Partial painting showing underpainting at bottom
Acadia View
After a wonderful two days with my friend Frieda Rosenberg and her husband Don, who were here from Duram, NC, I had a few hours this afternoon to play in my home studio. Several weeks ago I purchased some 12 x 12 panels of Fisher paper from ProArt Panels. Margaret Bradburn, a new friend from this blog, suggested that I try it. I got 5 of the 12 x 12 panels mounted on foam core. It is a sanded surface, similar to Wallis and UART (500-600). Also some weeks ago, I went through old pictures, cropping to see what might make interesting squares. I found a photo taken at Acadia National Park in 2009 and have been wanting to try it and the paper out. I did some quick conte sketches on newsprint, but not a color study, as I had a pretty good idea what I wanted. One of the things I loved about the photo was the pieces of blue violet in the foreground rock and the orange tops of the grasses. I did an underpainting using cool colors of hard pastel and alcohol. I didn’t find it to be very successful. The brush seemed to knock off a lot of the hard pastel and it didn’t go on very evenly. Perhaps turpenoid would be better for this? I started painting with nothing but Giraults as the surface is very soft. The background is all Girault. I found that I could blend one color into another very nicely and it was easy putting the layers of fog on over the background. For the trees, I began with two values of red violet, then lightly added some greens. (After doing the underpainting, I put the photo away so I could work more freely and intuitively.) As I worked into the grasses and foreground rocks, I started with Giraults, but then went to softer pastels, using Ludwigs primarily. The surface took it beautifully. This is a lovely surface for painterly work; one that makes it easy to keep edges soft and blend one color into another. While it doesn’t produce broken color, you can see many colors coming through in the background (a combination of blue and red violet and warm and cool greens, all of similar values.) I look forward to working with the remaining 4 panels. But time is going to be very limited, alas! Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
Since we are nearing Thanksgiving, I want to take a moment to especially thank you Jean for sharing all your experiences and creativity with all of us. Your efforts and creations are most appreciated.
I wish you and your loved ones a healthy and contented Thanksgiving.
Marie Monahan
Thank you Marie! I am so fortunate to have made new friends through this blog. But you helped me out a great deal long before the blog was there–when I was worrying about the quality of my book. You said not to worry and just get it out and it made me feel much better. Thanks to Margaret as well, who has been a steady commentator. And to all of you for being there and looking, even if you don’t comment. Sometimes I run into you and you tell me how much you enjoy the posts, and that makes me feel great. While I love selling paintings (and I just had a very successful weekend!), it’s the teaching and sharing that really give me joy and fullfillment. We had a wonderful sermon at church today called ‘What if it’s all about the hokey-pokey”! The point was that what life is really about (at least to our minister) is in living it to its fullest and enjoying it for what it is. And we Unitarians DO like to dance!!! So happy holidays to you all.
Fisher 400 is my favorite surface. Like Jean, I’ve noticed using alcohol in the underpainting can turn out “spotty.” This can be beneficial painting trees and I’ve learned to brush the alcohol on gently. I’ve also found Cretacolor and Faber Castell hard pastels work better for the underpainting than NuPastels. Just wanted to mention these things. I did try Turpenoid on one occasion but it was not successful. I am going to try it again on scraps of Fisher 400 to test it. And I’ll let Jean know before she trys it on an expensive board.
One more comment: Like Marie, I appreciate your blog Jean. I have learned a lot from it and enjoy the interaction I have had with you. (I should have said the following earlier but I have painted all day and my brain is no longer functioning.) Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family and everyone on the blog.