How do you say "Bunny" in Polish?

I was commissioned by my best friend to make a special Christmas gift for the niece. She really loves her Bunny stuffy and they figured making an original piece of art celebrating it would make a great gift and more than likely last longer than the stuffed toy. I included my process below.

Sketching this a number of times, this piece gave me a surprising challenge, how to capture the essence of a simple stuffed toy. Once I got the sketch right I increased the design to fill the area to be painted.

I traced the design and transferred it with tracing paper and light grey chalk onto a Baltic birch panel.

I locked down the drawing and added a basic value map with a wash of warm Burnt Sienna paint.

I added middle value lights and darks in grey for my dead colour layer.

I then did some big form modelling in lighter and darker greys to create more form and coloured in the nose.

I knocked back the cool grey with a warm yellowish fur applied with thick strokes of paint to give the effect of the feeling of her soft plush toy.

I added details and brought back the outline with Burnt sienna to help pop the image off of the remaining wooden support. finally I signed and dated it on the back and added picture hanging supplies to the back, wrapped it and delivered it.  I heard she loved it and her mom was so appreciative she shed a tear. Win for the arts!!!

Acrylic Sampler Sunday at Swinton's (December 6)

Sunday Sampler at Swintons. This week-end acrylic!

This week-end its acrylic.  I brought a bunch of test panels and examples to show the group the variety of things from  fluorescent, iridescence and textured options. I presented an overview of methods and materials before diving into the paint.

We practiced colour mixing with a palette knife using a closed palette consisting of titanium white, the three primaries (and warm and cool options of each) and burnt umber.  We made black and used white to create a grey scale. then mixed the secondary and tertiary colours.

The students picked their subject, prepared their supports and began blocking in the colours they needed with their largest brush.

They mixed all the hues they need, creating tints and shades of each then blending and applying them to their canvas panel.

They experimented with different mediums, and brushes and how to apply the paint.

We also did a tour of the store to get acquainted with the materials available and so I could answer any additional questions anyone may have by this point. Plus it is really good to take a break before going back to put on the finishing touches.

I thought I got more pictures of everyone's pieces, they all turned out so well for first time painters and in the short time given to try a new medium. Well done folks!


I will be teaching more samplers in the new year check out the link at the bottom for more details and sign up:

Oil Painting January 24
Acrylic Painting January 31 
Acrylic Painting February 21

http://swintonsart.com/instruction/samplers

Oil Sampler this Sunday at Swintons

I've given away all my Sundays, not to church, but to the temple of art at Swinton's and I love it.  There is no other place I'd rather be that within the walls of the studio praising creativity.

I lay out everything we need and begin the session with an overview of the entire process and the materials etc before beginning the demos.

Just as in the studio, I like to start the session with a good half an hour setting up the palette. Here the students have a chance to experience the feel and properties of the material by mixing colour wheels as well as tints and tones. This is where the fun really begins. Oil can be sticky and takes some time to get used to its wonderfully creamy properties.

We plan out our compositions then block in with big brushes the large areas of colour. I like how this sampler students piece looks already, good start and great tones on the support surface.

More detail and smaller brushes are used as the piece develops. Pretty good for 3 hrs, with demos, lectures and a store tour, how to clean up etc. If you are interested in trying out oil or acrylic with me sign up at Swinton's today! The next one is Acrylic happening Sunday, March 1st, 12:30 -3:30 pm. Click here for to sign up.

DISTRESSED SIGN PAINTING

I took a week-end workshop at Swintons Art Supply (http://www.swintonsart.com) taught by Rick Janzen of Streamline Studios (http://streamlinestudiosinc.ca)  and a wicked local sign painter in the sense of the traditional trade craft.

We started out finding about the history and Rick told many great stories about his experiences. There were many book references and lots of photos of past work to look at. He introduced us to the tools of the trade and all the materials etc. were included in the workshop fee = wicked!!

