Happy Holidays

Seventeen of these present bearers have already accomplished their task and are enjoying the holidays in their new homes or are about to arrive there. This one though was stubbornly set on doing it XXI century cyber style, so there :)

Wishing you all merry Christmas and a wonderful 2014.

Back To Basics

Summer has come and gone and I didn't even notice, how did that happen!?!?

It's been full of ups and downs, but I think I'm going to let the downs wash away and just cherish the sunny days, beautiful cucumbers, photo shooting outdoors, action movies, and new geckos visiting the terrace during the evenings.

Don't know about you but I didn't get to use my watercolors during most of the summer. Got to do sketches and studies though, and got ready to start a new series of paintings, and now finally my brushes are getting wet again, yeah!

And I'm taking the opportunity to go back to basics and use some pigments I haven't used for years. I can't even remember why they got replaced with something different in the palette, but hey, I'm having a blast rediscovering, experimenting, and finding how to integrate them in my current painting processes.

Traditional vs. Digital - Take 2

Not long ago I was musing about digital and traditional art, about them being two sides of the same coin, two tools serving the same goal.

This weekend I've been making a back-up of some image files from last year and came by a good example of using traditional mediums to do what's usually a digital task.

See this portrait? Last summer I was lucky enough to work for a man who wanted to take an old and damaged photo of his mother when she was a baby, reprint it and use it as a gift.

Anyone would have asked for a clean up in Photoshop or similar.

Instead, this man chose to commission the revamp of the photo as a watercolour painting. How amazing is that?!

Each time I fall in the digital/traditional debate I end up thinking the same, the tools are not important, just make meaningful art.

Work Expands So As To Fill The Time Available For Its Completion

That is Parkinson's Law.

Ok, not exactly, there's a whole essay that I have not read. Honestly I didn't know the full name of Mr. Parkinson nor how he got to such conclusion or why, but I always pictured it like a fellow sitting on the grass, elbows on his knees, chin on his hands, chewing on a straw while thinking "nah, I don't think that's gonna get finished today".

Yes, my mind likes it simple. And now it's wondering how on earth do you stop work from expanding?! How do you optimize the work to finish the task on time?!

I've been doing portraiture warm-ups in 15 minutes, daily. After switching from monochrome to a limited palette of 4 somehow the task does not just fill the time frame anymore, it overflows it entirely.

Is there a secret to speed up the painting process? Inquiring minds need to know! These have improved after I forgot about my usual layering way of painting and just attacked full on with darks first, in and out, but I still can't get half of a portrait finished in 15 minutes.

If they don't lack the nose they lack one eye, if they have a mouth they don't have a head, some of them manage to have hair and a mouth and a nose but not eyes.

The only other idea I've had, to try and finish one completely, is repeating in my mind "faster faster do it faster fasteeeeeer!" during those 15 minutes, but so far that doesn't seem to work :)

I refuse to put anything better than a "hmmmm...." by their side until they look at least half finished so, any suggestions to speed up the painting process? I promise even if they sound weird I'm willing to try, which are your secrets when you want to paint fast and accurately and finish the task in a short period of time? Please share them with me.

Perturbadito

This is a little thing I've been working in small slots of time, on the side of other works.

It feels good to paint something without other purpose than relaxing and enjoy the flow of paint on the paper.

Since this little fellow has been guarding my conte pencils for quite some time now, I decided he deserved an homage.

I got rid of his stray eyes. Not sure why. They give him this disturbed look that oddly enough, grows on you after a while. Might do a second version just to include them!

Every Time I Paint a Portrait I Lose a Friend

Wasn’t it Sargent who said that? Well why nobody asked Mr. Sargent what happens when it’s a self portrait? I’ve found out, it’s horrible to give yourself the silent treatment, but you do!

It’s quite interesting how easy it is making a self portrait just for yourself and how difficult it is to do it to show it to others, the reason is quite simple, you just want to look GOOD – yes I’m hearing Darren Hayes singing Ego inside my head, shut up Darren! – After some failed attempts it turns out that only I can look like me... and that’s a good thing! Ha! go figure.

