New Portrait

I've been busy writing for my book, so I decided to take a break and make a work in progress, an example, for the book.

My coworker/friend was kind enough to let me borrow her sons for portraits, who I have in class as well so I do know their personalities. For this one I wanted to keep the nature theme of the Zen series, but have it say something about him. Well, he loves animals and has a put lizard of some sort.  So I won't give away what the things will be in it, but you can guess it is lizard related!

The size is 16" x 20" Polychromos on Fisher 400 paper.

Fossil, Trace, or Impressions Finished

Okay I think this is finished now.

I'm really pleased with the addition of the ferns on the wall face. As part of the Zen series, I wanted the wall as much a part of the picture as the girl. I see the surroundings she is in as an abstract expressionist painting - all about the surface, like a Pollack or Rothko.  The wall face is brought to the surface of the painting by being cropped off, by the texture, and by the decorative fern pattern. I think bringing this pattern to the surface matches what we do when we decide to pay attention to the beauty of nature.

I plan on getting this professionally photographed so I will repost it in a couple of weeks when I get it back.

Oh and any opinions on the title? "Fossil," "Trace," or "Impressions."

"Fossil" at the end of the day

Fossil

16" x 25"

Updates

Updates!  Another kitsch piece finished! I am hoping to get one more done before Art in the Park on Labor Day weekend. That is our local art fair that happens in town that same weekend every year. I missed it last year with it being my first year teaching but will be back this year! Hope to see you there!

A Bird & a Feather

8" x 10"

This portrait isn't quite finished. I'm still working out the likeness that is a bit off, but its close!

 I did nail his hair and t-shirt though! ;-)

New Works

I went for a trip back home to the Chicago burbs for a couple of weeks. Here's what I have been working on since I got back. I don't often have more than one going on at once...

To the left is another one using whimsical pottery and fresh flowers. I just love these and plan on having several for the Art in the Park Show in Keene in September. So far they are all 8" x 10."

Below is a new portrait I'm working on that is about 12" x 16." It is the second half of a diptych I started a while back - kind of a contemporary engagement portrait. 

Then finally what I think is the final version of Artifact. I hope!

Well Read

Well Read

6" x 10"

Prismacolors on Fisher 400 

The last one was so much fun I had to do one more. Unfortunately I had to use me as the model because Maggie and I posed at the museum. That's fine really but its just not my best side. 

Anyway... the work of art I am in front of has some meaning too, but not as much as the other one. My husband had a print of this painting hanging in his room in college which is where we met. It is Fragonard's Young Girl Reading.  On the National Gallery's website it has this to say about the painting:

 "Fragonard painted several young girls in moments of quiet solitude. These works are not portraits but evocations, similar to the "fantasy portraits" Fragonard made of acquaintances as personifications of poetry and music. He painted these very quickly—in an hour, according to friends—using bold, energetic strokes."

The fun thing about doing these miniature paintings is it feels like your tiny pencil tip is a big paint brush - with every stroke counting!

detail of my drawing about actual size!

Mini Maggie

Dress Casual

6" x 10"

Prismacolors on Fisher 400 paper (mounted to Gatorboard)

 It is my contribution to the CPSA convention Silent Auction.

This piece was fun for me  in many ways. First off I am a HUGE fan of Karin Jurick and her popular series of people at museums, also of the famous Norman Rockwell where an older gentleman is looking at a very modern painting.  I'm not trying to be either one of them, but wanted to try the scenario of a museum goer myself. Since I am working in colored pencil with a very small tip it lent itself to a miniaturist's approach which I very much enjoyed doing.

Okay now for the meaning in the picture. It may look like an innocent girl just at the National Museum of Art looking at  a Whistler painting. Well... its not. :-) It is of my friend Maggie Stiefvater. Recently we went to that museum together and walked through beating up some very famous paintings.  This one - Whistler's Symphony in White - was one she liked that I was not too keen on. I couldn't get past the fact that when viewing it at the museum you don't even see the girl. When in front of it you look smack dab in the open mouth of this scary looking dead wolf rug that she is standing on!  Then if you look up at the girl's face you get nothing but glare on the mirror-like surface of the face. It seems that Whistler at some point rubbed the face off and repainted it, but left an oval of a smoother surface around her face.

