FIVE PAINTINGS

The five paintings above, along with the reference photo, show my slightly different takes from one inspiration. I know that I've completed several more paintings of the same subject - one very dark and somber - one very, very colorful and patchwork quilt looking - and the rest I can't remember. For several years, I didn't take photos of my work, and now I regret that lapse.

All of these have watercolor in them and are more or less in chronological order, with the first one being painted about 15 years ago. It was done using masking tape to protect previously painted areas as I darkened more shapes to build up the painting. The tape's all removed now. It's a technique I continue to use today because I like the batik looking effect it lends to the painting where the paint leaks under the pieces of tape.

The second one is a collage with watercolor, using rice papers to build up texture on the paper. It was easy to create the delicious textures of those old walls with the layers of various rice papers.

The third painting was done on watercolor paper that had a layer of white gesso painted over it first. The paint 'floated' on the gesso-ed surface, drying in irregular ways that helped establish the textures of the walls and street.

The fourth painting began with one good white shape and three 'cool temperature' shapes touching it. The white shape went off the page on three sides, originally, but now is hard to find. The process of using a good white shape initially in the painting was a springboard to help establish a sense of unity and focus in the painting.

The fifth painting is the batik with hot wax that was just posted last week on this blog. Check out that post for more info about how it was done. When I see these five together, I think I really prefer the first one the most. Do you have a favorite? (I still regret having sold that first one.)

You'd think I'd be so tired of this painting by now, but I have plans for another approach --- or two or three dozen. Mike Bailey (click to check it out) has painted one still life over 90 times - so look out. I'm not anywhere close to that yet.

There are so many ways to approach this painting, and the only approach I've used so far is to try different techniques and design processes. I have yet to focus on an element of design as being more important that anything else --- and certainly texture would be the first element I would emphasize. And I haven't yet pushed the picture beyond the confines of realism. That's an aspect begging to be explored. And I don't remember ever painting the scene on YUPO, either. The things that await me in the studio....

But this next week I'll be away from the computer to challenge 15 other artists at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. We'll be using hot wax, four different rice papers, watercolor paints, fluid acrylics, canvas, and various inks as we explore other ways to create gorgeous batik artwork. It'll be fun to share some of their finished batiks here on my blog when I get back. See ya then.

NOT AGAIN!?!?!?!

One of my favorite subjects is an ancient street in Valetta, Malta, and I've taken lots of artistic license to change it to work for me. I've previously posted several renditions of this same ancient street, painted with various watercolor and collage techniques. This is the first time it's been created with the batik process.

This painting is a wax batik, painted with watercolor on Kinwashi rice paper with sumi ink added for the cracked batik look.

First photo = the painting in progress, along with my wax skillet and old brushes. It's tough to find these little skillets with temperature control, but often, right before school starts, Walgreens, etc, have them in stock for the college kids.

Second photo - all of the painting and waxing process is finished on the kinwashi rice paper. The paper, which is now completely covered with wax, is then heated with a hair dryer to totally soak the wax into the fibers of the paper. Next, it's rolled up and popped into the freezer for a few seconds to make it easy to 'crack.'

After cracking the wax over a trash can, pinching some of the areas to create deeper cracks, it looks like a disaster, as shown here. Lots of chunks of wax fall off during the cracking process. Most of the dark shapes at the corners of this photo are shadows on the crinkled paper, not dark paint. Since the paper tears easily, this step was done very carefully.

Third photo = diluted sumi ink has been applied by pouring it over the cracked, waxed paper and jostling it into the cracks.

After blotting off the excess ink, making sure to not rub it into the wax, I gently sprayed water onto the inked painting (while it was hanging over the sink) to help remove more of the ink. This results in a softer, 'grayed tone' to the inked cracks, rather than such a strong, black effect.

Fourth photo = all wax has been ironed off, and the rice paper is smooth and flat again. Overall, I like the painting, but it's so, so, so warm. A bit of cool color relief would be nice somewhere in all those oranges and reds.

