The Videos

Making videos has been a completely new thing for me to learn. It has been both frustrating and fun. Since the painting in the video takes long hours I am by myself and do not have anyone in the room with me. I talk to you even though you are not there with me which is a little weird and takes some getting used to. I have to remember to be thoughtful in choosing my words so that I am understood.

The first video I made was the “Drawing Flowers Realistically” video because we must start with good drawing skills before we can paint. If you are a good draftsman you have a terrific advantage with your botanical painting. If your drawing skills are not strong you will struggle. 

The second video was the “Peony Bud” video because I know what everyone really wants to see is a colorful flower! 

For beginners who want to learn how to draw from life using precise measuring I did the “Just Measuring” video which starts with a simple box and gets progressively more complicated ending with a flower. The drawings are finished in an outline form, there is no shading shown(shading is done in the “Drawing Flowers Realistically” video). 

The “Dry Brush” video shows how you can smooth an uneven wash. Every artist has different ways of doing this. There certainly is no one correct way to do this. The end result is what matters and what ever works for you is just fine! 

My technical skills at filming and editing are slowly improving. The first videos were filmed with a different camera than the last videos and I’ve been learning more about lighting and sound. If you have seen both the “Peony” video and the “Dry Brush” video this is probably evident. One large portion of filming the middle of the peony painting was out of focus and had to be cut out. That was a bad day and I thought about scrapping the whole video!

The series of videos should be approached in a particular order though you can jump in where ever you think you need help. Some things are covered repetitively, for example I dry brush in both the “Peony Bud” and “Hydrangea” videos but the entire video is dedicated to the technique in the “Dry Brush/Layering” video and explained extensively.

Here is the order the videos should be approached if you are a beginner:

Just Measuring

Drawing Flowers Realistically

Dry Brush/Layering

Watercolor Peony Bud

Watercolor Hydrangea Leaf 

Once the video is complete and edited I can’t bear to look at it again. As my daughter said when I started this, “You are really stepping out of your comfort zone!” and that is true. I guess that’s another reason I am the only one in the room while filming!

I’ve been thinking about the next video which will probably be another watercolor flower but I have ideas for some other specific subjects so stay tuned. Any suggestions?

Happy painting and Happy Spring!

To Dry Brush or not to Dry Brush

     In traditional watercolor painting the term “dry brush” refers to when the brush skips over the top of a bumpy cold pressed paper depositing paint on the hills of the paper and not in the valleys. In order to do this the brush is not sopping wet with paint or it would run down into those valleys and the effect would not be achieved (think Andrew Wyeth’s paintings).

     With botanical painting a smooth hot pressed paper is used because botanical artists are crazy for all the minute detail found in our subjects and it would be more difficult to paint if our brush was fighting the texture of a bumpy paper. For example it would be difficult to get a tiny straight line to look straight if it is going up and down through those hills and valleys.

     In my botanical painting I first layer washes of paint then later I smooth with what I call “dry brush” though it is not and does not look like traditional dry brush. I’ve always called it dry brush because the brush is drier than how I had it for the wash phase. Makes sense to me! A few years back I was asked to contribute to a Walter Foster book on watercolor. When I submitted my writing on my technique I was told “well that’s not really dry brush”. So we ended up calling it layering and then explained the dry brush technique.

     When dry brushing I am really drawing with the paint using mostly the tip of the brush. Your paint mixture should not be too watery (or you won’t make enough of a difference to see it), and not too dark(or you will see very distinct lines). I use this technique to get even tone and add detail. Because I can later even out the tone using dry brush my washes do not have to be perfect, just lighter in value than what I want in the finished painting. I show this smoothing out of tone in a small very uneven area in my Layering/Dry Brush video. Any mottled area of paint, no matter how uneven, can be smoothed using this technique.

…Happy Painting!

Miss Ordway

         

         I’ve been working on a sketch of camomile flowers and it has brought back memories for me that I though might be interesting to share. When I was about 17 years old I worked one summer for a woman named Katherine Ordway. She was the only daughter from a wealthy mining family. I remember her as an elderly, soft spoken, tiny woman. She lived in a small flat- roofed house, (except for the living room which was round with a pretty up down up down zig zagging ceiling), on Sagg Pond in Bridgehampton. Every day she walked with a parasol to shade her from the sun through paths in the grasses down by the water. My job was to serve her meals (serve from the left, take away from the right), light cleaning, water plants and turn down a corner of her bed and put her slippers next to it before I left at the end of the day. Do people still have these things done for them?! She also had a European cook named Erica. Erica’s previous job was for Ray Kroc, the man who created McDonalds. Erica’s chocolate cake recipe (one secret ingredient is a jigger of vodka), has been my family’s favorite for many years. 

