Take Comfort In Your Oil Paint

Blazing Sunset
Water-Soluble Oil on Canvas Panel
10 x 8 in/25.4 x 20.3 cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

With the holiday season right around the corner, the weather finally starting to feel like autumn (in the northern hemisphere anyway), and as a way to cope with everything going on in the world, I needed to take comfort with my oil paints.

I equate using oil paint with eating comfort food in my mind anyway. Compared to painting with watercolor and acrylic, oils provide the oozy, rich warmness you get from eating mac 'n cheese, lasagna, cheesy mashed potatoes and the like. At least I think so.

I think in Denmark they have a word for it: hygge (hue-guh). It loosely means having that feeling of being cozy, charming or special--just like painting

I can't think of anything better than mixing up a palette of all values and colors of oils. Then you apply it via brush or palette knife for the cozy satisfaction of rendering a painting well painted.

Take comfort in your oil paint.

Painters Should Not Be Bored

Indian Summer
Oil on Canvas Panel
6 x 6 in/15.2 x 15.2 cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

Before the month was completely gone, I wanted to post again. I've had a slow week or two getting going with my painting. I don't know why, but suspect it's painting ennui, that is, boredom and lethargy.

The only way I know how to break the cycle is to paint and paint some more. So that's what I did this week.

I also decided to use a different medium than what I've been using of late. I switched to water-soluble oils rather than my usual acrylics. That did help since you use them differently, not altogether differently but enough to make it more interesting. The ennui was overcome, at least for now.

I decided to paint a little impressionistic landscape before the seasons changed completely. Hope you like it.

Painters should not be bored.

Seascapes and Beach/Water Scenes

Beachy
Acrylic on Canvas Panel
 6 x 6 in/15.2 x 15.2 cm
Byrne Copyright 2018

One thing I like about seascapes and beach/water scenes is that there is an unlimited number of combinations between the color of the sky and the color of the water. There are a myriad of reasons, such as the time of day, the weather, the season, the geographic location, and the surrounding landscape, if any.

What attracted me to today's image was the contrast between the predominantly ultramarine blue of the sky and the cerulean/pthalo green of the water near the coast. Beautiful, and it also helps set the mood, bright and sunny, a winning combination.

Beach scenes also keep the painter on his toes by having to create the correct color of the sand at the location of the painting. Similar to the reasons mentioned above, the types and colors of sand around the world are almost limitless.

The sand in today's painting was mixed with primarily titanium white, but you have to add very small amounts of cad yellow light and and cad red light, along with a dab of ultramarine blue to help gray down the other three colors slightly. I always forget that until I notice that something with the sand is not quite right.

I hope you like it and that you will paint your share of beach/water scenes.

A Time to Reflect with an Autumn Landscape

Central Coast
Acrylic on Canvas Panel
14 x 11in/35.6 x 27.9 cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

As summer turns into autumn, I wanted to paint a landscape that celebrates the changing seasons. This after not posting in September while I was figuring out what to paint next and where to take my painting.

This time for reflection has happened before, and I'm sure it will happen again. I feel sure it happens to most painters at some time. Neither a slump nor a retreat, it feels more like reaching a plateau, and now it's time to take stock and move on.

I now feel clear-headed about continuing on my path of painting acrylic landscapes and seascapes. although I may try painting on larger supports soon.

I hope you take some time to reflect on your work now and then.

Paint With a New Perspective

Beach Walk
Acrylic on Canvas Panel
18 x 24 in/46 x 61 cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

I spent the week painting this rather non-traditional landscape (or maybe it's really a seascape). I say non-traditional because of the perspective and viewpoint, almost overhead the beach below. 

Most landscapes are typically a straight-on view with the horizon line positioned somewhere with the sky above and the usual fore-, middle, and background view of the land.

In my painting there is no visible horizon line, and the viewer is looking down at waves, shallow lapping water, the beach, and vegetation at a steep angle. That's probably what drew me to paint this scene. Even though it's highly realistic, it's also somewhat abstract when you step back a bit.

Also, don't miss the five figures and a dog walking along the shore. They don't jump out at you because of their small size, but do provide scale, which is very important for this motif.

I understand it's good for viewers and collectors to be able to look at a painting and almost immediately recognize who the artist is by his or her style and subject matter. But it's also good  to try new things and new ways now and then.

It will certainly give you a new perspective and may just get you out of a painting rut.

