Tag: mixed media
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Art Therapy
Some days you just need a large piece of paper, some Derwent XL blocks, gesso and a lot of big, gestural movements. “Civilasational erasure” indeed. Pfffft. Til the morn, Suzanne 662/700
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Embracing the Ugly Stage
We’re going through an ugly stage, and that’s not a terrible thing, the hands are complex in this one, so I’m pushing and pulling. I did browse the stretcher bars on Jackson’s, and I don’t think I’ll be building my own canvases just now. I did figure out where I got these three canvases, and…
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Look For The Shapes
The reason I love this muse (Dinoopis) is because painting her means I can’t escape looking for shapes and values. That area around the hands is just so complex that you have to tell your brain to look, really look. For me that has become a meditation practise, switching my brain to another mode. I…
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Limited Surface
These long narrow canvases have caught my attention, naturally since I am supposed to be focusing on the 12×12″ ones. I painted the sketch of the dancer on one the other day, and played with how much I could leave off the edge. With this figure I decided to work on fitting the whole figure…
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Party of Four
Back to batching and the collection of canvases in various stages of completion. I worked on these four today, and I enjoyed swapping them back and forth after bringing them on a little, it was a nice change of rhythm after a lot of focus being on one canvas. The bottom right one is probably…
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Charcoal and Gesso Fun
Repeating the pose from yesterday, I used a piece of A2 paper that had some layers of figure drawing practise, each one covered with gesso. This makes for a sumptuous textured surface, and another layer of gesso went over the most recent sketch to make a blank page for this drawing. I used the same…
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Homeward
Travel day today, and I have my four-legged lodger for the night, so a quick turn re-acquainting myself with my studio. Compressed charcoal and clear gesso and marvelling at how strange the easel feels after a week away. Til the morn, Suzanne 642/700
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Pan Pastels Sketch Spread
Both these pages were prepped before I travelled, and let me just say I was not in the mood for yellow, especially with limited supplies. It’s a fun reference, though, so it’s in the sketchbook as a first go. I am used to standing for painting, and I was really struggling with sitting to work…
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New pose monochrome
I have been wandering about in the woods today, so didn’t get as in-depth with this pose as intended. An acrylic sketchy under-layer finished off with pan pastels. Til the morn, Suzanne 639/700
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Feet Dangling
Starting the day with in-person art supplies shopping is better than coffee. Starting the day with excellent bargains on good quality sketchbooks, and half-price canvases is better than, well, coffee with cream. I also bought some thick foam for making stamps, and a bottle of clear gesso. I didn’t bring my clear gesso, but I…
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Crouching
I have been distracted today, but I got this far with this pose and idea. There’s a lot more to do, but the basic shapes are there. This is on 300gsm hot press paper, not my sketchbook, so the paint is doing different things. Til the morn, Suzanne 636/700
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Don’t Move
I’m completely smitten with my pan pastels, and I don’t think I have even scratched the surface of their versatility. Here I’m using them over acrylic, and I’m loving how this turned out, especially given it went through a particularly “ugly stage”. Someone was waxing unlyrical about drawing from reference photos recently, and the problem…