It is what it is and I think this one is truly me, not just physically, and that’s the goal, rocking my American Retro T-shirt, comfy socks, my beloved Escoda in hand and a big smile plastered on my face, and hopefully sending those vibes to you, C’mon you know what I’m talking about.

And yes, it doesn’t hurt that the “engaging” and “dynamic” angle hides any fat that might or might not be down there ha-ha! after all I want to start talking to myself again as soon as possible!

Have you painted a selfportrait? I want to see them! Point me in the right direction and please tell me you’ve gone through the same narcissistic mini crisis.

Always Practice

Long time without posting any figure drawing. Feels good to keep doing them daily and it’s kind of funny to remember how that clock used to freak me out, I don’t even think about the time anymore.

I’ve been doing drawing exercises daily for a while, but all this time I've been wondering how could I incorporate the same kind of quick exercise in watercolor, to maybe round one hour of warm-up everyday.

In late September I decided that trying portraits in the warmup would be a good complement to the figure drawings, so I added a 15 minute portrait in watercolor to the daily routine.

Being completely honest I got mess after mess, they truly sucked, got discouraged and stopped for a while, then got back to it this time taking one step at a time, first in monochrome, trying to get right proportions, then trying to get some resemblance to the model, then trying to speed up the process (yep, that clock is freaking me out again, it happens if you're a turtle when painting)

I still get messes 90% of the time, tons of “aaaargh!” and “ewwww!” and “L” written next to them right after the 15 mins are over, those will never see the light of day, but from time to time I manage to get something that looks like an actual perfectly fine person.

Every time I incorporate one more change it feels like the dreaded step back but I guess it’s needed to get to the couple of steps forward, so I think I’ll keep at it since I want to see that percentage change to at least 90% of successes.

Lesson learned: if it’s too big of a piece to swallow, break it down into smaller bits and chew chew chew.

Last Minute Panic

Are you familiar with Bill Watterson’s Calvin&Hobbes?

Do you remember that strip where Hobbes asks Calvin whether he already has come up with an idea for something he should be doing, and Calvin’s retort is that you have to be in the right mood? When Hobbes asks what mood is that Calvin goes “last minute panic”.

Well I’ve been in last minute panic mode for over a week. Painting like a possessed woman.

Painting and ripping and restarting and layering paint like there were no tomorrow.

Disregarding hours of work in 15 minutes by hitting full blast what once were mild dark areas with a brush loaded with thick dark paint, mercilessly.

Removing masking tape (which BTW managed to take with it some of my hair - yes, the gum in the hair nightmare come true way after grade school) just to realize I wanted more darks hence laying down some more masking tape.

After taking this photo yesterday those darks have expanded up the neck to the jaw and under the chin.

Last minute panic. What a ride. And loved each second of it.

Now onto the next one J

Embrace Fear

Want to know a secret? Fear has been one of my closest companions my whole life.

Here’s a fact, Fear is a strong source of motivation, sometimes the strongest. Here’s another fact, that motivation can get you to better places, the problem is that more often than not it seems to motivate you to turn and run in the opposite direction, or just freeze sporting the dumbest face you’re capable of.

Do you want to know another secret?  Fear probably just wants to help you to reach that better place but the wacko has not the best sense of direction so you need add your two cents too, it’s just trying to give you some advice, you can take it, ignore it, or bend it, letting Fear lead probably won’t end pretty well but once you turn it into a team work chances are that you weren’t condemned to doom after all.

This conversation happened last Wednesday regarding this illustration:

- Not your best, is it?

