KICK START YOUR ART IN 2013

Come Study With Me in  2013. New class schedule

Get Your Party Sparkle On!

Happy New Year to everyone who reads this blog. Time to get your party sparkle on and ring in 2010. I for one won't be sad to see 2009 go.

With this in mind, I did a portrait sketch last night with some shimmer, oil on paper, applied with a brush, followed by a wash of gouache with watercolor. I first saw this technique done in Barcelona, but it took me two trips there to work out how they were doing it. After combing the streets, watching the plentiful and talented street portrait artists, I finally found a helpful artist who spoke English.

I have been playing with this technique for a while now in my drawing and really like the feel of it.

New Year's resoluiton: to draw more of course. It separates the men from the boys.

Favorite quote of the day. Winston Churchill:" I love champagne in victory but need it more in defeat".

SOLD

Going Dutch...

I remain inspired by the old Dutch still life painters, so much so that my mouth is often left gaping when I look at their skill level in books. It really has remained unsurpassed to this day in my humble big-mouthed opinion.

I decided I might rather like to try painting a lobster. Don't ask me why. They are funny looking things. If you saw one crawling across your kitchen floor, you wouldn't want to eat it at all. Jump on the nearest chair and call the fire brigade.

They remind me of big cockroaches uncooked. But when hit by boiling water, that marvelous shade of red they turn is a sight to behold. All those angles too. And those beady eyes staring at the murderess. Red is always a challenge to paint I find, especially things in nature that are FIRE ENGINE red like lobsters and Christmas ties.

I bought this lobster for my still life teaching class at LAAFA last semester where I started the painting, 16" x 20", for demo purposes using a color harmony of red and green, but also doing a fast grisaille under painting in black and white which I then glazed over. I really like glazing mixed with scumbling over a grey and white sketch which is of course how the old Dutch guys did it. Vermeer for sure used a mixed method approach in his work.

I put the painting -and the lobster- aside for many weeks during my trip to France but KNEW I would finish it as it looked good already, good enough to continue at least, and the lobster cost me too much to waste.

Thank goodness for freezers. I had frozen the lobster which was high as a kite already after five hour sittings under hot lights, two sessions a week apart, at LAAFA.

It really didn't take me that much time at all to whip things into shape to a finish that was not too 'done' as I like a fresh look. Not too blendy-blendy. It reminds me that a good start is always key around value pattern and shapes. Besides you have to work fast painting decaying shellfish - or wear a hat with old wine-corks stringed around the brim to zwat the flies like the Aussies do.

It was also rewarding after France where I was doing quick studies (a total of 22 panels in a month to be exact) to spend time bringing a painting to the finish I like in terms of light effect.

Since my return from France I have not only stopped eating copious croissants, but also gone back to my favorite art books for a refresher course. Books I have not had access to for about three months due to France and a home move.

I have dusted off my camera obscura, said a prayer to Vermeer...I have gone Dutch at least for a few days.

For those of you still-lifers out there in LA area, be sure not to miss the Spanish Master of still life, Luis Melendez, at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, currently running.

Also, I am just redoing my website and putting up many new still life paintings, including this one, all available for purchase and shipping.

Watch this space...

Mellow Yellow...

Yesterday was my last teaching day at LAAFA for a while although I plan on being back for the semester beginning January 4, 2010 unless I decide to live in France.

Very unlikely since I JUST bought a house here it seems. On the water. Very excited at the painting possibilities there.

This was a recent teaching demo from my class. I have been experimenting with different whites in my life painting particularly as it was the end of the semester and I could have a little fun.  If I had a bomb it didn't matter. There is not much to prove toward the end of a teaching semester. You are either a crowd-pleaser or not at this point. Those who don't care for you have long left the room.

My usual white is Permalba but I have had fun playing with zinc white which is way more transparent but also quite stiff until you add some medium.

Not sure I would use zinc on a commission. Permalba is a good sturdy all round white it seems to me. But I do like the glazing qualities that zinc white has. Seems like a real 'cool' shade of white too. I wonder if it cracks more? Probably unless one is careful observing fat over lean principle.

I had fun building the paint up in on the light side but it took a while. At first it felt like I was making a milky soup kind of mess.

I also like painting yellow...I had asked the model to bring a yellow ballerina gown my class had painted her in before.  Vermeer painted yellow so well using lead tin yellow a lot which is close to our lemon yellow today.

I found a company called Natural Pigments http://naturalpigments.com/which is really worth checking out. They are replicating much of what the old masters used for their paints from natural pigments, hence the title, including lead tin yellow and the blue azurite that Vermeer apparently used. Yellow and blue were a color combo he often used. These two paints aren't cheap however. But for those of you painting on trust funds...no matter. Vermeer had no such luck. He was broke most of the time and traded bread for his paintings and paintings for his supplies from his benefactor. 

Amazing. 

CHEEKY CHARLIE!

For those of you that asked, my sketch from last week's class demo at LAAFA, "Cheeky Charlie" is now up for sale on Ebay.

cgi.ebay.com/Johanna-Spinks-Portrait-Painting-Demo-Cheeky-Charlie_W0QQitemZ200373928702QQcmdZViewItemQQptZArt_Paintings?hash=item2ea73782fe&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14#ht_500wt_1094

Warm all over...

This was my class demo at The Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art yesterday, 20 x 24.

It was a fun class all around with a lot of laughter in the room and some great paintings being done. I think everyone was inspired by the FLAPPER get-up and wistful pose.

I chose to work on a warm ground rather than my usual cool. I find it more of a challenge. It is easier for my eye to judge color and value at the beginning of a sitting on a cool ground. Don't ask me why. Maybe it is just because I am just used to that although I vaguely recall Richard Schmid saying that somewhere too in an article. Hard to work on a very warm ground with skin tones.

However, I really like the effect of a somewhat muted warm ground showing through, for instance, in the shadows of the hair and breast area.  I also really like a very warm ground in landscape painting, say Burnt Sienna.

I chose to really push the sitter's skin toward an overeall cool rather than warm even though she was really quite olive in reality. But I wanted cool in the light, warm in the shadow to make use of that warm ground. I had a plan!

One of my students commented that it must be great to get to the point in painting when you are able to be more interpretative of what is in front of you. To give yourself permission as an artist to make it how YOU want it to be.  I liked that thought...

All Right Gov'!

AS in 'All Right Governor!'  British Cockney 'cheeky talk' on the weekly market stand when you buy a pound of potatoes or a punnet of something or other juicy.

 I am certainly not talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Governator must be stre$$$ing right now with CA being in the Poorhouse.

Haven't posted a portrait sketch in a while. This is a head study from teaching demo this week at LAAFA...I think it turned out o.k...limited palette. I think it  has a little 'tude!

Let me know what you think.

This will be for sale on Ebay next week...

I am happy to say my class demos are selling on Ebay. The purchaser of last week's demo said she was surprised I would want to sell it. As in, it was nice!!!  Not a throwaway.  Hurry, I might change my mind...

Check out this week's class demo for sale

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1313&_nkw=johanna+spinks&_sacat=See-All-Categories

But actually, I am kinda liking the idea.  Feels good.

Class demos for sale on Ebay

After quite a bit of thought, I have decided to put more of my class DEMOS for sale on Ebay.

Unlike my portrait commissions and gallery pieces, which take MANY weeks to execute, these are super fast studies and VERY affordable, priced deliberately so. 

A chance maybe for people who weren't able to take class from me recently, around a wretched economy, to purchase a study piece that they might find useful. Or students who just liked something I did in class while watching me paint it.

There are also other people out there who might just like 'em and it fits their budget, period! That's nice too.

I should point out, these are not finished pieces, that seems pretty obvious,  but ALL done in a single demo session for students at LAAFA, CAI, or my own private classes and workshops around Los Angeles over the last few years.

Ebay link: http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1313&_nkw=johanna+spinks&_sacat=See-All-Categories

Another Head Sketch Clunker...

Another head sketch clunker from life that failed to do it for me.

I am referring to the bottom one.  I must have a room full of ravishing rejects now which is hard when you are trying to sell your house and clear out the studio decks which I did last week prompted by a new studio move.

I was left dissatisfied after an open house painting session at LAAFA yesterday. I didn't hate what I did but I thought I could have said it better and maybe in a more 'artful' way. So today, I did another sketch from yesterday's one, trying to work out my "issues" and spare the $$$ on an art therapist. And I liked how it came out. I like a more muted look in my paintings these days and am striving for that in my life-painting. But sometimes, too much OOOMPH and SIZZLE comes out of me.

I find this re-sketching  from a life study to be quite a cathartic learning experience actually. To really look at something I have just done, paint it again on a separate canvas, and work out what you feel you could have done better. What was it that you missed? What to take to the next...

The top is today's version, 9 x12. The bottom, yesterday's, 18 x 24, about three hours with plenty of breaks and, dare I say, interruptions. It was an open house and as a teacher at the school I expected that. But I know I didn't get into the art zone at all. Today I did.

Does anyone have any good ideas for all these reject head sketches that are taking over my house and studio? 

I am starting to put the ones I really like for sale on Ebay. Visit here:

cgi.ebay.com/Family-Jewel-Fine-Art-Oil-Painting-by-Johanna-Spinks_W0QQitemZ200357755464QQcmdZViewItemQQptZArt_Paintings?hash=item2ea640ba48&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C72%3A1205%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

This one is called "Family Jewel"...

11 x 14, oil on linen.

CATCH A CHARACTER IF YOU CAN!

My class demo... Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art.. May 6th...18x24...

If I was a guy, I would want to look like Jack Atlantis. This was our model this week and he wowed the room. Everyone loved painting him and everyone did great work.

I had brought in a huge book of Franz Hals portraits and Jack fit right into my 'catch a character if you can' lecture.  Boy, Hals did it so well.  Humbling stuff. Those faces were painted centuries ago but they still look very much alive.  NO cameras there. Life painting all the way.

Jack has one of those handsome chameleon faces that can change into a myriad of looks, ALL good,  going from charming 'pretty boy' street cool to hard-edge attitude rocker or haughty Victorian Ringmaster running a circus or country fair.

And of course, you just knew Jack had a lot going on outside of the art school room. He is a very talented musician, with an incredible voice, and a fashion designer, making a lot of the costumes he models in. Great to have the energy of this creative talent in the room. We all fed off it. www.myspace.com/jack_atlantis 

He reminds me why I LOVE being a portrait painter. I might be strictly a 'one-trick' pony in the talent department (and some would argue even that)  but I get to meet and paint the MOST interesting people. Last week I was in The South doing a sitting with a very special doctor who I felt much the same way about although their worlds are far apart.

This gentleman had helped raised millions for a cancer hospice and  was just one of those special people who you feel privileged to meet and spend time with. You feel enriched for knowing them. They teach you. 

I just don't get this feeling when I paint landscapes as hard as I try. Trees, ocean mist and misty horizons don't move me at all but people and their life stories surely do in a way that is profound.

Shhhh...don't tell anyone I said that about landscapes...

Walking in Molasses.

As long as I paint, I still can't quite work out why sometimes I can paint REALLY fast, and sometimes I paint really slow. Like walking in molasses.

This was my class demo this week. I was pretty happy with it. Even the model said that I was an incredibly fast painter. And she should know. She has worked for everyone. I was able to keep this demo loose, keep the darks transparent, always a good sign, leave my cool ground showing in places, and basically not screw it up by over noodling. I knew I had put something down that was good and was able to leave it alone. 

In my studio I am currently working on a commission, 30 x 40, for an out of state client which is coming along very well but is taking me forever and a day.  The light is complicated and I chose the harder portrait to do, to challenge myself,  and hopefully deliver a great painting.

One of the other artists in the my in-residence program asked me yesterday:"Are you having trouble with that portrait?". I didn't quite know what to say except "No, I am just taking my time getting it right!" A strangely  insensitive question to ask another artist if you ask me.

I think sometimes people just assume us portrait artists whip these things out. Easy, peasy, lemon, squeezy. One, two, three, collect the check.  Onto the next. NOT.

I think sometimes people look down their noses at portrait artists. An art friend told me in her Santa Monica adult art school course, she was told portrait artists were craftsmen, rather than real artists. A bit like  a washing machine repairman.  But hey, there is art going on here...and one just can't rush the process. Vermeer was slow too, not that I am comparing myself to him but I think of this fact often. It takes the time it takes.

This study is 18 x 24. Available for purchase.

Geisha Kiss?

A nice two week break from teaching gives me an extra day to play, paint for myself,  away from the portrait commission stuff and doing preparation for others.

I do so enjoy still life and usually have one 'set up' in a tiny room off my studio that I can make really dark. This is a still life I finished today, about two days work. It is the second bunch of flowers as the first died after I had to leave them weeks ago to get on with my work. It can be frustrating some times. There just aren't enough hours in the week.

 But I do like to leave that still life set up and ready to go even if it is for a few weeks with the pot that once held the flowers looking sad waiting for his turn to be painted. Fresh flowers have to be done fast. They change by the end of the day.

I think I had a good day today. The painting, 16 x 20,  on linen panel.

Overall, I was pleased with all those shades of pink, mauves and purples.  Quiet a challenge. And it makes me realize that I know a lot more about color than I used thanks to playing around with the color wheel for quite some time. There was a LOT of color in this still life which I think is interesting from previous posts. How much do you grey color down, how much do you keep it raw?  Personal taste seems to come into it. But sometimes it is fun just to not worry about any of it and see what you get!

By the way, this is a series of paintings I am doing with geishas. Geisha kiss?

Image copyrighted.

Marla the Magnificent Muse...

It has been a while since I have had the absolute privilege to paint Marla. We worked together a few years back on a series of paintings, and were featured together in ART TALK magazine with both the model and the artist being asked  "what makes an art muse?" 

It is an elusive thing and I was reminded of this once again when Marla sat for my teaching class at LAAFA  this week. I was excited to see her and paint her again. She always comes prepared looking amazing. Really makes the effort. And one just can't wait to get going. We had decided ahead to do a 50's movie start set-up. She couldn't be more perfect for that old Hollywood glamor look. Think retro Jayne Mansfield but with fiery red aubergine/eggplant hair.

However, I never know what I am going to get when I paint Marla.  I also never quite paint her the way I see it in my head.  I wanted to do a great piece but it missed the mark I fear. My husband said my head sketch looked like I had thrown myself at the canvas. Hmm.. A student said it was very bold and daring. What does that mean translated?  I know the sketch had energy to say the least. And I know I enjoyed painting Marla despite around the teaching situation which presents certain challenges.

And then I think of my favorite master artists who repainted the same face time and time again, J.W. Waterhouse for instance had a "look" that he preferred in his paintings and often used the same model again and again, they didn't always have a consistency. Although Waterhouse came pretty close! Harrison Fisher is another artist I really admire whose women had a certain look and was know to rely on some model favorites. He drew like a dream and did most of his work in watercolor. 

The thing is in my head I see Marla, who by the way is a very intelligent and talented jewelry design artist of quite some renown, as a delicate thing. But her exterior is super sexy (think Vargas pinup girl) and colorful, almost larger than life but in a GREAT way with terrific style, a beautiful blue tattoo over most of her back, and tons of VA-VOOM in the best possible way. That undeniable intelligence underneath it  and a slight vulnerability perhaps too. It is a powerful mix.

I have decided I may do another painting using my head study for reference to see if I can quiet it down. Maybe Marla should not be quietened down at all. Maybe one should just keep on painting her.  Ponder, ponder...

Hmmm...the artist's muse returns.

SARA STREETER - A DECADE SWEETER!

There isn't an artist around the L.A. scene over the last 10 years who hasn't painted the enigmatic art model Sara Streeter.   People drool for her. The TV show "Nip and Tuck" used her for a huge billboard on Sunset Blvd. for goodness sakes. 

It is hard to put your finger on her really. For one thing she is as thin as a pin. Transparent skin. Balletic body and a mysterious face that is beautiful in a not obvious way, more European than cookie cutter L.A. She is reserved, clearly intelligent and super professional arriving with the most amazing outfits usually.

I hate models that have been doing the art circuit for a while and they get that haughty BORED look. That look that says "I rather be at Taco Bell eating a bean burrito right now than modeling for you."

Sara is interested in what she does still.

 She also hasn't aged a day in the years I have been painting her which annoys me because I certainly have - just by the sheer volumes of squinty frowns it has taken over a decade trying to capture her magic on canvas. NOT.

So, there she was modeling for my teaching class at LAAFA last week and again this Sunday at the school's open  house, doing what she does best in her most muse-ful way. The demo I did in my class I really rather liked. I never like my paintings of Sara. I just never quite 'capture' her it seems. Looking around, a lot of people seem to have this problem. Her likeness isn't easy to come by, her elusiveness perhaps her endless appeal like the art muses that went before.

It got me thinking. I went back into my studio cupboard and pulled out a few STUDIES I have done of her, all painted from life, over the last decade. The good, the bad and the ugly. My fault, not hers. What makes something work for an artist, and what doesn't? Why do I like some studies and not others? Why do I paint really well sometimes, and then like a Dunkin' Donut others? No offense to them.

I place these studies  in the order I think I did them, the top one being the most recent. A few are really heinous but they do provide a little retrospective of my artist view of her as I tried on new techniques and kept on trying. That is why I tell everyone, KEEP your early sketches from life. I have kept all of mine. They are a hilarious hoot, the early ones,  and a sight for sore eyes. I had no idea I was that bad at the time.

Funny thing is, the very first one I did of Sara I REALLY like (last one in row). I don't paint like that anymore but it is a strong head and most certainly HER.  Almost jarring in its 'in your face-ness". 

Then you take all these lessons, read all these books and too much "thinking" takes over. Paralysis by Analysis.  I think I am finally getting back to painting without thinking so much. I am also painting in a less literal way. I don't want to paint exactly what I see anymore. 

Now if I could just stop the ageing process I would really be onto something.

(All images - single sitting)

Don't Count Your Chickens...

I know this is a portrait blog, and that is what I spend most of my time thinking about, portraiture - not this blog, but I was a little taken aback yesterday when I heard a still life of mine has been juried into The California Art Club Gold Medal Show for May 2009. The portrait I had entered which I thought the BEST piece I had done all year did not. And I just put it in a really expensive custom frame. Never count your chickens before they are hatched.

I should add that in reality I have long given up 'expecting' to get into any show. That way it is a bonus when it happens.

I enjoy painting still life. I am not saying they are easy but I find them a really nice break from the rigors of portrait commissions. And I look on them as a little treat to myself between said work. Sometimes a still life set up will stare at me for weeks waiting for me to get to it. And I will kind of talk to it, telling it to be patient. I will get there. Yes, I am certifiable it seems.

I also admire artists who paint still life so well. David Leffel comes to mind. About as good as still life gets in terms of a high level of Rembrandt understanding. Sad that so many Leffel wannabes are out there though.  I get annoyed when I see that. That applies to Richard Schmid wannbes too. I like all sorts of still life painting styles to from Wayne Thiebaud  and Duane Keiser (EBAY Painting a Day Maestro) to Laura Robb, magical soft, soft edges (www.laurarobb.com). One focal point.

In my teaching class at LAAFA, I suggest that an artist must paint it all. There is so much to learn from painting a still life. And if you can paint an apple really well around value, color, and drawing, you can start to approach the head with some understanding of the task ahead. My teacher, the marvelous Everett Raymond Kinstler, N.A., (www.everettraymondkinstler.com) always says a portrait painter should paint landscapes and vice versa to really learn.

I don't feel I am very good at landscapes at all. I just don't really have a desire to paint them. But I make myself do it especially on trips. Easy then to squeeze something in. Especially when you have carried that darn heavy painting box (Guerilla Pochade)  through airport security and customs. You might as well get something out of it. I also paint them really small. Get in and out as fast as I can.

I post here the CAC Gold entry, Pansies and Pear, 16 x 20, and also a still life I just finished this week, Geisha and Mumms, 16x20.