When Nothing is Working... Try Something New!

A new approach...

Last weekend was earmarked for Art with a capital A. With the West Norfolk Artists Association Summer Exhibition fast approaching, and the deadline to get entry forms in almost here, I was running out of time to produce some new work. If I had high expectations, they soon came crashing down. Nothing was working out, I felt rather uninspired and it showed. Frustration and disappointment set deep by Sunday evening. My long suffering husband had to put up with 'woe is me' and lots of sighing. "I don't know what my personal artwork is about..." and "It's all got a bit lightweight and flimsy" were some of the words muttered.

My mind must have been in overdrive while I slept, however. Monday morning I woke up, and a little mental pep talk whilst in the shower gave me whole different mindset for the day. Deep down I do know what I want my work to be about - contrasts of media, translucent versus opaque, detail versus abstract passages (for a start). I would try something different. I would experiment. Take the pressure off. I already have one pastel being framed so at least I have one work to enter. If nothing else I will at least have some fun!

Taking my theme of 'Artist in an Acre' I selected two photos as inspiration. I planned to create an abstract underpainting, then bring some semblance of order out of the chaos by working on the top but allowing passages of the initial layer to show too... These step by step photos demonstrate the stages one of the paintings went through. I started by laying the support on a waterproof sheet, on the floor, for the initial work - I planned on getting messy!

Diluted acrylic washes painted on to a canvas board - not pretty.

 

Thicker paint sponged on in selected areas.
Once dry, liquid acrylic ink is squirted and diluted on the surface,
drips encouraged.

Oooh, now things are getting interesting... dribbles of white diluted gesso.
The yellow acrylic ink wasn't as dry as I thought and mingles - I like it! 

Once the previous layer dried more acrylic ink is added...

Assessment time... 

Taking charge, now referring to reference photo more -
need to keep things loose though

Ah, now there is some context.

Keep the work loose. Spatter and droplets of brighter colour
for suggested leaves...

 

Tinted gesso for skyholes, needed some more 'pop' generally
 and more emphasis on sunlit grass. Out come the Conte crayons and
 finally 'Ta Dah' - finished!
Stream of Light, 35.5cms x 46cms, acrylic & Conte on canvas board.

I have also completed another artwork, a diluted acrylic underpainting on gessoed mountboard then worked up with soft pastel. Unusual for me, I did no blending of the pastel layers. So, when nothing is working... try something new. A different approach could work wonders. I am delighted with the results of the past two days, fingers crossed the selectors like my work!

Late Light, Spring 59cms x 54cms, acrylic & pastel on gessoed mountboard.

  

Plein Air - Old Stable in the Paddock

Attempting plein air painting with water mixable oils again
 

After my disastrous attempt at plein air with water mixable oils in France I didn't want to leave it too long before having another go.  A bit like falling off a horse - get back in the saddle asap!  I have fancied the old stable in the paddock as subject matter for a while, and in the sunshine it looked very inspiring.  I loved the leafy shadows cast by the overhanging willow branches onto the old weathered wood.  

A very busy scene

As you can see by the photo there was a lot of detail that would need simplifying - I was definitely going for an impression.  It is very different attempting a scene like this from life compared to working from a reference picture.  Everything seemed high definition yet in a constant state of change as the sun kept disappearing behind clouds and there was a frisky breeze.  Mistake number one - the sun was very bright and very strong.  I should have used my easel umbrella to shield the canvas board, then paint colours could have been assessed more accurately.  Mistake number two - I probably needed to either work on a larger board, or, considered the composition more carefully and made the old stable a bit smaller to allow for more context to surround it.  A quick value sketch would have organised this.  Anyway I started brushing on a diluted wash of ultramarine blue mixed with burnt umber feeling very optimistic.

As I wanted to keep everything loose I decided against any detailed drawing and opted to lift out the pale shape of the old stable with kitchen towel from the damp wash.  

Mid tone wash with pale shapes lifted out
(apologies for the dark photo) 

A slightly more concentrated wash of the same colours was used next to block in and define the main dark areas.  At the time I was quite happy at this stage but with hindsight I would definitely have preferred more room for the foreground grasses.  This canvas board is A4 size and I have found these proportions tricky in the past, if I am working small scale my eye prefers the 8" x 10" ratio (20 x 25cms) for some reason.    

Main dark passages blocked in

My strategy was to have thin darks and thicker paint for the light areas so the work progressed through various shades of green (all made from blues and yellows, sometimes toned down with burnt sienna) and pale neutrals for the weathered wood.  I had to try and capture the cast shadows when the sun blazed, but tricky as they constantly swayed and danced.  By now I realised that this would not be a masterpiece... my heart sank a little.  In frustration I utilised a palette knife to apply linear marks with naples yellow to suggest some of the long blonde dried grasses and finally dotted in the pale blue 'skyholes' in the trees.  At least both these actions gave the work a little boost! 

 

The Old Stable, water mixable oils on canvas board, 21 x 29.5cms

So there it is.  I spent an hour and forty minutes out in the open air, totally engrossed, and although I ended up with a painting that will probably just get stored away somewhere I thoroughly enjoyed the process and learned a few valuable lessons along the way.  Somme, the Labrador, had a whale of a time.  He was either charging around the field or taking shelter in the shade, accompanied by several balls of varying sizes from his collection!

There is still something I find inspiring about this scene and I may try it again with my soft pastels, either working from life again or maybe directly from the photograph.  Perhaps this is an exercise you might like to try - work on a subject you have tackled before but in a different medium?