I made a video of the pet rat wrangling that went on behind the scenes at the photo shoot for this painting.
Enjoy!
Here's Carly's statement from the book about Professor Rattus.
Witness Statement:
I find that my ability to converse intelligently is inversely proportional to my proximity to a furry mammal. If it’s furry and friendly, I want to hold it and talk to it to the exclusion of the humans around me. My conversation, that may have started as, “Why, yes, I did hear that the Large Hadron Collider created an event that was a hundred thousand times hotter than the sun,” devolves into, “My goodness! Who’s a furry critter? You’re a furry thing. Yes, you are.” Take equal parts Asimov and Conan Doyle, two writers I’m passionate about, and add a dash of furry minions, and I can wallow in a mystical land tailored just for me.~Carly
This painting is one of The Incognito Project pieces:
~You may see the painting in Birmingham, AL on Nov.3 2012, at Art Folk Gallery, 5-9 pm, Young and Vann Building, 1731 First Avenue North.
~You may pre-order the book about the project by emailing me at terry@terrrystricklandart.com ($60, includes domestic shipping)
Today I did a demo of under painting techniques using Gamblin Fastmatte alkyd oil paint and Rembrandt oil paint at Forstall Art Center where I teach oil painting class, here in Birmingham, AL.
Thanks to Randy Webb, local artist and demo attendee for generously allowing me to use his pictures and video for my blog!
I did two paintings, the first was an open, color grisaille. Basically it was a wash using Fastmatte paint, thinned with odorless mineral spirits. It's considered open because you leave the white of the canvas to indicate the lights of the painting, much like a watercolor painting. Fastmatte is designed to dry fast so you can do an underpainting and it will be dry by the next day so you can begin the second layer quickly.
I started with a pencil drawing on Ampersand Gessobord, professional quality.
After the pencil drawing was complete I redrew it using a Faber Castell sepia pen. Next I mixed up a few strings of color, some interesting grays and a couple of reds.
Using odorless mineral spirits I thinned the paint and began washing in areas working from the background to the foreground and from the darkest to the lightest.
Finished local color grisaille. 9x12
Next I did a rub out, or value study, open grisaille. I used Rembrandt burnt umber mixed with a little medium mixture that is linseed oil/mineral spirits, 60/40 ratio. I do not use the Fastmatte for this type rub out since it dries too quickly.
The entire panel is covered in paint using a large soft brush.
I use a soft T-Shirt scrap to wipe out the lights.
I will add back in more paint if I have rubbed out too much.
Final open grisaille value study. This could be painted over in couple days with full color.
Here's one I did with my class, so you get the idea of full color and how the rub out can inform subsequent layers.
One last note, this one about the still life set-up. (you can see it in a couple the photos and the video).
I use a box made of foam core that folds up. The sides are 3, white pieces, that I have hinged together with packing tape. It is then draped in black cloth. A large piece of black foam core is laid on top. I have cut out space for the clamp-on lamp and the cord to stick out the top.
This has turned out to be a great solution to the problem of blocking light pollution from the ceiling, while adding a dramatic light to the still life and the problem of storage of the set-ups. I don't have a dedicated space for my class so the still life has to be packed up after every class. It travels back and forth from the center easily and I have 4 of them. They lay flat and don't take up much room. I can fit three students to one still life.
My first set-up nearly caught fire and cooked the fruit so this is a much better solution! It pays to have an engineer in the family.
I'm doing a FREE painting demo at Forstall Art Center this coming Saturday, 10am-12pm. I'll be demonstrating underpianitng techniques with Gamblin Artists Colors Fast Matte and other paint. Call them at (205) 870-0480 to sign-up. Feel free to share this info with everyone.
Here is a post about the last underpainting demo I did for them here.
The kickstarter is well underway. We are 89% funded with 6 days to go. Carly's design for the book looks amazing!
To buy a book at a big discount you can go to the kickstarter project page and pledge $50, (that's the book including shipping). After the kickstarter is over the book will retail for $65 (+shipping).
The Incognito Project book cover
I have several other packages you could pledge, some smaller with images of the paintings on a calendar or notecards. There a few packages that include some of my original oil sketches and the Applause painting from the Incognito Project.
Two page spread that includes details from my self-portrait, The Stake-Out
It's been very exciting. Carly and I decided it needed a larger format so it is now 12"x9", about the size of a high school year book. And it's around 120 pages!
two page spread for The Torch Singer
two page spread of pictures from the original photo shoot in 2010
Because of the large format of the book I bought a new Canon EOS Rebel T31, with 18 megapixels! I've re-shot the paintings and it's very exciting. Some of the pages will be 2 full page spread bleeds, so it shows the brush work and color very clearly.
detail page of The Activist
The book will included an foreword about the work by Graham Boettcher, PhD Yale University, Curator of American Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art. The Incognito Project book documents the series from the beginning, featuring photographs and interviews from the first Incognito art event, which was part photo-shoot, part costume party. It will include writing from the models and commentary from others.
