Back at the bottles

I have a new piece in the works.

Exploring more tinted glass bottles but now with a few new ones added to my collection.

During my vacation in New Hampshire this summer my sister in law and I

 haunted a few old and new antique stores.  

I found so many beautiful objects to place around my house and to use in painting set ups for my stills.

The vintage Laura Ashley cloth and a cobalt violet bottle flask are my new treasured finds.

 WIP, Watercolor, 15" x 30"

©Carmella Tuliszewski

My drawing on 300 lb. cold press Arches is ready to go.
My line drawing is a map of shapes which help to make the painting part more spontaneous
and give confidence when I lay that first color glaze in.
No amount of glorious color will fix a bad drawing.
For me it's worth the time to get the foundation as best I can.

Before I begin I will use a kneaded eraser to pick up any excess graphite to ensure

clean, crisp color application.

I like to keep a high key photo copy to refer to as I go just to keep those dark areas correct.

Don't you love this part!?
All the happy hours of painting ahead.

I'm very excited to get started!

Treasures

I actually got it finished for the 30/30 challenge deadline of today, September 30th.

A real change of subject for me and I think not the last.

I had thought these guys would be a one time appearance but they may be back.

"Treasures"

Watercolor, 14" x 22"

Each character has a memory for me either of my own as a child or may children.

This made the piece a pleasure from beginning to end.

My attraction to this particular set up is the reflections in both the tray and the bowl.

They gave me the chance to exaggerate the already ridiculous subject.

The fabric under the set up is actually an old bed sheet from my then little children's rooms.

(Formally dug out of a drawer where it was saved as a drop sheet for house painting projects.)

This style is also a bit different for me as I have outlined each object with a very thin application of 

Paynes Gray and Shadow Violet.

My hope was to give it a comic book/ cartoon look to add to the theme.

The shadows and highlights are also exaggerated for the same reason.

Thank you again for following along this month for the challenge.

The basic idea for this challenge is to paint every day and to try new things.

So I come out of this with at least one new way of working and a finished painting.

A good months work.

On to other things!

I am so honored to have been awarded both 

Signature Status and The Award of Merit

by The Pennsylvania Watercolor Society

at the opening reception of the 

2015 International Exhibit.

2015 Juried Show
The Pennsylvania Watercolor Society’s
36th Annual International Juried Exhibition 

   

 Carlisle Arts Learning Center,

38 W. Pomfret St, Carlisle, PA 17013

 
September 25 – November 13, 2015 

"Summer Harvest",  Watercolor, 18" x 24"
Recipient of

THE AWARD OF MERIT 

Treasures Still

I'm back to my "Treasures".

My weekend and early part of next week look very busy with non painting things.

I am hoping to finish out the challenge on the 30th with the completed painting.

But at the very least I will have it done by the end of next week.

"Treasures" (section)

The last peek before the finish of my "Big Kid September".

This fun comic book styling may never get juried into a show or hang on a collectors wall 

but I enjoyed the process and the recording of my little collection.

I am anxious to get back to my regular schedule.

I have commissions and a new large still life in the works that I am very excited to begin!

Thanks so much for following along this month.
Have a great weekend.

Daisy Doings - Pouring

I have been wanting to try Pouring Watercolor for quite a while now.

I've watched many demos and gathered my supplies.

So here goes!

First, you need a simple "cartoon" drawing outlining

shapes where values change.

This is my second pour. The first was using only yellow and red.with no mask.
I use a Windsor & Newtown masking fluid to cover shapes I want to keep at a desired value.
With each pour a new mask is applied.
I am using a soft wide brush to rewet the paper before each pour.
If you don't the pour does not move around well on the surface.

So after remasking, pouring and drying five times

(which took three days)

 this is what I am left with before removing the mask.

Promising, or so I thought.

Mask removed and YIKES!  What happened to all my bright, georgous color?
The mask has picked up the color as it was pulled away from the paper.
I don't use mask over color on my paintings so didn't realize it would take away so much paint.

The only thing I can think of is the quality of paint.
I did not want to "waste" my good WN or Daniel Smiths on this so went with the Grumbacher.
Maybe the better quality paints stain the paper better with less lift?
Lesson learned.

So I went back into it very carefully in an attempt to bring back the original color.
Much better.

PROS
I do love the look of poured paintings.
They have a beautiful old time reproduction quality.

As a detailed, realistic painter, this process forces me to simplify shape and color.
This always helps in composing any picture I may choose to work on.

CONS
I am not a fan of the process.
I do not shy away from complicated details but at the end of the day I can
step back and examine what I've done with my time.  Pouring goes on for days.
Pour artists usually keep two or more paintings going at a time because
there is so much down time in between pours.

 I missed using my brushes.

I followed the purest route on this using only the three primary colors.
I think I might like a more free flow pour with less masking and using colors of my choice.

But I won't totally abandon the process.
I foresee incorporating this into my regular painting for backgrounds and under paintings.

Daisy Doings - Pointilism

There is much to learn in the art room with a lesson featuring Pointilism.

Optical color mixing, Seurat, color value and patience.
 It is beyond tedious except for a few students 

who revel in just this sort of work. 

As do I.

There is something incredibly relaxing about it like needlepoint, or mosaic work.

Daisy Doings
Pointilism

Georges Seurat was one of the Post-Impressionist.
His work of optical mixing was an important precursor to the Op Art Movements
of the mid 20th century.

This big kid version would have been loathed by middle schoolers so I always
modified this for their lessons.
By keeping the image small and manageable, the dots applied a little larger than
you see here and using it as an activity center
which students go to in between projects, it was fresh every time they went to work on it.

Daisy Doings- Acrylic Transfer with Mixed Media

This technique is not for the perfectionist.  You just have to roll with the punches.
Sometimes it transfers great and sometimes it doesn't.
But those imperfections are a characteristic of this medium.

Daisy Doings 

Acrylic Transfer with Mixed Media


Below are the steps to making a transfer.
It works better with black and white than color.

You must use a xerox copy of your piece for an effective transfer.

For this particuliar method a printer copy just doesn't work.

Paint the face up side of your xerox liberally but not saturated 

with Acrylic Gel Medium.

Quickly lay the paper, face down, on your chosen surface and roll over with a brayer.

Just a couple of minutes with good pressure will do it.

No need to let dry.

Immediately lift the paper off your surface.

(I used 140 lb watercolor paper here, but extra mat board from your framing activites would work too.)

You will see a thin film of paper covering the image.

Begin to gently rub off the film with wet fingertips.

You will see your transfer appear.

My original on the right and transfer on the left.

Now the real fun begins.

Paint, stencil, collage, pour, drip, whatever gets you going.

You Tube will have plenty of demos for your viewing.

There are many mixed media artists who do this much better than me.

But I'm glad I tried because it took me way out of my comfort zone!