Pen & Ink, Wash, and White Gouache

Walnut Ink

Fountain Pen Ink

Plein air sketch with Walnut Ink

Plein air sketch with walnut ink and white gouache 

Plein air sketch with walnut ink and white gouache

Plein air sketch with walnut ink, white gouache and watercolor

Plein air sketch - start

Plein air sketch with walnut ink and white gouache

This past year, I discovered Walnut Ink.  It is a lovely brown colored ink that can be used with a pen, for a nice line, or a brush, for a lovely wash.  For years, I have used a fountain pen with brown fountain pen ink, so the walnut ink was a nice addition.  Both inks are not waterproof, and if I make a line and go over it with a wash, the line will "bleed".  

I work on a toned paper, usually Canson pastel paper in gray or tan, or I have made toned paper with watercolor (see 4th photo down).  I play off the tone by going darker or lighter to give me a sense of form and space.  Drawing like this has become my favorite way to work...working in simple masses of light and dark.  The set up is perfect for plein air sketches, because it is very portable, and it only requires a little water for the gouache.  I can make lighter brown tones by diluting the walnut ink with water.  By making additional washes of the ink, I can make darker tones.  The walnut ink acts much like watercolor and is quite compatible.

Winter Landscapes

Canyon Bridge 

Old Barn on Metcalf Road

Tree Line

January

Sunset

Snowing

It was -17 degrees at 8am this morning in Vermont, and the temperature climbed to around 7 degrees for a high.  That's cold....really cold!  When it comes to outdoor winter landscape painting, I admit that I am a whimp.  When I painted with Renee and Suzanne, it was not nearly as cold, and my hands could only take so much.   So, how do I normally paint winter landscapes?

My normal solution is look out of a window, either from the comfort of my car or a house.  The above paintings, all watercolor/gouache, were painted by looking out of a window.   

Jamie painting a winter landscape 

Jamie and I painting from her window.  I am painting Tree Line.

Since I opened my Etsy Store for etchings, called RealPrints, I have been seriously thinking of opening another store to sell small watercolor/gouache studies.  Some would be unmatted and unframed, and some would be framed.  Let me know what you think.

January 2013 - plein air

Hello.  I admire a lot of artists, and like many artists on Facebook, I have many Facebook artist friends. We enjoy seeing each other's work and reading about each other's studios and methods, but it is really fun to get to meet and paint with these friends in person.  When I noticed a post from an artist, who was painting in my area, I decided to contact her. Since I have lived and painted in VT for 33 years, I know a lot of good painting spots, and it was nice to share them.  Renee Lammers and Suzanne Brewer are Maine plein air painters, and I got to paint with them on January 14th.  I must admit, I love outdoor painting in the spring, summer, and fall, but painting outdoors in the winter.....I am a whimp!  Well, my normal solution for painting landscapes in the winter is to look out of a window from the comfort of a warm house or car.  But, painting outdoors in winter with others somehow helped, and the only things that really got cold were my hands.   We painted in Waterville, VT in the morning, and I did a small watercolor/gouache looking up a hill at some logs, and in the afternoon, I painted along Route 109 by the frozen Lamoille River.  Towards the end of the day, my brushes were icing up, but I had a great time and hope to go out with them again before they head back home.  

So, if you get a chance to meet and paint with other artists, reach out.  You will be glad you did!  

Etsy Shop

Hello.  I haven't posted in while, but I recently opened an Etsy shop to sell unframed and unmatted etchings.  The etchings are all original, hand-pulled prints by myself and my husband, Jack.  Our etchings are traditionally crafted from copper plates, and we print small editions, as well as unique artist proofs from various "states".  http://www.etsy.com/shop/RealPrints?ref=si_shop

Self-Portraits

1977 - 4 3/8" x 6"

1977 - 10"x12"

1980 - 9"x12"

1982 - 

1988 - 9"x12"

1992 

2002 - 10"x12"

2008 - 8"x10"

2011 - 6"x8"

Just a Few Still Life Paintings

Here are a few still life paintings from this year.  I think that it is helpful to see my set-ups.  Sometimes I just use the wall as my background, but I do use backdrops with different colors, as well.  The eggplant  and the top floral were demos in some of my weekly classes.

A Clever Idea

Very often, when I work on a painting, I will let it rest.  That means it sits unframed and leaning against the wall of the studio so I can think about it.  Something really bothered me about this painting, which was painted from life (like always).  I finally decided that the two main flowers were just too similar...they were about the same size and the faced the same direction, vying for attention.  

