Using a straightedge to guide eye and pupil placement, which is crucial in a rather amorphous area. It’s difficult to anchor when there isn’t much to hold on to. Blocking in isn’t an exact science, because color and form affect their surrounding colors and shapes when they lay next to each other. It’s not until you cover enough that you can see what changes need to be made.
Already, I see that I’ve subconsciously flipped the curve of the lip, and had to remedy that.
He’s also obviously not purple, but the black is so dense, I need to work into that. I really prefer working with panels, but in the first stages, the gesso sucks up a lot of moisture.
One needs to anticipate what is to come, like a puzzle. Therefore, highlights will be dead last (edges of fur, reflections in the eyes).
In the meantime, would anyone (out of the goodness of their heart) float me $5 so’s I can grab a Coke, some corn chips, and a chocolate bar to carry me through the night while I work?
I have staple food for a day or two (rice, beans), but I’ll worry about that after I get these paintings in front of me finished.
And done.
These panels are so thirsty. This is the first time I’ve actually had to add oil to the paint. In the future, I think I’ll stick to gesso-ing my own panels.
This is probably the most subtle I’ve worked before. The fur just sucks in the light, and you can imagine how well she(?) melds into the darkness.
Anyway, she’s available, as is the dog, Palomo.
So, moving back to some paintings in a higher key. A couple of views of the La Jolla coast, and those clouds. I do this to keep from wasting paint piles that are already mixed before they dry out.
Rent is due tomorrow.
I’m down to my last bowl of rice, and a few eggs.
I’m about to use up the last of my Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna, which are inexpensive, but necessary.
There are also paintings I need to mail out.
This first week of October is crucial to get out of “survival mode” and into finally thriving. My goal is a minimum of $500 to take care of all issues. To break it down:
$125 pays rent, and buys some groceries for the week.
$125 additional buys paint and lets me mail out some work.
$125 on top of that moves additional paintings and I can buy another jacket (my zipper broke), plus groceries.
$125 after that finally sets everything straight, allowing me more freedom and mobility. I haven’t had a restaurant meal in months, and I would like to see if I could be in a better position by November to buy a ticket this winter, to go see my dad in Chicago whom I haven’t seen in person since 2009.
At the rate things are progressing, I can still promise $500 of varnished work by Christmas, as long as Trump hasn’t dismantled the USPS by then.
Just to emphasize, time is the factor. If I can’t make this amount quickly enough, I’m just prolonging the misery.
Getting a start on blocking in two views of La Jolla Cove — a couple of big paintings.
This one is of one of the caves at the beach, for commissioned piece. The huge white area is a mix of water and sea foam, so it’s not needing so much blocking in. It will just naturally develop as I paint. Two steps combined.
This one is of Seal Point (I think that’s what they call this rock) a favorite place for the seals and sea lions to sun themselves away from tourists’ reach, and a stone’s throw from the cave pictured above. This one will be available for purchase.
I used a bit of turquoise paint already out of the tube to mark some edges. It’s really not such a turquoise blue like swimming pool water.
Either way, whichever way suits your work on each project works. I think it’s nice to see the detailed steps, but imagine that sometimes it’s hard to remember to stop and take photos of each stage. It’s fun seeing the images take shape whichever way you go.
I’ve been practicing watercolors for a while now, and don’t have experience with oils, but I still learn by seeing the process.
Thank you for sharing your work! I hope you got some food and paint! I’m sincerely hoping you can make this work. I know thoughts and prayers won’t fill your belly, but I hope you feel some good vibes coming your way.
I had mentioned a handful of paintings that needed revision or refinement a little while back, that felt okay while I was off the Prednisone, but now I think need a bit more work before they go out. This is the first of them. Anyone who’s done some sightseeing in Puerto Rico may recognize what I think is called Cuerva Ventana, or Window Cave.
This is also one that I was reluctant to do. It should have been larger…at least 4 times larger, but the client was firm on the price, and firm on the subject matter. I just needed the money.
If I could have done the bigger painting, I could have fit the entire “keyhole” into the painting, and been able to depict the trees as they appear, like broccoli florets with little tiny nodes, instead of blobs of mashed peas.
I liked the idea of this when I started, but have just grown resentful of it now (not the client). Maybe I’ll come back and make a large one someday.
I ran into a homeless friend here in TJ yesterday while on my way to the grocery store.
I have no idea why, but he had some old frames to give me that he’d picked up, I guess he knew I was a painter. Maybe I’d mentioned it at some point.
Anyway, they’re old and probably a little cheap, but they do have a certain elegance to them. I’m gonna take a clothes brush to the velvet, and see if I can get the dust out of the crevices of the wood. They might be good for some one-off paintings if I can find or cut some wood panels to fit them.
I got a small payment to get food for the week, and a couple of notices of intention for two smaller pieces, but I’m still in the same position as I was.
I got a loan to pay the rent, but basically all that does is shift the debt to another person, whom I need to pay soon.
Getting back to painting.
Revisions of an image of a hospital bed, a family grouping, and also finish up those sunrise clouds. They all have a significant amount of white, and I need to conserve the traces of Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna that I have left until some money comes in to order more.
Someone put a small deposit down yesterday, and I almost thought I was good to go on ordering more tubes of paint, but GooglePay put a delay of a few days on the transaction. SSDD.
This has been a difficult time since my last post. If anyone’s been following the “debit card saga”, my credit union’s card supplier has been having difficulty with the simple task of mailing me my replacement debit card, which expired in October.
Because of this, I’ve spent at least an equivalent of a month’s rent in several trips just traveling to San Diego to make withdraws from a sister credit union and check the mail for a card the credit union kept insisting should have been mailed.
Yesterday, I got an alert from my postal annex that a package arrived, so I’m quite sure I have my card now. One more trip to San Diego.
ART UPDATE
I’ve finished more work, but of course, difficulty accessing my money has made life depressing. I still need a bit more work to make up for lost income.
I have one more 8"X8" panel left, and I’m offering a last-minute holiday deal to someone who wants to take it. I can knock off $25 (down to $100) for anyone who wants to claim my last 8"X8" painting within the next day or so.
I need food. My cats need food and kitty litter. I have a payment coming, but that goes to rent and internet already.
Note: Don’t send payment immediately, I need to activate my new debit card and attach it to my payment platforms first.
Image posts to come later tonight once I can get Discourse to quit crashing my tablet.
I recently updated my Intel HD display driver directly from their support page. But images I post crash my tablet (Windows 10 home). Memes and gifs only sometimes. Streaming video not at all. Discourse is a holy mess.
I suggest on your next visit to the credit union, withdraw a significant sum and use it to load up a prepaid credit card. That way, you are never without means back in Mexico, or hostage to some other card company.
That’s a good idea. I was also thinking of keeping an amount with my friend who runs a local aesthetic & hair salon. With the utilities issues that are ubiquitous to TJ, I also run the risk of being locked out of the ATM if the power goes out or internet goes down.
