check for areas without shine) stop brushing, you’re done. Or, for a more matte finish you can continue brushing for another 2 or 3 minutes.
   (TIP: If you notice areas where the varnish appears to bead up or resist, scrub in that area more vigorously. If it still resists, add 10% of Gamsol to the varnish you poured into a separate container. Gamvar has such a small percentage of solvent that for very slick passages of a painting it may need just a bit more solvent to “open” the surface.)
4. Let it dry. I dried mine vertically on the repurposed Blockbuster video rack in my studio. Standing the paintings with the varnished side leaning towards a wall will help prevent dust from falling on them. Clean your brush with Gamsol or other odorless mineral spirits.
   (TIP: After the varnish dries, if you notice any areas you missed or spots that aren’t as shiny as the rest of the painting, just apply a second coat of the Gamvar to the dull spots, not the whole painting.)

Yesterday I varnished nearly two dozen works painted with oils, Holbein Duo water-soluble oils, acrylics, Golden Open Acrylics. The surface textures ranged from very smooth to very rough. Today they are all dry and have a nice even sheen that has restored the richness of the colors and darks. It took me less than one stress-free hour.

I also tried it on watercolor; it was fine on Aquabord, but on watercolor paper it just soaked in, accomplishing nothing. Even though it didn’t lift the paint, Gamblin doesn’t recommend it for watercolor without first applying an isolation coat and even then they say it doesn’t provide the needed protection of framing under glass.

Why varnish?

• It is a way to unify the surface with an even sheen and bring back the depth of the colors.
• It provides a protective coating and archival varnishes like Gamvar can be easily removed so that if the surface gets dirty, greasy, smoke-damaged or something splashes on it, when you remove the varnish with a little mild solvent, the paint surface below will be undamaged.

Disclaimer: I have no financial interest in Gamblin and was not asked to write a review. They’re just a great company.

Block Landscape, final painting, 12×16, oil on panel

I wanted to learn how to get from a grisaille underpainting to a full color painting after I did the Frankie Flathead monochrome study. So I decided to set up some colored blocks as if they were a landscape, and paint them in layers, starting with a grisaille, trying to find a method that worked for me.

Above is the final painting and below is the step-by-step process that I followed.

Open (Transparent) Grisaille with Burnt Umber thinned with Gamsol, on panel

I used the wonderful Nitram vine charcoal to sketch first, trying to get everything in the right place and the right size. I lightly dusted off the charcoal and restated the lines with a brush and thinned paint. Then (above) I used that thinned paint to block in values, shapes and shadows, keeping them fairly light and leaving white and light areas unpainted.

Closed (Opaque) Grisaille Layer 1

Although grisailles are usually done in one color (grey, brown or dull green), I decided to use limited color (red, blue, yellow) for the “closed grisaille” (opaque paint) layers. I was still focusing on value, just blocking in the shapes with paint closer to the local color of the object. After I finished the first layer I checked to see how close I was to the correct values.

Left: Grayscale photo of setup; Right: painting with sampled colors applied in Photoshop (click to enlarge)

I took a photo of my block set up and a photo of my painting, and in Photoshop converted them to grayscale and placed them side by side to compare (above). Then I used Photoshop’s Custom Shape Tool and eyedropper to sample the shade from the photo on the left and paint on the photo on the right. The spots where the little blobby shapes blend in or disappear is where I got the value right. The ones that stand out show the needed value correction.

Closed Grisaille Layer 2, after value corrections

I did another layer where needed to correct the values (above). Then I could move on to  paint the colors as I saw them. I mixed a color and tested a dab on the painting to make sure I was only changing the color and not the value. Below is the finished painting beside a photo of the setup.

Painting on left, Photo of blocks on right; slightly different view points and lighting.

This was a fun exercise. I’m especially pleased by all the subtle variations I saw and painted in the green blocks as they were affected by their position in relation to the light. All the green blocks except the large charteuse triangle and rectangle on the left were the same forest green color.

I bought these blocks at a children’s toy consignment shop. Some were already colored and somewhat shiny (like the red, yellow and orange in the bottom left corner); the others were plain wood that I colored with mat acrylics.

Block landscape set up in lightbox built from Carol Marine’s instructions

I am happy to have learned a technique for starting with a grisaille to get the values right and then adding color. For this study I had intended to follow the methods used by classical realists who get every detail and nuance of shading perfect in their grisaille and then glaze over that with many layers of transparent color. But I discovered along the way that that’s just not me. This hybrid method and level of finish suits me better, and is somewhere between the traditional approach and contemporary alla prima/direct painting.

Note about the shadow-box: I built it following Carol Marine’s ArtByte instructions except that I used an Over Bed Table instead of a tripod to support it. I got the Home Depot guy to cut the boards and pipes for me so all I had to do was assemble them and it was easy. It cost under $40 and is so much better than the black foamcore box I’d been using. If you build Carol’s box, see my comments on that ArtByte for a couple of tips.

