Gulfsprite

All I have is a few hours each day (during the week) to paint. And I do push back hard to get those hours.

I mentioned in my post on Sunday that I was going to start a painting. Yes, I hear you saying “but Christy you paint all the time”. The thing is that I paint all the time in my journal. I only paint two or three canvases a month. It is the stopping and starting I regret when working on a canvas. It just frustrates me, I want to paint a canvas as close to straight through as I can. I’m sure there are painterly reasons for this but I don’t want to get into all that.

What I want to do is show you my little painting in progress. This canvas is 8″ x 8″. To me this is small as I love to paint BiG abstract paintings. Since I had this small one I decided to do a portrait painting. Take a look:

© 2009 Christy Sobolewski (Gulfsprite.com)

The paint is still a bit wet so there is a bit of glare. Those white dots (lips and eyes) are just wet paint. Here is a closeup of what I am trying to achieve with the layers and glazing.

© 2009 Christy Sobolewski (Gulfsprite.com)

It is slow going for me. Let me talk about process here a bit if you don’t mind.

I am self taught and have no formal training. Yes, I would benefit from training if only I could afford it. Until then, I just go at it and adjust my process as I learn more. Recently I have been following along with a few painters who stream live painting on uStream. Oh thank you for that! Anyone out there who live paints online and questions the benefit I can tell you it is amazing for someone like me who doesn’t have any other painters in her life. I spend a lot of time just observing what these painters do.

Recently I learned to give my pencil drawing a light coat of sealer and a hint of color before starting. That has really helped me. Next I learned about adding color to create my depth instead of my previous process [which was to just add white or brown depending on light / shadow] to my base skin color. What a difference for me. It has really made what I am painting look and feel more alive.

Now to my current dilemma, and mental fence sitting… to use oils or not to use oils. I live in South Florida where it is hot and humid. Thus you would think my acrylics would not dry too fast. But they do. Even if I add retarder (or other additives) they still dry super fast. I am beginning to wonder, what if I tried oil paints? Would I be able to blend better with them because they would not dry so quickly?

I have stayed away from the oils because I’ve always thought of them as smelly and messy. Not to mention the cost. They are more expensive than acrylics and I am an artist on a budget. But lately it has been nagging at me that maybe, just maybe, the differences in what I can achieve with them (not to mention the frustration they might relieve) I should give them a try. If you have experience with both acrylics and oils, and you have the inclination to share, I would love to hear what thoughts you might have on this subject. Either way I am probably going to purchase a ‘starter’ set of oils next year and try them out.

I have also discovered a new color. Quinacridone Crimson. Yummy. What will I do when I have played with all of the different colors out there? I guess by that time I will have discovered how to combine them into so many variations it won’t matter.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday (for those of you who are in the U.S. that is) and a lovely week to us all!