New Series, New Paper

I've started a new series which I've been thinking about for a year...cityscapes.  I live near some eclectic urban areas in St. Louis and I want to paint some of them.  I love to find bright, dramatic light on buildings and streets.  I enjoy seeing people moving about doing their daily activities.  So, I recently took a photo day with my husband, driving around the city in search of special shots.  Here's one that caught my eye:

I love the puddle with the reflection of that building.  The orange and blue color combo, plus the three people really works.  So, here's what I've done so far:

I'm trying out acetate (drafting film), which is brand new for me.  I love it!  It takes colored pencil great, with less layers.  I can apply the color to both sides for a rich, saturated look.  I've already done half the piece (it's 11" x 14") in only 3 days.  I usually work 3 weeks on Stonehenge paper.  I'll post the finished piece soon!

Learning From Ann Kullberg

I browse the internet often, looking at other artists' work.  I learn a lot.  One of my favorite colored pencil artists is Ann Kullberg.  Her website offers workshops and gallery images.  She is a master artist, particularly of portraits.  I have several of her books, but the one I look at the most is Colored Pencil Portraits, Step By Step.  One idea I learned from this book is to push values.  

                                                    The Listener  by Ann Kullberg

This is a great example of one of her colored pencil portraits.  She left the top portion of the pants stark white against a dark background.  The contrast gives it punch!  When I look at my own work as well as the work of others, what catches my eye (no matter the subject or medium) is strong value contrast.

I started a painting with this in mind, using back lighting to create strong value contrast.  I've left some of the street and sidewalk white.  The bushes in the middle will be the darkest value.  I'll post this painting again, and hopefully what I'm learning from Ann Kullberg will show.  Do you learn from other artists?

Multi-tasking And Multi-painting

I'm definitely a type A.  I make lists and try to get in as much as possible during the day.  So, no surprise, I'm working on three paintings this week.  I've actually never done this before, but I have a custom house portrait to finish

plus I'm trying out two different kinds of paper.  I always use Stonehenge, but lately I've had a hankering to try some sanded pastel papers.  So the first one I bought was Ampersand pastel paper which comes in several colors but I bought white.

This is 11" x 14".  The paper is adhered to a hard board and my plan is to use fixative and varnish when I'm done.  I can then pop it into a frame without glass.  I also ordered Uart pastel paper 800 which comes in a tan color.

Love this paper, but it eats up pencils like crazy!  I've already gone to Dick Blick to buy pencils twice this week!  I also plan to use fixative & varnish on this one.  I'll keep you posted on my progress!

Art Commissions, I Love Them

It's been a busy couple of weeks.  My young grandkids and their parents came to visit.  We had a great time going to the pool, park, museum and eating - wow, kids are constantly eating!  They're gone and now I'm back to work.  I just finished a lovely house commission for a wonderful client.  She was easy to work with.  However, I think that communicating with her often really made the process run smoothly.  I talked with her first about what she wanted, repeating her comments at times for clarification.  I sent her a rough draft for approval.  About half-way through the drawing, I sent another photo to make sure I was on the right track. I emailed the final photo and made adjustments.

I love doing custom house portraits!  Talking with clients, making sure I'm meeting their needs, creating a painting that will bring joy - it's a great feeling.

Photo Finish!

Well, I know it's an exciting title, but I just want to show you what my finished painting looks like next to the original photo that I took.  I've been very busy painting landscapes lately and I love it!  I went to our local botanical garden last month and took this photo:

It's a building named the Linnaen House after scientist Carl Linnaeus.  The doors open to a beautiful indoor garden filled with gorgeous, fragrant plants.  The pools in front of the house are what caught my eye.  I love painting reflections:

                                                   Garden House 5 x 7 by Susie Tenzer

I keep all of my photo references.  I'll post them from time to time, along with the finished work.

