Women’s National Democratic Club, 24″ x 20″, Pastel Premiere white, fine grit

Drawing

Underpainting before alcohol

Underpainting after alcohol

My third and last post of the day.  I definitely HAVE had a productive month of July!  I completed the four street scenes then did this 24″ x 20″ painting of the building that houses the Women’s National Democratic Club on Q and 17th Streets.  It’s a grand old building and the color of the brick along with the aqua-colored copper is quite striking.  I took several images of it and ended with a cropped view that I think produces great shapes and contrasts.  There’s a flag in a lovely position on the left, and peaking out of the bushes is a blue donkey with flag colors in its ears!

I found a packet of large sheets of white Pastel Premiere and had my framer mount them to gatorfoam.  What I didn’t realize was that these sheets were a fine (600?) grit, not the rougher paper I normally use. I’m not sure where I got this!  I would never consciously order it.  Now I have four more nicely mounted sheets to do something with.  Ah well.

I did the drawing then the underpainting with hard pastel and alcohol.  I won’t be doing this again! I knew that the paper didn’t like alcohol. It really doesn’t!  It actually created some strange effects, however, that added to the texture of the building that weren’t completely unwanted. However, I’ll have to use watercolor on the other four panels.

I spent a lot of time drawing the building, but I skipped a step and didn’t do an initial drawing.  Thus, I forgot that the 24″ is not in proportion to the width of the 8 x 10 photo I was using.  But I was able to add more to the left side. Even so, I ended up doing some significant redrawing as I went along. It’s a complicated building with the domed part having maybe five sides?

Due to the lack of texture in the paper, the pastel went on rather flatly. So I decided I’d just keep things simple, such as the tree in the upper left corner.  I kept it to a flat, simple shape and liked it.  Did something similar when I got to the tree in upper right but there are more sky holes and pieces of light on it.

The windows were hard–getting them the right shape, straight, lighting, the whole thing.  And I really didn’t want to over do them.

But nothing was as hard as the donkey!!!  In my drawing, you’ll see that I made him too big and prominent.  After redrawing several times, I realized he was too high up and needed to be down in the bushes.  This is one of the donkeys from the days of “Animals on Parade” that included donkeys and elephants all around DC.  The eyes on this one are quite strange!  But I think I’ve finally captured him pretty well.

I didn’t like the landscaping at all and decided to simplify it–don’t tell them!  I just used some clumps of pinkish flowers and kept it all simply done.  I liked the Japanese maple, however.

This was obviously done for my upcoming show.  I’m hoping they might want it.  It was fun to do and I learned something about painting painted donkeys!

Four cans and initial color on UART

After solvents applied

Blue Earth pastel added on top

I noted in my last post that I recently decided to try a different solvent for my latest painting, Summer Greens. I found cans in my home studio cabinet and decided to do a test of them to see how they differed.

Using a sheet of UART 320, I divided it in four and used some of the warm colors I was planning to use in the underpainting.  The four solvents were Gamsol, Turpenoid, odorless mineral spirits, and denatured alcohol.  I bought the Gamsol years ago to try out oil (gave it up fast!).  I bought the denatured alcohol because Duane Wakeham used it.  Not sure about the others but over the years I’ve studied with a number of people who recommended one thing or another.

My normal solvent for hard pastel is 90% isopropyl alcohol that I get at CVS or Walgreens.  Really cheap and it dries instantly.  I wanted to see what benefits these others might have. I also remembered an experience with my painting Snow and Lock that I painted and sold in 2015.  I used one of these (maybe turpenoid?) as the solvent and it allowed me to really work the underpainting in a beautiful way.  But when I got to the painting, there was one place on it that I couldn’t get the pastel to stick to. It had become too smooth and slick.  The turpenoid definitely had the most oily feel to it and I think it must have been what I used.

I tried to use similar colors in each box.  Then added the solvents.  The Gamsol went on really nicely and I took an immediate liking to it.  It also dried quite quickly.  I liked the way the pastel looked afterwards. Definitely brighter than when I use my regular alcohol, I think.  The Turpenoid was the worst of these.  It was rather yellowish and it darkened the colors and it refused to dry!  When I tried to add pastel over it, it was gummy!  I quickly ruled it out.  Perhaps some of you use this with good effect?

The mineral spirits and denatured alcohol both went on nicely and dried quickly and seemed to be similar.  These have the advantage of being cheaper than the Gamsol, which was designed for artists and sold in art stores (can is smaller too!).  The others are all available at your local hardware store.

One issue with some of these solvents is disposing of them.  Alcohol can go down the sink (or on the grass when painting outside) and that’s why I’ve always favored it.  I don’t think Gamsol can be disposed of in this way.  Those of you who are oil painters have more experience with this than I do.  I’d be interested to know what people like best.

I definitely thought that the color was more brilliant with the Gamsol, but then I covered it up so not sure it matters!!!

