Underpainting.....Blocking in

This is a photo from one of the oil painting classes I taught earlier this year and I LOVE painting birds.  Before we hit the canvas with oil paint, I had students "block in" the darkest parts of the bird with acrylic gesso (or acrylic paint). The acrylic dries fast so we can finish the painting in one sitting and it locks in the main parts of the bird.  That way we could paint our background without losing our lines.  Remember you can go over an acrylic with an oil, but you CANNOT go over an oil with an acrylic.  I try to stress to my students to make your tools work for YOU!  We had great results with this little painting as you can see from the work in progress shot here.  

Here's our reference.  I have amazing students!!!!

Happy Painting!!

www.kimvanlandingham.com

Check out paintings for sale on ETSY or DAILY PAINTWORKS

Places that inspire....

I love visiting our national parks.  I love my Kentucky, and thinks it's an amazing state, but I'm so glad that years ago, someone had the forethought to preserve some of the most beautiful places on earth here in the United States.  

This is a study from one of the several times I've been to the Grand Canyon (South Rim).  If you can hike down to Phantom Ranch and stay there, do it!  The views from South Kaibob trail will inspire you. 

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I'm a Daily Paintworks Auction Pick this week!

I'm still moving things around in the new place...(translation living out of boxes that have more art supplies than "living" supplies)...and I got an email saying that my little plein air painting from the hayfield in Bracken County Ky, was a Daily Paintworks Auction pick.  Thanks everyone!!  Really brightened my day.  

I just put this little guy up for auction and you can view it here:  http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/535391

Happy Painting!  I'll be back soon with more painting tips!

What I do when I don't feel like painting....

Well...I paint...

I do what I call "block ins" and lots of them.  Here's a few from here in my RV.  

If it looks like they're done in chalk, that's because I do a lot of my block ins in black and white oil paint.  I love this process!  These are some small format paintings, but by putting things in black & white, I can see if I want to continue.  Because they are at such an early stage in the painting process...I don't stress about them.  It's very fun for me!

If you look in the middle of the above photo, you'll see the block in of this little ballerina I have up for auction on Daily Paintworks.

These small paintings are a nice & fun change for me.  Sometimes I feel like I'm always trying to come up with class paintings (for the painting classes I teach) and it feels good to just paint.  :-)

Happy Painting!!

My first painting on Daily Paintworks....

Well, I just joined Daily Paintworks and I'll be listing a few of my small paintings there and selling them from my ETSY page.  I honestly don't know what I'm doing yet, but hope to spend some time over the next couple of weeks figuring it out.

One thing I've learned as an artist in this day and age, is to use social media as much as you can.  I really wish I had gotten more involved years ago instead of doing only the bare minimum.  Honestly, I dislike working on the computer, but I have to admit, my time spent there usually pays off.  

Happy Painting!

Horsehair Pottery & Feathers
5 x 7 inches, oil on canvas board
$49.00

 

My Sketchbook is ugly.....

In school we had to do small thumbnail sketches as prelim work for larger paintings.  Consistently, I was "encouraged" to put a bit more detail in those drawings.  I still don't.  

Much like my handwriting, my thumbnails are "rough".  However, my sketchbook is an extremely valuable tool to me.  

I use it to work out formats and compositions, paintings for classes I teach, & to help me decide if I even want to do a larger painting.  

I'm always in awe of artists who show their sketchbooks & they truly look like works of art.  

That works for them.  My crazy sketchbook works for me.  :-)

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Gridding out tough subjects....

I use a grid method to get tough subjects, specifically portraits of people & wildlife looking right.  If you're painting someone you want them to look like them...just like if I'm painting a finch...I want it to look like a finch, not a warbler.  

I just make a grid on both my sketchbook or canvas and on the reference I'm using.  

Then I draw a line drawing, each square at a time.  When I'm done, I remove or paint over the grid lines.  This little guy was featured in one of the classes I teach. (Those of you in KY who took this class will remember this little guy.)

Are there other ways to do this?  Yep.  Are there better ways to do this?  Maybe, probably.  But when I don't have the option of "taking liberties" with a subject, I use photo references.  In art school, this was not allowed in my initial drawing classes....for good reason.  I needed to do the work so I could get better as an artist.  Now that I'm teaching and selling my work.  If I have a reference, I use it.  

Happy Painting!

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Blocking In....

I block in very roughly on most paintings.  Usually I go dull, then brighten up.  Sometimes though I put in colors that are brighter than the local color of a subject.  Case in point is this little portrait of a desert flower from Bryce Canyon.  The rocks there are amazing and this painting is about the ledge and the flower.  In the foreground, I put the pinks a little brighter and deeper than they read to me.  Then when I completed the painting, some of that brightness comes through.  Just enough to bring out the wonderful shades in the formations.

You can see the bright red of the rock underneath the plant.  It's more understated in reality, but when I put in my final darks and lights, enough of it shines though to intensify those cracks.

I knew I wanted that red banding and to ensure I didn't wash it out too much in the final painting, I push it in the block in.
Happy Painting!!!


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The blog is back!

Well, I took a year or so off from the blog, but thought I would get it going again.  Thanks to those of you who've let me know what you would like to see on the blog site.  Where to start?  How about a finished painting from a previous post of a work in progress.

Here's my Hollyhock.  I'm crazy about my flowers.  Oil on canvas, large format 54" x 42" inches.  

I started out on the wall and after I blocked in, stretched the canvas and completed the painting.  I love working on these large formats when I'm living in Kentucky.  (And have the space.)  I used several photos of this beauty while working.  Plus, I had the luxury that first season to walk outside and get some closeups.  I've been working on some smaller works un-stretched then mounting them on masonite.  Helps with traveling so I can just roll them up after painting outside. 
Happy Painting!!!

Smaller formats for ebay auctions....

What a great winter and spring I've had!!  I did start back up my little ebay paintings and they can still be found at the link at the above right.  I'm mostly doing ATC or ACEO miniature sizes for ebay now.  That doesn't mean I won't throw in a few larger ones.  

 I've been collecting photos of Kentucky's wildflowers and look forward to doing some larger paintings from those references.  I had no idea there were so many!!  

Grand Canyon painting....

As promised, here's one of the Grand Canyon paintings from this year.  Time's been flying by and I'm so grateful to all of my collectors and my painting students!  What a wonderful year we've had!  

This is one of the overlooks off off Hermit Road on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.  

For this or other little paintings I have up for auction this week, just click on the link at the above right.  

Working large and small....

I've been posting some work in progress of my larger works.  Here's an example of a 9 x 12 inch plein air painting and I've posted the photo to go along with it to show how I tend to "romanticize" my Kentucky!  I'm always intrigued with natural settings, but sometimes a building can be fun as well.  

This one was just done a week or so ago.  The landscape has already changed to reflect the fall weather.  

For this or other little paintings I have up for auction on ebay, just click on the link at the above right. 

I'm baaaaccckk...!!!

So, do you think there will be a Grand Canyon painting in my future!!???  I wish I had the time and money to stay onsite and paint right there.  The colors there are just amazing.  We hiked down to the Colorado river, then the next day back up.  7 miles down, 10 miles up.  The trails were beautiful even though at times we ran into some rain. 

For this or other little paintings I have up for auction ebay, just click on the link at the above right.  

Summer's end....

I don't know where the time has gone this year.  What a busy and fun summer!  We're prepping to do some more traveling out west and I can't wait!  I've got a very large painting of the Rocky Mountains in the works, but no photos yet.  Here's a few updates on a couple of paintings I've been working on.  The first is a work in progress of one of our horses that is no longer with us.  I don't have many photos of him and the one I have is not very good.  I'm enjoying the painting though.  I've also included an update of the Hollyhock painting as well.  I'm farther along now and need to take an updated photo. 

