Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Finding it in the paint

The house is across Route 81 from the churchyard. Jeanette and I set up our easels next to the gravestones and we start painting.


I try to get the overall measurements as close as I can while I'm still in the pencil stage, but most of the discovery happens in the paint. I like gouache because it lets me clean up edges and fix things as I go.



(Link to video) The whole session takes an hour and a half. By then the sun is down, the mosquitoes are up, and the ghosts are stirring.

Resources
Previous posts: Gouache Materials List
Experiments with a Limited Palette
My library of HD tutorial downloads
My tutorials on DVD (credit cards)
My tutorials on DVD (Paypal)


3 comments:

Carol Scown-Raynal said...

Hi James ! I'm back after all those years. I bought many of your lovely videos and they are such a treasure. Nothing can compare. You are the best. You may remember me as I participated in 2011 to completing the cover of the New-York initially illustrated by Booth (July 4th 2011 edition) where a dog is looking out a window at a défilé of american flags. In my version, I added a sausage the dog would have liked to eat ! You submitted those covers to the New-Yorker Magazine. Regarding, the building of you wonderful pochade easel, I can't find in France the Tee Nut and the position control hinges (southco) so I manage otherwise (I fixed the wooden plaques straight on the tripode and I can't remove it though) and for the hinges, I put normal hinges and created a wedge that I can adjust as I want.

James Gurney said...

Carol, welcome again, and thanks for purchasing the videos.

Yes, that New Yorker cover redesign was great fun and I thank you for contributing. The editors there did a blog post about it on the New Yorker blog, and we even got New Yorker's art critic involved: http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/08/new-yorker-blog-post.html

It sounds like you did a creative job of making an easel despite the lack of hinges and Tee-nuts.

bernicky said...

@Carol Scown-Raynal - in Quebec we call a Tee Nut a Écrous en T a 4 pointes. Maybe they call them something similar in France.

Lovely work as always. James thank you for mentioning the approximate time line. Watching quick videos, edited for viewing and to further the narrative I can sometimes get the feeling that layers dry quicker for artists on YouTube :) Letting us know how long it takes you gives me hope when I am plodding along spilling paint. Thank you.