lagoarthurstudio 1/6/14 lagoarthurstudio 1/6/14

Technique Tuesday: Teresa Fischer's "Go To" Brushes and Brush Cleaning Method

"Peculiar Pachyderm". Oil on panel. Artist, Teresa N. Fischer.

One look at Teresa N. Fischer's paintings and you know you are seeing something revolutionary in the field of still life painting. Her theatrical and witty compositions are often clever observations of childhood experiences, inferred by the juxtaposition of antique toys and other still life objects. One has only to look at her painting "Peculiar Pachyderm", one of my all time favorites and a finalist in The Artist Magazine's 30th Annual Art Competition, to feel and see the magic in her work.

Teresa is a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design where she met her husband, the illustrator Scott M. Fischer. She is an award winning member of both the Oil Painters of America and the International Guild of Realism and has been a finalist many times over in the Art Renewal Center's, International Salon.

I had the immense luck of meeting Teresa several years ago and instantly found a nurturing and supportive friend who was willing to share her experiences with me, have studio chats via Skype and even meet for dinner on the occasion she's in town for one of her openings at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA.

In keeping with Teresa's generous spirit, she is actually sharing twoTechnique Tuesday tips with us today! Hooray! Here is the first:

"These are my two favorite brushes that I use. Robert Simmons white sable series 721 one strokes (a long bristled flat) and series 750 script (a longer bristle liner round).

I don't use a lot of small round brushes for my fine detail work. For me I find them difficult to use. They either don't keep their points which can be frustrating or hold enough paint. With the 750 script I can pull a very clean thin line, and the point gets really thin which allows me to do very tiny details. In this one brush I have a greater choice over the thickness of those details or their size.

Of the series 721 one strokes (flats), again I prefer the longer bristles. I like the spring of them. Shown in the picture (above) is the 1/4", my other favorite size is the 1/2". This is my work horse brush. I lay almost my entire underpainting with these two sizes. I can block in bigger areas and turn it on edge and drag a very nice clean line. I find that very versatile. If I get too caught up and tight, I grab the one stroke and start blocking and chiseling the form. It feels more like I am sculpting with paint.

The other thing I do is I rarely use turp to rinse my brushes. During a painting day I use walnut oil to rinse my brushes. Mainly to try to be healthier and my brushes seem to like it. At the end of the night, I give them a rinse in turp or OMS, them wash them using either Masters brush cleaner or even Palmolive dish soap. Because the walnut oil is a little more expensive I don't want any to go to waste , so I utilize the two jar system. After the oil settles, the oil and sludge separate.

I then carefully pour the clean oil off into a empty jar. I clean out the sludge that is left with a napkin and the end of a brush handle to swirl it around with. And as you can see, my favorite jars to use in the studio is salsa jars."

Thank you Teresa for sharing both these wonderful tips and your amazing art work with us today!

Teresa's painting, "Carrot - O" was recently featured at the 15th Anniversary Show at the Elliott Fouts Gallery in Sacremento, CA. Here is a link to her really informative blog post detailing its creation. Enjoy!

lagoarthurstudio 10/15/13 lagoarthurstudio 10/15/13

Technique Tuesday: Debra Keirce, Miniature Art and the World of Tiny Tiny Brushes

One of my earliest memories of art is of my Aunt's miniature portrait, painted of her while she was a young woman growing up in Havana. I was completely fascinated by that painting, by its scale, by its highly realistic rendering, by the simple IDEA of it. I think that early memory has always been somehow in the back of my mind as I became an adult and an artist.

Flash forward to now. I have a good friend named Debra Keirce who is a very accomplished artist and specializes in miniature fine art paintings. Ever since I have known her she has tried to recruit me to the miniature art world. And I will admit the temptation has been there, to at least dip my toes in it, all because of my Aunt's portrait.

Contemporary miniatures are often defined as being less than 25 square inches and smaller than 1/6 original subject size. Some societies and shows define them as being smaller than 8"x10 or 12" in any dimension. All require a tightly rendered artwork such that it appears similar to a much larger painting when viewed under magnification. This is why most miniature artists, Debra included, use 5x to 20x magnifiers while painting.

Debra has graciously agreed to answer some questions for Technique Tuesday for all of you who are also curious about making miniature art.

SLA: Can you please acquaint our audience with the origins of miniature painting?

