PAINTING FABRIC AND DRAPERY

I plan to do some study of the orange material in this still life.  Start by drawing, then check out online tutorials.  I cannot proceed with the painting until I have done this.  Also I find I am fascinated by fabric, its shapes, textures and patterns.  And colours.

Final version below not too bad. Finally got the tone and hue of the orange a bit better, and also began to understand how to tackle drapery.

Drawing of the orange fabric

Final version

IVON HITCHENS

Here are a few paintings by Ivon Hitchens that I like. 

 

 Plus a silk piece by myself to celebrate a new approach to painting.  

STILL LIFE NEW ONE

Starting the full version  duh

Next day - trying to work out drawing

Second stage of this ol still life, I am scaling up in size and starting over.  As before I have rushed into it without much care about colour mixing or tone, but then stepped back to assess composition, and drew into it.  Lots of drawing mistakes.  I am trying to get into this little world with its relationships. Start to be more precise once the piece starts to reveal its life.  But I am unsure about the composition.

Next day - looked at composition, well it was'nt that bad and I have probably made things worse, but I did about 30 mins on it  Colours look weird because I photographed it in fluorescent light, composition not that different, but obviously need to get perspective of the table right. For me this is very hard work.

Start free and zone in.  Busy also with the rather different textile pieces (see below) so concentration fractured. But the formal study is so focussed and satisfying and informs the other things and allows for freedom in those.  Hey, maybe I could do a version of the still life in this kind of "style".

Like this?  Dye on silk 1400 x 850 mm

Day 3 - press on, began to get more involved in the subject.  Still establishing composition and main colours.  Trying to get composition better, still wobbly.  Love the silk piece I did (above)

Day 3 version


Day 4

Photo of subject

Greyscale version 

Painted over in mono

Starting to work out colours again

Not a lot done today timewise, but I went back to greyscale app and then repainted accordingly to about 4 tones in that. You can still see the colour underneath.  The third version shows where I am starting to add colour again.  I feel that it is starting to look more like a painting with form and energy.  I was seduced by the orange fabric around the vase on right before, it looks so bright and glowing, but the greyscale shows that it is quite low in tone.  It was hard to assess this with the tone wheel because of the ribbed surface.

So far have done about 4 hours on this.  I think it is taking shape more.  I want to start adding the colour, sticking to the tones.  OCA book suggests 10 hours for this, so I should have time! Getting all the things to relate is challenge

Day 5

Day 5  duh again

Tired today, unenthusiastic :(, tried out some colour but as usual did not stop to think, or to set out the colours in advance.  Just made mud on the palette.  Not in good mood.

Action

- I think I will work on two paintings at once, this laborious one and another one where I can just play, like this:

Textile piece repainted in dye:)

  Painting by Ivon Hitchens  BIG DISCOVERY FOR ME

- Also I will really try to work slowly and carefully, mixing the colours first at the very least, and stopping frequently to reflect.  This is difficult for me. 

-  Question - where is the creativity in doing the observational painting?  

Day 6

Next stage

This photo is way too green, different from actual painting.  I did not have a lot of time for painting today, but re engaged with this, and started to see it differently.  The mug I have not really fixed shape or colour or tone wise, and I still have not got the location of the various objects in a proper relation. Realising OK to exaggerate and alter colour a bit, anyway that is what I am doing.  Observation alone may not be enough when it comes to colour, which is such a shifting and relational thing.  But drawing is different, though that can be expressive as well.  Composition here is too stretched out, I am wrestling to give it form and life and make a tonal pattern.

Stage 6

 A good bit of time today, about an hour and a half, that is enough for my concentration. It is definitely taking form.  The left hand side is better now I have got the white box better, with the very light corner as well (key in whole composition), also the flower pot at the back, with the tablecloth and shadow.  Used a straight rod to assess relationships, had to change things but it is coming right, and feels like a whole at last.  I have got the basic shapes and tones right or better.  Perspective of the table a bit odd.  Quite a bit still to do, but I think it is holding together now, the construction is more solid, and I can try to improve parts like the orange sweater, the flower etc.

It is an improvement.  It is like getting to know someone or something, takes a while to grasp, takes practice too.  It is strange how the most inconspicous bits are the most important.  My eye is drawn to the orange sweater all the time, but the perspective and the flower pot are important, and the link between that and the ginger jar, also the white box.

Stage 7

 Pushed on today, now I am focussing on colour and relationships, since the drawing is moreorless OK.  Photo a bit washed out on right because of how light was falling in photo.
Progress with orange sweater and its tones, also the tapestry and also edge of table on the left. Work to do on the orange and on the pink flower (waiting on paint).

Basically getting towards a stage where I can tweak things a bit rather than being totally accurate.It will look better once pink flower is in, when light falling on tapestry is better defined (overdone here with white paint added), and when orange area sorted, plus jar, particularly top of.  Thing is I am beginning to get to know it, and could move beyond this stage to play with the colours (which I have mixed quite a few times) tones and shapes. Back to simplicity.  I think I am making progress when I look at the top image of this post, for example.

