STUDIO UPDATE: My week in photos.

Under painting for an oil painting of a friend's daughter.

Cleaning my palette, it's so rewarding to scrap off the paint and start fresh! 

The Charity Auction for this painting ends in a week, currently bidding is at $160. 

Find out more here: http://traceypotterartist.blogspot.com.au/Luke with Puppy

Glorious ribbons of dried paint! Sharing with Palette & Paint.

A work in progress, Wynnum Pool.

Guess who?

Work in progress, facial features yet to be painted.

Clue 1: They are a celebrity

Clue 2: This person is a fan of my Facebook Page.

My friends at Paint Party Friday, 

Thanks for all your lovely comments and continued support!

Enjoy your weekend xx Tracey

Comment on this post using Facebook:

Comment on this post using Blogger, WordPress, Type Pad, LiveJournal, OpenID, AIM or Name/URL:

Studio Update.

With the weekend nearing, I thought it would be a great time to do a studio update and show you all what I've been painting this week. I managed to get a painting finished, start two new ones and do countless other behind the scene tasks, which I will not bore you with the details here.

 

 I present to you the gorgeous Shae! 

The finishing touches went on her portrait at the start of the week and I deemed the painting finished.

These two paintings below, I started this week.  One is of the local wadding pool at sunrise and the other is the start of a portrait of Luke with his Mater Little Miracles puppy.  Both are at the very start of creation, and I have lots to do on them in the coming weeks. I will keep you all posted on their progress.

Above is my palette (for P&P), it is a glass picture frame, I work with it on the table easel.  You may find it helpful to know the basic colours I'm using. They are (L-R) Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow Light, Yellow Ocher, Cadmium Red, Indian Red, Cadmium Orange, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Perm. Rose, Chromium Green Oxide, Viridian Green, Cerulean, Ultramarine, Ivory Black.  I also have added Raw Sienna, Naples Yellow and Cadmium Yellow Deep to this particular palette for these specific paintings (especially the landscape). 

As a side note, for all those who follow along with the P&P party I hold, last week I questioned the future of the blog party and asked if anyone had any ideas for it moving forward or whether or not to continue it, and I was faced with no comments either way, which made me sadly think of fading out the party due to lack of interest. Since posting this result yesterday on the blog party showcase post, I have had a few people voice that they enjoy viewing the party and would be sad for it to end.  If there is enough interest, I will look at the possibility of continuing it, as it is something I enjoy too. So this is the time to speak up and leave a comment.

Linking with my friends over on Paint Party Friday, 29 Faces and Palette & Paint.

Comment on this post using Facebook:

Comment on this post using Blogger, WordPress, Type Pad, LiveJournal, OpenID, AIM or Name/URL:

It's MOI, I'm painting a self portrait

My palette, for P&P

This photo was taken on Thursday, but I didn't get a chance to post.  I mix my paint on a glass frame. I've been using this method for a few weeks now, and I'm really enjoying it.  Did you notice?  It's a new frame (I accidentally cracked the other one). I like this one better as it's bigger and has a very pretty frame. 

 

Day 7 of 29 Faces

I started by mapping out the composition, following John Howard Sanden's 29 Steps. This one is a self portrait, they are really tough to do, have you experienced that? I really struggled with getting the foundations right, this photo is the second version, I had to wipe out what I first did as the proportions were all wrong. In Sanden's book he mentions that Sargent apparently had no problem wiping out his work (often several times) and starting fresh and he urges his students to do the same if the under painting is not structurally sound - I'm paraphrasing of course :) I'm not sure of his exact words. 

 

Day 8 of 29 Faces 

I Blocked in the dark and mid tones. I really long for the day when I can do a portrait in one sitting, I see lots of inspiring videos of other artist doing it (and Sanden does his studies in one and half hours) and to think, this is sitting two and it's still not even close!

 

Day 9 of 29 Faces

I might regret this in the morning, but I just could not resist to take a photo of the progress on my self portrait. I know the photo quality is bad, the conditions were bad, wet oil and un-natural light make for really horrible photos, and usually I would not put this out there with  my name on it, but I just couldn't resist sharing, as I'm a little behind on the 29 Faces as it is. It's day 11.

I'm also sharing with my friends over at Paint Party Friday. Do go and visit, there are so many wonderful creative folk who share and artist Stephanie Corder (an exceptional painter) is being interviewed this week over on the blog for PPF, do check it out, her work is incredible!

Comment on this post using Facebook:

Comment on this post using Blogger, WordPress, Type Pad, LiveJournal, OpenID, AIM or Name/URL:

P&P & PPF: A New Palette

If you've been following along with my blog over the last month, or so, you will know I've been focusing on improving my painting skills. I think it's fundamental to learn and fortunately there are so many great resources available online and in books that you can teach yourself quite easily.

My Palette & Paint.  

I borrowed a copy of  William F. Powell's 'Color Mixing Recipes for Portraits' some time ago from the library, I found it so helpful that I got a few pages color copied for myself, and recently I decided to order my very on copy (which arrived a few weeks back). It's so helpful for skin tones, eye and hair colors. 

A new to me (Pre-loved 1976) book came in the mail! So excited. 

I have been looking at John Howard Sanden lately, he is a master at painting! His 29 steps to portrait painting is brilliant. I'm slowly putting what I've learnt into practice, I have set up my paint box with the colors to use for his Pro Mix Portrait Palette.  It will be interesting to see how it differs from the color palette I've been using (Powell's).   

A new palette (it's still in plastic!) to use my new color palette on. 

