Merry and Bright

The title for this one is the same as the Christmas Holiday Card I'm sending out this year. Just ordered them so I hope they are back in time for me to mail them out (snail mail that is!).
Above is the card.

Here is the original painting:

You can see that it's a bit stark and featureless top and bottom. That was deliberate so that I could add lettering later. Obviously I won't sell this painting. I think Christmas paintings are a bit seasonal anyway.




It's so busy, busy, busy right now.
For the past 2 years I have been on a committee that welcomes new residents into our town.
This year I have offered to host a seasonal drinks party in my home - this weekend...gahh!  Lots to do to get ready for that.




Plus with Christmas coming up and guests arriving we have been trying to finish all of the odd jobs around the house. It's hard to fit in painting when you have other things to do.

Also just finished a big commission, which I will post soon.


(12 x 12 inches)
30 x 30cm approx
Oil on Gessobord

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I still have a set of Christmas Tree ornaments in my attic from when I was a kid; still in their original box. My husband has been trying to persuade me to throw them out because I generally don't hang them on the tree. But this year I have been absolutely dying to pull them out and paint them.
(If I get time I may have some of my paintings made into greetings cards.)

I went to pull out the box a couple of weeks ago while tidying up up there and found that a few of them were broken. I had a look on ebay and discovered that it is pretty easy to still pick up some of these vintage ornaments, so I bought a few to make up for the broken ones. This is one of them.
I painted this one first because I bought some tubes of gold oil paint a couple of months ago and have been dying to try them out.

Here they are on my palette:

I used the Gamblin Rich gold more than the others.
I just used it for some of the highlights but also used a good amount of Asphaltum (a dark brown). 
Now I need to buy some silver paint!

I think I'm going to paint a series of these ornaments.

(6 x 6 inches)
15 x 15cm approx
Oil on Gessobord

Something Sweet

I think I finally have the strawberry paintings out of my system for a while, especially since this one was much harder work than the last one. It took me at least twice as long. Anybody remember their mother sprinkling sugar on strawberries? As if they aren't sweet enough!

The reason this took so long is because originally I had a completely neutral background, like my last three paintings, but the little white sugar bowl just didn't work - it just kind of disappeared into space. I kept darkening the shadows, but then the painting just became too grey and oppressive.

I decided to leave it and come back to it - and in the middle of the night I had a brainwave - there's more than one way to differentiate an object from its background other than working on the values - the colour of course!

So this morning I got up and wiped it. I changed the background to this yummy aqua colour. I also simplified the sugar bowl lid which was giving me no end of headaches (it's a handmade uneven sugar bowl). After some other minor tweaks advised by my husband and eldest daughter, I'm finally happy with it.

(12 x 12 inches)
30 x 30cm approx
Oil on Gessobord

Scattered Strawberries and a Painted Bowl

This is my first new larger painting staying with the strawberries theme. I admit I'm super happy with it. I'm glad I did a few smaller studies first.

I really enjoy painting ceramics that have a nice painted edge to them. You need to have a nice flat brush with a sharp edge, load it up with paint and... hold your breath! No wobbles!
The bowl is actually a little ceramic colander, but the drainage holes happen to be underneath - where you can't see them. It's also decorated on the inside so I think this little object is going to be very versatile and feature again in future paintings.

(12 x 12 inches)
30 x 30cm approx
Oil on Gessobord

Berries on parade - and a website!

Another study of strawberries, before I post a larger painting I'm working on.


Have I announced I have a new website?

Here it is!

jacquelinedavis.com 


I have been simultaneously working on:

• building my website 

• updating this blog 

• and designing my business cards so that they all have a similar look to them. 

Super happy with the business cards and also got some note cards printed at the same time.



I wanted a semi-retro look to all of it which I feel fits well with my style of painting.
For each of the website, blog and business cards I have chosen FUTURA as my font for the main titles.
Futura was designed by Paul Renner in 1927 coincidentally the era when all my favorite styles of architecture were built.  It is similar to Gill Sans designed by Eric Gill designed around the same time. Both fonts are still widely used today.