Stage 8 but it is all too blue in this photo

 Continued for half an hour today, letting myself go a bit, main thing was to look at blue of the jar and try to paint the flower.  Managed a reasonable pink with red and mauve.  Don't know why photo so blue, it was getting dark and maybe light distorted. Lightened up the red of the sweater at the back a bit, looked at the relation/passage from flower to tapestry to jar and sweater, adjusted a bit..It does have more life, I think I am nearly there with this stage, a bit more on the sweater and maybe flower, try to get a more accurate photo!

I was going to try another one in style of Matthew Smith and maybe in style of Hitchens.  Not sure that I will after all.  Quite enjoying this conventional approach, doing a bit each day, letting the subject come to me, and feeling the relationships in the subject.  Definitely better now the flower is doing something.  I think the light is working, but the bottom left tablecloth needs work.

Stage 9  Nearly there

Colours off in this one but slightly better, too much pink up top??? Struggling with the orange fabric, am going to do a drawing of it to look at shapes and tones, check out on line instructions and suggestions - new page of blog.  But am pleased that I am learning something, also focussing in on the fabric, as I am fascinated by fabric and drapery.

Stage 10 Working on the fabric

More on this

Working on getting orange fabric better.  Now it is too bright, but beginning to have an inkling.  Below is the final version, as far as I am going with this one.  Did a bit on the orange today, toned it down and tried to give it some form.  Definitely a novice effort, but I have still come quite a long way from the start of this project. Composition not bad, left hand corner needs a little toning to go with shade parts of t-cloth. Nice at the back where the cloth meets the top of the jar.

Final version

 

 

 

 

 

STILL LIFE PAINTING PROJECT

Colour sampler

Tonal circle in action

Next project in OCA book is to make a rough colour study of the original still life. I really struggled with this yesterday, was way too fussy, also way too spontaneous and could not get the tones properly, and wiped it all off at the end.  But a lot of colour and the ghost of the drawing was still there.  I like to rework a surface and started again today.  

This time I used Betty Edward's tonal wheel to assess the tones and also made a note of the main colours (hue, tone and intensity) before I started.  I tried to work slowly and deliberately.  I tested each shade against the tonal wheel (see card in photo), and raised and lowered the tone using white and black, which I would not normally do.

Eventually I got the main colours in, and began to see what is really important in the subject.  The paper flower in the foreground is low in tone, but really important as it links the objects together.  Things on left are too light in value still.  But it began to take on its own life.

I am pleased because I had a conscious idea of what I was doing with the colour.  The photo flatters my original BTW.

Same as above, but overpainted

Detail of above

Detail of above

Detail of above

 Painted over first attempt and worked over it again, trying to be very careful about assessing hues and tones and intensity.  Result is patchy, I quite like the details I have photographed, but overall there are difficulties particularly with box and the mug on the left. There is a feeling of light and space though.   I will leave this study for now, next step is to do another painting of the subject.  Will give that careful thought, what I want to emphasize and how large to make the piece.

Another version-more life in cup and mug

BETTY EDWARDS COLOUR THEORY

Using the circle format to explore complementaries

Tone circle

I found a copy of Betty Edwards book, and it is, as you would expect, very clear and helpful.  I particularly like the tonal version of the colour circle.  It has holes punched in it which make tonal assessment much easier.  See more about this in my next post.

STARTING ON COLOUR (2)

Exercise for colour compare and contrast

Here are some colour squares, 4 sets each with an identical small square, but the outside square different. This is supposed to indicate the effect that colours have on each other in terms of space and luminosity. Thinking of Joseph Albers (1888-1976) and his work on colour relationships.

Painting by Joseph Albers

Painting by Joseph Albers

The final exercise in the Colour Theory section is an introduction to induced colour.  I struggled to understand this.  The link to the Guardian article will help me I hope, but for now this is what I have done.  I like the abstract effects and the stippling and "dotty" look, but have not yet grasped the principles.

Induced colour (1)

Induced colour (2)

Below is an example of what happens visually if you look long and hard at the red mark (nothing to do with the plague), then quickly look away.  Hey presto, you will see the same mark in pale greeney blue, the complementary of red.  This is all basic stuff, but for me it is fascinating, I can never revisit it enough times.  Difficult to move beyond it actually.  Well I am not the only one.

Induced colour (3)

Guardian painting tutorials

 

Painting by Fiona Rae, one of the tutors on the Guardian course

Look here for some great tutorials on painting,  thanks to the Guardian.

I increasingly realise that painting is JUST ONE ART MEDIUM.  Easy to forget this simple truth since painting sdtill seems to have iconic status for the majority of people, and is often stuck in a visual form that was current about 100 years ago or more.   OK it is overshadowed by the brilliant creative spirits, from the Renaissance onwards, for whom it was THE way of making art. And it is a familiar medium which we can easily live with in our own houses.  But now we have so many more options.

Painting anyway remains for me a challenge, a kind of visual gym where I can work on the basics of tone and form and colour relations.