It's ready to glue down - to be done before I add any cooler colors to the painting, although the corrective painting could have been done before gluing it down as long as enough of the wax had been removed with the hot iron. Adding paint without compromising the integrity of the batik effect is a major key to keeping this a successful painting.

Methyl cellulose wallpaper paste, applied liberally to really white watercolor paper, works well to secure the painting permanently. However, I was so intent on pasting this really large batik down without messing it up ..... and ended up pasting it down wrong side up! (The wrong side of the batik is similar but the other side was better with more clarity to the shapes and colors.) Rats! Now there will be even more corrections to make, since once it was embedded in the paste, it would have undoubtedly torn too much if I had tried to remove it.

Fifth photo = The finished, corrected painting, backwards, of course. Cool colors of blues, teals, and purples have been added, using both a Pat Dews' atomizer as well as a one inch flat brush, to adjust the outer edges of the painting. I like the warm focus now on the street and the center of the walls, enhanced by the cooler temperatures at the edges.

Last photo = original reference photo/inspiration with many artistic liberties taken.

"ANCIENT WALLS - MORNING LIGHT" Transparent Watercolor and Sumi Ink on Kinwashi Rice Paper, adhered to 140#CP Arches, 25 x 35"

PARKING THE BIKES

After a couple of months of contemplation and experimentation, I'm hoping that this painting can be parked for good. It's been posted before when it was in Stage One and Stage Two - see last two paintings below.

Once it got to Stage Three - next pix below - I felt it was ok, but when I added the lavender to one of the bikes - top painting shown here to the right - I thought it could be done. I really liked it at Stage One, but not at all at Stage Two - too dark and dreary for happy bikes.

"BIKE RIDE HOME" Transparent Watercolor on Yupo 26 x 18" COLLECTED

Comments? Critique? Ideas? It's watercolor on YUPO so adjustments are totally easy.

Stage Three - almost done - cropped a little at the top but needs an element of surprise

Stage Two - too many darks - confusing and ominous???

Stage One - Light and airy, lots of texture, weaker composition but maybe more fascinating?

REVISED PHOTO

The last post was way, way off on color and darkness. The post here shows the painting more accurately, I hope, though it's a little bit 'pinkish.' The temperature of the painting is very warm, orange-reddish...

After retaking the photo of the painting, I tried to adjust the results on my new Photoshop program to get it to match the painting as closely as possible. The last post of it (below) looks too green and light. I'm never sure how to set my camera to get the most accurate colors. Hope you don't mind seeing it AGAIN! It's also renamed - and I find that naming a painting is either really easy or else ridiculously impossible. This is one of those impossible to be original times.

"EVENING RIDE" Fluid Acrylics on YUPO 26 x 20"

TWO DAY WORKSHOP FOR ARTISTS

If you love textures and gorgeous colors..... if you want to paint without fear of failure..... even if you can't draw and want to paint...... there's a workshop coming up this August that you just might want to check out.

At this workshop, you'll learn more about how to create your own great art on YUPO. I'll be teaching a two day workshop the last weekend of August, August 29 & 30, to be held near Cincinnati, Ohio, in my Indiana teaching studio and will include a vast array of painting possibilities for the slick YUPO surface.

The sky is the limit on what subject matter to paint --- abstract, experimental, realistic, landscapes, portraits, still lifes, wildlife....... anything goes, your choice! Mistakes can easily be fixed on this wonderful painting surface, and happy accidents make the journey even more exciting.

Both Transparent Watercolor and Fluid Acrylics may be used, with techniques being presented using both of these mediums. Cost will be $140 for the two full days of instruction.

For more information, please contact me at sandymaudlin@gmail.com . Class size will be limited, and a $50 down payment will hold your place in class, with the balance due on August first. Hope to see many of you at the workshop! It WILL be fun. Be sure to sign up SOON!

The YUPO painting here was created using Fluid Acrylics, applied like watercolor and demo-ed at the Middletown Arts Center Workshop in Ohio this past April. The second picture shows how it looked when the demo was done, before I went back to my studio to add more details to the painting. I'm still thinking about whether to crop it or not.

