Tag Archives: timelapse

30 in 30 challenge

Tease – painting timelapse #11

2 Comments
Painting Tease
Tease. So you’ll keep coming back to see the finished painting.                                                              Scroll down to see timelapse #11.

Tease

Yes,  I’m being such a tease, showing you parts of the canvas in these wip photos. Partly it’s because this painting could take me 2 weeks to do, and it would get boring if I didn’t try to show you something different each day. 

And partly it’s because I’m hoping for a big reveal once the painting is done. I hope the photographer who took the original photograph, Dani Devaux, will like the finished painting. But this is not a commission, so I could still interpret it how I want.

For example, so far I have not been concerned with catching the likeness of the model. And I’m thinking of having her eyes closed in the painting, though they were open in the photograph.

I think the closed eyes suits the peaceful environment and meditative pose.

My addiction

Late start today, even though I slept well, had a good breakfast. It’s due to my addiction. I just couldn’t shake myself free, and get down to work.

And of course, as a Mom I also had the meals, laundry, helping kids with h.w. etc. sprinkled into the mix.

My addiction? Binge-watching everything on Netflix. To the point where Netflix could blackmail me by threatening to share my watch history with the world, because it’s so extensive, so eclectic.

In fact the other day I had to wonder if Netflix was throwing me some shade.  It recommended a category, based on my recent viewing habits, called “Soapy International Dramas for Hopeless Romantics”!

I’ve always enjoyed watching foreign films, in the original language, but with English subtitles. I understand just enough French and Spanish to realize that a lot can be lost in translation. Low budget movies that have been dubbed into English are the worst. 

I like to listen to the actors speaking in their own voices, to hear the tone and nuance. It is like a ladder to a window into another world, where I can experience the lifestyle of people who walk in wildly different shoes than mine. From the comfort of my own couch.

Last year I watched a few Turkish romantic drama series, and a strange thing started to happen. The Turkish responses for certain situations would come into my head, before I could answer in English – simple things like thank you, good night!

Anyway, I’ve also watched various shows and movies from India, Malaysia, Korea, Iceland as well as British, Scottish, Irish etc

When I was younger I used to love to curl up with a big book, the bigger the better because it lasted longer.

And it’s the same thing with watching a series, the characters become very familiar. And it’s like having company in the studio.

That’s how it works with shows in English. The problem is, you can’t watch a show with subtitles and paint at the same time.

So far during this challenge, I’ve been listening to podcasts while I paint. It was working great, but then this morning I was watching a Korean series and I just didn’t want to stop.

Eventually I compromised and put on a movie in English, and watched that while I painted. By the time it was over, I was deep into the painting, so I was able to carry on with nothing else playing in the background.

My plan for this week is to go to the library and pick up an audio book or two to try out.

Yeah, yeah, I know. First world studio problems.

30 in 30 challenge

Painting timelapse #9 – brushes

Leave a comment
brushes
brushes Bristle brushes         Scroll down to see timelapse #9

Bristle brushes

Usually synthetic brushes are recommended for use with acrylic paints. But a person’s art is a sum of the myriad of choices they make along the way, from materials, to equipment, to technique etc. 

The combination of these things can be quite unique for an artist, it’s like their artistic fingerprint. It’s how you can pick out one artist’s work from the rest. Their style.

For many years I have found that cheap hog’s hair, or bristle brushes are the best choice for the way I work.

I do a lot of scumbling – applying paint with a dry brush – because I like to apply paint in layers to make the surface more interesting.

The technique is too hard on synthetic brushes, they quickly lose their ability to hold a point/edge.

The natural bristle brushes wear down, but they still hold together quite well. I’ve found I have different uses for them as they go through the various stages of being worn down.

Dani

The reference photo I am using for this painting, is from an amazing St. Lucian photographer, Dani Devaux.

I have followed Dani on social media for years, her photos are beautiful, professional, and I especially love her portraits outdoors in the lush St. Lucian landscape.

Then a few months ago she posted an image that fit in well with a theme I wanted to explore in my art. So I asked for her permission to paint from her photo, and she ended up sending me two that I loved.

Right away I transferred the images to canvases, but then I had to wait until I was ready to begin the series.

It is a pleasure to be working from such great photography.

Check out Dani’s website www.danidevaux.com.

Subscribe to my blog so that you can see the rest of my 30 painting timelapse videos in 30 days challenge.