When Creating Art Sometimes You Have To Just Walk Away

I learned this from golf:  when you're in the middle of a swing and it just doesn't feel right, stop and start over.  It's hard to do.  Recently I posted a painting with two ducks and some fish  that I spent three weeks working on.  Last week, though, I stepped back from my drafting board to check the tonal values and I knew it was time to quit. One of the ducks looked stiff to me.  The water wasn't showing any movement.  I couldn't get the fish to disappear underneath the water.  I realized I'd used the more textured side of the Stonehenge paper. So, even though I invested three weeks of my precious art life in this painting, I'm glad I quit.  I learned I love the smooth side of Stonehenge because of the way it takes color.  I was trying to change the photo too much and it just didn't work for me. I just finished a new painting and I love the reflection of the grapes in the silver bowl.

Grape Reflection by Susie Tenzer, 8" x 10" colored pencil (all rights reserved)  Buy this painting

I'm participating in a blog hop this week.  What's that?  It's a fun activity where you can visit a lot of wonderful blogs.  Click on the Blog Love Therapy below & start hopping!  See you in a couple of weeks, I'll be out of town visiting my adorable grandkids.

What Makes A Painting Remarkable?

I've been thinking about this one.  A lot.  It seems to me that for a painting to be really great it has to have a certain "something", but what in the heck is it?  I found this terrific website written by artist Robert Bissett, "The Secret To Better Painting".  He says, "You must first have an idea, an artistic concept."  To me, this means finding a vehicle such as sharp contrast, unusual texture, drama in lighting, etc., that will help make the painting stand out.  There are plenty of paintings with apples, but what will make your apple painting look remarkable?  Speaking of apple paintings, mine is coming along.  I decided to use strong color along with the absence of color as my artistic concept.  One of my favorite artists, Frank Serrano, gets this just right.  I love how he infuses atmosphere into his landscape paintings with the use of neutral grays and pops of color.

Ok, I'm off to eat an apple :)  Really, though, do you use a technique that sets your art apart? 

Three Things You Should Know About Color

My favorite color combinations are either blue/orange or red/green.  These are complimentary colors, meaning that they are opposite one another on the color wheel.  The first thing you should know about color is that placing complimentary colors next to one another creates contrast.  You don't have to use pure red and green.  You can use lighter tones, such as pink next to dark shades of green.  In my new painting I used pink and green for that dramatic effect.

                                                   
                                     After The Rain by Susie Tenzer buy this painting on Etsy

The second thing you should know about color is that warm colors advance and cool colors recede.  I use this technique all the time.  In the example below, the background looks black, but it's really a combination of black, Indigo blue, dark green and Tuscan red.  I added several layers of Indigo blue, to help push it back.  The green rose buds contain some crimson red, especially towards the front of the buds, to help bring them forward.  You'll notice that the greens are different in each part of the bud.  The inside of the buds are blue-green (pushing that part back) while the outer leaves are yellow-green.

The third thing you should know is that combining complimentary colors creates grey.  I do this when making a shadow or toning down a value that is too strong.  I love when shadows include many colors, not just black or blue.  The shadow colors of the green rose buds contain dark pink and red plus a bit of dark green.  

What are your favorite colors to use when you paint and why?

Red Red Wine

I have my colored pencil drawings scanned at a professional print shop. It's an inexpensive option since my artwork is small. It gives me a permanent image which I can then make into prints or greeting cards. I work closely with Bridget at my local print shop and we've developed a nice relationship. She made me laugh the other day! Sometimes, if I haven't named a piece, she gives it a name. When she emailed me the image of my new painting she had titled it " Red Red Wine". She said she thought of the Neil Diamond song when she saw it and couldn't get it out of her head all day. Sorry, Bridget - great title, though.

