Dark or light?

When I begin a painting I usually start with a black gessoed canvas or panel and draw my shapes in with chalk. It can take hours to get the drawing right but it is easy to erase with a damp sponge and redraw and adjust the chalk lines until the composition works.

I then start layering and glazing with color leaving the black of the background visible in selected areas kind of like a watercolor artist uses the white of the paper to represent the light areas.  They work from light to dark and I paint  from dark to light, just the opposite.

Evening Hues 20"x40"

"Evening Hues" is painted on a black background and the colors are very saturated and bright.

 

Sunrise in Lavender 30"x40"

On occasion I will start a painting on a white or lighter colored background. Sunrise in Lavender is painted over a white background and you can see the dramatic difference in the final result. The colors end up softer with an ethereal feel.

 

 

Necessity and invention

We all know the saying......Well, here is my invention created out of necessity.

 

Most of my paintings are created using Golden brand fluid acrylics. I buy the colors in 16 oz. plastic cylinders with squirt top lids. I built a shelf on my easel where I set the containers while I was painting but it was very unhandy. They were constantly falling over and the one I wanted was always hiding behind the others. One night I was searching the cupboard for late night snacks when I noticed my wife's spices neatly arranged on this little merry-go-round. A light bulb ignited and I went to my drawing board to design a similar contraption that would hold my colors and the Paint-Go-Round was born!

 

  

 

It works great! I mix my colors in recycled yogurt containers that I keep stacked on the shelf and my jar of brushes and rinse water is nearby! Happy Painting!

 

 

Art talk

I will be giving an art talk and doing a quick demonstration of my painting process at the Blue Whole Gallery in Sequim Tuesday, the 18th (tonight) at 6:00 p.m.  Everybody welcome! Should be fun!

January workshop

 We are beginning a new and event filled year and I am excited to be doing painting workshops again. The classes will be held at my studio overlooking the bay here in downtown Port Townsend. My studio will comfortably accommodate from ten to twelve students. These smaller classes allow for personal attention to each student and good visibility for the demonstrations.  New this year is a kit I put together providing the canvases and brushes we will be using which should make it easier for everyone to obtain more uniform results while learning the process. The kit will be included in the price for registration.  It consists of 2 black gesso primed canvases (one 14"x18" and  one 12"x16") and 3 quality Daniel Smith brushes (3/4, 1/2 and 1/4) also I will personally sign one of my coffee table books for the kit. The January class will be held on Friday the 24th and Saturday the 25th from 10:00 a.m. to  4:00 p.m. The registration fee will be $250.00 for the 2 day class.  For more information or to sign up for the class please email me at www.don@dontiller.com or phone 360.379.5450.


These are the items included in the kit

Wet paint / Dry paint

Ahhhh....Studio tour is over and I can get back to using it for the purpose of making art.  I use the Golden brand fluid acrylics in most of my art because they have very good permanence and stability and work well for my layering and glazing process.  One thing that I have had to adapt to since I started using acrylics is the fact that some of the colors which I mix and apply to the canvas appear much darker when they are completely dry.  The blues and greens are especially challenging.  here is an example of a green that I was painting with.  I applied a layer on the canvas and let it dry then I dipped in to the same mix and applied a brushstroke of wet paint over the dry color and you can see the difference. 

 

The challenge is to remember to mix the color I want to use at least one shade lighter than what I think I will need.  It sounds kind of unhandy but I have become accustomed to it now and hardly ever think twice about it.  I will post a picture of the finished painting soon!

 

 

Time to Draw

Well, we managed to squeeze in a few more outdoor drawing sessions.  these two sketches are the most recent.  The Bishop Victorian Hotel was sketched while sitting across the street in a parking lot.  It was a beautiful evening and we were early for our Saturday date night  movie so we decided to get out the camp chairs and do a quick sketch while we waited.  Everything went well until someone parked right in front of where we were sitting cutting off our view completely.  Oh well, it was about time for the movie to start anyway and the sketches were near completion. 

 

The boatyard sketch was completed today, the fourth of July!  Earlier in the day we did an eight mile bike ride up the Larry Scott Trail, enjoyed a delicious picnic lunch on a sunny beach and ended up in the boatyard about 4:00 p.m.  We parked our chairs in the shade of  the traveling boat lift  and spent about an hour sketching the "Paul Johnson" one of many boats in the yard waiting for paint and repairs. A fun day..........!

I really do enjoy the outdoor drawing sessions and plan to keep the momentum going for the rest of the summer. The choices for cool locations to draw or paint are endless!  Just do it!

Spend it to make it?