"More than Grand" Fluid Acrylics on YUPO 26 x 18"

YUPO ARTISTS

Our YUPO workshop in Middletown involved a week of learning, exploring, and creating beautiful work on the slick YUPO surface. People from the Dayton, Ohio, area as well as artists from Indiana, Michigan and Alabama enjoyed some pretty intense and exhausting days but all thought it was well worth the effort.

I've posted only a few of the paintings from the workshop artists here for your enjoyment. In all my computer changes last month, I've misplaced all the other artists' work but still hope to find them. All are watercolor.
ABOVE - Work in Progress on YUPO by Dot Holdren
ABOVE - Completed masterpiece by Joan Givens - PEGGY'S COVE
ABOVE - Completed masterpiece by Shirlee Bauer - done with orange undercoating ABOVE - Work in progress by Sue Barnhart

Most artists in the workshop began at least three paintings during the week as they discovered many techniques in handling watercolor on YUPO. We also worked with fluid acrylics on YUPO.

I'll be posting info soon about three and four day YUPO workshops that I'll be teaching here at my studio soon. Plans are also in the works for holding a BATIK BASH Workshop to help artists explore that unusual process, too.

VENICE on YUPO

This painting was one of the demos done at a YUPO workshop I taught this past April. The challenge was to begin the painting with one good white shape that was unpredictable, irregular, and had diagonal movement, and which took up less than a third of the whole paper. Everything around that shape was painted with a combination of cool, pale colors first. Next, some small warm darks were added.

From that point on, the painting was developed by interrupting that original white shape and painting in the dark and medium valued shapes. Much of the original white shape was obscured at this point.

This approach to painting takes some advanced planning, but it continues to amaze me how easily the painting falls together when done this way. The sense of unity in the painting is greatly enhanced because of the preliminary planning with the original good white shape.

I had plans to post some of the workshoppers' paintings but have somehow misplaced my photos of several of the finished paintings. I'll post what I do have later this week, even though some are works in progress.

"GONDOLIER" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 20 x 26"

STEP BY STEP

Today's post shows the step by step process of yesterday's batik post.














First photo - Finished batik on Kinwashi rice paper















Second photo - First layer of hot wax (Gulf paraffin, not bees wax) and watercolor... wax is only painted on the whitest shapes in the painting to preserve them, (similar to painting miskit to preserve the whites.) The first 'wash' is supposed to be only one value, using several colors, randomly placed for the most part.














Third photo - you can see the pale, second wash on top of the second layer of wax, carefully applied to the shapes that need to be very light, like the inside rim of the sun. Next, (fourth photo) the batik is hanging to dry after another layer of waxing and paint. A fan helps it dry faster, but don't use a hair dryer or the heat will melt the wax, making it spread into weird blobs.












The next step (fifth photo) shows the value differences even better with the fourth layer of wax applied to all shapes that need to be preserved for that value. Again, colors were more or less randomly washed on, and my focus was to keep the painting warm at this point. Only a few cool colors were touched in, but still about the same value for each wash.















The process continues... painting hot wax to cover the shapes which must remain the value of the previous wash. Follow up by painting over the whole page to darken one value darker, using mostly random colors. Dry and repeat until all the shapes are covered with wax except for the darkest shapes.














The step below shows the next to the last wash over a mostly waxed sheet of paper. At this point, I changed to strong, cool colors to make a good contrast with the earlier warms.

The wax makes the paint under it look a little darker. The edges of the unpainted ends of the Kinwashi paper show on both sides.

I added one more really dark wash for the darkest darks, then let it dry. When the batik was completely dry, I waxed all the remaining shapes, so that the whole paper was completely covered with wax.













Below, the 34 x 26" completely waxed paper has been crunched up and wrinkled, breaking the wax surface so that diluted Sumi ink can be applied to seep down into the cracks to create the traditional batik effect. The white jagged lines in the photo are actually the cracked paraffin. This is the really messy part, and I forgot to take photos of the inking and ironing.













