After the Swim
Acrylic on Paper
18 in x 24 in
A painting of one of my daughters done on gessoed bristol paper. Using acrylic paint, I could have painted directly onto the paper but I like to first give the paper a couple of coats of gesso. When applying the gesso, I use one of my older, beat up brushes. It is applied in sort of a haphazard fashion. In other words, it is not applied smoothly. I love painting on texture.
This painting was done a few years ago. The last week or so I've been doing a few quick paint sketches to get me back in the loop. They are similar in style to this painting. As soon as I get photos made of them, I'll post them.
thesnakeandiandthebutterfly 
[quote Smithsonian]The aging characteristics of acrylic paintings are just beginning to be understood.[/quote]http://www.si.edu/MCI/english/learn_more/taking_care/acrylic_paintings.htmlWikipedia has a good description of acrylics, too.
I guess I'll never know about the acrylic paintings. I don't remember exactly when I started using them….fifteen years ago maybe. Whoever has my paintings in 2050 will find out. I've no idea either about PVAs.
Hi Pam – I'm experimenting with soft pastels. But I need to be using the right kind of paper and I must try to get hold of some. I'm a beginner and I've found one or two useful links that help folks like me, at my 'stage' of art:http://paintingdrawing.suite101.com/article.cfm/soft_pastel_primerhttp://www.ndoylefineart.com/pastel.htmlhttp://drawsketch.about.com/od/charcoal/tp/t5pastelpaper.htmhttp://www.winsornewton.com/products/pastels/artists-soft-pastels/frequently-asked-questions/and of course wiki pedia has something to say about pastels 🙂http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PastelPam, None of these links will probably be news to you because of your long-time experience as a skilled painter, but I thought if any or your other readers who are beginners like me and see these links mentioned they might also find them useful :up:
Thanks Loku. I will check them later. I'm having a hard time concentrating after the news about Allan.
Who is Allan?
Allan is one of our good opera friends who just posted why he's been gone from his blog for over two weeks.
Thanks Pam, I understand why you are finding it hard to concentrate. It is a shock to read Allan's news. I do know about grief but I also know about the fruits of hope. I continue to personally believe in hope and to have faith, knowing that my prayers are being answered and the fruits of hope asked for in my prayers are in evidence each day.
I just been to the thread. Very sad. I wonder what the health service is like in Denmark. I've just watched a commentary on the state of play for the poor in the USA.Bloody hell. Still, it's better to be them than Palastinian.
I like it a lot Pam. A very personal display. Wonderful colours and a great rough technique 🙂
Thanks Nic. I think this is my favorite style where I don't draw first, but jump right in with the brushes.
My dad never took to acrykics, and after a few tries, I can see why.That said, I think it is important for Loku and others to realise that this portrait IS a modern painting. Not perhaps in the usual sense; it doesn't adhere slavishly to "The Canon" (for explanation of that, read "The Painter's Eye", by Maurice Grosser, IF you can find a copy; they are getting very rare.), but many of the lessons learnt (and taught) by "the Moderns" are there and in abundance. Most notably Paul Cézanne, Paul Signac, Franz Marc, and the two mad Frenchmen , Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin. (Well, actually, van Gogh was Dutch). Even Chaim Soutine and Oskar Kokoschka.The list goes on … we might call ourselves "post-Moderns", but we're using the trust funds they put in the bank.
derWandersmann: Wasn't Franz Marc one of The Blue Riders? I'll have to get my book on that group out again. I've heard of The Painter's Eye but have never seen it. Next time I go to the bookstore, I'll look for it. Now I've heard the name Chaim Soutine but a vision of his art escapes me. I'll have to look him up to refresh my memory.
Yes! He was! I am like.. 98% positive 🙂 Love FM :heart:
Yes, I believe Marc was one of the Blaue Reiter … (Blue Knights) … a splinter as I understand it, from Die Brücke. Kokoschka was one of the founders. His "Tower of Blue Horses" and his "Foxes" were signature pieces, and made his name. He also did a "Tiger" of considerable merit and an odd, Kandinskyish "Unhappy Tirol". Most of his work seemed to have considerable influence from Art Deco. In my opinion, and perhaps his, he was far outclassed by a young painter named August Macke, whose work is nothing short of brilliant. He was killed in that stupid war of 1914-1918, and I believe Marc said that with him, the light went out of German painting. I agree with him.The Maurice Grosser book will lead you a merry chase; let me know if you find one, especially a hardbound … mine is a mass-paperback (Mentor) which can best be described as a "paper-bag book" … one which must be kept in a paper bag.Soutine: an indescribable Jewish artist whose work looks as though he might have been mad, or perhaps afflicted with cerebral palsy. Naturally, the Nazis hated him. I do not recall what might have become of him, though I fear the worst.
Henry and DerWandersmann, I have a large, hardbound book called The Blue Rider by Helmut Friedel and Annegret Hoberg. It has numerous and fabulous plates of Kandinsky, Marc, Munter, Jawlensky, von Werefkin, Macke, Delaunay, Campendonk, Kubin and Klee. I've been known to spend my last $40+ on an art book I really want. I have to eat peanut butter sandwiches for a week but that's fine by me. The worst may have happened to Soutine if he was not able to flee the country. Hitler was all about artists painting only idyllic scenes, and architecture had to be grand, so the world would perceive everything to be wonderful. All of which was a type of propaganda. This I found out when doing a bit of research for a vintage postcard collection my dad left me. There are many cards from Germany, one of the places he was during WWII. Many of the photos for the postcards were done by a man named Hoffman and nearly every painting he photographed was of a beautiful scene. Wikipedia has an excellent list for the different types of propanganda. What is odd is that I've been unable to find any information on the artists listed on the back of these postcards.I have to work a bit tomorrow so won't get a chance to get to the bookstore till later. I'll go to the second hand one first, then Barnes and Noble.
Thanks Carol. I'm going to frame this and send it to her in Fargo. But she wants me to tone down that blue on her nose first cuz she says it looks like a ring. I never noticed till she said. 😆
Very beautiful.
🙂
Yes, it does … LOLBUT … you were actually using one of Cézanne's discoveries (He called his work "recherches"), where the cool colours recede, the warm colours come forward. You were giving dimension to the nose.
Originally posted by PainterWoman:
Paint it green to punish her for being an at critic.
dW: She doesn't like her nose, why I don't know, but I will tone the blue down with a touch of violet. I DO love that blue though. WL: Naw, not when she has five, six or more, of my paintings hanging on her wall. Everyone who visits her house want to know who the artist is so that's a good thing. She proudly tells them it's her mom. :happy: