My demo for CWA...

 

My demo painting -- next to last step

I had a great time as the guest artist for the California Watercolor Association at their May meeting on the evening of the 15th.  My husband drove over with me (their meeting spot is about 70 miles from my home), served as general roadie, and also took these pictures during the demo.  He managed to capture most of the steps along the way, although he was unable to get a picture of the last step I did during the demo.  But I'll be posting more photos after I finish the piece, so you'll be able to see all the steps after the last image posted here.

I originally had a different image drawn out (in five steps), but realized about a week before the demo that it was much too complex for a 90 minute demo.  At that point, it was scramble time so I decided to give my favorite vintage salt shaker another turn in the spotlight.  In addition to painting on this image, I talked about prepping my images, chosing background resources, and using masking fluid to save highlight areas and frisket film to protect the shaker when stamping or spattering the background.

 

Starting point

I had the body painted in before I arrived.  The main color is new gamboge, mixed with some Daniel Smith quinacridone deep gold and a little Winsor violet (dioxazine) for the shadowy areas on the base of the shaker.

Step one -- painting the head

I'm using French ultramarine blue for the main color on the head and mixing the blue with a bit of Daniel Smith's quinacridone sienna for a deeper tone to model the three-dimensional form.

Step two -- the wing is complete

Next, I painted in the wing, using cobalt green.  Because I wanted to show how the glaze on the wing bled into the body, I lightly painted a clear water wash on the yellow body so the green would drift into the yellow slightly.

Step three -- painting the bill

I'm using scarlet lake for the main color on the bill and a mix of scarlet lake and Payne's gray for the darker red that I pulled along the edge of the bill to give it form.  In this photo, I'm adding an orangy-red -- made by adding a bit of new gamboge to the scarlet lake -- to the center of the bill to give it a subtle highlight.

All the large color areas are complete

At this point, the main areas are colored in and it's time to add the black details.  I mixed up a nice deep black with French ultramarine blue and Daniel Smith quinacridone sienna and am starting to paint in details around the eye in the next photo.

Step four -- painting in the black details

Step five -- bringing the highlights to life

In the last step I have to show you, I have removed the masking fluid and am softening the edges of the highlights to make them look realistic.  This step also shows the preliminary background -- I painted a rosy purple across the background and then stamped it with masking fluid using a stamp I'd cut out of a compressed sponge.  I protected the painted shaker with frisket film (actually a transparent, low-tack contact paper that I bought at either a hardware store or drugstore).  

The last step of the demo was to pull a deeper purple wash across the background to make the stamped images pop.  Unfortunately, my husband didn't capture it with the camera.  When I finish this painting, I'll remove the masking fluid and very likely spatter some gouache on the background to soften the pattern and keep it in a supporting role to the main character.

Hope you enjoyed the demo.  Stay tuned for the final results.

New Color Blending Workshop...

I'm really excited to be doing another watercolor workshop at my friend Guy Magallanes's studio!!  Guy has created such a congenial space -- it's just a pleasure to be there.  We're expanding this workshop a bit (starting on Friday afternoon and continuing with full days on Saturday and Sunday) to make sure everyone will have time to complete this painting.  I'll also be showing you some simple things you can do to make a rather plain resource photo pop with energy.  I hope you'll join me in June!!

Fourth Annual Peeps Challenge!!

Little Bo Peeps

watercolor, 6" x 6"

Chris Beck

I hauled out my artistic license for this one: anyone who collects vintage tableware will undoubtedly recognize the girl salt shaker as Little Red Riding Hood, but by cleverly painting the hood pink instead of red, I have magically transformed her into Little Bo Peeps!!  If you look closely, you'll notice that two of the Peeps are also salt shakers -- a lucky find just as I started planning my painting.

 

Equality for All Peeps

watercolor, 6" x 6"

Pablo Villicaña Lara

Happy Hour Peeps

watercolor, 10" x 10"

Kathleen Ballard

A Fistful of Peeps

oil, 11" x 14"

Geraud Staton

I'm pretty sure the original Peeps Challenge was something Pablo dreamed up in a moment of grand silliness, but now it's almost an institution -- four years and, Peeps willing, forty more!! Pablo and I have shared this challenge each year since then, with a changing cast of other participating artists. Joining us this time around are Kathleen Ballard and Geraud Staton.  I love the creative fun that this challenge provides and, judging from their witty results, so do my fellow Peepsters.  I've provided links to posts about the challenge -- hop over to read more.

Catching up & a teaser...

Hip Hop Bebop

watercolor, 12" x 12"

Chris Beck

I've been doing the happy dance here on a regular basis lately.  Hip Hop Bebop was recently selected for the Northwest Watercolor Society's upcoming international exhibition on Mercer Island, WA by juror Mark Mehaffey. The show dates are April 15 to May 31.

Then, yesterday, I heard that Hip Hop Bebop was also chosen for publication in Splash 15: Creative Solutions, part of the ongoing series published by North Light Books.  Publication date is set for Summer 2014.

 Waiting in the Wings

watercolor, 12" x 12"

Chris Beck

And a few weeks ago, I learned that Waiting in the Wings will be included in the Transparent Watercolor Society of America's exhibition (May 4 to August 4) at the Kenosha Public Museum in Kenosha, WI.  Jurors were Robin Berry and Paul Jackson.

  

And please keep an eye out for these little guys! >>>

I'm joining with my friends Jelaine Faunce, Pablo Villicaña Lara, Kathleen Ballard, and Geraud Staton in the Fourth Annual Spring Peeps Challenge!!  We plan to post by Sunday morning.

Mugs, mugs, and more mugs!!

There's a sale going on in my Zazzle store this week -- 40% off on all mugs until Thursday night at 11:59 PDT.  This is a great opportunity to buy your favorite mug or give one to a friend!!  Use code LUCKY4CLOVER at checkout to get the discount.

(In addition to the mugs shown above, there are four more -- two feature vintage ceramic critters and two feature coffee beans on a background inspired by African mudcloth designs.)

Tech Talk: Pigments - Week 6

Lightfastness Test Strips

(bottom half is the sun-exposed section)

Back in January, I painted these test strips of Mission Gold watercolors because I was concerned about the lightfastness of the pigments used in manufacturing these paints.  As I've reported before, I cut the sheet down the center and put half in a drawer in my flat files and half on an enclosed porch that gets a few hours of strong sun on clear days.  Despite the limited sun exposure during our rainy winter months, there are definite changes to many of these pigments.

The sun-exposed yellow has become darker in the full-strength strip, but other colors have either become slightly dull or are changing color slightly.  At full strength, permanent rose, permanent violet, and burnt sienna are faded and somewhat duller now and prussian blue is slightly faded and also leaning towards green. 

Changes are more noticeable in the tints, which is often the case with impermanent pigments.  While orange and peacock blue had only slight fading, there is noticeable fading to the permanent rose, rose madder, permanent violet, prussian blue, and burnt sienna.  Sap green and Van Dyke brown both showed moderate fading. 

Out of curiosity, I changed the white background of my photo to a 60% grey tone in Photoshop.  The neutral grey really makes the colors pop and makes it easier to see the changes to the sun-exposed pigments.

I'll be leaving the test section in place on the porch for the forseeable future.  Even with many hours of full sunlight, it can take several months to see the full extent of changes to pigments.  I plan to report back here in a month.

Mugshots and mustard...

I've just released two more images as mugs -- on the left, Debonair Duck and Colonel Mustard on the right. Mr. D. Duck is a vintage salt shaker in real life and Colonel Mustard is a vintage mustard pot, although I don't think he has a clue that he's such a lowly table item -- not with that fierce demeanor!! These two bring the mug count in my Zazzle shop up to an even dozen. Pop over and check them out!!

The subject of mustard brings me around to some photos of my neighborhood.  Our area had extensive orchards many years ago and a few remnants still exist.  This nearly defunct orchard is about three blocks from my house -- it's mostly walnut trees (or what's left of them), but there are two or three flowering trees too, probably plum.

February is mustard time here and we have a bumper crop this year, due to generous rainfall in December and January.  A "booster shot" storm early last week set the fields abloom this weekend.

 

Happy Monday!!  Have a fabulous week!!

Peeps mugs!!!

Calling all Peeps lovers!! Check out the new mugs in my Zazzle shop!! Be the first on your block to collect them all!!! 

What a great trio this makes -- all the primary colors!!  Three of my Peeps paintings are reproduced on classic white mugs and the images are printed on both sides so your breakfast mates can enjoy them too. Get one (or two or three!!) at my Zazzle store -- ChrisBeckStudio.

These are high quality mugs with bright, clear graphics, as you can see. They can be used in the microwave, but should not be run through the dishwasher.

L to R: Five blue Peeps join a couple of vintage ceramic bluebird salt shakers in "What Did You Expect From Marshmallow Eggs?"  A clever tin toy frog thinks he can hide out in a box of classic yellow Peeps in "Spring Peepers." A solitary pink Peep sits on a nest of foil-wrapped chocolate eggs, dreaming of hatching a flock of chicks in "Hope Springs Eternal."

Images from the Shanghai Biennial...

Opening reception begins

I discovered that there were some new pictures of the Shanghai Zhujiajiao International Watercolour Biennial on their website, including some views of the actual gallery displays.  To my delight, I saw my own painting in one of the photos, although you almost need a magnifying glass to see it!! 

They have a short slide show that covers some of the opening ceremony activities in addition to the gallery images. If you'd like to check it out, you can click here.  You can either view the slide show or click on the individual thumbnail images to enlarge them. To begin the slide show, hover your mouse over the large image to bring up the start button. My blue morning glory painting appears on the far back wall in the next to last slide, shown below.

Pigment Play: Lunar Black

Daniel Smith's Lunar Black & friends

Playing with paint is a great way to get to know the properties of the pigments on your palette. From color mixes to novel textures, the opportunities for discovery are endless. Starting today, I'm occasionally going to share some of my experiments and hope you'll be inspired to try some of these yourself.  For the record, I am not affiliated with any of the watercolor manufacturers and will simply feature whatever grabs my attention.

One of the most unusual watercolor paints on the market is Daniel Smith's Lunar Black.  Consisting of Mars black and black iron oxide, it yields fabulous granulation effects -- either by itself or when mixed with other paints.  In the photo above, you see the Lunar Black at the center of the top sample. At the far left is a mixture of Daniel Smith's Quinacridone Deep Gold and Lunar Black. Far right, Daniel Smith's Transparent Pyrrol Orange mixed with Lunar Black. In my experience, it's best mixed with clear strong colors, but it's just plain fun to play with -- I encourage you to get a tube and experiment. As with any granulating paint, you need to lay down a reasonably wet wash and leave it alone until it's dry. Any rebrushing or attempts to add to the wash will disrupt the granulation.

Lunar Black also has a unique property -- because of the use of iron oxide, the paint responds to manipulation with magnets.  In the bottom sample, you see a square of plain Lunar Black on the left. In the center, I've held a small circular magnet under the paper in various places while the wash was still wet to get a dot pattern.  On the right, I took a somewhat larger magnet and moved it around continuously under the paper to concentrate the pigment. If you look closely, you can see evidence of swirling as the magnet attracts the iron particles in the paint. I'm not sure exactly how I'd use this feature in my paintings, but I think it might have promise for landscapes or abstract work.

Until next time, that's it for Pigment Play!!