Tag Archives: color

Recent ArtRage/iPad Activities

4 Replies

 

I’ve got 3 weeks down and 7 to go in the Intro to iPad Art class I’m teaching at the Yellow Barn Studio. We have covered some of the most basic how-to information about the ArtRage app and are now exploring/practicing various tools.

In the last week, at the suggestion of Walt Bartman, I tried simulating a traditional oil painting technique – making a monochrome value-study by rubbing out highlights in a toned canvas and then adding color at the value levels developed in the preliminary study. In the iPad framework, I used the paint roller to make a solid underpainting and then used a soft eraser to ‘rub out’ the lighter passages and then added a few darker areas using the chalk tool to capture the darks.

Here are the two stages of the first work I did with this method, painted from our lovely live model Kuniko. First, the study:

Kuniko

Kuniko in kimono, monochromatic iPad study.

And then the colored version:

iPad Kuniko

Kuniko iPad study, developed with color.

Keeping a Gouache Painting Simple

1 Reply

In developing some PR for the just-ended Labor Day exhibits, I pulled out a photo of one of my earliest gouaches. Made on black paper at the suggestion of Yellow Barn teacher, Walt Bartman, I incorporated the paper’s rich black for the composition’s dark values — also his suggestion. I loved the outcome. Here it is.

Blue Girl, gouache on paper.

When I did the painting of grandson Max for yesterday’s post, I had intended to do the same thing, but wimped out in the end — not wanting a lot of black on a sweet baby’s face. I’m going to try again on my next gouache, but the restraint needed to achieve the simplicity of black shadows, etc. is hard hard hard.

Another Reason to Use iPad or iPhone Art Apps

Leave a reply

I love to use art apps to record color sketches quickly, whether sitting by a lovely scene or whipping by in the passenger seat of a car. Photos just don’t ‘cut it’ for this type of use. The camera does not capture colors accurately — at least without time-consuming gyrations. Hauling out paints and nailing the right color note on the fly is also improbable.

With an art app, all you have to do is select the right color from a comprehensive array at your fingertips. Here are several palettes from which I can dial the desired color, swipe it on the screen, and adjust intensity/opacity as desired. The slideshow also includes a few color notations made to capture relative colors, instead of a specific scene.

Living Room Tour via iPad

6 Replies

When I first got an iPad, I’d sit around the living room every night doodling whatever came into mind or view. After awhile, it occurred to me that I’d developed a prosaic tour of our living room from my sofa vantage, with hubby reading nearby, and a parade of accidental still lifes marching across the coffee table at my feet. None of these efforts is great art, but it was a fun way to gradually hone skills in this new medium.

Welcome to my living room!

Vinales Finale ~~ on to Havana!

3 Replies

We had beautiful days in Vinales, sunrise to sunset. I took lots of photos and, while waiting for evening activities, made a couple more paintings. A gouache of the valley below our balcony (the black paper didn’t photograph well):

a gouache painting of the Vinales Valley beneath our balcony

‘Gauzy’ gouache of the valley beneath our balcony.

and a watercolor of a lone palm tree presiding over the pool (painted happily with a Mojito at my elbow):

A painting of a solitary palm tree with mogote background, watercolor

A proud palm by the pool at Los Jazmines,Vinales.

Here are a few more photos in and around Los Jazmines Hotel, made primarily to fix the place and its beauties in my memories:

Early sunrise at Los Jazmines.

photo of the valley with a tobacco barn under construction

Tobacco barn underway in the valley.

looking down the length of the bar

The cozy cafe-bar in the hotel.

bartender behind bar pours coffee

We DID drink coffee in addition to plentiful Mojitos!

pink hotel and blue pool

Pink hotel and blue pool made a cool combo.

waiter and guests chat in the cool evening

A casual evening around the pool.

sunset, sky and part of the hotel balcony

We sigh and snap a photo of our last Vinales sunset.

painting on a wall near the hotel

We pass a ‘colorful’ mural en route to the morning bus.

Goodbye, Vinales! Goodbye, Los Jazmines! On to Havana!

My Gouache Geisha ~~ Cuban Gouache Backstory

1 Reply

As mentioned earlier, in Cuba we painted mostly with gouache for portability. In broad terms, gouache is a type of watercolor paint that makes heavy, strong opaque colors and whites, due to the use of ground chalk or other opaque filler with the color pigments.

I found it a challenge to handle. To gain some experience before the trip, I worked only in gouache at each Yellow Barn class for the semester preceding departure. My first challenge was to paint a lovely Japanese woman dressed as a geisha. Here are photos of her poses, as well as my two paintings.

A Very Very Oldie by Me + A Wonderful Painter: Chelsea Bentley James

Leave a reply

I was just out of college, teaching in a Jackson, Mississippi Catholic school when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered. Throughout the school, all teachers cancelled regular classes so we could watch his funeral on TV and participate in the grieving.

During commercials and downtime as we watched, I began copying absentmindedly a photo of Bill Cosby from a record album on my desk, using my trusty Bic pen.

Lo and behold, the doodle began to look like a fairly decent representation. I was SHOCKED. That was the first I suspected I could draw a realistic portrait. I kept the little drawing as evidence of this surprising breakthrough, wishing I’d had some better paper at hand — without lines crisscrossing the page.

I came across it the other day while cleaning up some of my old papers. And here it is:

Bill Cosby, copy of album cover

Bill Cosby, after an album photo, pen on scrap paper

I plan to showcase from time to time artists who have caught my eye. Chelsea Bentley James is a recent find. I love her soft, atmospheric palette. Her landscapes are beautiful.

landscape, looking down from a height, misty horizon

Areal

And her domestic scenes are compelling as well. I love her painting of an elderly woman — her grandmother?

oil painting of elderly woman

Roselle 1, oil, 12 x 12"

Chelsea, kudos for your lovely and poignant paintings!

More Digital Doodles

1 Reply

I’ve been spreading the word to artistic friends about the fun of roughing out quick sketches, abstractions, and otherwise getting wild ‘n crazy on an ipad. Here are a few more of images.

The first is a little living room scene – another of my early realistic efforts.

the red purse

Every Girl Needs a Red Purse -- at least once in her life

And another abstract. I did a whole series, limiting myself to two dominant colors (plus white), accented by a small amount of a third color.

Red White & Blue

Red White & Blue

And this one was done from the passenger seat of our car as we sped through the Pennsylvania countryside. I loved the colors of the overcast afternoon and decided to try to capture them on the ipad.

Color Note from Car Window

Color Note from Car Window