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    If you haven't seen the two-DVD set, "The Impressionists", you don't know what you're missing!

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    I rented it from Netflix a few weeks ago and absolutely loved it. It is an enactment of the lives of Monet, Renoir, Manet, Cezanne, Degas, and other Impressionist painters living at that time around Paris. Fascinating and eye-opening!



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    The slide show below features some of my paintings of various subjects. If you see something scroll by below that you're interested in, or have any questions about, many of these are available; just email me at JamieWG@aol.com with the title of the painting. The titles appear as you scroll over each image with your mouse. I hope you enjoy the show!



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Archive for the 'Demos/Work in Progress' Category

Working Atop the Hudson Highlands—Work in Progress

Posted by Jamie on May 20th, 2008

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I was able to get permission to paint at the old Garrison Castle today. I stood out on an upper floor balcony, with a straight shot above West Point, upriver, through the Hudson Highlands and beyond. You can even see Bannerman Island next to Breakneck Ridge from here. The river does a complete, tight “S” curve at this point between West Point and Constitution Island. It must be quite the navigational nightmare for a large ship. It is a staggeringly beautiful view.

It started out as a sunny day, but quickly changed over to cloudy, and then the rain showers moved in. (The photo above, painted toward the end of my session, was clearly after the light had changed!) This is a very complex scene, with layers of hills and mountains extending all the way through the Highlands, to the cliffs of the Shawangunks, and even to the Catskill Mountains beyond the Gunks. Plus, all those buildings at West Point! The shifting weather made a tough scene even harder. I had to pack it in before I could finish. There’s not too much left to do on this; I’ll either finish it from a photo I took, or else try to get permission to return.

Here it is in its current unfinished state. It’s 12×16″, oils on canvas covered hardboard. I’ll post it again when it’s finished.

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Tulips By the Fountain

Posted by Jamie on May 6th, 2008

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7×5″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard

Although this scene was an enormous challenge to paint, I think I had an even more difficult time trying to get the photo right! I can’t seem to get the dark trees in the background light enough without bleaching out the foreground flowers. This painting will be available here on my website for only a couple of weeks.

Since this scene presented so many interesting challenges, I decided to take a few extra pictures to share.

Here is a photo of the scene:

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I was immediately drawn to the strong contrasts, and the L-shaped composition created by the flowers, fountain and figure. I also love painting stone walls, so it was a plus to have that in the composition as well. Fitting all this onto a 5×7 panel didn’t prove to be easy.

Here’s my pack stool and lightweight painting box. The umbrella clamp is affixed to my stool. I was using a Pittman bag, which can hold my box flat so the paint won’t shift as I change locations. My panel carrier and extra paints fit in there too, and even the umbrella.

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Here’s a closeup of the box, ready for paint. The panel is affixed to the box lid with blu-tac. It works great. The panels and paper stay put, and there are no clips or clamps obscuring parts of the painting surface. My paper towel is clipped onto the box lid to allow more room alongside the palette for paints and my sprayer.

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The plastic paint storage containers were purchased in the camping section of Sports Authority. They have a rubber seal around the outside so the paint stays fresh. I find it much easier to set out paint this way, rather than having to search for a tube and open caps.

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The box further to the back contains my standard plein air palette:
Cadmium Yellow Primrose
Pyrrole Red
Transparent Red Oxide
Phthalo Blue
Ultramarine Blue
Titanium White

The box in the front contains add-ons that I use in the figure studio. I bring it along for plein air too, just in case….It has
Naples Yellow
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Cadmium Red Light
Oxide of Chromium
Cerulean Blue Chromium hue
Permanent Alizarin
I also carry quinacridone magenta with me for these garden scenes.

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Whoever said that every painting has to have an ugly stage sure knew what they were talking about. There’s mine! I toned the upper part of the painting with transparent red oxide, and painted the figures a dark, greyed blue. That way, even in the underpainting, I could judge the figures more carefully. Then I worked in the green background. I blocked in the area of strong yellow below to reserve it—-a useful tip given to me by wonderful plein air artist, Lee Haber.

