The Art Thread (NSFW)

[Sky]

Went back and refined the Tuesday night drawing. Since I didn't post either one, here's a before and after. Really digging my drafting table for chilling at home.

[Sky]

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[apocrypha]

Nice. Been lurking in this thread since you started it and watching you make arts. I really like seeing how your oil painting has slowly come to life a bit more each week.

Are you planning on continuing with that piece after the classes finish?

[Sky]

I'm hoping to stay longer for the last two sessions to maximize my time, especially this week. I can really only smooth stuff over or do super simple things without the model there, but Thurs I'm planning on painting the backdrop after class (since it will still be there with the light on it.

Also hoping to get the instructor to open her studio space to a few of us students this summer. And I'll be signing up for her summer session at school, but it's going to be brutal and I'm already going to miss the second class (concert).

Glad you're digging it. Way overdue for me to try my hand at this stuff. I mentioned early on I didn't want to do much in my sketchbook so I didn't learn bad habits, but it was also kind of frustrating just not what to do. Now I can bash out little sketches like the Otus Cthulhu over there, using the basic principles I'm learning in my classes. Wasn't sure I'd be any good, but I'm surprised that I'm picking it up pretty well.

[Sky]

One more session left. Ye gods! http://cashwiley.com/2016/04/07/thursday-night-oils-5/

[RhyssaFireheart]

That's looking really good now, Sky!  If you have the time in the last session to get those final details in, it'll be a really great painting for someone new to oils.

I like the refinement of the drawing as well.  Pushing the lights and darks made a huge difference and it doesn't feel so flat any more.  Do you use a smudging stick for blending or are you just relying on the pencil(s) or your fingers to do it?

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I can finally contribute something here again.  I've been in a huge funk about art lately, but having someone bid on one of my charity donation pieces made me feel all giggly inside, that that helped.  A rough sketch for a painting I'd like to start this weekend.  It'll be in watercolors, mostly blues and greens since the working title for this is "The River God's Daughter".

[Sky]

Oh, that's got a very nice flow to it! Glad to see you finding your mojo again.

For blending I use a chamois for mid-tones (it lifts too much for blending darks), a kneaded eraser for highlights (hard white eraser for crisp/top highlights), and my finger for darks. My finger got pretty sore and dry, though, so I should look into a stick. But it did make the darks sooo velvety. I take it for framing today, should have it back by Tuesday to submit for the exhibit.

I did the background and clothes last night (instead of shadows) because we're going to be allowed to hang last minute due to the nature of the class...so whatever I do next week will still be wet when it's hung :) Just going to buy a cheapie walmart frame for now for sake of speed.

[Sky]

This is now framed for hanging in the art show that opens this weekend. To the tune of $190 (mat/frame/glass). No wonder framed art is expensive!

[Sky]

Final drawing class! Some more drapery, I guess I didn't post my unfinished one last week, here's my unfinished one this week! https://cashwiley.com/2016/04/12/tuesday-night-drawing-6/

[apocrypha]

I'm totally seeing somebody under there with their arms up going "WooooOOoOooo!" in a spooky Scooby Doo fashion 

[Sky]

That was the running joke of the evening.

[RhyssaFireheart]

LOL!  I can totally see that as well.  I always enjoyed doing folds in cloth.. it's just fun to me.

And yeah, framed art is pricey as hell.  I have a poster/print I got for the husband a few years ago (Wrigley Field panorama) but the price to frame it so we can hang in his office?  Holy hell!  Especially since it's a panorama, so that's all custom.

I need to grab the WIP of my current painting and post it here.  It's still on the phone.

[Sky]

My favorite part of the class making that joke about my drawing: they're seeing it as hanging fabric :)

[Sky]

So just about wrapped up for this semester. I'll try to get a better finished pic, wet paintings + horribad studio lighting makes it tough to get a decent pic. Anyway, here is tonight's post: https://cashwiley.com/2016/04/15/thursday-night-oils-6/

[pxib]

apropos nothing:

[RhyssaFireheart]

Yep, that's about right.

That and being convinced that nothing you ever create will be wanted by someone else.  I'm always amazed when people like something I do and want to buy it (for the few pieces I have managed to sell).

[Sky]

Gotta get drawing again after this hiatus! https://cashwiley.com/2016/05/11/bargue-plate-1/

[RhyssaFireheart]

No finished pieces to show off - I really need to take the time to edit them on the computer and get them posted. 

