WIP- Commission Painting

I have been doing a bit of work on the commission painting.

The mountains are done, maybe.  The sky needs a bit of tweaking.

Today I worked on blocking  in the darks for the grass/shrub/tree areas and also worked some on the water areas.

I am leaving the 2 large trees to do last.

I was going to also block in the shadow areas on the large rock sticking up in the grassy/watery area; but I had a bit of an issue.

  My easel broke.  I have cursed this easel since we bought it.  It has always been unstable and wobbly which I pretty much fixed by adding some shims at the bottom.  A couple of weeks ago the bolt type screw in thingy that holds the top canvas holder in place stripped and so I have been using it by holding the canvas firmly at the top with one hand while trying to paint with the other.
This afternoon the same type of bolt screw thingy that holds the bottom canvas holder tight also stripped and it started sliding down toward the floor.  Luckily my knees were at the same height as the holder and stopped it as I grabbed the canvas.  I was not a happy person at this point.

Tomorrow I will try and find some bolts with the same type threads and if I can't find any I may just end up having a carpenter make me a cheap; but useful tripod type one here.

Anyway here is a photo of the painting up to this point.

Title:  Untitled at the moment
Medium:  Oil on Canvas
Size:  24 x 39.5 inches, (60 x 100 cms.)

Art Exhibition At The Casa De La Cultura

   This evening was the opening of the art exhibition for the art classes at the Casa de la Cultura.
 The teacher I go to has a class of "beginners" and a class of "advanced" that goes on Mondays and Wednesdays and another class of both on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  When you have finished the "beginners" class you then move on to the "advanced" class.
 In the "beginners" class you advance through a set lesson plan the teacher has, where you are taught the basics, for your last work of the semester you decide what you want to work on and in what medium, usually either pencil, pastel or oil.
 In the advanced class we begin by deciding on what medium, technique, and type of canvas we want to use.  We discuss it with the teacher and get his ideas and input about the whole process.  We then work on our own, he is always available to show us different things or to offer suggestions/tips/ideas and to let us know when we need to do something differently.  I think he is a good teacher; but I don't have many others to compare him with.  He is patient, knowledgeable and well liked by all.  I believe he took his art training at the Tec de Monterrey in Chihuahua.
   The other teacher also has 2 classes, mostly of children/pre-teens so there are always a fair amount of paintings on display.

Our teacher decided that we should have our semester end mini fiesta today also.  These mini fiestas and exhibitions are the only times during the year that all of his classes get together in a group.  Everyone brings snacks, we set it all out on the tables and dig in.  It is a mixed group of people, some around my age, some teens and some as young as 8 yrs. old.
A good ending or almost ending of this semester.  The "advanced" classes are to go for the next 3 days, for 3 hrs. a day to finish off the paintings that didn't get done.  I have finished all of mine; but am starting on a new one, so will go and get it prepped and ready to go for the next semester which starts February 4 th.

Here are some photos of the exhibition.  Some of the subjects of the paintings might look familiar from other times I have posted photos of other exhibitions.  The members of the "beginners" class often choose a photo from the teachers stock pile, if they don't have something of their own that they really want to do.

Our classroom before the eating began.

Finished Pastel Painting

I added a few finishing touches to this and have decided that I am going to leave it alone.  I keep wanting to fix this and fix that and if I don't stop myself I end up ruining things completely.  The problem is that I have this picture of how I want it to look in my mind and that image never quite comes out of my fingers, so I am never quite happy with the end result.  Oh well, keep practicing I guess.

 Thank you very much Todd M. for allowing me to use your photo for the reference for this.  He took a photo of a window in a home in the countryside near San Miguel de Allende where he lives.

This is soft chalk pastel on Canson Mi Tientes pastel paper.  Approx. size is 11 x 14 inches or 28 x 35 cms..
Title:  En El Campo, (in the countryside).

Time To Ponder

Done or not, that is the question?  When is enough, enough or not enough?  This is going to be set aside for a few days while I look at it and decide.

A fellow Canadian took a photo of a window in a home in the countryside near San Miguel de Allende where he lives.  He was kind enough to give me permission to use his photo as a reference for this painting.  Thank you very much Todd M., I really love your photo!

This is soft chalk pastel on Canson Mi Tientes pastel paper.  Approx. size is 11 x 14 inches or 28 x 35 cms..
Title:  En El Campo, (in the countryside).

As always ideas, critiques, and comments are welcome, feel free.

Finishing Up The Odds and Ends

I have had a couple of paintings on the go here for quite awhile that never seem to get finished.  They just keep getting set aside while I finish other more pressing things.
Yesterday I decided it was time to look at them, touch them up a bit and call it quits.
For some reason my camera has decided to take photos which are very dark this morning.  Monday morning rebellion perhaps.  I will have to check and see what settings I have managed to change somewhere along the line.

Anyway here are the finished paintings.  Both are for sale.

1. Oil on canvas.  Size:  15.5 x 23.5 inches
Title:  La Iglesia a Magdalena de Kino, Sonora, Mexico (The church at Magdalena de Kino, Sonora, Mexico)
***My thanks to Eddie G. for giving me his permission to use a photo of his as a reference for this painting****

2.  Oil on canvas board.  Size: 12 x 16 inches
Title:  Abandonado, (Abandoned)

Preparing A Canvas

I am getting ready to begin a new commission oil painting and thought I would talk about the steps I need to take before actually sitting down to do the painting.  It seems like there is a lot of boring stuff to do before the actual fun part of painting.

1. Talk to the customer and find out what they want and the size or decide what I want to do if I am just doing one for myself.

2. Hunt down a carpenter to make the wooden framework for the actual physical canvas, and also hunt down a place to buy some canvas for said frame.  This is not so easy in our city with zero art supply stores.  (There are a couple of stores which sell, as a sideline, paint and some regular size canvases; but the choice of canvases is limited and they are not always a good grade.)

3. Discuss with the carpenter the price, size, wood width, number of supports, style (wrap around-staples on back or regular-staples on side, making sure they will round off the wood so it won't show through after you paint on the canvas, etc. and do it in a language that you are not fluent in.  It is fun actually and people are always helpful.

4.  Pick up said canvas when it is finished.

5.  Prep the canvas to get it ready for painting which means putting a couple of coats of gesso on the back and usually 3 coats on the front. (I cannot buy the gesso here, in my city, in other than very small bottles which are expensive, so I mix up my own.)  A lot of people don't do the backs of their canvases; but because of the humidity factor here I always do.  So far I have had no issues with paintings molding or mildewing on the back as they hang on the walls.  I know other people with non prepped canvas backs have had this issue.  After all these coats have dried, I sometimes will put on a thin wash of some colour complementary to the painting colours to cover the white up.  I don't usually bother tinting the gesso; but do sometimes do this wash after the gesso.

6.  Do some type of drawing on paper and then transfer it onto the canvas.  I do not draw right onto my canvas as I do lots of changes/corrections and it is easier to make the changes on paper first.

7.  Finally, ready to paint!!!!

The commission that I am getting ready to start at the moment is oil on canvas, 60 x 100 cms. or 24 x 39.5 inches.  It is to be a landscape scene with some mountains in the background and a marshy area with lots of trees in their fall colours in the foreground.  This should be a fun painting as it is not as structured as a lot of things I do.  Looking forward to starting it.

Almost Finished-- Pelican

Well, time to step back again and look at this one, until I decide if he is finished or not.
Oil on canvas, size 16 x 20 inches.

Title: El Pescador, The Fisher