Dreama Tolle Perry Workshop

Dreama's Workshop


I really loved this workshop.  Dreama's painting have such vivid color and beautiful brushwork. 

I took the workshop last April, but never included much from my notes.  Here are the highlights of what I learned:

Paint the under painting in transparent oils using a medium (the one I use is 1 part damar varnish, 2 parts stand oil or linseed oil, 3 parts gamsol)

 

You probably have most of the ones she recommended they include:  indian yellow, transparent red, alizarin, magenta, ultramarine blue, Caribbean blue

 

Then the next layer, paint with only opaque's like the cad colors, and  white mixed into transparent. (Dreama used Shiva Ice Blue, too,)   Don’t use medium in this layer, just fresh paint.  When you paint over the transparent let the darks peek through.  If you use a light touch the paints mix into the underpainting, but if you really load up your brush with lots of paint the brush strokes sit on top.

 

Use big brushes and think of you brushstrokes as putting down confetti pieces of color. 

 

It’s really a fun way of doing a painting.  Sometimes I use all of her techniques, other times just parts of it. 

 

 

This one was done from one of the photo's from class.

Available at Daily Paintworks (SOLD)

Use of temperature in oil painting

March 27, 2014

I added the course outline and supply list to the page "Lessons", one of the new tabs at the top of this page under the banner. 

Also included photo of exercise on temperature.

Each apple shows a different way of using temperature. 

1 - black and white underpainting used in each painting.
2 - shows warm and cool temperatures in both light and shadow side of apple
3 - only warm colors on light and shadow side plus background and flat plane
4 - only cool colors on light and shadow plus background is cool colors.
5. - warm and cool on light and shadow and neutral background and flat plane
6. - warm and cool on light and shadow with warm background

WHY:  Including temperature changes adds variety and interest to your paintings. 

Painting Big

March 24, 2014

Painting Bigger

Since taking the workshop with Daine Tesler I've painted 4 big paintings (3 16 x 20's and one 18 x 24).  Going through the steps outlined in my last few blogs about what I learned in the class works better for me than turning a small painting done several weeks ago into a large painting.  I'm still working on that one.  Here's the small one.  I'm not ready to show the big version yet. 

Adding Pages

Now that I discovered how to add pages, there are two new tabs on the top of the page.  There's room for one or two more tabs and  I'm working on a page that would put the exercise boards that I use in teaching all in one place, rather than embedded through the blog where they are hard to find.  Good idea? 

New Page on my Blog

 

 

March 22, 2014

 

I added a page to my blog as an experiment and am not even sure if I did it correctly.  There were some instructions about this when I opened the Design page with encouragement to add pages.  Anyway,  I would appreciate some feedback about whether it worked.  I turned it into an archive page because that is all I could think of as a way to use it.  I think you can get to it by clicking on the word archive under the banner. 

 

 

Online Research

March 20, 2014

Online Research

You probably do this already, but I just discovered a website that was inspiring and educational to look at and admire. 

Here is the link:  http://hallgroat.com/color-schemes-harmonies-video-lessons/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=color-schemes-harmonies-video-lessons

If you look around this website there is even a place where you can submit paintings for a critique by the artist. 


Here is the painting I worked on yesterday, trying to conquer painting children.  Hannah is another granddaughter, adorable in every way.  I'm still working on Maddie's painting.  My son told me that he showed it to her and that she liked it.  She is also adorable.  Maybe my older granddaughters (also adorable- I might be biased)  should send me more of their favorite photos of themselves.  (Hint)  It will help me gain confidence to keep practicing.  I like the action shots.  I'm working up to faces. 

 

(underpainting - approx. 11 x 14)

More from Workshop and Auction on Daily Paintworks

March 19, 2014






More about the Workshop with Diane Tesler

On the second day of the workshop I decided to try doing a figure because I wanted to learn as much as I could about painting skin tones especially with children.  Diane's help gave me confidence and the courage to paint a big version of the studies I did recently of one of my granddaughters. 