Strawberries Three

A quick-ish study of three strawberries. Trying to get back in-the-saddle, so to speak with still life.

I'm planning to do a series of larger paintings featuring strawberries for an upcoming show. I decided on strawberries basically because I enjoy painting them so much. They are such a gorgeous luscious fruit to paint. Those seeds are kind-of tricky though. You don't need to paint them all in - just indicating them is enough, but you can't just paint them in random locations either. They actually have a very regular geometric spacing so you do have to observe their location somewhat.

(8 x 8 inches)
20 x 20cm approx
Oil on Gessobord




Before painting this I referred back to my notebook from when I'd painted strawberries before. I used to print out a little picture of what I'd painted, glue it in my notebook and jot down notes about it. Sometimes I'd just write down the colours I had used and other times going into more detail about design/ sketching ideas etc. Haven't done this in a while but definitely going to go back to doing this. I guess that's the purpose of the blog as well, but sometimes it's easier just to pick up a pen and sketch and jot things down.

Tea for Martina

So I painted this one ages ago and I have been dying to post it, but it was a painting for a friend so I didn't feel I could post it until she had received it.
Martina is an Australian friend that I met since living in New York. Her daughter and my daughter met on the first day of school and became firm friends immediately! Martina and I got involved in our local town residents club social team and organised lots of activities together and our families became friends.
Unfortunately for us (not for them) the family recently decided to move back to Australia. We were all extremely sad to see them go, but since we are ex-pats ourselves, completely understood their reasoning.
Martina asked me to paint something for her and the objects are all from her kitchen. I fell in love with the adorable red enamel teapot and Martina loves to drink from a proper china teacup so this is my tribute to her.
She received the painting this morning all the way in Australia. It is now in their temporary rental house while they wait to move back into their permanent home.

The tablecloth was a challenge but wow I really enjoyed doing it. It wanted to make the pattern believable while keeping it fairly loose and not getting too hung up in the detail. Very happy with it and the painting overall.


(16 x 16 inches)
40 x 40cm approx
Oil on Gessobord

Walking back from Fish Beach.

This is another scene from 'Fish Beach' on Monhegan.
This was late afternoon around dusk, as the sun was low (off to the right behind Fish House) in the sky. I was entranced by this little alleyway and went there often.
The land at the back of the painting is Manana Island, which has only one house.
The stretch of water between Mongehan and Manana is narrow, but you could occasionally catch a boat sailing down there towards the dock.

(11 x 14 inches)
28 x 3.6cm approx
Oil on Gessobord

Painting a ground with Gamblin Fastmatte

photo taken from the Gamblin website.

I'm always in two minds about whether or not to start a painting with a ground

A ground is basically a layer of coloured paint applied to an artwork before painting the picture, rather than leaving the canvas or panel white.

Here is really good article on how and why to use coloured grounds:
Painting on coloured grounds

I'm not sure about using a ground because I'm not always overly keen on the way they can tint the whole painting when you are painting wet-on-wet, so I decided to try out a Gamblin product: Gambin FastMatte. Supposedly it dries quickly. I purchased a few colours to try: Hansa Yellow Medium, Indian Yellow, Yellow Ochre and Cadmium Green.


For my previous painting  I used the Hansa Yellow medium colour as a ground but I painted on it basically straight away (too impatient!). I was fairly happy with the result, but the yellow pigment was still tinting the paint.







For my next painting I have decided to try again, but to wait for the ground to dry first. For this painting I am using Indian Yellow.

HOWEVER, 4 days later, the ground is still not dry!
According to Gamblin website it should dry in 24 hours. Hmm.

Not sure what I'm doing wrong. On the Gamblin website it recommends thinning with a 50/50 mixture of Galkyd and Gamsol. I just used my usual medium although lately I have been using Safflower oil which is slower drying than my usual linseed oil. Next time I guess I will go with Gamblin recommendation.

Anyway, I ended up wiping most of the ground off as I want to get started on the painting. There is enough of the Indian Yellow left to have remained on the panel so I'm going to go with it.