DK: Probably not as well as Google can. But basically, miniature fine art started with the manuscripts produced by scribes in Renaissance Days... 1600's. With the advent of the printing press, miniature artists began selling portraits instead of text. Wealthy Europeans prized miniature portraits that fit in their pockets. When they were away from loved ones, they would keep their miniature paintings in lockets on their persons. This is where the tiny metal frames became popular. The advent of photography caused miniature art to undergo major changes, and is really where the modern miniature fine art societies, collectors and artists were born from.

SLA: Please describe the historical substrates, mediums & traditional techniques of miniature painting:

DK: I really am not so interested in history, unless I can use it today. Google can answer that question better than I. Modern substrates include polymin and ivorine, which are smooth synthetics meant to mimic ivory. Piano keys are often used. Feathers are sometimes seen in shows. Vellum made from animal skins is a popular surface. Most of us use smooth substrates like panels, dibond, artboard, illustration board.

Mediums used today have been used for hundreds of years, but obviously they have evolved over the centuries. Oil and acrylics, gouache and transparent watercolor, egg tempera, silverpoint and other metal points, gold leaf... These are all used in modern miniature paintings.

Traditional miniature painting techniques include cross hatching and stipple.

SLA: What modern techniques are being utilized by miniature artists today?

DK: Modern techniques vary a lot. Each artist finds their own way to adapt to the challenges of painting. I know artists who literally paint entire pieces in stipple, like a computer assembles images from pixels. Other will use a mische technique of painting in opaque and transparent layers. This is especially popular with egg tempera painters. Many painters use dozens of delicate glazes.

I can tell you what I do. I use acrylic or oil paint, and I typically first paint a grisaille underpainting, but often I will let some of my conte crayon drawing show through, along with some of the ground. I lay in the local color with a transparent glaze. Then I will paint the details and textures, but the whole time I will use an exacto blade and embossing tools to literally sculpt the paint and the top layer of substrate. In this way, I can achieve finer details and lettering. I like to paint on substrates like maple panels, illustration board, dibond, clayboard, artboard. Depending on the subject, I will choose a substrate with more or less give. Harder substrates are better when I want softer edges and less sculpting. Architecture is better on softer substrates that allow me to cut crisp edges.

SLA: What is your favorite painting tip you can share with us?

DK: My favorite painting tip is to paint what you see, not what you think you see. For me, the best part of the painting is when I go into a place of abstraction. I am painting the dark shapes, then the midtone shapes, highlights, feathering edges, etc. But I will not be thinking about the object. Instead, I am feeling the value changes, admiring the colors, sensing the light paths. Then, I step back and enjoy seeing the photo realism that sprang from that totally abstract experience.

SLA: Where do you buy your tiny tiny equipment for your miniatures, i.e. paintbrushes, frames etc?

DK: I buy paintbrushes from everywhere, but my favorites are Kalish, an Irish company when I have money, and Creative Mark when I need to budget. In either case, I prefer watercolor synthetic brushes...Rounds with very pointy tips are best. I like the number six rounds for most of my painting. I will pull in a quarter inch flat or a 20/0 liner on occasion. But mostly, I want a brush that will hold a lot of easy flowing paint and deliver alternately a very thin line or a thicker smudge.

I do my own mounting and wiring, but buy my custom frames from

FrankenFrames.com

. They are very reasonably priced, they have beautiful moldings, their workmanship is top notch, and they are one of the few frame suppliers with equipment suited to small miniature frames.

My magnifiers are lighted full spectrum lamps available at office supply stores, and I have several tabletop easels I use.

SLA: What miniature societies do you belong to?

DK: I am a signature member of The Hilliard Society at

http://www.hilliardsociety.org/nicholashilliard.htm

named after Nicholas Hilliard who was the official miniature portrait artist for Queen Elizabeth 1 in the 1500's.

My budget precludes me from pursuing membership in The Royal miniature Society, but it is the oldest of the miniature societies, founded in 1896. Here us a link to the history they describe on their site:

http://royal-miniature-society.org.uk/History.html

I am a signature member of The World Federation of Miniaturists and Miniature Painters Sculptors Gravers Society of Washington D.C. You are required to be part of the societies for a number of years, participate in a number of juried exhibitions and receive a number of awards to receive the invitation for signature membership. http://www.mpsgs.org/MPSGS-MemberSites.htm

I am also a member of the Miniature Art Society of Florida. I have not been a member long enough to meet the eligibility requirements for their Miniature Artists of America designation, but fully expect to be part of this prestigious group one day.

SLA: Feel free to showboat a little here. Where can we see your work in person? Where can we follow you on-line?

My website at

DebKArt.com

lists all of my social media contacts, newsletter sign up, current exhibitions, the galleries I am represented by, which include

HuckleberyFineArt.com

in Rockville, MD and

SeasideArt.com

in Nags Head, NC.

