First Camera Practice: Creepy Doll

 I have been trying to nail down 2 things: My exact style for this book and the ground that I like the best.

I had an aborted attempt or 2 with Gerda and the Robber Girl. The big one is illustration board with an initial coat of egg wash. he egg wash is really not necessary. I also wasnt sure of my design for this before I started so I ended up scraping off the entire background and redoing it. NOTE: Figure out concept in drawing stages!

I will come back to this later. I also finally created a book file in Indesign to see how the whole thing should look. I realized I should limit myself to 3 sizes. The one below is an experiment with a square size.

This was on clayboard (not necessary) I ended up putting the paint on way too thick and the contouring didnt even show up, I was trying some solvent free medium too. That might be good for some glazes in later stages but not for the small ones. I'm still figuring out what to do for this chapter.

And also:

I moved on to the next one

FIGHTING

This one was just on illustration board, no ground. Sky was gouache with no egg and then covered with layer of egg after. Seems to work. I was pretty happy with the way this one went overall. Mostly because I think I knew what i was going for from the start. I also have Rachel's camera and am learning how to photograph and edit and print things. Should be good for making things look better and reproducing them.

Evil Mirror

 I'm starting the next one. Same size, 16 x 20 but this time I'm using hardbaord cradled with cheap michaels canvas stretcher bars and painted with Rublev Tempera Ground from Natural Pigments.

So far it seems really good. It goes on pretty smooth and creamy straight out of the jar. 3 coats was enough to cover thoroughly. I did some light sanding. Pencil doesn't clean up as easily as clayboard but it seems like a small price to pay since the texture is so much better. I haven't started painting yet so I can't say for sure but it seems much more like traditional gesso.

This the digital sketch

I'm sure it will change a lot by the time I'm finished. With that in mind I am not doing much drawing. 

I will probably ink in some shadows.

I will let you know

May 23 note:

I have painted the first layers over everything. So far all the blue and green undercoat from yesterday have been lifting. I am hoping that it is just one of those things where I have to build up more layers and then it will adhere better. I had a similar (but different) problem with the clay board.

So note to myself: see if it and when it improves

May 29 update:

I'm so disappointed. I really wanted that stuff to work. It went on so easily and sanded nicely but when I tried to do the layering on the sky it kept lifting. I waited for layers to dry, I tried different amounts of egg etc. but it would not adhere. I finally tested it out on an old traditional gesso board and it worked right away.

I was suspicious for a while so I didnt actually get a lot of final painting done. I was still fiddling with the composition so I didn't really wasted too much painting time. Now I have to figure out the best way to gesso a 16 x 20 board as quickly as possible so I can continue. I might end up trying a smaller one.

 April 2 2022 Update:

I haven't checked back here for awhile! I started again and finished on gessoed panel

The gesso does work better than the pre made stuff however as I am going along I am finding that regular illustration board (extra thick) is working just as well for my style. Also it gives me the option of using gouache and/or watercolors in some areas that I want more blendy. If I had this one to do over I would do the sky differently. See entry on "Fighting"

Snow queen clayboard pt2

 These are my thoughts now that I have finished this one.

While the clayboard was good for the graphite it is really too slick for egg tempera. It took several coats to get to the point where I felt like it was adhering properly. It was very fragile and scratchy for a long time. I, of course, ended up putting plenty of layers on it since I was designing as I went along. I hope it will solidify as time goes by.

 This was the original ink drawing on clayboard. I changed it several times as I went along

I was designing the costume as I went. I also changed the alcove a couple of times.

Finally ended up with this

Also got to practice using my camera for decent pictures. 

So my overall review of the clayboard is a negative. They advertise it for egg tempera but its really not absorbent enough. On the next one I am trying something new!

SNOWQUEEEN portrait Clayboard

 Writing some notes about the process of creating this painting. Im usng clayboard just to see how it acts. Its very smooth, dont know if thats good or bad. So far I like the way pencil goes on and comes off more than true gesso. But thats probably because it is not as soft and absorbent. This is what I have so far. I will try to keep this up as a journal so I remember what i have learned and dont have to make the same mistakes over and over.

Snow Queen Illustration

 Working on my illustrations for the Snow Queen.  I decided I really like the style of orthodox icons. I love the lines and the shapes. 

Of course I would be taking all the religious meaning out of it. It would be purely aesthetic reasons. I hope I don't offend anyone. Its meant as an appreciation not an insult. I don't think it will actually end up following all the rules anyway.

This is the drawing.

It is the Snow Queen flying away with Kai and kissing him. I am just doing this as a test to see if I want to continue this way.

Botticelli Skin Tones

 This page is just a note to myself. Sometimes i mix colors and do things a certain way and then I forget what I did so I am writing this down as I work on my copy of a Botticelli.

This is what I have so far:

I changed the composition slightly to fit on the 2 panels which open.

Atlas completed

 This is the second and and last part of my blog about this project. 

After all the clay was dry I put a base coat of a greenish dark brown all over him. The only hard part was making sure all the white parts were covered. In the future I would like to try putting color in the clay while wet so it is not so obvious when I miss any spots while painting. If I know it will be a dark color I think that would make it easier.

brown undercoat

For the top I printed out an old map the right size for an 18 inch circle. I use modpodge to seal it so the ink wouldn't run. I put it on both sides but That made it harder to glue down smoothly to the wood. I think I will try just doing the top side next time. I just have to be really careful not to damage it when I am gluing it.

