It's yet another soggy Monday here on Planet Kit, and that means it's time for a State of the Artist update!
Weekly Words
That is happiness, to be dissolved into something complete and great.
- Willa Cather, 1873 - 1947
There is a freedom in completion. And yet, it is tempered by drive to start something new.
Current Project
This work is a commission for the lovely Murgy, who happily told me to just do whatever struck my fancy when it came to this piece.
The canvas measures 12x24" with a 1" cradle. Here's I've just over-primed with some standard gesso and added some texture with a little light molding paste applied with a palette knife for that slightly peaked roughness. I wanted texture, but nothing too rough or too tight on the surface. I've also tinted the canvas with a wash of dioxazine purple.
In retrospect, what I should have done was wash the canvas down with the diluted dioxazine purple, and *then* tinted the molding paste with the same color and applied it when the wash was dry.
But, I still got almost the desired effect, and it's mostly going to be covered up with layers of paint, anyway.
* * *
Working up the first few layers of color below the textured semi-circle. There's roughly applied swathes of sunny yellows, cadmium orange, and bright grass greens for depth.
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Filled in more layers of oranges and yellows to push back the too-bright greens I'd added at the bottom, without obliterating them completely. Also, worked in some burning reds, along with a blend of cadmium red and a teeny-tiny drop of dioxazine purple at the very top. Seriously, a teeny-tiny drop. A little bit of this color goes a LONG way.
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Just a more direct shot from the previous picture.
I'm painting this on my kitchen table, so to get this WIP picture, I stood on a chair in order to shoot as close to straight down as possible.
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Deepening up that top center semi-circle with some more dioxazine purple and added the final touch, a few strokes of the bright, burning crimson in the center.
* * *
DONE!
The final painting hanging with a directed spot light to highlight the textured areas at the top and running down the center.
Not shown in the photos is the painted cradle, which follows a similar gradient pattern as the painting: the top and first 1/4 of the cradle along the sides are the deep dioxazine purple/red blend, fading into the red/orange, to fade into a yellow/orange blend that sweeps along the bottom 1/4 and very bottom edge.
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If you have any comments or questions regarding my abstract works (or any of my creative projects) please, feel free to leave them in the comments section below!
Monthly Postcard Project
We are now in the month of June, which means we're halfway through the Monthly Postcard Project!
For all my lovely 6 month subscribers who started this journey with me back in January, this month's postcard will be the last you'll receive in the mail, unless you'd like to extend your subscription.
Please refer to the permanent info page, HERE to renew your subscription or learn more about the project!
Near Future
The Very Near Future sees me working on this month's aforementioned Monthly Postcard original so I can have them in my hands by the 15th in order to mail out.
I'm also tackling an independent book cover commission that I hope to be able to share soon.
Florida Supercon over 4th of July weekend in Miami, FL is also rapidly approaching and I definitely need to get some new art done in time for that, so, hopefully there will be plenty of new sketches and progress pics to share over the next few weeks!
Also, I should be hearing back from New York Comic Con regarding table space applications sometime soon. If I manage to secure a table it will be my first time attending this large, industry convention and I'm keeping my fingers crossed! I've heard very good things from other artists and industry pros who attend this con.
Well, I think that's all for this week's State of the Artist update here on Planet Kit.
I thank you for joining me again this week! Feedback is the food which fuels the creative discussion between Artist and Audience, please, feel free to comment or leave suggestions for new projects!
Feel free to post links to this journal/community if you feel there might be interest in my artwork!
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