Starting From Scratch

My father was asking me some questions about my process when starting from scratch. For each painting this may vary but usually this is the way it goes… 

Basically I like to start out with a lot of paint on the canvas with as little thinner or liquin as possible. It’ll wear you out on big paintings for sure, but I’m not saying to use no thinner.  I’m saying use only enough to get the paint to move.   The reason is so that I can continue to paint (and have it stick while adding a little thinner or liquin) which greatly speeds up an oil painting.  I think the technical term is wet on wet painting.  Bob Ross was pretty fast using this method.  Also, the background color will blend into the elements I add afterword.  So the blue sky will blend into the distant trees and give me that hazy distant feel (see Aerial perspective.)  For near-ground objects it can be used for reflection or specular highlights.    I find the end result will take that original color as a theme and sorta bring it all together. 

I just finished this painting called “On the Fence” and using the method above I used this brown/green color as my background.  Also keep in mind that this is an iPhone shot.  I promise it looks better in person!

(click to see image rotation) 

Enjoy

About Beauregard (the frog)

Jim, owner of Joy Gallery in Key West, recently asked me about the origins of Beauregard, the tiny green frog.  And I thought I’d take a few minutes to talk about him here on my blog.

Beauregard originated from a brief and rather minor experience I had with a tiny green frog attached to a window.  I stared at him from inside (noticing his intricate webbed and tiny toes) wondering about him.  What is he looking at right now?  What is he thinking?  What led him to this window?  What did he do earlier today?  What will he do after his time on the window?  Just what in the world does a tiny green frog do all day anyway?

Beauregard started as a departure for me.   Prior to Beauregard, I hadn’t painted any real characters.  Sure, I’d painted animals, but nothing I would consider a character.  Chance Encounter has a pair of curious butterflies, Traveler has a thoughtful sea turtle, New Beginning has a baby turtle making his way back to the sea.  Still, none of them were characters.  In actuality, I was painting a lot of landscape and ocean scenes, so a turtle here and there was a natural progression.  But a frog?  Complete departure. 

The first paintings to feature Beauregard were Hey You and Hey Me.   They were painted as a pair, named simultaneously and released together in the same weekend at the same show.  Both originals sold the very first weekend I showed them.  That was great news to me, but what really impressed me was how people seemed to be drawn to frog and how his curiosity and youthful inquisitiveness made viewers smile.

People really seemed to like him.  Beauregard made onlookers happy.  And that made me happy.

My number one goal with every painting is to generate an emotion of happiness.  If my work is not meeting that goal, if I’m not seeing smiles … then, my art is not hitting the mark.  Primarily, I paint what makes me happy and I hope with every fiber of my being that it also makes others happy.  End of story.

So, of course I had to wonder if more of Beauregard and his curious nature would result in more smiles.  

Eventually, Beauregard led to me painting more characters:
a bumble bee (in Busy Bee)
a duck (in Sitting Duck)
a koi (in Playing Koi)
a painter turtle (in Piggyback)
… and many others

Beauregard even led to my first human character whose face partially appears.  The traveling girl in the blue dress appears in several paintings now:
8:15 (the first painting in which she appeared)
Trust
Departure
Crossing (a commissioned piece)

Today, Beauregard is a staple in my work.  Even when he’s not the featured character in a painting,  you’ll see him in most paintings (well, most paintings since his birth – of course he’s not in my paintings that existed prior). Look closely to find him in:
all four of the above-mentioned paintings featuring the traveling girl
Haven
Scout and The Siege
Watering Hole
In For the Night
… and many others

One interesting fact about Beauregard that I like to share … you’ll never find him eating or tasting anything.  After all, if you look closely at the paintings, you’ll see that he has no mouth.

Beauregard is curious about his world.  I love that about his nature and I think it’s a large part of his appeal.  It’s much like watching a puppy stumble upon his first grasshopper or a child discover his reflection for the first time.  Beauregard embodies youthful curiosity without bias.  Though he never speaks (no mouth, remember?), but his eyes tell everything.