Some people just use acrylic paint for their ground as it dries overnight. Personally I do not want to mix acrylic with oils because the long term effects have not been tested. Plus I just don't like the idea of painting on acrylic.
So I'm going to persevere with the fastmatte for a while, as is it oil based like the oil paint itself.


NOTES:
Some common comments I have heard about using grounds:

• Use a​ warm ground for a painting dominated by ​cool hues.

• Use a cool ground for a painting dominated by warm hues. 

• Use a complimentary colour to the main painting.

• Use a neutral colour such as burnt sienna.  

• Use the leftover paint from the palette of your last painting as your ground. I have heard that Lori Putnam does this. I think I heard Randy Sexton say he does this as well. Apparently Spanish Renaissance painter El Greco did the same. His painting all look 'brown' to me though... so....

Early Morning at Fish Beach

So I finally got back into my studio and started painting again!

This is a view of a hut (or row of huts) on Fish Beach on Monhegan Island.
It's a composition from a number of photos I took while I was there.
I went down very early morning just after sunrise. The sun is still quite low on the horizon behind the huts. The rising sun was throwing some illumination onto the side of the hut at the left and just a tiny bit of sunlight was reflecting through onto the interior of the hut on the right. (I think that's an old fridge on the porch on the right - these huts are very 'rustic'!)
I guess the huts used to be fishing huts originally.

The rowing boats were in constant use so they were in a different position most days.

(10 x 10 inches)
25.4 x 25.4cm
Oil on Gessobord

Plein Air with Randall Sexton at the Landgrove Inn, Vermont

Randall Sexton talking us through his paint palette.











Another week of plein air painting! This time under instruction with Randy Sexton.
For this workshop I stayed at the Landgrove Inn in Vermont, the hotel hosting this course.

Though it was completely optional, I decided to use Randy's recommended palette to start with.

He recommends the following colors:

Ivory Black
Ultramarine Blue
Viridian Hue (Holbein Brand)
Transparent Red Oxide. (Rembrandt)…(or Burnt Sienna)
Quinacridone Red …………………… (or Alizarin Crimson)
Permanent Red Medium (Rembrandt).. (or  Cad Red Light, Cadmium Scarlet)
Golden Ochre …………………………(or yellow ochre pale)
Cadmium Yellow Light………………  (or Cadmium Lemon)
Titanium White


I opted for:

Ivory Black
Ultramarine Blue
Viridian Hue
Burnt Sienna
Quinacridone Red (I detest Alizarin Crimson)
Cad Red Light
Yellow ochre
Cadmium Yellow Light
and Cadmium Lemon

This palette leans more 'natural' than I am used to.
I liked the Viridian green which makes a beautiful sky blue when mixed with Ultramarine and white.
I also liked the quinacridone red, similar to the quinacridone magenta I usually use.

As the week went on I added my usual phthalo blue which I missed and used both cad yellow and cad lemon as I found I couldn't mix all the green I wanted without them.

I noticed looking back at the paintings I did this week that they all ended up leaning towards 'brown', which goes to show that the palette of colors you start with is going to have a big influence on the final outcome of your painting.

The Red Mill at Weston, Vermont.

A progress shot.

unusually for me I decided to start with a ground, using Burnt Sienna. Still not completely sure of the benefit of painting in a ground with my style of painting, but I guess this worked.

Sunflowers.













Randy giving a demo in front of the sunflower field.

 

Barn with red roof

This is another one of those paintings that I kind of liked while I was painting it, but once I brought it inside, the colours all looked completely different. One of those learning curves with plein air painting I guess.

Plein air on Monhegan - An island for artists

It has been soooooo long since I have posted to my blog. What can I say, things have been busy.

So now time to catch up.


My week on Monhegan was one of the best experiences I have ever had. It was total immersion in art and talking about art - with other artists!
I was generously invited to be part of this wonderful group of people: Margaret Sheldon, Maria Bennett Hock, Jean Graves and Marji Harmer-Beem. Everybody brought something different to the group. Some oil painters, some watercolor painters - and lots of experimentation.