I have  owned my own business and been self employed for most of my working life.  We have all heard the old adage that you have to spend money to make money, right?  well, here is my story on how I  "spent" on my new sandwich board in order to "make" money in my studio.  My studio is up a flight of stairs in a commercial building on busy downtown Water Street so  in order to get anyone interested in trekking up the stairs to view my art it seemed like a good idea to have a sandwich board on the sidewalk to generate a little interest and direct them in that direction.  The first order of business was to purchase a legal size board ($$).  Then I  have a graphic designer come up with an attractive design ($$) and take it to the sign shop and have it printed on waterproof and mar resistant aluminum panels and attached to both sides of the sign ($$$).......whew, but we are just beginning to stack up dollars.  Next, I decided to attach a  removable pallet with a personal message and a QR code linked to a short video that I had professionally done.  A few extra  ($$$) but it really adds to the appeal of the sign.  Now......we have to go talk to the city and acquire a permit... routine, right? well,.....we live in a little seaport town listed on the historical registry and everything must be proper which amounts to a plethora of rules and detailed paperwork. Time consuming but doable.  Now I just write the check for the permit ($$) and put out the sign............No, not quite yet.  The city official informs me that I need to have a liability insurance policy worth $1,000,000 with them listed in it. Seems like CYA overkill to me but a trip to my insurer and more ($$$!) gets the permit in my hand.    Finally!  I was running out of patience and  ($$$)  but I can, now legally place my sign on the sidewalk and start making money!  Was it worth it all?  Yes, I have had the sign out for about a month which has resulted in meeting many new friends and acquiring some great customers.  Sales jumped remarkably for the month and I attribute it solely to the new sandwich board.  So......I guess in this case the adage is true.  The challenge will be figuring out the best places to "spend it" in order to maximize the "make it"...........Good Luck!

The code of the Northwest

In order to maintain a lively business I feel that I must attempt to keep up and experiment a little with new technology.   So I decided to create a QR code for my sandwich board that I display at the entrance door to my upstairs studio here in Port Townsend.  These codes are nothing too new, you see them everywhere, but I rarely use them so I thought that I would try it and see if anyone would actually use one to retrieve information about my studio. You have to have a smart phone and an app (you can download one for free) to read the code.  Mine takes you to a short,  fun video that we put together.  So get your smartphone out and scan this code and give me your comments!

I have only had the board in place for a couple of days but I am pleasantly surprised by the response so far.  I think that this will be a successful endeavor and now I am kind of hooked on checking out other QR codes to see if  they have better ideas for using this "new" technology.
And......if you are ever in the neighborhood,  please do "come on up" and visit me in my studio!

Why is the sky blue?

As I am painting I find working with cloud colors and sky colors very intriguing so I went to the Internet for some information.  I found some very interesting reading and scientific explanations about scattered  light waves and spectrum analysis.  This was all very enlightening but as an artist I think the main thing I need to remember is that atmosphere has no color.   If I am trying to influence the mood of a painting with atmosphere I need to be aware that weather conditions and pollutants influence the color.  Water vapor and solid particles affect visibility and the amounts are a good indication of weather conditions and determine which colors we will see in the sky............now my head hurts.



Storm on the Horizon  36"x36" acrylic



Prairie Sky 40"x60" acrylic



Prairie Heat 20"x40" acrylic



Storm Chaser 20"x16" acrylic

In the studio

In my stash of canvases I found three 16"x20"x1"  that I had primed with venetian red gesso.  There are times when I like to work on more than one canvas at a time and do a series of similar subject matter.  I can use the same colors on each one as I proceed through my layering and glazing process and it is fun to watch three paintings evolve at the same time.  On these three I have started with a simple composition of shapes and line.  I have blocked in the shapes with opaque color that I will glaze over with many transparent layers as the paintings progress.

I will post photos of the completed paintings when I finish them.  It will be interesting to compare these preliminary images with the finished product.  In my canvas stash I also found six 11"x14"x1" primed with black gesso and I will be doing a series of tractors as soon as the drawings are complete.

Special Delivery

One of my duties as an artist is to ship and or deliver paintings to the galleries that represent me.  Today I will be delivering six paintings to the Roby King Gallery on Bainbridge Island about a fifty mile drive from here.  I will be participating in a group show that will be opening there on April 5th.  For most deliveries I like to bundle my paintings for easier handling and safer transport.  I stack them, according to size, face to face and back to back with strips of foam core for spacers.  I then wrap them together with stretch wrap (the neatest tool since the invention of duct tape!)  It is quick and easy and they are now better protected and much easier to cart down the street or up and down the stairs to my studio.



I also use a wrap around the edges of some of my finished studio paintings when in storage.  It gives a little protection to the corners and edges and helps cut down on the inevitable road rash that just suddenly appears after they have been hung and rehung at various shows and gallery walks.  But alas, even after careful handling and stretch wrapping  the bruises are still most likely to show up on the paintings that need to be delivered asap.

Tip 1.......It's all in the details

I volunteer when needed to help hang paintings for the monthly shows at the Northwind Art Center here in Port Townsend and I am always amazed at how careless some artists are about attaching hangers to the back of the artwork they submit.  Often we end up having to adjust and sometimes change altogether the existing setup.

Here is a short video on the process I use to install a slip proof hanger wire to the back of most of my paintings.