Karin's new site.
 

Karin,

I love the new site and your artist's statement is superb. I know this Forum is not the place, but I would love a demo. Like you, I'm looking to use this type of inspirational landscape as backdrops to some pieces I've planned.

Thank you again.

Demo? You mean how I do the landscapes? If you're curious, I'm going to be at PSOA in Washington in April and I'd be glad to show you. I'll also be happy to show anyone that is interested how the underpainting/glazing technique is done.

Karin,

May I shake your hand? You've gone from not being able to do landscapes to being a landscape artist. Would you mind if I borrow some of your success?

ReNae,

There are some demos on varied subjects in the Portrait Artist Forum that I thought were very interesting.

Karin,

Just checked out your new web site on Landscapes. It is fantastic. The design too is quite unique as this Craig Butterworth is a fine designer of websites. I then checked out HIS site. Different.

I would love to see your demos. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend the PSOA in April although I will possibly be in that area staying with friends. Just not enough "cash" to attend.

Maybe another time as I intend to enter a portrait eventually. Always waiting for that perfect one to do so.

Great job as usual :thumbsup:

Ginger jar with flowers
 

Two sessions, 16" x 20", from life.

I love the colors Mari! Very nice. :thumbsup:

I'm having trouble uploading pictures so I'm going to try posting two pix here in this "catch-all" thread. I was trying unsuccessfully to send them to Michelle Rushworth because of a conversation we were having in another section of this Forum. These are two paintings that I am making into giclees.

And here is another one of my paintings that I have decided to turn into a giclee.

Because of the poor economy, my portrait business has taken a real hit. However, my still life and landscapes seem to be selling but I cannot paint 'em fast enough. So I'm going to try the print market for awhile until portraiture picks up again.

Beautiful, Karin! Very warm and serene. I especially like the peach reflection in the vase in the first image.

Wow, very good form and color on the white of that pot! I just judged a show that had a white catagory. None of those approached the great whites in this one pot. The greens are very nicely done too by the way. With stills like these why fight bugs outside anyway?

I really like these still-lifes. Great white pot, like Tim said (the rest is not bad either ;) ). I especially like, for some reason, the painted flower on the white pot and the reflected light of the apple.... If the bad economy gives you a reason to make more of these... Well... Then that's a good side-effect... You should have a third web-site devoted to these.

Peter

I've been playing with pastels on Wallis paper. Here's a still life. I haven't done many still lifes; landscapes are even rarer (I think I did one - an abstract). Mosquitos and ticks love me. I'm getting quite turned on to pastels!

Age factor
 

There are many wonderful scenery and "mountain and water" paintings (landscape, is also called "wind scenery")in China. A saying goes that a youngster can paint a good portrait, a middle-aged person can paint "flower and bird painting" well, and, for landscape painting, one needs to be quite aged. (Don't regard this as formalization).

Work from Rome
 

Well,
Since many people have asked to see stuff from the Town to which all roads lead, here are a few things:

First the sketch from the other day, which is now photographed. It is 1,5ft by 4ft and I think I will call it "Nocturne". It's the trees right in front of The Danish Academy with a fuzzy moon.

Then I thought it might be an idea to show you how I normally work, so here are some different photos on my approach to things:

1. Drawing is the foundation of a good painting, and I usually do a fairly detailed one that will guide me through the rest of the process.

2.This time I simply used a pensil directly on the oil primed canvas.

3. Then, since I desided to do as the old Romans did it (when in Rome, do as the Romans) I re drew everything with a pigment pen. This is in order not to smear the draft when I do the the imprimitura.

4. Here, since the light is very warm, I wanted to have a warm under tone, I used a burnt umbra directly from the tube. Sometimes when I chose the background to look more like the canvas it self, I use raw umbra in stead. (mant different earth tones can be used here depending on tast.

5. So now it will dry down a little until tomorrow. Then it gets that special, slightly sticky quality that i like so much to start painting for real.

Hope this showes you something about my normal landscape painting.

Do comment, please!!!

Best wishes

Mikael

Work from Rome 2
 

Here are the rest of the photos:

I dip a rag in mineral spirits after having "dotted" the canvas with the color, and simply keep on smearing until it is even.

Then the drawing in "pigment pen" stands out very nicely, ready to receive the daring brush.

All the best

Mikael

Hello Mikael,
It

Dear Allan,
No, I don't always work the same way, but I thought that I couldn't do this fairly large canvas in one go (1,5ft X 4ft) and therefore wanted to have the opportunity to work a little like the old masters. Maybe some glazing and so on. We'll see what comes out of it. I sometimes use it in portraits too, but it depends very much on the mood of the portrait I think. When it is very "Chiaro-scuro" it sometimes is a help for me to start with a middle value and work in both directions.

