The Artist's Brain

Studio Renovations - Painting racks and shelves

2012-01-30T08:03:00.000-08:00

This end of my studio was a cold storage area for food. This whole end of my studio space was taken up by cold storage as it was an outside wall and above it is an unheated porch. So it gets very cold in the cold storage room. But I never harvested enough food to fill the whole thing. So, the section on the right, with the door slightly open, is now the cold storage space.

I vapor-sealed, insulated and sheetrocked the exterior walls of my new art storage area. I built a painting rack and a couple of shelves. Currently, I have a desk in the place under the shelves. This will eventually become a flat file area for storing paper and mat boards. Plus, the top will provide a horizontal working space for paper cutting and "clean" work.

The hardest part of this renovation was the removal of a stand-pipe that used to collect water from the gutters on the roof. It hadn't been used for decades and was standing about three feet high and capped. I cut it down to floor level and capped it with cement. You can see a light grey circle on the floor where it used to be. I will also mention that all the wood I am using is cedar (bug resistant) and I have been using mildew and mold resistant paint and wall board. I don't think I will have those problems, but am just taking precautions.

The painting rack can hold a painting 32" x 48" or longer. I built it big enough to hold the large canvas on the bottom. There are a couple of long canvases in this photo that I will eventually paint or deconstruct. I also have an 8' painting that is sitting elsewhere. I will no longer paint really large paintings, but will keep to what I can store properly. I have another art storage closet upstairs for finished work. What is stored here are blank canvases and canvases I am choosing to paint over.

The shelves have been great to add to the studio. Everything on the shelves was stored on a table top in the other end of the room. This has opened up that end of the room for additional changes, like moving the sink (to come later). While moving everything to the shelves I rid myself of many old unnecessary art materials. I started a new rule: If it has been sitting in my studio for more than a year without me touching it and costs less than $20 to replace, get rid of it! Getting rid of the clutter and having a clean usable space is more important than hopefully, maybe, one day, possibly using something in an art piece. Sorry, all I do in this studio space is oil painting, matting and framing. Anything else goes! I do have another art space upstairs, a drawing table, where I do my drawing and watercolor work. All of those supplies are moved out of this space as well.

Next will be to create the flat files. I will be showing this in more detail. A local art store has a great, custom made paper drawer system that I am using as my design inspiration. With flat files being so expensive, I think this might be of some interest to other artists out there.

Until then, "Do well and make good art."

Retouching Paintings

2012-01-25T10:39:00.000-08:00

Part of renovating my studio has been going through old paintings and deciding what to keep and what to paint over. It is interesting going back to old paintings after not seeing them for awhile. Some, obviously should be painted over. Others, because of my overly critical eye when I paint, look better than I remember them. There was a series of small canvases I created last year where I timed myself. When I reached my time limit I stopped, no matter what. Some of these small paintings ended up looking great. Others needed a little more time to look better. Here are two examples.

The first version of this cyclamen painting was a bit flat in the flowers and, although not as obvious here, was a bit more orangey than fuscia pink. I painted over the flowers in the first version of the painting with a bright pink glaze. In the shadowy dark areas I mixed in a little permanent blue to the bright pink glaze. By glazing, I didn't have to re-draw any lines or shapes. I simply changed the color. I was happy with the leaves and left those alone.

In this landscape of two islands up north, well, the first version is so bad I even misnamed it. I called it Hawk Island, when in fact it is Crow Island. The painting felt clunky and needed just a little more time to refine, especially the water. So, I went over the entire painting with glazes and some thicker paint here or there. The two biggest changes were to create more contrast in the trees and less contrast in the water. I repainted almost all of the trees and the hillside behind with lighter and darker tones than were there. I also punched up the highlights on the rocks. The end result being that you now see through the tree trunks on the closest island to the furthest island. I also made the leaves on the closer trees more autumnal in order to create even more contrast between them and the island behind.

Then I attacked the water with a scumble of very light blue-grey over the existing wave patterns. This creates more of a surface on the water instead of a pattern. This also creates more distance - as it makes the surface of the water lay down and feel more horizontal.

