The Little Artist
 

I finally got some of my mdf panels, so this is the first one I made myself. I used gesso for the first layers, then Golden's Acrylic Gesso for Pastel, then a thin layer of tinted acrylic paint. Wow, what a great surface! The panel measures 18x22.

I'm close to done, have more to do on his left hand. I think I've created a tangent with the wall on the right and the edge of the table, so will try to change that. Maybe by moving it or changing the contrast or both. Suggestions are welcome. :sunnysmil

Jean

Hi Jean,

There's a lot I like about this so the little stuff that bother me stand out. First, I really dig the background, the jump from dark to light above his head to the right. Someone else may not like it, but I like how it works as an abstract element.

The pencil really bugs me, you may have had intentions on addressing it at a different time, but I brought it up because you only mentioned working on the background and his left hand. There is higher contrast all about the painting, but the pencil falls very flat.

If you were going to change it anyway, then ignore me. I'm sure you'll give it a great finish!

Hi Jimmie,

I keep forgetting that others can't read my mind. You're totally right about the pencil, it's also crooked. There are a lot of little things that I'll be fixing along with his hand. I just forget to mention them.

On another note, you need to take the B vitamins also (B6 in particular)! I'm on a roll here with advice.

Jean

Jean,

I love the MDF panels with the acrylic gesso, but you don't really need to use a gesso first unless you want a white underlayer. You can use it directly. I tint mine a little bit then I get a large single action Badger airbrush and spray it with Goldens fluid matte
acrylic colors. It makes a fabulous velvety flat surface .
Not all stores carry the matte fluid but the www.italianartstore.com
does. I use the airbrush extender with it. The large airbrush is about $100 and the I use an inexpensive Sears compressor to attach it to. It is like having your own custom spray cans and easy to do.

I think the subject is charming, but before you start ANY composition you have to consider the color harmonies. If this a complementary scheme with the very pink face of the child, then perhaps the jacket should be a greener black than it is and the table a red rather than a yellow brown.

I aways work out my color harmonies before I start so I know where I am going. Before I paint or photograph a subject I make sure that the outfit resonates or harmonizes with the background.

Hi Sharon,

You are right about my not thinking before I started this (color harmony). I really didn't even think about that aspect. I fell in love with the subject. I was painting and my grandson was drawing a portrait of Abraham Lincoln. I walked around the table and noticed the light on him and grabbed the camera. He was so engrossed he never even knew I took the photo. I had to paint it but jumped too fast.

I'll think on it and see what happens tomorrow. If I can't fix it I'll use it as a study.

I printed out your thread from 2003 "MDF for large art panels", and followed what was suggested there. I did first try the pastel ground right on the board but thought it looked awful (I didn't tint the ground first). Next time I'll just tint the ground. How thin do you make the pastel ground. Instructions said 20% to 40% water; I used the lower, so my ground was really thick. It caused some lumping that was hard to smooth out. I felt that a trowel might work better than a brush. I'll check out the fluid matte acrylic for a future purchase. We have an airbrush with compressor, (my step-son was a graffiti artist) but I don't know if I want to mess around with it till summer. No place in this house to use it!

Thank you for the suggestions, you've given me a lot to sleep on, and a reminder to always plan first.


Jimmie, the pencil is all fixed. :)

Jean

Hi Jean,

There are a lot of beautiful passages throughout this piece. And I especially love the background - what a gorgeous texture! Excellent! You've inspired me....I'm now going to have to try out these MDF panels.

David

Jean,

I do several thinner layers, usually one horizontal and one vertical. Do not put too much on your brush and DRAG it across the panel. You can try using an acrylic dryer retardant in it so you have more time to work the surface.

A thin, wide brush is better than a thick one, 3-4 inches.

My husband had a spray room built for me out of desperation. He was tired of green or whatever dust covering everthing.

Make sure you get a big airbrush, not the regular small ones.

