Tag: creative process

Making hay with words.

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Making hay with words.

Sitting here painting enormously absorbed.

Detail is my essential preoccupation.

As I investigate my progress I see I am far from finished and the further I get the less done it looks.

But importantly I have to make sure I don’t over paint it.

I think I need a break and a beverage.

We made it through the Polar Vortex. How’s the weather doing on your half?

Last week it was -40 degrees F and today it was 40 degrees.

Tomorrow we have a winter storm warning from 7:00am-12:00pm with possible blizzard conditions but not until after I get to work.

We call this winter here hey:)

The cross-country ski’s are ready.

I know I should be thinking about getting this painting done but I like to think skiing is part of my creative process.

We went skiing two weekends ago.

The timing was perfect right before the deep freeze.

While we were getting our ski’s on we saw the tail end of four deer pass before us about 25 yards away.

Nature at it’s best.

It’s only a paper moon

I was hoping to say something profound while I collected my thoughts here.

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But I got nothing.

They say…

good artists borrow

and great artists steal.

I’ve been intrigued by some old postcard photographs from the 1900’s called ‘Paper Moon.’  They use an acronym RPPC meaning real photo postcard that originated during the dates between 1904-1918. There are a lot of these images taken with kids or couples; families and friends as they would get their picture taken with this life-size paper moon in the background. These photographs are still around and people collect them. The photographs are sepia maybe black and white or both I’m not too sure.  I like old photography to begin with the cameras, the color and the serious faces. I like the whole studio effects and the flatness and how desolate things can look.

 

I just love this idea and feel the need to explore this topic some more. I just want to bring myself back to that era. In the process maybe bring a good original idea back to life with a new contemporary perspective or modern-day version. I’m in the planning stage to do a painting with this theme. I already have the person and image in mind I just need to get the moon and person sketched out together on canvas. I know some photographs will follow in the mix. How hard could it be to make a paper moon? What does it look like it’s made out of is it wood, fiber glass or foam core?

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Of course I have to finish my painting in process before I start another…not.

I have so many paintings in process again.  Three that I can think of off the top of my head but I know there are a couple more tucked away.” The fine art of finishing a painting.” Some will need some serious time to get done and I don’t have any serious time at the moment. So they will have to wait until summertime when the days are long.  I thought if I worked smaller it would go faster but it’s just as much work to do a small painting as a big painting. So my creative process is divided but it is aways in play.

What’s next on your plate?

I have to laugh. I wasn’t very hungry the other night but my son made sure he let mt know that I couldn’t leave the table until I finished everything on my plate.

I stopped saying that.

*Just a note the flags are at half mast around here but it seems like they are always at half mast these days.

How many days does it take to finish a portrait?

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Day one: A friend of mine recommended me to someone who wanted a painting done of their cat. So I met them at Alterra coffee-house a neutral place where we could meet about commissioning a portrait of a cat named Bartholomew/Bart. We Looked at photograph’s, I said I could do this painting and then signed a contract I brought along.

Day two: I reviewed photos, did some sketches, e-mailed client back and waited for confirmation.

Day two: Confirmation from client, printed image and picked up canvas.

Day three: Did grid and started drawing on canvas.

Day four: Still drawing image onto canvas. This is a crucial part of the process getting everything right from the start although it all gets covered with paint.

Day five: I started with a basic under painting worked on background and went straight into the fabric.

Day six: I began with the eyes the most important part. I need to get the eyes perfect.

Day seven: Worked on the face of cat and whiskers.
Whiskers really helped painting.

Day eight: painted the ears.

Day seven: I needed to darken the pattern on the fabric. Darkening some fur shadows and added fluffy accents throughout cat giving it more shape and form so it looks like a 3-dimensional cat also filled in front of sofa.

Day eight: Worked on tail made it longer and changed background.

Day nine: Worked on the paws or the impression of the paw.

Day ten: Touched up shape of head and edges of fur.