Summer Greens, 20″ x 16″, UART 320

Underpainting, stage 1

Underpainting done with gamsol

Partially completed painting

This past week I really was in the mood for pure landscape, after completing 5 paintings from Dupont Circle!  I took a walk with my cell phone past a small glade of woods I frequently pass. The light was beautiful and I took a number of pictures.  I really liked this scene with the path, the strips of light and shadow and the soft blues overhead.

I was also in the mood for doing a better underpainting.  I decided to use a combination of violets, reds, oranges, and pinks under the greens.  Then I decided that it would be nice to use something other than straight alcohol as a solvent.  I found four cans of different solvents in my home closet and decided to do a test.  I’ll do a separate post for the test. I opted for Gamsol for this painting.  It set the pastel into the paper nicely and it dried quickly.  I think it also retained more of the brilliance of the pastel than regular isopropyl alcohol does.

For this painting, I used primarily Blue Earth pastels–the ceruleans and blues, greens, and turquoise.  Used Girault for the branches and for the detail in the bottom.  What I loved was the way the Blue Earth layer on the 320 UART.  Using a soft touch and close values, you can really produce nuanced color–and that’s what a scene like this is all about!

I was worried about the complexity of the subject but I worked from what was underneath or behind to what was in front.  So I began the upper left with a light blue and the upper right with darker blues.  Then I put the lighter and darker greens on top, letting the blue areas show through.  I tried various colors for the sky holes and finally used one of the lightest cerulean whites.  It was in the gray column so it had warmth to it and it seemed to be just right.  The light yellow was too yellow, and the Girault light yellow just didn’t go on as well.  So this very light blue worked perfectly.

The trees in the center are covered in Kudzu.  There is a large blue tree in the back, and the center set of bushes has kudzu vines in sunlight.  It forms a rather nice blanket on the tops of the bushes (but its probably killing them!!!)  I used the darkest blue Blue Earth to lay in the initial color for this, as you can see in the partially completed shot.  I could then put in a dark turquoise (cool green) and gradually add lighter colors.

The foreground was probably the most challenging part.  Getting the angle right helped a lot.  The light area in the middle was easy but as the sunlight cancelled out the detail.  But the bottom was more of a challenge.  I began by layering in various colors of Blue Earth then I went over that with linear strokes of Giraults to give the sense of grasses in shadow.  This worked quite well.

I really enjoyed doing this painting. Years ago I would have been scared to tackle something like this but somehow it’s become pretty instinctive!

Pink Hydrangea, 20″ x 16″ UART 320

Drawing

Initial sketch of figure

Underpainting prior to alcohol

Today I finished my fourth street scene from Dupont Circle. I chose this photo because I liked the hydrangea and the shadows on the sidewalk.  However, there was no figure in it and I decided it really needed one.  So I used a reference shot of a woman I saw the same day, added a hat to her right hand and thought that might work.

My primary problem with adding figures that aren’t there is getting the proportions right. I decided that the 2″ figure I’d drawn would be about right for the painting.  However, I realized that in the drawing, she is heading to the right and I had to have her going straight down the sidewalk. As much as I liked the hat, I decided it was a little too much and not necessary.

I did another somewhat arbitrary underpainting. However, I used green under the reads and a light orange under the light warm greenish building at far right.  I decided not to touch the figure.  I did the same brush down with alcohol, avoiding the figure, but forgot to film it!  Sorry.  But you’ve seen enough of these.

I have two competing centers of interest in this painting–the shadows and bush and the figure.  Once you put a figure in, that’s it!   But I named it for the hydrangea and I think it makes a pretty strong statement, encroaching on the side walk as it does.

For the sidewalk, I layered a number of warm and cool colors of the same value, ending with warm in the foreground.  The shadows were begun with one purple but then I added some darker grayed violet and a lighter warm brown.  I felt that the neutral helped soften the effect of the violet.  It’s still pretty strong though.

The background and cars were a challenge.  I basically just layered in some colors for the background (at end of street) but had to do a lot of tinkering to get the cars looking right.  Used a pink on the ones in sunlight to tie the color to the flowers and sidewalk.  Made the bag red to help connect that to the red brick building.

I’ve enjoyed doing this series.  I have one more, probably more difficult painting to do of the Women’s National Democratic Club building, then I think it will be time for some straight landscape!

Lavender House on Q, 20″ x 16″, UART 320

Graphite drawing

Underpainting, stage 1

Underpainting, stage 2

Painting in process showing redrawn charcoal lines

Finished my third Dupont Circle street scene today and decided on what the fourth will be. This one was from my second visit to the area and it was the first picture I took. I knew immediately that I would be painting it–a lavender house!  And with a yellow house next door. And wonderful light hitting the doorway of the English basement, as well as oak-leaf hydrangeas in light pointing to the doorway!  There was no question!