That's not what is funny about my drawing though. The girl in the foreground is Maggie Stiefvater - bestselling author of the Wolves of Mercy Falls series. The first book, Shiver, is about a girl named Grace who falls in love with a wolf/boy. In the summer Sam is a boy  but when the weather turns cold he becomes a wolf (not a werewolf but a full wolf which is much prettier). The story turns into a race of time to treat his wolfie affliction before the weather runs out.

Shiver has been on the NYT bestsellers list for a gazillion weeks and is still there now on the paperback list. The second of the series Linger is due out in July.

The girl in Symphony in White is very different from the character Grace however. She is emotionless, almost a shell of a person staring out in an odd gaze. Grace is much more like Maggie in the foreground with her sassy stature, ponytail, and mail bag. So why does Maggie like this painting? Could it possibly be a melding of her Faerie series and the Mercy Falls wolves (the Ice Queen Faerie defeats the wolves of Mercy Falls)?  I don't know but this drawing is my way of asking that question. :-)  Don't tell me though Maggie - some things are best to wonder about! I'd be crushed if you told me you just liked the brushstrokes!

Below are some more pics to get a sense of scale. The wolf and Maggie on the left are about actual size (Maggie's body is only 4 inches tall). The picture on the right has a couple of pencils and a penny for comparison.

No Props Required

No Props Required.. okay not a good title, but something I was thinking while I saved the photograph of it. I believe the size is 14 x 22, but as I am down in the Prime Roast  coffee shop around the corner from my studio (for a cappuccino and to bum internet) I can't be sure. 

The full view.

The close-up

The set

Finished Portrait 1 on to 2!

Here it is finished. Below are some close-ups that you can click on to see larger. Now the difficult task of titles! I think its between "Testing Boundaries" and "Hide and Seek." 

& I started this one today... I plan on submitting both to CPSA at the end of the month if this 2nd one turns out ok. 

EDIT: It is Thursday and my little one (the one in the picure actually) has a stomach bug, so 'till Tuesday then...

Back to Autumn and portrait commission finished

Remember I said that the autumn still-life was put on hold? Well there was a little misunderstanding in the initial instructions which is a little humorous. I was told it should have some gourds, a jack-o-lantern in a white pitcher, a pumpkin, some chinese lanterns and maybe flowers. Well I did think the jack-o-lantern in a vase was a little odd... and soon found out it was supposed to be chinese lanterns in a pitcher! Too funny. I do like some of the compositions I came up with with a pumpkin in the pitcher though!

Anyway, the client lent me her majolica pitcher for the chinese lanterns and here is where I'm at. Actually I got a little further than this today but didn't take another photo.

& I have some good newsand some bad news... I am going to be able to work on this tomorrow and tentatively finish it... the bad news - I have the time towork on it tomorrow because my six year old has the flu and I can't go to work because I will be home with her. So I brought home my supplies and while she's vegging on the couch, I'll hopefully have this finished.

Below is my portrait tromp l'oeil comission. Its finished except for the okay from the client. Enjoy!

Update and pumpkins

Here is an update on the portrait commission. I think I owe it an explanation. The client had his and his wife's school photos from 2nd grade.. and asked if I cold draw him pushing her on a swing or something. It wasn't really possible with the little frontal view school portraits so I said no... but I could make a tromp l'oiel with the school photos on a desk with some kid stuff along with them. I asked him what he and his wife were into as kids and incorporated them on the table. I kept the 70's feel of the faded photographs and added a harvest gold tabletop.

The result: one wacky looking non-traditional portrait! I love it... but I have a very warped sense of humour. My favorite part is where the lines above the bee logo match up with the kick lines from snoopy. :-) Oh and the glue heart... who wouldn't like that?

