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7/17/2008

For my next trick

First of all, I must thank all of those who expressed birthday wishes to Grannie. She LOVED it. Some of you sent emails direct - others left wishes here, in my blog. She has seen all of them and she is SO pleased. My inclination is to thank each of you, individually, but the constraints of time and business I'm currently faced with with force me to do it here. So thank you, all of you. She had a wonderful birthday, full of family, food and Chianti.

My Art teacher, Marilyn, has suggested I try a technique, for my next painting, I have never tried before. The idea is to paint a canvas with a thin, medium tone of Burnt Umber. Thinned with turpentine so it's fairly transparent. Then, using a cloth, remove paint to create highlights, using turpentine on the cloth in areas which need to be really white, and then add the dark areas by painting in with a undiluted Burnt Umber (very Dark Brown). This is a "wet in wet" technique. Ala Prima, if you will, which means the whole painting is done in one session. I'm going to try it this weekend.

Wish me luck.

17 comments:

Alice said...

Does you attend a class or do you have a private instructor?

I'd love to some more art classes one day. I took a pottery class my last semester in college and just loved it. Working on the wheel was so relaxing.

Christy said...

I would make such a mess.

I really respect artists.

Ndinombethe said...

Sounds like quite a challenge. Enjoy. And as requested - best of luck Lou!

Maddy said...

You used to link to your WIP! No longer?
Cheers

Expat No. 3699 said...

My dad used to paint with oils. I remember him covering the whole canvas with either burnt sienna or raw umber. I asked him why one day and he told me it was to prevent any of the white from the canvas from showing through.

Jennifer said...

I'm happy to hear that grannie had a good birthday and that she enjoyed some Chianti as well. :)

that sounds like a great techinque. i'm sure you will do an amazing job, as always. i'm interested to see this one. it will be monotone as well as wet in wet... right?? since you use the burnt umber diluted and un-diluted and such. :)

good luck, although I'm sure you don't need any!! :)

xoxoxox

Anonymous said...

Yay for Grannie!

I'm really impressed with anyone who can even describe that kind of painting process, let alone pull it off. Hope it's a success, and I hope you will post pictures!

Holly said...

How about if I break out in hives just reading about trying to do something so tricky like that -- A la prima, no less?

Anonymous said...

I can't paint so I like hearing you describe the process of it.

I always admire people who are willing to try something new and give it a go.

Have fun with it.

moneythoughts said...

The sky in the old school house would make a great photo to use for your new painting exercise. Once you get the light and darks the way you want them, you can then paint them in with color or leave it as is. The sky really gives that photo so much emotion and lends itself to wipe outs with your rag.

Rebecca (Ramblings by Reba) said...

I'm glad Grannie enjoyed the birthday wishes. It made me happy to make one for her.

calicobebop said...

I wish you the best of luck and I leave you with a thought: In college, I envied a friend who had daringly painted her living room the most gorgeous color - Burnt Umber.

To this day, that was the only other time I've ever heard of the color! To hear (read) you talk about it reminds me of warm memories. Go for it!

Unknown said...

I thought of you yesterday as our usual PBS kids shows ended and the daily painting show began. This man was using water colors--which I've fiddled with in the past. He used several techniques, he'd cover part of his painting with a medium that didn't allow other paint to adhere, then spray water on the other portions, then flick paint around. All in the name of creating life-like trees. I thought it seemed like so much work. And that's what makes me not an artist. I'm too impatient.

I'm glad Grannie had a great birthday. And some chianti.

Momisodes said...

Woohoo! Another piece? Can't wait :)

So glad to hear Grannie had a great birthday!

Shadow said...

i'm glad she had a good birthday. and good luck with that new technique. show us how it goes???

Anonymous said...

*Grins at Grannies happy grin*
:)

And that new technique sounds intriguing!
Looking forward to see it!

MommyTime said...

This sounds like a really fun technique. I always wished I could paint. I can't wait to see what you turn up with this process!