Mass vs. Contour

MASS vs. CONTOUR   

One of the things I discuss in class most often is learning to see in MASS! Seems we are conditioned from the time we first pick up a crayon (or as my grandson calls it "care on"), to outline and then fill in the spaces! While this is not 'wrong', it continues to keep me in a linear mode as I work. I think this is one reason that I have often felt my paintings had a contrived feel to them. When I am thinking in linear mode, I tend to work in a piecemeal fashion, working on bits and pieces here and there. I am finally moving out of that mode of work, looking for beautiful shapes that might unify or tie together the separate parts. When continuing in the outline mode after my initial start, it seems I have a difficult time loosening up and letting the beautiful creative flow take charge. As Daniel Greene often said, "It is all much easier than you ever imagined". Instead of continuing to hold the charcoal or brush in a pencil grip style, if I flip it over, perpendicular to my fingers and begin massing with the side, instead of the point, my drawings and paintings are instantly more fluid and painterly.

The worksheet below is from Andrew Loomis' book Creative Illustration. 

You can find a copy of it here

 http://www.scribd.com/doc/31460994/AndrewLoomis-creativeillustration 

 It is in pages 115-117. Loomis' books are fabulous!! 

Step by Step through a Pastel Portrait

This is my niece's daughter Bailey. I loved the sunlight on the tips of her hair and her sweet expression. I took about 250 shots of her out in the garden. I needed a sample for a gallery in pastel and thought she would be a great subject.
I photographed these stages at night (which is when the world slows down enough for me to paint without distraction.) I used a warm light so the color is off a bit. The paper I used was white so you can see the warm tungsten lighting. 

I started with a charcoal drawing. You can see that I don't always get an exact likeness
especially in my first drawing. The likeness comes as I develop it more and more. 

Next I started laying in color, darks first.
It is very important to be able to get a likeness
and even more to convey the essence of
the person and not just to strive to be a copyist.

It is this stage that feels most like Kindergarten. It is a messy stage,
one of my teachers called it the 'burn victim stage'. 

Working in a mosaical fashion laying in chunks of color
I continue working all over the painting,
looking at my subject each time I record a stroke.
No matter what medium you use, you are drawing each time
 you lay in a stroke whether using a brush,
 pastel or stick of charcoal.
Drawing is the foundation of painting.

You often find warm, pink tones through the mid section of the face
in ears, cheeks and around nose. Often where shadow & light meet
is a warm glowy color, like down the bridge of nose.

Looking for cool tones in the shadows especially.
Not too much or it will look like a bruise.

I often see cool tones around the mouth, not usually IN the mouth,
as that tends to make your subject look oxygen deprived.
The inside of the mouth is almost always a WARM color.

Beginning to smooth the tiles of color together with pastel pencils.
 I don't use my finger due to all the oils in my hands. Tortillians or stumps seems to drag color around and muddy things up.
Pastel pencils are hard enough to blend without adding much color.
They work perfectly for blending. 

Adding more color after I smoothed the skintones

Cleaning up with a kneaded eraser and washing my hands often
in order not to muddy up colors.

Brightening up skin tones and continuing to smooth

I often use cool backgrounds to accentuate the warm flesh tones of skin.
I chose a medium dark value since her hair was so light
and I used dark at the bottom to make the sunlight in her hair show better.
(It was also one of my young student's suggestion. Thanks Meg!! )

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Color DVD Keeping it Simple

COLOR DVD Keeping it Simple
 http://www.PortraitCreations.com CHRISTINE PILKINTON STUDIO presents instructional DVD covering such topics as mixing skin tones,learning to see color, order of color, methods of working, making color charts, basic materials, basic skin tones made simple, narrated examples of over 25 living and old masters paintings & importance of inspiration and instruction in learning to see color.

Watch video trailer of COLOR...Keeping it Simple 

Robert Genn Wisdom!

Robert Genn Wisdom!
I LOVE getting Twice-Weekly newsletters from Robert Genn. Here is a recent one on studios and your working space.  Robert Genn Twice Weekly Newsletter

Casey Baugh Workshop Video

Casey Baugh Workshop Video
Got first of a series of videos edited from Casey's workshop. Lots of movement, heavy camera lens on a mono pod for hours but you get the gist!  What a great week!!! 

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel for updates on new videos. 

CaseyBaughFineArt.com

Workshop Momentum

I just returned from a week of study with artist Casey Baugh at Townsend Atelier in Chattanooga, Tennessee and ONCE AGAIN I am so inspired and ready to roll up my sleeves, dig into a more deliberate and passionate pace of painting, gardening, teaching and trying to organize my life into manageable segments.

Casey poured out instruction without reserve and inspired us all over lunch discussions, studio demos, slideshows, material reviews, easel to easel instruction and much more. I left there with over 100 GB of video, maybe 500 images, new Rosemary brushes and an excitement to paint!!!

Here are a few shots from the week. I will post video (at Casey's urging) soon!!! I will write more...maybe...if I can fit it into my passionate plan!

Painting our beautiful model Sarah

Missing 2 or 3 who left early...a great group of artists from as far as Rome! 

Passion in Painting

The stack of unfinished paintings in the closet tells a story. If you are not passionate about your subject, your enthusiasm will fizzle when you get to the middle part. I tell my students to spend extra time choosing a subject to paint. When I finally carve out enough time to sit down at the easel, very often I am so anxious to squeeze those glorious tubes of color and feel the swish of a brush that I rush right into a painting without planning or passion. Or I have a model before me and a limited time frame to paint so in my haste, I choose a not so lovely pose and fizzle at the middle part.

A Bible teacher once suggested that in the Old Testament, when the Israelites crossed the Jordon River on dry ground, that the middle part was the hardest part of the journey. You cannot see where you have been and you cannot see where you are going. God instructed them to pick up 12 stones from the middle, and to set them upright in a certain place so that every time they passed that way, they would remember His help and during this middle part, especially.

I know that is quite a far reach in regards to painting, but I find the middle stage to be a real kicker. I no longer see the original drawing or feel that flutter in my gut, that spark and hope of a masterpiece to come! AND I cannot see any end result in my mind. It is a time I am tempted to quit and slide the canvas into the closet.

BUT if I have a passion for the subject, I will more often hang on, tooth and nail, gripping the brush and forging on. Brings to mind the Alcazaba Fortress in Malaga, Spain. It seemed the journey uphill would never end. My traveling companions and I made the comment, "forge on" several times to encourage each other and the view at the top was SPECTACULAR!"

I see this in my young students especially. The younger they are the shorter their attention span may be. After flipping through art books for maybe five minutes, they dance over to the easel and rush right in. Five minutes later, they are looking for another subject and another canvas to paint on. "I don't want to paint that Mrs. Christy".  So I set a time frame and ask them to look for at least 15 minutes and pick out at least three things. Then we will choose.

Children continue to be mirrors for me. We will be working from a model again in the next two weeks. We will be spending the whole first session (2 to 3 hours) on setting up, choosing and photographing various poses. Another handy tip from the business world comes to mind, "Proper planning prevents poor performance."


The work of art must seize upon you, wrap you up in itself and carry you away. It is the means by which the artist conveys his passion. It is the current which he puts forth which sweeps you along in his passion. (Pierre-Auguste Renoir)

Whether you are painting or singing or acting or dancing, do it with passion, do it everyday and do it like you don't need the money. (John Ferrie)

taken from Passion Art Quotes...
The Painters Keys 
http://quote.robertgenn.com/getquotes.php?catid=214