Fun with Trompe l'oeil - Part 1 of 2

Trompe l'oeil - french for "trick the eye" is an art form in which the artist creates a 2-dimensional image that when viewed from the proper angle appears three dimensional. I've been fascinated with this art form for awhile and finally decided to try one.

One of the pastel artists I most admire, Diane Ponting, has a painting done as a trompe l'oeil on newsprint. I happened to have a local paper laying around and there is never not a cup of tea or coffee on my desk or by my easel - so there I had my subject.

Attempt #1:

Now if you've ever worked with pastel you may see the problems inherent in this little project.

If you haven't worked with pastel - then know that some of the best (and most expensive) papers for pastel painting are sanded (they are essentially fine grit sandpaper - only made of better materials). You can imagine how that is the complete polar opposite of newsprint. The result is that it was diffcult to work on - I could only put limited layers of pigment on and the paper was constantly threatening to tear.

Attempt #2:

This time I primed the paper with workable fixative. This is a spray product used to coat the surface of artwork. It also will, to a certain degree, restore the 'tooth' of the paper - giving it a little more grit. I don't typically use this fixative overtop the pastel as it does darken the colors, in this case it was used on the blank paper *before* the pastel was applied.



I didn't really see much difference in texture - it was still a pain to work on. Adding the bagel was a bad idea too - it is relatively easy to do smooth surfaces (the liquid, ceramic, glass, metal) with few layers, but the organic bagel/cream cheese looks very 'painterly'. It's a lovely bagel (and it tasted great!) but not the hyperrealistic painting that I'm aiming for with a trompe l'oeil. I'll keep that in mind next time. This time the paper did tear - I've cropped it out, but working in the upper right (to create the illusion of warped text under the glass plate) proved to be a bit much for the poor paper.

All in all a good second painting, but still too tricky to do a really good job.

Other concerns:
So by this point I've become totally captivated by this idea - and now that it's taken a step beyond being a quick sketch for fun another important characteristic of newsprint surfaces has arisen... its archival qualities (or rather, its lack of them).

There's not too many surfaces out there with as poor longevity as newsprint. It yellows, it cracks. The aging process of paper is due to a combination of factors including acidity and wood pulp content - both of which are prominent in newspaper.

Despite all of that I am a crazy bugger and part of what appeals to me about this art is the fact that it's done on a real, actual local newspaper - so it's worth a bit of working around. Before the next stage I'm going to focus on bolstering up this paper....

Step 1: Acid buffer. Each sheet gets coated on both sides with a spray acid buffer.

Step 2: UV resistant matte coating. The visible surfaces get a few light coats of UV blocker. I prefer not to use this spray over the pastel, but in this case the paper is my prime concern so it is being treated under the painting that will eventually happen. (This protection could be further augmented by framing under UV blocking glass and hanging the final painting out of direct sunlight).

Step 3:Clear Colourfix primer. The newsprint is primed with this material - essentially a gooey clear substance with sandy grit. It is used to prepare surfaces for pastel painting and a colleague suggested trying it on the newsprint... here goes!

Step 4: The painting.

Attempt #3:

Getting better.

This surface was much easier to work on - which allowed me to get more layers of color and therefore more depth to the painting. The rim of the cup is off, but I like the effect of the submerged part of the teabag and I managed to get the spoon proportions better this time. This was done using a combination of pastel sticks and pencils. If you look closely you can see some streaks - that is from applying the gesso with a foam brush. In the future I'll use a foam roller to apply the gesso more evenly.

Now that I have a handle on manipulating this new surface it's time to try some different subject matter - check back for Part 2 and some new art to be posted.

Study "5:01"

It's been harder to keep up on the Blogging through the holidays - mainly because I've been doing mostly housecleaning and not so much art ;D (If you really want to hear about the housecleaning just let me know).

The art work that I have done has been mostly technical and preparatory work - playing with still-life setups, priming newspaper (don't worry, that will come in a not-to-distant future blog post!), and things like that. Again - not so interesting to blog about.

