Tag: Fun with art

Is art fun for you?

Why do you work in the medium you do?

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My medium is Oil Paint

Why do you work in the medium you do? I was originally taught how to do oil paintings when I was young and I continue to learn. I found oils great for my lifestyle, I can come back to them after a day or more and they will be still workable. Studying a piece over days helps me to form an idea of what I want to do next changing the colors, lines and composition. Change is more easily accomplished. The medium allows for slower or faster drying times depending on the mix or additives put into it. Oils generally have deep rich colors and you can usually tell an oil from an acrylic. I really enjoy the creamy consistency and they way I can blend colors either on the palette or the canvas. Layering colors after they dry has a wonderful effect.

Painting Techniques and Styles

There are almost as many techniques as there are styles. Wet on wet or alla prima, palette knife, imprimatura, plein air, sfregazzi, sfumato, impasto or scumbling. Alla prima is a lot of fun and lends itself to plein air painting because it is usually completed in one session. Sgraffito is a technique where you can scratch through layers of paint exposing different colors underneath and adding texture at the same time. Sfumato is a technique of using very soft gradual transitions from light to dark. Leonardo Da Vinci has good examples of this. Impasto is thick paint applied that helps to catch light and shadows, sometimes built up for effect and usually done on stronger supports. Scumbling is speckled, broken color applied so color underneath shows through. This gives a painting a sense of depth and color variation.

This is an example of impasto.

This is an example of the scumbling technique.

Other Mediums

I have also always loved pastel chalks because of the light airy effects I can achieve. The colors can be bright and cheerful. Blending this powdery medium is a lot of fun as is layering. Softness is easily achieved and hard edges or lines are too. They are a bit messy though.

I have recently been exploring acrylics because of their fast drying times. I am hoping it will be a great new way for me to travel without wet oil painting when I do plein air. Oils have a habit of getting onto everything if you aren’t careful. It seems to travel where you don’t want it sometimes. Acrylic is more easily cleaned and water is safer and readily available. Other additives can be put into acrylics to affect the drying times and blending too.

Experimenting with oil pastels sounds like a lot of fun. I am excited that there is so much to learn and experience with my art questing.

Cyn

To purchase my art on a variety of cool things visit my other art stores.

Redbubble

Society6

Zazzle





What is my process like?

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What is my Process Like?

My process depends on what I am working on. Some art may look better as a pastel, some in oil and some in acrylic, and still some just as a pencil drawing. Reconnaissance is my first step a lot of the time. What is my process like? I spend hours and hours taking pictures and traveling to destinations getting inspiration. This helps to motivate me. Sometimes I think I cannot improve on a great picture, but collect it also for a composition or a rainy day, in that respect all my pictures are very important. They are like a library of ideas and inspiration.

Freedom

You can lose a certain kind of freedom and movement in a piece if I was to just paint from a picture, so this is important to remember. I try to catch a feeling or express my sense of a moment, place or thing. I am not sure that someone will feel the same way I do, but I would be happy if they feel something when looking at my work. Remembering this I try not to just record what I see, I feel the camera is a tool for that.

When I sketch, I do use either my iPad or paper and charcoal, pastel or pencil to plan a composition. Even while doing a plein air project I sketch a plan before painting. I look for the different values and appropriate composition. Sometimes I still do miss the mark, not every work comes out they way I wish, especially while experimenting and creating.

Always be prepared

I always carry sunscreen, water, a hat, bug spray, wipes, paper towels and small plastic garbage bags to my en plein air sessions. This may seem like a lot but it makes a huge difference in having a good time or being miserable. Spending generally 4 hours or more just painting, I think is a good amount of time. It can be extremely hot or cold and windy, the weather changes as well as the light. After 4 to 5 hours I can get pretty tired. Sometimes I can finish a piece at my studio if it needs it, being careful not to loose that sense of place or time and emotion.

Explore

I am always exploring different compositions, media and colors and love it. My oil paintings go in stages, an under painting first then a layer of paint over that and another layer. I will use as many layers as I need to complete the painting. It sometimes depends on if I want to do impasto too. Always keeping in mind the fat over thin mantra. Letting them dry a year before I decide if I want to varnish or not, is sometimes a pain. Putting away a work out of sight for a while is also helpful.

I will spend half my day doing paperwork, improving my website or other social endeavors. The other half doing promotion for my website and other stores like https://www.redbubble.com/people/Jacyncas this depends also on what paintings I am working on. I always keep in mind something one of my friends told me, “If it ain’t fun, we may not want to do it.”

Am I Traveling for my Art?

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Am I Traveling for My Art?

Am I traveling for my art? I would love to travel more than I do. I try to get out on a continuous basis, especially during the golden hours. If you were not aware, the golden hours are the hours around sunrise and sunset. That time of day is great for capturing awesome photos. It would be difficult to do any plein air work because of the short time period. That may be quite a challenge, but probably a good exercise to try to get that light in a quick painting.

Travel Locally, Travel Abroad

I do have opportunities to travel all over New England. Wherever I go I plan to take some art supplies with me like sketchbooks, chalk, a limited palette, camera and desire to learn and explore. I have gone to Florida, Texas and all points in between. I would love to travel more, but unfortunately my finances don’t allow me that luxury. It is also hard to travel with oil paintings as they are wet for so long. I am very tempted to try using acrylics with maybe an extender in them, so they do not dry out as fast.

Be in the Moment

We have gone camping, hiking and sightseeing  in many places. I love nature. We often go to museums, art shows and galleries when we travel, there is great inspiration at these places. I would urge you to go to as many of those places as you can. I find things constantly in my journeys so fascinating I want to stop everywhere. I could only imagine what it would be like if I could afford to go to so many of those awesome places out there that I have not explored.

For now I will be content with where I am and exploring not only what is around me, but what is also inside me.

What am I currently working on?

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What am I Currently Working on?

Okay, well, I am always busy. I am working on promoting my art, through social media, selling on several sites like Redbubble, Society6, and Zazzle. I spend time getting on sites like Instagram and Reddit to expose my art because I like to get feedback and constructive criticism. Watching tons of videos about art and artists helps me to learn new techniques. I get inspired by other artists and find their passion contagious.

Lately I’ve been really doing a lot of digital art and manipulation because the weather here in Connecticut has not been very good. My Goldfish was an original pastel painting that I experimented with. I use a lot of different software and find this a great outlet for my creativity.

It has been very rainy and humid, and while this does give some opportunity for some great pictures, it isn’t the best situation for en plein air painting. Although a lot of these pictures seem dull and gray, I may just play around with them because I think they are pretty..

Painting in Progress

At my studio I need to work on this painting that was done en plein air at my sister in law’s farm up in New Hampshire. I would love to add more color to this also. Just wondering how I want to proceed with that, so it’s cooking in my brain.

Be Socially Involved

I seek the company of other artists both in real life and online. Going to art shows, museums and events are something I do on a regular basis. I also volunteer in a myriad of ways like setting up art shows, judging, advertising, serving on commissions, and fundraising. I get to meet a lot of people this way. There is always something for me to do.

To purchase my art on a variety of cool things visit my other art stores.

Redbubble

Society6

Zazzle