Day eleven: Pushed more dark shadows and white areas.

Day twelve: Ears and ear hairs needed some work.

Day thirteen: I always keep coming back to the eyes.

Day fourteen: Worked on back leg, body shape and pattern.

Day fifteen: Finished. e-mail client confirm pick up date.

day sixteen: Went with hooks on back of painting/attached.

Day seventeen: Coffee shop 9:00 dropped of painting. Waitress walks by and says it’s brilliant. It catches me off guard. I laugh. They like painting. It was exactly what they expected.

A riddle wrapped up in an enigma

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I was working on a small postcard size sketch. It was a study more than anything. The interesting thing is now that I look at the pictures it is my natural tendency to turn the work on its side or upside down when I work. And even though it makes sense to me. For some reason when people come over and visit and it’s upside down they look at me and laugh and just have to ask why is it upside down? Of course I’m totally oblivious to the fact that it is until they bring it to my attention. As far as I can see it’s still in process so presentation is the last thing on my mind.

I learned this in school from one of my classmates. He would turn his work upside down to get a better perspective especially when something had to be symmetrical. Your mind could play tricks on you thinking it looked right but if you reversed the image you could see it in a new light.

Okay so it’s been a very trying week. There must have been some dark cloud hovering over effecting us all some way or another. I lost my muffler somewhere on the side of the road. The brakes on my truck went faster than I had hoped. My car definitely needed some new tires so we found this guy who would sell us some used tires for $40.00. Here he has another pair sitting there and said we can have those too for $40.00. We only had $29.00. He said you look like you could use them more than me and takes the $29.00.

I was just wonder how we looked? Were not poor maybe broke sometimes but not poor.

A riddle wrapped up in an enigma.

I need to start selling some paintings.

Taking a break from painting the figure.

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Painted today. Taking a seriously needed break from painting the figure. There’s freedom in not having any pencil marks or guidelines to follow on the canvas. The pure artistic desire to just paint. Taking the time to figure out on your own where everything belongs, how it visually looks and how it all relates.

I always start with the under painting. I use raw sienna and prussian blue and a little white for a change basically establishing my value study as I covered the whole canvas with paint.

I am working from a photograph I took some time ago in North Carolina while we staying at the Hilton. It was a summer night and we would stroll down the boardwalk. The evening lights and water reflections were a delight to be around while we would watch the sun set and then stop at a nearby bistro for a local beer and southern platter. Our little get away from the party at hand. The ocean breeze was so warm.

“The boardwalk in Charlotte” I have a few other photo’s so this could turn into a series. When I finish this one I’m hoping to bring it down to the local coffee shop called Smith Bros located right along Lake Michigan/one of the great lakes. Some very interesting array of artwork is on display there and some by a couple of friends I have unexpectedly come to know by chance. My work is not on display at this time because I had a piece disappear with the owner from another coffee shop that closed it doors unexpected. Stolen in other words…we take our chances as artists not like it’s worth a million dollars yet. There are a couple of other galleries that have pop up in Port Washington lately I need to inquire.

Why you should frame your art.

There are two reasons why we have art frames on paintings. They can protect art, of course, but most importantly they can aid to their attractiveness on display.

Since the very early days of painting, frames have served to enhance the visual beauty of art. Pictures were hung on walls and they became furnishings. The first frames were often works of art themselves. They were large and elaborately carved and decorated wooden frames. There was a practical reason also. The frame framed the picture. In other words, it created a boundary that enclosed the image and separated it physically from the surrounding wall.

As the idea of paintings as furniture began to spread, the frame became such an essential element of the entire package that the art was not considered complete until it was framed. The frame often time was more art than the painting itself. The framer was an artist in his own right. One part of his art was the carving and decoration of the frame and another was the matching of frame and picture to create a harmonious whole.

