Tag Archives: head study

Back to the Lesson Paintings

July 11th, 2009 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

Now that the portrait of Guienne Hanover is completed and drying, it’s time to turn back to the lesson paintings.

I got back into that mode of painting by starting the color work on two more paintings. Blue Cooler (shown below) and Impulsion. That brings to five the number of paintings that have entered the final phase of the Flemish technique.

I also brought the portrait of the Little Dog down from the drying room. No painting has been done on that as yet but it is back in the pipeline.

So far, I’ve found this phase to be both the most interesting and the most frustrating.

It’s the most interesting because I can wash on a layer of color and see what happens. It’s almost like opening gifts on Christmas morning. If I don’t like the look, I just wipe off that color and try another. What a delight!

It is frustrating because on some paintings, all I can do is put on color, then wait for the paint to dry. In some cases, color is applied only to very small areas.

But the value of all the work that went into the Umber Layer and Dead Layer becomes increasingly more clear with every painting. Most of the work is done in those two phases, leaving the fun stuff for the end.

One thing I’m looking forward to is doing a landscape or two in this method.

©Copyright 2009 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Finally…Color!

June 13th, 2009 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

Studies in the Flemish painting technique entered a new phase today: color.

Three paintings were ready to being color work and I worked on all three of them.

Two of them, Contemplation and Joker involved nothing more complicated than rubbing the first color into the backgrounds and the horses themselves. Just a few minutes for each one and they were done for the time being.

I used Magnesium Blue throughout the entire painting (except the white blaze) and Prussian Blue in the dark areas on Joker (shown below).

Contemplation (shown above) was started with Yellow Ochre in the lighter areas and Raw Sienna in the darker ones.

For both paintings, I used a rag to apply the paint and smooth out the paint layer and used no solvents, mediums or oils on either the panels or mixed in with the paints.

Afternoon Graze, which was actually the first one I worked on, had more involved work done on it.

I began with the sky and painted forward and downward from there, painting color over each of the hills in the painting. By the time I finished, only the horse was still in the dead layer stage.

More detailed information on the work done is available on the page for each painting,

©Copyright 2009 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Blue Cooler, Dead Layer Finished!

May 31st, 2009 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

May 18, 2009
I’m not particularly thrilled with this one, but I think the dead layer is finally done. I know one thing; from now on every painting that features fabric of any kind is going to have the best references I can come up with!

I worked over the blanket for some time today before finally deciding I was getting nowhere. At that point, I could think of only one more thing to try and that was blend the cooler into the background so that it didn’t go all the way to the edge of the painting. There was just too large an area of high-key values on that side of the painting. It needed to be toned down but attempting to do that with the area as the cooler was self-defeating.

So I added background color around the edges, blended it all together, then blended it into the lighter areas of the cooler and worked on the folds of cloth around the horse’s head and neck. The end result was still not what I was hoping for, but was much better.

I also tweaked the highlights on the horse, adding direct highlights and reflected highlights, reshaped the blaze and finished the braided forelock.

At that point, I decided I was finished for the day and that the painting was finished at the dead layer stage. That’s not official, yet. I want to look at it again tomorrow before making a decision, but I really don’t see much else to do that doesn’t run the risk of getting bogged down or, worse yet, trashing the painting.

May 19, 2009
Today is my birthday. What did I give myself? Blue Cooler, with the dead layer finished. Off to the drying room it goes, out of sight and out of mind for at least three weeks! Woo-hoo!

Four weeks of drying is more likely, since most of my paintings have been taking four weeks to dry thoroughly at the dead layer stage.

One note: When I began learning this technique, I thought it would be next to impossible to leave a painting to dry for seven weeks, as is recommended. But having worked through four paintings through the dead layer stage and another three into the dead layer stage, I can see how it would be very easy to have enough paintings going that letting each painting dry for seven weeks at the end of each stage would not be a hardship. Live and learn!

The other thing I’m surprised at is that the range of subjects I’m thinking about trying is expanding. As noted in the last previous post, flowers are really catching my attention these days. Believe it or not, some of the ceramics in the current exhibit at the Carriage Factory Art Gallery are also calling to me as potential painting subjects. I’m not sure what to make of that, either, beyond finding it interesting to consider.

©Copyright 2009 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Blue Cooler, Still on the Dead Layer

May 16th, 2009 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

Blue Cooler
8″ x 10″ on Prepped Panel

I had hoped to finish the dead layer this week. The painting is small, only 8×10, and I had already established the values in the previous working session.

But the cooler part of the painting is proving more of a challenge than expected. I think the horse is done, but the cooler is still not quite where I want it. The folds need to be developed further and the value range is also still not correct.

So I’m going to let it dry again, then focus on the cooler for at least one more painting session. After that, we’ll see what it looks like.

©Copyright 2009 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Blue Cooler, Dead Layer

May 9th, 2009 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

Blue Cooler
8″ x 10″ on Prepped Panel

The only painting I worked on this Monday (May 4) was Blue Cooler, but I made very good progress on it and blocked in the entire dead layer during the afternoon.

