I will be doing a demo of painting waves in pastel next Saturday, Feb 20 from 11-1 at OPUS Fine Art Supplies, at their Granville Island location. I understand that registration is now full, but if you are interested you may wish to contact them (604-736-7028) to be put on the waiting list. If enough people get on the wait list, perhaps we will schedule an additional demo!
Rock & Splash, pastel on paper, 13 x 20, framed with museum glass, $550
The phrase "shades of grey" has come to have a particular meaning in our world today because of the salacious novel by EL James, but in this case I am referring to the literal shades of grey that can be mixed with paint!
Respected pastel artist Richard McKinley recommends that pastelists separate out their neutral pastel sticks, storing them apart from the gem-hued intensity of their other pastels, so that the subtle beauty and infinite gradations of the neutrals can be better appreciated and, therefore, used to good effect. Here's a good example of one of his works that illustrates the point:
Indeed, "grey" can be skewed across the entire spectrum, from a rosy-hued pinkish grey through warm yellowish greys through to cool greenish, blue-ish and purplish greys. What they all have in common is the low level of saturation, or intensity. The more pure pigment in a colour, the more "saturated" it is considered to be. Fully saturated colours are a bit like strong spices--a little goes a long way! And if you have one very spicy dish on your menu, it's good to have a number of palate-calming bland foods alongside. Otherwise, your diners will be overwhelmed by the clash of strong flavours, and nothing will be discernible from the cacophony. In the context of McKinley's quiet greyed tones above, the few stronger hues and the small areas of strong value contrast along the left bank of the stream draw our eye, just as he intended.
The other thing greys have in common is a fairly low-to-middle value range. Let's look at McKinley's image again, in greyscale.
Note how little range there is in the dark-to-light scale. Almost all the colours he used are in the mid-to-low value range, with a slightly lighter value in the sky and the small areas of water where he wants higher value contrast against the dark edge of the bank. Again, the effect is quiet and subtle, helping us as viewers to appreciate this gentle scene. It's not a screaming parade---it's a lilting lullaby.
If you are using liquid pigment (watercolour, acrylic, oil) as opposed to pastels, you can mix an infinite range of beautiful greys to suit your needs. Yes, you can, of course, begin by mixing black and white in various proportions. But these greys are often flat and rather dead.
Instead, try mixing complementary colours (violet/yellow; blue/orange; red/green) in various proportions, and then add a small amount of white or black to adjust the value of the resulting grey. As you will see through experimentation, a huge range of neutral greys is thus obtained.
In a recent lesson in acrylic, I used this technique to produce my demo painting. The only paints used in this painting were naples yellow, light blue violet, black and white. As you can see, a full range of warm and cool greys were produced just from these four colours.
On a Quiet Afternoon; acrylic on panel; 16 x 20; $550 framed
While such paintings don't necessarily drag people across a room, they do reward intense and prolonged consideration, making them long-lasting pleasures for discerning collectors.
For a recent lesson in pastel painting, I created an image based on an old photo taken on a trip to New Zealand. The painting is quite naturalistic, and conveys both the "reality" and the "feeling" of the scene and the event, and I'm quite pleased with it as a good example of my typical style.
The Sunlit Path pastel on sanded paper 14 x 21 unframed $500
The following week, I gave a lesson in acrylic painting, and decided to explore abstracting the same motif in acrylic paint, primarily using a palette knife technique. I had a wide black deep-set frame I wanted to use, and a canvas to fit it, so I chose this exercise to match the drama of the frame.
This time, although the composition is the same, I pushed the colour palette by saturating the colours throughout and adding brighter accents. As in the pastel painting, I first created an underpainting in a range of pinks and purples, and left some of it showing through the final layers. I also simplified the shapes and strengthened the textures. Using the painting knife in various orientations, I created wide flat swathes of colour contrasted by fine linear accents, and used a rubber wood-graining tool to generate more grass-like textures in some areas.
Nearly There acrylic on canvas 20 x 24 framed $750
The result is not as typical of my style, but I like the effect just as much as the more naturalistic pastel. Which work is "better"? The question only has meaning in a subjective sense. Both works are successful in terms of concept, composition, contrast, colour, and clarity. Each one expresses and fulfills my intent for the specific piece. The only question for a collector is, "Which one do you like better?" And every answer is valid!