I have always wanted to learn the skills of the traditional sign painter in order to better perfect what I hope to do in my work. I've taken up many of the skills, from transferring lettering, hand painting on glass as well as learning airbrush. I've done a few murals and some signage(see earlier blog post or visit my website for reference) Brianbatista.com. 

We rolled out some poster paper and began with layout and design of hand painted signs.  I decided to make a sign that I can use at my comic expo booth or elsewhere I offer custom work.

Then I was lucky enough to get to try out his electro pouncer. This is definitely something I'd love to have in my studio, though at around $500 its a little rich for my blood. for now a luxury item I can try out. It used electricity to burn holes int he paper. How it works is you stick paper to a piece of metal using magnets. The electro pouncer has a ground wire that gets attached to this metal backing. You turn it on and use it like a pen. It pulses out a little arc which burns holes. So cool. A couple of people got shocked, which isn't that shocking, handle with care!

This paper is then put on top of the surface. Take a chalk bag and tamp the surface and the chalk will go thru the little holes and create an outline to follow that can easily be removed. This is a great way to transfer a design. here I am using white chalk but if the surface was light or white I would use crashed charcoal instead.  Once the designs transferred it makes it much easier to paint, plus I still have the pounced paper design if I need to make multiples.

Here it is mostly painted.  It takes a lot of brush skill to do this well. Something that only time and practice and bring, as in any real skill worth attaining. I ran out of time to add other colours and outlines but I do intend on working on the sign more and adding some more decorate elements and maybe some gold leafing before distressing it.

What interested me most about this particular workshop is the DISTRESSING part.  In my sacred images paintings I try to get that aged antique look. Often it is tedious and labor intensive requiring lots of techniques and time. This on the other hand was quick and effective. First we need to age the wood so that the ground doesn't look so fresh. there are so many ways I found online to do this from vinegar and steel wool to what we did, which was way easier, stain it with raw umber paint watered down.

After the initial drying we applied wallpaper paste to the surface. This will act as a resist for later when we begin removing layers. I used this heavy duty dryer to speed up the process. Aesthetically speaking, the wear on a sign would be more around the edges and more around the top due to weathering so more paste should be applied there, the middle would have much less distress. rick gave us many fine examples and ways about thinking about how to distress the work to look realistic.

 Then you put on your design. You can use a variety of transfer methods or go the old fashioned routs and draw directly on it like I did.

I created a second test panel where I painted a letter on a fully painted background whereas the first I chased in the background. I designed this letter B based on an old rosewood style font I have always admired. another transfer method is to rub the back of the paper with charcoal and then place it down and go over the lines on the front. This pushes the charcoal on the back onto the surface with the traced design.

Here they are painted in. I decreased the contrast between the off white and black to show bleaching by the sun. The colours I used are harmonious with one another and are heritage colours.  With little time I raced to paint these in, they are rough but it is not going to matter once the distressing comes into play.

Here they are after I finish with the two distressing techniques we learned. I like them really aged :D

The first method is to use a warm water soak to loosen the wallpaper paste and then using a floor brush or nail brush with short strokes to lift the paint off the surface where the wall paper paste is applied. Its wet, wild and fun and works fantastic.

I love how this lake sign turned out by one of the other participants.  Did I mention these are water based paints but it works equally as well for oil based paints. It is the messiest part of the process which is why we put down black plastic garbage bags.

We also tried block ageing which added to my tests. It is a way to make it look as though the painting is peeling off without having to life the paint, instead you add paint of the wood colour on the top. Here rick is further ageing his sign.I think the more distressed the better, as long as you can still make out what the sign says. It was a fun time and by the end of the class we had some pieces to be proud of!

Photo by Rick Janzen

I am so stoked about what I learned, I am pumped to apply it to my practice. I already have grand ideas and an extensive list of stuff I want to do so be prepared to see some major output in the coming months  after I finish all my teaching gigs and I can get back to the studio. I can't stop thinking about it, so much so I skipped past the remaining El Salvador trip inspiration. If this class comes up and this interests you I highly recommend the course.

Until next time = :D