          So back to the camomile. One day I was asked to go outside and pick camomile flowers that were growing along the side of a long driveway that went up to the house. I remember the flowers were sticky and smelly. I don’t think I had ever seen them before or since. The camomile was dried and used for tea for Miss Ordway. Though I knew she was quite wealthy, (there was talk of owning Picassos and other major pieces of art), I don’t think I quite realized at the time the impact this tiny woman would have on land conservation in this country. There was a story Erica told me of how she was once in a plane flying high over a state out west and Miss Ordway pointed below and said to Erica ”Do you see all that? I own all that land”. You see, Miss Ordway was a visionary. She started The Nature Conservency and was “one of the greatest private contributors to natural area conservation in American history”, second only to John D. Rockefeller. Only later did I realize how important this woman was!

Inspirational Teachers

     I don't remember all the teachers I had but I do remember the art teachers. In grammar school my art teacher was Mr Mauer. I distinctly remember the smell of tempera paints and the large metal sink splattered with color where we used to clean our brushes. In high school my art teacher was Mr Travis. He was a tall handsome man with a graying beard. We had an experimental program at the school the 3 years I was there that was ultimately a failure but was great for me. In this program we had quite a bit of free time that we were supposed to use wisely and persu our interests. Many teenagers were of course up to no good. But some of us "hung out" in the art room. The hours I spent drawing during these years and experimenting with different mediums I am sure helped me tremendously. One distinct memory I have of Mr Travis was of him telling me not to "noodle " so much. He was referring to the minute detail that I would put into drawings. As I am sure you see I did not listen!  He also told us once never to give a painting away. He said he had made that mistake and gave a painting to a relative for a gift and they did not hang it up. This was very hurtful and he felt that only if someone was willing to purchase art would they appreciate it.  As I remember his classroom was kind of an open studio most of the day so that you could be there and work when ever you wanted and friends that were not into art could stop in too. We experimented with sculpture, plaster castings, scratchboard, charcoal, pastels, paints, really anything you could imagine. It was here that I learned silverpoint and how to make it tarnish and tried odd combinations like silverpoint with acrylic glazes. Travis was an easy going and encouraging guy and nothing was off limits. We still have fond memories of him. 

     Another interesting and notorious art teacher I had was Bob Munford at Southampton College. I went to Southampton for a couple of years before Visual Arts because I really was not a city person and could not see myself going to school there for four years. Bob Munford was a large boisterous man with thick gray hair and beard. I think "Munford" as we called him was loud because he was hard of hearing. Everything about him was big. His voice, his sweeping gestures with his arms. I remember taking an oil painting class with him and found that I could not handle the smell of the solvents. I also took his life drawing class. He would have a nude model and preferred them stout. In his loud voice with flailing arms he would energetically walk around saying "look at those wonderful voluminous rolls of skin! Marvelous!". He was right of course. Easier to show volume with a model that has a lot of it! He made quite an impression on us.

     At the School of Visual Arts I had Marvin Mattelson for my portfolio teacher. Marvin helped me tremendously both in school and later when I worked freelance and his wife Judy represented me. So much of how I approach a painting was influenced by him. When I had a job that was not so easy to find reference for Marvin always had an inventive solution. Replicating whatever I was to paint as closely as possible then carefully lighting and photographing for the most realistic result. Everything was well thought out and meticulous. With accurate reference even the imagined could look real. Back then Mavin was doing some beautiful surrealist work as well as portraits. You may remember the gregorian Chant image with the monks floating in a blue sky with clouds. That was his painting.  Today Marvin paints portraits, teaches at Visual Arts and does workshops. 

A Long Hard Winter

     So the last of the grape series was finished and brought to my photographer friend Denis who worked his magic. I don't trust myself to photograph or scan work for reproduction. Since I finally felt like I could take some time off I went outside and was doing a bit of yard clean up. A branch the size of a tree had fallen in one of the many winter storms and crunched my favorite rose bush, the Tamora Rose, that I had painted. My husband cut and removed the large pieces a while back but there was still a pile of  brush. While picking it up I realized I had in my hand what was left of my beloved tree peony!  Ugh. The branches were full of this years buds. Very upsetting. I had been so concerned about the rose bush I did not even  realize the peony had disappeared completely. Every bit of it was broken off at the ground. It was over 20 years old and had made it into a couple of paintings. 

     These past few months seem to be time for both many changes and planning for the future. 

It started with my nieces wedding shower and then my mother in law's move after 30+ years, travel and family illness in the middle, and most recently revisiting schools for my daughter's final college decision.

