Blog Archives

Happy Summer!

6/24/2015

You can subscribe to receive my blog regularly by email by using the subscribe box on the lower right hand side of the blog page at www.susanashbrook.com/blog. If you choose to subscribe you will receive a message from feedburner to confirm your subscription. It is totally safe to do so, and of course, you may unsubscribe at any time.

Well, it's here... we've waited for many, many months, gone through a long and cruel Winter, an "interesting" Spring and, guess what? It's finally Summer... we actually made it!

As a child, I remember the countdown to the end of school and waking up on the first day of summer holidays feeling like the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders. It was a joyous feeling of absolute and unconditional freedom! For those of you closer to my age... do you remember this?

No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher’s
Dirty looks.

As an adult I lament the loss of that feeling. Currently I am counting down the days because there are deadlines to meet and things that need to be done. Organizing, promoting and preparing for Summer classes and workshops; preparing for new classes at area retirement residences; looking after registration details and payments for fall events; making arrangements for Fall classes and workshops. Whew! And that's not to mention that I want to get out to the studio and paint all those paintings that are burning a hole in my brain!

I must admit that writing this blog has had the unexpected but very pleasant consequence of getting me into the studio on a regular basis to do the painting update for each post, and of course, once in the creative space other stuff just starts to happen... can't be stopped!

My students at the Cumberland Lodge are starting to get really excited about their upcoming art exhibition on Sunday, July 12, from 1:00 to 3:00 PM. The Lodge is at 2564 Market Street in Cumberland Village and you are invited to stop by if you are in the neighbourhood. The artists would love to see you and tell you about their work. It's been a truly amazing experience for me. These people, with the various disabilities and limitations that they have, have produced some awesome works of art!

In addition to the artists, the Lodge's resident poet, Brenda Rose will be on hand to sign copies of both of her published books... she too is very talented! I hope you will take the time to join us for a great creative experience and refreshments.

Today's Painting Tip: Creating Abstract Art
Expressive, or intuitive abstract allows the image to be generated from inner feelings and emotions. The artist slaps on or spreads the paint based on what they are feeling at the time. While it's great therapy it does not always generate great art.

Abstracting reality works by removing detail, depth, shadow and perspective. Simplify shapes and change the colours. Reduce the painting to basic shapes and lines.

Close-up of Reality... The closer you get to something the less recognizable it becomes. When it is no longer obvious as to what it is, we begin to see it as pure design

You can also generate basic designs on your computer using "autoshapes" provided with some software to block in areas, shapes and colours etc, to get you started or help solidify your ideas.

Update on the Painting from Jane's Photograph:

The painting is finished and I'm very pleased with it! After last weeks work I added some burnt sienna and Payne's gray to the texture in the water, to create the reflection of colour from the rocks. It gives the painting some definition. I'm also loving the effect of the gold leaf in the painting, it's brilliant!

I have applied an isolation layer of liquid medium to protect the paint from the varnish, which will be applied in a few days, after the isolation layer has cured.

What's next? Well, lot's actually... paintings already in progress and some new ones that I'm really excited about. Please stay tuned!

Thanks and best wishes,
Susan

0 Comments

Goal-Gradient

6/18/2015

0 Comments

You can subscribe to receive my blog regularly by email by using the subscribe box on the lower right hand side. If you choose to subscribe you will receive a message from feedburner to confirm your subscription. It is totally safe to do so, and of course, you may unsubscribe at any time.

The hypothesis of goal-gradient is based on animals... [R]ats in a maze … run faster as they near the food box than at the beginning of the path. —Hull (1934), and applied to people working towards a goal or completion of an assignment. The closer one gets to one's goal the more focussed one becomes on achieving it.

For an artist that could be finishing a painting, setting up an exhibition or even entering a competition. Oh, by the way, I'm not suggesting that artists are like rats... unless of course you self-identify at a rat, but artists are like everyone else who want the goal completed, and completion becomes the dangling carrot to making it so.

All that to say that I spent the afternoon, yesterday, in the studio finishing a couple of paintings... totally focussed on my work. As an artist this is a wonderful sensation... to work freely and unfettered by other responsibilities; to allow the Muse to have the upper hand; to let the laundry lay in it's sorted piles until another day (laundry is very patient and will wait for as long as it takes, but it does seem to multiply while lying there!). Oh, and I completely forget about writing a blog post until I finished painting... so now I'm a day behind.

This past weekend I attended the Westboro Village (a neighbourhood in Ottawa) Westfest and found an unbelievable bargain on pre-made frames from Wall Space Gallery (http://www.wallspacegallery.ca/). The frames had been on other paintings, but to get a 24" x 36" floating frame for a gallery canvas, in excellent shape, for $5? No-brainer!!! Just heavy carrying it back to the car, some 10 blocks away!

