What are you working on?

[Artyczar]

Thanks Jocelyne. Not all of it is mine actually. I have to have a few other artists in here to get some other inspiration. The rest of my house is the same. Very little is by me.

OHHH, you meant the gallery! My bad. I thought you meant my studio. Yes, it's very odd to see all my stuff in one room in a gallery.

 

[Artyczar]

I've been transferring drawings/sketches onto some surfaces I'm going to paint...I'm taking my sweet time. (I'm preoccupied lately.) I did a gesso board, a clay board, a canvas, and I'm about to do a couple larger watercolors, but I could only find one hot press Arches. The only other watercolor paper I have are cold press Arches and I'm kind of too impatient to order more hot press. I only have the cold press paper (10 sheets) because of a mistake I made a long time ago. I never returned it because I took too long opening the package...

Anyway, maybe I should experiment a little and use the cold press paper, or try. Maybe it won't look too awful. Do you guys like the look of watercolor paintings with those pores showing? Should I sand it, or will that ruin the paper?

This is the sketch I was thinking of using for that piece of paper, 22.5 x 30 inches:

 

[john]

Arty, if you use some juicy washes of granulating watercolor -with the paper horizontal - the texture of the cold press can add some texture and use staining colors where you want flat fields of color. And yes, scraping and sanding the paper afterwards is another way to get texture with wc. Cold press makes it possible. You probably know this already. I love the modern igloo sketch. I want to live there. Maybe a Joshua tree next to it?

 

[Claude J Greengrass]

au contraire
I've only used hot press paper once when an instructor challenged me to try Arches. I go to the other extreme and use Rough surface watercolour paper for all my work, primarily landscapes and reverted to CP only when I ran out of my go-to-paper Saunders-Waterford 200# rough.

 

[john]

Oh yeah, but CP has more texture than HP. If Arty is used to HP the CP will allow more texture possibilities.

 

[Artyczar]

I prefer a smooth surface, so I am wondering if I can sand the cold press. I did write an email to my friend who is a wc painter ace to see if that is a possibility, but haven't heard back from him yet. Maybe you guys would know. I don't want to ruin the paper either, as it's very nice (#300). I also wonder if I should just experiment with the rougher paper and not sand it at all. Maybe I'm just scared it would be wasted effort and I won't like the look of that texture.

That's a good idea about adding a Joshua Tree to the igloo piece. Thanks for that John.

 

[john]

Arty the problem with sanding the paper is that it will remove the sizing and abrade the surface, so the paint will suck-in rather than sit on the surface. Maybe a thin gesso would flatten the surface.

 

[Artyczar]

I wound up drawing the composition on the textured cold press and am going to try it out after all.

 

[Artyczar]

I have to admit that I have not been doing any art at all these past couple weeks, or however long it's been since my last post. I don't know what is going on. I don't feel like an artist anymore. I feel like some kind of wannabe now. I got so sidetracked with a bunch of other things, namely being caught in a big insurance appeal with my health insurance company that consumed me, and once it got overturned, I just felt like laying around for the last week. Like some kind of lazy bum.

I have only been hardly preparing to paint on the five pieces ready to go. I've applied no paint to any of them, but I've organized my studio so I can just start. Why I'm not starting, I don't understand. No motivation (for art)? I'm still cleaning and doing my exercises. Just not painting.

 

[Iain]

Could it be your forthcoming operation? that would be enough to turn anybody's head. I was about to post the below when you beat me to it. I am slower than a slug without a leg to stand on.

That "sketch" is amazing! I do love an igloo with a satelite dish. I always wanted a doormat that read UNWELCOME.

I have been finding it difficult to find my direction. Doubt spreads like mycorrhiza through the soil. etc. Anyhow, this is what I am working on, the same old same old.

 

[snoball]

Iain, I like the color combination you are using in this one.

I'm working on a drawing of another child. It is for the same client as the last 2.

 

[john]

Arty, it's a reset. You'll be back to it and you are certainly an artist. A very good one. This Covid thing and the winter hasn't helped. And sometimes we just need to get our ducks in order first. What surprises me that is that everyone has ducks.

 

[snoball]

Arty, it's a reset. You'll be back to it and you are certainly an artist. A very good one. This Covid thing and the winter hasn't helped. And sometimes we just need to get our ducks in order first. What surprises me that is that everyone has ducks.

^This^

 

[Artyczar]

You guys are right. I just tend to feel guilty when I'm not working. It probably has a lot to do with the upcoming surgery too. Thanks for the support.

Iain, I like what you're doing even though I can't see the whole thing.

 

[Iain]

Thanks Artyczar.

Iain, I like the color combination you are using in this one.

I'm working on a drawing of another child. It is for the same client as the last 2.

Yes, the colour combination has got me motivated. Hopefully I won't mess the rest of it up and can produce the whole thing, with a little flourish of the hand, and a Ta-da!

Regards,

Artful Bodger OBE CBD ABC

Ps. Good luck with the commission. Like you need it!

 

[Iain]

I have been working on Tiger Wurms. Worms. They should fit in nicely alongside banana skin moccasins. (I was just thinking aloud). Btw. I do hold a license to breed/keep them.

 

[Artyczar]

I'm in love with this!

 

[Iain]

Thanks Arty. I can't be totally cracked then! It doesn't hurt that you have earned your stripes. There is a fellow who talks about Imposter syndrome, etc. You might, might not, find what he has to say helpful. Steve Chapman. He is new to me.

 

[Artyczar]

I will check him out/look him up.

 

[snoball]

Iain, are you sure these aren't painted Cheetos? Sorry, the devil made me say it.
I want to see what the offspring look like.