From there, it was lots of fun getting the painting to emerge. I feel like my painting process doesn’t really get underway until after this block-in step is done and I have a layer of paint down. Getting this much done didn’t take all that long, but I forgot to stop and get more pictures once I got past this beginning stage. It did eventually get done.

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I started another painting later in the afternoon, but it started to rain and I had to pack up. I’ll finish it from a photo on a rainy day later in the week. I hope you’ve enjoyed these extra photos!

Yellow Roses in Pastel

Posted by Jamie on April 19th, 2008

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Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in purchasing this painting.
12×9″, soft pastels on Art Spectrum sanded pastel paper

Everybody loves visiting an artist’s studio and seeing paintings come together, so I thought I’d share part of the process of this painting.

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Here’s a photo of my setup in my studio, along with the pastel in progress. The pastels on the paper towel are the ones I selected from my huge box of colors. Setting them aside like this makes them easier to find, and helps maintain a unified palette with good color harmony.

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Above is a photo of the full area of my studio where I was working on this piece, so you can see the whole pastel box. I think now you can see why I find it necessary to separate the colors I’m using in a particular work; otherwise I’d be forever looking to find them again!

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This is an image of the painting about 1/3 of the way through the process. The basic color plan has been made and the objects blocked in. Following this stage, it’s time for refinement. Most of my time on a painting is spent in the refining stages.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this trip to my studio!

Making a Multi-Media Laptop Painting Box

Posted by Jamie on March 16th, 2008

Here’s my setup while test driving the new box!

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Click on any images below for a larger view. The post below this one gives instructions for making the box shown in these images.

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I’ve had this idea brewing in my head for almost a year, and finally made my car/laptop painting box this weekend! I wanted something extremely lightweight. This is made out of a single sheet of black foamcore! I used foamcore to make my pastel boxes, and was amazed by how sturdy it turned out to be when constructed properly. I used the same techniques to create this painting box. Best of all is that it weighs only one pound!

The white palette is a foam meat tray. I found them in an 11.25 x 9.25″ size and thought that would be ideal for palette inserts for my box, and also to use as palettes for oils and acrylics in open studio. They are perfect for gouache and casein too! I found a place online that had them and ordered a case of 250. A stack of four can fit in this lap box.

Here’s what the case looks like when it’s closed up for traveling. It measures 17×10x2″. The front closures are velcro strips.

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The box is sealed with a couple of coats of Golden GAC100, so it can be wiped clean and should be fairly water resistant in case of water and paint spills.

Inside the box, there’s ample room for brushes, paints, several foam palettes, paper towels, a small solvent container like the mini one made by Guerrilla Painter, or a collapsible water container like this Aqua Tote for acrylics.

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I found the little containers (above) in the camping department at a sporting goods store. They have an air-tight seal, so I think they should work out great for holding and storing all types of paints. With these two, I can hold more than enough colors for an outing plus a way to store leftovers when I’m done. However, the box is deep enough to hold tubes of paint if I prefer to bring the tubes.

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I decided to make the back hinges out of heavy duty velcro. Because this box is for multi-media use, and I also plan to use it for painting in my car, I wanted it to be as versatile as possible. Velcro hinges make the lid completely removable if the car is tight for space and I want to separate my drawing/painting support from the box itself, or if I need to lie it flat for watercolor work.

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This side arm prevents the box lid/painting support from opening too far. I decided to use velcro for this feature as well, in order to have greater adjustment potential. The velcro “hook” strips along the side (above) and the back (below) secure the arm made of the “loop” velcro.

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The Aqua Tote water holder, below, is one of my favoite items of painting gear for water media. Not only does it pack up into a small space in the box, but it also serves as my brush holder, and is very lightweight.

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These are available online from Dick Blick, Jerrys Artarama, and ASWexpress.com.

