So i had about given up on this little project because the dimensions of the bird house in relation to the background were wrong, and multiple trials of attempting to fix it didn’t work. Actually the main reason i played with it again was because i wanted to get back to a canvas where the surface and the paint worked well together (as they did not in the smoke bush study). This is not finished, but seems in better shape than it’s been.
As all of you know, the painting class i attended for several years has not met for months because of the pandemic; and actually not for months prior to that because our latest teacher moved. So i’ve been trying different ideas out on my own. For the past several weeks one of my painting friends came over to sit and paint with me in my front yard. We each chose a subject and worked separately on our little projects for several hours. I wanted to try to paint a smoke bush. Worked just on that the first time; second time i added an aspen tree which in real life was behind the smoke bush and pretty much out of view. I might have been able to pull that off if i’d started the painting with the aspen — but i didn’t because at the time i was only thinking about the smoke bush. Once i tried painting the aspen i decided to also make a “scene” by adding a brick wall which does not actually exist. I have not finished the aspen tree — it needs a lot more foliage which i hope to get to this week.
The biggest problem with this project turned out to be the (poor) quality of the canvas itself. I used one which i recycled and the surface just wouldn’t hold the paint in place. So everything blurred almost immediately. Not sure how long i’ll try to get this one to “work” — but had fun with the idea.
I just took a look at date of my last post, and see it’s really been quite a while. . In the interim I have had some art experiences, which , however, have not posted about. did a few plein air outings, both with water color and with oils. Very satisfying because very relaxing; relaxing because i wasn’t trying to get something just right. Participated in a two-day water color workshop — all outdoors, totally socially distanced and with everyone wearing masks — which was fun. The above photos are from this experience.
Meanwhile, i kept working on my bird house, which just kept getting more complicated — for me, not in real life. I got interested in using a different reference photo — never a great idea when project already begun. My vision in the first place had been to have the bird house be the focus and be in focus, and then have a kind of muted, far away background. I’m not sure what happened to that plan, but it’s long gone. a few weeks ago, after spending some time getting the bird house blocked in and with some color, i started working on the background. And i’m STILL working on the background. It’s gone through a number of iterations, none of which have been seen by anyone else. I’m posting this one, because in order to finish the background i’m going to have to get the bird house itself in better shape.
this week i began painting the bird house i mentioned (and showed drawing of ) last week. Not too much detail to discuss: at this point i was just trying out colors and trying to get the values right; also indicating where there are shadows. 
Decided to try another “jar with brushes” to continue to get the feel of how to paint the jar. It’s a different jar but this one, too, has its challenges. I added two palette knives to complete the composition. The bottom half of the background has been painted twice. It began life as gray but later i decided that that value didn’t offer enough contrast, so tried the blue (kind of turquoise) you can see here. Still have problem with values — the blue is too close in value to the gray in the palette knives. I have darkened the knives a couple of times, but the issue remains. Not sure whether i’ll continue to darken the knives — which turns them into something not quite recognizable as palette knives; or change the background…..
Also beginning another project —getting ready to paint a bird house we saw on a neighborhood walk some time ago. So far i’ve just done the drawing, which is pretty basic. Hope to begin painting in the next day or so. The drawing is based on several photos of the birdhouse. Will try to attach one or two of them below.
This has been quite a learning experience, in that i ignored some basic “rules” and paid the price. For doing a still life i should have had good subjects in a paintable setting; and, probably more importantly, a good reference photo. I glossed over both these preliminary steps, which then left me kind of winging it from my imagination about how things “should” look. Next time I’ll try to correct these omissions. the trickiest issue was trying to figure out how the lighting should look — highlights, reflections, etc. and still have the jar looking like a jar. Learned a lot, but mostly how to do this process differently next time around.
This is the part where i repainted the top half of the background
I know i haven’t posted anything in quite a while. I worked for a while on drawing but didn’t post any of my work. At some point i decided i would try to learn something about doing still lifes. Did some arranging of various objects — fruits, vegetables, cups, pencils, etc. and made some drawings, intending both to keep drawing and to try to paint something from these efforts. Eventually decided I’d try to paint some paint brushes in a jar. In one iteration i had a couple of palette knives in the frame; in another, i had a paint tube. Nothing is finished, and i ran into quite a variety of issues along the way. But since it’s been so long since I’ve entered anything in this blog, thought I’d just share some of this process.
One issue that came up early in the painting was that it was pretty clear my background (top half) was way too light – highlights on jar were not going to show up. So i repainted all that in a much darker color. then the paint brushes didn’t show up, so altered their brightness and hue. I’m liking the paint brushes — the jar not so much. Definitely continuing to evolve!
Following a very helpful conversation with one of my loyal followers, i began to see that I needed to stop “fretting” over my difficulties with getting the cabin just right and work around some of the challenges. So — following my follower’s suggestion, i painted in some trees, bushes, and flowers. then i decided to make the path that was running by the front of the cabin less prominent. (As an aside, that path was the idea of my now-departed-for-Arizona-for-the-winter last teacher. In real life, the path is actually much further away from the cabin.). Anyhow, to de-emphasize the path, i muted some of the color a little and added several rocks.
I also extended some of the tree branches on the right side of the painting so that they could cover some of the roof. Again, this is to make the cabin more a part of the picture, and not the whole picture.
Next, and last for this posting, i decided that it was foolish to think I could really do justice to the log cabin look of the cabin. So i painted over those lines. So far just one layer; but I’ll add another, and see how it looks.
to improve some of the look of the flowers, etc., i need to wait till some of this paint dries. In the meantime, I’ll see if i can make the bench look a little more realistic in its new surroundings.
thanks to anyone who has suggestions to help me see the forest and not just one tree, so to speak!
It’s been several weeks since my last update on this painting — mainly because i was either away or with having house guests for most of that time. So now back at it, and hoping the end will soon be in sight.
I’ve put most of my effort this week into trying to get the “stoop
in front of the door to look as it should and again and still trying to get the cabin perspective to “work”. I painted over the “logs” i had painted on the cabin sides because i could see (belatedly) that they were not going in proper directions. Once that paint dried, i drew in lines i think will be closer to reality but I’ve not yet painted them on. (Frankly, the prospect is a little scary – the whole painting is only 8” x 12”, and those lines are only fractions of an inch apart from each other. ). I adjusted the angle of the roof in back and adjusted the “floor” of the cabin in front. As to that “stoop”, I’m surprised the painting doesn’t collapse of its own weight — there are probably at least 6 layers of paint, and still it’s not quite right.
So — also added a few rocks, and tried to put place them so the arrangement wouldn’t look too “regular”. Worked on the path, but more to do there. (The rocks, also, lack form and detail — will get to that this week, hopefully). I repainted the roof, adjusting the brightness and contrast. Then started on having some of the tree branches make their way over to the roof.
I’ve been working on trying to fix the perspective issues about the cabin, (as noted by MImi last time). I think it’s a bit better; but still not there???
Also worked on trees, on right side of painting. Added more foliage following my exercise of denuding the tree and adding branches. Still need thicker foliage, i know.
Continuing work on rocks, which are all over the place. Trying to get form, light and shadows, and highlights.