-...o_O…well it’s not that bad…

-She seems calculating, you should fix it

-…. yeah ….. a pity there’s no time, it’s going in the mail tomorrow morning, and it’s such a tiny area that is going to be difficult to lift it completely, and probably will look weirder after that, there’s no time to redo the whole thing if I ruin it, it really needs to be in the mail tomorrow blah blah blah…

-Change · it

-O_O

Rest assured I was the one getting the blows. It’s unsettling to get that kind of straight feedback -not to mention nailed critique- right the night before I want to mail the thing. And all the blabber? That’s a lot of stupid excuses pouring out of my mouth as fast as Fear whispers them in my ear.

I’m always telling fellow painter friends to just go for a change they are pondering, that it won’t be ruined, that once you’ve done something you can do it again if bad comes to worse, and every time I’ve firmly believed every bit of it.

When you have something that you know is not working, and the chances are either leaving it as is (just to avoid ruining something that you know isn’t good enough), or changing it and maybe fixing it... it’s a no brainer, isn’t it? You go for it and make it better.

Now insert Fear and my own work: bye-bye no-brainer, hello brain shutdown, let’s hold hands and run up the hills.

And then is when being friends with Fear might be an advantage. Maybe - just maybe – I’ll give it a knowing look and say “hey why not trying to lift it? Imagine if I screw up, that’s gonna be the kind of panic attack that you’re going to love fueling, look forward to it while I rework this, will you?”

Yes, in the end it took more time arguing through that conversation and defending the case in my brain than it took to just get to the task and repaint that face.

It’s a fact that Fear is going to be there right by your side sometimes, so you might as well befriend it, enjoy your time together and make the best out of it!

Make a wish

Last year I went on a Thank You quest by the end of the year, I felt it was important to show appreciation to the people that made my year better one way or another.

Loved to do it. I don't do this every year, neither I send christmas cards, honestly I seldom text people for christmas, when I do I want it to be special and personal and hopefully make that person's day a little bit brighter.

Have you ever made new year resolutions? or a new year planning? or a wish list? I have, it's private, just for me, with musts, goals and wild wishes.

Last month -thinking about the next year's one and revisiting my last year one- have made me realize how important the wishes section on that list is.

That's why this year I've gone and done little paintings again, proper christmas cards this time, filled with stars ready to grant all kind of wishes.

So make a wish, make many, from the heart, believe that you can make them happen and go for it!

May 2012 be your best year yet.

One done, two to go!

And Under the Wave is finished, now onto the next one!

Links to the whole WIP: Step 1, step 2, step 3

Under the wave: halfway through

It's taking shape, a couple more sessions and I think it'll be done.

I love staining pigments for this kind of painting where I need superdarks and vibrant colours at the same time, also they let you keep layering forever, the only con is that it's difficult to fade them to white in such a small painting since they are really intrusive pigments, that's why I've been working so slowly up till now until all the light areas were established, usually I prefer to fade those edges as I'm adding paint but this time I'll just have to blur them later.


Anyone wants a minicornetto? I'm taking one, as Ben Affleck said in that commercial because I worth it *yums!*

New WIP

No Hobbit update this week, sorry, but I have 3 little paintings in line and to be honest, it feels grrrrreat to hold a brush again, I'd missed those relaxing hours one on one with the paint and paper, feels like forever since last time I painted something!

The first one is going to be called Under the Wave and looks like this so far, I'd love to say that it's just a first wash but nope, more like some hours of work O_O, anyway I'm completely excited about painting this one because it's been on my to-do list for a couple of years (ok, more like 4), it was going to be one of a couple, the other one was Over the Wave and this one of course couldn't be but Under the Wave, have you ever had a title decided so long before actually painting the work? :P

Ok, it's an early stage and it's flowing quite easily so far so there isn't any secret or decission-making to share about this step. I'm using a very limited palette of 4 colors, the same used for the other painting, it has made me rethink about the importance or not of documenting your works, a.k.a. should I once and for all keep a decent record of my works instead of random swatches and photos of the used palette when I remember to do it?

Here's over the wave, the current twin gotta look at least as good so cross all your fingers for me ^_^.

