A work-in-progress, Ikat abstract brush painting

Take a look "behind the scenes" at the layered abstract process. 

Abstracts are sometimes misrepresented as "simple" or "easier" than realism when they actually can be quite intricate. Hopefully, a look at the way these paintings are made can dispel such notions. 

I wrote this post to show some photos of a work-in-progress, Ikat abstract brush painting in a deep, indigo blue. 

The current commission is a larger variation based this finished, blue and white ikat original

Here are the process photos for the new, 2ft x 4ft variation:

These first, white photos show the texturing of the surface, before any paint is added.

The next step is a light glaze, with expressive, gestural brushstrokes that begin to structure to the piece.

 

The piece will eventually be hung horizontally, but for these first strokes, I can get better control by turning the painting to be four feet tall. Luckily, that pneumatic drafting chair pictured can adjust to quite a height, so it is possible to reach the top of the piece while still sitting.

 The second and third glazes continue to deepen the values. Opaque layers are also added at this point

Now, for some thick, textured brushstrokes and knife strokes. I love how the painting looks at this stage. In the future, I plan on doing another painting that stops at this stage with it's energy and drama, but, to make this piece a soft ikat as promised, I need to keep layering on top of this particular painting.

 This is how the whole piece looks when the darkest, translucent glazes are added. Texture hides beneath the color at this point and needs to be brought back out again.

The following four images are all closeups of the painting as it stands now, with white drybrushing over those darkest areas. There is still a week's worth of refining to go, adding lightness back into the picture by using soft, wide brushes that delicately graze the surface to make soft, subtle transitions from the lightest white areas.

I'll be sure to post a picture of the finished work soon. :)

Variations on my Emerald Abstract Painting

Instead of making exact, painted copies of artworks, I now am making variations on them, in order to create a series of original, yet related paintings.

Here are two variations I made recently. Each one is 24"X36"X3/4" on cotton stretched canvas:

(All images in this blog post:  Copywright 2013 Kirsten E. Gilmore. All rights reserved.)

Variation 1:

Here are close-up details of Variation 1:

This is one of my favorite parts. It reminds me of a tree-lined  mountainous landscape.

This image captures some of the painting's intense blue passages.

Variation 2:

This is the painting as a whole.

This shows the semi-gloss sheen to the piece that picks up the light and reveals more of the saturated colors within.

 Here are close-up details of Variation 2:

In stronger light, you can see more of the colors within. this area

3/4" profile sides are painted black, so there is no need for a frame.

Opaque projectors for transferring small sketches to large canvases

How do you take a tiny sketch and make a huge painting, without losing the liveliness of those first marks?

For me, the answer is:

Use an opaque projector. 

Here, I have painted a background already, and I am tracing my drawing using white paint mixed with acrylic glazing fluid.

Why use white paint? 

Mistakes can be simply erased with a clean, wet brush--paint wipes easily off a less-absorbent surface like this. The white paint is a better choice than black, since a white under-layer lets translucent colors shine more brightly when they are layered over it.

Need a Mother's Day gift that is truly personalized but also guaranteed to arrive in time? 

Get a custom made "Mother's Day Garden Portrait" floral painting from Paintings by Kirsten Elizabeth Gilmore.

Even if you need a last minute Mother's Day gift, the ecard gift certificate for this original floral painting will get there on time--even if you wait to buy until the day before Mother's Day. 

Mother's Day (Sunday, May 12th) is nearly here! If you want something truly memorable and personal, yet still affordable and able to get to your mother or grandmother in time, I have a limited time offer for you.

Limited time offer:  Mother's Day Garden Portrait Painting  From now through May 11th, you can buy a custom portrait of your mother's garden or grandmother's garden, with delicate brushwork and subtle glazing. 


With this offer, you will get a customized portrait for the price of a made-to -order painting. 

Four Mother's Day Garden Portrait sizes are available:   

• mini-portrait ($39.99 plus shipping) 6" X 8" X 1 and 3/8"
• small garden portrait ($49.99 plus shipping) 8" X 10" X 1 and 3/8" 
• medium portrait ($74.99 plus shipping) 16 X 20 and 3/8" (About the size of a large baking sheet pan.)
• large portrait ($149.99 plus shipping) 24" X 36" X 3/4" (This is two feet by three feet, so an "over-the couch" size painting.)

THE CUSTOM PAINTING PROCESS:

1.) Find the right size listing:
Visit my etsy shop, and click on the listing for the size "Mother's Day Garden Portrait" that you want.

2.) Buy the painting.
Click "add to card" to buy, and either pay through PayPal (much preferred) or by credit card. I also accept etsy gift cards. If you wish to use one for either all of the purchase or a discount on the purchase, the etsy website will automatically guide you step by step through this process.

3.) Send me your gift recipient's contact information.
Please include your gift recipient's email address AND mailing address in the "note to sender" during checkout. If you forget to do this, please email the information to me.

4.) An ecard is sent.
I will email an ecard to your gift recipient on Mother's Day. It will have a Mother's day greeting, an explanation of the custom painting process, and my contact information in it.

5.) A photo of her garden is sent to me.
Either you or your gift recipient sends me at least one image of the garden as a photo reference to turn into a painting.

6.) Art production and communication by email:
Over the next few weeks, I will communicate with your gift recipient directly:  emailing photos of the artwork in progress, taking suggestions or editing when asked.

This is the truly personalized part of the process. Your mother or grandmother gets to make choices about her painting's colors, style, and composition. Together, we will make the painting just the way she wants it. 

7.) Final approval.
I will send an image of the finished work and get your gift recipient's approval. When she is happy with the image, I varnish it, let the varnish dry, and ship it to her.

8.) Shipping
I ship via FedEx Ground or FedExHomeDelivery for larger packages. I ship via USPS priority mail for smaller packages. I carefully wrap and cushion your artwork so it will arrive safely.

HOW TO HANG:
The two smaller canvases are deep profile so they can sit on shelves or hang from a nail. The larger canvases are standard profile and can be hung either with or without a standard size, open back frame. I paint the edges, so no frame is needed.

CONTACT ME BEFORE BUYING TO ADD ON OPTIONAL EXTRAS:

Hanging wire installation available:
For the medium size or large size paintings, I can install hanging hardware and professional wire on the back for an $10 fee (the supplies at local craft stores are roughly $6 for this, if you would prefer to do it yourself.)

Premium knife paintings available: 
Note that this listing is for brush paintings, not knife paintings. If you prefer a knife painting, contact me for a different price list (both materials and supports cost more). Also, do know that the production process is longer, since they they take more time to make and more time to dry.

My contact email:  paintingsbykirstenelizabeth@gmail.com

BUY MORE THAN ONE TO SAVE ON SHIPPING:
If you buy two paintings from my etsy store, shipping is automatically reduced, even if you are shipping the items to different people.

Paper Gift Cards are NOT available:
The ecards included are fast and free. I decided not to make paper cards available. I realize that some mothers or grandmothers still do not use email, but the process of collaborating with them on the painting's creation would become too difficult and costly for me to do by mail or phone.

COPYWRITE NOTE:

Note that, by purchasing this custom garden portrait, you are giving me permission to do a derivative artwork, based upon your photograph (or your mother's photograph). Even though the photograph was yours and the painting is yours, all the rights to the image and rights to reproduce the image are still mine. So, for instance, I can still make prints based upon this painting.

This is common practice for all U.S. artists. I mention it only because I want to be sure customers have full knowledge of the legal aspects of buying commissioned art. 

I'm so proud of my adult painting students!

Week 4 of Beginning Acrylic for Adults

    

Last night, during the "Beginning Acrylics" course at the Urbana Park District, my students painted a fluid, watercolor-like layer over the sculpted, molding paste knife painting from the week before. This is a more challenging project, since the absorbent surface pulls the paint this way and that is somewhat unpredictable ways. Imagine if handmade watercolor paper became a sculpture:  that is what painting over molding paste is like. But, both students tackled the challenge, and I think the results are beautiful! The photos above show the change from layer 1 to layer 2.

Registration for the new, Intermediate Acrylics course is still open. (Note:  if you click on that link, scroll to page 35 for the course description.)

