Ah, Sundays! I had time to work on a painting of Mr. Femmedem this afternoon.

[femmedem]

I have some areas that I'm really wrestling with but other parts of this little oil painting are a leap forward for me. I think my painting has come a long way over the last year.



Fingers crossed that Mr. Femmedem will have time to model for me again next weekend so I can fix those hands and arms.

[ZZenith]

1. Just tell people he was wearing mittens.

[femmedem]

3. Lol. Mismatched mittens at that. :)

[3catwoman3]

7. A few years ago, I was examining a child at the pediatric...

...office who had been brought in for a red rash on her hands. There was some odd discoloration on her hands, to be sure, but it wasn’t red - more magenta. Not a color known to occur naturally in human skin. The mystery was solved when it turned out that she has been wearing purple mittens that had gotten wet and the color leached out.

I am impressed with, and envious of, your skills.

[femmedem]

21. Aw, don't be envious. I'd rather be able to diagnose a child's illness.

But you'd be surprised at how far I've come in a year. If you saw some of the earlier work, I'm not sure you'd recognize it as being done by the same person.

[3catwoman3]

22. Decades ago, I read about an "artist" who would embed balloons...

...in wooden frame filled with plaster of Paris, and let the plaster dry while the frame was lying flat. Then he would stand it up and shoot bullets into the balloons and let the paint drip down the plaster.

Other than painting walls, that would be about my level of skill with painting.

I put artist in parentheses because I reserve that term for someone who can create something lovely to look at, and can do something I can’t do. The plaster and balloon thing I could do.

You are an artist.

[Ohiogal]

2. That's wonderful!

Very impressionistic! (to me)

I don't think you want to put too much detail into the hands. It would look too different from the rest of your rendering. I think you did a great job!

[femmedem]

4. Thanks. Yeah, not too much detail. But I hope I can make what little detail is there accurate.

Also, I'd be happier if the front forearm didn't look broken.

[lunatica]

5. That's very, very good

You have a unique way of dealing with light. It’s bright and infuses you’re entire painting with soft brilliance. It’s direct but it’s also reflected making the window and the bowl, the glass, the tabletop, and your husband’s beard and arm glow. Your soft colors are gentle and inviting.

I think you may be getting bogged down with the details of his hands and shirt because you’re getting caught up in the details. Instead of doing that just continue to follow through on your broad brushstrokes. Keep your brushwork consistent throughout.

I also like your brushwork. It’s bold and you’ve laid on the paint with a sure touch and with minimal detail allowing the viewer to fill in the details. I love it!

One of the things that helps me when I’m stuck or unsure of what to do is to prop the painting up where I can see it all the time and just live with it. Your painting will eventually let your subconscious come up with the solution.

[femmedem]

6. Thanks so much, Lunatica.

Last edited Sun Jan 26, 2020, 10:51 PM - Edit history (1)

I think you're right that I need to make sure I don't get more and more focused on details when the real problem is I haven't blocked in the broad shapes accurately.

Funny thing about the light: I'm using a zinc white for this one. In the past I've only worked with titanium white. It's tinting power is weaker, as I imagine you know, but I think it's adding more luminosity.

I really appreciate you taking the time to give me such a thoughtful, kind-but t-useful critique.

[lunatica]

8. I think I'll try your flake white

It’s really nice and might be the White I need for the clouds.

And I’m happy to give critiques! It’s something I’m pretty good at. I used to go to a painting class where the professor was an elitist snob who talked in highbrow esoterically abstract terms about art. He would sit with the housewives and students who just wanted to learn how to paint for their own enjoyment and talk to them about what they needed to do in language that they couldn’t understand. My parents were like that so I grew up understanding that intellectual language and I recognized the bullying tactic. After months of listening to him talk to them and seeing how they were obviously not getting it I finally just started telling them what he was suggesting in language they could understand. Their painting really improved.

He started to tell them they were improving a lot but then they told him that I was helping them out. When he talked to me about it I just told him that I was just telling them what he did, but in language they could understand. He and I were at loggerheads from the beginning so it didn’t bother me a bit that he got vaguely pissy about it. Like all the art instructors there he knew I was good and not your everyday student. I know this because they all told me so. I could stand up to him. I hate bullies. Especially snobs! He would make sweet housewives cry.

[femmedem]

9. How awful. A cruel teacher can smother a person's creativity, worse than no teacher at all. n/t

[femmedem]

12. I made a mistake: it was zinc white, not flake white.

But I do think its transparency is why the lights feels luminous instead of chalky. I'm working on a panel, not canvas so I hope its brittleness doesn't become an issue down the road.

[lunatica]

13. Thanks for the correction

I’ve tried it before, but I’ll try it again and see how it works for clouds and light. Thanks.

[bif]

10. That's really beautiful!

Don't overwork it! I have to tell myself that once in a while. Sometimes I keep working a painting to death, when I should have stopped a while back.

Do you work in oil? I've never herd of Flake White. I wonder if it's available in acrylic?

[femmedem]

11. Thanks, yes I could easily overwork it in the areas where I'm struggling.

I do work in oils, but they're the water-mixable oils. I don't use any water as a painting medium, just linseed oil modified to be water soluble. I get headaches from solvents, and I love the easy clean-up.

I made a mistake upthread: it wasn't flake white; it was zinc white! What I love about it is that it's transparent so it doesn't make your colors as pastel or chalky, just lighter. But you have to be aware that it only has 1/10 the tinting strength as titanium, and this evening I read that it is a brittle paint that could cause cracking down the road if used on flexible canvases. I am painting on a hard panel, but even so I think I'm going to be more judicious about using zinc white.

Here is a great explanation of various whites: https://gamblincolors.com/getting-the-white-right-by-robert-gamblin/

Do you work in acrylics? You might like the water-soluble oils, but some people are sensitive to them, too.

[marble falls]

14. For what its worth, I'd hang it as it is.

[femmedem]

20. Thank you!

That's worth a lot, because we all have limited wall space. It's one thing to like a painting; another to invite it into your home.
I apologize for my slow response. I've been sick today.

[packman]

15. First rule of painting - Don't overdo it

Step back and look at what you have there - perfect style, simple and carries the essence of expression.

[demigoddess]

16. WOW I like it!

[femmedem]

19. Thank you!

I appreciate your taking the time to comment.

[Karadeniz]

17. Love it! The personality of your paintings reminds me of Andrew Wyeth...simple and

Straightforward, great light. Thanks for sharing!❤

[femmedem]

18. Thanks! I was lucky enough to see a few Wyeths recently at a small local museum.

I hadn't studied him much, and I walked away with a profound appreciation for his work.