Short and Stout

This little ceramic teapot has such a nice warm brown glaze on it that I found it to be just an interesting subject to paint. I like the images reflected into it and really enjoy the subtle colors. I am using the red and white napkins as a design element to bring a pop of color into the motif. 

The teapot is a small 2 cup pot that is painted just about life size. My thoughts were to paint an intimate painting about a cherished object representing a quiet moment in one’s life. Now if all of this metaphor comes through the painting, to the viewer I would be surprised. But I do think the emotional intent comes across.

I'm a little teapot

Short and stout

Here is my handle

Here is my spout

When I get all steamed up

I just shout

Tip me over and pour me out

I am a very special pot

It is true

Here is an example of what I can do

I can turn my handle into a spout

Tip me over and pour me out

Short and Stout oil on panel 8 x 10 inches © Jim Serrett

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 Website - jimserrett.com
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Brown Teapot - WIP - Underpainting Techniques

I am laying out the image on the canvas panel with a thinned mix of brown made from umbers, almost a sepia tone. Wiping out and editing the lines as I go, attempting to get as accurate a drawing as I can. What I want is the basic structure and design over which I will lay my first color pass.

You can find more information and demos on underpainting techniques here.

Links:

Underpainting Techniques

Bistre Method - wipe out

Grisaille underpainting

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Website - jimserrett.com
Studio Blog - jimserrettstudio.com 
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Tea Pot and Mayer's Handbook - WIP

First pass on new set up, yet another tea pot. I like the shapes in them. The green book is a very old copy of Ralph Mayer’s The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques. Mayer’s book is a excellent reference book for artists, it opened my eyes to a lot of the traditional procedures and materials of oil painting. If I had not discovered this book years ago, buried on the University library shelf, I would have probably quit art school.

The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques by RalphMayer (1895–1979)

You can find it as a free download in several places online.

Explore - Question - Learn - Enjoy, Jim 

 Website - jimserrett.com 
 Studio Blog - jimserrettstudio.com 
 Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings

Coffee with Rothko - Underpainting Techniques – Demonstration Five- Part III the ébauche underpainting - WIP

                           

Here is the final work on the ébauche painting, titled Coffee with Rothko. I have always enjoyed Mark Rothko’s work. His paintings are surprisingly meditative and contemplative, and if you have ever been up close to one, they are very spatial with a remarkable simplicity. He could go into great descriptions about the hidden meaning and symbolism in his work, alleging his work is based on mythology and philosophy, conveying the spiritual. What Rothko’s paintings lack in skill and craftsmanship he made up for by creating a dialogue about his work and inspiring people to discern their meaning. Don’t get me wrong Rothko was one of my early artistic influences and I would love to sit down, have a cup of coffee with him and ask just how much of his rhetoric was art speak and bullshit. 

Jim Serrett, Coffee with Rothko, oil on panel, 12 x 16 in, © Jim Serrett Studio

You will read over and over that art is subjective. What moves one person may not move another… on that I will agree. But there is a means by which we can quantify a work of art and it has very little to do with what explanation is written, what critics state or academics affirm about a work of art.

It is why people work hard and intensely all their lives creating art.

  “He who works with his hands is a laborer.

  He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.

  He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.”

                                                                            ― Francis of Assisi

Pronunciation -  ébauche: ay•boash


Links:
Mark Rothko

Underpainting Techniques

Bistre Method - wipe out

Grisaille underpainting

Explore - Question - Learn - Enjoy, Jim

Website - jimserrett.com

Studio Blog - jimserrettstudio.com
Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings 

Underpainting Techniques – Demonstration Five- Part II the ébauche underpainting - WIP

So here I am at the end of my first pass over the ébauche. I am using the color ébauche over a white ground, but different types of ébauche have been done through history, artist have used the color ébauche over top of a grisaille and in conjunction with a wipe out or bristre underpainting. So the main differences here in this type of underpainting compared to that of a grisaille (monochromatic underpainting) is that you have light passing through the thin layers of paint reflecting back off of the white ground the base color or local color. And as I work through the first pass the ébauche underneath supports the new color note and gives this very nice and sympathetic foundation to paint over top of. 

So I push through the first pass, relating each color note (hue-value-chroma) and passage, following the pattern of light, I keep dialing in closer and closer the resolution and fine tuning the image. In this layer I wanted to think more about dimension, where light hits and does not hit, what catches light and what is in shadow.

In some ways this is harder than using a grisaille because you are working color with form at the same time and you need to be very aware of the values you are using, building up your darks. In others ways easier because your color notes are in harmony with the layer underneath and you are describing the major forms so much quicker and getting the “big” picture, dialing in the finished image. What it does give you is an understanding of why through history artist have used this indirect painting process in its different variations, each had its advantages, and it was up to the artist to determine which method would be best suited for a given picture.
Next post - the finish.

“Learning never exhausts the mind.” ~Leonardo da Vinci

Pronunciation -  ébauche: ay•boash

Links:

Underpainting Techniques

Bistre Method - wipe out

Grisaille underpainting

Explore - Question - Learn - Enjoy, Jim

Underpainting Techniques – Demonstration Five - the ébauche underpainting - WIP

I start the painting by creating a preparatory drawing. Working from life I develop a simple but accurate “contour drawing” using a straight line "block-in" and use comparative measurements to find the big relationships "enveloping" all of the objects in the composition as one main shape. Drawing the largest shapes first and breaking them down into smaller and smaller components. The emphasis in the drawing at first should be simple straight lines, thinking in in terms of angles and tilts makes comparative measurements of one area to another easy. This helps in refining the block-in with confidence, creating a very accurate and economical map of the forms and objects. There are some prior posts here about the drawing process.

What I want in the drawing is a strong composition and a good foundation to work from, I want to look at the big picture not the details, check and measure the spatial relationships, and pay close attention to the negative and positive spaces. I will make many revisions on this simple contour drawing until I feel that I have established an accurate map of the major shapes. It’s not that I need a lot of information, I just need truthful information. When I am happy with the drawing I do a graphite transfer to a canvas panel.

Once I have my line drawing on panel I start the ébauche or first block-in with color. The term ébauche is a French word that in translation means “draft” or “rough sketch” and is most often associated with the French academies and traditional 19th century academic training. It is a form of underpainting that uses a thinly applied lay-in of dominant colors that describe the major forms.

As an underpainting “the ébauche” is used to approximate the qualities of color and value in their true relationship and quickly establish the overall appearance of the painting. Painted loosely and thinly, it somewhat resembles a watercolor. Unlike monochromatic under-painting techniques, the wash-in is fully chromatic, which allows the modeling of form immediately and gradually with hue, value and chroma. I like this process and use variations of it when painting on location and from life, it allows you to really establish the overall design and general effect of the painting quickly. 

Next post - the first pass.

Pronunciation -  ébauche: ay•boash

Links:
Under-painting Techniques
Painting Techniques

Explore - Question - Learn - Enjoy, Jim