Missing SmART School

I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted. Summer as been very busy and so blasted HOT!! I am so ready for fall and cooler weather. Are you listening Mother Nature??
I am skipping SmART School this semester because I still must finish this commission plus I have some personal "stuff" going on that I can't ignore any longer. Plus, I need to get my website squared away with a store for my prints and do some reorganizing. I did notice that SmART School is now offering PayPal Bill Me Later which might make a difference in people's ability to afford it. Dividing the enrollment fee by 6 is much more doable for me. Just thought I'd spread the word. I will leave you with this quote from Rebecca Guay:

"The people who succeed in this business are the ones who are being deeply true to their work and doing a LOT of it to make it perfect (and don't let the inner demons and fears of failure or inadequacy rule them when they claw their way to the surface)."

By the way, Rebecca is having a one-woman show next week. Check out her beautiful, evocative work.

Mentorship Continues- Autumn

Trying to catch up on blogging. I related that I've started an online mentorship with Rebecca Guay. I meet with her, along with two other students via Skype once a week for 2-2 1/2 hours. We've had assignments each month but we also try to sneak in personal projects that have been sitting around either in our studios or our heads, gathering dust (and cat hair, in my case). Here is one I have posted on before. And here is the typical process one of my amateur sketches goes through under Rebecca's  professional hand.

There are other aspects to this painting that have emerged for me since it's conception. It has taken on very personal expression that Rebecca will help me convey. But for now...here is where it started and where it's going.

Mentorship Continued

 Final Sketch of Moonlight and Fireflies

Watercolor Applied

Been gone visiting our daughter and her family in Michigan. Weather was pretty dreary but we had a wonderful time. Continuing with the mentorship with Rebecca...the top image is the final sketch. I printed it out on Arches WC paper and applied watercolor in the second image (it's a photo so the colors are slightly skewed). I have now sealed it with acrylic matte medium and will start applying the oils on top of this.

Mentorship With Rebecca Guay

This month, I started a mentorship with Rebecca Guay, along with 5 other students. We meet online every Tuesday for a couple of hours and receive instruction from her on our assignments. I am taking advantage of her expertise by pulling out some projects that frankly have sat in my studio because I didn't know how to move forward on them. I was either lacking skill or confidence or both to take them to completion.

 Here is the first one on the pile. I won't go into the background on this one. It is beyond embarrassing how long it has taken. The study above is a combination of sketches I have drawn for it (notice the fairies from an earlier post).

 Rebecca took it and moved the moon, made it bigger, taking advantage of its strong design element and pop! For me, that made all the difference. The picture has taken on a more magical feeling already. She tilted the girl back so she doesn't look like she's going to slide down the branch.

She added wings but they were changed to look more subtle. Added some Spanish moss instead of my clunky leaves. Rearranged the fairies.

 This is the second week. Mine is above. Rebecca's below. I love how she treated the Spanish moss. Very Kay Nielsen-ish. I also really like how the moon comes through the branches behind her. Worked on value, trying to keep the focus on the girl's face. That's been a challenge with all the little lights and fairies and fireflies.

I'm almost ready to transfer it to the board. Next post.....PAINT! Scary. No, Kim....paint is your friend.

Technique Experiment.

One of the highlights at IMC was sitting down with Rebecca Guay and watching her work her magical technique from start to finish. It was one of the first things I wanted to try when I returned home. Though she began with a photo of her daughter, I figured it would work just as well on a sketch. So I pulled out this sketch and began.

In Photoshop, I built up light layers of color, keeping them fairly muted. After that, I "ghosted" the image with a layer of white and printed it out on a 13"x 19" sheet of watercolor paper. (This is darkened so you can see it better).

Next I wet down the paper and taped it to my board. After allowing it to dry completely, I applied a coat of acrylic matte medium. On top of this I started painting with Holbein's acryla gouache. Though the colors are opaque, you can water them down to a watercolor transparent-like consistency. I also strengthened the lines with a brown Verithin pencil.

This painting obviously went through many changes. Tried a couple different backgrounds, hair shapes and skies. After I thought it was ready, I photographed it and the problems were glaringly there before me. First, the weight of the trees in the background was too heavy on the right as well as crowding the bird.

Next was the sternomastoid (circled above...no, it's not a giant earring). Way too severe. Edges way too hard. So I softened it and will soften it some more with the oil layer.

I know there are other minor things wrong, but I decided to commit and move forward.

(This is an experiment after all).

Next, I put a layer of Galkyd on it. This warms up the colors with it's clear amber hue and seals the paint underneath. Once it dries, I will begin the transparent oil glazes on top.

Rebecca made this all look so easy when she demonstrated it. She uses watermarks to her advantage and wields her brush with such a deft hand. I have too many layers of paint on this, losing much of the transparent look she achieves with her work. But it's a start.

IMC Report

Well obviously I didn't get very far with my documentation of IMC. I managed to make it to day 3 and then dropped off. You simply get so carried away with the instruction and networking and socializing, as well as painting that there's not a drop of energy left to do anything else but drag your tired carcass back to the dorms and grab a few hours of sleep before the next day. I will attempt to relay all that was IMC this week. I'm still recovering and adjusting to regular life. For now I will post the drawing I did for the interior of Rebecca Guay's sketchbook as a thank you for all her efforts in creating and producing this wonderful week of instruction. The students gave each of the faculty a personalized moleskin/sketchbook and then Tara Chang who organized the gifts, asked certain students to draw a picture on the front page. I was both honored and intimidated to do Rebecca's. She seemed to be happy with it. This is her daughter.