Notes:

Skin tones for children are the same as adults.  There is no separate formula. Watch for proportions and planes when painting children.

Colors generally used for skin tones - yellow ochre, viridian and cad red light along with white.  Keep lightening and darkening from that mixture.  For shadows:   mix of  viridian and thalo rose or permanent rose to make a lavender. 

Good gray = yellow ochre, permanent rose and ub

(you can get to a gray by using almost any version of RYB)

Thank you to Diane Tesler for this outstanding workshop.


Auctions

I am trying out the auction at Daily Paintworks. I might have put my starting bids too low, if you know of anyone who wants some 6 x 6 paintings for a very low price ($10) here are some good bargains.

Click on title for link:

 (starting bid = $10)

Sunny Window

 

 

Favorite Things

 

A-1

 

All auctions can be found at link below:

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/carol-josefiak-3555

Workshop with Diane Tesler

March 17, 2014 - Happy St. Patrick's Day

This past weekend I attended an outstanding workshop with Diane Tesler.  I will include a link to her website.  She has upcoming workshops, one at the Torpedo Factory in gouache and the other in oils.  This second one is in Indiana  for 5 days. There are accommodations near her studio and she even provides lunch and dinner.  I loved this workshop. 

Our workshop was in the glorious color-filled studio of Betsy Glassie of LibertyTown Arts Workshop.  It was wonderful to be in the midst of her art. 

We painted almost non-stop and had a very informative critique.   She provided so much information for each person that was valuable for everyone.  One of the reasons I like workshops is that you learn from the other artists and share in their experiences. 

NOTES:  ( a lot of this is from memory so you know what that means)

Start each painting with a drawing using a large format.  Diane recommended 14 x 17 in sketchbook.   Rather than doing small  thumbnails, use the entire surface.  Then once you have a drawing, make the decision about how you want to crop the drawing.  Her point was, don't limit yourself by deciding the size and the edges first. 

Spend enough time on the drawing to fix proportion problems.  Make sure things are lined up using plumb lines and comparisons. 

Have you ever seen one of these?  It was a big help.  You can buy them online.  Diane had some extras for us. 

To help with angles I discovered a useful tool that belonged to my Dad.  Diane was explaining how you could make this tool and it made me realize how I could use this tool which I already had, but didn't know how to use. 

Adapt the canvas size to the way you have cropped your drawing.   


Once you are satisfied with you drawing, then draw with a mixture of Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna (or some equivalents to make a black color) with Gamsol.  Tone your canvas first with this mixture.  Use a paper towel to pull out the lights. 

This is the painting I did on the second day. (Big for me - 16 x 20)  It is not finished, but you can see the wash that I used.  I concentrated on Maddie and will finish the background later.  I think I am ready to do a painting of Hannah now. 

Link to Diane's workshops: http://www.dianetesler.com/



Will add more info tomorrow, I'm too tired to include everything now.

Tomorrow or soon, info on painting skin tones and a few other things

Auction at DailyPaintworks

15 March 2014

I just listed some (6) paintings at Daily Paintworks in the Auction.  I looked at what other artists do and, that is, start the bids at $10.  So far there is only one bid so these could end up being a good buy.  I listed some nice ones.  The auctions last 7 days, then are re-listed.  I thought it was worth a try. 

Marketing is a perplexing subject. 


http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/carol-josefiak-3555

Getting ready for a workshop with Diane Tesler

March 13, 2014

  This weekend LibertyTown Arts Workshop is hosting a workshop with Diane Tesler from the Art League in Alexandria, VA.  Usually I spend a day or day getting my materials organized and ready to go and that's all.  This time I am going to spend time doing some studies so that I have good choices of subjects ready to paint.  Since I'm doing the Fredericksburg series I'm getting photos together and working out compositions. 

