Tahmoor's Table: the Inspiration, the Process and the Changed Face

Tahmoor's Table
mixed media on cradled panel
16 x 20 inch

Last month I did a series of very small paintings inspired by Picasso.  I decided to do a larger painting of the one I called "Amy" because I loved the posture or pose of her which was quite exaggerated in comparison to Picasso's "The Ascetic", where the whole concept came from.

After beginning my larger painting, the blank space behind her seemed too big and too plain.  I considered many options like a window or just a simple pattern, and when I saw Carolyn Plochmann's lace cover in her painting "Something Finely Made" I knew a lace curtain was what I wanted to do.  It offered the challenge of trying something new (painting lace) and also provided the background I was looking for.

I used molding paste to create the larger flowers you see in the lace and when they were just too bumpy, I sanded them down quite a bit.  I used acrylic paint and colored pencils and ink washes to achieve the look and was pretty happy with the result.

detail

 On the table I used some loosely-done fracturing marks I learned from Julie Ford Oliver's online tutorial and workshop.  I loved how it created movement all over the tabletop.

The bird was more hallow and ghostly-looking at first.  I had planned to leave it that way, but once I started to think of a name for the piece I stumbled onto some interesting knowledge.  I was searching for names that begin with "T" since "T...'s Table" seemed an appropriate name for the piece.  When reading about the name "Tahmoor" I read that its origin came from the Bronzewing Pigeon which are a group of pigeons native to Australia.  So I added some color to the wing and changed the beak to make it look more like a Bronzewing, and now the name Tahmoor was perfect!   How's that for a complicated, round about way of naming a painting?  Whoever said being an artist was simple?  :)

detail

The flowers were a happy turnout as well.  I think painting flowers can be difficult and I am ever-searching for new ways to paint them.  These were at first big blue blobs and they looked like Dr. Seuss' Truffula Trees.  But after playing around with some chunky brushstrokes, the result was exactly the happy flower I had in mind.  I mixed a lot of gel medium into the paint to give it a nice, buttery texture.

detail

The trickiest part was her face.  I am trying to get away from hard lines and my figures tend to have them, especially around the nose, eyes and brow.  There isn't anything wrong with hard lines really, I just want to learn and explore more with with how I paint faces on my characters. After conversing with Julie about my dilemma, she suggested I look at photos converted to black and white in order to discover value changes.  I looked at a lot of art online this way and then put my own painted face in black and white to see the "trouble areas", then went from there.  I used a lot of light skin tones to sort of smoosh out the hard lines and that did it.  It transformed her face by flattening the bridge of her nose and making the eyes quite smaller, but that was okay with me.  

Here's the original face in color...

close up of previous face with harder lines

And here they are side by side in black and white.  You can see a lot more light and dark contrasts in the original face vs the final outcome, especially if you squint.  A brilliant suggestion on Julie's part.  I had heard this suggestion before, but never took the time to do it.  

in black and white
Left:  before  Right:  after

I began painting faces in my sketchbook this week  and also started a new 16 x 20 inch painting.   I can tell you quite honestly, that painting and drawing faces with hard lines is deeply ingrained in me.  It just comes so naturally to do them that way, so I don't know if I will ever be able to change it without A LOT of practice and effort on my part.  Plus, I am not 100% sure I want to change when I look at the before and after side by side.   The "before" face feels a little more like "home" to me.  More comfortable.  More familiar.  That feels silly to say, but do you know what I mean?  I have been thinking a lot about this lately, on whether or not to tweak my style a bit or to just not worry about it and paint away.  To me, tweaking means growing as an artist and I definitely want to grow.  What do you think?

I am babbling now, so off I go to paint more faces.  Who knows what will come next?

Thank you SO much for all your wonderful comments in the last post about my show at City Arts.  It's still up and running until February 20 and I've had a lot of great feedback on the show.  If you live in Wichita or close, I hope you will get by to see it!

Happy Weekend everyone!

♥ Lisa

Various Narratives Show at City Arts

Last Fall my painting They Call it Connection Cafe was accepted into the Arts Council Annual Juried Art Show at City Arts here in Wichita.  Shortly after the opening night I received an invitation to show in the Main Hall Gallery for the Final Friday art crawl in January which opened last night.  The new and beautifully renovated space, gorgeous weather, and four diverse art shows brought a huge crowd with a lot of fun energy.

Various Narratives from left to right:  Releve',
The Backyard Bench, Reading Space,
On the Way to Afternoon Tea

These are a few of my ten paintings on display, all various in sizes and mediums.  On the Way to Afternoon Tea has a new home and all the praise and kind words were enough to keep me painting for quite a while.

I want to thank those that came out last night, it was so fun visiting with you!  And a HUGE thank you to the staff at City Arts for all the hard work. You all make such a great team. The show was beautifully displayed!

And blog friends...see you in a week or so...I am painting like a maniac these days and I will have some new work to show you very soon.  Thank you for your wonderful comments and your supportive words as always!

See you soon!