The Incognito Project, my two year portrait painting series is nearing completion! I have a date and venue for the exhibition.
November 3, 2012
Art Folk Gallery, Young & Vann Building, 1731 First Avenue North
Birmingham, AL, USA
The final stop on this carnival ride of a project is to produce a book, documenting the project. The book has grown from a simple coffee table book, a mere catalog of images into something more! We have launched a kickstarter to fund printing of a super shiny, first run edition of the book. You can see the video and full description of all that it entails here.
It will now included an foreword about the work by Graham Boettcher, PhD Yale University, Curator of American Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art. The Incognito Project book documents the series from the beginning, featuring photographs and interviews from the first Incognito art event, which was part photo-shoot, part costume party. It will include high resolution images, details of all twenty-five paintings and writing from the creative minds at Matter Deep Publishing. The book is laid out like a case file, where I slip into my own fantasy and play the role of voyeur and observer of humans, a detective unraveling the mysteries of my subjects.
Two page spread from the book.
Thank you for all the support you have shown to me over the years! Please share the kickstarter with your friends and family, help us get the word out and get this book published!
This one is about two hours with the model. I was working with a couple local sculptors so light isn't very important to them, so it was kind of flat overhead florescent. The challenge was to paint the form with very little shadow. It felt like a real luxury to have those extra few minutes since the drawing group I normally attend is only one hour with the model!
Amanda on White, 11x14, oil sketch on panel
The Face Off is a painting demo at Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA. On August 17, 2012, Mia Bergeron, Rachel Constantine, Cindy Procious and I will be painting from the same model at a gallery event that is free and open to the public. If you are in the DC area come see us!
On Friday, August 17, 2012, Iwill join a few of my Women Painting Women Expedition friends Mia Bergeron, Rachel Constantine and Cindy Procious in the Face Off at Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA, 6:30-9 PM.
It is a live painting demonstration where we will all paint from the same model. The gallery is open to the public and the paintings will be for sale at the end of the evening, so I've been trying to attend my local figure drawing group as offen as possible to exercise those quick sketch muscles.
It's not perfect practice for the event since our drawing group is structured to have 1 twenty minute session of 2 and 5 minute gesture poses, and 3 twenty minute sessions with the model in one pose, so that is only one hour on the pose.
This is the first 20 minutes. It is burnt umber on a previously tinted gessobord panel. I basically tried to get down the placement on the panel, and started to lay in the shadows. I think putting in the shape of the shadows at this point helps me get the drawing right.
In the second twenty minute session I started putting in some color in the shadows.
During the last twenty minutes I put worked toward the light areas, put in the face and the hair. I put in the pink on the blanket after I got home. And as always I wanted more time!
The Pink Blanket, 11x14, oil on panel
After seeing the painting sitting in the studio for a few days I realized that I liked the sketches I've done where I toned the background a little darker color so I added a very thin glaze to the lightest areas of the painting. For the glaze I use a bit of res-n-gel and some of the linseed oil/mineral spirits mixture that I use for a medium. I think having the background darker allows the figure to pop forward.
If you are in the Washington, DC area on August 17, come see us! Its bound to be fun time. With this crew you never know what's gonna happen!
Got a new one finished. This is a painting of my daughter's boyfriend. One of his favorite pieces of literature is the epic poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner written by English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1798.
The Mariner, The Incognito Project, 8x8, oil on panel
Will is a Florida native and loves being near water. He was on a local row crew for years and is restoring an old sailboat. Currently he is a bit of a fish out of water since he is living in Alabama, to be near my daughter, and going to school. But that's what The Incognito Project is all about, revealing or disguising something about the sitter.
I was not familiar with the poem and enjoyed doing a little research about it. There are several sayings in our common speech that come from the poem. When the crew is becalmed:
Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean.
Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.
Gustave Dore
As penance for shooting the albatross, (which may or may not have brought the crew good luck followed by bad luck) the Mariner, driven by guilt, is forced to wander the earth, tell his story, and teach a lesson to those he meets:
He prayeth best, who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all.
Gustave Dore
I was enjoying these engravings, by Gustave Dore, that were published in a version of the poemin 1876 according to Wiki. The artists name was familiar to me, finally I realized that he did one of my favorite paintings in The Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, VA.
I love this painting! The young boy's haunted face, the lighting and Dore's expressive brush work make this one a show stopper.
This is the statue of the Ancient Mariner at Watchet, Somerset, England. The statue was unveiled in September 2003, as a tribute to Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The sculptor was Alan B Herriot of Penicuik, Scotland.
And that's how a really quick post to introduce a new painting can result in a couple hours surfing the the internet and finding out cool stuff :)
