Painting's Progress

Really, just a little visual progress report.  I have built up a lot of texture in the flowers.  It will be tricky to get it to stay. I am using a permanent fixative that you build up in layers. I am reasonably happy with them. The real "trick" of painting is to paint what you see without worrying about what it is.

copyright 2012 Stephanie Takes-Desbiens

The Best Laid Plans

English: Pigments for sale on market stall, Goa, India. e. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ah, the best laid plans.

As I went to work out, my Thursday planned ahead, my mom called to say she had a ride up here on Saturday, instead of taking the train on Monday.  That's great but it crunches my schedule. Plus, I had my shopping to do, and some housework. I have two reviews on deck too. My plan for this project was, I had planned to choose a picture to paint and decide on a medium.

My media are pastels or oil paint. Oil paint is like the tantric sex of the art supply store.  It's smooth, and oily and takes forever.  Pastels are more like a one night stand. Both are hugely toxic.  Pastels because they create a fine dust you breathe in and it has lovely things like cadmium on it.

Oil paints are toxic because of the pigments, binder (gives the "stick" to paint) and the vehicle, what makes it flow. And of course there are solvents and additions that make it shiny, or stiff, or make it dry faster.  All the stuff in paint and  those add-ins usually enter the air a mild toxin.   They are also not something good to get on the skin or to ingest.

Because of the quality of paint, the time it takes to prepare the foundation an oil painting can take me days, weeks and months to finish. I love the feel of paint and oddly, the solvents seem to help my sinus. I doubt it's really help and it will probably all kill me someday.

 A pastel could take a week. but there is no drying time.  And there's little in the way of mixing. The foundation is usually paper; it's usually compressed to make it stiffer and is textured in someway.  I like something that has had a finish applied like a sandpaper.

So, I am leaning towards this picture. It already has good composition which is amazing since I took it with my telephone in driving rain in Aix-en-Provence.

Because I tend to work more loosely in pastel I think I will start there. I need that one-night painting stand.

Itchy Fingers: Please Help Me Pick A Subject to Paint

English: Cupcake;
Wayne Thiebaud (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I really want back in my studio. To this end, I have decided to include you all in the process. First, I have to think of what to paint.  I did a lot of portraits. Don't know that I want to again.  Does anyone need another bowl of fruit or a bouquet?  If I paint the sea or the marsh of gods and godesses forbid, a LIGHTHOUSE, I am painting tourist art.  Instead, why not paint art from when I was a tourist.

Here are some photos I took on our recentish trip to Europe. I like to paint markets in Europe. And, scooters.  And while not portraiture, I like life in my market scenes. 

Now, the cakes in the window.  I amazed how the smallest bakery can turn out these gorgeous cakes.  Thank goodness I cannot eat this stuff.  My favorite painter is usually Wayne Thiebaud. See the cupcake at left. 

So, non-painters here is your chance to be involved in a painting.  Which scene from these four photos should I work on?

Wanting to Paint Again, What am I to do?

Public Domain Image via Wikipedia

Cupcake by Wayne Thiebaud Image via Wikipedia

It's like that old Marlene Dietrich song: Falling in love again what am I to do? Nothing left me to, can't help it. I miss having painting in my life and that makes me want to paint again.  I know I am not John Singer Sargent or Wayne Thiebaud who are both big favorites of mine.  Yes, I know I am not them but here I am needing that, feeling guilty that I have a studio I don't use.

I have [at least] three problems:

1. Without a lot of practice I will suck at.  I used to work every day, four to six hours at a time. It is not entirely back to square one but I will have to learn to see like a painter again.
2. I have run out of images I want to paint; everything seems trite, a field, a tree, a house, people a bowl of fruit.  Does the world need more painted bowls of fruit?
3. Blogging is time consuming.  With a book blog double the time I spend because unless I am posting on a Did Not Finish I actually read the book.  Yeah I have to occasional guest post and movie or themed piece but I do this for 8 to 12 or even more hours a day.

by me, my painting teacher liked it.

While I originally thought I could do blogging as a profitable endeavor I seem to be missing that boat. Sad to say, I made more money painting but probably spent more. I paint in oil and pastels and they are costly. But I never sold paintings for much more than $200. And rarely sold more than two a year.

Any ideas?  I guess I could blog about painting. Are you at all interested in seeing my paintings?