I then used Martha Stewart craft paint (she makes the best) Citrine Gold to glaze him. It was a nice greenish gold.

So here he is:

I will have to keep experimenting with the structure and formula of the clay but overall I am pretty happy.

Atlas Table

 This is my new project. We got a new couch, finally, and I noticed that we really could use a table to go on the side since this couch is much smaller than the old one. 

I suddenly saw the vision in my head: Atlas holding up the world. Ok but this is a demilune table (that is half a circle) so I guess he is actually holding up half the world. This is somebody else's work and not my property at all and all that copyright stuff but this was the kind of thing I wanted to make:

 Since I have no power tools and cant cut a straight line I ordered an 18" wooden circle off of etsy and asked her to cut in half, which she did at no charge (thanks 😊)

Following the paper mache process I learned from Jonni on Ultimatepapermache.com I created an armature using wire and aluminum foil

wire, foil, masking tape 

I glued the foil on with hot glue and used some newspaper and masking tape too.

I then used paper mache paste of flour and warm water with a layer of newspaper and then a layer of paperbags.

Paper bag layer

It was already pretty sturdy considering but to make it super hard and add detail I used Jonni's papermache clay made of white glue, joint compound, toilet paper and flour. The problem is that you are not supposed to use DAP brand joint compound because it's got some ingredient in it that makes a weird chemical reaction that gets all rubbery. Apparently DAP is taking over the joint compound market in Los Angeles because I couldn't find any other brand in stock anywhere so I ended up using Fixall.

Its a powder which I like so I can save it and it won't get ruined but I'm not quite sure its the same. It gets VERY hard when dry which is good for strength but its not very good for sanding. I'm not sure if it was because of his or just the proportions of glue/fixall/flour but the clay came out fairly easy to work with over the paper bag but rather rough and hard to sand out bumps etc. In the future I would make everything smaller and more like an innercore and then use more of the paper clay for the outside. It is kind of expensive and a little soft and fragile when dry but I haven't found anything that is as easy to work with. It sands and carves nicely with the min rotary tool. On this guy I think I didn't leave enough room for the paper clay layer so I wasn't able to put in as much detail as I would like.

I will have to experiment with other DIY recipes for paper clay.

Here he is with the layers of paper clay:

Today I put his toga on and covered him with a layer of Jonni's gesso which is mostly glue and fixall. We will see how that dries.

gesso

Snow Queen 1

I haven't been on here in years but I thought I would try to keep a log on this one.
I've been working on illustrations for The Snow Queen (see my website) but this is the first actual painting for the story.

It is The Snow Queen sitting on her throne in the middle of her ice lake. This is my digital sketch:

It's done with DAZ3d and took me forever to get it done but I got a lot of problems sorted out.

Now using my version of the Mixed technique I ended up with this:

 I used a white tempera oil/egg emulsion made of 1 part egg yolk, 1 part 1/2 oil 1/2 damar varnish. Sticks to red underpainting ( just red thinned with oms) good texture for blending but takes a long time to dry. For second part of white I used 3 parts egg to 1 part oil/varnish adjusting so it would adhere. Its a balance between sticking and drying time.

This is the next coat of oil paint, Indian yellow with a little white thinned with oms. I have to give it several days to dry. I think the lake part of the white wasn't dry enough because the yellow kind of obliterated a lot of the details. It just means that I will have to repaint a lot of it.

Jan 17 2021

I have now put another layer of white tempera over the yellow. I think that Indian yellow if a little orangey for my purposes. It went on nicely but I don't know if it is necessary. I used lean emulsion, equal parts oil and damar varnish mixed with the egg tempera. As little as possible seems to work well.

I then Put a layer of blue over it. According to some internet sites you can use ultramarine blue to give it a "cool" look. So I tried it but I was not happy with the result. That paint (at least the one i have) is not good for glazing. It came out all blotchy. I had to go over it with a layer of pthalo blue. I have to remember to look here:https://gamblincolors.com/color-palettes/transparent-glaze-palette/ The pthalo went on much better. It might not show much if I put enough layers on top of it. We shall see.

I'm letting it dry and then I will proceed with another layer of white tempera.

Tempera grassa 2

Doing this as I go this time.
Support: 5 x 7 panel true gesso
paint: Used recipe from Koo but couldnt get it to emulsify . I added one egg yolk later.
Brush: Mostly princeton short liner 10/0, rigger for hair, flat
Following steps from italian botticelli site. Instead of adding oil to ground I just blocked in color with TG.
White for skin
cad yellow hair
black for BG

Those colors are all good. Used diluted black ink for shadows. Tried using pure colors and going over with just white.

Used raw umber for lines. I still need a combination of some mixed with white before painting. 

Could still use several layers to smooth out brush strokes more. Used black for shadows around nose and forehead. I need to try another from photo rather than somebody elses painting. There are things i like about each that need to be integrated. glazes with pure colors are good for luminosity, especially yellow ochre. I would like to find a vermilion and yellow ochre  maybe white that are good transparent colors.
Colors that are good:
Yellow ochre
Vermillion
Raw umber
Black
Rose matter
 Should try ultramarine blue for under