Painting
What I did on my Summer Vacation
Sometimes success comes down to a last-minute decision. In late June, with the deadline for the show approaching, my wife and 8-month-old son and I went down to the Outer Banks to spend a week with some friends. Just before we hit the road for a seven-hour drive, I grabbed six of the smaller canvases for the show, and stuffed my watercolors and brushes in an Art Bin and threw it all in the back of the car.
A quick note about the show:
My next solo exhibition will be at the Topstitch Boutique, 54 N 3rd St (near Market) Philadelphia PA, 19106.
Opening reception on 8/6. Show will be up all through August and all through September. Stop by Tues – Sat: 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM; Sun: 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Back to the story.
We got to the rental house on a Saturday. Sunday night I decided that yes, I would definitely paint on vacation. My son gets up at 7 and then takes a nap from 8 – 9/10. As part of vacation, I took care of him in the morning so Trish could sleep late. After he went down at 8 I went out to paint.
I set up a card table on a balcony, filled an empty plastic container with water, played some Paul Van Dyk on my iPhone, put on some sun tan lotion and started painting. It was about 100 degrees out and I had to keep sweat from dripping onto the paintings, but it was a real pleasure painting outside.
I was very tentative not being in my studio with my typical set-up. I also wasn’t exactly sure how I wanted to paint these paintings. Because of the set up, I wasn’t able to paint in the order of techniques that I wanted, with the splatters first, the fabric second, etc.
This actually had an effect on the finished pieces. Since the concept was so abstract, there were aspects of the paintings I had to figure out while I painted instead of before I painted. Because of this I didn’t know how they’d turn out till I was done them all.
So each piece built off the previous piece and since I painted them all simultaneously, and none from start to finish, portions of each affected they way each other came out. The whole process was evolutionary.
Anyway, so it was scary doing the first one because I couldn’t really afford to spend the time to redo it. I worked on painting the skin and hair added some small splatters, thinking I could add more robust splatters when I got back home.
I got through it and I really liked how it turned out. Of course now I’ve painted more pieces, I see that those later works are more finished, more smooth, but I like the first one because of what was happening while I was painting it, the spontaneity and energy that is evident from my tentativeness and perseverance.
I had finished what I wanted for the day. But now that the canvas had gone from blank to halfway finished image, I really wanted to complete the piece. When they’re in a half-finished stage they kind of call to me until they’re done. But I had to move on and paint the same portion of the other paintings in order to get them all done in time. And it was time for my son to wake up and he and my wife and friends and I had some beach to go to see.
The next day, buoyed by having been disciplined to have painted the first one, I painted the next.
The second painting was with a model I was working with for the first time and it was here that I realized the challenge of a new model. Or, I should say the advantages of working with models repeatedly. I wasn’t consciously aware that it made it easier to paint the images. I painted the second one and I used some familiar techniques on the hair to help balance it out and keep me moving. Note: the picture below was taking a couple of weeks later after I had added the fabric.
Wednesday I realized that if I painted two that day and two the next, then I’d have Friday to go back and work on the finishing touches on that called to me. Theoretically I could have all six of the small pieces completed. On vacation.
On Wednesday I painted the blue and orange paintings, one with a model I’d painted a few times and another new model. I was really comfortable by this point and liking the way the paintings were turning out. Also getting a little more bold with my splatters.
Looking at four paintings in-progress was powerful and really gave me confidence I could get the whole show done by the end of June.
Thursday, it was tough working on the last two because I was getting more complex with the skin, working in many colors (as opposed to the first four which were variation on one color, or at least using very similar colors). You can see the yellow painting uses combinations of many colors, in ways I’ve never done before.
On the last painting, the turquoise one, I really hit a groove and if I had time I would have done them all over using the technique I used on the last one. I wet the entire shadow, distributed the turquoise, then dropped in some yellow and orange for the warm areas I wanted to project towards the viewer. (Cool colors like blue, purple, green recede while warm colors like red, orange, and yellow project (or look closer to the viewer. Use warm colors on the cheeks and tips of noses and shoulders that should look like they’re closer)). Since it was all wet, it blended well and dried really organically. I made a note to keep this in mind when I painted the skin on the large pieces. In retrospect, I didn’t do that as much as I wanted, but those paintings kind of dictated how they wanted to turn out. (I used to be annoyed when I’d hear other artists talk about their work dictating how it would turn out, but now I see what they meant and there’s really no other way to explain it). I’m definitely going to try and use that technique again, it actually solves a problem I long struggled with: when the model in my reference is more in shadow than I want and I want to show subtleties in the mid-tones and shadows to communicate the form and the expression the body language conveys I can use this technique.