Another helpful item I found recently was a package of small misters. These are helpful for keeping acrylic paints wet on the palette, as well as for moistening paper for watercolor and acrylic wet techniques. They are only four inches long and 1/2″ wide. I found them at my local Michael’s Arts and Crafts shop.

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Now that I’ve finished taking photos and typing all this out, I’m going to find something to paint and give my new box a test drive!

Update after field testing:
I’d suggest using duct tape for the back hinge instead of the velcro strips. I’ve found that I have yet to make use of the capability to remove the box lid, and the velcro strips keep pulling up.
Instead of office clips to affix my painting support, I am finding blu-tac much more convenient. It enables me to paint right up to the edges of my work.
The office clips can be used on the left side of the lid (if right handed) to clip some paper towels or a rag to the lid. That way, the left side of the lower tray can be reserved for paint tubes/containers, mediums, and water/turp.

I’ve uploaded these images large enough to be able to read the text. Just click on the images to see the enlarged versions. I hope many of you find this helpful to build your own lightweight boxes for those times when lugging a heavy setup is impractical.

For some unknown reason, I’m having to click twice on these pages to get large, clear images. If you click and the image is unclear, try clicking the image a second time.

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My permission is granted to download and print out the three images in this post for your own information and reference only.

Update after field testing:
I’d suggest using duct tape for the back hinge instead of the velcro strips. I’ve found that I have yet to make use of the capability to remove the box lid, and the velcro strips keep pulling up.
Instead of office clips to affix my painting support, I am finding blu-tac much more convenient. It enables me to paint right up to the edges of my work.
The office clips can be used on the left side of the lid (if right handed) to clip some paper towels or a rag to the lid. That way, the left side of the lower tray can be reserved for paint tubes/containers, mediums, and water/turp.

Putnam County Land Trust Headquarters—Chickadee Haven

Posted by Jamie on January 29th, 2008

Click image to enlarge:

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18×24″, oils on stretched canvas
SOLD!

This is a the headquarters of Putnam County Land Trust. It will be housed permanently over the fireplace in the building. The Land Trust has been renovating this building for years, and the painting will be unveiled at the grand opening in the spring. PCLT owns about 140 acres here. A local resident, with property bordering the preserve, left her house to the Land Trust in her will, to be used as a headquarters and for educational purposes.

This site is only about a half mile from me, so I’m very excited about doing this painting for the Land Trust!

Below are various stages of the painting in progress.
Second Stage:

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First stage:

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Fall Morning in Cold Spring on the Hudson River and demo

Posted by Jamie on December 4th, 2007

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12×12″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
Please contact RiverwindsGallery.com if interested in this painting.

My painting buddy, Suhua Wood, found this amazing spot along the Hudson River in Cold Spring for us to paint! I started this painting on location a few weeks ago, but didn’t have enough time to finish it there. I finally finished it up from a photo.

I took pictures of the various stages as I painted. First I underpainted with Golden Fluid Acrylics, using Transparent Red Oxide for all but the lightest areas. Some light areas then got a wash of Transparent Yellow Oxide, and cool darks got some Ultramarine Blue.

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I pulled out some heavier bodied acrylics, and laid in the sky and water. You can see an image of my scene and setup here as I was working.

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Then I started working with the local colors I saw. The image below shows how much I completed on location, and how far I still had to go.

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I used a photo of the scene to finish up the painting, in combination with the information already there from having worked on location. Being able to do even a portion of the piece en plein air always makes a difference in the outcome.

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8×10, Golden OPEN Acrylics on Multimedia Artboard
Please email me if you are interested in this painting.

Finally this painting is done. Here is the painting demo, as promised. My palette consisted of:
Hansa Yellow Opaque
Hansa Yellow Light (fluid acrylics)
Napthol Red Light
Transparent Red Oxide (fluid acrylics)
Ultramarine Blue
Phthalo Blue
Titanium White

I started with the Transparent Red Oxide, using Golden Fluid Acrylics. After a few placement lines, I blocked in my midtones and darks:

Next, I added Ultramarine Blue for the coolest darks, and Hansa Yellow Light for the lightest areas.