Christmas ramblings

When I woke up this morning I was complaining in my mind about the horrible rainy dark cold and early morning I'd have to face and how I should just rebel against the world by staying in bed warm and cozy under the duvet, then I thought that hey, christmas lottery day should have a sweet surprise for me so it wouldn't be that bad to get up and moving.

I didn't win the Christmas national lottery today. I honestly thought I should be one of the winners this year but alas, Lady Luck messed it up again and got lost somewhere in the way. Yet this morning - while it was still dark and the sky filled with stars and a fantabulous full moon hidden somewhere behind those rainy clouds - I was feeling like running, dancing and jumping to the rhythm of Katrina and the Waves' "Walking on Sunshine" in my way to the subway. So I guess it's been a good day after all, right? That's the interesting thing about days, that they let you see how relative good and bad can be.

I've been thinking about my 2010 and pondering all that's happened and all that hasn't, trying to see things in perspective, how good has "good" been and how bad has "bad" been and how much they've mingled and changed coats or how much they've been totally apart from each other and true to themselves.

While doing all that thinking I've spent the last couple of weeks painting like crazy these little tokens of appreciation, I only have these 2 to show, the first and the last, the ones who haven't carried messages to so many special people yet, the ones that will carry it for you, I've loved to chat, laugh, rant and drool with you so far, I've had the chance to tighten bonds with dear old friends, met some new and enjoy lots of art, anecdotes and insight. I hope to be able to walk through this road with you all in the year to come, with the occasional stop for bed and breakfast?

Is this a Merry Christmas post? Yes it is, bear with me and my ramblings for this one, pretty please? And forgive me for not fixing that scanned crazy red but I wasn't in the mood, after all I haven't won the lottery today, remember? Now go and have fun!

Last project of 2010? maybe!

I can't remember last time I painted in bulk like this, but I'm sure I've never done more than 4 in this way, I'm ridiculously excited about this!

This past sunday I finally came up with a concept I liked which, as usual, had nothing to do with the original idea, soon enough I had 3 sketches that has been edited very little. So I have 3 designs that will be painted in n cards, and of course I want to make 3 extra ones for me to keep them, will I? depends on how tired I get of painting them.

Lately I'm realizing that I enjoy more and more the preparation process, a couple of years ago I'd let a lot of ideas undone just because I'd grind too much through the pre-work, now it's quite different, it's becoming not just a preparation for the final work but a preparation of my mind state too, getting me in the right mood for painting, does that sound too weird? have you gone through something like that too?

This time it's made me try an alternative to saving a crisp edge around the illustrations with tape, somehow the last tape I bought doesn't work well, it either doesn't stick well to the paper letting the water run beneath it or tear the paper off when I remove it, the other one I have is great for stretching but not for saving white paper 'cos when you remove it it leaves a lot of yellowish sticky gum *yuck!*, so this morning I decided to simply use masking fluid, then realized I 'd had to freehand the straight lines and with masking fluid once you put the brush to paper it's done for good or bad, unless you want to wait for it to dry and remove it all, so I've put myself to the task and found myself checking against the window light if the lines where straight.

What's happened is that the first time I've seen a sloppy one I've gone over it again trying to fix it, the result... let's say that it's like that moment when you know you must stop adding more colors to a wash but you just can't and end up overworking it at best, yep, I'd love to say "lesson learned" but it's not, I just couldn't let them alone. I hope that, after all the fiddling I've done, they end up looking good but I won't know until the pics are finished and the mask removed.

So, right now this is the first batch of 6 ready to be painted tomorrow and hopefully cut the paper for the next batch, remember this, I now predict that the first one of each batch will be the fresher, probably the second and third will be the best ones, and the last three the average ones, shouldn't it be like that painting in groups of 6? have I mentioned how excited I am about this? :D if they don't decide to go a different way I plan a back to basics in these ones.

BTW, do you have a favorite brand of masking tape? wondering if I can find around something inexpensive and that gets the work done, I thought I had the perfect one all these years and now it comes and fails horribly...