SLA: Thank you Debra for your thoughtful answers and for sharing your beautiful art with us!

lagoarthurstudio 10/8/13 lagoarthurstudio 10/8/13

Technique Tuesday: C - Thru Rulers

Some fancy artists out there will use calipers to help them make adjustments to their work. You don't get fancy around here, just useful and sometimes cheap. This trick of mine falls into both categories. I use those cheap and abundant clear rulers you can pick up anywhere to measure both my subject and my paintings when they get out of whack proportionally. That is to say if I am working at life size. Normally I have a really strong sense of proportion when I am drawing or painting, but I don't always "nail it". That's when I pull out my trusty little ruler. It is such a useful tip that I keep one of them always nearby with my brushes while I am painting.

A note of caution: if you are painting from a model, they usually prefer for you to ask permission to measure them. Just saying.

lagoarthurstudio 8/9/12 lagoarthurstudio 8/9/12

Workshop Wednesday: Robert Liberace's "Velázquez to Sorolla", Days 4 & 5

Liberace_SorollaDemo_Day5 — Liberace’s Sorolla Demo start.

Some of my best pictures from Rob Liberace's recent Velázquez to Sorolla Workshop come from Days 4 & 5. So you are in for a real treat here! Sorolla often painted his subjects outside from direct observation, following the effect of light on his models as they enjoyed a day at the beach or a picnic in the grass. Rob's palette below really showcases those atmospheric qualities.

Thalo Blue and Green
Cad Yellow, Orange, Red and Rose
Ultramarine Violet
Viridian
Lead White
Umber
Stand Medium (Linseed oil)

Liberace_SorollaDemo_Day4_Detail — Liberace’s Sorolla demo detail.

Here are the notes I took during Days 4 & 5:

Lay down your colors so they have good body and mass to them.
Whites are warm, warmed by the sun.
Shadows cool.
Always have a definite end to your light.
Cast shadows will not receive a whole lot of reflections.
Quick & strong strokes--don't blend. You will only "muddy" it.
"Blast in" lights.
Blue in core shadows, gold in reflected light (in shadows) are a classic Sorolla treatment. Use White + Orange for gold.
Realist painting requires "hump, ridge, terminator, core".
Make sure your highlights are applied with small brushes if you are working on small scale.
You should be able to cut (theoretically speaking) pure color out of a Sorolla painting. He did not use much blending.
Cad Red, Cad Yellow, touch of Cad Rose + White is the recipe for the Sorolla flesh tone.
Masses in big planes first and then breaks up that base color with light & shadow.
"Each time the model poses pick one area to bring to a full alla prima finish. Then move on to another area when he/she poses again."

LagoArthur_Sorolla_Day4Painting — My painting inspired by Sorolla on Day 4.

lagoarthurstudio 8/8/12 lagoarthurstudio 8/8/12

Workshop Wednesday: Robert Liberace’s "Velázquez to Sorolla", Day 3

On the third day of his Velázquez to Sorolla Workshop, Rob Liberace covered the working methods of Fortuny (Mariano Fortuny Marsal) 1838-1874. He painted the full figure (as seen above) to take advantage of the wonderful costumes the models were wearing. This for me was one of the most exciting aspects of the workshop. How often do you get to paint a guy in swash buckling boots like the ones the model is wearing? Um, not often enough.

Rob's Fortuny palette consisted of many of the paints used for his Velázquez palette with the addition of Flemish White, Cadmium Red, Yellow and Orange and Alizarin (which back then would have been fugitive).

Here are my notes taken from that day:

In the 1870s new colors were beginning to appear like chrome yellow & cadmiums so artists began to see more color in the transitions of light. Greens & purples in the shadows, lemon in the highlights.
Fortuny did not use white in his underpaintings--essentially taking out a step & then jumped into his color.
Begins with a gestural drawing in Umber over a Sienna wash to wet the canvas.
Don't smooth or polish over the anatomy of your paintings. It makes them look like mannequins.
"The few curves that I put in are purely decorative. Draw in angles."
Angle, angle, angle. Find the shape of things, the "high ground".
Try to find the "high points" or directions in the fabric.
Applies paint on the face thickly on the large planes of light & thins it carefully around the features.
"My brush is a pencil, not a brush. If I think of it like that I can get a better handle on the detail."
"On the lips don't draw severe lines. Use color to dapple & disintegrate the line. Fortuny did this a lot. Watteau too."
"Everything I do I want my surfaces to look really good".

