Barry’s Art Stuff

I just finished this painting using a photo I found in an Arizona highways calender. My sister always saves these for me and every now and then there’s something that catches my eye. This one seemed to scream color, so I painted this as I did the last painting very very wet, both sides, then blotted the excess water off, then dumped on tons of color. I did leave the board flat rather than tilting like I usually do. I didn’t want my paint to run, just stay in one place. I started with a 1 1/2″ flat for the first round of color then went to a #36 round (this thing is like a mop), for more color and some darks, then went to a # 10 liner ( about the size of a pencil) and added vertical tree trunks (still wet), and then went away to let it do it’s thing. Once dry I came back in with the large round and added more darks to show the shadows from the tree, and finally took some straight color and added the suggestion of foliage here and there. I was painting with a mat on the picture to make sure I did just enough and not overwork. I’m really liking this style of painting because it’s like a box of chocolates…….you know the rest!

I’m providing the reference picture so you can see what I was working from. Try it and see what you come up with.

If you would like to own this painting 678-363-9292 $200.

My intent was to lay down loads of color wet wet wet wet, and see what happens.

First I soaked both sides of the paper and the board. The paper will suck to the board and you don’t need to clamp, tape or anything. I was using 140 lb. Arches. The I blotted the moisture off the front of my paper and started to lay in color shapes and watched what happens. That is the fun part. There’s nothing scary, it’s just paper and paint, and you want it very loose. If you look on Frank Webbs site you will see this type of painting. While the paper is still a bit damp I added more COLOR to strengthen some areas that washed out. That’s going to happen and it no big deal just add  more color.

Next day when this has dried completely ,I went in and added bold calligraphy marks for shadows and details. Some of the poles ropes and rigging were made up to add some repetition. Repetition is a good way to tie things together so a particular element of the painting doesn’t stands out like a sore thumb. I did go back in and lift a few areas to get a little contrast. This is what I call Stress Free Painting. You need to try this and just splash on some really strong color on wet paper in shapes and watch the magic.
If you are interested in this painting it is available @$200.00 Call me @678-363-9292

I have started keeping a sketchbook with me in the van for times when I see something that might make a good picture. I always take it to shows and doodle which is really good practice as it sharpens your observation of what you see, and it really is fun. I have seen several blogs that people have where there’s one guy that apparently rides the subway and draws people he sees as cartoons. I also saw one from a cartoonist that likes to go to life drawing classes but instead of drawing lifelike, he draws cartoonlike. .Great stuff. here’s where to look: www.Blobberlubber.blogspot.com  and the other is : www.Stephensilver.blogspot.com   On Silvers blog ,you will have to scroll down a bit, but all his stuff is great.

So yesterday I’m heading back to the studio from a delivery and remembered the life drawing class on Mondays at the Mablehouse Art Center and stopped by to do a little sketching.

This was the most fun I’ve had, me, my pad and my pencil. I went for the cartoon look. I’m not really into drawing people and life stuff to seriously but it is good practice for cartooning and caricatures to be able to see things anatomically correct which eventually transfers over to other work.

This is going to be another category  that I will post regularly, now that I’m sketchbook equiped at all times. Here’s one of the sketches I did yesterday. I did color it when I got back to the studio.

I just finished 2 days of drawing caricatures at the Big Shanty Festival in Historic Kennesaw Ga.  Kennesaw is a historical Civil War area where I believe there was some sort of battle. They have a muesum that actually houses “The General”,which is a steam locomotive that was used during the war. 

I’ve been doing this show for at least 10 years and it just gets better and better. There really isn’t much in the way of art, but lots of crafts, food and entertainment. I wanted to take more pictures but I was so busy that I didn’t have time to take but one.

It was brought to my attention last week that acrylic paint work really good on pastelboard. Ambersand makes pastelboard, which is basically for pastels. It has the feel of sandpaper on masonite or hardboard.

This is the results. I wanted a copper patina finish on the wood and wanted it to contrast with a rusty old lockset. I laid down several transparent washes till I got the desired color. I couldn’t quite get the color I was after till I washed in some turquiose. I could still see my drawing thru the washes, but I didn’t want to loose any more, so I laid in a wash of ultramarine blue into all the shadows. Once dry, I started blocking in the lockset with warm red gold(Interactive Brand Color) and burnt sienna. Thereafter I just continued to build shape and shadows. I added weathering and splits to the wood with more blue and sienna, then I took a wash of thin white and smeared(with my finger) for lack of a better word, into some areas to look bleached out.