The art exhibition at Wall Space Gallery was also amazing. They featured three fabulous artists and also had pottery and jewelry by very talented artisans. If you get to Westboro this is a must see gallery! Just tell them that Susan sent you!

Westfest also gave me an opportunity to visit with my sister Valerie, at her store, The Cuckoo's Nest (http://www.thecuckoosnest.ca/), to decide on the final pen and ink image of the old Westboro Town Hall for her custom "Westboro Village" coasters. I must say, the coasters are not what I thought they would be, but a much higher quality product, being made from polished Canadian shield granite. These are definitely a great gift giving item!

Today, now Thursday, was the last of my Spring class sessions. It's always a bit sad when I hear "See you in September" at this time of year. But, I am offering a number of workshops this summer as well as my ongoing Acrylics and Oils class at NECTAR in New Edinburgh. For more information check out the classes/workshop segment of my website, or contact me for information. I also have openings for private or small group classes at my studio, so let me know if you are looking for something not listed.

For fall classes and workshops I am open to suggestions about kind of classes or workshops you would like to attend, so please let me know. Even if it's something I don't teach I can arrange workshops with guest instructors on many subjects, media or styles, if there is enough interest. I even know a terrific sewing/knitting teacher if that is your interest. I look forward to hearing from you!

Today's Painting Tip: Painting Rocks

Rocks are simple to paint if you just let them happen, rather than trying to duplicate the rocks in your photo.

Start with your darkest rock colour and just apply it in a random fashion similar to the rocks you want to paint... angular or round, large or small etc. Then create the different facets of the rock with a lighter colour. Add highlights with the lightest colour, considering where the source of light is. Finally, you can add some highlights of reflected light on the dark side of the rocks. This is usually done in the colour of the sky as that is most often what is reflected. Don’t forget to “anchor” the rock with shadows and foliage around the base.

I recommend a minimum of three shades of the rock colour... dark, medium and light, however you can do as many values as you like but three will give your rocks the form you need to be realistic.

By starting with the darkest rock colour your shadowed crevices will appear to be exactly that... crevices, as opposed to putting the cracks in later, which will give them a painted on appearance.

Okay, so get rockin!

Update on the Painting from Jane's Photograph:

This week I refined the colours a little bit to enhance the effects of the late day light, applied interference orange over certain areas of the painting to create an ethereal element and then enhanced the texture by using Iridescent Gold metallic paint, brushed on lightly with a large flat brush held almost parallel to the surface of the canvas.

The interference colours and iridescent metallic paints have no pigment in them... with the exception of Golden's Iridescent Bronze, which has Phthalo blue added to tone the colour down to a true bronze colour. These paints are created using mica flakes that when mixed with the polymer binder create the metallic colours. They handle a little differently than regular pigmented paints, but offer incredible opportunities to enhance your artwork. Let me know if you want to know more about these wonderful paints.

Also, next week you will see the Painting from Jane's Photograph finally finished!

Best wishes,
Susan

0 Comments

A Brush With Greatness!

6/10/2015

2 Comments

(Please click on the title to go to the blog site to leave comments or subscribe.)

As brushes go, there are all manner of shapes, materials and qualities, so finding what's great for you can be a trial and error game. Let's see if we can find an easier way to play!

First, what medium are you working with? Will you be using the brushes to paint, apply glue or brush metal leaf off a surface?

Watercolour Brushes tend to be soft and are available in a variety of natural hairs and synthetic bristles. The most prized watercolour brushes are made with "sable" hair, Kolinsky being one of the most popular. These are made from the tail hairs of the male Siberian weasel's winter coat. Because the weasel does not do well in captivity they are trapped and killed for their tail hairs. I'll let you decide where you stand on that one. Other natural hairs include squirrel and camel hair, neither of which maintain a fine point for detail and they are generally considered to be children's brushes. There are some wonderful synthetic watercolour brushes on the market, though, that replicate the qualities of sable brushes, are easier to maintain and are much more budget conscious.

Oil Brushes are usually stiffer and often made of Boar bristles (hair). The stiffness of the brush allows the artist greater control over the thicker oil paint and also leaves the brush strokes that we associate with oil painting. Because they are cleaned with solvents, instead of water, and used with oils the natural bristle tends to maintain it's spring and doesn't degrade as quickly as brushes that are constantly used with water, but you can never get a real sharp point on a round or create a fine line with a flat on it's edge like you can with the synthetic brush. Synthetic oil brushes are usually stiffer than synthetic watercolour brushes.