Beauregard has certainly made an impression on my paintings and brings a new level of excitement and wonder to each painting I create.  I can only hope he makes a similar impact on anyone who sees him.

Oil Paints

Not all oils are created equal!   I recently had a conversation with someone who thought oil paint is oil paint…. Not true.  Each brand has  unique qualities that make it perform differently.  When I started out (awhile ago!) I was using what my father had laying around in his paint sets.  These turned out to be rembrandt which I think are nice but I didn’t know any better at the time.   When I was in college I kinda got into the “student” oils with Winton and the occasional nicer Winsor Newton. I found it to be a lot of work to paint and get good coverage as well as move it around the way I wanted.  It wasn’t until fairly recently in my life that I was talked into paying more for a smaller tube of something really special. 

Personally there are a few factors that set good paint aside from the rest.  Pigment depth, texture/flow, and color vibrance are what I look for.  Some brands tend to have great quality but are stiff or other brands are very creamy but don’t hold  up to mixing well.  It’s a tradeoff sometimes and other times it’s a match made in heaven.  Usually that tube is the $20 dollar one. 

My favorite brands include:
Gamblin
Rembrandt (thanks dad)
Old Holland
Holbein
Shmincki Mussini

I like Gamblin a lot especially since it’s made in the US, and their Radiant series is sweet. Rembrandt just has a really rich and creamy movement to it, and I tend to use this most for blocking out as well as large areas of color.  Old Holland is reaaaally nice but pricey and it’s reserved for the highlights and small but important places.   Holbein has some great, unique colors but I find it to be a little “hard” to move around.  I usually subject it to my chemistry set to make it softer.  Lastly Schmincki Mussini I only own the translucents.  They may make other good paint but I love these for glazing.

 These aren’t necessarily rules but  just the way I usually handle them.  Also mind you that this is how I paint so it may be completely different for you.  Other factors may play a part like how much thinner you use (I tend to be sparing so I don’t get high from fumes) as well as any flow mediums or the age of the paint. 
If you get your hands on some old paint be sure to watch out for lead!  I recently found some older paint and realized a couple of the tubes of white were made with lead.  Yuck!  Titanium filled in where lead left off and it’s made things a lot safer.  It’s the same stuff as in heavy suntan lotion!

Well I guess the moral is if you’re not getting the potent results you’re looking for then try looking for something in the A series of manufacturers.  It costs a bit more but it’s worth it in my opinion. 

-Rob

Perspective

As I started my latest piece I reflected on how much time I’ve spent in my career dealing with perspective, focal length, and camera settings in general.  In those worlds these are common subjects for scenes, but in art I rarely see anyone doing unique perspectives and even less doing depth of field with painting.  A lot of times you’ll see creative angles or points of view but this isn’t really the perspective I was referring to.   I’m talking about how an artist or photographer chooses to see the work like picking a lense. 

 Here’s an example of what I consider a flat perspective.  It feels mathematical and rigid to me with little room for manipulation….

If you drew lines on the buildings, they would all be straight. The roof lines will coincide with a dot on the horizon and the horizontal and vertical lines of the building make a grid of sorts.   (The road is higher in the middle so we’ll ignore that)

Yet on the flip side there is what we call a fish eye lense or a camera that is skewing the perspective spherically. This is almost taking the reality as we know it and warping it. You’ll see this a lot for close up shots in movies like looking through a peephole of a door or other first person perspectives.