The final photo below shows the full size of the painting before it was glued to the wrapped canvas. Two inches wrapped along each side of the canvas, creating a finished look.

The wax was ironed off the Kinwashi paper right after the inking was completed. I glued the Kinwashi down over a generous layer of acrylic matte medium on the canvas then left it to dry overnight. Often, there are tears in the paper which are easy to repair during the gluing down process.


Later, I added a thicker, dark border around the bird area, using fluid acrylics. Watercolor would've worked too, but would have been more difficult to use on the previously waxed surface. (See finished pix at top of post.)

BATIK AGAIN

Batik on rice paper, using watercolors instead of dyes, can result in some really cool artwork. This batik, finished earlier this month, will hang in the gallery at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, during their summer courses. The detail of the painting is shown here, with the whole painting below.

Sue B, one of my special artist friends from North Carolina, told me how to mount a batik painted on rice paper onto a wrapped canvas. She'd learned the batik process years ago during one of my workshops on the North Carolina coast and is now selling her beautifully designed batiks in a gallery near her hometown:-) This painting wraps around the sides of the canvas and looks finished as is - no framing needed. Several layers of special varnish are applied to protect the surface to be as durable as an oil painting.

At the end of June, I'll be teaching another Batik Workshop at Miami, and there only a couple of openings left in the class, in case you're interested. Artists in my weekly classes have also been creating exquisite batiks for the past six weeks. It's messy, fun, intriguing, unpredictable, and requires some serious planning sometimes.... but so worth the results.

To see the first "CAWS" painting in this series, called CAWS FOR ALARM, go here. Sue bought that painting several years ago, and I loved getting to visit it. This series started as a message about East Nile Virus, which was killing birds in our area, as well as infecting people through mosquito bites. Since I loved the shapes the birds created, I began a series springing off of that first, large YUPO painting. More to come in the future.

"A CAWS FOR CONCERN" Transparent Watercolor & Sumi Ink on Kinwashi - 28 x 22" Wrapped Canvas COLLECTED

UPSIDE DOWN

One of Chris Beck's recent blog posts wisely proclaimed 'CROP TIL YOU DROP' as a great solution for some paintings. She and Pablo Villicana Lara were more or less challenging each other to 'find' a better painting within a bigger one. Their solutions are eye candy.

My azalea painting shown here on the right is one of those that really needs to be cropped to work better. The center of the painting is boring, but the left hand edge I really like. Turning that section upside down makes for a better painting. My experimental crop is below, shown flipped upside down from the original.

This bouquet of azaleas is an old, old painting from the archives which was framed as is. After reading Pablo and Chris's fabulous quote, I'm sure it must be unframed, rematted, and reframed. Maybe the top needs to be cropped off a little more.

Thanks Chris, and Pablo, for your wisdom and inspiration. I always enjoy visiting your blogs, learning much from what you so freely share.

This could be called Cherry Blossoms?????

MEMORIALS

Memorial Day in America helps us pause to remember the importance and cost of freedom. It's too easy to take for granted what so many have given their lives for.

This painting was created over a decade ago to depict a small town near us that's nicknamed 'the City of Spires.' It's a small river town right on the Ohio River that is delightful and quaint, very much a representation of mid America. There's plenty there to inspire a plein aire painter, for sure.

Thanks to so many, we enjoy a life of freedom in a wonderful land. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

"AURORA" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches, 20 x 14" COLLECTED

PERFECT DAY

Today's another perfect spring day.... no time to blog. This painting was created maybe ten years ago of a creek near us called Muddy Creek. The creek's small, and the painting's small and was quickly painted. Enjoy your world today and be creative!

"GLORIOUS DAY" Transparent Watercolor on 140# Arches 6 x 9" COLLECTED

YOUNG ARTISTS

Most of yesterday included building great memories and hopefully encouraging and inspiring about 70 young artists to enjoy art. Last week, I'd rigged up homemade palettes from styrofoam meat trays (THANK YOU, Krogers,) then filled each with American Journey watercolors purchased from Cheap Joes.