There's loads to do still... and right before I left the studio today I messed up her poor little chin! It will be fixed tomorrow.

I have so much less time lately that while I was waiting for my paper to be mounted to a board by Creative Encounters, I started one of the compositions from that autumn movie I posted.

What I worked on during the open studio...

I like to work on portraits for demonstrations... because there is something magical about watching a face slowly appear from a piece of paper. So I did this portrait of my friend Maggie's son Will. She said I captured his smile well - so I am really happy. Getting the expression right is very important to me when doing a portrait. Its not getting it to look like "a smile" or "a scowl" etc that is important... its about getting an expression that the sitter would make. If you give them a smile they just don't make - then to the person's friends and family it won't look like them. You won't have a good likeness.

To be able to get the expression right, I rely very heavily on not just the features but how those features connect. If the corners of the mouth are up a little, for instance, the cheeks will be raised, as well as the lower eye lids.

On another note - I picked up copy of James Gurney's new book "Imaginative Realism" recently. I am a big fan of Dinotopia and his amazing blog where he shares loads of painting/illustration information. When I saw a listing for his book in an art magazine - I wanted it because I thought it could be helpful for teaching my kids at school for when they want to draw imaginary things... but boy is it a great book. First of all - it is eye candy.... which is a must have for art books in my opinion. If there aren't loads of good artwork to see in it, I don't want it. Next he puts it to the reader plain and simple - you have no doubt after looking at it that you will have to work hard to make a realistic imaginary thing... not only use creativity. You will need to do research, use models and perhaps even make models for imaginary creatures, etc. There is also just plain old good advice for painters in there too about composition, lighting etc.

I found the pages on what he calls "the windmill principle" really interesting. Actually you can read it on his blog... http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/04/windmill-principle.html

as well as flagging the head http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/05/flagging-head.html

How to drop 5-10 years

I haven't finished Pesto yet. I had to frame some things up, deliver to the gallery and get ready for Art Walk in downtown Keene. I am sharing a window with another artist so I just have my piece Zen displayed at Earth Treasures. (Who were so helpful - thank you!). I'll be out there on Friday from 5-8 (give or take a few minutes) to chat and there again on the 10th during the school tours for the kids giving a demonstration.

Now to get to the title of this post - anti-aging. If you or your model have a few wrinkles that you don't want to show, here's how to lessen the look of those wrinkles.

I have this really oooold model I was taking pictures of today... okay its me and I was taking a picture of me in my new glasses to send to my sister back home. I took the first pic in the mirror next to my front door that had side lighting. Side lighting - although I love side lighting for dramatic effects - also makes wrinkles stand out. :-( If you think about it it makes sense - the light is coming from the side and creating a shadow where that wrinkle or crevice is. Sigh... This isn't even harsh light - the light was diffused through the window... so if it were even harsher more intense light, the wrinkles would have been worse.

After uploading that pic on my computer - in an act of true sistership and vanity - I went upstairs to the bathroom mirror where there is more indirect diffuse lighting. The light is more frontal or evenly distributed in the bathroom so the wrinkles don't throw as large of a shadow. Oila - I'm younger!

The light still comes from the side but is slightly more in front of the face than the other photo. The light is also diffused through a shade on the window which helps. Experiment on yourself in different lighting situations and moving the light source to the side and slowly bringing it around to the front of your face. To get a shadow still on the side of the face put the light in front of the face and then slightly turn your head so the light goes slightly off center.

Of course if you wanted more dramatic light like the first pic, you can just paint or draw the wrinkles with less contrast than seen on the model. I always go down a couple of value steps so the wrinkle color is closer in value to the skin color. & I NEVER draw all the wrinkle lines! :-O Since I have the power to leave some out - why not?!

Shannon Happy Finished

This is just for scale. I find it weird when you can't tell how big or little something is!