Buy this painting: Red Red Wine by Susie Tenzer 8" X 10"

                                                             

Wine For Two

I started a new piece a couple of weeks ago, but it's been on hold. My new grandson, Kaleb (our fourth grandchild!) was born recently, so I took time off to celebrate with my family.  Now I'm back to work. I love to show reflections through glass, so I set up this stll life with two wine glasses and a bottle of wine. I spilled a few drops of wine on the tray, just to give the scene a bit of life. The green bottle and red wine are complimentary colors, making one another bright. It's a fun painting, I'm really enjoying the process. Which leads me to a question I've been thinking about, do you make art for yourself or for buyers?   I set up this particular scene because I think a lot of folks enjoy wine and someone would like this painting in their home. But, I'm mindful of doing a painting that's fun for me, too. What are your thoughts?

                                               

Scumbles And Lines

There are several ways to apply colored pencil.  "Scumbling" is drawing in a tight circlular motion.  Hold your pencil lightly, make marks lightly.  The circles overlap and if done consistently, give a smooth finished look.  I have found that if you are planning on putting down a lot of layers, it's better to start with very light layers and build the color.  Don't use less than four layers or you won't achieve a rich depth of color.  For these beginning layers, hold the pencil about half way.  Move your hand closer to the tip to make heavier marks.  One of my favorite colored pencil artists is Ann Kullberg who wrote Colored Pencil Portraits Step by Step.  She often uses vertical lines, especially for filling in large areas.  It's a time saver, but I prefer the scumble method.  See how I scumble in this short clip:

Mistakes Are Good

                                        Follow The Leader 
                                       by Susie Tenzer 11" X 15"
                                     

Aren't they?  I finally finished this piece and it took me a bit longer than usual because I made some mistakes.   I took the photo on a cloudy day at a lovely Japanese garden in Seattle.  My grandkids were throwing food out to the fish from the bridge we were standing on.  What a commotion!  The fish splashed, the kids laughed and I knew this would make a good painting.  When I got home I made some initial decisions, such as moving the duck and fish closer together than they appeared in the photo.  I also decided on the color palette, cool blues, greens and a pop of orange for the fish.  The lily pads were challenging because at first I made them too yellow-green.  Their tone was also too bright in comparison to the gray blue water.  I got about a quarter of the way through the lily pads when I decided I'd better erase!  I spent the better part of a day, carefully erasing with my battery eraser.  Stonehenge paper can take quite a lot of abuse, though.  I began again, laying a gray green undertone.  Now the effect looks like the cloudy morning that we experienced.  My mistake caused me to pause and think carefully about what I wanted to show.  I learned a lot from this painting - mistakes are sometimes good!

My Favorite Art Books (So Far)

I have accumulated quite a few books about art.  I'll bet you have, too.  Here are some of my favorites:

 

1.  Colored Pencil Portraits Step By Step by Ann Kullberg - Although I don't do colored pencil portraits, I love this book!  Ann Kullberg gives wonderful tips on technique.  The best thing I learned from this book is to be fearless about using darker darks and lighter highlights.  She says, "I've found it takes courage to really bear down on those points and get that colored pencil good and dark; but without darks you really can't show light!"

2.  Painting Light With Colored Pencil by Cecile Baird - This is another wonderful book chock full of colored pencil techniques.  She gives excellent tutorials on how to paint various textures.

3.  Colored Pencil Painting Bible by Alyona Nickelsen - This is one of the first books I read when learning to use colored pencils.  She discusses using solvents to blend color and shows how to create dark back round colors.  I don't use solvents anymore, but I'm glad I learned about this technique.

4.  Fill Your Oil Paintings With Light And Color by Kevin D. Macpherson - He's one of the best painters out there today.  His loose, painterly style is beautiful.  He discusses color pallet choices and how to create light in a painting.

5.  Celebrate Your Creative Self by Mary Todd Beam - This is a good book containing information about mixed media.  She shows different techniques using acrylic paint, glue, tissue paper, foil, etc.  I've tried a few of her project ideas and they're fun1

6.  Collage Discovery Workshop: Beyond the Unexpected by Caudine Hellmuth - I love this book for it's fantastic project ideas.  She shows how to use print making tools, paper and fabric techniques.

Do you have some favorite art books?