I never used to go back into paintings once they are completed. But I find it fun when I know that just a few more minutes of tweaking will make a great improvement. And now back to my jar of brown rice.

Jar of Brown Rice - in process

2012-01-21T14:46:00.000-08:00

Here is an oil painting in process. It is titled, Jar of Brown Rice. Things I have been thinking about while painting it:
- Brown rice is brown but its also pinkish and greenish in places
- the shadows between the rice are definitely warm
- I need new small brushes
- I'm getting old, this is the first painting I've created where I have needed to use reading glasses
- Picasso painted with big brushes
- It takes two hours for each layer I paint for the rice on the sides
- I love Pandora Radio, especially the Alan Parsons Project Station
- It will be interesting to see what I do different to paint the color of the wood versus the color of the rice
- Colors used: yellow ochre, raw sienna, burnt sienna, permanent blue, Van Dyke brown, cadmium yellow, titanium white and manganese blue

I will show you when it is complete.
Just trying to use my artist's brain.

Studio Renovations - Painting Table

2012-01-16T19:46:00.000-08:00

While I have been renovating my studio I have come across this project of fixing up my painting table. I'm not even sure where it came from, but I have had this table for a very long time. I like it because it has wheels and it is just the right height for me whether I'm sitting in my chair painting or standing. As you can see from the picture above, it is a small table and there is not enough room on the top to hold everything I need. I decided I was going to add a shelf to the bottom and mount a larger top on it.

Here is the table with two cross braces I screwed to the legs. I pre-drilled the holes in the wood and into the metal legs. I then screwed the wood to the legs. I then took a long board from an old bed that I cut to fit as two pieces on the cross-braces and inside the legs. Here is an underneath close-up of the cross braces with the shelf.

Next I cut a piece of pre-laminated 3/4" shelving for the top. I wanted it larger than the old top and to go beyond the curved legs of the table. I placed the top on the floor and centered the upside-down table on the top.

I then drilled holes through the metal and screwed the top onto the table from underneath with 3/4" screws.

And, Wallah! I have a new and bigger painting table with a shelf to hold everything I need. The table top used to be 17" x 24" and it is now 20" x 30". Plenty of room for everything, especially with the shelf below. And the laminated shelf on the top will resist oil and other liquids and be easy to wipe clean if I start making a mess. And I made the top just the right size so it can roll underneath a counter top between two cabinets and disappear.

I'll share some other changes I made to my studio when I have the time.

Take care,
Mark

Stir Fry Painting and Contest

2012-01-11T16:53:00.000-08:00

Stir Fry

Media: Oil Paint on Canvas

Size: 18" x 24" x 1.5"

Price: $350

This is the completed oil painting from two posts ago. Amy Sippl cooked the meal and I made a painting of it as a collaboration of 20food.net and The Book of Bartholomew. To read more about the story of this painting check out my previous post here on The Artist's Brain blog, a previous post on The Book of Bartholomew Blog or read Amy's blog post on 20food.net (she is quite a good writer). This was a fun painting to create - a lot of small detail which was challenging, yet at the same time, it didn't take long to paint any one thing. I think the hardest part was the handles, they project out from the wok on metal rods at odd angles. At first the handles looked curved and striped instead of like smooth wood. I was going to take pictures of the painting in its different stages, but unfortunately, my camera broke and wasn't saving any of the pictures I was taking.

I wrote I would have a contest with this painting. So here's the contest:

The Contest

Name all of the vegetables in the wok.

The contest is open until January 20. Winner will be chosen from all correct answers or the closest answer. Reading Amy's recipe in her post is a good start, but my painting is a little different.

WINNING PRIZE - a copy of the classic book on creativity: Art is a Way of Knowing, A guide to self-knowledge and spiritual fulfillment through creativity by Pat Allen. Shambhala Press, 1995. No self-respecting artist should be without this book!

Good luck!

Painting Finishes - Cold Wax

2012-01-07T22:44:00.000-08:00

I have been busy lately renovating my studio and touching up old oil paintings. I have been putting final finishes on some of them. In the past, I have tried different kinds of varnishes but have never been happy with the final surface of my canvases. I paint with layers, allowing the colors underneath to show through here and there on the final layer of paint. In places where I use more oil, in order to thin the paint to glaze over another color, the surface ends up being more shiny than the surface around it. Other times I like to create a dry scumble of a lighter color over a darker color. Sometimes this ends up being a very flat or dry looking surface.