Then I laid in my sky, using Ultramarine Blue, Titanium White, and a touch of Phthalo Blue to bring the sky back to a mid-blue and give it a little chroma boost. (I apologize for the glare in this image.)

Once the sky is in, I start working local color, allowing my underpainting to show through in places. This is where I left off the other day, when I posted the image:

From there, I added more variations to my colors, filled out the textures of the trees, and pushed the lights and darks to create more contrast. Then the finishing touches went in, like the tree trunks and the stone wall in the background. Voila…done!

I hope you enjoyed following along with me in the painting process!

Moon Setting Over Crow’s Nest Mountain, painting and demo

Posted by Jamie on November 1st, 2007

Click image to enlarge:

8×10, Golden OPEN Acrylics on Multimedia Artboard
Please contact http://RiverWindsGallery.com if interested in this painting.

This was painted on location from Cold Spring, New York, along the shore of the Hudson River. Crow’s Nest Mountain is actually 42 feet higher than neighboring Storm King, but doesn’t get as much of the publicity. The moon was setting over the cliffs, presenting an irresistible scene. I thought I’d show a demo of my process, so I took some photos along the way.

I started by mixed up a painting “medium” of Golden Acrylic Flow Release in a ratio of 1:10 with water, poured some of that into a little palette cup, and added about 25% Golden Acrylic Glazing Liquid (Gloss). I used that to dilute paint for my underpainting, so as not to underbind the paint, and to help the flow of the color.

I began drawing in a couple of lines with heavily diluted Transparent Red Oxide. Once the placement lines were in, I started blocking in darks with thicker paint, and used thinner washes on the midtones. Then I used Transparent Yellow Oxide over the light areas (except for the sky). Areas of this photo appear blue due to sky reflection; those areas are actually white.

Next, I pulled out some Ultramarine blue, and used that combined with the transparent yellow and red oxides to block in cool darks and start a green wash on the foreground. Adding Titanium white and just a dash of phthalo blue to the ultramarine, I blocked in the sky and some sky holes in the tree.

Below is a photo of the painting on my easel, with the scene in the background, so you can see what I was working on. Compositionally, I’d have needed a wider canvas to fit in these elements if I wanted to keep everything to scale. Instead, I compressed the scene, shortening the width of the mountain, and bringing the moon over and down toward the peak. (You can just barely see the moon in the photo of the scene, in the upper right corner.)

I added Hansa Yellow Opaque and Napthol Red to my palette, and started working on the local color. I wanted to bring out the warm tones in the cliffs, so started putting in the pinks and violets early on. The red underpainting helped with that, as well as giving that orangy fall atmosphere. Here it is at the “almost done” point:

Lastly, I added cooler colors to the cliff face and did a once-over throughout the painting, adding finishing touches and making adjustments.

I hope you enjoyed the demo and plein air painting with me!


SOLD!
6 x 6″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard, unframed

Tilly Foster Farm is an old horse farm that was purchased a few years ago by Putnam County to retain as open space. It has beautiful rolling fields, old buildings and barns, and a fantastic overview of miles and miles from the top of the pastures. This painting was done from a photo I took there in the fall.

Making a Multi-Media Sketchbook
I’ve made a number of sketchbooks over the years and have recently been asked to share some of them. This is perhaps the easiest, most useful, and most versatile of them all. The biggest advantages to this design are that many different kinds of paper can be used for various media and effects, plus the paper can be removed easily for framing.