I am delighted to report that I have successfully navigated the jurying process to be accepted as an active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists. This association provides a great promotional opportunity for me via their bricks and mortar gallery on Vancouver's Granville Island, where I hope to show more of my work on an ongoing basis. I'm pretty pumped to be a member of a society that once counted Lawren Harris among its members! The FCA also provides a variety of other services, as follows:
The mission of the FCA is to advance the knowledge and appreciation of art and culture to all Canadians, offering education, exhibition and communication in the Visual Arts, and to support and promote emerging to professional member artists.
The Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) was founded in 1941 by a group of Canadian artists, including the Group of Seven luminary, Lawren Harris. The FCA continues to operate as a registered not for profit society with members throughout the world and Chapters in Western Canada. The FCA is dedicated to raising artistic standards by stimulating participants to greater heights of knowledge and achievement by offering what is believed to be the first completely artists sponsored gallery in Canada. The Federation Gallery is located on Granville Island, Vancouver, BC, featuring bi-monthly juried exhibitions of works by emerging and Signature members as well as two juried international shows held annually, Painting on the Edge and AIRS. The FCA also holds special collaborative shows with other art societies. An extensive education program which is open to non-members as well as members, offering workshops, classes, critiques and lectures in the fine arts media, with instruction by successful established artists who can help all artists to explore and develop their artistic interest and talent. Membership in the FCA is open to all who appreciate art.
In recent pastel and acrylic lessons, we have been examining how to create texture in our paintings. While there are a variety of visual illusion techniques that can be used in both media, another option is to actually create 3-D texture at the ground or support level. This technique can be used on both card/paper supports for pastel and on panel/canvas supports for acrylic. First, sketch the main shapes of your design onto your support in light pencil lines so that you can create different textures in different areas (grasses, mountains, water, trees, sky etc.). Use white gesso at its full strength (i.e. undiluted, out of the jar or bucket, not the thinner pourable kind) and a cheap paintbrush of an appropriate size for your size of support. Brush on a small area of gesso at a time, keeping your eventual subject matter in mind in each area: in the sky area, you might stroke on the gesso fairly thinly and in flat horizontal strokes, blending well to avoid obvious texture; in a mountainous area, you might use thick random brushstrokes to indicate tumbled rocks and rough texture; for trees, brush the gesso into shapes resembling the direction and texture of the eventual foliage--you can create quite believable conifer foliage with upward flicks of the brush in a branching pattern. In grassy areas, consider using a wood-graining tool or a stiff comb to pull vertical strokes throughout the area--shorter in the background, longer as you move forward to create depth. The wood-graining tool can be found in decorating stores--it's a small rubber triangle with different patterns of teeth formed into each of its three sides--wider, finer etc.. Nice to have, but a couple of cheap dollar store hair combs with thick and thin teeth--or even a fork!-- will also work. The trick is to apply the gesso with one hand (your dominant hand) and pull the comb through with your non-dominant hand before the gesso sets up. This method will create somewhat random, natural-looking grassy texture. Using your dominant hand to do it tends to create more regular, stiff looking textures. Either way, remember to turn your wrist and hand to create strokes at varied angles, not all the same orientation. The thick gesso takes awhile to dry, but this can be sped up with a hairdryer if you are impatient! Don't start painting until it is completely dry in the thickest passages.
Once your textured support is totally dry, you can begin applying the first layer of paint. Use a thin layer in the darkest value you expect to have in each area first. In pastel, you can apply a very thin layer of pigment (you'll note that this rough-textured surface sands your pastel down quickly, so use a light pressure and a thin coat), then wash it down with rubbing alcohol or water to stain the surface. With acrylic, thin this base coat with water and scrub it into the textures with a stiff brush.
Once the first staining layer is down, you can begin layering other colours on top, either brushing them deep into the textures or letting them sit on top of the raised parts. Just as when doing a rubbing of a 3-D object such as a brass rubbing, you'll see the textures emerging as you add layers. Make use of them to create the illusion (and the actuality) of a three-dimensional object.
This technique is fun and effective, but shouldn't be overdone. Keep the textures subtle and let them work for you to enhance, not overwhelm, your subject.
Here are the two demo paintings I did for these lessons:
