Collage a day keeps comfort at bay

Every so often, I like to bump myself out of my comfort zone. This week, my aim is to do one collage (small) each day.

"She" (above) does not yet have a title. It would be fun to hear from blog followers and art lovers.

My beginning and process: On Sunday, I dug out old, failed paintings, which I covered with coats of white gesso (acrylic), then set to dry. My studio floor was covered with gesso-coated paper and boards (yes, I have plenty of non-successful paintings; this was a mere toe dip into the mass).

Yesterday morning, I sorted through other failed paintings and drawings, tore and cut them into pieces, and sorted by value. After I tied on my painting apron, I found a photo of a face that intrigued me, drew a design plan and set to work, placing and gluing papers.

This morning, I placed one more piece of paper on her cheek, and took her photo.

Here she is: my first collage.

Atemis, Hellenic goddess

While preparing to teach my watercolor workshop (People — Heads, Features, & Faces which starts to tomorrow at the Duluth Art Institute), I've done many watercolor studies and color sketches of men and women of all ages.

I love Greek sculpture and while researching, I fell in love with the strength, beauty, and dignity of Artemis, the Hellenic goddess of the hunt, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth, virginity, etc.

"Think of a mother's love for her child while you paint that subject, that is, think of the idea you want to give while you are painting." —Robert Henri.

The Girl, Steps 1 and 2

Color sketch of The Girl

Step 1: I drew a head shape, penciled in eye sockets, tip of nose, and line of mouth. I wet the paper (student grade, purchased for my grandchildren) and dropped in a wash of pale yellow, red, blue, and tipped my paper, adding water to encourage flow and melding of color. After this dried, I wet areas in shadow (light coming from our left, top) and dropped in yellow, then red, then blue.

Step 2: After the shadow shapes dried, I wet the hair area, dropped in yellow, red, blue – letting and helping colors run together. I scraped highlights with my painting knife. Student grade paper does not hold a scrape very well; the area filled in with damp paint. But I like the linear effect. I darkened the eye shapes and mouth, dampened the background and ran in red and blue to create purple.

Next, I will draw and paint The Girl on Arches 140 lb. cold press. My aim will be to paint an entirely new painting.

Lundin Watercolor Portrait Workshop • Heads, Features & Faces

I'm looking forward to teaching the Watercolor Portrait Workshop — Heads, Features, and Faces — at the Duluth Art Institute, Duluth, MN. The three-day workshop starts this Friday, October 15, from 9 AM to 4 PM. Painters of all levels are welcome to attend. For information, log onto — www.lundinart.com. To register, phone Shannon at the Duluth Art Institute, (218) 723-1310.

The image above is a detail of a color sketch I did earlier today. I used watercolor and gouache. My aim was to paint layers of transparency and translucency, to capture the  woman's gaze, the light in her eyes, the expression of her mouth, the warm and cool tones of her skin.

Inspired by AidaBaby

Baby skin is like rose petals, a baby mouth like a bud, hair, feathery wisps. Babies are a joy to paint and require a tender touch. I will install a "how to" on my website.

Workshop prep portrait

Color study — girl of the day — inspired by a hair model in Real Simple magazine. When playing with color and shape, experimenting with method, I like working from images of people I don't know. It helps to reduce variables when I don't need to think about whether or not my drawing/painting looks like Gloria or Keith or Grandma, etc.

While working on this color sketch, I thought about position/angle of her head, head architecture, proportion, neutral color, linear movement, musculature of her neck, including the bonnet strings which is how Edgar Whitney referred to the sternocleidomastoid muscles of the neck.

Makes me smile to think of how Ed Whitney always encouraged us to think.

An aside: A student once told Ed, "If I knew I'd have to think so much, I wouldn't take taken this workshop."

Lundin Watercolor Portrait Workshop

I'm teaching a three-day watercolor portrait workshop — Heads, Features, and Faces — at the Duluth Art Institute, Duluth, MN, Friday-Sunday, October 15-17, 2010, 9 AM - 4 PM.

To register, please contact the DAI. For more information, email me or post your query below (thank you).

Look forward to painting with you at the workshop.