Something That Brings You Joy and Draw Your Socks, ink & watercolor, 8×11

“Draw Something That Brings You Joy” was the cue for May 3. The first thing I thought of was my new (to me) flat file work station. I already had one set of files and was using them as a seating area, covered by a board, foam pad and quilt. But I decided I needed a  standing work station more than a lounging area in the studio.

Months ago I started watching Craigslist for another set. I finally found one in my sister’s neighborhood and my brother-in-law was willing to help me get them home, build a sturdy base for them and set them up, with the white melamine-covered board now a table top. Yay!

Day 4 was “Draw Your Socks” but it could have also been another “something that brings you joy” day, since my wonderful Smartwool Socks bring me and my feet much joy. Especially these cute, funny ones that look like there are two or three socks in one and have blue polka dots, flowers and stripes on them.

EDiM 5 Hobby (Millie), black ink and white Sharpie on Stonehenge brown paper glued in Moleskine, 5×7 in

I filled pages of my sketchbook trying to draw Millie from life but never got more than 1/3 a dog before she moved. So I pasted some brown Stonehenge paper over a couple of the dog scribble pages and then drew this one from a photo. She’s extra elegantly long in my drawing and seems to be prancing through the air (I forgot to add some shadows or a part of her bed so you could tell she was relaxing lying down.

EDiM7-Microwave in the studio beside the sink, ink and watercolor 5×7 in

I inherited this microwave from my son, left behind when I converted the grease monkey garage into my studio. When I use it to heat water for tea in the winter I just have to remember that if I have both electric heaters on, all the lights and the stereo going and a hair dryer blow-drying a watercolor, there’s a good chance I will shortly be sitting in the dark until I visit the circuit breaker box and flip the switch.

Montessori Pink Tower and Turnips, oil on linen panel, 10×10 inches

This painting was inspired by my neighbor’s childhood Montessori Pink Tower blocks arranged like a little cityscape on his coffee table. I found the blocks irresistible and had to paint them. The turnips I’d bought to cook for dinner seemed like a perfect addition (I know, I’m weird, right?) The painting is available on my Daily Paintworks gallery here.

If you’d like to see my full notes with goals and outcomes for each painting session, you can open this small PDF file.  Life intervened between sessions which made painting from life difficult as you can see in the photos below taken at the beginning and end of the painting process: the turnips had started to sprout and wrinkle.

Studio Lights

I finally found what I think are perfect lights for painting still life. I used this LED 4000K spotlight to light my still life set up and this LED 4000K floodlight clamped to a rafter above my easel to light my canvas. The 4000K lights are a nice middle point between warm and cool colored light bulbs and don’t produce heat that can affect flowers or produce. They also come in warmer colored versions 2800K and 3000K (like incandescent bulbs) as well as cooler  5000K (daylight) versions.

Figure drawing wall in studio

I just made a big leap in my understanding of figure and portrait drawing so wanted to share previous sketches and paintings before the new work. Above is a photo of the “figure drawing wall” in my studio. I’d covered this wall with black non-fade bulletin board paper to avoid reflected light when I’m at my easel (that stands just to the right of this photo). Then I hung black metal grid panels that I got super cheap on Craigslist and use little magnets to stick the drawings to the grid wall. Now it’s easy to add, move or replace drawings with better ones as my skill improves and I can hang framed paintings from it with grid wall picture hooks.

Below are assorted figure and portrait drawings from past Friday Figure Drawing sessions. Click on any image to go to slide-viewing mode and click through them using the arrows on each side.

Self-Portrait, Zorn Palette, oil on Mylar, 12×9 inches

I might look grumpy or serious from concentrating, a little cross-eyed (eyes drawn too close together), big-nosed and scrawny, but I’m really happy with this painting because it was fun to do! The hardest part was lighting my face without blinding myself with the glare.

Below you can see the setup I used in the studio, with the giant mirror I got for $10 (!) at Home Depot; it was half priced and had a few scratches so they took off another $5. I had a hard time supporting the mirror so that it was tall enough to see myself. Finally I found a solution: propped it up on an open drawer, held in place with two bungee cords wrapped around the studio chest of drawers.

Inspired by Myriam Yee (be sure to check out her amazing series of Zorn palette self-portraits here), I used the “Zorn” limited palette of Ivory Black, Cadmium Red Medium, Yellow Ochre and Titanium White. Myriam uses Williamsburg Cold Black instead of Ivory Black, which has some Ultramarine Blue mixed in and provides a wider range of colors. I bought a tube and am experimenting with it now.

I painted on Dura-Lar Matte Film again but this time (see previous post) I did the drawing on one sheet and then imposed a second sheet over it to paint on. This way, if I wanted to try a second painting of the same drawing or just want to save the drawing I still have it.