Fresh Paint - Updated

Small Paintings Inspired by Old Family Photographs

GRAY-SCALE PAINTINGS

These three small images, painted on 5 x 4 inch canvas, were inspired by family photographs of my mom and dad.  They started off as gray-scale value studies painted in shades of black and white.

Mom, as a young woman posing by her fathers car.

Mom and Dad, as a young married couple..  My father in his military uniform and my mother expecting her first child - my brother.

This painting is from a photograph of my mom, taken in the early 1960's.  My father was out to sea and mom was busy raising two babies (my brother and me) - and may have been pregnant with my sister.  Mom had just gotten her long hair cut into a much more manageable short hair style.

GRAY-SCALE PAINTINGS ~ COLOR ADDED

All dressed up and ready to roll.

Together We Serve - Ready to Serve their country and family.

Moms Time Out

These small paintings are available for sale here and would make a fun gift for a new driver, a young couple, your best friend, mom, sister or for anyone who loves vintage/retro decor.  

A lesson in color, value and hue continued...

Ladies who Art

 In last weeks art class the ladies began a gray scale color painting of a conch shell - seen here ~ This week they continued to develop the shells contour and mass.

Mass and contour is formed by slowly building color value based on a black and white print of the original photograph and a gray scale color chart.

Definition of the shells contour continues

with the addition of highlights,

subtle gradations of black and white,

and wonderful lines of texture.

Conch Shell Paintings at the end of session two...

ready for next weeks class on color glazing.

Stay tuned!!

A lesson in Color, Value and Hue

In the next few weeks we will have a visiting artist in my "Women who Art" class.  The artist, Lee Dickerson,  will be teaching color glazing techniques for acrylic on canvas.  In order to have an opportunity to play with this method, the ladies first have to create a gray-scale under-painting.  Below is a little tutorial and step by step guide of their paintings in process.

The ladies decided they wanted to use a conch shell (found here) as their inspiration.

For this project the students will need both a color and black/white print out of the conch shell.

 For each student:

Print out 2 copies of the color image, and 1 copy of both the black/white shell image and the gray scale chart.

Gray scale chart can be found here

Gather all materials needed to create painting:  Canvas paper (9 x 12 inches), black charcoal, pencil, black and white acrylic paint, palette, paper plate for color mixing, brushes, and water container.

Begin the process by applying a layer of charcoal to the back of the colored image

It's quite the messy process - charcoal tends to get everywhere besides the back of the paper.

Flip the charcoal colored copy - charcoal side down - on top of a sheet of canvas paper.

Transfer the image by tracing the shell contour and lines of color gradation.

Gather together the line transfer, black/white shell print, gray scale chart and black and white paints...

and start your painting.  Add a layer of white acrylic - the gray scale of the white is from charcoal dust mixing in with the acrylic paint.

Outline with a thin line of black paint, so you don't loose your contour lines.  Work the black paint into the white to create a gray tone.  It's easier to discern the color gradations by either squinting at the b/w print - or by looking at the print from a distance.

Continue to define the form by gradually adding tiny drops of black paint to the white.   Slowly building up the gradation of values to suggest the shells mass and contour.  The image above are the ladies conch shell paintings in various stages of completion.  We will continue to work on these next week.  

~ Ladies at work ~

Getting ready to transfer image.

The painting process begins,

and continues to develop.

Feel secure ladies...Lee will be very impressed!!!!