We rented a house with just the most wonderful peaceful view of the ocean and Manana Island just across from us as can be seen in the photo above. We brought much of our own food and everyone chipped in to cook and wash-up. It was such a delight!

This was the first time I have been able to experience plein air painting fully.
Monhegan is an island for artists. It is just 1 mile wide and 1 1/2 miles long. There are no cars on the island. In every conceiveable nook and corner of the island you will find an artist set up with their easel, painting away. 

The first day or so, we spent walking the island, getting to know our surroundings and observing the light. 

By the third day I decided that the light was best early morning, so for the rest of the week I was up before dawn to set up my easel. We could not have been luckier with the weather. It was perfect almost all of the week, apart for the last day when we experienced some fog. 

Here are some of my paintings from the week. Some you will agree are more successful than others, but this week for me was about the learning experience. I learned to gain confidence with my set up, to paint faster and to eliminate what is not important. I leaned that I need to focus harder on how to achieve a better depth of field - something I will be determined to focus on on successive landscape painting trips. 

Manana

My first and least favorite painting from the week. I painted this in bright, bright sunlight and thought I had painted a wide range of greens, until I brought it inside and it was clear I hadn't!

Although Manana island was very close by, I felt that the depth of field was not at all obvious. Something I need to work on.









Lighthouse at dawn

This was a total experiment. I got up well before dawn to start this painting. Around 4.30am.

I feel it was a partial success but I would like to attempt this again sometime. I want to achieve a more yellow hazy cast than I was able to here to capture the atmosphere of this scene at sunrise. 

Two little boats at Fish Beach


Easily my favorite painting from the week. 

I'm very happy with the composition in this one and I felt that I achieved a looser brush stroke and confidence with it.

 The Barnacle

This one was a real challenge.

The perspective was tricky as I was fairly close-up to the cafe. Also as I was painting there was lot of coming and going of customers and staff!


It was such a pleasure painting in such close proximity of the ocean though.





The house we rented was rustic but charming and comfortable. We had electricity (though many houses did not) but the water was not drinkable so we bought water each day from the one small store on the island.

As well as the store, there is also an art gallery, a couple of gift shops, two hotels. A brewery, a pizza cafe and a seafood cafe.

Brush delivery for plein air!

I have just received a delivery of brushes from Rosemary and Co in England. So impressed that these brushes arrive within 2 days of ordering them. The best thing about getting a delivery of brushes from Rosemary and Co is the little art newletter (book) that always comes with the brushes. It always contains a couple of featured artists with tips and painting advice from those artists.


After my recent trip I decided that I'm going to permanently keep two sets of brushes - one for the studio and one to keep in my plein air bag, so that they never need cleaning and are already packed up and ready to go.
I recently tried out the Rosemary evergreen brushes because I wanted something with a really clean sharp edge.

These do the job!




















My other favourite are the Rosemary Eclipse Angular brushes. I love these. They have a very clean sharp edge and are great for painting straight edges and corners.

Plein air materials and equipment. A week of plein air on Monhegan Island!

I have just returned from a week of plein air painting with Margaret Sheldon, Maria Bennett Hock, Jean Graves and Marji Harmer-Beem. We had an amazing week and could not have been luckier with the weather. I will post more on that later.

For now, I want to record what I took with me, what worked and what didn't.

I highlighted in red changes I would make for next time.

