Old Stuff

I've been going through all sorts of old stuff in order to get ready for the big move, and came across an CD with photos of some old projects. Most of them were fairly cringe inducing, but there where a few that I still liked. Here they are:

Dawn's Wedding Present

I usually give people a painting for their wedding, so I had Dawn send me a photo she liked. She actually sent me four photos that she had taken in a photo booth. This is the only one that turned out at all. It's watercolour, but done just in shades of blue and grey because the original photo was in sepia-tone and somewhat blurred.

B&W Garter - getting the technique now

Here's my second try at using charcoal and oil paint. I learned quite a bit from the Horses experiment a couple of days ago. I did fewer layers, and after the first two I simply put down a layer of glazing medium and then drew into that (instead of the other way around). Much of the detail and most the actual lines stayed in the paint. I then scratched out some of the charcoal, which added more detail. You can see it in the close-up:

I'm really happy with how it turned out because you get enough information to really read the different textures, like the lace, but it has all the softness of the charcoal mixed with oil paint of the first painting.


This painting is for sale on Etsy.

Little Black and Whites of Saskatchewan

These little paintings were more experiments with charcoal and oil, and with being a bit more abstract. I may work some of them into much larger paintings with more detail, but for here's a little bit of prairie for you:

B&W Horses - an experiment

I love the look of charcoal and oil paint, so I decided it was time to try it out for myself. I found an old mangled photo yesterday, and it was the perfect subject, a fountain I'd snapped a picture of years ago and kept around just in case. This is the finished (at this point, we'll see I suppose) product.

This was the first layer. I painted over the charcoal with some flake white diluted with lots of solvent. I took photos along the way so I could look back and figure out what to do differently next time.

I like this stage best, with the lighter background and sharper drawing, but unfortunately the charcoal would never stay like this and has to be painted over to stay on the canvas. However, I did experiment with drawing on top of a wet glaze, and the charcoal came out fairly defined and stayed put, so I'm going to try that a little earlier next painting (as in the second layer rather than the forth, like this painting), and I think I'll get better results in the end. Even though this is a painting it looks very much like how I sketch, layering vine charcoal and then compressed charcoal for depth, contrast, and definition. That's probably why I like it so much.

Somedays Are Just Perfect

It's been a very long week. I've had so much overtime that, combined with my second job, I worked about 59 hours, and I'm very very done. So I haven't got much in terms of arts or crafts or anything in between to post. But this afternoon we spent the day at the park picnicking, because the weather was flawless, and relaxing and whatnot, and I drew this while staring up at the trees. So it'll do just fine.

Jess Blowing Bubbles

I'm experimenting again. I pulled out an old photo of my friend Jess. I decided to go for a bit of a different look than normal, play up the colours, and do something maybe a bit surreal.

The original photo. I simplified the background.

Step One. I did an ink outline because I like bold edges, especially when so much of the finished drawing will end up covered in reflective, distorting bubbles. I put watercolour over top, which I made a little bolder because of the coming layers. The colours didn't follow any particular scheme because I'd decided against a realistic skin colour. Then I covered it with conte and pastel.

Self-Portrait at Masquerade

Last month the swanky jewellery store I work at had a big masquerade themed event. I thought it would be fun to really go all out and get dressed up for it, with an ulterior motive of getting some cool photos to paint.

This is the photo I was working from. Of course I forgot to put my dress on before, so I had to combine it with a different photo showing my dress.

I was kind of experimenting, seeing what I could do in more of a graphic novel type style, especially with using masking fluid to draw in the detail and then fill in the dark around in. The idea was to put in the masking fluid where I wanted in to stay white and do my usual scribbles and drops all around, and see what it looked like when it was done.

But I'm an idiot and totally mixed up what order I should be doing things in, among other things, got carried away and went in a different direction, and the final piece has nothing really do do with how I started.

For some reason I put on the masking fluid first, all while leaving the grid on. That's no good because it'll show through. And I was feeling lazy and didn't bother redoing it, so I tried to do everything I could before taking off the masking fluid, and putting ink right up to it to give it a purpose, when I should have just ignored it (as was the plan) and done everything in order, then put the masking fluid back on if I needed to. If that makes any sense...


Here's how it looked half way. This version actually looks more like me, though that's not really the part I don't like about the finished product. I don't know... maybe I just have to get out of the habit of putting a layer of charcoal and conte on top of things I'm not sure about. Or maybe I shouldn't expect a first attempt to go smoothly. Or maybe I just choose a poor subject for the style I wanted. I might start again tomorrow.

For Want of a 25w Bulb

I started out this morning with some more copying of The Tell-Tale Heart, but my bulb burnt out. I haven't been able to make it to an art store in weeks (there's only one and it's in the middle of nowhere) I have no paper and nothing much to do. Except this. I started it ages ago and it turned out just brutally bad.

First, a couple of credits. This drawing is from a photo my friend Starsha, who generously let me paint it. You can see her work on her webpage. I love having many photographers for friends (and thank God I do as I can't take photos to save my life). I could paint loads of this guy, she has tonnes of good ones. I loved the expression in this one. The band is The Creationists. I got the title (Funk is it's Own Reward) from a comment on their page I liked.

I used some handmade watercolour paper I'd been dying to try, and unfortunately it didn't work all that great. I made a smaller painting and discovered that the paper sort of came apart when it got wet. Not ideal, obviously. But I loved the texture, so I thought I'd try it with some charcoal. Just a nice, traditional, straightforward drawing such as I haven't done in, well, probably years. No good! It caught all over the place and ended up being a dusty mess with no detail at all. So much for my careful copying of his features. Luckily I'd put some masking fluid down first where I wanted really bright highlights, so there was at least something to work with instead of being universally grey.

So, lacking anything else to do and figuring I couldn't possibly make it any worse, I brought it back out. And fell back on my usual device of scribbling all over it with ink and watercolour until I liked it. tada! I like it, even if it's not quite as precise a portrait as I was originally going for.

It's on a large sheet - 16" x 20" but was made to be matted to 11" x 14". I'm leaving it up to whoever buys it before I matte it because I think it will look good even smaller, cropped right into his face.

Buy it at my etsy shop!

Last Day in My Studio (Caryn's Kite)

I have to go back to work tomorrow after a very enjoyable and productive five days off. Ugh. But at least I spent the last day enjoying the afternoon in my studio! I had a photo I've been meaning to paint for years and years. I've even tried a couple times but always hated what I came up with. But today I managed something at last! Here it is step-by-step.





The finished product! If only it photographed a little better. There are actually hundreds of colours in that big white field, but it all sort of washed out. All the colours that were there a few steps back are still there, just layered and blended. This closeup has a few more of them, try to imagine that anywhere it looks like it's white, because it's actually anything but.

Rhapsody in Blue (after Hirschfeld)

It's about time I painted something. I've had canvases prepared for months. And I finally took a day, brewed some coffee, and holed up in my studio. I really like this subject. I've done something along these lines a few times now, and just used an old sketch for the layout. It's based on the brilliant Fantasia 2000 sequence 'Rhapsody in Blue' designed by one of my favourite artist, Al Hirschfeld.

Take a look:

I continued on with this style I've been working on lately. This one's a little different because it's got more colours, but I wanted to see what I could do.


So here's a breakdown of the painting came to be.

1. Basic sketch. I took the photo a little late so there's some background in there, but you get the idea.

2. Underpainting. The sketch was a little busy, especially since it's not a very big painting, but the large blocks of colour tone it down a bit.

3. Filling things in a little. It's darker near the lines.

4. Loads of white paint and texture with the palette knife.

5. Putting the lines back in in blue. I decided on all blue since I was originally wanting a more monochromatic scheme than it had become.

6. Watch hockey. Bloody Leafs.

7. More lines, but this time in Payne's Gray. I love gray. Make everything seem finished with the really dark colour in there. After that, finish up with a bit of smoothing and adding white and colours or whatnot, and you get the finished product at the top of this post!

Artist Portfolio

These photos are of a custom piece that turned out very very well. It's a sort of monotone (silk, leather and brads are all in a very rich chocolate brown) steampunk book with a few extra features. The back page has leather loops that fit most small to medium size pencils/brushes, and there extra pockets and the front, and one at the back that fits more full size pages.

This has got me to thinking about my own portfolio, lost somewhere in planning stages. I'm not actually a bookbinder by trade or training, my BA is in visual arts, and more specifically oil painting. I've been wanting to make myself some sort of book that's really an easy to carry around portfolio. Oils are a bit of a pain in the ass to travel with so it would be watercolour and pen. It's going have a section for displaying the finished paintings, a large pocket to hold the new pages, a board with elastics or somesuch to act as an easel while I'm painting, and room for brushes and my mini travel paint set. And it's going to happen... sometime... soon.