Creating a final surface with brush-on varnish would sometimes take a VERY long time to dry and would be too glossy. Spray varnishes, now maybe this is just me, but they make the surface look mechanical - too consistent - non-human. Varnish, in general seems to sit on the canvas, not act as part of the surface.

Non-human? Oh, he's off his rocker.

I recently have come across, thanks to recommendations from the staff at Wet Paint, cold wax medium.

This is a medium you rub onto the finished painting with a lint-free cloth. It doesn't need to be a tie-dye t-shirt like I am using here, but t-shirts work well for this.

You can see on this next painting the wax that I have rubbed on. It is a bit thick here. It should be rubbed on thin without any ridges showing. Rubbing in circles works best. Let it sit for one day. The next day, rub it again with a lint-free clothe to buff the wax. It is just like waxing your car. When you are buffing the wax, the microscopic platelets of wax are being flattened to overlap each other forming a protective skin. If you don't buff, the painting still has some protection, but not as good as when the overlapping platelets form a skin.

Overall, the wax creates a consistent satin surface to the painting that "feels" more a part of the painting than a varnish. It smooths out inconsistencies in the shininess of the painting surface. In this picture, on the left hand side of the image, you can see the shininess of a spray-on varnish. On the far right of the painting, I have rubbed on some cold wax medium. You can see the difference in shininess.

Also, wax can be applied to the surface of an oil painting as soon as the paint has dried to the touch. Varnish should not be added to an oil painting until the paint has completely cured months later. Wax still breathes and allows the paint to cure. I am very happy with the wax and will continue to use it.

Stir Fry Painting - Part 1

2011-12-22T20:38:00.000-08:00

Stir fry painting? Oh jeez, what is he painting now?

This is the first stage of a painting of stir fried vegetables in a wok. It is a painting/illustration for the story Harvest Dinner from The Book of Bartholomew. The story publishes in eight days, so I am working feverishly to get this painting done, along with a couple other drawings of food.

Why is he always painting food?

Harvest Dinner is a story of harvesting some food from a garden and making a dinner. There is a menu for the meal and it is this that I am illustrating. When I'm done with the painting we'll have a little contest to see if people can identify the vegetables in the wok. If you want to read an excerpt from Harvest Dinner, click here.

A contest, for Pete's sake!

I got together with Amy Sippl and her husband Greg to have dinner. Amy cooked the menu from the story and then I took pictures and we ate. I did bring some garlic and onion fried yams. It is always pleasant getting together with them. If you want to read some of Amy's writing about food, go to 20food.net or her own blog: mnlocavore.com.

I will show additional stages of the painting and share how I am making it as it develops.
Be well and eat good food,
Mark

Amazing BLU Animation - Back soon

2011-12-11T06:41:00.000-08:00

I have been very busy, as of late, with remaking my studio space and The Book of Bartholomew. I am writing the last two stories of Bartholomew's adventures. When I start to reach the end of a project, I become obsessed with finishing it. Its like my mind can think of nothing else but getting rid of this burden. Bartholomew has not been a burden, but I am behind on illustrating one story and I am already thinking of, and wanting to do, the next steps. Focus, Mark, focus!

In the meantime, I have been neglecting this blog talking about my own creating of art. I hope you have enjoyed the art pieces by others I have shared with you. Here is one more that just goes beyond. I really enjoy animation in its more raw forms. I have seen many wall animations by BLU, but this is simply an amazing piece. It is definitely the most ambitious public animation piece I have ever seen. I will be back to my usual ramblings soon. Until then, enjoy!

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Bicycle Animation

2011-11-26T08:58:00.000-08:00

I have loved animation for a long time. I even have created a few animated pieces over the years. In college I explored some early physical animation techniques using a record player and by making animation toys. I've always wanted to revisit these contraptions, but haven't. So, I loved coming across this online, a post from my friend Sarah. Enjoy!