Somewhere in the middle of these is where I like to stay.  I find both to be extreme and possibly jarring to the viewer (which may be what you’re going for.)  I see a lot of beginner artists pulling out the ruler and making perfect perspectives which is not easy in and of itself! It can be very tricky, and most people may not be able to identify the problem but they can see something is “wrong”.  I compare it to when a person sees a human face.  They may have no artistic training but can readily point out that the face doesn’t look right. (see “uncanny valley”) 
Yet there are artists that play with this like MC Esher and reinvent perspectives while they defy them.  I won’t go too far with examples but there is also artists who trick the human eye with perspectives using 3d elements (reverspectives) and viewing points that trick you from one angle but look distorted from all other angles.  I’m sure you’ve all seen those sidewalk artists at some point in a forward or as a headline on a slow news day.  A lot of artists have a distorted perspective because they draw with their head tilted or off to the side of the work and end up skewing it inadvertently.  I know a lot of digital painters will “flip” the digital canvas horizontally to avoid any favoring distortions.  This isn’t really an option in traditional mediums but it’s something to be aware of while you’re creating your next piece.
Now I think it’s fun to play with these elements.  I won’t reveal my stuff yet but I’ll show you an example from Pinocchio. The artist is intentionally warping walls and angles to pull your attention towards the characters during a camera pan.  This is a capture from http://animationbackgrounds.blogspot.com where a  guy has taken the time to remove the characters and show off the beautiful backgrounds.  I’m trying to use perspective in my latest to make you feel like your viewpoint angle is moving while looking around the painting.  So when you look straight ahead it is normal but as you pan down the painting, I want it to feel like you’re looking almost straight down.  Here is an example of this from The Princess Frog:

I hope that this has been somewhat informative!  A lot of this I picked up over the years while looking at other artists.  I think it’s fun to play with perspective, and now I’m off to put my brush where my mouth is.

Sizing

I think if I could roll back time with my artwork I would definitely set standards for sizing.  My problem is that I usually base the canvas on the subject… Now most of you might say, “Well isn’t that the way it should be?”   I might be inclined to agree but when I made the transition to sell my work, things changed.  I suddenly have people asking for matches and complimentary sizing.  So now I’m trying to do similar sizing ratios (ie: 11×14, 8×10, 16×20, etc) to try to pull a sense of continuity and offer the person  some more options.

Now having said that, I think I’m going to paint a huge painting this summer that bucks everything I just said lol.

Art Stroll

I’m trying to pack up my things for Celebration, Florida’s 2nd art stroll.  I always have trouble doing this because I never know what to pack since I’m not really a travel ready kind of painter.  Actually, at this point I really don’t even know what I’m going to paint!  I love to paint the moonlight paintings since it’s easier on the palette.  Prussian Blue, Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow, Naples Yellow, Raw/Burnt Umber, Brilliant Turquoise, Brilliant Blue…. and Liquin.  If I do a daylight version then I have to decide where it will take place.  If it’s the beach or water during the day I only have to include a few more paints to the list above but if I choose to do a heavily foliated place then the list grows exponentially.  Also what if I choose to add a house but give it a unique color?  Then I’ll have to include that color but at this point I’m not really sure what that color will be.  I have a fickle mind in this area.  So ultimately I’m packing half of my paints and the other half will probably be where I leave the 1 color I so desperately wish I had brought. lol Oh well….

Maybe whoever is standing there when I first break out the canvas will determine what it is I actually do…    ”Paint the moon one!” or “Waves, we want waves… oh and sun”  I won’t be doing any frogs/characters though. I try very hard to make each one special and take my time on it.   The one I’m currently doing (Spoiler Alert: contains a cute koi fish very different from my other attempt) I’ve spent 5 days/8 hours a day on it and don’t feel I’m close to signature time.  This isn’t to say I don’t feel my landscapes are less, it’s just characters always need special attention because every stroke counts.  Landscapes I feel that I can be more liberal and focus on the subject.  Your mind tends to create the rest.  I always use the movie “Jaws” as an example of this.   You only see the shark for maybe a couple of minutes during the whole entire film but your mind creates it where it isn’t shown.  I admit that’s not my original thought (I think Spielberg or someone said it) but it’s true!  Spielberg also said you can have any project 2 ways out of these 3.  Good/Fast/Cheap  So if it’s good and fast it won’t be cheap.  If it’s fast and cheap it won’t be good.  And if it’s good and cheap it won’t be fast.  Make sense?  I think it’s absolutely true.  This may not apply to everything but it sure as heck applies to most things related to production!