♥ Lisa

They Call it Connection Cafe

They Call it Connection Cafe
mixed media on canvas 20 x 20 inch

This painting is one of my newest and was inspired by those wonderful one-on-one chats that we have with friends or family...those soulful talks that leave an impression.  I'm sure we've all had them, both men and women and I find myself rather grateful for them.

 I am happy to announce this work was recently accepted into the Arts Council Annual Juried Art Show at City Arts here in Wichita, Kansas. You can read about the show here if you are interested.  The opening is tomorrow night and I plan to be there.

This is special because this is my first time entering a juried show and I am so honored to be in the mix of a lot of really talented artists.

Hope you're weekend to come is a great one.  Thanks as always for following my art.

Rooms Exhibition at City Arts and a Peek at a WIP

Yesterday I delivered nine framed paintings to City Arts for my exhibit there.  I have so many figures in rooms now so Rooms seemed like the perfect title. 

These are all the paintings that went.  You probably recognize some of them.  They don't look so good against that busy rug, but you get the idea.

WIP detail

I started a 16 x 20 inch mixed media painting late last week.  It's very slow-going because there are four figures and a lot of little details.  Hopefully I will finish it this week.  

Hope you're having a great week!

At Evening's End

At Evening's End
16 x 20 inch oil on canvas panel
SOLD

This painting was in the works for so long, I can't remember when I started it.  It is a very detailed work for my lack of artistic ability, but I am patting myself on the back because I had some specific visions and they came to be.  To begin with I wanted to paint a scene in a room because that is what my next exhibit is going to be called...Rooms.  I also wanted a fireplace in the scene and from that point everything else sort of happened. The figures revealed themselves as I painted.  As the figure on the left appeared I thought "why not make this one a man?" and there you have it.  Their story is up for discussion.

At Evening's End
detail

The picture hanging on the wall was originally a landscape painting, but then I thought it would be more interesting to make it a portrait of this couple.

At Evening's End
detail

 This chair beneath their portrait was added at the very last.  One chair just didn't make sense. I made the pillows blue...they sort of fight with all the earth tones in the rest of the painting, but something about the pop of color worked in my opinion.  The pillows could have been any color with any pattern, it was hard to decide which way to go. They were more of a black, but I thought they were boring that way.

At Evening's End
detail

 The fireplace was actually pretty easy, which was a pleasant surprise.  I used a knife to smear on the paint in spots which made them look like stone...or at least I think they look like stone.  The wooden mantle, the lantern and the flames in the fireplace were pure luck too.  I looked at images of fire on the internet to help me.

At Evening's End
detail

The hardest part of this painting was the man.  I don't paint many men and for a long time his figure and his face looked very feminine.  When I smeared light blue on his face to create sort of razor stubble I said "ah ha!", then broadened his shoulders and voila...a man...a dude!

At Evening's End
detail

The woman was the easy part...at least this one was.  However trying to create wrinkles and light where her thumb is indenting the pillow was impossible and I gave up on it.  I even took a picture of my own hand grasping a pillow to use as a reference, but I think the small area I was painting in made it too difficult.  

There is something special to me about this painting and it makes me kind of sad to think of actually selling it, so I might change my mind.

This is one of the oil paintings that needs oiling out because it dried so dully.  I am tempted to just spray it with Kamar varnish which I know will make the colors pop, but it adds so much gloss and I am not sure that's what I want for this piece.  I think somewhere in the middle of high gloss and very matte would be best.   I am open to suggestions if you have any.

I hope you all had a great weekend!  Thank you for visiting!  

Awakenings in the Upper Room

Awakenings in the Upper Room
20 x 16 inch acrylic and pumice on canvas panel
reserved for art show at City Arts

 I love interior paintings.  I know I have said this before.  They are a joy to look at and a joy to paint.  This is the last of my 2013 paintings and it was a fun one in every way.  I was looking at the image of one of Balthus' paintings Les joueurs de cartes and just had to paint a table with a checked table cloth, and this is the result.  Once it was finished, the new theme for my art show at City Arts in April was decided...rooms!  

detail

I already have enough work for an entire show because several of my paintings are  set in a room of some sort.  However, now that I have some direction on the theme, I am sure more interior paintings will emerge. 

detail

One thing that always eludes me is how to keep layering my paintings once the composition is down.  I liked the composition in this painting and didn't want to lose anything, but it was difficult for me to know how build up the layers. 

detail

  

 I went over each little check on that table cloth about three times and it just seemed to only change the color, rather than add interesting layers.  The same goes for all the other areas of the painting...the girl, the carpet, the picture, the window..etc. It was tedious and with little result.   The easiest parts to layer were the walls and ceiling.  They actually had more layers at one point, but I wiped them off and sanded them down because it seemed to bury all the other elements.   

detail

If I had a chance to change anything, I think I would have done this in oil rather than acrylic.  It probably would have layered the way I was striving for.   I am happy with it, but I do plan on practicing ways of building up the entire painting a little more...it's probably time to hit the sketchbooks and stay there a while.  

Are you having a good week?