Painting Time

Hey everyone,

So the commission I had earlier this month is all done.  I'm happy to share it with you all now.  It all started when I got a message from a man on Etsy, asking if I could paint a Celtic knotwork design on his Irish Bodhran drum.  I've never worked on a project like this before, but was excited by the prospect.  I did some quick research and found I would easily be able to do it, using high quality acrylic paints.  (If it was to be used regularly I'd also need to varnish it with a protective coating, but this drum was for display.)  So, I showed him some possible designs, he chose one, and then sent me his 18 inch, goat skin head, Bodhran drum.  Here's a few shots showing how the piece came together.  The sketchbook is the Fabriano EcoQua one that I got in September's Pigment + Palette box.  I've found I really like working with the dotted paper and that it holds up surprisingly well to acrylics when I tested them in the book to prepare for this painting.

Next on my plate was testing out some items from the October Pigment + Palette box.  I've tried Aquabord before (a hard panel perfect for watercolors that can be framed without glass), and enjoy working with it, but the other products are new to me.  Today I focused on the Qor watercolor samples.  The Qor line is made by Golden, whose fluid acrylics I have come to love as I worked with them more (and bought a few more bottles of) while working on the drum.  I was a little unsure of the Qor line at first, but here's a quick rundown of the colors I was able to test.

The colors are as follows, on the left the Qor line and on the right the most comparable color I had on hand.  Overall I think the Qor colors performed well and from what I can tell the quality is somewhere close to that of Winsor & Newton, but not quite M. Graham or Daniel Smith.

Qor Cobalt Teal VS Winsor & Newton Cobalt Turquoise Light.  These colors are virtually the same and come from the same single pigment PG50.  The both have about the same amount of pigment in the paint as far as I can tell.  In this case just buy whichever is on the best sale.  They're both quite lightfast, though according to Qor's website most of their line doesn't seem to have been tested yet.  Winner: Tie

Qor Dioxazine Purple VS Grumbacher Violet (Thalo Purple).  Dioxazine Purple is known to use a somewhat lightfast pigment PG23, but it isn't perfect.  Personally I wouldn't buy this pigment though it's lovely looking.  The Grumbacher Violet is slightly more lightfast, but only by a little bit using PV19 & PB15, though it can get a similar look when the ratio of paint to water is increased.  In terms of pigment for your dollar Qor is better, but Grumbacher wins for lightfastness despite being a more watered down student quality paint.  Winner: Grumbacher

Qor Quinicridone Magenta VS Grumbacher Carmine Hue.  Quinicridone (PR122) will be joining my palette soon because it reminds me a lot of the Cotman Mauve I used to love, but sadly found out was less lightfast than my standards would allow.  The Magenta is a solid shade that's slightly more cool in tone than the Carmine hue (PV19 & PV19, unsure why it's listed this way on the tube, different sources perhaps?) I compared it to.  The Magenta is also slightly more lightfast, so if mixed with Cotman's Raw Sienna it will likely be used in the future as my go-to combination for lighter skintones. Winner: Qor

Qor Transparent Pyrrole Orange VS Grumbacher Alizarin Orange.  In looks the Pyrrole is stunning, the color pops off the page, and while the Alizarin (PY65, PY150 & PR209) comes close it's not quite as intense.  Both are less lightfast colors, the Qor (PO71) slightly more so, which means I probably won't use either one often if I can help it.  However, for a project that will be used from photographs or a short term use the Pyrrole would be a great choice.  Winner: Tie

Qor Quinacridone Gold VS Cotman Raw Sienna.  Both of these colors are fantastic to work with, really it comes down to which effect you prefer from what I can tell.  Qor seems to be less lightfast (PO48 & PY150, this in the only color that's been tested so far of those I sampled), but when I checked the pigment information it seemed a very stable color.  Raw Sienna (PR101 & PY42) would give the same overall color, but with stronger effects at the edges and paler center sections in each stroke.  Winner: Tie

Qor Green Gold VS Grumbacher Thalo Yellow Green.  These colors are visually the most different pairing I had during my tests, so apologies there.  I found the Green Gold a great new choice, with few easily available colors locally that could compare.  It's lightfast using PY129 whereas the Thalo shade is slightly less lightfast using PG36 & PY3.  The Green Gold is a rich shade, but the Thalo is much more neon, which would be suitable for some temporary projects.  Winner: Qor

Please note I tried not to go too far into the details of how lightfastness is rated because many brands use different scales.  I prefer not to confuse anyone, so I have simply used comparatives to illustrate my meaning in this article.  I find lightfastness to be of considerable importance when selecting materials to work with, and at this point try to stick to only the highest rated colors if at all possible.  A couple of years ago I bought the book "The Artist's Guide to Selecting Colors" by Michael Wilcox, which is how I began to change my colors, and more recently this fantastic website as well.  The website has some more recent additions, though I occasionally come across colors that neither has a record of, in which case I check the manufacturer's site, Google search, or avoid using the color if I can't find out the rating.  It sounds strict and occasionally I do wish there were more shades of purple to use, but I know it will pay off years down the road when my grandchildren are able to see my art with colors as intense as they were when I painted each piece.