Tips for working on a colored ground:

Acrylic painting techniques & ways to fix mistakes

How to make light colors look vibrant:
Light colors on darker grounds--especially translucent light colors--can look dull. Yellows can look green against a blue because the layers optically mix. Here is one way to counteract this effect.

1. Paint the part you want to be a bright color in white.                          

   

   ***Notice that some of the white was painted thickly (towards the bottom) while the white brushstrokes near the top are thinly drybrushed on. The opacity of your white brushstrokes will affect what kind of result you get when glazing.)

   
   

   

   Close-up view of the differences in opacity

   
   
2. Let that dry. Then paint over with your light, bright color. You can even get neon yellow effects this way.                                    

If you decide you don't want it that bright, you can always glaze over with another color. In this case, I mixed cerulean blue with a soft gel gloss so the paint dries translucent and has a slight texture to it. I layered this over the lower half of the purple shape. I made a similar, textured glaze of red to go over the red and yellow parts of the composition. 

What did the glazes do?

The red glaze helped unify the red shapes, changing the neon yellow parts into orange. The blue glaze helped enrich the color of the purple shapes, making it more vibrant and varying the hue from top to bottom. Notice that I did not glaze over the top part of the purple shape with blue--that would have turned the yellow brushstrokes into a dull green. I also purposefully did not glaze over the thin yellow lines that cut across the composition. They retained their brightness without overpowering other colors.

How else can you use a mix of soft gel gloss and acrylic paint?

You can see the shiny, raised brushstrokes made with the same mix of soft gel gloss and paint that made the blue glaze. The difference is in how thickly it was applied and not smoothed out.

How to paint "wet-on-dry" masked shapes

A DIY Acrylic painting tutorial

Photos and paintings are by Kirsten Elizabeth Gilmore. All rights reserved.

In the last tutorial, I showed you how to drybrush over blue painter's tape to create a visually textured shape with a clean, straight edge. This tutorial uses the same method, but with thick, wet paint.

Here is a close-up view of a recent painting (work-in-progress).
Notice the crisp lines, even in areas with highly-textured surfaces.

Bonus material:  Fixing crooked edges

This tutorial will also show you how to "over-paint" to correct a dried, uneven paint line or edge. Everyone makes mistakes, from time to time, while painting. This simple technique can help you tremendously.

Materials:

• Blue painter's tape for delicate surfaces
• Acrylic paint ("thick body" or thickened with a gel medium.) Note that Galeria brand's "soft body" acrylics are actually a consistency between "thick body" and "soft body", so they will work for this demo without anything added to them.
• Palette an artist's plastic palette works or a plastic lid, cleaned and recycled from a food container or baker's parchment (used as a disposable palette) Parchment should be taped to the table.
• Flat brush (preferably nylon)
• water tub
• paper towel
• airtight plastic container (for stay-wet, paint storage)
• surface to paint on This could be a fully-dried painting or a painting with a dried base coat or, you could do this on a pre-primed, white hardboard or canvas.
• palette knife for mixing paint

Procedure:

1. Make sure your surface is fully dry before you begin.
2. Decide where you want your line or shape. 
3. Mask around that area with blue painter's tape. If you want a line, mask on either side of the line to determine its width. Press hard at the edges to ensure the tape is secured well with no wrinkles.          

   

   Notice how The top line I am masking is to make a correction to a wobbly line.

4. Load your brush half-way up the bristles with a thick glob of paint. Then, paint inside the shape.                               
5. To make a patterned line, brush different colors over the masked shape (as in the photo below.)                                                    
6. Before you lift the tape, plan where you are going to put it. It will have wet paint all over it. While working, I sometimes have a plastic disposable grocery bag nearby for wet trash. The trouble is that the tape sticks to the bag opening and can create a mess. So, I keep a clean, plastic lid from a food container to "stick" the tape to. You could do the same with a paper towel laid on the table.
7. When you remove the tape, you should get a clean edge to your shape.

How I use this technique in my own paintings:

Here are more views of my 24"X36" painting-in-progress that uses this technique:

Closeup-view of the heavy texture and clean edge.