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Art reference

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Speaking of fantasy inspiration, here is one of my favorites. She works in oil paintings of mythical tales and fantasy creatures. Very romantic, feminine art. Atmospheric and moody whimsical fun.
Very blended realistic approach much like my painting style, but better.
I want to capture the atmosphere she can, but yet have plenty of sharp detail. Her painting have a glow to them. So good.

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This was a study of poses online, because asking my friends to strip for my art might be asking too much!
Learned:
- I love gauche over water color because I have more control.
- Errors are hardest to fix on the watercolor paper.
- I had to keep the shadow and highlight transitions blocky with the gauche or else risk muddiness.
- The head is a bit big.
- References make for better art.
- Some lines would benefit by not being there.

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Guache paint and white colored pencil on watercolor paper

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Groovy Mushrooms
Learned:
- I like the edges on this one like the frog, but this one has more control. It looks like a window into the black mushrooms.
- I need more control over where I put my highlights, especially when I work with white on black.

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Star practices of astromical fantasy ideas.
Learned:
-One color is not realistic.
- Could have done some splattering to create a less artificial look.
-The dots are not flat, and can make bumpy texture.
- Dots best made not with brush. Use pointed bamboo stick or sighting stick.

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This study was a practice at the cathedral basilica of saint louis. For some of my fantasy paintings, I might want churches, so might as well study domes and towers.
Learned:
- Now ruler is hard, even with the control of a pencil.
- I should have sprayed as I went along to prevent smudging.

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Tropical bird
Learned:
- White is hard to re-apply over color.
-DO NOT work on the rough side of masa paper. Smooth side would have been better. Just rubbing soft chalk pastels would rip up the paper in bunches.
- Use drawing paper next time.

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This is just a study of the shapes of conifer tress and perspective.
Learned:
- Trees could be more dynamic and not all branches need to be the same direction and shape.
-Lighter trees are in the back. Darker closer.
- I need to wait for the trees behind to dry complete or they will bleed.
- Adding some light details around the black silhouette creates a more realistic look.

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Gamsol and oil with ballpoint pen ink and guache on primed canvas paper

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A dragon design created mixing a T-rex with other dragon designs. A t-rex with more horns, scales and plating.
Learned:
- The canvas paper, especially when sprayed with fixative, is water resistant, which meant that the paint must go on thick or it does not stick.
- The fixative could smug sometimes. Applied too thick, maybe?
- The oil paint seems to be dry and holding up. I did leave it for days and used lots of gamsol.

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Elf magic lady with tree face.
I am leaning toward fantasy art for this class, so I was studying some concepts to play with.
Learned:
-I should have darken the right side, so there would be a clear sense of where the background is.
-Figuring out elf ears and horns without a reference is tough.
-The old tree face need work on perspective.
- I need more line weight control on the hands.

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Graphite and alcohol base marker on canvas paper glued to machine pressed paper

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Octopus
Learned:
- Make sure the alcohol mark you are using is not going to dry out on you.
- Mistakes can be amended by continuing the mistake. I had cut off the top of the head by mistake, and so I cut it up everywhere.
- Staggering is aesthetically pleasing.

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Eastern grey tree frog
Yes. We have tree frog in Maryland!
Learned:
-The red and brown make for a better undertone than just red alone.
-I could have blended out the wash with a sponge.
-I now know how to make a frog look like it is naturally smiling.
- I like the dynamic edges and framing.

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Weird esoteric, surreal eyeball.
Learned:
Line weight with the the brushes is fun to mess with. Straight lines are made with the flat head brush. The curvy lines are made with the pointed brush.
Also, some things do not need a reference.

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Learned:
-Working without a toned background can be dangerous because if you mess up, not all the paint will come up, and you will get smudges. The smudges worked; however, for atmosphere around her.

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Oil and solvent free gel on primed canvas paper

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Ugh this piece.
Learned:
What not to do...
-Try to paint thick brown branches and background AFTER painting the petals.
-Forget to bring you smaller diamond shaped palette knife to school.
- Although the gel helped, it was still too messy, and beeswax would have been preferred.
- Needed to look at the reference more.
________
-Also the gel will dry with a plastic look and feel to the paint, but I kind of like it.

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Underpainting of a friend
Learned:
-I have to be careful with my line weight. I went a bit to heavy with her nose, which makes it look smaller. Meanwhile, it is too thin around her chin.
-I need smaller brushes.

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This piece I wanted to dry splattering and a different color for underpaintings.
Learned:
- I kind of want to do mystical and magic themes in my work this year.
-Leaving out some detail is not always bad.
- Mistakes are harder to erase on slow drying acrylics than with regular acrylics, because it tends to smudge when still wet.