Yesterday, I did some drawings and studies.  I was happy with my last study until I saw the post on DPW.  It looked so flat and I saw some drawing errors, all of which I tried to correct this morning.  If I had used my checklist I would have caught the errors before posting.  I need to post my checklist, but usually when something goes wrong it is either a drawing error or a value problem.  The "flat" look tends to be lack of temperature changes.  Now that I think about it, the painting looked better in the early stages.  Adding too much detail hurt my painting.  So maybe I will do another one. 

STUDIES:

Still looking for good photos from my array of thousands of disorganized ones and hoping to get more through email.  (entries for this month's give-away)

This photo I used was sent to me as an entry into my Fredericksburg series.  Thank you to you for sending it. 

I'll put the notes from my class here on my blog next week.  Between today and Saturday I'll be working on more ideas for the class. 

March Give-away

March 9, 2014


I really like this idea of getting photos for the Fredericksburg series I am doing.  I'm putting them in an album on facebook.   There are only 5 so far.  One is of a photo that was sent to me, another I asked the owner for permission to paint one of her photos from facebook.    Thank you so much for these photos.  I might try another today.  There are only 4 entries.  Just send me a photo to enter the March Give-away of a small painting.    (Lynn, you are one of the four, you sent me that great beach photo)   

my email is: cbjmail@cox.net


It's a small series, but this time I want to think big and go for at least 25.  Do you think I will make it?When the flowers start blooming I can go around town and look for spots like this.  I'll have my husband take the photos.  You know I am trying to improve my photo taking skills, but have a long way to go. 


Here's #5:  

 

6 x 6

Inspiration

March 7, 2014

 "the best teacher is the very act of painting," by Joaquin Sorolla

I was so inspired by this article that I received in my mailbox today.  Patti Vincent's quote by Joaquin Sorolla really caught my attention.  Plus her paintings have such bold and beautiful brushwork.  Daily Paintworks includes interviews from different artists each week.  Patti Vincent's dedication is very motivating.  Painting everyday is a big part of her strategy. 
(click here for link to this article)

Joining Daily Paintworks has helped me a lot for quite a few reasons:

painting everyday  (almost)

learning from other artists

a great resource for tutorial help

exposure to so much wonderful art

meeting other artists online

learning new techniques

a chance to sell paintings

having the weekly challenge available

You can tell I am a big fan of Daily Paintworks. 

I did this painting yesterday and tried some new things.  One of the many artists I admire is Qiang Huang  (over 800 of his paintings shown at DPW).  He has an article in The Artist magazine this month with a very helpful demo.  He talks about using a palette knife for the areas he wants to emphasize.  I tried that out.  Maybe you can see it in the photo.  I really like the effect. 

( I listed this at DPW.  Their listings let you zoom in an see the brushwork better than here.  Here's the link:  http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/carol-josefiak-3555

Jack and Jill Pancakes

Daily Paintworks

(The color of the background is more pink and my apologies for the glare on the photo).
 

My mother used to make these pancakes for us.  We loved them because they were very fluffy.  My sister found this recipe somewhere and we put it in the family cookbook. It's from an old issue of "Jack and Jill" magazine from the 50's.  Does anyone remember that magazine?   My husband made them yesterday and I decided they would be a good subject for a painting.  I don't know why I chose that background color, but I think I like it. 

  

2 cups Bisquick

1 2/3 cups milk

1 egg

4 TBSP  butter

   

 

March Give-away

March 2, 2014




New idea for the March Give-away - any available 6 x 6 painting of mine from  Daily Paintworks

To enter send me a photo for a series I am doing of close-ups of Fredericksburg, VA.  (or anywhere) that has flowers, window boxes, gates, special place to you.  I only have four painting so far.
(send to: cbjmail@cox.net)





(all four paintings are at Heather Boutique on Caroline Street)

Congrats to Marcia from Richmond.  Here is what she chose.  It is framed and on its way. 

I'm still working on my newsletter for March.   I recreated the mailing list and started on the newsletter using "mailchimp" which I thought was going to be easy and it is not, at least for me it is not easy.  It might end up being the April Newsletter.