Use any kind of cardboard, foamcore, illustration board, or matboard for your covers. I used scrap pieces of matboard that I had around the house and cut two pieces to the same size. Purchase some ringbinder rings in an office supply store. I got mine at Staples (very inexpensive). Holes were punched in the matboard for the rings:

Next, cut various types of paper that you like to use for painting, drawing, and sketching. Be sure to cut the paper about 1/2 inch smaller than the matboard. When in use, you’ll be doubling over the matboard to serve as a firm drawing board. The matboard edges also serve to protect the edges and corners of the paper. Punch holes in the paper, making sure they line up with the holes you’ve punched in the covers. You can paint your cover to decorate your sketchbook, but I just left mine blank.

If you use a lot of wet media, consider a piece of foamcore for one or both covers, coated with a couple of coats of acrylic medium, to use as a painting board. You can even tape paper down to it that way after removing a sheet from the book, or use metal office clips to hold it. Oil pastel and soft pastel artists can include sheets of glassine with holes punched, to place between finished drawings.

Glue a pocket to the inside of the front cover. (See image below.) I used this to hold templates for standard sizes. If you have, for instance, a 5×7″ template in the pocket, you can pull it out to draw a quick 5×7 rectangle on a piece of the paper. Then you’ll have a drawing or painting that will fit perfectly into a ready-made mat and frame. The little pocket also comes in handy for photo references, drawings, a ruler, etc. I put a sticker on the inside of the cover saying “If found please return to” with my name, address and phone number.

You can click on the image below to enlarge it:


On the right side, the shiny plastic is a sheet of clear acetate. When working in colored pencil or graphite, I’d keep this under my hand to stop the pencil from smudging. I kept another sheet of it in the little pocket inside the cover. You can also keep glassine in the book, or whatever else you use to protect your finished work.

I hope this helps some of you who want a sketchbook that can do it all!

Chickadee Haven

Posted by Jamie on March 2nd, 2007

6 x 8″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard, unframed
This is a 6×8″ compositional study in oils for a large painting I’m doing for the headquarters of Putnam County Land Trust, which is the building in the painting. (It used to be called Chickadee Haven by its former owner.) It abuts their 140 acre Peach Lake Natural Area. I felt like having a little color explosion today, so I did it using Charles Sovek’s cadmium orange/cerulean blue light/shadow underpainting. I always like the vibrancy and depth that combination yields. I’ll be doing the larger painting with more of a yellow/violet color harmony, rather than the orange/blue. I’ll be holding onto this painting until the larger one is completed so I can use it as a reference.

Here’s a little idea of how this was done. I started with a mix of cadmium orange and titanium white for the lights, and cerulean blue for the darks. All light areas were blocked in with the orange mixture, and darker areas with the blue:

This is the beginning of the color-adding process:

A Day of Thumbnail Sketches in Ink and Watercolor

Posted by Jamie on February 18th, 2007

Click to enlarge images:

Today was a busy day and I knew I wouldn’t have time for a full-fledged painting, so I began the day by making a two-page grid of boxes in my sketchbook. That way, I could do small thumbnail sketches as I went about my day.

I used a Uniball Vision Micro pen to do all the drawing. For some of them, I used the little Koi watercolor box that’s in the sketch, with a water barrel brush; for others, I used the palette below with an Escoda #6 travel brush (the gold cylinder in the photo). I loved doing this “grid” approach to quick sketches. It made them feel managable on a day when I otherwise would not have done any artwork at all. It looks pretty cool in the sketchbook too!

Winter Moonrise

Posted by Jamie on February 10th, 2007


$100 via PayPal, $7 shipping within US

5 x 7″ matted to 8×10″, Gouache on Fabriano Artistico 100% rag paper, unframed

Many thanks to Connie van Winssen for use of a photo reference for this painting from her villiage of Westbroek in The Netherlands. I don’t generally paint from photos other than my own, but I was so captivated by the colors and mood of this scene that I just had to paint it!

I selected a warm, limited palette of colors: Yellow deep, Venetian red, Ultramarine blue, and white to bring out the rich warmth and glow of the scene.