Instead, have some sketches done while sitting around in front of the TV.

[Sky]

Very nice, I love the flow of all of those. Wonderful stuff!

[Viin]

That first one is great. If it had some color I'd hang it on my wall!

[RhyssaFireheart]

That first one is great. If it had some color I'd hang it on my wall!

Thanks!  I'd actually finished a version of that one with some color, and am working on variation #2 with a different color scheme.



And some WIP pics of the next one.

[Sky]

Nice! Did you mask the white areas?

I'm still struggling to get drawing, to carve out the time to do it. Sucks being lazy. I did get a decent skull to start drawing from.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Nope, I drew the lines where I wanted to flow to be, then painted everything else separately.

I used to be all fanatical about trying to not have lines where the painted stopped, which could be a pain in larger areas.  Trying to keep a wet line going when you aren't do a large wet wash was just not fun.  So I've embraced letting the paint dry as it will and if that means there are lines where wet paint goes over dry paint, so be it!  I've grown to like the texture that can provide.

Gotta figure out what fish I want to put in the WIP piece.  I could do a koi again; I like them.

And I don't draw from life nearly as often as I should.  I know it means some of my drawing skills are lacking, but then I go back to my abstracts.

[Selby]

I really like all the artwork you've posted lately Rhyssa, keep it up!

[Sky]

I would totally use a liquid mask for those :) Though the edges might not be as precise as you've achieved, so you're probably doing it the better way! As I said, I'm lazy...

[RhyssaFireheart]

I would totally use a liquid mask for those :) Though the edges might not be as precise as you've achieved, so you're probably doing it the better way! As I said, I'm lazy...

Yeah, using liquid mask can really make keeping some areas unpainted or conserving another color really come in handy when doing larger washes.  Since I was looking for texture to go under the pattern, I was fine with not using mask.

I'm thinking of doing another variation that has the pattern in the flow areas (what's white now in the first two variations) and doing a smooth wash in the rest, so then I'd use mask.

[Sky]

Trying to discipline myself to draw more regularly! More Bargue: https://cashwiley.com/2016/05/25/bargue-sketching/

[RhyssaFireheart]

I haven't been doing body parts (although I should) but have been doodling in front of the TV lately.





I have really got to start sitting outside at lunch or something and just drawing trees and bushes and flowers, because my background skills suck.  They are beyond lacking, they are non-existent. :(

[Sky]

I'll be hitting those soon as I start my next painting project (SOOON); which will be a coastal Maine scene. My intention with painting is to focus on portraits and landscapes. Mostly Adirondack scenes, because it's great country and close by.

[RhyssaFireheart]

ARISE!

Letting this one sit after (hopefully) finishing it over this past weekend.  I took my time working on it for once instead of rushing through quick.  More or less pleased at how it's turned out, but I can see a spot where I need to add some shadows to make things look right (around the rays of the sun).

"The Gates of Tomorrow" 9 x 12, watercolor and white ink

Full piece, still taped to the board I work on.


Detail of the top part:

[Sky]

Wow, that's amazing!

After a pretty bad experience with the model at the summer portrait class, I haven't done any 2d art at all. Dropped the class. Unsure whether I'll take portraiture and drawing 101 again in the fall. I dig them, but they take over all my creative time, so no miniatures and (worse) no guitar.

I have begun painting miniatures again, though.

https://cashwiley.com/2016/08/06/oathsworn-female-human-mage/
https://cashwiley.com/2016/07/30/zombicide-black-plague-nelly-samson-and-silas/

[Hawkbit]

Wow, that's amazing!

After a pretty bad experience with the model at the summer portrait class...

I feel like there's a story behind this.

Also, Rhyssa that's awesome. I don't feel that I've seen too many dark watercolors and you really put that together.

[apocrypha]

Love that Rhyssa!

[apocrypha]

You guys have inspired me to have a go at learning to draw. I've never, ever been able to draw. Was told by art teachers I had no ability and should stick to science, which I did. So this is really, really difficult for me at the age of 47. Here's a first attempt at an exercise about perspective:

[RhyssaFireheart]

I like that, apoc!  It's got a nice vibe to it for me.

And never let anyone tell you you can't draw.  Anyone can draw.  Whether you can draw well is a different matter and that majority of that is practice, practice, practice. 

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I've been slacking on the artwork because I'm trying to finish writing a fanfic that I started while on furlough in July.  Yes, I'm a dirty anime fanfic writer, bite me.