More leaves!

In the springtime mood, I am hearing the call of the landscape lately. I started this sketchbook back in February, when I was fortunate enough to be sketching in sunny St. Martin. The tropical leaves are so varied and colorful, and since I found myself examining them in wonder, I began drawing. They seemed to come in endless variety of shape and size, and provided just as much inspiration.

So these are the first of my sketchbook leaves.

K posing and "Penitent Magdalene" by El Greco

It is remarkable how certain passages in the original seem distorted or extended when seen next to a living model. The length of fingers, arms and neck are noticeably long, the eyes large, and that forearm looks extra meaty. The painting takes its advantage from El Greco’s distortions. The fluid composition, expressive hands and the arc of Mary’s head, crucifix and the momento mori skull reflected with her lower arm, all knit together in a tour de force of painting. Drawing either a direct copy or a posed facsimile created with a model illuminates the master’s work in new ways.

Below is my drawing of the pose.

"K as Penitent Magdalene", charcoal, 2012

After getting the “Faculty Focus” show up and the opening behind me, I got back in the studio to prepare my next project for 2012: a new series of landscape paintings on location. The Glen and my entry into this year’s Newport Annual at Newport Art Museum, “Mossy Woods”, are two good examples of my plein air landscapes.

To make new paintings, I need new canvases. I have always rolled my own when it comes to canvases. More control over materials and sizes and a high quality result that is the best archival practice I can muster. Plus, I paint on linen.

Linen. The more one goes away from the pre-fab canvases on sale, the more linen options there are. When choosing linen, one can go with raw or primed. Rolls of pre-primed good Belgian linen are available to purchase when my material expense account is full, for primed linen is an investment. There are various grades, weights and textures from which to choose, though in a given texture category it may come down to just a couple of options.

Raw linen can offer more choices and more sources to shop. So I gathered up samples, got my first yardage and started stretching, sizing and priming. I have confined my self for the project at hand to three size formats, and have experimented with various prepping methods.

Size, the sealant of raw fabric for painting, comes in acrylic with white already added for one step application, and non-pigmented glue (collagen) size. The latter is traditional and has been used for centuries; rabbit skin glue [RSG] is the preferred material for artists due to its high quality, incredible strength and flexibility.  It is partnered with a second step of painted on primer, usually white, which is especially formulated to be the painting foundation.

Glue size is available nowadays in PVA, an alternative that proves to be even more flexible than rabbit skin glue and is already in solution, reducing inconsistency due to individual use. PVA is also considered advantageous since after drying it can no longer be reactivated by environmental moisture as RSG is. I am trying a little PVA for the first time on four of the canvases, RSG on the rest. The RSG is purchased in dehydrated granules which are soaked in a proper proportion of water (50 g. glue to 1 l. water), heated and cooled to a warm jelly consistency and applied to raw canvas. Thus far, the flexibility of the PVA has resulted in a much more springy sized canvas which I do not like. We will see how it behaves when painting.

PVA also allowed me to size the linen before tacking it on the wood stretchers. The fabric is a little bit rumpled after drying, but the elasticity of the PVA allows it to be stretched uniformly. Since it shrinks the linen I needed to allow extra overlap to compensate. Linen will shrink considerably when RSG is applied, so this is done after being attached to the stretcher.

Ground. Having allowed the size to dry and given it a light sanding, I started priming with a prepared white oil based ground made for the job. Oil primed canvas is my favorite- it is a wonderful surface on which to paint. I have used titanium ground in the past, but Gamblin Oil Ground claims more flexibility than straight titanium and a high pigment content. For ground, one does not want a lot of oil so this os a good thing. I spread the thick white paint on with a metal spatula, pushing the paint into the tooth of the fabric, shown below. It is not unlike spreading sour cream on toast, and one begins to think of bagels with cream cheese while doing this task.

Applying ground to sized linen

Once the linen is coated evenly, I brushed out the surface and edges with a soft bristle brush to eliminate any ridges. I have learned through the experience of having to scrap a project and start over, losing much hard work, that any flaw in the early stages of prep will telegraph its way through to the finish. The lower surface layers can not be skimped or sloppy. This pitfall can happen even in commercially prepared canvas. I once had such a large canvas reveal a diagonal fault right through my painting, and lost uncounted hours of work.

When applying ground, single prime or double prime is a choice for the individual. Double prime is often recommended, but will fill in the texture of the canvas more. Single prime gives less coverage but leaves more of the linen weave texture. I have done mostly single primed canvas this time, but have experimented with a few double primed ones. The second coat I thinned slightly to brush on as the knife would lay down a too-thick second layer in my view.

Here is my studio crowded with new canvases. The last three on the floor have had their priming applied and are now drying with the rest.

After a week or so these will be ready to clamp on to the french easel and become paintings! I will fill in details here on the landscape project in weeks to come. My concept for the project is one that will invite a little viewer experience and participation.

The drawing I did of the pose is here.

The Spring 2012 Brochure featuring Trish in my "Portrait With a Hat" class.

"Study for The Source II" charcoal, 29x20 cm, 2012.

The painting of this title is currently part of my two person exhibition at Newport Art Museum, “Faculty Focus: Peter Dickison and Lisa May.” It was recently completed, though actually begun more than a year  earlier. In understanding the connection of the two figures and reworking the left one completely to that end, I resorted to a frequent exercise of mine in the studio: drawing a copy of the painting. It clarifies the picture for me, and gives me freedom to quickly remake aspects of it.

Here, the figure to the left has dipped a vessel of water from the source and offers it to the other; a woman offers a drink from the source to the man. The water can be seen as analogous to sustenance, love, life, the eternal flow of humanity through the world (nature). Now, in religious contexts, the symbolic cleansing of water is not usually given from the hand of a woman, so my setting can be seen as unorthodox in that sense.

I didn’t set out to be so controversial, however. I was thinking more of companions looking out for one another in Nature. And this study uncovered the relationship I was looking for in the painting. Look for it in the show at Newport Art Museum, in Newport, RI. Through May 6, 2012.