& here is the finished version. Was that background worth all those black pencils I put to rest (3.5  total)? I think so. I think it looks like she was sitting up straight in the middle of the comosition but then relaxed into a more comfortable place a bit off to the side and lower. :-)

I wanted to show what makes a good reference photo for a portrait. Even in high-key lighting you have to have directional lighting that creates shapes of light and darker areas. Usually with high key lighting that means you have one bright main light source coming at an angle and reflected light coming from the other angle to partially light up the shadowed side of the face. You can see below the photograph I used for Shannon's portrait broken down into its value shapes. Even though the shadowed side is light - its still is there to create the illusion of form.

Of course if the eyes are not lit up then I would also suggest not to use the photo no matter how good the lighting pattern. Although I've seen amazing portraits done of people with their eyes in shadow - most people commissioning a portrait want to see the color of the sitter's eyes. As I see it, usually the light in people's eyes are really lit up as in Shannon's portrait (where you see brilliant color), partially lit (meaning not in shadow but you see a bit of color but not vibrant color), and when eyes are in shadow (usually the eyes sockets are even dark). I don't suggest using a photo where the eyes aren't lit and brightening them up yourself, using the rest of the light pattern on the face. The end result will be confusing - somehow your mind knows the lighting isn't right. I would just take another photo (no matter how inconveniet) with the light right to hit the eyes. Practice on yourself  with a mirror and a table lamp with the shade taken off to figure out where a good place to place the light to light up the eyes right as well as  a good value pattern. 

Shiver Finished & CPSA

I'm calling Shiver FINISHED. :-)  

For those of you who didn't see the first post on it - Its an illustration of the character in Maggie Stiefvater's book Shiver about a girl who falls in love with a wolf. It is set in Minnesota winter and the cold is a big concept in the book so I wanted it to look cold, foggy, and shivery lol. She is supposed to look somewhat sad in this and like she is looking for her lost love... Its not going to be on the book or anything - I just loved the book and thought it would make a great picture.  Its a large piece because I don't like working much smaller than life-size - the final is 24" x 32." 

It was so much fun starting with a set character that I may just do this again with another book character! Maggie - what are writing about next?! Hmmmm maybe I should do a pic of James with all that writing on his arms....

Here's Maggie post about it on her Live-Journal http://m-stiefvater.livejournal.com/104720.html

& some good news:

I'm happy to announce that my piece Becca was accepted into this years International Colored Pencil Society Show in Atlanta Georgia! Yay Becca! Here's an old thread on that piece http://nicolecaulfieldfineart.blogspot.com/2008/10/untitled.html

hair - info not covered in workshop

For those of you that were at my workshops... I didn't discuss the topic of rendering hair. Actually I very conveniently chose a reference photo that didn't have any hair showing! :-O

OK colors for the hair underpainting... are not the same as the flesh colors (unless they have rosy colored hair - oh my). What I do is choose colors I see in the reference and try and use one or  two or three  colors from the flesh toned underpainting palette. So maybe with a sandyblond hair - I might use burnt umber, a sandy brown color, cinnamon, and a yellow ochre. The more colors I can use from that flesh palette the better - for color harmony. 

Here's some samples below. I tried to figure out what colors I used... because I didn't have them written down.

This is an example of dark hair.. that when lit by a warm light has a lot of red tones. So I was able to use burnt umber and Pompeiian Red in the colors. To which I added a greenish brown and some soft blue highlights.

This is ummmm my hair which is that ash color. I managed to get burnt umber in there... and then made sure I used some cinnamon in some highlighted areas in the later stages.
This hair is a strawberry color so it was easy to get my underpainting colors in! I left out the Pompeiian Red in Place of an orangey-er color.
This last one has some burnt umber, cinnamon and ivory in it... but again the Pompeiian Red was replaced with a golden brown color. I think I galzed some greenish color in areas as well.

Grey Matters finished!

Untitled
27" x 40"

I still don't have a name for this one either... names are not my strong point!

I may fiddle with the grey area a bit more on this, but we'll call this tentatively finished.

