Alley #1 - 16" x 20" - Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $400

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 1
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 43

I really like the painting I finished today. I think, however, that it is a little dark because of how I have started doing my paintings. I draw on the gessoed board with a woodless pencil. The I start to paint with gesso to cover up lines I dont’ want to show.

There is so much graphite on the board that it gets picked up with the gesso and paint and I think it makes the painting a little dingy.  What do you think? Is the painting clear enough to tell? I like the picture, I like the composition, I like the colors. I just don’t know if I should use fixative to lock the graphite down before I start painting.

Me teaching my first art class in a school

Today I taught an art class in my 2nd grader’s class. I had spoken with his teacher during our parent/teacher conference. I mentioned that I was an artist and could teach a class. She took me up on the offer and today I taught my first real school art class.

I did the second exercise in Steve Aimone’s “Expressive Drawing” book. We did some automatic drawing with a little “veiling.” the kids did a great job and I think I blew it when I said “OK kids you have 2 minutes left…” because they just started whiting over everything and scribbling over everything they had just done. There were a few really nice pieces.

I told them their parents just might not understand what they were doing because it wasn’t really a picture of something. So they should just tell their parents it is “Expressive drawing.”

One little girl was crying because she scratched her paper and the teacher wouldn’t let her get a new one. I asked her how she felt and then told her to draw how she felt on the paper. She started scribbling within the lines she had just drawn and it looked really cool.

One boy's "Expressive Drawing. I like the use of color to add a focal point to the drawing.

I will have to try this again if the teacher will have me back!

Now, after applying the gesso one way with the brush, I use an old credit card as a spatula and qind of squeegie the gesso all over the board. It applies it to the depth of the first brush strokes, but gives me a flatter surface to draw on.

The rough boards created by the first application method just ate up my pencils. Now, with the flatter board, I don’t go through the woodless pencils quite as fast. It grabs the paint well too.

I tried squeegeeing straight on the board. It went on well enough, but I haven’t used that board yet. It uses much less gesso and gives a good tooth. the board is browner because there is less coverage, but that shouldn’t  matter.

Sailboats - 16" x 12" - Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $250

I painted three pictures today before I ran out of boards to paint. I tried painting the abstract landscapes I sketched yesterday and I think they look great. I am starting to develop my own visual vocabulary, which is fun. I will get the images posted this weekend. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to paint a few more pictures so I don’t get behind.

Bridge - 16" x 12" - Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $250

After I painted the landscapes, I cut up more boards. This time, I am going a little larger. I am going to try 18 x 14 boards and see if I can fill them well. It seems to take time for me to work up o large sizes. I enjoy painting on large surfaces, but if I am not ready, I do a bunch of junk just to fill the space.

After using the 12 x 16 boards today, I feel I am ready to move up a size.

After I cut the boards, I prepared them with gesso. Last time, I applied the gesso in one direction. When that dried, I brushed another layer perpendicular to the first direction. That gave me a lot of tooth for the paints, but it absolutely ate my pencils up!

This time, I brushed in one direction, then used an old credit card like a putty spatula to make a smooth top layer, filling in the gaps. I will try this and see how it works with the woodless pencils as well as the acrylic paint.

"Dwellings Series #1" - 14" x 11" Acrylic and colored pencil on canvas board - $100

Went shopping today.

Went to Barnes and Noble and got an ARTnews magazine. Paid $6 so I can subscribe for $20 and get a whole year. I should have just take the subscription card! Oh well, it gives me something to read in the bathroom.

Then I saw another book, Expressive Drawing: A Practical Guide to Freeing the Artist Within by Steven Aimone and just had to get it. I am going to use his lessons in the book as my assignments and perhaps that will get me rolling. I owe Christina a new pair of pants now because this wasn’t on my shopping list.

Then I went to Michael’s and they were having a sale. 40% off stretched canvas. I almost bought armloads of them but then reminded myself, I paint to roughly to use stretched canvas. And besides, I don’t have that kind of money. You know, starving artist and all. I ended up with some woodless pencils, woodless color pencils and watercolor pencils. And a few of those canvas panel boards to get started with. I plan to get some masonite because it is cheaper and I can cut a bunch out of a 4′ x 8′ piece.

It is a 30 minute drive for me to go shopping, so I looked online and found a place called Dick Blick Art Supplies. They sell art supplies and will pay your shipping if your order is big enough. I haven’t compared prices yet, but it looks like they have some pretty good specials. If you want to check them out, you can here.

I went to Lowe’s to get the masonite or “hard board.” $12 bucks for 4′ x 8′ piece. I got two and had the guy chop them up into managable pieces that would fit in my car. I don’t know what sizes I will chop them up into when I get home. I guess I should look at standard frame sizes, so I don’t make it too hard for my customers and force them to get custom frames.

Got home and started painting. First time in years. It is slowly coming back to me, all the techniques I used in college. I really like some of what I did back then and I will try and incorporate that into what I am doing now. I will let you know how it goes.

My first piece is of a village in Italy. I am going to do houses for a while, using the forms in the house as shapes for an abstracted piece. What do you think of “Dwelling 1?” Please comment below. I would love to hear from you.