This painting is 11×14 and is available for $150. Call if you’re interested.678-363-9292  e-mail: Barry@signandart.com

It’s been a while since I have blogged because of my schedule last week. I was drawing caricatures for elementary school kids as part of the Artists in School program. It’s really a lot of fun, but wears you out after you’ve done 6-7 demos in a day, one right after the other.

With this painting I was trying something new for me and it’s is Sooo neat. I used modeling compound from Interactive, on the canvas before painting. This stuff has the consistency of spackling paste being very creamy and smooth. You apply it with a putty knife let it dry, then start painting. You could probably put it on with a brush or sponge maybe to get different textures. When the paint dries it seems to dry very matte, which I prefer. I plan on doing a few more with this as it gives you that oil painting feel with out the oil and waiting around for it to dry. BTW, you can mix the colors with it before you put it on, but it does have a slight color change , maybe a bit more pastel.

I painted this lighthouse to use as a sample for my demoboards that I show at my  Interactive Acrylic Workshops. This measuses 9″X12″ on linen canvas. That’s why the picture looks so grainy. There were just 4 colors used on this along with white. Yellow ochre, burnt sienna, Ultramarine blue, and alizron crimson. I normally don’t paint this small but ,I think it came out pretty good. If you would like to have it, it’s available  for $125.

I just finished a watercolor workshop at Binder’s Art Supplies in Atlanta this last weekend, and I wanted to share with you the demo painting.

I have painted this barn several times and everytime I do , it is always successful. Elements that I think  make it successful is the white shape of the two roofs, and the shadows. The rest you can go as far as you want, but those two things are real prominent. I painted the sky wet paint on to dry paper. Once the paint is down , I took clear water and pushed what was there. The next thing,was painting all the sides of the barn  a medium value color. You could actually make it any color you want, and while the paint is still wet drop in some complimentary colors into the shadow areas, which will make a nice neutral to semi neutral gray. Complimentary color meaning opposites on the color wheel. Finally, add the real dark shadows and some calligraphy and you are done. If  you look at the fence, because my foregound was fairly light, I chose to paint it dark, but if you look closer the dark area that the fence goes thru is light. Did you notice that. This was done by taping both edges and lifting with clean water and a tissue. The same was also done on the upper door of the barn where the sun was hitting an edge, then repainting the bracing again.

This painting is available for $200. unframed.

The sign business has been pretty slow last few days so I have had some time to do a few paintings. I chose this picture , because it would involve quite a bit of blending. I have an Interactive product demonstration coming up in May and I wanted to demo a painting that you could constantly blend to demonstrate the blending qualities of the Interactive acrylics. This was really a lot of fun.

I watch a guy on public TV early Saturday morning painting with acrylics and I have picked up some of his techniques. No it’s not Bob Ross! It’s Jerry Yarnell’s School of Fine Art. He really is a good artist. Although his health is questionable because he always has sort of a cough that they don’t seem to cut out, so I call him the “cougher”.

Back to the painting…….

I painted this on Fredrix watercolor canvas 18×24, and as Jerry does a lot of, he scrubs in color  for foliage and texture. It really works with the acrylic if you lay the brush horizontal to the surface and push, shove , and stir.(These are  the latest in painterly verbs).

I don’t like the name, so if someone can come up with something better please let me know.

This painting is for sale if interested (unframed) at $200. call me @678-363-9292 or e-mail Barry@signandart.com

I got this idea of a Nuclear submarine, sneaking thru the mist, undetected, entering enemy waters.

I went to the web to research some subs, to see how the water went over the bow and down the sides, and what was common about all the images. I also went to the web to check out “misty ocean ” images. After thinking about it for a few days I pulled out the full sheet of paper and as they say gave it a go. No masking  just soft washes of raw sienna over the entire paper. I used a sponge to get everything evenly wet and tilted my board about 5″. After completely dry, I sprayed water on the whole thing and again did another wash to add more color to it. I did this about 4 time gradually adding peacock blue to the lower portion of the paper because this was the closest point and your color would naturally be bolder.

Once dry, I blocked in all of the sub with dark  raw sienna. From my references most of the sub would be in shadow, the rear of the boat would be lighter than the front.

It was very common in the photos to see surfaced subs with sailors standing on deck, so to add  reference to size, I added a guy on the deck. When I finally had everything painted, I hadn’t achieved what I was after.

I pulled out the airbrush and using gouache (opaque watercolors), I started misting light coats of diluted white over the entire painting. I saw this technique done by a guy at an airbrush convention many years ago, to add atmosphere to something he was doing. To be honest I’m not sure how I would have done without the airbrush.

Finally I added a couple of heavier passes to show surface mist and felt I had what I was after