A Calming August Acrylic Landscape

Summer Dusk
Acrylic on Canvas Panel
20 x 16 in/50.8 x 40.6 cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

Well, it's August 1st.

If any month deserves a calming landscape, it's August (and possibly December also). The heat, the glaring sun, the heat, the dash from car to building, the heat, the sunscreen, the glowing perspiration, the heat, the must-go-now holiday/vacation. Did I mention the heat?

Today's image is the one I mentioned in the previous blog--the one I let rest for a while. As I suspected, I did make a couple of changes that I thought would help. The main thing I did was to tone down the setting sun so that it was less intense to match the time of day, which was dusk. I also lowered the intensity, slightly, of the orange glow around it for the same reason. I added a few darks to the immediate foreground for depth and, of course, signed it.

In paintings like this, I find acrylic to be most beautiful with the ability to blend and blur just the right places.

I hope the painting ushers in a calming August for you, too.

Luminosity In a Floral Acrylic

Yellow Flowers in an Asian Vase
Acrylic on Canvas Panel
 5 x 7 in/12.7 x 17.8 cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

Last week I worked several days on a landscape. I decided to let it rest for several days before I view it so that I will see it with fresh eyes and hopefully make a few changes, if necessary, to improve it. I recommend this approach for all paintings. Step away.

But while I was waiting I still had to paint. You know how that is.  I decided to paint a small floral. I started painting small florals, which was a new motif for me, earlier this year.

The florals I paint all seem to have decidedly dark backgrounds. The ones I admire from other painters also seem to have dramatic lighting, which I'm still working on.

Today I want to talk about luminosity. I thought I knew what luminosity in painting was, light surrounded by dark, but I wanted a better artistic definition. This one came up first when I Googled luminosity defined: the glow or brightness in a piece of artwork; refers to the created light which can vary in gradation, and other ways (i.e. reflection and/or amount of diffraction or intensity). Yikes. I like my definition better.

Be that as it may, I tried to create luminosity in my floral with the lightness of the vase against the very dark background. My intent was to make the vase appear to glow in the ambient light, which I think I did.

Also, another fun fact I discovered while painting this--another way to make green. The background color I used was Payne's Gray, a bluish black. When I painted a very thinned down Cad Yellow Medium for the stems, I got a subtle translucent green, not to detract from the bold yellow flowers.

I hope you like it.

An Acrylic Panorama

Summer Panorama
Acrylic on Canvas Panel
10 x 4 in (image)/25.4 x 10.2 cm (image)
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

With summer now in full swing, I thought I would celebrate the season with a painting.

If you are a regular reader of The Painting Life blog, then you know I have recently been painting panoramic landscapes, that is, landscapes with an aspect ratio of at least 2:1, sometimes more.

I usually paint in relatively fluid acrylic on Arches watercolor paper trimmed to fit the horizontal layout of the panorama. This time I decided to paint acrylic on a canvas panel instead, painting with the acrylic in the more conventional way.

I really liked this landscape with the road on the left leading toward the distant mountains. I hope you like it, too, and that you're having a great summer.

Painting a Floral Summer Still Life

Daffodils in a Vase
Acrylic on Canvas Panel
6 x 6 in/15.2
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

Well, the daffodils quit blooming a few months ago.

The summer heat is about to cause a lot of other plants and shrubs in the backyard--roses, coreopsis, African daisies, day lilies, and some varieties of lantana--to stop blooming and go into survival mode as July and August approach. For now, the firecrackers, roses of Sharon, and hibiscus seem to be taking it in stride.

This not being a gardening blog, I'll explain.

When the daffodils were blooming, they were quite striking, and so I wanted to paint them. I also firmly believe summer is the time to do different things, and that goes for painters, too. It's a time to unwind and re-charge.

If you follow The Painting Life, then you know I rarely paint flowers or still lifes for that matter. Summer should relax and re-charge you.

That's what painting daffodils did for me. I hope you like it, and I hope you're doing some relaxing and re-charging yourself.

Mixing Acrylic on a Canvas Panel

Cooling Off
Acrylic on Canvas Panel
 8 x 6 in (image area)/20.3 x 15.2 (image area)
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted. I was busy working on a few paintings and also cleaning out my collection of old art magazines, columns, articles, reference photos, etc., etc. They had stacked up and become almost useless as I didn't know what was in any of those stacks.

But I digress. I also decided to tweak my acrylic palette slightly. It was based loosely on one Colley Whisson used--not sure whether it's his current one or not. (If you don't know his work, he is a well-known and respected contemporary Australian impressionist oil painter.)