Here is the first painting I was happy with at the workshop. Felt like I made an alla prima break thru with it.

And for a little more info on Fortuny, check out this link to Armand Cabrera's Art and Influence blog.

lagoarthurstudio 8/7/12 lagoarthurstudio 8/7/12

Workshop Wednesday: Robert Liberace's "Velázquez to Sorolla", Days 1 & 2

Today wrapped up the 5th day of Rob Liberace's Velázquez to Sorolla workshop and I count myself extremely fortunate to have been one of the attendees. I have taken several of Rob's classes locally here at the Art League in Alexandria VA, but this is my first workshop experience and I have to say I am now a big fan of them! Having 5 consecutive 6-hour days with Rob's excellent instruction helped me to really discover some bad habits that I fall back on in my alla prima painting. There is something about the directness of alla prima. The speed at which you need to commit to your decisions--that really allows you to see the flaws in your work. So what are my flaws when it comes to alla prima? Well for one I have a tendency to round out everything in my gesture and use a strong contour line. I have 2 theories for why I do this. 1). I am a reincarnated WPA artist. 2). My alma matter should have beat it the sh*t out of me while I was back in school. Instead I was actually encouraged to follow it as it was viewed as part of my "unique style" and "identity". Well dear readers, do you know what is the quickest way to kill realism in your alla prima? Adding curves!! Hence you can understand my frustration and my desire to break this dirty little habit. Luckily for me, Rob Liberace literally has all the answers and being in his workshop this past week lit the proverbial "eureka" light bulb above my head. Hallelujah!

The following is the historically accurate palette he used for the Velázquez part of his workshop. Most of the paint is from Natural Pigments, Da Vinci and Daniel Smith:

Vine Black
Iron Oxide paints (Umbers & Siennas)
Yellow Ocher
True Naples Yellow made from lead
Vermillion
Madder Lake (for purple) or Carmine Red
Lapis Lazuli
Cobalt Smalt
"Sleeping Beauty" Turquoise (Daniel Smith)
Earth Green
Malachite
Medium-Linseed + lead (Maroger medium)
Calcite Powder
Leaded Glass Powder
Wax

And here are some of the copious notes I took during his workshop. I hope you find them as enlightening as I did:

Try not to use the word "hard", think "firm" or "soft" when thinking about edges
Fuse like values, an elegant painterly device
Use "feathery" edges where distinct facets of light intersect
Begins by putting in little "tick marks" to lay in composition & proportions, quick gestural drawing
Make sure you stay very sharp and angular when laying down your figure
Contours and shadows have "highs & lows" that the paint must forcibly lead too
You must amplify the color notes hinting in your subject
Paints on denim, cotton, linen, cotton & silk herringbone fabric he finds in the fabric store
He is fastidious about his surfaces and will size his fabrics first before applying coats of gesso. The right surface is essential in the overall success of a painting!
Spreads calcite, umber & oil on his canvas before beginning (in Velázquez manner) to give a little "cushion" for his paint
Uses bristle filberts in the initial painting stages
Uses shadow masses to help delineate form, chiaroscuro. Academic stuff, lots of planes. Hatches in the shadow.
Puts in the nasal line and "sweeps" across it to blend it in with the face
Step one is monochromatic underpainting
He is sure to extend his lines and exaggerate gesture for a better composition
Uses a wedge of paper towel to cut in lights in his underpainting
Often employs the back of his brush handle to break up paint ridges and "erase"
Goes for the big masses first when laying down paint and spreads it out
Get your anatomy down in the underpainting
Big mass of value, one light source, bigger brush
"Zipper like" approach to edges of value to get a more volumetric feel
Every stroke is "crumbly, jiggly & wiggly"
Know where the "hump" of a form is so that you can decide how obvious to make it--softer or firmer
Use the opposite color temps in your glazes, on a warm ground use cool etc.
On day 2 he will reactivate the shadows by adding umber to them but no color, also a little black as needed
Begins glazing over his underpainting by applying a thin amount of wax & green glaze to the face to help knock back the warm temp and give him something to paint into
Turns his brush to make it not such an "obvious mark" (holds brush at the end & perpendicular to the canvas)
Takes hard edges & relaxes them by feathering across them
Will add a little color to his shadows as long as there is no white (use a clean brush!)
"You see a lot of scumbly broken strokes in Spanish painting"
On painting hair, "follow the light as it jumps from one strand to another"
Velázquez was extremely aware of the topography of his forms and is subtle. Does not blend but feathers & hatches his edges instead
If an edge becomes too soft he will re-establish it, always making corrections, a back & forth of edge handling