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Cuttlefish! this is collection of goofy cuttlefish.
Learned:
-I like the ocean.
- phthalo blue can be built up to look black.
- The tape does not stick very well to the surface of wood, causing blue paint to seep under it. That is why on the front wood border there is some blue on it.

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These two are bits of acrylic in a water tub that the paper is submerged in to capture the swirls. I got inspired to do this while watching the paint in the sink.
Learned:
-The paint does not come out as vibrant as I expected.
- The prints can be washed and they do not lose any pigment, only the gross mixed colors laying on the top.
-Not all the pigment lays on the surface of the water, and sometime blobs can puddle at the bottom and get on your paper (see side on right).

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This was another whipping paint away study.
Learned:
- 3d effect made with pure red and blue. The red comes toward the foreground, while the blue recedes.
-It is hard to keep the colors from mixing. The sharp edge I was using in the printmaking studio was a bit too small, and caused streaks. However, I kind of like the streaks.
-Best to remove paint in one direction.

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This goofy looking study was a test in rendering a figure with blobs of paint. Then whipping it away a sharp edge.
Learned:
-It kind of worked. :/
-Still not the control I would have liked.
-The slow drying acrylics have the same staining abilities as the oil paint on the unprimed canvas paper.
-Dark colors and outlines go first, then the light colors and more foreword areas.
-I need one of those shower whippers like in the instagram videos.

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This was a study on applying paint directly to the wood without priming it.
Learned:
- I blended out the red with water and a sponge, which gave the wood the stained look.
- I should have used more water in the lines at the book and mist.

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This one was an abstract piece with blue and white. I wanted to try different brush strokes, brushes and tape for line making.
Learned:
The orange tape is best. The other caused bleeding under the tap.
Big brushes are my friend for blending, but so are mop brushes.
Angle brushes make fun flat clouds.

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This was a landscape from my imagination.
Learned:
I wish I had a reference.
Ripped tape makes good mountain templates.
I could have gone darker in the sky to match the mood of the lightning and mountains.

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Oil on oval wood panel and white colored pencil

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This piece was the bust of a woman in the classroom. I wanted to try is grisaille layer starting on black gesso, which i have done before, but only using white and no plack paint when rendering.
Learned:
Dry brushing on wood is fun.
I might have not added enough white in some areas like the bridge of the nose and too much on the left side of the collar.
The tilt of her had was not appearing in the study.
The wood I used here would tear appart the gamsoled towel I was using, which was frustrating.
I needed a q-tip or something to get in the small areas, the brush would not remove the areas in a soft way I would have liked.

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This one was a study with white and brown paint. I was inspired by other oil painting studies just like it. (Usually faces)
Learned:
I needed to blend out the line on the jug more when I had the chance. Messed that up.
Moreover, midtones were difficult, either adding too much white or not enough.
I would have prefered to do this study when the brown paint was dry.

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This was a study on old master blending techniques and skin tone. The original being "woman with an ermine"
Learned:
A light blue is used to shade the face.
I gave her to big of an upper lip 😂.
Paint dries a bit quicker on a panel, even when primed.

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I wanted to experiment with the larger palette knife and color.
Learned
-application is different from smaller pointed palet knife. Application is thinner and scrapes and moves paint more.
-colors can stain underneath and when scaped can reveil the color underneath.
- a nice roll on the canvas and medium pressure does well. It is good to let up at the ends and speed up. This makes a spackled look. (Spackled?)

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I wanted to try charcoal on canvas because there is one lady in the Hood portrait group that uses charcoal before painting in oils. I just have to spray it. Learned:
-erasing is hard.
-can be sprayed with fixative.
-charoal on canvas sure is messy.
-filling in the dark spots should have been done with a harder charcoal. Compressed.

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Stretched canvas and water color paper. Acrylic black, graphite and bronze leaf sheets. Also black thread

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Learned
- Yes! I can sew on my canvases using watercolor paper. It was a shot in the dark but it worked!
-con! Gold leaf and mod podge don't get along great. The mod podge takes too long to dry. And my gold leaf got a bit messed up. I'll try spray adhesive next time.

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Learned
-prime canvas paper with gesso. The canvas papers are not pre-primed which explains why I have been wondering with the last three studies "why is the paint drying so quick?" "Why is the paint not adhering to the canvas?"
So I know to prime now.

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Study 2: in progress

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Oil paint and sharpie on paper canvas (unprimed)

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My cat Smokey!
Red/pink cat. Monochomatic study with cadmium red, burnt umber and white.
Learned:
Blending out fur to make the focus dim out at the corners was hard. He just looked too bloby the further I got down. The text peered thru which I am happy about

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Study with
Burnt umber, yellow ochre and titanium white
Learned
- Fan brush when stippled makes aged silver marks that are subtle
- I need to fill in the background, too. And what ever grounding lines. I forgot.

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Study no.1: Cute teapot paint layer 1