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Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Glass to Finish your Paintings

Finished piece
"Fall at the Lagoon" - 10x10 - Acrylic on Canvas
"Otoño en la Laguna" - 25x25cm - Acrílico
SOLD

Today I wanted to share with you a trick I used when painting "Fall at the Lagoon", I realize now over a year ago!! I had prepared this post and was waiting for the artist I learnt this from, Julie Ford Oliver, to respond to my request to use her name and info when all hell broke loose in my life. I just saw that she actually responded to me the same day my son went in the hospital back in Nov 2014 so I never got to finish or publish it. (See here the post about it all) Today I was looking in my drafts and decided to finish it. Sidenote: My son's healing and recovery has been a miracle, he is leading the typical life of a 16 year old, with As and Bs in his report card....  other moms assure me the piles of clothes in his bedroom are NOT a sign of any kind of brain injury!..... Hard to remember everything we went through.... I am very thankful on a daily basis for the way things turned out. 

Anyway, Julie Ford Oliver is a wonderful artist from New Mexico whose work I follow on Facebook and through her blog. She is very generous with her teachings  and was very gracious to allow me to quote her. Take a look at her original blog post here where she uses a piece of glass to decide whether some  photo references would work as a painting. Thank you Julie, you are always an inspiration! My apologies for taking so long to publish this!

Today, the English and Spanish is mixed into the post so everyone can follow better. There are photos below with my process for this painting.  Please do let me know if you have any questions or comments regarding this technique. Have a great day!

*****

Hoy quiero mostrarles un truco que usé cuando pinté "Otoño en la Laguna" hace mas de un año!! Había preparado este post y estaba esperando permiso de la artista de la que lo aprendí, Julie Ford Oliver, cuando todo se puso patas para arriba en mi vida. Acabo de darme cuenta que ella me respondió el mismo día que mi hijo entró al hospital en Nov. 2014 por que nunca  terminé ni publiqué su post. Pueden ver acá todo lo que pasó. Hoy estaba viendo en mi carpeta de borradores y decidí terminarlo. Nota: La recuperación de mi hijo ha sido milagrosa, él por suerte lleva la vida de cualquier chico de 16 años con As y Bs en su libreta en la escuela.... otras mamás me aseguran que las pilas de ropa en su pieza  no tienen nada que ver con ningún tipo de daño cerebral!.... Es difícil recordar todo lo que pasamos.... Siento tanto agradecimiento a diario por como salió todo!

Julie Ford Oliver es una artista maravillosa de Nuevo Mexico. Yo sigo su trabajo por Facebook y por su blog. Ella es muy generosa con su talento y conocimiento y fue muy amable al permitirme que compatiera su técnica y nombre. Pueden ver acá su post original en el que ella explica como usa un pedazo de vidrio para decidir si ciertas fotos pueden ser buenos cuadros o no.  Gracias Julie, vos sos siempre una inspiración. Mis disculpas por tardar tanto en publicar esto!

Hoy, el inglés y español están mezclados para que todos puedan seguir todo mas fácilmente. Hay fotos abajo con mi proceso para este cuadro.  Por favor, pregunten lo que quieran si hay algo que no está claro. Que tengan un buen día!



Initial Block-in
Bloqueo Inicial
Adding colour and refining shapes
Agregando colores y refinando formas

Adding darks to the foreground
Mas sombras en el primer plano
Adding lights to the front grasses but I am unsure at this point
if  I want to keep the grasses part as big as they are.
Agregando luces en el primer plano pero no estoy segura a
este punto si quiero que los pastos sean tan grandes.


Here is where I wanted to see what it would look like with a bigger water mass so I painted on a piece of glass on top of the painting. I should have added masking tape to the glass for safety... I hope you can see the glass.
Acá es donde quería ver cómo quedaría el cuadro si la masa de agua era mas grande. Pinté sobre el vidrio que estaba apoyado sobre el cuadro. De esa manera puedo ver si quiero hacer el cambio sin necesidad de cambiar el cuadro. Debería haber cubierto el borde con cinta de enmascarar por seguridad...  Espero que puedan ver el vidrio.


Here you can see the glass and by moving it on and off the painting I can decide if I want to commit to the change.
Acá pueden ver el vidrio.... poniendo y sacándolo yo puedo decidir si  quiero hacer el cambio o no. 



Finished piece. I decided I wanted the larger piece of water.
Cuadro Terminado. Decidí qe quería agrandar el pedazo de agua.

Hope it helps you!
Espero que les sirva!

Marcela



6 comments:

  1. What a wonderful post. Your explanations are so clear.
    I agree with showing more water,but admit to also liking the earlier version. I think your colors are wonderful and the active brush marks add so much power and looseness to the painting,
    Pleased to hear your son has recovered. Life does get in the way of our art doesn't it?
    I appreciate your generous inclusion of my post.

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    Replies
    1. Thank YOU Julie! :) The funny thing is today when I was writing the post I saw the earlier version with the higher grasses and I liked it too! Maybe I have to paint it again, this time I would try it in oils and bigger!
      Thank you so much, hope you keep well,
      Marcela

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  2. That was very informative Marcela!
    I had never heard of such a clever tool when considering changing a painting.
    I do like it better with more water!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Alice! It's such a simple way of seeing of things will work or not. If you haven't read Julie's original post, make sure you do, as she explains how she uses the glass for composing on the photo. What a great world we live in when we can share all his information like this!

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  3. I've used Julie's tip several times. She's super with painting techniques! Love your painting. Colors sing!

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    Replies
    1. Julie is so generous with her knowledge.... that is the magic of this day and age we live in, we can share, encourage and inspire each other from anywhere we are! Thank you Sharon for stopping by and leaving a comment!

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