So Thursday was a long morning. Remember, it was about 100 degrees out and mentally, working with all those colors in a loose but controlled way was taxing. I got it all done before my boy woke up from his second nap. I was pretty proud. I treated myself to a long swim in the pool and then took the boy out there for some swimming.
I didn’t get back to painting on Friday, but I had accomplished a lot more than I had expected to on a week of vacation and was feeling confident about the show. Very grateful that I decided to bring the canvases and paints.
Between the painting and spending all that time with the wife taking out boy to the beach and to the pool for his first time, it may have been my best vacation ever.
Next post. I’ll show you how I got started on the large pieces, and spent a week in a world of abstract splatters. It was a lot of fun.
The show is August 6th to September 30th at Topstitch Boutique. 54 N 3rd St, Philadelphia PA
Fluid Beauty: Streams of Consciousness a solo exhibition 8/6 – 9/30 by Steve Cleff at Topstitch Boutique
My next solo exhibition will be at the Topstitch Boutique, 54 N 3rd St (near Market) Philadelphia PA, 19106.
Opening reception on 8/6. Show will be up all through August and all through September. Stop by Tues – Sat: 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM; Sun: 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM
About Fluid Beauty: Streams of Consciousness
There’s a freedom that comes with being underwater
that is unlike anything else we experience.
Being unburdened from the limitations of our typical physical
experience allows thought to become action.
It allows our bodies to mimic our minds when we’re alone in our
heads, where our thoughts can go in any direction,
where one moment naturally flows into the next until
we find ourselves
somewhere we didn’t plan to be.
A stream of consciousness.
it’s these times when we are connected
to a reality that is limited only by
our imagination.
I thought it would be interesting to try to
capture these types of thoughts in images.
The poses and colors and jewelry* have specific meaning and inspiration,
but these images aren’t meant to be representations of those ideas.
This series of paintings is highly dependent on your interpretation.
I hope the longer you look at these images the more you learn about your thoughts
and stream of consciousness and connect to your own limitless imagination.
Or, at the very least, you find them pleasing to look at.
*The jewelry in the images comes from the artists who contribute to the Topstitch Boutique, a special place in Philly PA that’s very feminine and exists only because of the imagination of its owners and the other artists who contribute their skill and vision.
How’s that gallery show coming along? Or: Why I redid everything
The work for the gallery show is coming along. Yeah, I’m behind schedule. But, yes, I’m confident I’ll get it all done.
I’m working on a lot these days, so I haven’t updated as much as I’d have liked. I’m going to keep at it to get all the information up here.
The work for the show is going to made up of four separate series. The first, called “Reflections” is about personal development and evolution. It’s also loosely based on Tool’s Lateralus album which deals with the same themes.
Here’s the work I did for the Reflections series in August and September just before our baby boy Patrick arrived. I was ahead of schedule and had five out of what I thought would be twenty-two paintings I needed for the show.
The originals: ahead of schedule
And here’s the work I did for the Reflections series in November and December. I have four for what will be seventeen paintings.
The re-dos: behind schedule
Why do some of them look the same?
Because I can’t use any of the originals and had to redo them all.
Why?
Here’s the story.
Fade out
The week after Patrick was born, I did some tests because I knew the Dr. Martin’s dyes I used would fade in sunlight. I’ve known this for years, but figured someday I’d deal with it. In the summer, when I discovered UV protectant sprays, I was confident I didn’t have to worry about the fading. BTW, the UV spray I bought happens to have an ingredient that causes cancer. I used it outside. And before Patrick was born.
But it didn’t work.
I painted a canvas blue. I added some purple and some bleach to see how the sun would affect them. Then I sprayed half of it with the UV spray. Then I put a post-it on the canvas. Then I left it in the window. This would create:
- Half a canvas exposed to sun
- Half exposed to the sun, but protected by UV spray
- A little square that was not exposed to sun
If things went well, the little square and the protected half would be a rich, deep blue.