Thanks for reading, next time I'll be writing more about some of my travel adventures.

Love,
Lydia

Inkodyed Onesies

Hey friends!

So, over the last week I finally got to use the Inkodye that I received in my September Pigment + Palette box.  I'd been itching to use it from the start, but having trouble coming up with ideas for the magenta dye.  Then one of my best friends told me she was having a little girl, so I had the perfect excuse to use the dye!  I got some 100% cotton onesies, just the basic kind, nothing fancy.  And here's how I made the designs.

First off I looked at the instructions and ideas at http://lumi.co/guides/shadow knowing I'd want to try making shadow prints.  Inkodye works a lot like photographic emulsion, so I instinctively knew how I wanted to use the dye, but wanted to get it right the first time since the onesies were a gift.  Out of the 4 I made I think 3 were very successful and the 4th just so-so.  Tell me what you think:

So to make things like these I used some really simply methods and supplies other than the dye and Inkowash (a rinse that essentially removes the active agent in the dye making it light safe).  Things I used:

Painters tape (yep the kind for painting walls, one inch width)

Packing tape

Stencils

A round foam brush

A mini ironing board (any board or easy to move flat surface to lay items on while prepping and setting in the sun)

Some cardboard scraps (put inside the onesies to give a flat surface & prevent dye bleed through)

Scissors

Some old stickers I had

The onesies

A washing machine (hand washing would work too)

The instructions for shadow printing are basically this, put ink on the part of the shirt you want color, the block off the inked section with items that will become your design, or use something like a stencil to guide ink into just the areas you want it.  To facilitate this I used painters tape to tape down the stencils and used the round brush to put on the dye.  Here's a shot before the dye:

 

The stencils are from http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/.  They have some great designs, I recently picked up some of the more versatile ones to use in my collages and other projects:

 

For the heart design I took some old stickers and cut out a heart, put the heart on the shirt then added the dye over it with the brush, to save dye.

 

Finally for the last and toughest design I cut two portions of film strip to a size that would just overlap my tape box, put down a layer of dye, then used the clear packing tape to fasten the strips down.  This is the only onesie I feel failed, but only because the images in the strip are too hard to make out.  According to the Lumi site film is one the the harder things to print from because it can vary so much, and not be thick enough to black out light where it needs to most.  I also found that the knit of the fabric made the image more obscured as well.  On a silk scarf or other item with a very fine weave it might have worked better.  Since Inkodye works on any natural fabric I may give silk a try in the future, as well as other fabrics too.

As you can see in the second shot the color comes up slowly once the prepped pieces are brought out into the sunlight since the dye in UV reactive.  So here's what the shirts looked like when I first set them out VS 20 minutes later when they were ready to wash.

The final washed versions were given to my friend Saturday at her baby shower.  Here's what they look like close up:

Look for another post soon, I have some art shots, travel reviews, and more on the way!

Love,

Lydia

September Gold and Grey

September has been a gold and grey kind of month.  Lots of lovely memories and good times with family, but stormy and rough around the edges.  For most of the month it still felt like summer here in Raleigh, with hot weather and the trademark humidity that goes with it.  Slowly over the last week rainy weather has given way to slightly cooler temperatures and the leaves are starting to show their first hints of gold and blush red.  A few nights ago I even had to break out the comforter, though I'm not needing it every night yet.

Meanwhile I've got so much from summer that I've been meaning to write about...and depression has been encroaching heavily.  Some may have been caused by an imbalance in some of my medications, but a good chunk has been from financial, other health, and job related stresses too.  I've been looking for a job off and on since January, with very mixed results.  I can't even comment on all of it yet, but prayers and such are always welcome since despite the normalcy most of us show the world, there's some turbulence hiding below the surface.  Though over the past few weeks I've had a very interesting painting commission fall into my lap, so I'm happy to be tackling that and sharing photos as I complete it.  One of my birthday gifts is also rather exciting....I've got a subscription to Pigment + Palette, a monthly art supply box which gets delivered to me the first week of each month and contains fantastic products from a wide variety of media.  Here's a shot of September's box contents:

A set of Bruynzeel-Sakura pencils in 2H, HB, 2B, and 7B

Lumi Inkodye in Magenta (plus a month of free dye technique classes online)

A trusty Excel #1 light duty knife (oh, the memories of using these from CCAD!)

A lovely red Fabriano EcoQua journal with dotted (almost like graph paper) that's great for sketches on the go

Plus an artist postcard from the featured artist of the month

The dye is what has me most excited, it's sunlight activated and can be used on cloth or paper.  So I could use a photographic transparency to print with or use with objects or cut paper designs similar to making a Photogram.  The options are open enough that I'm having trouble deciding.  And magenta is such a bold color that it demands just the right subject matter.