Along with the palettes, I'd packed brushes, lots of Fabriano Artistico paper cut into fourths, water containers, small sponges, some salt, and a half a credit card for each child to use. My destination was an elementary school in northern Indiana, four hours from my studio.

Earlier this year, one of our grangdaughters, Paige, explained to her kindergarten teacher that her grandma was a 'real' artist, so her teacher had asked if I could come to class and show them what I did. Paige was so excited, and her painting (shown here) is a beautiful portrait in progress - of me!

In the second grade class, a couple of the boys said they'd rather continue painting than have to stop and go to gym class. I figure that's about the best possible endorsement for the joy that art can bring to a child's life. The day was priceless to me.

The creativeness was awesome in each room with the finished paintings so varied and expressive. That good looking boy (I'm not biased even though we're related) running toward me and my camera was returning supplies that were left in his room earlier and was one of my great helpers yesterday. It was so worth doing, and I hope we get to do this again next year.

FOCUS

Rhonda Carpenter's newest paintings of flamingos shows how well she incorporates various hot colors to define the birds - see her blog here. Many, many, many moons ago, I painted this fancy flamingo as a class demo to show how to achieve the look of feathers as well as how to make the most of contrast.

Planning ahead to allow the darkest darks to be next to the lightest lights in a painting is one of the easiest ways to make a stronger focal point to draw the eye. Hard edges also get the most attention - compared to soft or lost edges, as do diagonal lines, compared to horizontal or vertical ones.

Small shapes make the eye stop and look. Strong color temperature change - warm vs. cool - is another effective tool to incorporate in the focal area. Even using pure colors next to slightly grayed ones makes the pure color get much more attention.

Any type of contrast always makes us notice and keeps our interest. It's fun to take advantage of that principle to make a painting more effective, more exciting for the viewer to look at.

"STRUTTING HER STUFF" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 13 x 20" COLLECTED

AN OLD ROSE

This rose, a Queen Elizabeth Grandiflora, was painted lots of years ago as a demo for an intermediate level class I was teaching. Back then, I'd provide the drawing for everyone to trace before we began painting. Then, I'd show them where to miskit, how to glaze, when to paint wet-in-wet, etc. Most all the paintings would turn out really nice, but because of following the process of painting along with 'teacher,' the artists seldom ventured out of the nest to create their own work.

It's tough painting without guaranteed results, but working a painting from the initial start up 'idea' stage through to completion is really what it's all about. The reward of creating a painting from your own heart and head is so worth the struggle. Now that's the only way my classes operate.

The success rate may be lower, but the overall growth is MUCH stronger for each artist as they learn and discover how to unfold what they want to say with paint. Somehow, there's actually less whining now than there was when people traced and followed along in years past. Surprise!

Newer work will be posted as soon as I have an operating photoshop program. I have yet to find my Adobe program, but hopefully, it may be in the bank's lockbox.

"ONLY A ROSE" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Fabriano Artistico 15 x 11" COLLECTED

LONG STORY

The computer is pretty much okay now, but there's lots to adjust - and find. Plus, I can't use Adobe Photoshop yet. Bummer.

Here's another painting created quite a few years ago of one of my favorite animals. She was quite a beauty that day at the Colorado Rocky Mountain Zoo. While painting her, I used lots of teal, turquoise, blue, red, coral, purple, and yellows, but no browns, for the fur.

I do hope to post fresh work soon, along with the paintings from the YUPO workshop last month. It's good to have a working computer again:-D

"LONG STORY" Transparent Watercolor on 140# CP Fabriano Artistico 14 x 22" COLLECTED

BAD

Our computer's hard drive is BAD! Being 'bad' used to be good. But this is bad, so no new posts from me until we have a brand new GOOD hard drive..... very soon, I hope. The photo of this painting was saved and ready to go so here I am at our library on their computer writing it up.