The "pigment pen" is a water based very densly pigmented black or brown (rust) colored pen that can be bought in most drawing supplie stores. The good thing about it, is that it doesn't desolve with anything, as opposed to for instance the simple pensel drawing which disappears immediately with the kind of treatment i give it here.

The Danish Academy is not an art school, but simply an accademy for artists, scientists, authers and other scolars. They have two studios for painters and some music rooms for the musicians, the cellar is full of pots and other artifacts from anscient Rome for the archeologists and they have a great library. It is mainly a place of contemplation and inspiration. And of course it is in the middle of Rome which is the battery for all of us here. So that's why there are no models to do portraits from, so I'm afraid that's not what you are going to get from me here. You applie for a grant to come here, or you can pay for your stay as a privatist.

I'm glad you like the pines. It's so Rome that I just had to paint them.

Greetings from

Mikael

Hiya and welcome
I really like your paintig of the woman with her hands on the edges of the canvas.Great idea

Mikael, your "Nocturne" is extremely beautiful and haunting, thank you for posting it. I hope you'll get a chance soon to post examples of your figurative works in process, I'll be watching for them.

Dear Mikael,

Just a note to let you all know that I have moved your "Work from Rome" to this section of the Cafe, where members post non-portrait work.

I have to add my compliments on these lovely drawings, great composition, and fresh style!

I believe it

It's funny how so many of us suffer from the same affliction! I have always struggled with landscapes. I've always thought I suck at them (sorry for the bad language, but it's basically the right description). Well this winter I took some time off from the portraiture stuff, and tried my hand at "fine art". I did figuratives/landscapes. I find I really like doing landscapes as long as someones in the painting. It's like, for me, when there's just trees I don't have a subject to focus the painting around. But I tried a true landscape and did think it went well. So I showed all of it to some galleries, and they are carrying the work!

it inspired me to start a second website with the work -
www.LindaNelsonStudios.com

And then one connected me with Winn Devon Artist Publishing, and they actually like the landscape I did enough to ask me to submit a series of landscapes for their latest audition. I did 8 paintings in 2 weeks. It was exhausting, but I learned alot about what kind of landscape artist I want to be. It was exhilarating.

I won't hear til July about whether they like it enough to offer me a contract, but I'll be thankful either way that I had the experience.

So I got even more gutsy and landed some appointments to show my artwork to some major corporations. Medtronic bought a giclee, and Fair Issac actually commissioned me for a 4 x 6 foot landscape.

Unbelievable beginners' luck.

I also through this discovered Richard Schmid's work all over again. I ordered all his instructional stuff and am really impressed. I haven't had a chance to apply anything, but he really is a great landscape ans still life artist.

Dear Chris,
 

That's fine, I'm sorry that I put it the wrong place, but be patient with me...I'l learn.

I'm glad you like the painting (or I should say beginning). I'll be putting on the last two days of work tomorrow for you to see.

All the best

Mikael

Rome follow up
 

Well, another couple of days have past, and a few developments are at hand.

1. I block in very loosely the main values.

2. The house got the better of me, and I worked on that more then I should, but now at least I know what it's going to look like.

3. Blocked in the sky.

4. And started to work the top trees more thoroughly.

Somehow I would like to get more loose then this, but we shall see when the final edges are worked on if that doesn't help.

All the best

Mikael

More Rome photos
 

Just the last photos of the day.

Greetings,

Mikael

Dear Allan,
 

Love the Sunflowers,
That's the looseness I'm talking about...super!

You must have done them a while ago though, I know the weather is lousy in Denmark at the moment.

Best of greetings from

Mikael

Dear Mikael,
How nice to hear that the sun shines somewhere......but no problem....... the rain is a splendid excuse for me to stay home and paint. The sun has shone in my heart to day.

My best "looseness" shot is to consider the negative shapes as important as the positive.

Many painters seams to concentrate only on the positive....the thing....and pay no attention to the rest. That way the head, house, tree or what ever the motive is, will be isolated and be a closed form with nothing around it.

To make a painting loose you have to make the transitions between the forms as open as possible, so that your eye and mind can drift around and find equal pleasures in looking at the shadow of a cloud or the tower of the church.

In a painting every stroke has equal importance because they add to the whole.

As you see in my sunflowers( sorry, but they were at hand) I have painted the shapes from the outside as much as the flowers shapes itself, if you understand.