I did this piece with two shows in mind: a regional show at the Thorne Sagendorph Gallery at KSC locally, and the 2009 International Exhibition of the Colored Pencil Society of America. Well, that was until Katherine Tyrrell (of the Making a Mark blog) reminded me that there are size constraints for the CPSA show. The regional show is fine - which I am sure of since they regularly get 9 ft high pieces in the semiannual event, but I won't be able to submit my all colored pencil piece to the national Colored Pencil Society of America show. :-( The rule is that the FRAMED work must not exceed 32 x 40", which means with matting and framing the maximum the piece can be is 24" x 32."

Size makes an impact. In an art world where bigger is better, an art society that is trying to promote a medium, that in some circles, is considered a hobby medium, constraining the size of the artwork entered to such a small size seems a silly thing to do. I understand that not all galleries can take very many large pieces, and this show is huge, but maybe that could be a prerequisite for the gallery chosen for the event?

Size had been on my brain when I started this piece after the discussion Katherine had on her blog: Juried Art Competitions - does size matter? In the Thorne Sagendorph show, my piece of 40" tall will actually be dwarfed by the other pieces trying to get in, if the show looks as it has in the past. I love the show. Yes there are more intimate pieces that get in, but its the larger than life pieces that strike you from across the gallery and pull you in....

Standing on the table and leaning over the image with a camera, is just not the best recipe for clear, straight photographs. It is not worth the risk to smudge the work done by taking it off the table.

The plan was to have just a light grey tabletop in the bottom portion of the composition, but I decided to make it into a concrete wall. I walked down to the parking garage down the street from my studio today and took several photographs of the low concrete walls to use as reference. This change of plan will, however, make this small (hah!) endeavor take a bit longer.

If the strange delineated composition of this piece and the last one I did just doesn't make sense to you... let me show you some of my favorite paintings, which I think will clue you in partially to my pshyche.

The Death of Marat by Jacques-Loius David is one of my all time favoites, if not my favorite painting.

as is this painting by Gustave Caillebotte "Paris Street, Rainy Day." Actually look at the range of Caillebotte's paintings and the types of compositions he chose. It makes me salivate.

Add to these a fascination with all things Edward Hopper & I think you WILL understand me better!

Experimental Wisdom 2

I am taking a midday break, having to stand while working on this is taking a bit more out of me than usual. I moved my table out away from the wall and leaned against the wall while working which helped.

An Anonymous commenter asked what colors I used for the face so instead of typing them in, here is a photograph of them. If you are familiar with Polychromos, you should be able to make out the colors I think. If not, I didn't use anything unusual for me so you can search my blog for past skintone colors that look similar.

Yesterday when opening my web browser, which defaults to a news page, I was surprised to see a picture of my town Keene, NH with the heading "America's Most And Least Vulnerable Towns." Surprisingly Keene, NH ranked #3 in the LEAST vulnerable towns to the current economic crisis from a study of over 100 small cities and towns in the US by Forbes magazine.

People must have liked hearing that news because I've been stopping at Starbucks every morning for the past month (I received a $100 gift certificate for my birthday and I am stretching it out). I have been the only one in line or just one other every day for weeks, BUT today there were 9 people in the Starbucks drive-thru line! I guess people feel like they can afford a latte in Keene, NH this week.

Experimental Wisdom

On to the next one!!

I am going for it with this one. It is about 27" wide and 46" tall. Whew. See what I mean.

Since I am using Polychromos on Fisher 400 and they are very unstable on this surface, like pastels, I am more than a bit worried about this piece. How will I get it to the photographers, for instance, without smudging it? I'll worry about that when the time comes I guess.

The piece of paper fits 2/3 of my 6 foot drawing table. Don't freak out though folks, most of the drawing will be the figure at the top and then a bunch of light grey tabletop below it. I should be able to pull this off working standing up and walking around the table to get at specific parts. I would hang it on the wall and work, but it just doesn't suit my technique, and never feels right when I do that excpet for in later stages when I am just fixing things here and there.