JUST FOR FUN, I'M NOT LION....

As artists, we spend a lot of time working on our craft, we draw we paint, we sketch we doodle, we work..........but our passion, our love is our work, and at times the fun goes out of it because it is our job. And as it is our job..........we at times loose site of the fact that it should be fun.

So, every once in a while, I will take a day and just draw or paint and enjoy what I do. No worries, no pressures, just doing it because I can. I will do this when we are on vacation or at times in the evening as we wind down for bed, but my favourite place is on our front porch.

Today was just such a day, and today I went out of my comfort zone and painted much much differently than I normally do............I painted Alla Prima.....all in one. 

Normally I work on a painting over several days, underpainting, working on one area while another dries, glazing in areas, painting over things and such....but today I sat down and did the whole thing in one sitting, painting wet on wet.

Here is my board with the drawing on it, it is a little 8 X 10 piece that I had lying about, I couldn't use it for a commercial piece as it had a weird unknown substance on its surface, and I could not risk using it for a client and having the blob of stuff affect the image.

At this point I have reached the ugly stage of painting.......lots of mud and just not looking good at this point. Basically I have blocked in large areas of colour. Normally I would have stopped at this point and let it dry, but since I was going for the all in one sitting thing I kept on going to remove the uglies.

Here we have pushed thru to get a little more work on the piece. He is starting to take on some semblance of a lion and coming out of the ugly stage. He is still a bit muddy but coming out of it. 

Here he is all done and in a little over 3 and a half hours. He is not perfect, a little out of perspective, still a bit muddy, a little cockeyed, but I like him.

It was a blast, I learned a bit that I can apply to my normal studio work, and I will be doing this again. 

My set up for my palette, which is my con palette that I talked a bit about in the last post. I used very few colours on this, yellow ochre, raw sienna, burnt umber, cad yellow light, titanium white, ultramarine blue, cerulean blue, dioxazine purple and cad red deep. 

And here was my company for the afternoon so I didn't get lonely while I painted.........it was sort of like being in the studio as well since he hangs out with me there too.

PALETTES A PLENTY

There are multiple options for palettes out there, just google it and you will see, for a while I tried the traditional kidney shaped wooden one, but found it a hassle, and went back to my ol' tried and true glass palette. They are what I honestly learned on and am sticking with it.

Now with that said, I am throwing out a little quick tip that might just come in handy for ya'll at some point. I use more than one palette.........I do have my main palette on my taboret, which is what I will use for 99% of my painting.

I has a large mixing surface that is relatively easy to clean and work on. It is stable and I don't  have to worry about it too much unless I drop a coffee cup on it and crack it and have to get a new one....barring that hazard it is a great surface.

Now along with this one I have a little wooden frame that holds a sheet of glass as well that I use for a palette as well, it is portable and I do take it with me to Cons at times and use it to work while I am there.

I do also use it in the studio as an extra if I have multiple pieces I am working....which I generally do. I also find it extremely useful for mixing up big blobs of colour for like sky areas and such so that I can paint my sky and then move onto the main palette for other areas of the image.

I also have 2 other sheets that will fit into this little frame that I can use as well, so I don't have to scrape off the paint I am using on the one sheet and can continue to work.

I could use a paper palette, but I don't see the need for the waste, and I do have the space at this time to have all my palettes. 

Is it excessive......I don't thinks so, I find it works well for me and might be of advantage to someone else.