Halloween's around the corner

And little Franken jr. is eager to go trick or treating around the neighborhood dressed up as Jack Sparrow, because every kid wants to be Jack Sparrow! I want! you know I'm five

This concept was edited quite a bit since it came to my mind so here are some steps for your entertainment:

Nobody can deny that when I say I doodle or draw rough sketches I mean it, reeeeeeally doodly and rough first concept, at that time I had a version of Mama Estein dressed up as the little red riding hood in mind too

The idea at first was having her taking little Franken around the neighborhood, with some creepy fences and houses silhouettes in the background, but she was totally looking like Marge Simpson so... off with her!

And as you can see the idea of some metal fence surrounding the blocked shape of the background remained until I was half done with the illustration, at that point I was thinking on using some white for them to make them look like carved shapes that melted with all the white surrounding the main theme, that was edited out too, as soon as I was carried away by the dark night sky and decided I didn't want anything to compete with it.

My favorite part of this illustration? painting those dreadlocks! I want to do that again, maybe a series of monsters dressed up as Jack Sparrow is in the making... or maybe not!

The painting that never arrived

Yesterday I ordered an extra drawer for my new freezer and the customer service's guy told me that it will take at least 2 months to be delivered to my home, in answer to my shocking "whaaaat?!" he just laughed and explained that, well, it has to come from Turkey plus there's august around the corner and what not, so he recomended to order it right now and wait patiently.

That's made me think, MAYBE the painting I sent last month for Rhonda's swap group is not really lost forever, MAAAYBEE it's taken the long way through Turkey and it simply will take at least 2 months before arriving to its destination, yes, sure.

How long has it taken for one of your mailed paintings to reach destination in the worst case?

I wasn't going to blog it but since probably the original will never show up I'm getting nostalgic about it. Ain't it great that we're in a time when you can save digital copies of every single painting you paint?!

If I ever get to redo this one again I'd approach it from a completely different point of view, like turning it into a more experimental ink painting with only touches of color here and there, food for thinking...

Time to resume the door front painting

I know, I know! I haven't been painting much these past couple of months, baaad me!

So now it's time to finish the detail of the romanesque entrance, it's taking forever to be done, and at this point it's already taken control and I'm just following, struggling won't do any good to it at all, right?

This is how it looks right now, some of the paint is still wet but the overall idea of how dark the darks are going to be is already clear:



Thoughts to have in mind during the next painting sessions:

- Don't loose the highlights! it's being so easy to add too much of those siennas while building the texture.

- Check if there's some masking fluid on the area you're going to paint next, it's not viewable at all and I'm not sure if I want it in all the places I put it at first seeing the big value leap I'm getting in those shaded areas, so it's time to TOUCH before adding paint.

- Don't get lost in the texture! It's the global look the one that has to look good, don't fall in love with the brushwork, don't go overboard and make it busy all over the place! I can see already how and where I'll have to dull and tame some areas and it's going to be a difficult step for me, I'm not the best at editing.

Here are some close ups to some of the areas that are more developed right now, click on them if you want to see them big:







Links to the whole WIP: Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, Step 4, Step 5

Forgotten

I was thinking today how badly I need to start working hard to build a new portfolio, that's lead me to take a look to some old works for inspiration, this is one of my all time favorites and I'm surprised I haven't blogged it before, I have a thing for old dolls.


Now I only need to be able to draw and paint again on a daily basis instead of just some hours during sundays and everything will be all right.

Just for fun

This morning I've been painting a bit more of the church portal after almost two months without working on it, since it's starting to feel as if the whole blog is filled only with this painting I'll just add a link to a detail of today's progress.

So instead of today's painting session I'll post some of the other stuff I've been doing during march, this is my brother's birthday gift, an iPad! Well, not the real thing since it's not available here yet, but an arts&crafts bank version with some money.

Yeah, I know, looks like a school project but I had so much fun making it!