But they weren’t.
Both exposed sides faded.
No problem, I thought, I’ll just try a different UV spray. The kind that doesn’t have an ingredient that causes cancer.
Same problem.
The Fugitive
So I did some research online. Turns out the UV spray is known not to really work, and the Dr. Ph. Martin’s dye-based Radiant Watercolors are not lightfast. I learned that “lightfast” means “doesn’t fade.” I also learned that “like all aniline dye base colors, they are fugitive when exposed to direct sunlight over time.” Also that they “are primarily formulated for graphic arts work on paper surfaces intended for reproduction.”
F.
It’s not how you fall, it’s how you get back up
So now the search was on. I had a lot of questions? Should I pay for frames and museum-quality UV glass? Should I paint the show in oils? Should I cancel the show? What other paint can I use?
With an intention to paint all the paintings in oils, which I had learned to use just a few months before in early in ’09 …
… I decided to try some inks and watercolors first. During my research, I learned that Dr. Martin’s makes Hydrus Watercolors. Which are lightfast. I also learned about India inks (surprise, they come in more colors than just black) and acrylic inks. All lightfast.
I also liquified some water-based oil paint.
In the lab
Then I set to experimenting.
You may be able to see that I exposed half of all these squares to sun with a lot of tiny post-its covering half of each square. I also added bleach to some, because that turns the dyes to white and I’ve become pretty dependent on that affect. Unfortunately it only works with dyes and only the red Hydrus watercolor.
The winner here in terms of being vibrant, translucent, the right hues, and lightfast were the Dr. Martin’s Hydrus. I was actually rooting for them because they were the most similar to the Dr. Martin’s dyes and (despite their disappointing tendency to go all “fugitive” on me) I’ve grown quite attached to those dyes. And spent a lot of money on them:
It works! Now, how do I use it?
So, now I test the color choices I have and how they all work together. The Hydrus watercolors are a little tougher to find than the dyes and I had to buy some from Dick Blick and some from Jerry’s Artorama. They come in either three sets of 12 bottles (least expensive at Dick Blick), or individual bottles (only at Jerry’s).
Looks pretty good.
I also did experiments with my splattering, with various effects and with the red options. There’s no “red” there’s magenta and an orangey-red.
But the only way I could know for sure if I could change to this type of paint forever was to do a painting.
Winner!
Which I liked. So we had a winner: Dr. Martin’s Hydrus watercolors. (Imagine you hear trumpets. Or the theme when people win on the Price is Right.)
It’s a different look, but one that lets me express what I want to express. In a twist that makes one believe in fate or subconscious influence, of the media I work in, watercolor is my most comfortable. So by switching to the watercolors from the dyes, I’m able to use all my watercolor rendering skills, in addition to all the skills of color and value manipulation I acquired using dyes. So even though this was intense – because it was happening at the same time that I was learning how to parent a two-week old, and with the clock ticking on my first solo gallery show – it will be for the best.
Back to the painting board
Now that I knew which old medium, but in many ways, brand-new medium (I had painted in watercolor, but never in this semi-abstract style) I was going to use to paint these twenty-two paintings, I had to decide which paintings to paint.
What would I do with the original reflections series? Paint over them with watercolor? Paint over them with oils? Redo them?
It all hurt my head.
And when could I tell anyone about this? (Aside from Trish who supported me through the whole thing)
I decided (I think this was Trish’s suggestion) to paint one of the images from the Reflections series that I hadn’t painted yet. Conceived as an eight piece series, I had only painted five.
[SinglePic not found]So that worked out. The energy/fire part was different than with the dyes. Probably the biggest change/challenge.
I then stopped by the gallery to finally measure everything to see how all the paintings would work in the space.
That’s how twenty-two became seventeen paintings. The space is a little different than I thought and we can only fit a smaller number of paintings.
This was good news. Because at this point, it’s taking a long time to finish these paintings.
Buoyed by the painting test and the reduced number of works I have to make, I decide to redo the “Reflections” series.
Success!
I start at the beginning with “Assumption”
I move onto “Patience” which I knew would be the turning point for finishing the paintings for the show. It would require the most patience (intentionally), detail, and time. Once that was past, I could work with increasing speed.