     Planning the next video and possibly another workshop this fall, an exhibit in Quogue, NY next year, and a second East Hampton LVIS poster are all in the works. Hopefully the warm weather will ring good things, lots of flowers, and perhaps a new tree peony.

                                                                the tree peony that is no longer...

      When I was illustrating and had to paint the same element in repetition I would sometimes see it in my sleep. This hasn't happened yet with this grape series but it could by the time it is finished. I had been counting how many hours I had worked but lost track.  

     The leaf was particularly difficult since it is February and I don't have a grape leaf in front of me. I do have my color notes and photo reference from previous grape leaves but I would much rather have the real thing. Usually I do have the real leaf  and I can tell you this makes it much more of a struggle. There is a lot of indecision. I paint it one way then second guess myself and change it, then change it again. It helps when I come back the next day and get a fresh look and notice right away what needs to be corrected. After lots of adjusting I think the first grape painting is finished!

     I want to share something here that I know many beginning students have difficulty with. I think it could be helpful if I explain it carefully in words. So I will try!  In classes I've noticed there is often the same question: how much water and paint to use in the paint mix. Oil and acrylics are thicker, more viscous. When you put your brush to the surface the paint just sits there. They do not run all over the surface like watercolor. Watercolor is a tricky thing. After all you are trying to control water! Not easy.

     First you need the appropriate mix of water and paint. The correct value. So how do you know what that should be?  It should be lighter than the value of what you ultimately want in the painting because you will be adding other layers on top that will darken it. But you don't want the solution so light that it will take too many layers, too much time and possibly break down the paper, to get to that value. Since it is difficult to remove watercolor it is better to build up the layers slowly. 

     Make a mix of paint and water and check on a scrap of paper to see if the solution is close to what you want. If you think it should be darker add a little paint, if lighter add a little water. Usually students use too much water and not enough  paint. They tend to be timid. Don't be afraid! Keep testing your mix until it is what you want. Then dip the brush in your mix of paint and swipe it against the edge of a well in your palette to remove excess. Enough water has to be in the brush so that it makes continuous contact with the surface of the paper but not so much that it leaves a big puddle at the end of your stroke. And you don't want so much pigment in the mix that your brush stroke leaves a hard edge. Remember it should not be so dark that you will have to remove paint. That can be messy. It is easier to add than take away. This is all a delicate balance and takes a lot of practice. Trial and error. 

     That said, have fun with it and remember don't be afraid! After all it is only paint, water and paper that we are manipulating on the surface and many "mistakes" can be corrected!

        Okay, so it seems that I should be writing a blog. I keep hearing that all these social media things tie together. I have been resisting since it is one more thing to do, one more obligation to keep up with…Linkedin, Fackbook, YouTube, website, Twitter, too much! That and I am not much of a talker, but here goes, my first blog!

       Lately I have not been sure where to turn. Just finished 2 DVD's but want to wait a bit before filming another. I want to think about the subject and get feedback from those who have seen the first 2. And make sure I am formatting it correctly to perhaps put somewhere else like Skillshare.  I've considered some ideas: fixing mistakes, choosing colors, or another follow along lesson, or maybe painting white flowers. Not quite sure yet. So instead I paint...

        This week I began some sketches of grapes for Caspari. Three bunches; one green, one red, one purple. It took me two days to get completed sketches because they fit together like puzzle pieces. The three bunches had to work together as one design as well as separately.  I think this could be for wine products. I also have decided to do them almost  life-size so that the finished painting could be used in an exhibit or offered for sale. So each has to be beautiful on its own. Unfortunately they will take a long time to paint. Financially really kind of crazy to be doing. Maybe after painting one I will decide to paint the next two smaller. I also picked up a painting of an apple that was started in a class at the New York Horticultural Society a while back. It won't take too much longer to finish and I decided I like the way the leaves are looking. Caspari is working on the Fall line so apples could be fitting.

         I almost had an illustration job this week for packaging of a vitamin line out of Canada to be sold at Walmart and Wholefoods. Too bad, they went with someone less realistic in style. Easy come, easy go. But it is nice to know that someone is interested in work done by hand rather than computer. I was also contacted by an expert pumpkin carver(who wrote a book on pumpkins), about doing a class together next Fall, as well as someone near Charleston planning next seasons workshops. Seems early to be thinking so far ahead especially when we are in the thick of winter. It has been so crazy with snow on top of snow on top of snow and more expected tonight. You kind of feel trapped in the house and just want to be lying on a beach somewhere with the sun on your face. Have not even gotten to the studio much to paint lately but instead brought my paints and paper home and have been working at the kitchen table like the old days. Our long sloping driveway is packed down snow with sleet and rain on top so we have our own version of the Olympic luge. It's treacherous. At least the days are starting to get a bit longer so Spring can't be too far off!