Breath is life

Today's inspiration was a photograph of a masked and gowned medical worker—maybe a doctor, maybe a nurse, maybe an aide—from the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic. She was featured in an advertisement on how to avoid catching the flu (yes, stay home was one of the bullet points), and I was arrested by the first line in the ad: "Do not take any person's breath."

It was such a weird phraseology—I'm sure they meant you should stand far enough away that you weren't breathing in what someone else was breathing out—but it sounds more like an admonition to be careful about being too desirable, which ties in to the masked-and-gowned look here. It gives the 1986 Berlin song, "Take My Breath Away," a whole new meaning, since Covid-19 almost literally takes the breath as its most serious symptom.

I painted her without any skin tones because I wanted the emphasis on the eyes and how tired and wise they look above the anonymity of her mask. So I used my favorite Daniel Smith color, Shadow Violet, to capture any nuance in the painting.

This was done with a Uniball black pen, Jackson watercolors (except for the Shadow Violet), in my Bee sketchbook.

But, let us turn to more pleasant things, such as how hot Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer were in 1986 in Top Gun, for which this song was written!

The Kiss

My Facebook friend Quinn posted a picture a couple of days ago, saying "I was trying to take a selfie of the crankiest bookseller on the block, but my tiny dog ruined it by being so friendly and adorable."

Quinn had never had a dog before Cha Cha (I don't think), and she agonized over whether or not to adopt her. She asked people all kinds of questions about human/dog interactions, she had a few play dates to be sure, and then took her little lady home, albeit with a fair amount of trepidation. The pairing has worked out beyond her expectations: Cha Cha has become perhaps one of the most pampered (and best dressed) dogs on the planet.

Quinn, as previously mentioned, is a bookseller, and during quarantine has established a nightly online story hour in which she reads aloud to Cha Cha. Cha Cha also deigns to deliver an occasional book review, her latest discussing The 101 Dalmations, by Dodie Smith. Quite a perspicacious review for such a tiny dog.

Here is the review.

"More bitches in charge," is Cha Cha's primary conclusion. Who wouldn't agree?

I found the selfie similarly irresistible, and spent my afternoon turning it into a portrait. Here are Cha Cha and her person Quinn, sharing a kiss.

Uniball pen, Jackson watercolors, in Bee Sketchbook.

Low-hanging fruit

The term "negative painting" just sounds so, well, negative, doesn't it? But what else to call it? The basic idea is, you paint the lightest colors first, in kind of a wash, and then you paint in the medium tones, and then you paint in the darker elements around the lighter items, and then your background becomes the darkest element, to make everything else pop out.

I decided to try my hand today on a painting of the lemons still hanging from the lowest branches of my tree. I worked from a photo, which is fine; I did a pretty good drawing, and washed in the palest green and some tan for the background first, then came in with the yellow and darker greens, and finally mixed a dark brown from Sienna and Ultramarine for the background.

I think the problem with this painting is, I didn't realize (until I was done) the principle that makes negative paintings so beautiful: They are not realistic. In my photograph, the "mast" on the ground that served as the background was a combination of three or four browns because it was sun-dappled by the light falling through the tree. That's fine if you are going for realism, but in a negative painting it takes away from the effect.

To show what I mean, I'm going to refer you to the website of the master of negative painting, Brenda Swenson. Although her paintings are also vastly more skilled and nuanced than mine, what you're looking at is the backgrounds, which are all smooth to the point of looking air-brushed. The subjects have a hyper-realistic look while definitely being painterly as well, and that's where I missed the boat. I will have to try this again sometime with more regard for effect and less for "how it looks."

Also, I didn't mix the greens I used very well, with the result that there wasn't enough contrast with the background on the stems. And finally, I do NOT know how to get that effect of graduated wash that Brenda makes look so effortless in her backgrounds. (I need to take her negative painting workshop!) I called this painting "Low-hanging fruit" for two reasons, one literal and one not. More effort was definitely needed.

Here is my first/second stage:

And here is the completed painting:

#H pencil and Paul Jackson watercolor on Fluid 140-lb. paper.

Selfie in technicolor

I seem to be alternating between all-art and all-reading, so that for the past week I have been reading and blogging and now I'm pivoting back to art and blogging.

I decided to try yet another selfie, only this time using some nontraditional colors. I so admire people who make portraits into which they slap every color in the rainbow. I haven't quite achieved that yet, mostly because I have this compulsive need to blend that gets away with me and doesn't leave the nicely weird shapes and planes of colors that some of the artists I admire produce in their portraits. But...one step at a time.

Here is colorful selfie me, in light and shadow, with a bun on the back of my head and a slight attitude. I don't seem to know how to take a photo without attitude. It's either smile and look dim-witted, or look serious and come across as mean. I blame Dad, whose squinty close-together eyes I inherited, along with Mom's tiny down-turned mouth. So here I am, the product of heredity.

The angles are all just a little distorted because I worked flat on my table in front of the photo on my computer screen. I have to try to remember to elevate my sketchbook a bit at the back in future to make sure that doesn't happen.

Uniball pen and watercolor in Bee sketchbook

SBS Draw Party

When I checked my email this morning, I was, for once, early enough to catch the notification about a drawing party over at Sketchbook Skool, so I jumped onsite with seconds to spare and did some quick sketching along with Danny and Koosje. (They schedule it for noon New York time, and at 9 a.m. here I am usually distracted by something else, like sleep, or coffee.)

Danny had chosen three mug shots from Australia from the early part of the 20th century, and we had 30 minutes to draw one. He did his digitally, so it was all about color and shape, but I did mine my usual way, which was with a Uniball fine black pen in my Bee Sketchbook. I loved this photo, because of the intense expression in the eyes and because of the guy's hairline—and those ears! I wanted to keep the focus on the face, so when I went to watercolor it after the sketch party was over, I chose to simply put in shadows for his clothing, except for the tie, which I felt made a statement to go with his personality.

After Danny was done, Koosje jumped on. Today was all about random sketching in a hurry—we picked three objects within eyesight and drew them all within 15 minutes, and then added just a little color. That was fun too, but I enjoyed the portrait a lot more.

It's nice to draw and paint in the morning, a good start to the day. I'm off to breakfast!

Me for real

My ego couldn't take it, so I did one that looks more normal, while still trying to be realistic and capture all of my features as they appear. This was right after a hair-washing, and in artificial light, so one side really showed up blonde-gold.

The mouth came out a lot more pursey than it actually was in the photo—instead of a wry smile it looks like I am smelling something bad—but I'm sure that this, too, is an expression familiar to my face, so I'll keep it!

ME4real
Uniball, watercolor, Bee sketchbook

Unflattering selfie day

Today, for some reason, I decided to paint a painfully accurate and therefore not so flattering portrait of myself. In looking back at some of the pictures I have painted of my friends, I realized that the thing most fun about painting them was to include every detail, warts and all, but that I have refrained from doing that when it comes to myself. So, friends, here is your revenge for my career of brutal portrait honesty.

I couldn't quite bring myself to paint a "straight" portrait, that is, with a normal expression, so I shot a few reactionary selfies. This is "dismay," which I registered after reading an article this morning revealing that Covid 19 triggers the body to make blood clots. My dismay is extreme, because I already have a tendency to create clots, and have been taking a blood thinner for some time now to guard against that! What else will come from this horrid virus?!

Sorry to be Debbie Downer. All the more reason to stay home (forever?). Anyway, here I am, warts and all. Tomorrow (or maybe later today), I'll go back to more upbeat topics. (No, I didn't cut my hair, it's back in a messy braid.)

"Me, dismayed"

Uniball pen, watercolor, in Bee sketchbook