Below, you can see what my palette ended up looking like when I was finished! I did wipe it off once during the painting process, after laying in the initial colors. When a palette gets too muddy, that mud starts making its way into the painting.


Below is just the painting by itself, before it was signed and matted. This was such a joy to paint! Thanks, Connie!

Work in Progress Image 7—last section of the Wall Shelf

Posted by Jamie on January 31st, 2007


WHEW! I finally finished this section of the wall shelf. That red and gold espresso cup and saucer proved to be easily the most difficult still life subject I’ve ever tackled. There were several moments when I thought about removing it from the setup, and replacing it with something else. What a challenge! Not only was the color and glimmer of the gold tough, but getting the geometry right was extremely difficult. However, now I’m glad I climbed the mountain, and I can just enjoy the view!

Below is the painting as it stands thus far. I still need to paint the whole frame of the shelf, which is actually a beat-up old window frame. I’m sorry it’s not a great photo; I’ll get a better one when the painting is finished.

Work in Progress Image 6— Wall Shelf section completed

Posted by Jamie on January 29th, 2007

It’s time to get back to this big painting and finish it up. I completed the remainder of the section I started on Friday, and will be starting the last section later today.

Click to enlarge:


Here’s a sneak peek at the whole painting so far, minus the exterior shelf edge. The center vertical and lower right section are still unpainted. I’m hoping to finish up by the end of the week.

I’ve got just a section of a section to show for today. So much to paint, so little time!

Work in Progress Image 5—another section of the Wall Shelf

Posted by Jamie on January 25th, 2007

Click any image to enlarge

I’ve really been looking forward to painting this section with the figures, amber glass, and wooden clock. The little figures came with pianos and piano stools and were given to me by my dad, but they’ve temporarily suspended their duo to model for my painting. I got the beautiful hand-blown amber glass at a flea market. I saw it and just swooned! The wooden clock was a gift from a friend, and was made by her parents.

I still have a few little tweaks to do, but I’ll do them as I move on with the other sections, or at the end. I’m sure I’ll see more to do by then!

I thought it was time to let y’all take a peek at how the whole thing is coming along, so I’ve got two additional images for you. Below is the section I did today with yesterday’s section.

Below is a picture of my studio with the setup and the painting. The painting isn’t as wide as it appears here; that’s the photo distortion at work, and one of the reasons why I prefer to work from life. There is an excitement inherent in working directly from the source. I’d be very bored painting this from a photo, but the character of the objects, the way the light hits them and the warmth of the colors, is something I can really feel when painting from life. It transforms the experience.

Work in Progress Image 4—another section of the Wall Shelf

Posted by Jamie on January 25th, 2007

Click to enlarge:

Here’s another section of the 30×24″ painting of the wall shelf. This may still need a little more work on the leaves, but I’ll go back and do it at the end when the other sections are finished and I can better judge how it works as a whole. The image above was photographed with a very yellow light overhead. The color is actually closer to the image below:

Many have asked me to take progress images on the sections, which I keep forgetting to do! I remembered to stop for one today. It usually takes me three “passes” to complete a section. The first pass is a basic color stage, where I block in the main colors, lights and darks. Here’s an image taken at the end of that first pass. I usually stop then and take a short break, let the paint set up a little, and then work over all the elements a second time, pushing the lights and darks and starting to add more detail. On the third pass, I make sure the highlights and dark accents are strong enough, and tweak anything that doesn’t look quite right.

Work in Progress Image 3—another section of the Wall Shelf

Posted by Jamie on January 23rd, 2007

Click to enlarge:

I tackled another section of the wall shelf today. Painting that racoon was so very much fun! Below you can see what it looks like with the section from yesterday.

Work in Progress Image 2—a part of the Wall Shelf

Posted by Jamie on January 22nd, 2007


This is about a 10×9″ section of the full 30×24″ painting. The unpainted thing at the top is part of the racoon’s tail hanging down from the upper shelf. Maybe I’ll paint that section tomorrow. Sorry about the glare in the upper right. It’s wet wet wet and the darks are so shiny until it dries.