Oh did you notice that I've added more paint to the hen painting? If you scroll up to the first photo, you will see what it looked like before. Also I've just noticed that both the paintings on my desk have a very subtle 'Easter' theme, how did that happen? It was not intentional. Checking in with Paint Party Friday this week, I've missed you all!

Comment on this post using Facebook:

Comment on this post using Blogger, WordPress, Type Pad, LiveJournal, OpenID, AIM or Name/URL:

PAINT PARTY FRIDAY: More Hands!

This week has been set aside to studying the form of hands, and that is exactly what I've done. My paintings lately tend to have hands in them and though I've finished a few paintings in oils with hands in them, I still think there is room for improvement, there is always room for improvement.

'Leaves in the Garden' (below) has been quite the challenge for me, this little girl's chubby fingers have had me stumped, I have worked further on her hands since the photo below, and I've even done a tonal study, to better understand the structure of her hands. I'm getting there with this painting.

And, here's a quick study I did this afternoon of some hands in different positions, I don't usually keep a journal or do quick sketches but I've started this week, and I'm finding it invaluable for improving my observational skills. Do you keep a journal?

 Visit Paint Party Friday and join the party!

Comment on this post using Facebook:

Comment on this post using Blogger, WordPress, Type Pad, LiveJournal, OpenID, AIM or Name/URL:

STUDIO UPDATE

Time for a quick recap of my week in the studio for PPF!

here goes:

 

 

 

New paintings were taken to The Collective Store.

This month's panting for the MPC was started. 

It's top secret until the 15th, hence the cover up.

More paint was squeezed out onto my palette! 

{sharing with Palette & Paint }

 I unfortunately dropped the ball on my portrait a day...

...and have only done two this week.

I'm hoping to catch up on the weekend.

  

STUDIO UPDATE: Painting faces on the ipad

I've spent most of this week getting familiar with using ArtRage and the Nomad Brush to paint portraits on the ipad. Here's the two I've completed so far:

I will be doing one portrait each day for the 29 Faces in February Challenge.

Below is a closer look at the Dual-ended Nomad Brush I'm using.

And here's the interface for ArtRage

I'm really impressed with the way that this combination replicates real painting.

I'm still working on today's 29 Face submission, I'll be doing more this evening and posting it tomorrow.  In the meantime can you guess who today's portrait is going to be of? I'll give you a clue, it was my husbands suggestion - for those that follow my art page on facebook, this will be a easy.

I'm also taking suggestions of who I should paint for this series, so if there's someone you'd love to see me paint, please let me know in the comments. 

Linking with:

 

{Double Click Button to JOIN THE PARTY}

P.s I have been playing with real paint too!

Studio Update: A New Painting.

 The Monthly Painters Challenge {MPC} reveal was yesterday, and it took me most of the day to get my painting to the stage where I was happy to call it finished and to submit it over on the Facebook Page. I know I was cutting it close submitting it in the late afternoon, but the extra hours I put in made all the difference.

The Red Dress | Oil on Board |15 x 22cm | Available

Pin It

I had the idea for my MPC piece very early on {the topic was 'Fabric Design'} but when I actually started painting it, I struggled all the way to the end, I honestly thought I would not make the deadline because on the morning of the reveal day I had one muddy mess to deal with and somehow I had to bring light, color, form and pattern too it.  Thankfully the composition had finally been worked out after days of indecisiveness and it was just a matter of channeling Klimt for the finally touches. Can I just say how much I admire and respect Klimt as an artist, even more so after this painting. He is a master of colour and pattern!

Pin It

As I mention on Wednesday, my Nomad Brush came earlier than expected and I had a play around with it.  I used it at the end of the ipad concept sketch I did for the above painting. Below is the time lapsed video of the sketch, it's a pretty rough image, but it did help me work out a few things.

I'm joining {and hosting} the 5th Palette & Paint party this week. Below is my submission, I took the  photo of my palette yesterday, but ran out of time to add it to the blog, so here it is:

Pin It

The layers of paint are really building up now! It's starting to look interesting and become an artwork in itself.  What does your palette look like? Do you use Oil, Acrylic, Watercolour, pencils or a mixture? The party is still open, if you want to play along. There will be a showcase of all entries on Thursday {Australian time} on the Blog, Flickr, Facebook and Pinterest.

Linking with:

Thanks for stopping by, and for all the wonderful comments you left me last week! I really do appreciate all the support and encouragement I'm getting from the creative blogging community.

Studio Update: This week wrapped up!

It's been a full and fun week, another productive one! I've been working on the two image below, this week and have got a firm idea about what needs to be done to them to get them off the easels and deemed 'finished'. They are both required to be completed by mid Jan as they both have been entered into a prize. 

Today, I finally got to sketching up my Monthly Painters Challenge {MPC} piece for this month, it's due in 6 days! {I know, I'm always leaving it to the last minute}. I thought it was about time to pick up the brush after having the last three weeks of the idea running through my head and developing. I wish I could share it with you right now, but it is part of the rules that we keep it all hush-hush until the 15th.

If you missed it yesterday, Flo from l'art En Ciel joined me in my blog party P&P {for sharing Palette's & Paints}. You can join in for this coming Thursday's SHOWCASE if you head over and add your link at Palette & Paint #4. You have until Wednesday 5pm AEST to submit your post. The Entrants from P&P #3 were:

Linking with:

I'm also joining in the fun over at Life Re-arranged for InstaFriday with this little postcard that highlights some of the special moments from my week that were captured with Instagram on the iPhone.

View all my Instagram photos from this week online

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!