Anyway, the palette was basically warm and cool primaries with a couple of earth tones plus cad orange, pthalo green and white, of course. Previously, I didn't include cad orange as I felt it superfluous since I could mix cad red light and cad yellow light. I had sparingly used pthalo green, as we all should; however, more recently, every time I used even the slightest amount, it overpowered whatever color(s) I mixed with it. So, I decided to banish pthalo green and just go with the cerulean blue, which was the warm blue already on the palette (it has a green tint anyway). And I added cad orange.

Also, I am attempting to mix more of the colors on the canvas itself rather than the palette. This, as you know, was the method used by the Impressionists, but it's not as easy as their paintings make it look. Daubs of color next to each other sounds easy, but it's not-- just one more thing to master in the painting life.

The result is today's image--an attempt to paint a cool motif to make me think I'm cooler on a hot summer's day. Hope you like it.

Another Fixer-Upper

Before

West of Roswell

Acrylic on Board

24 x 24 in/61 x 61 cm

Copyright Byrne Smith 2017

After
West of Alamogordo
Acrylic on Board
24 x 24 in/61 x 61 cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

If you recall, I posted several blogs recently about how it's never too late to re-work one of your "completed" paintings.

I want to tell you about my latest fixer-upper. I also wanted for you to be able to view my "before" and "after" efforts and judge for yourself--and hopefully encourage you to consider doing the same.

I finished the original painting almost a year ago, in July, 2017. I felt fairly pleased about it, enough so that I varnished it and hung it in my home. Every day I would see this painting multiple times just passing by.

As time passed, I began to notice minor things that I thought, gee, I could do better than that. What began as a few minor issues became, overtime, glaring errors that bothered me every day and every time I passed by (at least in my mind).

So finally, last week, I took the painting down, and it became my latest fixer-upper. It was acrylic on board, and I checked if it were OK to paint acrylic over acrylic varnish. It is.

The main thing I did was to remove the figure and the pathway. For some reason, neither seemed to fit into the New Mexican motif. Monet could paint fantastic figures in fields, me, not so much.

With the figure gone, I felt I needed to re-paint the foreground to look more naturally arid, which it is. I brightened the earth tone and color with broad, horizontal strokes. I also darkened the foliage of the lone tree and randomly added darker, horizontal strokes to make the scene appear to be in bright sunlight, which it was.

To add interest I decided to change the locale so that there is now a view of the White Sands National Monument. I used zinc white for the distant white sands and re-titled the painting. Lastly, I beefed up the cumulus clouds by adding more white to the puffy tops.

I hope you like my "after."

Another Panoramic View

Highland View
Acrylic on Arches 140lb/300gsm Watercolor Paper
22 x 7 in/55.9 x 17.8 cm (image area)
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

It's been several months since I last painted a panorama. However, I still had a sheet of Arches watercolor paper left over that was already trimmed perfectly so that my motif--a very wide panorama--would exactly fit.

As I've mentioned in previous blogs, if you haven't tried painting with acrylics as if they were watercolor and painted on watercolor paper, you should try it. I predict you'll be surprised at how much using the medium this way enhances the creative aspects of painting, at least it does for me.

Even though it's only mid-May, summer has arrived on time in our area and will stay around for the next five months. With daytime temperatures in the mid-90s Fahrenheit (that's mid-30s Celsius), I will be painting in the air-conditioning, and will only venture out occasionally for a reference photo or two.

I'm also feeling the need to bring out my water-soluble oil paints very soon, maybe this afternoon. It's been several months since I put them away, and I want to feel their buttery texture on my canvas again.

If you paint, I'm sure you understand.

It's Never Too Late to Re-Work a Painting

Paradise Awaits
Acrylic on Canvas Panel
20 x 16 in/50.8 x 40.6 cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

A couple of months ago I posted a blog on how to improve a painting after you have completed and hung it in your studio or, more likely, filed it away wherever it is that you keep your finished work.

I mentioned I was cleaning out my painting area, and that included going through all my completed paintings and looking at them with a more critical eye. That's because you become more experienced over time. I had culled all the ones I didn't like anymore, if I ever did, and threw them away. Imagine that.

There were several, however, that I thought could be rehabilitated somewhat if I re-worked them with my hopefully greater painting experience.

Today's image is another one I "saved," originally from 2015 (I think). I thought I had posted it in one of my blog posts around that time. I wanted to be able to show you the "before" and "after," but I searched through my archives and could not find it. I must not have used it in a blog. Sorry. Maybe even then it wasn't one of my favorites.