I've got a lot more work to do on him, but he's blocked in.  My camera did some adjusting after I darkened the background.  Also, below is another shot of the Hollyhock.  I've been doing more work on the leaves and I've made a few changes.  I'll try to post them next time. 

For the below painting...or other little paintings I have up for auction on ebay this week, just click the link at the above right. 

Changing your mind....

One thing I've really allowed myself to do more this year is to change my mind in my work.  By that I mean, sometimes I'll start a painting...get pretty far and realize it's not working.  I used to try to force it, re-work it, cry & pray over it....well....no more.  Now don't get me wrong, I still cry, re-work, and re-do.  :-)  However, once I decide, it's not working, I put it away for a while.  If when I get it back out, I'm not re-energized to work on it, I let it go.  Just had one the other day.  Some foliage from one of my rambles about the farm.  36 x 36 inch canvas and  I just painted over it.  I'm doing more of this because I felt like I was wasting time on paintings, that weren't   "working" so to speak. 

I've ordered stretchers for the Hollyhock from my last post and can't wait to dive in on that one.  I've got a couple more large ones started as well.  I'll share them later.  

For this or other little paintings that I have up for auction on ebay, just click on the link at the above right. 

Hollyhock painting started....

As I mentioned last post, I planned on doing a hollyhock painting....here's the block in.  When I start a block in from a photo, I tend to stick pretty close to the photo.  Once I have the block in...I start taking my "artistic liberties" as I call them.  As you can see from the foliage, I'll be doing that with some of the leaves, but I LOVE the big leaf on the left, so it will be staying.  Not sure about the cloud positions and the foliage on the right yet.  Stay tuned!!!  

For my little ebay paintings, including the little painting below, just click on the link at the above right.  

Summer paintings...

I love the growing season here in Kentucky.  I can remember as a young girl walking thru my grandparents fields and appreciating the beauty of the tobacco as it grew in rows on their farm.  We did get a surprise in one of our fields behind the new construction on the house.  We aren't and have never grown hollyhocks.  Yet, three sprang up in the middle of the hay. 



I took a bunch of photos for future paintings.  Such a sweet surprise!  

 For this or other little paintings I have up for auction this week, just click on the link at the above right.

Rocky Mountain High....

Our trip to the Rocky Mountains was just beautiful.  I've already done several studies onsite and can't wait to start my larger works.  Here's a few photos. 

 

Tom is standing just above Emerald Lake and I'm heading up the trail to Alberta Falls.  This was truly an inspiring place.  My camera just couldn't capture it's beauty. 

 





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Well, I was trying to post a current painting, but I've got blogger problems and it won't let me this post.  For this weeks ebay paintings I have up for auction, just click on the link at the above right.  

Little Blaze....

She's about a week old now, but was only two days old when I took these photos.  She was still very clumsy..it was so cute.  Needless to say, she's gotten much more agile and is a little cutie.  I would love to have gotten some better photos of her, but she was too curious about my phone. 

 

I love seeing these cool rushing waterfalls we have here in KY and this one in Tennessee. 

For this or other little paintings I have up for auction on ebay, just click the link at the above right. 





Missy...

One of my horses, Missy, is soon to deliver.  I've got a photo of her here, and you can see she's pretty round in the middle.  We pulled her from the rest of the herd down in Ky, but she's doing well up here on her own.  Once she saw that I was taking photos, my phone became of quite an interest to her, so they were blurred and too close up!  She's a sweet horse.  I've also posted a photo of the pond right next to where I was standing.  If it looks familiar, that's because it's one of my favorite subjects in my paintings. 

 

I took these on the same morning on my morning walk with Missy.  I love being an artist...I love the gift of freedom it gives me to work on my schedule so I can have these great moments. 

 

For this or other little paintings I have up for auction on ebay, just click the link on the above right.