FOR OIL PAINTINGS: 
11 x 14 and 12 x 12 Ampersand Gessobord panels  (took 7 of each but only used 3 of each).  
11 x 14 and 12 x 12 Raymar panel holders
Refined linseed oil 8oz bottle. I almost used all of this, so next time I will take a 16oz bottle.
Large Coulter Plein air easel containing full pad of disposable palette paper. After a love/hate relationship with the easel, I have decided I love it. Very sturdy. A great workhorse and by the end of the week I got pretty speedy at putting it up and down.
Plein air umbrella - this turned out to be ESSENTIAL
Fishermans chair. Very lightweight. Probably could have got by the week without it though, since I stood up to do most of my paintings.
Clip on cup
Grey plastic view catcher
2 x Palette knives; Liquitex 119914 #14 small knife. Could also have done with another smaller knife.
8oz tub Studio soap Used up most of this
Small bottle of brush cleaner solvent 
2 x rolls VIVA kitchen towels (completely ran out but just had enough for 5 large-ish paintings)

Brushes:
Rosemary Brushes:
Ivory Egbert #0
Ivory Rigger #4
Eclipse angular 1/4"
Eclipse angular 3/8"
Eclipse angular 1/2" (x2) (didn't need 2)
Eclipse angular 3/4"
Ivory Filbert #6
Ivory Long Flat #5
Classic short Flat #10 (could have done with another brush this size or larger)
Robert Simmons Titanium Brushes:
Round #2
Bright #4
Bright#8 (could have done with another of these)
+ #6 chisel colour shaper
+ viewcatcher

Oil paint colors:
Large Titanium white
Cad yellow light
Cad Lemon
Quinacridone Magenta
Cad red medium
Phthalo blue
French Ultramarine
Burnt Umber
Burnt Sienna

Ivory Black
Sap Green - found that I didn't use the sap green all that much but I was glad to have it handy. 
Also took cad yellow medium which I didn't end up using. Possibly Cad yellow deep might have been more useful, or cad orange.


 - One small tube of each colour was plenty for the week.

Box of zip loc bags - essential! Especially good to have one handy to put dirty brushes in.
plus old plastic shopping bags for rags.

FOR SKETCHES AND WATERCOLOUR:
Small portable watercolour box 
Small selection of watercolour brushes
Pencils and sharpener
Waterproof black pens

Can for water and brushcleaning
masking fluid and Brushes
Sketchpad

Also had to buy once on the island: spare white, black and aqua watercolour tube.
 


OTHER:
Large Rucksack
Large suitcase to store art material for travelling.
Water bottle
hot drink flask - my flask leaked a couple of times when the backpack was not completely vertical. Now on the lookout for one with better leakproof lid. Needs to be narrow to fit in backpack pocket.
small flashlight (or use phone light)
bug spray
paracetamol
oatmeal raisin bars for snacking 
chapstick
sunscreen
small travel size pack of wet wipes

Charger and spare charger
Plug
4 hour portable charger (essential!)

purse + spare cash
sunglasses
HATS!!!


And that's all before you get to clothes and bedding that we needed to have with us!
I packed clothes very minimally! 


All in all I was pleased with the equipment I took with me. Very happy with the limited(ish) palette. I found I could mix all the colour I needed other than a really vivid orange.
I discovered that one large painting per day is my limit so I will reduce the number of large panels I take and maybe take some smaller ones to do oil sketches. 

I will post some of my work next....!


EDIT
Adding the following notes;
for travelling take travel size toiletries to save on weight; shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, anti-perspirant.
Don't forget glasses and contact lenses!




 

Misbehaving Tulips

Wow. It's been such a long time since I have painted anything. About 4 months!

Actually in my defense I have been painting - just not oil painting - house painting!
I do a lot of the DIY and painting and decorating around the house and we have had contractors in and a lot of dust flying around.

So after my long hiatus, this is my latest painting. I'm working on a series of tulip paintings - partly inspired by the Spring and partly inspired by an artist I admire - Anne Redpath. She was one of the 'Scottish colourists'. She painted ordinary still life objects and incorporated simple patterned textiles into her set-ups. I also like the way she did not use conventional perspective - she would 'tilt' the table surface to incorporate more of the surface into the image - similar to Matisse.
Anne Redpath was 1895 and died in 1965. To me her work is as relevant today as it was back then.


This painting is:
(16 x 16 inches)
40 x 40cm approx
Oil on Gessobord

This painting is not available for sale just yet.  I'm keeping it for reference while I work on a series.
I was telling my cousin that the tulips seemed to have a mind of their own. She suggested the title.


Not currently for sale