But I'll explain a little about what I did to the painting. First, I did not re-work any of the sky and clouds--I decided I could not improve upon them at all. However, the water, the waves, the land mass, and the foliage were all completely re-painted. In my original work, the color of the water and blue sky were not at all harmonious, and it was the first thing anyone would notice. So I gave the water more cerulean and added more waves, and that helped.

I also changed the tone of the land, which had a rosy hue--I must have used alizarin crimson. I changed that to more of a natural reddish earth tone. That made it appear as if the scene is now in bright sunlight, and it also acted as a complementary color to the water and sky.

Lastly, the foliage, which had been a dark, dark green, probably a Jenkins green, was lightened up a lot, and I painted greens that lean toward yellow on the color wheel.

Believe me, it looks much better now. I hope you like it.

A Gift of Paint

Lemons On a Plate
Acrylic on Canvas Panel
7 x 5 in/17.8 12.7 cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

I've been offline for a couple of weeks as one of life's aggravating tasks took precedence, but now back to painting.

Recently I was trying to decide what birthday gift to give a relative. After shopping around for several items I thought would be appropriate, I decided what could be more thoughtful or personal than an original painting?

People in the family know I like to paint, so it wouldn't be as if this came out of nowhere. To be honest, I hesitate to give relatives and friends my paintings because you never can be sure if they really like it, or they're just saying that. I certainly don't want them to feel obligated to like (or hang) any of my work. So I gift paintings very sparingly.

I convinced myself this was still a good idea. But just in case, I decided to make this a small painting that could be displayed (or not) on a small stand.

My gift is today's image, and the relative said they liked it. Here's hoping.

Painting With a Limited Palette

Southwest Sunset
Acrylic on Arches Watercolor Paper

16 x 6 in/40.6 x 15.2 cm

Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

I think most painters already know this, but in case you didn't: your work will be more successful with the fewer colors you have on your palette.

I'm not talking about just one color (plus white), although there is a school of thought that says that's a good way to start because it makes you concentrate more on values than color. I am talking about using the absolute minimum number of colors to achieve your painting goals. That usually, but not always, means a variation of each primary plus white (maybe). With just these limited colors, you can mix all the rest. It's an exercise in learning about color.

You've probably heard of Anders Zorn and his famous "Zorn" palette. He was a famous Swedish painter who used only three colors plus white. He used mars black (the blue), yellow ochre (the yellow) and vermilion (the red). His somewhat muted paintings are beautiful and it's surprising the number of values and colors he achieved with just these three plus white. If you're not familiar with Zorn, you should read up on him and his palette; it's fascinating if you paint.

Another thing about a limited palette is that it makes your paintings more harmonious. That's because every value and color variation in the painting was produced from just the few colors. All the colors in the painting go together, and you get instant harmony.

Today's image was not painted using Zorn's palette. I did use a limited palette, however, consisting of cad red light, cad yellow light, raw umber plus titanium white. I was pleased.

Just think how much you'll save on paint.

Pretty In Peach

Pretty in Peach
Oil on Canvas Panel
5 x 7 in/ 12.7 x 17.8cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

As I mentioned in a couple of recent posts, one where I painted a sunflower and the other a small vase of flowers, I haven't painted many flowers as still life, although occasionally I have painted them en masse in a garden or in broad meadows.

I said I didn't have much of a relationship with florals. However, since the beginning of the year I have spent time looking more closely at the work of excellent floral painters, such as Richard Schmid, Neil Carroll, and many, many others.

As somewhat of a learning experience, I have tried my painting hand at several works with a flower (or flowers) as the subject. I tend to agree that one of the great things about being a painter is that there is always the opportunity to learn and experience more.

Much to my surprise, today's image turned out to be completely different than either what I had envisioned or how I had begun the painting--the surprises and joys of the painting life!

You Can Improve Your Paintings

The View
Acrylic on Canvas Panel
20 x 16 in/50.8 x 40.6 cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

Whether you refer to it as a re-work, a re-new, a do-over, an update, or simply a fix, it's never too late (or too soon) to go back and look at your paintings with a fresh eye. You may be surprised at what you see, or can now see, after the passage of time.

You may be surprised at how your artistic eye now perceives your work after your eye, your brain, and your hand have continued to gain experience since you first completed it.

I'm sure some painters can't bear the thought of going back and making even the slightest change to any of "their work." Really? The work is not trapped in amber in whatever year it was done.