Acrylic Brushes are generally synthetic because natural hair brushes don't stand up to the water and mediums as well, breaking down faster. Synthetic brushes also allow the paint to slide off the brush onto the canvas or paper, where natural hair brushes tend to clog with quickly drying acrylics. When working in acrylics you can use synthetic watercolour brushes (soft and short handled) or synthetic oil brushes (stiffer and long handled) and of course there is a range of stiff nesses in between the two.

Multi-purpose brush uses that include blending pastels and brushing metal leaf off a painting surface are generally stiffer than watercolour brushes and natural or synthetic fibres both work well.

Shapes of Brushes

Flat: This brush is flat and wide with a square tip. It is generally used for blocking in and applying colour generously as it holds a good load of paint. You can paint bold strokes with the flat side and finer lines with the edge.

Bright: A bright brush is basically a flat with shorter bristles.

Round: As it’s name implies, a round is round. These are generally used for details and painting lines.

Fan: The fan brush is flat. It is used for smoothing, blending and creating things like trees, shrubs, grass, fur and other special effects.

Filberts are a member of the flat brush family but instead of a square tip they have an oval one. This makes them useful for blending as well as daubing in foliage and creating soft edges on clouds. The side can also be used to create thinner lines. These are often a favourite of landscape painters.

Rigger/Signature: These are fine, long bristled brushes that, because of the length, hold a good load of paint. They are used for fine lines and writing signatures. They get their name because they were traditionally used to paint rigging in maritime paintings.

House Painters brush: A good quality painters brush can be a big help when painting large canvasses. It’s a larger version of the artist’s flat or angle brush. These brushes also hold a lot of paint so be prepared to use lots of your colours!

Angle brushes: These brushes are handy for getting into corners, much like the house painters cutting brushes. You can also use them as you would a flat or bright.

Comb brushes: The bristles at the tip of these brushes are thinned out compared to the lower portion of the bristles. This allows the brush to be loaded with sufficient paint but to apply it more sparsely. Use the comb to create grass or fur effects.

Dagger brushes are soft and flexible and shaped like a dagger... one edge straight ad the other edge curved. They are wonderful for creating lines of varying thickness, as in lettering or decorative work. You should use fairly thin paint to take advantage of this unique brush.

Deerfoot brushes: These brushes began their lives as rounds and then got chopped off at the end. They are terrific brushes for creating leaves, shrubs and anything else that has a repetitive round or oval pattern. Use by holding the brush fairly upright.

Shapers: Paint shapers look like brushes but are made of rubber/silicone. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes and allow the artist to remove or shift paint to create effects that cannot be achieved with regular paint brushes.

Stencil brushes: Anyone who is familiar with stencilling will recognize the stippled effect that these brushes provide. The brushes are loaded with paint, tamped on a paper towel or rag to create a “drybrush” situation and then applied at a 90' angle to the painting surface. The resulting mottled effect can create the appearance of plaster, soften edges and assist in the blending process.

Tooth brushes: Spattering allows the artist to create snow scenes, add texture to rock faces, develop backgrounds and blend colours in a painting. Old toothbrushes are perfect for this, creating spatter by using the thumb, or by rubbing the brush, ladened with paint, over a piece of wire mesh.

Sponges are great for creating the suggestion of bushes and trees, rock faces and anything with texture. Sea sponges work best because of their naturally random patterns. When using sponges it is always a good idea to change the direction of imprinting to help maintain that natural effect. To build a natural layered effect start with the darkest colour and gradually work to the lightest colour.

Brush handles are always handy to create texture, lines and designs in your wet paint. Alternately you might use a notched mortar trowel, or anything else hard to create textures and patterns.

Fingers: Get right into your work of art by manipulating it with your fingers. Fingers work well as a blending tool, an eraser, a paint applier, and when you use your whole hand, a schmoosher!

Natural Materials: Think outside the art store! Use pine needles, a cedar branch, flowers and seed heads, feathers, sticks, moss, leaves… whatever you can find that makes interesting marks.

Old Brushes: Never throw out an old ruined brush, because even those have their greatness for creating textures, special effects and things you would never use your good brushes for!

Today's Painting Tip:
When painting with acrylics use a liquid/polymer medium to thin your paint, not water! If you thin your paint with too much water you can break down the bonding process of the polymer binder and when your paint is dry the pigment will easily brush off your painting surface. The medium is made from the same polymer binder as your paint, so you can thin your paint as much as you want and the polymers integrity will still be maintained. I like to thin my polymer medium with 25% water. This way I still maintain the integrity of the medium and the paint but it handles much more like water. By the way, you can thin any acrylic product with up to 25% water with no problems, otherwise, water is only for washing brushes!