I ended up having to add a bit of cadmium yellow pale to my palette. I’m using a Masterson palette with a sheet of glass in it that I cut to size. I cover it and stick it in the freezer when I’m done painting.
I’ll have another installment tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Work in Progress—Wall Shelf monochrome stage 30×24"

Posted by Jamie on January 21st, 2007

Wall Shelf #3, 30×24″, oils on stretched canvas, monochrome stage
Click to enlarge:
I didn’t get quite as far today as I’d hoped, but I finished the compositional stage and as much as I’m going to do of a monochrome underpainting. It’s far enough along to start putting in color tomorrow and working section by section. You can see that I repositioned several items since yesterday. Because the canvas is a slightly different proportion than the actual shelf, and also to emphasize certain elements, I adjusted object shapes to better fill the space. I pull out the old Artistic License when I need to make changes. *grin*

Above is a picture of the still life area in my studio. I love having a U-shaped work area, because I can step far back from my easel to view the painting without tripping over anything, and everything is within reach. The chair is for the computer on the right. I prefer to stand when I paint, unless I’m painting very small. You might think the tarp is there to protect the carpet, but it’s actually to provide additional cushioning for my feet!

I’ll be doing this painting with just four colors and two whites, unless I make an addition along the way. I chose these particular colors based upon what I need to be able to mix for the colors in the setup, and also because I want to steer the painting a little to the warm side. I’ll be using:
Winsor Newton Artist Cadmium Yellow
Williamsburg Cadmium Red Medium
Rembrandt Transparent Oxide Red
My own homemade Ultramarine Deep
Classic Artist Oils Titanium White
Winsor Newton Griffin Titanium White
I’ll be mixing the two whites together in order to get a titanium white that will dry a bit faster. I’m not crazy about the consistency of the Griffin alkyd white, but mixed with the dreamy, creamy Classic Artist Oils version, it works quite well.

My little Peach-faced Lovebird, Mango, lives upstairs, but I have an extra cage down in my studio so that we can keep each other company. He likes to climb around the playset on top of the cage while listening to music and supervising my progress.

Work in Progress—Wall Shelf–photograph of setup

Posted by Jamie on January 20th, 2007


I spent the afternoon lugging this heavy, old wall shelf into my studio and filling it with objects from the current scavenger hunt. (See post below.) With my daughter’s help, I was able to hoist it onto the still life table in my studio, where it fit perfectly. I’ll probably still switch out a few items and move things around a bit. Then I’ll be getting down to work on this for the next week or so on a 24×30 canvas.

I’ll be posting daily to show a section at a time. Usually I work on a whole painting at once, moving around here and there over the canvas. My plan for this one is different though. I’ll do a block-in the first day, and after that I’ll likely be going object to object, a few at a time. This is going to be a lot of fun! I’ll be working on it only from life, not from a photo, but from the spectator’s perspective, it’s always interesting to get an idea of what the artist started out with.

This shelf was a flea market find. It’s made from old, heavy 2×4s and weighs a ton! I think after it’s done its duty for this painting, I’ll keep it in my studio to hold supplies.

Sunset Boat Ride on the Lake in oils

Posted by Jamie on December 13th, 2006

SOLD!
6 x 6″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard, unframed

One evening when the sunset was spectacular, my husband and I drove to the other side of the lake to take pictures. This group of people was just setting out in their boat to enjoy the last of a quiet summer evening.Below is the pochade box that I often use for these small paintings, with just the first layer of paint on the panel. The glass palette slides to the side to access the paints and supplies below. I secure the painting panel to a slightly larger board because with a painting this small, once I get to this stage, I hold it in my hand while painting. Taping it to the larger panel enables me to hold it without getting paint all over my hands.

The Morning After, drying panels, and Mango

Posted by Jamie on November 29th, 2006
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