[SinglePic not found]Finally I re-painted “Triad.” This painting has the biggest difference in all the re-paints, in the change from the ‘smokey’ energy effect in the middle I had in the original “Triad” to the ‘fire/crystal’ effect I have here. I liked the ‘smokey’ effect a lot, but, as with the other two, I like the overall painting more than the original. The switch is painful but ultimately, beneficial.
[SinglePic not found]So, phew. I’m back where I was a few months back. Slightly better for the journey. I’ve got four paintings in this series now because the wall they go on in the gallery can only fit four. I may paint the remaining three and put them on another wall, but only if I find I have time after I’ve painted the other thirteen paintings.
Back on track
Next time, I’ll tell you about how I had a bit of a meltdown over the weekend of Jan. 23rd, resulting in a very productive week following. After that, in a series of posts over the next few weeks I’ll tell you how I decided to have a show, how I learned this style, how I chose the models I’ve worked with, how I got the show, and how I chose the subjects for the paintings in the show.
New watercolors, new board
For all you the new people coming from Twitter: welcome!
I’m in the middle of getting ready for a gallery show and I’m experiementing with some new media to use for the show. I’m trying this media because it will last longer and not fade.
Below you can see the results of me trying out the Dr. Marten’s Hydrus watercolors on something I found at Dick Blick (on 13th and Chestnut) called Aquaboard. I tried to find a link to Aquaboard to show you what I’m talking about, but couldn’t. I’ll look again. What I did find is potentially life-chaging for me. Apparently the magic primer that turns canvas into a medium for watercolor painting is available: http://www.dickblick.com/products/schmincke-aqua-primers/
This could save me a ton of money and open up new canvas shapes like 48 x 24 and ovals. I’m pretty excited. Got to try some of this soon. But – here’s the point of the post, my latest painting. it’s 11 x 14 on Aquaboard.
Managed to get a painting done
The boy is less than two weeks old, but he (and my wife) gave me some time to finish a painting.
It’s my first with Dr. Martin’s Hydrus watercolors. I’m trying them because they allow me to do some things that the dyes don’t. More details soon. I did some experiments with 5 different types of media until I decided to move forward with the Hydrus. I’ll post the experiments and notes about them here.
Here’s the painting: Stoya Noir
Here’s the color study I did for it
FluidBeauty.com YouTube Channel
I made a video of the last painting I did, from start to finish. The painting took about three days to complete, the video spans those three days.
The drippy real fluid stuff starts at about 2:30 or so. The end is a little boring because I’m just focusing on the details of the eyes and mouth and because I haven’t figured everything out with the video quality, it’s tough for you to see.
Please let me know if you are interested in seeing more of these.
The painting
Veronica 3: Dyes
It’s been a week or so since I painted. Usually my “first painting back” is a little wild and this painting is no different. Luckily, I’m learning some control even when I’m all jacked up to paint. In years past, this painting would have sucked. Heh. I’ll post some pictures of these types of paintings to illustrate the point and help me to see my growth.
Meanwhile, I really like a lot of what turned out in this painting.
Also, it’s my third painting using watercolor canvas and I continue to fall in love with it. I never, ever thought I’d replace my cotton illustration board, but with this specially treated canvas I’m getting the effects I want with the added bonuses of more control, no warping, and a gallery-ready piece.
Here’s another of Veronica, who’s just an exceptional model to work with and creates amazing shots that make it easy for me to paint. Higher quality photos next week.
New Painting. Easier than I thought
I finished this about 10 minutes ago.
You may remember the color study
The hold up was that I didn’t know what music to play while I painted. Sounds trivial, but the thing is that I didn’t know that was the hold up for a couple of weeks. I figured it out earlier today. So, clearly it didn’t take long to fix.
I listened to Firewater, BTW. I’ve only painted with these colors a few times before. I’ve used Alice in Chains, but it’s a slightly different feel. If you’re reading this and think I’m nuts, I have synesthesia so I see colors when I hear sound. It makes it easy to come up with color schemes. Sometimes I pick the music to fit the colors, most often I pick the colors to fit the music. At some point, I’ll mention which music goes with which paintings / colors / styles.
Right now I’m going to enjoy a feeling of accomplishment.
Experiments with different media side by side
Dyes on watercolor canvas
Dyes on untreated canvas
Oil on canvas