Update on the Painting of Jane's Photograph:
In today's photo I have taken the painting beyond the flat colours of the last stage by adding lighter colours to the rocks. I've worked from Burnt Umber, to Burnt Sienna to Burnt Sienna mixed with some Cadmium Yellow and then used Cadmium Orange to highlight the shapes of the rocks and show the sunlight on the edges. I have also refined the sky. The texture that was applied with the gel medium is now starting to be enhanced with the layers of paint. Getting close to being finished... I'm getting excited!

Best wishes,
Susan

2 Comments

Uh, oh! Writer's Block!

6/5/2015

6 Comments

(Please click on the title to go to the blog site to leave comments or subscribe.)

Okay, so I'm sitting here at my desk looking at a blank screen with a blank mind and wondering what to write about this week. I've scrolled through the list of lessons on my computer, but nothing is speaking to me. Nothing is jumping up and down yelling "Pick me! Pick me!" Drat! Then it hit me... creative blocks, and not the ones you stack to build castles! We'll play with those another day!

What causes creative blocks? Well, it could be any manner of things... coming down with a cold; pain; worrying about something; lack of good sleep; fear of not being creative; self-doubt about your abilities to get a painting the way you want it... it could be anything, but the result is always the same... nothing gets accomplished.

Far, far away, in another life, I worked as a commercial artist, or as they are called today, graphic designer. In the design industry the rule of thumb is Be Creative, or Be Fired! One quickly learns to develop an arsenal of tricks to defeat creative blocks.

Here are some tricks that artists I know use:
For some people getting together with another artist and comparing notes or paintings over coffee helps. People who have been away from art for a while often find taking a short workshop helps to get them back on track, and often a workshop in a different medium or technique will fire up the creative furnaces.

There are things like doing a tour of local galleries, or a studio tour, to see what's new and exciting; attending product demonstrations at art supply stores; attending artists conferences; joining an organization of artists; trying one of those colouring books based on Zendoodling.

You can also set yourself a goal of producing one piece of art each week, or day or month or per class, and while it may be hard to keep going in the beginning, it will become easier and become a good creative habit after a while.

Did you know that it only takes 28 days for a new habit to become natural and part of your life? So why not do a quick 15 minute sketch everyday? Your skills will improve just from doing it, and your creativity will become available everyday.

The one thing I find most effective is to go out to my studio, not to paint, but to tidy up or organize things. It doesn't take me long to start messing with the materials instead of tidying, and pretty soon I'm right back into making art!

Another thing I do is always play music when I'm in the studio, whether I'm tidying or painting. It is the white background noise that eliminates the sound of cars driving by or the ferry running back and forth across the river. I am not conscious of the music while I'm working, but it does help get me into that creative right brain mode, yet I seriously miss the music if it's not playing when I'm in the studio.

Please let me know how you deal with creative blocks. By commenting on the blog site, you will be able to share your experience with others. Thank you so much!

For creativity inspiring activities... this event is coming up and I recommend it:
Orleans Art Studio Tour / Tournée des ateliers d'art d'Orléans
June 13 & 14, 2015 from 10 AM to 4 PM.
Please join the artists at their opening reception on Wednesday June 10th, 7:00–9:00 p.m. at Wall Space Gallery, 2316 St. Joseph Blvd in Orleans.
For more information: http://www.oast.ca/

Also, coming in July, Michelle Casey, Canadian collage artist, will be doing a guest blog. I'm really looking forward to this as Michelle does amazing work and is going to share some of her highly successful techniques with us.

Today's Painting Tip:
Just paint! It doesn't matter if it's good or bad, just get something on paper, canvas or other surface. Express your creativity to keep it going! Do some quick sketches with any artistic medium. Cut images out of magazines and make a collage. Don't take it all to seriously. There is more to art than "rules", so explore and experiment! And, above all, have fun!

Update on the Painting of Jane's Photograph:
I've started adding colour to the painting, building the sky, the rocks and the water. The sky and rocks start as many of my paintings do... with the darks laid in first. These will lighten as subsequent layers are added. The colour in the water, to maintain the metallic beauty of the gold leaf, is applied in thin layers. Those who have taken my glazing workshops will appreciate the applied use of this technique in conjunction with the gold leaf.

Best wishes,
Susan

6 Comments

Susan Ashbrook

I enjoy sharing my knowledge with other people. I teach oil painting, a variety of acrylic painting techniques and business of art classes. My workshops are offered through the City of Ottawa, Visual Arts Centre, Orleans, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, and the Frederic Remington Art Museum in Ogdensburg, New York. I also offer workshops in my studio in Cumberland, (Ottawa) Ontario.

Happy Summer!

Goal-Gradient

A Brush With Greatness!

Uh, oh! W﻿riter's Block!

Susan Ashbrook

Archives

Uh, oh! Writer's Block!