Blazing Skies

Painting by Vicky Christensen, acrylic on 12 X 16 Blick hardboard panel

I decided to do one more abstract using a negative painting technique. My inspiration was a photo I found in the Wet Canvas reference image library. This is the first time I have painted on a Blick hardboard panel. The panel is 3/8 inch thick and was primed with gesso. The gesso has a slightly textured surface, but the packaging indicates you can sand it lightly to get a smoother surface.

Work in Progress: Rocky Pond

Acrylic painting, work in progress

 I haven't painted for a while, in part because I just wasn't in the mood, and in part because I needed an inspiration. I was rummaging through some old pastel paintings last night and came upon one that I really enjoyed painting and thought it might be fun to try it in acrylics. The photo above is the work in progress. I was mid-way through layering in the foliage and got to the point where I needed to work on the rocks before getting back to the foliage. I started blocking in the rocks and working on their reflections in the water before stopping for the day.

Below is the pastel painting. The original inspiration is a photo I found in the Wet Canvas reference image library (http://www.wetcanvas.com/RefLib/showphoto.php?photo=88393).

Same subject, different medium (pastel)

Waterfall

Painting by Vicky Christensen, acrylic on canvas, 22 X 28 inches

A while back I painted this waterfall in pastel, from a slightly different viewpoint. When I found this photo by the same photographer, but from this angle, I knew immediately that I wanted to give it a try in acrylics. So here it is. The reference photo can be found here: http://www.wetcanvas.com/RefLib/showphoto.php?photo=17158&sortby=d&sorttime=9999&way=asc

Sunset on San Salvador, Bahamas

Painting by Vicky Christensen, acrylic on 18 X 18 inch canvas

This dramatic sunset comes to you courtesy of a photo by Li Newton that I found in the Wet Canvas reference image library, at http://www.wetcanvas.com/RefLib/showphoto.php?photo=177968. The view is from the photographer's window. Magnificent isn't it. I hope I have done it justice. Thank you Li Newton for contributing the lovely photo to Wet Canvas. Li is an artist as well as a photographer. You can see some of here work at her Shutterfly web site, https://linewtonartandphotography.shutterfly.com/

Moon Rise Over LI Sound

Painting by Vicky Christensen, Acrylic on canvas, 12 X 16 inches

I had a hard time with this painting. I struggled with the reflections of the moon on the water. I think this might have been easier to do with pastels, but I am glad I challenged myself and painted it with acrylic paints. The inspiration was a photo from the Wet Canvas reference image library, http://www.wetcanvas.com/RefLib/showphoto.php?photo=152552.

Morning Sun Over the Lake

Painting by Vicky Christensen, acrylic on canvas, 16 X 12 inches

I was going to do a pastel painting today but changed my mind at the last minute. Today's painting was inspired by another photo I found in the Wet Canvas reference image library, http://www.wetcanvas.com/RefLib/showphoto.php?photo=42590. I amped up the color a little. And I ended up painting long grass in front of the boat and dock. I could say it was for artistic reasons, but to tell the truth, I had trouble painting the boat.

In some ways I think this looks more like a watercolor than acrylic on canvas. I kind of like the effect.

Experiment: Acrylic on Ampersand Pastelbord

Painting by Vicky Christensen, Acrylic on Ampersand Pastelbord, 12 X 16 inches

I wasn't planning on painting today. But I had some paint left over from yesterday and on the spur of the moment I decided to do something fast and loose. I also wanted to try acrylic on Ampersand Pastelbord. I have used Pastelbord a number of times for pastel paintings but I have never used it for acrylics until tonight.

The inspiration for the painting was a photo I found in the Wet Canvas reference image library: http://www.wetcanvas.com/RefLib/showphoto.php?photo=67973. I had planned on painting it with pastels but it was fun to do it with acrylic paints.

Another Attempt at Painting Water Lilies

Acrylic on canvas, 24 X 30 in.

Today's subject is Monet's water lily pond at Giverny. I used a photo from the Wet Canvas reference image library as a reference.

Daisy and Friend

Acrylic on canvas, 12 X 16 in.

I had some yellow left over from the last painting and I wanted to paint some daisies, so here is the result. I liked the way the Wet Canvas reference photo had the focus on the foreground daisy and everything else out of focus, so I tried to capture that effect.

Hibiscus, Up Close and Personal

Acrylic on stretched canvas, 18 X 18 in.

I just now finished painting the hibiscus. The reference photo is from the Wet Canvas reference image library. I originally intended to paint this with pastels, but decided it would be fun to paint with acrylic paints. I'm glad I made that choice.

Sailboat Anchored at Sunset

Today's painting is based again on a photo from the Wet Canvas reference image library. There is something about skies and water that compels me to paint them.

Since painting with acrylics is new to me, I have been doing a lot of reading and searching the internet, including You Tube, for tips and pointers. I have been getting a lot of info from the Will Kemp Art School web site. He advocates painting over a colored ground rather than the white of the primed canvas. For this painting I started by painting the canvas with a mixture of titanium white and alizarin crimson. I don't know if it helped, but it sure was a pretty color.

Wave Without Seagulls

acrylic on 18 X 24 in. canvas

Today's painting is based on Wave With Seagulls from the Wet Canvas reference image library. Except I didn't want to paint the seagulls, hence the name of this post. This might be the painting that will go above the fireplace.

Fall Reflections

acrylic on 18 in by 24 in canvas

Here is another autumn painting, based on a photo from the Wet Canvas reference image library (http://www.wetcanvas.com/RefLib/showphoto.php?photo=56175). This is my first painting on an 18 in. by 24 in. canvas. I have a space over my fireplace that is waiting for a painting, so I decided to go big (or big for me). I got in on a buy one/get one sale at Michaels, so I have another 18 by 24 waiting for me.

More Fall Colors

acrylic on 12 in by 16 in canvas

Here's today's painting: another autumn scene, based on a photo from the Wet Canvas reference image library. I had loads of fun doing this one. Note to self: practice painting birch bark. The foreground trees aren't the greatest, but all in all, I am happy with the results. I really enjoy painting with acrylics.

And Now for Something Completely Different

acrylic on 12 in by 16 in canvas

I decided to take a break from the lessons in the Varvara Harmon book to paint my own composition. In this case a painting based on a photo from my collection of inspirations for pastel paintings. I found the photo online at Wet Canvas, in their reference image library (http://www.wetcanvas.com/RefLib/showphoto.php?photo=58375). I thought this photo might be a good chance to try out what I have learned so far and another chance to practice painting fine lines. The results with the liner brush are still hit and miss, but overall I am very happy with the outcome.

I did the painting over a couple days. The first day was spent working on the clouds/sky. Here is what it looked like after day 1:

I thought the skies needed a little more punch so I decided to try a glaze with alizarin crimson. Since I have never done a glaze before I searched online for instructions. I got a little too heavy handed in spots, but I think the glaze helped convey the stormy atmosphere.

Underpainting

After I finished the community ed pastel painting class I realized that I needed a lot more than just a few night classes. So I looked for books and online sources of instruction. Just about every resource I found put an emphasis on doing underpaintings. I watched some previews of Artists Network presentations by Liz Haywood Sullivan on You Tube and was fascinated by how she made underpaintings with pastel and alcohol. Later I found some great You Tube videos of Leesa Padget painting, set to great background music (highly recommended!). I thought "I need to try this!" So I did, and I have been hooked ever since.

Pastel and Alcohol Underpainting on Pastelbord

Pohoiki Bay, near Hilo Hawaii; pastel on Ampersand Pastelbord over pastel/alcohol underpainting

This is one of the first paintings I did with a pastel and alcohol underpainting. This is also the first painting I did on Ampersand Pastelbord, and I must say I love this surface. It is great for any wet media underpaintings, plus I love how it grabs the pastels. 

 Watercolor Underpainting on Pastelbord

watercolor underpainting on Ampersand Pastelbord

Finished painting

Pastel and alcohol underpaintings are great, but I really wanted to try watercolor. I found a photo taken at Monet's Giverney in the Wet Canvas reference image library that I really wanted to paint, so I took a stab at it. The result is above. I found that I really love using watercolor for underpainting. I am not a watercolor painter, so I just block in the major areas of the painting with watercolor, not worrying about fine details.So far I haven't strayed too far from the "local" colors when painting the underpaintings. If I'm lucky I can keep some of the watercolor uncovered by pastel in the finished product. Even if I do cover it with pastel, just working out the composition with the watercolor makes the painting process a lot easier.

Watercolor Underpainting on Wallis

watercolor underpainting on Wallis Museum sanded paper

finished painting

This is another watercolor painting, this time on Wallis Museum. This surface was a little more resistant to the watercolor but still handled it well.

Watercolor Underpainting on Art Spectrum Supertooth

watercolor underpainting on Art Spectrum Supertooth

finished painting

The watercolor flowed quite nicely on the Supertooth. I was able to control the water plus reflections and the shading on the rocks in the foreground quite nicely. 

Artist's Block, Part 2

I am finding that once you spend your hard-earned money on art supplies, you find yourself not wanting to waste them. Unfortunately that leads to another level of artist's block. A good set of pastels can run into hundreds of dollars. Sanded papers and other textured surfaces can be quite expensive. So you find yourself questioning whether a subject is worth the expense of the supplies used to paint it. This is a dilemma if you really like to paint and you want to get better at it. Getting better requires practice, lots of it.

While searching for information about matting and framing pastel paintings (another expense no one tells you about ahead of time) I chanced upon http://www.wetcanvas.com/. Wet Canvas is a great online resource for artists of all skill levels. I won't endeavor to list everything you can find at Wet Canvas. Suffice it to say I got my answers about how to mat and frame and much more. One of the greatest resources is the Wet Canvas reference image library. Members have uploaded a multitude of reference images that can be used as artistic inspiration without paying licensing fees. I wasted no time downloading a number of photos I wanted to paint.

This is the first one that grabbed my eye:

The unanswered question was: can I paint it? I decided to do a couple of trial runs of one apple on Canson Mi Teintes before committing to a full painting. These two pictures were my first attempts with my new set of Blick pastels. I did two trials: one on the textured side of the paper and one on the smooth side.

Blick pastel on textured side of Canson Mi Teintes

Blick pastel on smooth side of Canson Mi Teintes

My first thoughts were:

• I like these pastels!
• I can paint apples!

I was ready to give the full painting a try. But a trip to Hawaii got in my way. I know, what a hardship.