Hi David, thank you and you must try this. You will love the texture. You can blend for a velvety skin tone or play around with scumbling over and just picking up a light feather of pastel (that's what I did on the background). I found that I couldn't get too detailed though, probably because I put the ground on quite thick. I'll thin the ground more and use a different brush like Sharon says.

Thanks for the feedback Sharon, I'm still mulling over the color harmony while I'm getting more panels ready. I'll drag the airbrush stuff out later and see just what we have here.

Jean

Nice start, but I'd be careful of using too much alizarin and white mixed together in the shadows. Those two colors together make an intense cool, not the warm that you'd want in your shadows. I've noticed this on several of your recent portraits, too. You may want to really look at some figures in cool light from life and study the color of the shadows. I think you'll find there's not so much hot pink.

Hi Michele,

I've already started switching it around to more ochres and sienna. I changed the shirt and table and now of course nothing works at all. So, I may just wash it all off and start over. I'll see what the trolls have done when I come down in the morning.

Jean

This is one thing I have BEATEN into Kim Dows talented little head, do a quick color study first.

Sometimes holding up a scrap of paper with a test color on it to an area in question helps.

I have a flat part on one side of my head from her beatings, but I do the color studies now. :sunnysmil

Those long distance beatings can be very brutal!

This is where I am now. I'm not happy with it so I may wipe it off and try again.

Jean

I vowed that I was not going to buy any new pastels for this painting. I think I'm going to have to break that vow. :oops:

The alizaren and hot pinks are excentuated in this photo and the prior ones. I adjusted but it still looks too blue. After looking at this and again at the original I think I'll keep going on it. I'm also going to shorten the pencil, and remove the wall, add more of the golds in his face, and bring some cool lt. green into the upper left background. His ear has a cool yellow in the highlights which don't show up here.

Jean

Found the problem
 

Hi Michele,

Your comments about the amount of alizaren in my recent work led me to a search of "why". I work from print outs of my ref material. I cjecked them very closely, and compared to the actual photo on the computer. I discovered that all my print outs have been on the blue side. I tried today to adjust for this problem and it still didn't help. My husband tried some new ink, cheaper by far, but I believe that is the problem. We bought an older Imac (little raspberry one) and I'm going to start using that for my references instead of print outs. We're also going back to the right ink, no more cheap experiments.

In the meantime, I'm going to wipe this one out and start over. I love the subject, and the reference is actually quite good. I may paint it instead of pastel, haven't made my mind up yet.

Thank you so much for your observation, this would have helped immensly on my portrait of the young man. I'm so glad everyone made me look at the colors in his skin and advised me away from the violets and alizaren. He is properly golden and umber now!

Jean

Doing as many studies from life of various types of skin coloration in various lighting situations as you can will help you know when your printouts are off, too.

My grandson will be here this weekend, he loves to model for me. I'll start doing more life studies.

Jean

Little Artist take two
 

I'm about halfway into it now. It took me three days to get the guts to wipe it off, but once I started it was gone i a flash.

Jean

Ah, much nicer! Much healthier looking skintones.

Thanks Michele, he's congruent now. I'll try to post an update tomorrow if the weather cooperates. Now I'm glad you all jumped on me, I have a strong blue/orange color scheme now.

Jean

Jean,
I know nothing about color except that viewing both of your paintings, I definately like this one better. You were BRAVE to wipe of what you had done and it looks to me like it was for the best Can't wait to see it finished!

BTW Adorable little boy!! :)

Yes Pat, it was hard, so I decided to just wipe off the background. I went outside and sat on the ground and started gently rubbing on the background, then got into it, took a wet rag and went at it. If I would have known how easy it was I would have done it sooner. I was most surprised to see my drawing emerge. I figured it would be lomg gone!

Jean

I like this better too.

I'm ready to call this done. Thanks every one for the suggestions, Nick modeled today for the final touches. I'm still not happy with the drawing (Nick's drawing) but I have another project coming up that I need to work on. If I do this again I will paint it as there was detail I couldn't do with pastel.