I confess that it was nowhere near a finished dead layer because I hurried through the last part of it in order to get it done before taking a break. But there was a very good foundation at the end of the working day and, considering the day as a whole, I was pleased with the work.

I had hoped to finish it on Tuesday, but it has turned wet and humid here in Kansas and that stretches out the drying process quite a bit. When I took this photograph on Wednesday, the blanket was still too wet to work with, so this painting will probably not see further work until next week.

That’s all right, though, because then I’ll be able to work on it with a fresh eye.

You’ll notice I added a blaze to the horse. I wanted to repeat the lighter values elsewhere in the painting and also wanted something to balance the blanket a little bit better. I may still widen the blaze to improve the balance and further define the horse’s head, which is quite dark.

But since the focus of this composition is the drapery and specifically that area where the folds come together, that’s where I’ll be putting most of my attention in the next painting session.

Next: Next week, finish the dead layer

©Copyright 2009 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Contemplation, Dead Layer Complete

April 24th, 2009 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

Contemplation
9�12 on Prepped Masonite

The dead layer is now complete.

Most of the tidying up work that needed to be done involved the mane and forelock, but I also punched up the highlights on the face and reshaped the eye and the ear that is turned forward.

A few other areas were smoothed out or touched up, but there was only about 20 minutes worth of work to be done on the painting in this session.

The painting will now dry until May 11 (three weeks). If it is completely dry at that time, it will move into the next phase, which will be the introduction of color.

Next: First Color Layer

©Copyright 2009 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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A Couple of Oaks Winners

December 3rd, 2008 | Posted in Linda Shantz

I’ve been AWOL from this blog for a while.  Last month I decided to challenge myself to paint a horse a day for thirty days, and I completed my task on Sunday – the 30th!  It was a great adventure, and though hard some days, I had a lot of fun.  I’m planning to sell a number of the paintings and I will be donating part of each sale to LongRun.

Most of my subjects for the month were Thoroughbreds – many of them horses on the farm here.  I did, however, do a few horses I’d photographed at Woodbine.  Among them were 2006 Oaks winner Kimchi, and 2008 Oaks winner Ginger Brew.  Ginger Brew

Ginger Brew is a 6 x 8 oil on Raymar canvas panel head study of the likely Sovereign Award winning 3yo distaff this year.  This painting is available for $150.00 unframed.  If you’re interested, please email me!

Kimchi

Kimchi is a 5 x 7 oil on Raymar canvas panel head study of the ‘06 Sovereign Award winning 3yo filly.  This painting is available for $125.00 unframed.  Again, please email me if interested.

Remember a portion of sales will go to LongRun.  These small paintings are a great way to start investing in original art. while helping out our retired racehorses.

©Copyright 2008 by Linda Shantz. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Linda Shantz’s website.

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Mini Painting of Thoroughbred, Part 1

August 25th, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

WIP (work in progress) of a Thoroughbred horse head in oils. Copyright Carrie Lewis, all rights reserved.Sometimes, the only way to work out problem areas in a painting is to just slog through the painting. Sheer, brute force and grim determination.

Sometimes, the best way is to set the painting aside and paint a separate picture of the problem area.

Sometimes, the only solution is to simply let it rest and work on something entirely different for a while.

The second option is the reasoning behind this head study.

This is Buddy, also known as October Skies. You may be familiar with the large landscaped portrait I have been working on and which has been featured in a series of posts titled October Skies.

Work on that painting is temporarily on hold pending a number of factors, including difficulties getting a good likeness of the horse in the larger painting. There are other factors holding up progress on the larger piece, so I have decided that while I’m waiting for those other things to be worked out, I would also attempt to work out this problem by doing a small study of Buddy’s head only.

And I do mean small. The piece of Artfix Belgian Linen I’m painting on is about 2-1/4 inches by 3-1/4 inches. Miniature! The painting itself will be 2 inches by 3 inches. Even more miniature! On the one twelfth scale that is standard for miniature paintings and doll house paintings, this painting is the equivalent of a 24×36 painting.

I am hoping to accomplish a couple of things with this painting.

The primary goal is to familiarize myself enough with the shapes of Buddy’s face that I can get a better likeness on the actual portrait. Sometimes, working without the distraction of a background allows the eye to see the shapes of the subject. It’s like training a muscle. If you train a muscle to perform a certain task repeatedly, that task becomes almost second nature.

The secondary goal is strictly enjoyment. It’s been a few months since I painted a straight-forward horse portrait with a simple background for the sake of painting a head study portrait. It’s about time for the next one!

The small size should also allow me to make good progress in a short amount of time, which will also improve motivation and enthusiasm for the larger portrait.

This painting will also provide a break from the landscape paintings I have been doing over the last two or three weeks and the more complicated landscaped portraits awaiting my attention.

If you look at it that way, it could almost be considered a ‘vacation’. I like the sound of that!

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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