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.

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.

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!

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!

Available, Demos/Work in Progress, Still Life, Studio Tours | 3 Comments »

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Demos/Work in Progress, Painting/Pochade Box, Studio Tours | 4 Comments »

For quite some time now, I’ve been trying to think of a practical way to store drying paintings and works in progress where I can see them. I find that as I look at them, I see areas I want to touch up or improve upon.

I put together ideas from a couple of people, and set out for Home Depot to see what I could find that would suit my needs. I was thinking I’d probably have to build some narrow, ledge-like shelves using two different types of wood molding. But then I found this great molding that does the whole trick! It comes out from the wall about 3/4″, and has a U-shaped groove on one side that the painting panel can set into. Because that groove is fairly shallow, it doesn’t block my view of the lower part of the painting. The front is a very nice, decorative pattern.

I cut the molding strips to the length of the wall, and primed and painted them with semi-gloss in a color to match the wall. I wanted them to blend in as much as possible. My dear husband helped me mount them. The top row allows for paintings up to 16 inches high (for standard 16×20s horizontally, or 16×12s vertically). The middle rail is set for paintings up to 12 inches tall. The lower rail will hold up to 10″ high works. Paintings larger than those would be on stretched canvas, and not displayed on the rails.

Here’s a straight on image:

I’m so excited! I think this is going to work out really well for my needs. I might do another wall too if I end up needing more space. I’d been hoping to have this done in time for my “studio tour” a couple of weeks ago (click here to see that post), but better late than never!

Studio Tours | 1 Comment »

Click any image to enlarge.

Welcome to my studio! Today I’m having a virtual studio tour for all of you who have wondered what my studio looks like. As many of you know, I am a plein air painter, so I only spend the coldest part of the year in here, and days with inclement weather. Still, I do many of my largest, smallest, and most important works here in the studio. It’s also a place where friends and buyers can come visit. So, come on in!

The photo above shows my main work area with my little furry mascot, Rondo. That’s Rondo’s favorite chair, though he is willing to share with visitors.

Below is a photo of what you see when you come in the door from the outside. I have three parrots in here, and two more upstairs. They give Rondo plenty of competition for attention. Since this is where I spend most of my time when I’m in the house, I really enjoy having the pets here with me.

Cookie, the Sun Conure, is the sweetest bird in the house. She’s very camera shy though. She’s about 10 years old, so has passed the stage of adolescent antics!

Lulu and Lucy, the Jenday Conures, are affectionately referred to collectively as Double Trouble. If there is a way to get into mischief, they will find it.

This is where I do 90% of my studio work. The large black cabinets hold most of what I need in the studio for oil and acrylic painting, and pastel work.

Artists always ask about these large, black cabinets. They have a long history and were built around 45 years ago for a completely different purpose. The drawers have fallen off the near cabinet. My husband helped me remove the legs and put wheels on both of them, so they are easy to move around the studio to reconfigure the space as needed.

Because I needed a higher work surface, I bought a bunch of plastic drawers at Staples and put them on top of the smaller black cabinet. Those drawers hold paint containers, palette cups, and assorted tapes and tools. Over that is a sheet of plywood, which is covered with brown craft paper. I take notes on the paper and spill paint all over it, then just replace it when there’s no more scribble room! I had a local glass place cut two, 16×24″ sheets of 1/4″ glass and grind the edges. Those serve as my palettes when working in the studio. You can see one of them on top of the cabinet above.

The other black cabinet has music drawers that are now used for storing smaller paper, pads, labels and drawings. By lying my two large speakers on their sides, I was able to put a large piece of plywood across the top to form another high work surface. I keep my brushes, pens, scissors, and other assorted supplies that require easy access here. I keep it covered with the cloth because it’s a little unsightly!

As you can see, I have a small easel just below my computer screen, and another glass palette there as well. If I have to work from a photo, I paint directly off the screen, rather than printing out an image. The color is always better from the monitor than from a print. When I need to work larger, I prefer to stand at the large easel that you see in some of the other photos here.

The lamp clamped onto my computer table also has a magnifier built into the top, which comes in very handy for my miniatures. The other lamp, clamped to the black cabinet on the right, is often used to light a still life on top of that cabinet, or for extra light on my work as needed. I have recessed ceiling lighting in the studio, and use flourescent floodlights in the high hats.

There is a long bench for extra seating over on the other side of the studio. I don’t have a crowd in here too often, and before a show, that bench gets cluttered with frames and paintings on their way out the door.

I do a lot of paintings from the windows in my house. There are nice views from nearly every room, so I can do “fake” plein air paintings even in cold and miserable weather! My studio presents some good window-painting opportunities looking out to the lake:

The view up the hill to the road is one I paint from time to time as well. In fact, I’ve painted this view twice in the past few weeks!

In case you’re wondering what’s taped to the window, that’s actually a lightfastness test, to see how quickly certain pigments will fade when exposed to direct sunlight. I’m testing alizarin crimson and some of the supposedly “lightfast/permanent” versions of alizarin, by many different paint manufacturers.