Well I’m off to make sure I have enough inventory for tomorrow and to try to wrap up my current piece.

…Now where did I leave my coffee cup?

How it’s made…

I thought I would post something special since it’s been some time since I’ve written. (which I do apologize about)  So here is my latest completed painting entitled “8:15.”  I made it a slide show of sorts so you can see my layers and what steps I took to get to the final image. 

(click image if it’s not rotating the images)

(click image if it’s not rotating the images)

I really enjoyed creating this painting and consider it on

e of the best, if not the best work I’ve done to date.  I also tried hard to incorporate a story, hence the name which doesn’t really tell you much but how much time until the bus comes.  I’d love to hear your interpretation of what’s going on!

2010

I would first like to thank all of you who came out to see me this past year!  2010 should be a great year and I hope for only good news and spirits lifting in the days ahead.

2009 has shaped up as a good year considering all that has happened.  I rounded out my show schedule in Cocoa Beach and had a great time!  I had honestly not been there in years and was pleasantly surprised by the kindness and atmosphere of the show.  It was a bit chilly the first day but that did not seem to deter many, and the second day was practically too hot!  This Florida weather will never cease to amaze me. Thanks again to all those who attended, I hope to see you next year.

I’m looking forward to the shows I have lined up, and I hope to add more as shows determine their rosters. As a newcomer this can be an uphill challenge as many shows have regular artists that are pre-accepted and leave little to no room for new artists regardless of talent. However, I have been accepted to many great shows that I will most likely return to next year.

One thing I always look forward to is the SPCA Furball, which is an annual benefit for the organization.  It’s always a great time and if you are a generous person with a good heart!  http://www.ohs-spca.org/events.htm I’ve created a piece just for them that shows my favorite Doxy peeking out from under my bed.  I can’t wait to see the bidding wars like last year.

I hope everyone had a happy new year and that all your resolutions come true. 

Thank you all for 2009 and I can’t wait to see you this year!

-Kaz

Brushes

I was asked what kind of brushes I used last weekend.  It got me thinking about my usage and habits, not to forget the type as well.  When I was a wee Kaz, I sort of grabbed any old brush I found in my father’s garage and went to town on any old portable flat surface.  This may have worked for me but with age I found reason and started upgrading to a brush set.  It mostly is comprised of half inch flats, a few liners, one fan brush I rarely use, and then I have the big boys.  Whenever I go to the art store or shop online I take note of the prices they want for the 2 inchers+!  I can’t bring myself to part with the house paint brushes I used as a kid, especially since they are so darn inexpensive…  Granted I go through them faster, the hairs randomly fray and come out, yet I can deal with those problems for the sake of my wallet especially since the quality is no different (in my opinion).  Also I’m hard on my brushes…  I’ll forget them sitting all by their lonesome, sopped with paint  until I come back to them the next morning with their bristles as hard as the handle.  I did find that the brush cleaners have gotten quite good!  I resurrected some of the ones I cast deep into the recesses of my brush box.  It was like a mini-birthday present lol.  

Maybe I’m thinking too much about it but

November Linup!

I start the month out with the art stroll in Celebration (see earlier post for details) on the 6th. and then the very next day I’m driving up to Lake Mary/Heathrow for a show on the 7th and 8th!  (Yeah I know I’m crazy lol).  The next week is the Festival of the Masters which I plan to attend as a consumer rather than a seller!  I’ve been visiting this show for years and I plan on applying next year.  It’s been a personal goal of mine for a long time…   With any luck I’ll win a couple things this season and get my resume some nice centerpieces for my application!

I’m rounding out the month with the Space Coast Art Festival in Cocoa on the 28th and 29th.  I think this event could be a lot of fun since I LOVE space history and what goes on with NASA/Air Force.  I plan on rolling out at least 2 paintings that deal with these subjects. So if you have the same love, or just want to see what I got around to making, please stop by and see what I’ve created! 

…now what to do in December?  Hmmmm