Framing changed dramatically with the introduction of lithographs and prints. These were either original works or copies of works printed on paper rather than actual paintings on canvas. Little was understood about preservation at first and although the art prints were being framed in a similar fashion to oil paintings at first, it was soon realized that certain protection was needed. It also became common to use colored matting to frame the image inside the wooden external frame.

As the lithograph or print became more and more popular, the art of modern framing was developed. The external frame became more than just a frame for the image, but also the platform that allowed glass to cover and protect the image and matting to enhance and create an inner frame. The use of matting inside the outer frame became another art form. Colors in the mats themselves were matched to colors in the art work to create a unified visual image. The mats, the image, the glass, and even protective backing and mounting material was all held together by the frame.

Today, the major reason for the use of frames with art is still the original one. The frame isolates the art from the surrounding environment making it a unified piece. With prints, the frame still serves as a platform for the glass, backing, and matting. Of course, the major reason for a frame from a practical point of view is that we have become so used to them that no hanging picture would look natural without one.

Aazdak Alisimo writes about art framing for ArtFramingGalleries.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Aazdak_Alisimo

visit my website at http://www.cedarlodgeportraitstudio.com

Boo Radley lives across the street.

 

It’s that time of the year. When my daughter who will stand at the corner of the lot peering across the street for long periods of time according to my watch shivering and whispering to her little brother who  follows her around faithfully. It reminds me every time of the book To Kill a Mockingbird you know the part where Scout and Jem would wait to see if Boo Radley would come out of the house. Not that this house looked run down, overgrown or there were any rumors circulating about the neighbors that I care to mention, but instead the haunting decorum of Halloween that they displayed in their front yard religiously ever year antagonizing my daughter as she looks to see and not see at the same time. At night it only got brighter as she peaks through the curtains. I’m sure the neighbors were amused and look forward to her curiosity every year.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was a coming-of-age novel told from the point of view of an adult looking back at her childhood something I keep wanting to do myself.  Scout was 9 years old an age I remember very well and she was, as the saying goes, ‘wise beyond her years’. Another familiar line ‘Roaming freely all day, coming home only for meals or the bathroom.’ An era we will only remember as a child and never repeat.

 

Taking photo 101 is not the same

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I take a lot of pictures. It’s a habit I learned not on my own. I have two sisters that insisted I take photo 101 in high school probably because they thought it was an easy credit and all you had to do was show up and then leave to go take pictures as they would laugh ‘skip class’. So it was my sibling duty to follow in their foot steps. I intern took this very seriously in learning to break open your roll of film quickly, transferring it onto a reel and then into a case of solution while being in complete darkness hoping that no one comes in and turns on the lights by mistake. More importantly the challenge was at developing a good image in the dark room under some faint light while being all consumed with these vinegar smells that filled the air and trays. You needed to know by smell which one was which because when adding more solution in the dark your sense of smell was more important than your sence of sight. There was a beginning and an end and you can not mix them up.

So once I was set up and ready I was in no hurry to go and could be there for hours. Each attempt was earnestly made a little lighter here darker there and even the pictures that didn’t turn out had some intrinsic value. I regret I don’t have them now tangible and in hand but in memory I see them a building, a pier, people I knew and pets we had. Black and white, some grainy but all from an adolescents point of view.

Now I take pictures download them into adobe where they show up in a matter of minutes. I enhance them in a matter of seconds and then upload them to another site and have them available for viewing. The images are very nice. Digital has not lessened the image. They are sharper and clearer and more dynamic than ever.

I value what I have learned and have a better appreciation for the camera and photography over all. I look forward to what the future brings.

I love the smell of turpentine as it lingers in my studio.

I rummaged through some old paintings today. I get inspiration when I see these works how there so fresh, new, and spontaneous. I see the freedom that came with painting what ever was presented right there in front of us. We did the best that we could or knew at the time. The art instructor would walk around looking like Wyatt Earp helping us to paint, to see and understand when areas were working or not. The thick smell of  turpentine and oil paint saturated the room instilling a memory forever.