Granny at the circus continued

I knew I was not happy with this painting but I couldn't exactly figure out what it was. It was a few things, actually. But since this is a personal piece that nobody really cares about except me, I figured I would go ahead and experiment with it.
For one thing the composition was off. There was way too much dead space on the left hand side. I added in a few more people which gives it more of the atmosphere of the actual place and balances the composition.
I also used DAZ to redo the girl serving drinks in the back. Her pose was very awkward.
I also tried something with the stockings of the showgirl. I printed the net stockings on acetate and laid it on top of the painting, It worked in parts, but overall it was too messy and made some big blobs of dark so I ended up going back in with the sharpie oil paint pen and making a dot pattern.
I have also discovered that gelplen goes on pretty well over the oil and tempera. I don't know how well it will hold when I paint over it though. I'm thinking if i use a layer of oil to seal it up it might be ok. We shall see.
And lastly I want to keep track of how I do the skin tones. I like the way the Gerbil Boy turned out but I dont remember exactly the technique I used so i will try to make note of it here if I figure out a good way.
So here is how it is now, we shall see how it goes:

Granny at the circus

Its been quite awhile since I posted here. This is for myself more than anyone else, though. I realize I keep having the same problems over and over so I am going to keep better notes of my progress and obstacles.

I started a new painting recently, inspired by these pictures we took at circus vargas.

 The ringmaster's expression was just too good.

I decided that i wanted to use the mischt technique that I have been experimenting with. Well not really "the technique" but just the idea of using egg tempera and oil together.


So this is how I started:

Its 16 X 20 on a panel that I had previously prepared with rabbit skin glue and gesso, so I thought I'd try it out. I thought I would try having the foreground in warm tones and the background more gray. (July 15, 2017)

This is the next day. Dark floor, more highlights

I thought I would experiment with putting texture in the rug. (July 31)

As I started putting in more details, I realized it was all too dark.In oreder for the tempera to have an affect it has to be almost entirely covering the area with just the dark details showing through. (August 7)

I put a lot more white tempera in the background and tried out 2 different kinds of white pens along with colored pencils. I always find myself wanting to make straight lines which i cannot do with paint. The watercolor pencils work pretty well so far, but the are not very strong. I got an oil base sharpie paint pen and a regular old gel pen from Michaels and tried those. The Sharpie is bold but even though it is an extra fine tip, it is pretty thick. The gel pen is working pretty well  and is more the consistency I was looking for. I put local color glazes on some of the areas and painted the Circus sign pretty alla prima. That brings us up to date. (August 13)

Egg Tempera Practice

Since I took pictures of this painting as I went along, I figured I would put together a quick GIF to show the steps. I followed examples I found on the web and various readings. I don't know if I am rushing things or something, but the under layers don't seem to be making that much of a difference. I will have to keep experimenting.

I am posting this video I made explaining more about the puppet I made. Facebook would not let me link it directly to youtube due to copyright problems. I am posting it here if you care to watch:

It took me a long time to make this and youtube said I could use it if I did not make any money off of it, which I will not. There are many people not familiar with this unique and interesting ballet and i wanted to share it.

Made a GIF of the progress I've made on the painting of my grandparents:

Afraid I couldnt get best quality cause my old computer crashes every time I try to do something fancy.
Here is the latest photo:

Cinderella

For whatever reason, I was inspired to do a picture of Cinderella. I saw in my head an action scene of Cindy running away from the prince as the clock strikes midnight. I dont know why. Just felt like doing an illustrative type thing. Probably left over from my childhood.

So I searched the internet and found some nice reference photos on deviant art and used my DAZ 3d modeler to get the poses:

from deviant art

created with daz 3d

I had a very specific picture in my mind. After much screwing around with perspective and architecture this is the drawing I came up with:

This is actually a photoshopped version I used to transfer the drawing to a clayboard panel. I had a failed attempt on illustration board that I got a couple of days into before I realized that it was just too flimsy for all the layers of painting and erasing and the biggest pain of all, cutting frisket.

first step sepia ink

The hardest part for me with doing architectural things is making straight lines. I went through hell on the bird lady painting trying to get the gate bars straight. I thought this would be a good opportunity to try a new way. I used pens to make the edges with a ruler hoping that the ink might show through.

second step gouache painting with frisket for straight lines

The gouache, it turns out, is pretty opaque so I couldnt really use the lines for the buliding parts. I tried using frisket to create the marble tiles. The lo tac stuff doesnt stick to the gouache at all. I wanted to try the extra tac but I think I may have gotten the wrong thing by mistake. Anyway, it worked out ok in the end but I will need to practice with it. 

third step background details

I used alternating layers of gouache (with just a touch of the egg emulsion in it) and oil paint. I will have to go back in after this first layer of oil paint dries and do more detail with the gouache and back and forth until it looks right.

Im not sure what this technique would be called. Its not exactly "mische technique" because I am using colored gouache instead of plain white egg tempera. I hate to call it "mixed media" because that has different implications. 

That's where I am now.

Latest Experiment: Old Lady with a Cat

In my quest to learn more about egg tempera, I ended up doing this hybrid of egg tempera and gouache:

Old and Cat 8 x 10
egg tempera and gouache on illustration board

In my research I found some basic things about egg tempera:

1. Egg yolk is used as the binder so you have to separate the white from the yolk and then carefully puncture the membrane so the liquidy part of the yolk will come out.

2. Really, you are supposed to use dry pigment powder. Then its just a matter of mixing the pigment with the egg yolk to a smooth consistency. You just use water as a thinner. Paint it on in numerous thin, transparent layers.

Since I didnt have any dry pigment and didn't want to invest any more money at this point, I had plenty of gouache tubes on hand and discovered that really the only difference is the gum arabic binder that they use.

I mixed the egg yolk with the tube gouache. My assumption was later verified by a artist who uses egg tempera and on his website he suggested this as a way to test it out.

In progress

details of the painting including an actual  hair on the last one

What I have learned:

I have always liked the results using gouache but have been very frustrated in the actual painting process because of its tendency to lift off when layers are added. This is because it is water soluble and just melts when it is re-wetted with fresh paint. The best solution I have found is  Acryligouache which is a gouache with some acrylic added to it so it doesnt melt quite so easily. I think I like this even better, though. I can use regular (cheaper) gouache and just add egg yolk. When the layer is completely dry the egg forms a sturdier layer which holds up better to new layers. I also used egg yolk as a sort of gloss varnish over the whole thing.

I'm sure its not exactly the same as real egg tempera.  I used plain gouache for the final details because it was more opaque so I know it behaves differently than real tempera. I like it though so I guess its time to buy some dry pigment.