30 in 30 challenge

Equipment for painting timelapse #8

Leave a comment
timelapse equipment
Timelapse equipment         Scroll down to see timelapse video #8

Current equipment set-up

On the left is the progress I made today on my new painting, Journey to Self.  On the right is the equipment I used to create the painting timelapse video below. Yes, I have upgraded from the selfie stick on duct taped to the filing cabinet.

Facebook friend and Burlington photographer/painter, Janet Jardine was kind enough to bring her setup to an event to show me a better solution.

All I had to do was unscrew the part that holds my iphone, off of the selfie stick, and then screw it on to the top of the tripod I use for my slr camera.

This combination is so much steadier, and more flexible than the selfie stick alone, and now I’m not tied to my previous Macgyvered scenario. 

Placement

However, this painting is larger than the last, and I spent more than an hour (and several wardrobe changes) trying out different positions to place the tripod to give the best view of the canvas, while cutting myself out as much as possible.

The studio ended up in a state of disarray, as I moved stuff out of the way. I did record a video as I spun slowly in a circle, documenting the chaos. I do weird things like that.

The video  may never be seen by anyone else. Ten years from now I could come across it and feel nostalgic for,  “that time when I was painting that painting that was the turning point in my artistic development/career etc.”.  Who knows?

There are sure to be more variations in equipment, and positions as I continue on this journey. My house is in constant flux depending on my activities, and every year, to my husband’s bewilderment, more personal space gets lost to business space.

The Art Life

Art is my life, my life is art … and apparently that extends to my family. 

As an aside, I told my elder son a story today of the first day I brought him home from the hospital.

At some point when we were alone I placed the swaddled  baby on the carpet, in our bedroom of our first house, right in front of my large, professional easel. 

That easel – seen  in the photo above – was bought with the money earned from my first painting commission. I was a new art grad, and had no idea how I was going to earn a living with my painting.

Instinctively I knew that this heavy duty easel would be a physical reminder of my commitment to myself as an artist, regardless of what was happening in my life.

The baby was placed symbolically in front of that alter, at which I’ve sacrificed my own life, and his at times.

Then I took a photograph, to commemorate my commitment to my greatest masterpiece.

Yes, it was the beginning of an epic struggle.

I’m so happy to be getting positive feedback on these blog posts, it’s always amazing to find out that people are reading, watching, relating to and enjoying what I’m putting out there into the world.

Fun Fact: Tomorrow’s post will mean I’ve written three times as many posts this year, as last year!

It just shows, you shouldn’t wait for time, or inspiration to create, just create and then you will be inspired to make more time to create.

Hummingbird

One of the comments that caught my eye, was on yesterday’s blog post, from an artist in Quebec who subscribed when we did the 30 in 30  painting challenge in 2014!

Martine Paquet wrote

Donna, your timelapses are jewel ! Such a great idea for the challenge…So fun to look over your shoulder while you are painting!

 So sweet. Thank you Martine.

However, it did occur to me when I watched today’s timelapse, that I must be crazy to be posting it before the painting is resolved.

I often jump headlong into paintings in a frenzy of colour, run into difficulties with drawing in the middle stage, and eventually abandoning the whole fiasco. At the end of 2017, I painted over 8 such “starts”.  That felt cathartic. It might be my new end-of-year ritual. 

Now there’s going to be video evidence of my “unusual” way of working. I have different ways of starting paintings – I can think of 4 or 5 right now. By the time I’m done with them though, you can tell it’s the same artist’s work.

Each painting is a reaction to the one that came before, so if the last one was small, tight and realistic, the next could be large, loose and abstract.

This is just my intuitive way of working, but I have to admit to a nervous chuckle when I watched the timelapse.

My painting hand is like a hummingbird with ADHD, dancing to the beat of its own drum.

I read that line out to my husband. It seems like the kind of thing someone might put on my gravestone.

Anyway, hopefully you’ll return tomorrow to see what happens next on this journey!

30 in 30 challenge

Journey to self – timelapse #7

2 Comments
journey
Journey to self                Scroll down to see timelapse #7

Journey to Self

New painting in progress this morning. Reference photo is from my favourite St. Lucian photographer, I’ll talk more about that when the painting is further along. I don’t really want to talk much about it yet, except to say that the title is Journey to self.

I was done with the timelapse early this morning, but for some reason I really, really procrastinated in writing this blog post.

The peony painting from yesterday is not done, but I usually start something new before going back to finish the first. That’s how I keep the momentum going.

In fact, I got photos to create two paintings based on my friend’s photography, three months ago! But I had big plans with trying a new technique, which involved me taking a laser cutting 101 workshop at the local library.

Timelapse #7

I’m glad to have finally started this painting, but I have to say that things got out of hand pretty quickly.

I aimed the camera at the figure in the painting, intending to just work on her.  Which is opposite to the norm of going from large masses to smaller details. My reason for doing that is that I was planning to use custom stencils to create patterns in the landscape, later on. 

But as I went along, I got into a bit of a frenzy, moving to bigger and bigger brushes and working larger and larger areas of the canvas, some of which were out of view .

Also, I had started working with a new staywet palette for this painting, but when I needed a pink, I decided to open up the peony palette. Before I knew it I was like a crazy person mixing colours in a palette on either side of me!

Looks like I’m getting my painting mojo back.

 

The vote is in

Oh, and the consensus on the peony painting timelapse from yesterday, was to keep the sides green. In fact, EVERYONE voted for green instead of black. I’m happy with that. 

30 in 30 challenge

Edges – peony painting timelapse #6

Leave a comment
edges of peony painting
Painting the edges    Scroll down to see timelapse #6.

Edges

Should I keep the edges of the painting green, or go with my normal black? I am literally racing the clock right now.

All I had time to do tonight was paint the edges of the peony painting when I got home from our Art & Culture Council’s first AGM.  I’m determined not to fail at my challenge!

My goal is to post a new timelapse video on my blog before midnight each night. Then post the link on the 30 in 30 blog.  See, I told you this accountability thing works.

Anyway, I might change the colour of the edges, I’m leaning towards the green, but am uncertain since I’m so used to seeing them black. I started using black so that the painting would look clean, tidy, and all the paintings in an exhibition would be consistent.

Also, with the more modern gallery wrap – thicker profile canvas – many people just hang the paintings straight on the wall and don’t get them framed. Or when they do, they frame with a black floating frame, and the black sides seem to work well with that.

Authentic edges?

However, I have noticed more and more artists leaving the edges bare.  And I think that is in reaction to the proliferation of gallery wrapped canvas prints.

This way you can see the “artist’s hand”, as in, you get some insight into the process, the layering, the drips, things planned and unplanned. Maybe even into the artist’s personality and motivation. It is about authenticity.

I always thought it was the artist being lazy, messy.  I would take the time to clean the sides of my paintings, maybe even wrapping the image around the edges.

Then one day I had someone walk right past my booth at an International Art Fair because she thought I was exhibiting photographs.  When she realized they were just realistic paintings of flowers and foliage, she came back for a closer look.

I did all realism back then, and I’d put a lot of time & care into each work, even finishing them off with a high gloss varnish.

These days the idea of splashing paint around and getting messy, and leaving the work messy and immediate, holds a lot of appeal.

Green or Black?

Let me know in the comments, which way you would vote – stay green, or change to black?

Then return tomorrow night to see what I decide!

Now I need to go wash the green paint off of my hands. But at least I got into my pj’s when I came home. All you can see in the video is my grey sweater, you can’t tell that it is covered in paint. And that I’m wearing red fleece pants with white polar bears.

Then I can crawl straight into bed, and start it all again at too early o-clock in the morning. Otherwise know as 6:30am, when my alarm goes off to wake the teenagers up for school.

30 in 30 challenge

Peony timelapse #5 – tools

2 Comments
peony
Peony painting and tools of the trade , (scroll down to view timelapse video #5)

Tools of the trade

These are my “everyday tools ” – brushes, heavy duty paper towels (found in automotive aisle at Canadian Tire), spray bottle with water to keep my acrylics paints wet. My staywet palette is in the corner with a red cover to keep the moisture in.

Uncharacteristically, by the end of this session I had 5 brushes with paint on them. I was working fast because I still had a lot I wanted to do, but I knew I had to stop. Today was just one of those busy days.

In the last hour of painting I was talking to the kids when they came home from school, took the dinner out of the oven etc, but you can’t tell that all of that was going on when you watch the video. I think it was about 4 hours, condensed into 20 seconds.

I started painting late today because I was working on the computer all morning, updating documents & adding them to the Arts Council’s website, responding to e-mail and social media – both theirs and mine.

When I stopped painting tonight, I posted the timelapse to Instagram & YouTube, ate dinner, did groceries, put away groceries & laundry & now I’m trying to write this post & share on the 30 in 30 before midnight. But that’s the only reason there are a bunch of brushes in the water. Usually I only use one at a time. And I would not leave them soaking in the water because it’s not good for the brushes.

I was going to talk more about the other tools we use, because I don’t think most people envision painters with drills, hammers, wire cutters etc.

But I’ll leave that for another day.

Tweak, tweak, tweak

Ok, so it’s taking longer than I hoped, in terms of how many days/painting sessions. Each day I estimate it’ll take two more days. Though it’s normal for me to take 3 days to a week on a painting this size depending on the amount of detail.

The rush I’m feeling is really because I’m sure people are tired of seeing this painting all over my social media channels at this point.

So, I’m not posting everywhere now. The truth is that these sessions are two to three times shorter than normal, but I’m very focused,  and I’m standing and walking back and forth the whole time. So by the end of the session I’m wiped out!

Tomorrow I’ll have to remember to wear my fitbit.

Ok, stay tuned for tomorrow’s timelapse. In the meantime, you could also check out some of my other paintings.

 

30 in 30 challenge

Palette and timelapse of peony painting progress

Leave a comment
peony palette
Pink peony palette

Peony palette

My staywet palette is starting to look like an abstract version of the peony I’m painting.

I mostly use heavy body acrylics with it, rather than fluid, otherwise the water in the palette soaks through the sponge and through the porous paper to dissolve the paints even further. Eventually the paints become transparent like watercolour paints, which would be fine if I were working on paper instead of canvas.

The danger really is that if the paints get too waterlogged they will flow, and the colours could get corrupted, and even slip down the sides and get on the sponge.

If they then harden in the sponge when it dries, they will of course form non-porous plastic, which means areas of your sponge won’t adhere to the wet palette paper, resulting in air pockets, and your paints drying out, rendering the the whole system useless.

I do use some fluid paints with it, but strategically. For example, sometimes it is just easier to drip some fluid titanium white in to mix a tint.

Okay, okay, now the non-painters reading this are starting to glaze over (hee hee).

Push and Pull

Timelapse #4 of 30

This middle stage of the painting is the part that makes me question my sanity. This is where I have to dig deep to continue past the hard bits, as compared to the beginning which has the energy of a fresh start, of inspiration. Or the end stage where I’m loosely adding flourishes, and have a growing sense of accomplishment and awe at the magic of creation.

Assuming you’ve got the drawing sorted out already, the push pull stage is all about tweaking the colours, values and edges. So the changes are probably too subtle to catch in the timelapse, but I can get quite obsessed with  … perfection?

I take photos of the progress because some of the changes I make don’t work out, so I walk them back.

This is where you can become a slave to your photographic references. And I have to remind myself that any realism in my work is a by-product of my way of working, but it is not my goal.

The goal is to do work that moves me, and the viewer.

And sometimes what makes me really love a painting, is just an unexpected or pleasing combination of colours,  virtuoso brushstroke, or what is left out (semi-abstraction, or enigmatic subject matter).

Hmm. Maybe I need print that up and place it next to my easel so I remember, next time I’m spinning my wheels to get a passage just right!

When I paint more frequently, and have 2 – 3 paintings on the go at a time,  the momentum gives me more confidence, and I can move through the middle stage much, much faster.

If you want to just see the timelapse videos, I usually upload them to my YouTube channel first.

 

 

 

 

30 in 30 challenge

Peony painting timelapse #3

Leave a comment
peony
Peony painting progress  Scroll down to see timelapse video of peony.

Peony Progress

I took the reference photos for this peony painting from a trip to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington. I have a membership, because then I’ll make sure to go several times a year to wander around with my camera looking for inspiration.

The painting is coming along, it should only take another one or two sessions to complete. I’ve been painting faster, and been more focused than I would normally be painting in my home studio, because the camera is on me.

That’s what gave me the idea for doing 30 timelapse videos in 30 days.

I noticed when I did my first timelapse video, that I would listen to a podcast while I painted instead of binge watching  Netflix, or checking social media, e-mail etc., which made me much more efficient.

Though to be honest, watching movies while I paint, is hella fun way to spend my days. Escapism at its best.

Glitches

All it took to fix the glitch (camera slipping) from yesterday, was to tighten a knob.

I’m still not thrilled with my set-up. An iphone attached to a selfie stick duct taped to a filing cabinet.  I’ll have research a better solution, something sturdier.

Meanwhile, today when I checked the video after my painting session, I discovered the whole thing was recorded at a 90 degree angle!

Luckily, I remembered an app on my phone that I’ve used before to help my son prep videos for his YouTube channel. All I had to do was upload the video to Videoshop, and click on rotate, and problem solved.

The video does seem a little smaller though, but at least it was usable. This is after all an accountability tool, I’m not looking to become a viral sensation with these videos.

Speed

Another observation is that my first video was 25 seconds, and about 1 hour of painting, however today was about 3 1/2 hrs, and the timelapse video was 20 seconds long.

AND it looked like I was a bee, or a humming bird, zipping around the peony on the canvas. It was not easy to make out what I was working on, because there was a longer duration lost between stills, which the camera strings together into the video.

On the plus side, you don’t catch all my mis-steps, colours & brushstrokes added and removed. Or every time I walked back to view the painting from further away, or to refill my water container.

Subscribe to my blog (the widget should be on the left if you’re viewing this on your computer), so that you can follow this 30 in 30 challenge.

Have you done, or are you doing a 30 in 30 challenge too? What theme, or what parameters have you set for yourself?

30 in 30 challenge

Peony painting timelapse #2

4 Comments

Pink Peony Progress

pink peony
My 30 in 30 challenge

Scroll to the bottom to see the 27second timelapse video of me painting this pink peony.

One January a few years ago, I did Leslie Saeta’s 30 in 30 painting challenge to paint (almost) 30 paintings in 30 days. It was a a lot of work, but fun, and about a quarter of them sold within an hour or two of posting on Facebook!

I did the next challenge that September – she usually does it twice a year and artists from all over the world participate. That time I used it as an opportunity to try out some ideas for painting subjects, and techniques, which resulted in some of my first peacock feather-inspired abstract paintings. 

If you do a search on my site for “30 in 30”, you’ll see some of the paintings I did previously.

Why now?

This time I’ve set myself the challenge to post 30 timelapse painting videos in 30 days.

My main objective is to build up some painting momentum, because in the last year or more I’ve been struggling to put my art practice first.

My second objective is to get back into the groove of marketing my own art, because this is my business, my career, my passion, my creative outlet, my legacy all rolled into one, not a hobby.

Years of volunteer work in my local Arts and Culture community has led me to the point where I’m lucky enough to be able to help create opportunities for other Creatives.

And instead of slowing down, now that we’ve started an Arts & Culture Council, and helped develop a Grant Program, partnered with local organizations to do some fundraisers … bigger and better projects to help develop the Arts & Culture scene, and spotlight fellow artists, are coming our way.

I cannot let this be at the expense of my own art-making, my own business.

So, this February, I’m going to show myself some love. I’m going to put my art first.

Starting out

It has not been easy so far. Yesterday I was on my laptop for most of the time from 9am to 9pm going between meeting notes in Evernote, and my Membership spreadsheets etc, to prepare for the first AGM of our Arts & Culture Council, as well as doing some social media for the not-for-profit.

Thankfully I had done my first timelapse video some time before, (technically it was my second time working on this peony), and I was able to create yesterday’s blog post and add the link to the 30 in 30 blog a few minutes before midnight.

I had a late start this morning, at first spinning my wheels not sure what to tackle first. If it weren’t for the challenge, today would have been just another day lost to a never-ending to do list.

There is something magical about telling people you are going to do something, especially if you then have to do that thing in the public eye.

When I first heard the concept of accountability as a motivational tool, I knew I’d struck gold.

Why it works

It does not even matter if no-one ever reads this blog, if no-one ever watches the videos. Just the threat of letting someone else down by not following through with what I’ve promised, is enough to keep me on track. 

The beauty about the 30 in 30 is that it isn’t just one big deadline, where I procrastinate for weeks, eg. cleaning and organizing the house.  Then pull an all-nighter just to come through in the nick of time (a skill I perfected during 4 years of University).

It is a series of 30 smaller deadlines. The idea being that somewhere during that month, the little things you do start to add up to greater insights, and even change.

Someone like myself who has to fight through analysis paralysis at times, has no time for perfectionism when fighting this clock.

I can’t spend all day refining each post, I can just let the words flow, try to clean it up a little. Then move on to the technical aspects of  preparing the pics, videos etc. for the blog post, and then share the link on social media etc. Hopefully before everyone has gone to sleep!

I believe in the process.

Timelapse video newbie

This video makes me laugh. I had a technical malfunction with my tripod, but my husband fixed it in 2 seconds flat & I have higher hopes for tomorrow.

I do need to change my camera position though, because so far I’ve been working fast, and sitting close, right up in front of the peony painting.

At some point tomorrow I’m going to need to stand at the easel & walk back & forth as I evaluate how the values in the painting are working as a whole, and make the necessary adjustments.

I hope you’ll return tomorrow to check on the progress.

While you’re here, take a look at the menu to see some of the flower/landscape/abstract paintings on my website.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...