But I'll post this little study for you - it's a practice piece for a larger still-life that I hope to complete this month (as it would be perfect to submit for an upcoming show). I didn't get any in-progress shots (the digital camera is recovering from all of my reference photo shooting yesterday!) but I'll be sure to take them when I do the big piece.

Textiles are so fascinating - cut glass, liquid, leather, metal - I am enjoying learning how to manipulate my pastel pencils further to get somewhat realistic renderings of these type of surfaces. Still life set-ups are tremendous fun as well - playing with objects and light, reflections and refractions.

The final painting will tell a bit of a story - I think this study will give you a sense of where the title came from. Enjoy!!

9x9" Pitt pastel pencil on Canson paper

Morgan

Meet Morgan - This is a commission I did this month of Morgan, a beautiful golden retreiver who passed away very recently. Morgan was left at a clinic when he was 6 and was lucky enough to be found by a new family where he has lived with his dog-sisters for the past 4 years or so. Morgan was diagnosed with splenic cancer two years ago and with treatment he continued to enjoy going for walks and swimming in the pond. Sadly he developed more cancer which spread rapidly and took his life this year - but he is a beautiful reminder that illness does not need to consume us.

As people we have such a hard time overcoming the mental weight of our problems - illness, stress, money concerns. The problems are very real - but they only beat us when they keep us from enjoying every precious day of our lives. Dogs are so much smarter!

Reference photo:

Morgan's portrait was done in pastel using a modification of the Colorist technique that I have learned some from Charlie (a wonderful pastel painter who teaches on WetCanvas - check out her blog!). I wanted a realistic final portrait - but by using a colorist foundation (strong, bright colors mapping out the light and shadow areas of the painting) the final result will have greater depth and body than if I use layer upon layer of the same color families.

As all my paintings do - it stars with a sketch after careful selection of the crop and composition I wish to use. I am working on Wallis paper for this one (remember - the stuff that is like sandpaper). I grind the initial colors of pastel into the paper to give it a base color to work on and draw the undersketch in vine charcoal:


Next go the base colors - yellows, blues, oranges and purples predominate. I sent a copy at this point to the client who ordered this painting (it's a close friend of mine and, yes, I was having a bit of a joke). She wisely heeded my warning to 'wait until it develops, it will look better' - but I'm sure I scared the pants off her.


I start layering more 'normal' colors over the base - eventually all of the base will be covered up and you will only see it in micro-tiny bits that peek through the top layers of color. This is how it adds to the depth of the painting without actually being part of what you see in the end.


I always work the background first - it's generally my least favorite part but at the same time extremely important to get right. In this case I am doing a detailed background - it's always my preference to have the subject in a setting, but a detailed background comes close to doubling the painting time so it isn't always an option. In this case I had enough lead time and the reference photo was so perfect I had to take advantage of it!

As the painting progresses I hone in on the face. Although, truth be told, I flit back and forth throughout the painting process - mapping out the values, adjusting, layering, and tweaking the parts I'm not directly working on when I take breaks from the parts I am focusing on.


Many animal artists start with the eyes, I tend to leave them until the end. Most of us will agree that the eyes make or break a portrait. That is where you capture the life and emotion of your subject, and I guess that's the reason people will start with the eyes. For me - I put so much into the eyes (time-wise I probably spend more than twice as long per square inch on eyes than any other part of the painting). So if I start with the eyes, get them perfect, and then have anything be off on the rest of the painting it is a dismal proposition to go change those eyes. By leaving them until last I am sure that I'm happy with the rest of the proportions, values, and composition before I do that last little burst. Plus the painting doesn't really 'come to life' until the eyes are done - so near the end when I paint them it's like a grand unveiling - even for me who's been a foot away from the painting for hours to days at that point.

So here is the final version - Morgan in the back garden. I hope you like it. I hope Morgan approves!


And if you didn't see my previous blog entry on pets and loss please have a look here.

~~ Boots ~~