I spent most of one Monday doing the drawing and underpainting.  While I spent a lot of time on the drawing, I still didn’t get it right.  (Note: I printed out a B&W photo to help me with it, but accidentally mailed it to a friend in prison!!! Ah well).  For the underpainting, I used complements with violet under the yellow and yellow under the violet.  The orange in the doorway was important as it stood out after the alcohol wash.  I did what I’ve been doing and washed it down from top to bottom with a wide brush and a lot of alcohol.

When I came back to it, I realized that the drawing wasn’t correct and that the windows were too high up.  Given the very washy underpainting, I was able to use charcoal to redraw the windows and lines of the lavender building.  Then I was finally ready to paint!

I started with the yellow building on the left and tried to mix complements for the shadows but it didn’t work very well.  So I used a violet in the windows but a darker value of yellow for the shadows.  The same was true in the lavender building.  I tried adding a warm browning color to the shadows and a green, but they didn’t work well. So I used a darker grayer violet for most of the shadowed areas on the left and a very dark red violet for the shadows on the right.

Another challenge was indicated the more sunlit areas on the violet building. I resolved it by choosing a lighter redder violet than what I’d been using. There was enough warmth and difference to create a subtle glow.

You’ll notice that in the beginning stages of the painting I didn’t include the newspaper on the walk.  I decided to add that (as well as lengthening the stairs) and I used some of the same violet from the building on the newspaper.  I really like the way it carries the color to another location.

The red color of the stairs and wall over the lower doorway was difficult to achieve as I had it in differing light conditions.  For the dark area, I used the same Ludwig as what was in the shadows on the right wall.  Then added some brown below, and red to the right with pinky orange in the sunlit areas.

My biggest challenge was the area at the top of the stairs.  In the photo, there is a tall wispy tree with green leaves covering that area–right in the middle.  I knew I didn’t want to include it.  I began by putting in the railing and it looked dreadful.  Then, I thought maybe a potted plant.  Tried a red geranium and hated it.   Then realized I could just bring out a branch from the right to cover some of it up.  Much happier with that solution.

The doorway was the easy part.  Ludwig eggplant with a slightly lighter red violet applied in strips to inidcate the bars.  A grayed green in the sunlit area, as well as on the wall to the left of the door.  What I really liked is the way the violet proceeds down to the right of the door.  Compositionally, I find this very satisfying.

The greenery scared me a bit, but I used mainly soft pastels and did it fairly quickly. I liked the dappled lighting on the plants at bottom and the hydrangeas.

This was fun and rewarding to paint.  My next one will be more of a street scene, perhaps with a person again.

Dupont Roses, 20″ x 16″, UART 320

Underpainting, stage 1

Underpainting, stage 2

Painting, stage 1

Painting, what I thought was done

I spent yesterday in the studio with several long-time friends and fellow pastel artists.  I put the finishing touches on a painting I started some weeks ago, before our trip to Colorado.  I had thought it was done and had filmed it. But when I looked at the image, I knew that I wasn’t happy with it.

After my last quickly drawn painting, I spent more time with the drawing.  But I went pretty fast with the underpainting! Pretty ugly I think!  But it did the trick. You can see that with the alcohol, all the major shapes are there and clearly defined, even though I used my new technique of brushing it down with a lot of alcohol.

In real life, the roses are a deep cool red and the stairway is an uninteresting puce-like color.  With the red orange in the building and brick wall, I just instinctively went for the blue greens for the stairs. And I decided to make the roses more of a red orange as well.  For the doorway in the back, I painted it very loosely and simply.  There were two complicated light fixtures on either side, which I removed.

I completed the painting up to “painting stage 1” and came back another day.  I knew that i didn’t like the yellow I had used in the door frame.  It didn’t go with the orange at all. So I used a light Ludwig orange to got rid of the yellow.  Much happier!  I then worked on the greenery.  I didn’t have my Ipad on that day and only had a B&W photo. So I couldn’t see where the roses actually were.  When I looked at the color image again, I realized that there were roses lower down which added to the curvature of the colors leading up to the green vine.

My goal yesterday was to tone down the blue green stairs, add the additional roses, change the color of the sidewalk (which was too much like the brick wall) and complete the roses and highlights on the greens.  I used some warm neutral Schminkes in several values to add a brownish tone to the large part of the stairway on the left. I used the same color in the brick walk.  I didn’t change the rest of the stairway  at all, but I felt that this made enough of a difference.  It wasn’t quite so “in my face”!  I added some lighter, brighter orange to the brick near the doorway.  (By the way, this is an English basement and there is a slightly lighter area of color in it with an arc of dark above. You have to look hard to see it in the photo, but it’s clearly there in the painting.  I’m aiming to paint some of the buildings with English basements as they are one of the defining characteristics of Dupont Circle.)

The reddish wall is too bright in the photo, a common problem of photography (and this isn’t digital!).

I began a new painting yesterday of a lavender building with a yellow one next to it.  Nice complements!  Will get back to it later this week.

Happy 4th of July to you all. It’s a wonderful holiday, despite someone’s efforts to turn it into self aggrandizement!