Another advice is to paint it all with the same two colors, try :)

Best of luck, Allan

Dear Allan,
 

-yes, I see your point with the negative spaces. However, in motives where you want a specific item to stand out, you must put emphasis on this item somehow. Richard Schmid for instance will be extremely loose for most of the painting, and then a single person is painted meticulously accurate. This always intrigued me. I think my main worry is to loose my way if I'm not careful (and it often turns out to be too careful).

The thing about two colors - could you elaborate a little on what you mean. Are we talking "monochrome" or "grisaie"?

All the best

Mikael

Dear Mikael,
"There

[QUOTE=Mikael MelbyeThe thing about two colors - could you elaborate a little on what you mean. Mikael[/QUOTE]

Dear Mikael,
I found a good illustration on the use of two colors in this painting by Corot.
His "Bridge at Narni" shows that he used Ochers and Blue for most of the picture. The greens in the trees are probably also made from those basic pigments.

Note also the great importance of the values.

The other painting is from Rome. How would that motive look now ?

Best Allan

Hmmm, what an interesting thread. I just joined the forum and I'm still exploring all the sections. This topic struck me because I'm one of the minority who is a portrait and landscape painter, but not a still life painter.

I don't like to keep doing the same thing over and over again. I hate routines. For me, going back and forth between portraits and landscapes is refreshing, liberating, and joyful. Portraits take a lot more concentration and focus, especially when one is getting the likeness just right. So after all that intensity I just have to break out and do an expansive, fun painting. I enjoy painting land forms, water, trees, architecture, clouds, the works. I've been flying in helicopters and single-engine planes to take reference photos for very large (36 x 64 sometimes) aerial views of the Philadelphia cityscape and landscapes of the Maine coast and islands. Painting these aerial views keeps me busy all winter. Between the portraits, of course!

As for still life, I realized that I often incorporate still life into portraits. In fact, I get fired up about painting flowers or porcelain or glass or whatever when it is part of a composition. It's just that I, personally, find painting just a still life boring. No offense to the majority here who do enjoy it. I love looking at still life paintings, I just don't like to paint them.

Thanks to the person who started this topic. I never stopped to think about it before.

Alex

Dear Allan,
 

You dog you! Making me post my lousy landscape next to a Corot. :)

Anyway, your angle certainly gave me a push in the right direction, so thanks for that. Even before I saw the Corot's, I thought a lot on what you said with the two colors, and actually went back a lot to the subject without colors and easel, just to sit and see. The first day I was up there, the weather was extremely clear, and there was no aerial perspective at all, but the day after your last comment there was, and here is the result with a lot of yellow ochre and cerulean blue mixed with ultramarine violet that really made the ochre sing.

Something else happened which I have to share with you: I got an exhibition in a very prestigious gallery in Rome in September! :sunnysmil

Now, if that is not great news, I don't know.

All the best

Mikael

Congrtatulations on your upcoming gallery show in Rome. Wish I could be there to see it!

Dear Mikael,
I am so happy for your luck in Rome, congratulations with the show.

About the two colors, that is a theory that I

Mikael and Allan, thanks for showing your landscapes. They are wonderful. Linda, can we see some images of yours? It is very exciting that a gallery picked up on them so quickly. And congratulations on your commission. I am always curious to see the work of other artists who do portraits and landscapes.

By the way, I also do not put people in my landscapes. I think I like the feeling of looking into a scene and imagining myself there. If I see other people already in the scene, then the space "within" the canvas seems to belong to them.

Alex

Dear Allan,
 

Yes, normally it would, but these trees are almost the same distance away. They are right in front of one another. The top one (the pines) are darker in foliage then the ones at the bottom, and therefor look bluer if you will in the shadow.

Best,

Mikael

Some of my work
 

Here is one of my portraits and two landscapes. If they don't post I'll try again.

Two colors
 

Dear Mikael, and all others,

Here comes some details from a painting, a portrait of my garden.
I often find details more interesting than the whole thing, and also have a theory on why !

Why, is because the detail is not limited to it

What Lovely details, Allan. The paint is lucious! I would like to see the whole thing, too. Even though it is less interesting to you, it is interesting to me because I need to see the whole thing to appreciate the details in context. Also, the relationship of the details to the whole is informative because it answers the question: "How did he DO that?"
When I look at other artists' work I always like to know, if you are willing to share the information.

Alex

Dear Allan,
 

[QUOTE=Allan Rahbek]Dear Mikael, and all others,

Here comes some details from a painting, a portrait of my garden.
I often find details more interesting than the whole thing, and also have a theory on why !

Why, is because the detail is not limited to it