second layer on the lemon painting

This lemon is big, a lot more than lifesize and therefor it is sooo hard to paint the large parts. The little indentions are very difficult to achieve. I started with painting on to the flat surface and give it some structure. It gives me a base to go further. But like the other paintings I am working on, I wait till the my next lesson and ask my tutor how to do the next layer.
So at the first photo you can see the first layer and at the second photo I made the flesh of the lemon a bit lighter and I covered the smooth surface of the lemon with some structure. Still ...... a lot of working to do for sure before I can add some transparant layers of color to it.

second layer grapes

 This is the first layer of this small excercise. My tutor recommended me to start with grapes. I did not erased the drawing enough so I have soo much difficulties to get rid of these lines. So lesson learned:-)  As you can see at the second photo I added more white and soften the whole painting. It is a great excercise for sure.

This is the second layer of paint. I have to wait till the next lesson to ask my tutor how to progress.

first layer painting grapes

I started a big painting, wow. I have so much to learn. I have a great teacher: Monique Eysink. I have to wait till after the holidays to show her the progress and to ask questions. Till then I will continue working at some smaller paintings/studies.
I used umber and titatian white for the underlayers.
I have to add more layers so the white will be white and the darkest is the darkest.
So building up.
A great adventure.
As you can see athe the second photo that I made the first layer lighter otherwise when I put the layers of colors on top of it the value/tones will get too dark.
It's a learning process indeed.
I put some background on top of the grey to be able to see the contrasts better.

first stage underlayer finished

Last night I finished the first layer of the underlayer. Now I will let it dry. I did try to make the form of the citron round and I will add details to the body of the citron in the next layer. This is the first time I work this way. I have to wait 2,5 weeks till my next lesson.

first step of classical realistism painting

I really enjoy painting this!! Not easy though. It is my first attempt in using this technique.
This is a real Work in Progress. This is the first layer of the underpainting in raw umber and titanium white.
 I am working at the slice of the zitron and starting to paint the dark background.
Untill now, I think I painted for 12 to 14 hours. Long way to go.

New adventure: oilpainting course fine art, classical realism

At last I found someone who teaches classical realism and........... she lives nearby. What a treat. Her name is Monique Eysink.
For the last couple of years, I took several online courses but I miss personal contact.
Next thursday, 2th of October 2014, is the first real lesson.
So I started to search for suitable subjects. Not easy to do, there are so many beautiful licence free photos on the internet. But it will be my first painting so the subject must not be too difficult to start with.

I downloaded several photos and I think I found the one I will use.
A citron, sliced.
Then I made a beautiful print of the photo to paint from, in the size of the painting. I do not want to start too small but also not too big, so I choose A4 size, 20x30cm.

Then I made a linedrawing to transfer to the piece MDF. I covered the MDF with a medium Grey colour several times.

With the help of my computer I made a image with 7 tones and painted a little study in a smaller size on a piece of MDF to practise these grey tones.

And last, today I took the photo of the citron and took from a lot of places colorswaps to see what colours are present on the photo.

What I always do with painting bontanical subjects with watercolor is to make studypages with colorsamples and I will do the same with these photos. So I will make a page with colorsamples with watercolor.

I already made 7 pages with all the colors of oilpaint I own. I glued on each page 7 pieces with 1vwhite and 5 different grades of grey  and painted on them with each oil paint color.
So I can see what the different colors do when they are painted over these greys.
Are they transparant, or opaque. Does the color change by the underpainting.
For the classical realism it is important to know if the color is transparant or opaque because colors are glazed over a grey toned underlayer.
These pages are with the colors red, blue and yellow. I did the same with all the other colors.

september challenge Botanical Artists at Facebook

There are some lovely groups at Facebook, for instance the group Botancial Art for Beginners and Botanical Artists.
The last group is holding a challenge this month: September/Autumn 30th day challenge. And it stimulate me to draw some Autumn things.

Chihuahua portrait

This morning I finished a portrait of a little Chihuahua.
At last I did finished something.
The last weeks it was too hot here in the Netherlands to do anything and I mostly studied and made a lot of studies of different botanical subjects.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to take another (the second) course with Dianne Sutherland. I already am a student for the botanical watercolour course and I had the feeling that I want to get a step further with drawing botanical subjects.

I hope you like this little portrait, it took me ages to complete. It is a gift. I hope they will be pleased.

Camelia painting finished

After a long time I finally finished a little painting of a Camelia. Due to illness I could not do much the last months. But..... there it is and I think I finally get it: how to work with watercolour paint. It was so often so frustating and such a struggle. Often my thoughts were: I give up and stays with what I can....... drawing. But I cannot stand it when I cannot do something so finally I think I found the way I like to paint.

Billy Showell started an online course

Billy Showell started an online course. You can be a student for a month or for longer. You can pay each month or she has also the possibillity to pay in advance for a year  at a cheaper price.
It costs you only  9.99 GBP and for a full year 89.88 GBP.

Every two weeks she will be adding a new project.
And you can view 5, 6 or even 9 videos about one subject.
These videos are such a delight.
Her previous videos also were very informative but these videos are and will be made like she wanted them to be and she is sooo much more relaxed.
The quality of the videos are superb.
So........ I think you can understand by now: I am very delighted that she started these online tutorials.
In case you want to see some free videos... you will find them also at her website so you can see what you will get.
This is the subscribe page: subscription page Billy Showell