  In the seventies, I was a fashion illustrator for several pattern companies in NYC.  If you did any home sewing back then, chances are you might have seen one of my illustrations.  They were nothing like my paintings or drawings today, but were mostly in pen, watercolor or charcoal and very stylized.   Anyhow, doing an illustration involved turning in a preliminary "sketch" for approval, which was then returned to me with "corrections".  The "corrections" were on a piece of tracing paper place over my original drawing, and I would then do another illustration, a "final" incorporating the corrections.  Because I do not own Photoshop or something that could help me visualize what I wanted to do, I decided to try something similar to the pattern company "corrections".  Tracing paper was too murky, so I used acetate, which is clear and I could paint on it, but it would not bleed onto the painting. 

The top photo shows the painting, and the second photo shows the painting  with the "correction" done in oils on top of the acetate sheet which is  over the bottom right of the painting.  The last photo shows the "correction" on the acetate against the floor of the studio.  I thought it was a pretty neat idea! 

Cape Porpoise, ME

In September, I spent a week in Cape Porpoise, ME with 8 women (Wah Wah Sisters).  It was a painting vacation for most of us, with 6 painters and 2 bicyclists.  The weather was perfect allowing for plein air studies each day, as well as exploration of the little townand surrounding areas, dock, lobster shacks and galleries.  I brought both oils and watercolor/gouache for fast studies, and hopefully, I will work up some of the studies into larger studio pieces.  For most of the women, it was their third trip together, but it was my first.  

The smaller, graduated,  landscape palette was used for this trip, so that I could use my M Box easel and tripod, which took up little room.  Painting seascapes takes definite decisive action, because not only is the light changing, the water level changes too, producing very different effects the longer you paint.  Deciding what and where my light effect would be was very important.  Painting boats, that turn and move with the waves and wind, adds another dimension of difficulty to seascapes, but I plan to try it again next year!  Painting with a group is encouraging and inspiring!

Jeffersonville Art Festival - demo - August 13, 2011

I have been very slack in keeping up my blog, so I am trying to catch up on some of the paintings I did this year.  These photos were taken at the 3rd Annual Jeffersonville Art Festival, August 13, 2011.  It was a one-day festival featuring artists and craftsman, mostly from Lamoille County.  I decided to participate by being a demonstrator, where I would be painting "On the Spot", so that people could watch and ask questions.  

Choosing a nice shady spot, I painted the tents of some of the various vendors along Main Street in Jeffersonville.  It was a lot of fun to try to put in people, who wandered back and forth enjoying the beautiful day and supporting local artists.  Here is the result of that effort, a 10"x12" oil on panel.  Two of my grandkids came by to watch grandma in action.  

Painting in Mass

There are 2 basics ways to approach painting.  One is to do a careful drawing in line and then proceed to fill this in with paint, which is a slow, indirect approach.   The other is to paint a relationship of lights to shadows by massing, without starting with a finished drawing, and this is faster (the artist is drawing and painting simutaneously, or drawing with the brush).   Massing is working for a general "Light Effect".  Maintaining the integrity of the masses, or holding the mass of light in relationship to the mass of shadow,  is what creates an illusion of light.  

When I had the Open Studio, I painted a couple of little head studies, and I decided to do a self-portrait, too.  I photographed the process, which gives a visual explanation of massing.  I took the top photo looking into a mirror, however, if I took the photo at the correct angle....the camera would have covered my face.  But, you get the idea.  I normally stand when I paint, but I sat for this one.  You can see my palette in the bottom photo.  As usual, I have my grayscale.  The portable walls with the paintings is from the December 3rd hanging for the Open Studio.  This was changed for the December 10th sale.

I began the head study with a basic umber shadow mass, then I massed the lights which included the side of my face, vest, hair and hat.  My 2 main masses that had to be protected were the shadow created by the brim of the hat across the front plane of my face and the mass of light, which included the side plane of my face.  The light hitting the green wall was a little lighter than the shadow plane.  With each pass, I tried to model a little bit of the features, but I subdued anything that might break up my mass.  The power of the illusion is in keeping a strong shadow mass to light mass relationship.

This tiny painting was done very quickly, and it holds together as a unified light effect.  Painting in mass allows the artist to make changes, developing the piece from general shapes to more specific details, and works well if you are under a time constraint.