Jean

Oh, this is so nice!

Thank you Michele! :sunnysmil

There is no comparison between this and the first one. Thanks to all of you for helping me track down and see a major problem I've been having (the cool shadows). I should have known better. I don't think I'll ever make the same screw-up again. More from life and less from inaccurate print-outs.

Jean

Jean,

This IS so much better! I clicked back and forth between the original and this one to see how much better this is, vis-a-vis the color and drawing.

Sargent, it is reported, would do over a head a dozen times until he acheived the desired result. Whistler would scrape down a whole days work if he did not think it worked. Some of his portraits would take up to 200 hours to do. Whistler's painting , "Miss Cicely Alexander" took over 70 sittings.

This painting of Miss Alexander also shows what can be done with a subtle palette.

Hi Sharon, that portrait is really amazing. All the attention is drawn right to her face with the use of such a subtle palette. I found myself looking around to take in the whole thing then resting right back on her face. That's an interesting way to direct the eye.

I flipped back and forth between the two versions of my painting too, and couldn't believe the difference in both drawing and color. It looks much more like him too! I'm very lucky to have such a willing model available.

I really appreciate all your suggestions and headbanging too!

Jean

Jean, it looks great! So much better!

Thanks Kim! Are you getting any sleep???

Jean

I'm trying Jean. :sunnysmil

Jean, I loved it when I first saw it but now I am losing breath because of it. It's just gorgeous! Gorgeous I tell you!

Thank you Lisa, it turned out better than I expected. I love this surface, you may want to try it sometime. I don't use many pastel pencils, so I don't know if the surface would eat them up. I'll be playing around with this more, and taking Sharon's suggestions. At this point, I hate working on paper. I don't think I will ever use Canson again! The boards are more stable, hold pastel better, and the color ends up so intense and rich. Plus I like gessoing.

Jean

I love the stuff. All my big pastels are on it. if an area needs wiping out or more grit, you can just add more of that ground without tinting and as soon as you put pastel on it it , the repair is completely hidden.

Jean and Sharon, I have the MDF and the gesso, do I need the acrylic? I will go get the Golden for pastels. Also, is there a tooth or texture to this surface? Would either of you mind a bit more detail on how to make this? Also, how to you "fix" your pastels to the board? I assume you are using soft pastels. Are they very fragile when finished? Can you layer at all? Which ground do you repair with? So many questions. Anything you can tell me would be helpful. I would like to try! Perhaps a response here is not appropriate. I wouldn't want to sidetrack anyone from this beautiful painting. Just gorgeous, Jean! I hate paper too.

You really don't need the gesso, unless you want a white underlayer.

The Goldens Acrylic Ground for Pastel has the grit and is the product you need. Experiment on small pieces to see what texture you like. I like a lot of texture and use it very boldly everywhere except where a face is going. I generally brush it both directions and use it SPARINGLY on my brush and drag it. If you use too much ground it will give you too many raised ridges to deal with. Also you can vary the texture with the amount of water you use. I also buy the Goldens fluid thinner for acrylics. Their website www.goldenpaints.com is very informative.

I tint mine with Golden's MATTE fluid acrylic, not the regular (important) available at www.theitalianartstore.com.

I then airbrush mine with the matte fluid acrylic. It makes a lovely velvety surface. Regular fluid acrylics are too shiny.

I always spray lightly as the pastel does not seem to darken as much on this surface. Also the grit really HOLDS the pastel and you never get that shredded paper effect from overworking.

Hope this helps!

Sharon, thank you so much. I will try it today and let you know!

I'm so glad that you're going to try this! Sharon is a great guide, I can't wait to see your first piece. Be sure to thin the pastel ground enough; I didn't on this one and felt like I was brushing on cement. I used gesso first because I wanted the white background, probably did too much prep work as I also put a thin layer of acrylic on to tint it. Sharon, my acrylic has a very matte finish, it's actually an airbrush ink and works very well.

Jimmie, when are you going to try this??

Jean