Illuminate

Illuminate

Size: 10 x 10 inches
Medium: Watercolors, inks, metallics on canvas

Prints ($16.95) and detail closeup images -available here-

I had been planning to do this piece for a while, based on the miniature 3x3" canvas painting I did a couple of weeks ago. And that in turn was based on a photo of my daughter. I don't often stick this close to reference photos, but in this case it was so nearly perfect that I strayed from my usual.

 

This painting was my first attempt at doing watercolors in larger scale on a canvas, prepared for that purpose with watercolor ground (produced by Daniel Smith). I prepped the canvas by painting two thick coats of the ground onto it, waiting 24 hours, then taking medium-fine sandpaper to it to get a nice smooth surface. I have always preferred my canvas to have minimal texture. I then sketched my image onto the canvas.

 The first layer was painted with a 1 inch flat brush, very rough. Lots of liquid. Lots of ink. Lots of pigment. Lots of MESS! This is basically just blocking in some rough areas. I then let it dry overnight. The waiting is what I really hate. Because at this stage it looks horrible. Half my sketch lines get obliterated (because I forgot to lightly spray with a workable fixative before starting to paint), and I have no clue if things will work out or not.

Next morning I was able to start in on the finer details.

With a small brush, I started picking out whatever shapes and edges jumped out at me in the background chaos. 

Worked my way around to the figure. Pale and luminous white under the trees. I waffled for a long time on whether to give her black hair like my reference, orange/red like the mini, or to leave it ghostly white.

Gold leafing.

And building up some thick watercolor ground on the lotus to give it a slight relief texture.

Bad lighting in this photo, but you can get a glimpse of the whole canvas.

Effervesce

Effervesce

Size: 9x13 inches

Medium: Watercolor

Prints ($16.95) & Detail closeups -available here-

She is a creative force, coaxing forth growth, both the physical evidenced in the unfurling leaves, and the spiritual, embodied by the butterflies. She bathes in the life-giving warmth and light of the sun. She is partnered in her dance and song of creation, with the sun. She IS the sun.

"Effervesce" is a commissioned painting, meant to be a companion piece to "Lightness".

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Some of the in progress sketches:

Initial figure sketch & some various thumbnail ideas for the background and composition. The figure came pretty easily for this piece. Sometimes I have to struggle with the concept a lot more. Her pose is an echo of Shiva's dance of creation (and destruction).

Client wasn't really going for the background proposals, so I had another thought, which is what we ended up going with.

Scanned and pieced together sketches in photoshop to get the rough idea of the placement and proportion of various elements.

Final sketch ready to paint.

Allegro

 Allegro

Size: 8.5x14 inches

Medium: Watercolors, ink, metallics, gold

Original painting ($925.00), Prints ($16.95) and Detail closeups available -here-

The tempo increases, and we must follow, drawn on by the rhythm and the music that beats through the earth into the soles of our feet.

The next part of the Stag Sonata Cycle series:

 

 

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Some of the in progress sketches:

The initial thumbnails and composition brainstorming.

Scanned from sketchbook and the fiddled around with more definitive composition with rough lines in photoshop.

Final prepared sketch ready for painting.

Fermata

Fermata

Size: 7x14 inches

Medium: Watercolor, metallic pigments, gold leaf

For prints ($12.75), original painting ($650.00) and detailed closeups, -click here-

In musical terminology and notation, a fermata means to hold a tone or rest beyond the written value. It is a sustained moment beyond that which the meter or rhythm would normally accommodate.
Incidentally, a fermata is also sometimes known as a "bird's eye".

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Some of the in-progress scans and photos of this piece:

Initial sketch. I was scrawling in my sketchbook and the idea took shape as I went. So when I reached the upper edge of my page, I taped another sheet above to keep going.

 Scanned that and modified some aspects in photoshop. I wanted him to be standing on a rise, and so changed the angle of the haunches to better reflect that, as well as some of the lines of face and neck. It's mirror flipped so that I could get a better idea of what changes I needed to make. Sometimes when you look at a piece too much, you no longer see the flaws. Flipping it gives a fresh perspective.

 Finalized sketch on my painting surface. The birds were added just before painting and were not a part of the initial conceptualization. But something was missing and once I added them in, they felt right.

Two days of painting later.

Cherry

Cherry

Size: 18x18 inches (Fully framed size)

Medium: Mixed Media - Watercolor, Ink, Metallic Pigments

Original painting, fully framed, available for $550.00

The past month it has felt more like the middle of Spring than the early December Winter that it should be. I was inspired by the profusion of blossoms on all the cherry and plum trees, and by the Lunar New Year to paint some blooms.

I was recently at the Berkeley Botanical Gardens to see a Botanical Illustration show, and fell in love with the pieces that were done on a surface called Dura-lar, which I found out was a brand that made translucent vellums and other acetate surfaces for drawing and painting on. I bought a couple pads. I found out after I got home that I had accidentally bought one that was just clear acetate. Colored pencils didn't work on it, and neither did watercolor painted directly. Though ink did work quite well, and my watercolor gesso worked too. So I set about playing with it to see what I could do.

Painted the watercolor ground in silhouettes of the blossom branch.

It was quite fun to see the finished branch on the transparent surface.

I tried out various backgrounds to set it up against.

And finally settled on painting a textured surface of metal leaf, metallic powders, watercolor, and sealer. The result looks bit like beaten copper.

Sandwiched the acetate and background with mat board for the final piece.

In the Wake of Her Passage

 In the Wake of her Passage

19x19 inches

Medium: Watercolor, ink, metallics powders, gold

Detail closeups and prints (8.5x11 inch @ $16.95 and 11x17 inch @ $26.75) -available here-

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The process:

Initial brainstorming ideas. I scribbled some thumbnails. This one came together rather quickly. After the figure with the swirling mist in her wake I already knew the title, and had in mind the colors as well.

A more detailed sketch of the figure, using the first concept as a guide.

 Then I scanned the thumbnail and figure and moved things around in photoshop. Flipping, resizing, determining the background composition.

 Afterwards I transferred the sketch, much more fleshed out, onto the final drawing surface, and lightly sprayed it with workable fixative.

First drippy ink & watercolor washes. Doing this is giving me flashbacks to my Berkeley college art days where it was all about drippy paint and sloshing massive amounts of pigment onto huge canvases. Of course, this is only a fraction of that size, and I'm using the most sinful of mediums - the "illustrator's tool", WATERCOLOR!

 A couple hours later, after it dried, a light fixative spray, and more washes, and then I started in on the distant background to the lower left corner.

 Kept it light so that it wouldn't war with my foreground for attention later.

 Slowly worked my way across the bottom and into a bit of the foreground elements.

 And then up towards the figure.

 I kind of worked in a counter-clockwise fashion on this piece, starting  with the lower left background, then moving up the cascade of pools towards the figures and the trees in the upper quadrants.

Worked my way back along the glowing flowers that had sprung up in the wake, under her feet. Used white gel pen for these, and then blended with paint for shading.

A little bit of gold leaf for some accents.

Background trees.

Wasn't very happy with the shape of the arch, in the left side of it, and I had been putting off dealing with that area for a while. But at this point I had to address it. Finally reshaped the area with some watercolor ground and ink and created a much more pleasing (to me) silhouette.

The owl.

Finishing up the lower foreground areas and incorporating it better with the rest of the piece.