The painting is years old - like nearly 20 years old, painted in the Rocky Mountains back when I thought I had to be a plein aire painter to be an artist. Yet, one of the best things about plein aire painting is the memory cache that's created while the painting's being done ------ the guys who stopped by to tell me their aunt could really paint lilacs ... the great little outside restaurant with tables and comfortable chairs where I sketched while waiting for my lunch ... the gorgeous drive up through Thompson Canyon to get to the little town of Evergreen... the ferns and fog that graced the steep rocky walls along the road. Each time I see a photo of this painting, I remember so much of that day. Plein aire painting DOES have some wonderful benefits.

I hope to be up and running on line soon with some great posts from last week's YUPO workshop in Middletown, Ohio. And, I'll finally be able to catch up on all the blogs I've missed. See you then.

"THISTLES AND RUST" Transparent Watercolor on 140# Arches, maybe 15 x 11" COLLECTED

YUPO AND FEATHERS

This is yet another one of my early paintings on YUPO. The rich colors of this rooster and the textures of the wood behind these birds begged to be painted on the super slick YUPO paper.

This week we're enjoying a wonderful worshop in Middletown, Ohio at the Middletown Arts Center, so all my posts will be about YUPO paintings from my archives. (The post shown here does seem somewhat faded compared to the original painting.) The wood was so so so easy to paint because of the way the paint slid around on the paper and because of how easily paint could be lifted for highlights.

Next week I hope to post what the artists in my workshop painted. One of the joys of teaching workshops is learning so much from each of the artists who are exploring their own art journeys. But, saying 'Goodbye' on the last day is the hardest part of teaching for me.

"BLACK TIE AFFAIR" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 25 x 19"

YUPO & TEXTURES

This week at our workshop, I'll be teaching how to use as many approaches as possible on YUPO. This gull was one of the first paintings I did on this slick surface - done about 9 years ago.

The juiciness of the paint being affected by gravity, especially as seen in the rocky areas in this painting, was one of the hardest things to learn to take advantage of. Being a control freak, I found that the possibilities on YUPO helped me let go and enjoy the process of painting a lot more. I soon realized that YUPO and textures go together wonderfully and just love the way the colors stay so intensely vibrant on this non absorbent paper.

Although I now seldom take advantage of the juiciness aspect of paint on YUPO, I still totally LOVE working with either watercolor or fluid acrylics on this unusual surface. If you haven't tried YUPO yet, be brave. You can wash off your watercolor mistakes easily and start all over if you need to. Good luck.

"MAINE GULL" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 14 x 11" COLLECTED

COUSINS

Painting on gessoed watercolor paper is a close cousin to painting on YUPO paper. These geraniums were fun to paint on the gessoed surface, but their clay pots were even more fun. The paint seems to sit on top of the gesso, and the colors mingled with each other before they dried.

Texture can be easily played up on the gesso (click on the photo to see the textures enlarged,) just like it can on the YUPO surface. Next week a group of artists will be exploring how to paint creatively on YUPO at the Middletown Arts Center. Their facility is tops, and I'm looking forward to teaching, as well as learning, from all the artists in my workshop. I plan to post some of their paintings when I return. It will be a good week.

"OUT OF THE POTTING SHED" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Fabriano Covered with White Gesso, 21 x 14"

STUDIO OR PLEIN AIRE?

After really liking the painting I did outdoors in the midst of our flower gardens, (see the last blog post here) and after selling that painting when I really didn't want to part with it, I decided to 'paint it again.' This time I painted it in the studio, relying on memory and imagination.

By using the same techniques and colors, the results were similar. Yet, the first painting, though not as carefully planned, seemed to have more 'life' in it, more emotional impact.... a result of plein aire painting, responding to the moment, painting from life??? Maybe.

I do love these flowers in the spring, and there's a second variety that blooms in the fall, too. The way they swing and sway in the breeze is absolutely poetic.

If I'm ever inspired to paint them again, I think I'd want to have a bouquet right in front of me. Something's gained in the painting by from life whenever it's possible.

Second best is painting from photos that inspired me when I took them. The trick is to remember why I wanted to take the photo in the first place and then leave nearly everything else out.

"ANEMONES" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 12 x 9" COLLECTED