In a recent post I mentioned how I had gone through my old paintings that were taking up too much space. I said it was entirely permissible to throw some of them away, which I did. But I also saw several I thought could be worked on with my more experienced eye, brain, and hand.

Today's image was painted in 2015. I added chroma in the upper sky and the foreground to add more contrast to the composition. I added some elements, such as the blue flowers in the foreground, and improved some lost-and-found edges in others. I re-titled it, too.

Consider carefully how to go about making changes and remember rules, such as not painting acrylic over oil, still apply.

 If it can be improved, do it!

More Than a Landscape

Summer Clouds
Acrylic on Canvas Panel
20 x 16 in/50.8 x 40.6 cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

If you had to classify the type of painting posted as today's image, I suppose most painters or anyone really, would call this a "landscape." But actually the "land" in this painting is only about 20 percent of the image. The remainder is all sky (and clouds).

All kinds of skies (and clouds) are the subject of lots of paintings, many with a little land and/or water. If there's more water than sky or land, they're called "seascapes."

Skies are beautiful. Maybe we should be calling these mostly-sky paintings "skyscapes."

Not all that important in the scheme of the painting world, I suppose, but what else are Friday afternoons for?

Cheers.

Paint What Makes You Happy

Green Valley
Acrylic on Arches Watercolor Paper
16 x 6 in/40.6 x 15.2 cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

Life is too short to spend time procrastinating or to waste time on things that don't bring you joy, according to Marie Kondo, author of The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing.

I agree.

That's why I spent time the last few weeks going through my old paintings and throwing some of them away.  Yes, you can do that! I was able to re-evaluate them more objectively as time has passed since I completed them. If I don't want them, no one else will either.

I also spent some of my painting time painting a motif that brings me joy--panoramic landscapes in acrylic on watercolor paper. I haven't done one since last summer.

It was past time to get happy.

Cheers.

Time to Paint Something Different

Small Vase with Flowers
5 x 7 in/12.7 x 17.8 cm
Oil on Canvas Panel
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

I rarely, as in hardly ever, paint flowers, although I did paint a sunflower just last month. Before that, I couldn't tell you when I last painted a flower. It's not that I dislike florals, I just don't have a relationship with them.

However, the other day as I was looking through some pins that Pinterest thinks "you may like," I saw several boards that contained nothing but floral paintings--all kinds of flowers. I discovered I was drawn to many of the small still life-like paintings.

They were mostly smaller than 8 x 10 in/20.3 x 25.4 cm and mostly oil, acrylic, or pastel. Many were rendered in a rather impressionistic way, which I like. I got interested in the ways these painters, who seem to paint only flowers, portrayed the lighting and backgrounds, and the brushwork on the petals, leaves, and containers, if any.

One of the few flower paintings I have done is today's image. However, I now have an interest in further studying the methods of these painters and will see where it takes me.   

Impressionist Portraits Series 7

Edouard Manet (from Public Domain photo)
Oil on Canvas Panel
5 x 7 in/12.7 x 17.8 cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

Well, it has been a while since I last submitted one of my impressionist portraits to The Painting Life. However, there are several others I still wanted to paint, including today's Edouard Manet.

This marks the 7th in my impressionists series, the others being Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Gustave Caillebotte, Edgar Degas, Frederic Bazille, and Mary Cassatt.

I hope you enjoy viewing Edouard Manet and the others as much as I enjoyed painting each one.

Cheers!

In a World...

Matagorda
Oil on Canvas Panel
12 x 12 in/30.5 x 30.5 cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

Painters assimilate, encompass, and combine.

Painters evaluate and envision.

Painters experiment, volumize, sculpt, and express; oftentimes, something out of nothing.

In other words, painters create worlds, and in those worlds lives their vision, if only for a moment in time.

Painting Summer in the Middle of Winter

Sunflowers!
Oil on Paper
12 x 16 in/30.5 x 40.6 cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

During this long and, surprisingly, cold winter even here in the semi-tropics, I find that painting summer scenes helps. Or at least it helps me get through January.

I hope this warms you up, in the northern hemisphere anyway. I did this one in oil on gessoed Arches 140 lb/300gsm watercolor paper. It makes a very nice, if somewhat unorthodox, painting surface for oil anyway. The gesso keeps the oil paint on the surface, but it's that great texture of the Arches paper I really like. I may do one using acrylic next.

Oh, and Happy New Year, too.