Artists often ask me how I can keep my studio space so tidy and organized. The truth is, my studio used to be an absolute mess. In the past six months, I’ve taken everything out of my studio that I possibly could, leaving the space here only for current work and what I need to do that. I no longer use my studio for storage of paintings, frames, or large paper and canvases. I’ve even taken the paintings off the walls in here to help keep my mind clear. Stored paintings are now in crates in an adjacent room and double-hung on walls. Most of my extra tubes of oil paints have gone to a large shelving unit in the adjacent garage. Frames and framing supplies are now taking up residence in the workshop instead of the studio. Colored pencils, watercolor pencils, and watercolors are upstairs in another little studio/den with my other two parrots. (I’ll have to do a separate tour of that one another day—there are some very interesting things up in that one, including my mini museum of artwork I’ve collected.) It’s not easy to keep this space clutter-free. Only by keeping what’s in here to the bare minimum have I been able to finally gain control over the chaos!

If you’re thinking of setting aside a room for a studio, I think the most important elements are:
1. Mobility of furniture. With everything on wheels, I can have a completely different studio setup in a matter of minutes. How often do I need to do that? A lot. If I have a model in, or work in pastels, or work on a very large painting, the setup is entirely different than what you’ve seen on this tour!

2. Don’t try to cram everything into your studio. Keep just what you need in there to do your work. Keep saying to yourself, “My studio is NOT a storage facility!”

3. Great light. You can’t paint without it.

4. Great music! It makes the world go round, and increases my patience tenfold when the going gets tough on a painting!

5. A spot for a still life setup and/or model. There’s nothing like working from life, whether out on location or in the studio. Photos are poor substitutes for the real thing.

In case you thought you’d never be able to find your way out of here, the door’s right over there! Thanks so much for coming to visit my studio. I hope you enjoyed the tour! If you’re not too tired and want more, check out the Daily Painter’s site on 12/19/07, when many of the other Daily Painters will be hosting virtual studio tours!

I have to add one more photo to this post, because my friend Jeanne complained about the absence of her favorite birds, Mango and Coconut. So, especially for Jeanne, here are the little cuties of the flock:

I do bring them down here to the studio from time to time, but fearless Mango invariably flies over to the Conures, who probably wouldn’t think twice about biting his little feet off when he lands on their cage. Even with their wings clipped, birds can fly enough to get around the room. So, it’s for his own protection, and Coconut’s, that the smaller birdies live upstairs.

Studio Tours | 12 Comments »

Today was the big day when they finally came to install the new wood laminate floor in my studio! I spent yesterday moving out all my art supplies and furniture. This morning, my parrots Lulu, Lucy, and Cookie were brought upstairs. They were not happy about the move! Fortunately, nearly everything in there is on wheels. There’s one huge cabinet that is not on wheels, but my dear husband is going to put them on tonight, so it’ll be easy to move it back in.

I love having everything in the studio so mobile. If I’m working on a larger painting, or have a model in, or just want a change of scene, I can have a new studio setup in minutes. Now that I’ll have the wood floor instead of carpeting, it will be even easier to rearrange at the slightest whim.

Needless to say, my computer in there is disconnected (I’m on hubby’s now), my camera software is inaccessible, and most of my art supplies are packed away in cabinets and drawers up against one another…. But the floor is done, and it looks fabulous!

I guess I’ll be moving furniture most of tomorrow and reorganizing.

Studio Tours | 9 Comments »

$125 via PayPal, free shipping within US

6 x 8″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard, unframed

I finally was able to snatch some plein air time today. Hooray! It was one of those spectacular fall days, with the warmth and sunshine you didn’t think you’d find again until spring. I dropped my daughter at gymnastics and headed for a nearby park to take in some rays and test drive my new pochade box.

I hear those giggles among those who know me. “Another pochade box?”, they’re asking. I already have one for oils (which is a little bigger and supports larger panels) and one that I made for gouache. I plan to use this new one for “stealth painting”. heeheehee… It’s so small, and I’ve filled it with watersoluble oils so that I can just use whatever water I have on hand for painting in cafes, my car, or even the kitchen, with no worry about fumes or toxic substances, and no need to carry oil or turp.

Here’s an image of the painting still in the box. You can see there’s a hinged lip at the top of the part that holds the panel securely in place, so that you can slide the panel in and out. The box will hold one 6×8″ panel horizontally, and keeps it separated from the paints so that I can travel with the wet, completed painting.

The palette itself is actually wood, but I covered it with white contact paper for easier cleanup, and because I prefer to mix colors on a white surface. I find it hard to judge the colors and values of my dark, transparent mixes on a dark wood palette. The white contact paper worked out great. It wipes clean easily with a palette knife and rag, and if it gets tattered down the road, I can just peel it off and recover. As shown below, the palette slides to the left, giving easy access to the box’s storage compartments.

Here’s another view of how I packed up my box. I had to cut the handles off some of the brushes so that they’d fit. Underneath that rag is a thumb hole for supporting the box while standing.

For those looking for a small box like this, I give this one pretty high marks. It is sold by Utrecht, and made by Jullian. It is very reasonably priced, and comes with an adjustable leather shoulder strap too.

Available, Demos/Work in Progress, Landscape, Painting/Pochade Box, Studio Tours | 6 Comments »