Other than all this I have another post written up on part one of a summer trip we took, which I need to add the photographs too, so October at least may get more than one solid post despite the lack of them September has had.  And I've had more adventures since, which will make for even more posts in the future.  Goodness I do have some work ahead of me!

Til next time -

Love,

Lydia

Days 19-21

Hi everyone,

The past couple of days have been more restful between a family birthday Sunday and a board game get together Monday.  I'm always glad for the chance to play some board games and yesterday was no exception.  I ended up teaching "De Vulgari Eloquentia" to a group who'd never played it before.  It's a game based on the late medieval period culture of merchants and clergy....at the end of the game someone will even become pope!  It's a fun game, through the instructions are horribly written, we didn't expect too much from it since it came from a bargain bin.  You can read more about it and see some pictures - http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/75165/de-vulgari-eloquentia

We also played Dominion which is one of my husband's favorites.  It's a card based game where you're building a deck over the course of the game and trying to collect the right kind of cards so that you gain the most points at the end of the game.  However you can use different cards each time you play the game making it mean or friendly depending on your mood.  And there's more info on that - http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/36218/dominion

Today has been filled with lots of little bits of progress and getting back in to the swing of things.  I've worked on two pieces today plus some other odd jobs I've had.  Also I saw that my hometown newspaper, The Roanoke Times, has published a piece on their website about my Kickstarter.  You can find that - HERE

So, all that's exciting, and I'm up to 3 pledges on Kickstarter now, with emails being sent out every day to people who've shown interest in my work previously via Etsy.  I'm getting in lots of writing practice, though I don't mind it too much these days.  And just in case you haven't seen the link yet here is my Kickstarter!

Hopefully no ones minds my departures from strictly writing about art to talk about board games for a bit.  I expect to be adding some of my interests and experiences along the way, and these are some great examples of that.  Other than all that this evening I've been distracted by the snow we've been getting.  Finally!  Sadly we're not even getting a full inch....I wish it was much more though.  This is the first snow we've had this winter that's actually stuck and it always gets me excited like a kid to see it.  If there's any left on the ground after my breakfast tomorrow I might take some photographs to work on some new pieces from.  For now though I need to get some rest so I can get up early enough to hope to see that snow!  Goodnight everyone.

Love, Lydia

Day 2

Today I got to work with some of the fantastic art supplies I got for Christmas from my mother-in-law.  I'm so excited to try all the new things out!  Here's a overview of the things:

Mona Lisa brand gold, silver and copper leaf (perfect to give a bit of shine to collages)

All the Neocolor II pastels I needed to round out my collection (I've only been getting the most lightsafe of colors, it's a bit of an obsession I have.  But it made collecting all the shades a bit easier, not that it's too hard when they under $2 each.)  I really like the Neocolor II line of pastels because they're wax based and water soluble.  Which means they basically can be used like watercolors.  They've been one of my favorite tools to work with this past year.

I got a great little "color theory" set of Shiva Casein paints.  They work similarly to watercolor and acrylic paints, but give a bit of the look of gouache with a lovely more velvety matte finish.  They use a milk based emulsifier for the paints, which I had never heard of until I happened to read about it in a book.

Sennelier masking fluid, which I've heard great things about thanks to the Art of the Carolinas show back in November.  Masking fluid is used to cover areas of paper or canvas that you want to keep white while you paint a darker color over and around it.  When the color's dry the masking fluid can be peeled off to reveal all the areas of white you wanted to preserve.  It's perfect for making bright stars in a starry sky.

Additionally I got a couple of great books on art from my own mom as well as my mother-in-law.  But I'll save talked about them for another day.

Today I tried out the casein paints and the masking fluid (which you can find at Dick Blick Art Stores).  I actually tried them together, but am a little mixed on what I think of the results.  Here's what the products look like for reference:

So the casein dries fast and is definitely nice and matte like gouache.  I can see why it's called velvety, and I look forward to using it more.  Today I put down some backgrounds for collages.  They're pretty bright since the color theory set came only with red, blue, green, yellow, orange, and violet....no white of black to mellow them down with.  I tried mixing colors while wet and pretty much used them straight from the tube with a brushful of water here and there for blending or to re-wet the colors on my palette.  Here's a picture of the results:

I used a fan brush to apply the masking fluid, thinking the texture would give the piece an interesting feel.  The words ended up being a bit harder to make out, I think partially because I went over them more than I should have.  I'm going to test more in the future though.  The small details from the fan brush came out really nicely though, so I'm pleased with that.

If you couldn't tell my desk is rather messy and due for a cleaning, but I thought I'd share a picture of it too since I feel like spaces give some clues as to personality and so many other things.  I love seeing great artists studios to get a feeling for how they worked.

I don't tend to mind the clutter too much, but I've hit a point where I don't have the space to work!  haha 


So there are my first 4 new pieces of the year!  I can't wait to see how they end up developing.

More tomorrow.
Love, Lydia