Colonel´s Log: January 2012

The House on the Hill

A little incursion on landscape, however I cannot avoid to construct a scene with a human being, in a way that that tells a story to the viewer, hopefully something subtle extrange or disturbing.

This is an unfinished painting which is a collage from a painting of Sydney Richard Percy and Wall Jumpers from Malcom Morley. The Jumpers, in this case, are running from a 19th century british lanscape. I liked very much the idea and I am planning to finish the painting soon.

A reproduction and 20' Sketches

The following exercice consisted on a reproduction from Lucien Freud:

This was a interesting exercice that maked me to struggle with colors and textures.

Following a set of 20' sketches on canvas mounted on carboard, I am not satisfyed with them, but they served it purpose of oblige me to sinthetize:

Human Figure Exercise (Baroque)

First Step: Grisaille, lights and shadows, figure cutted on the margin, chiaroscuro

Second Step apply color, emphasis on the lights and shadows.

Colors used in thios exercise: Blue, Red, Yellow, White, Violet, Green Orange.

Human Figure Painting

Exercise of human figure painting

First Step, a drawing with carbon and later painting

Second Step: Grisaille: painting the shadows and lights with grey

Third Step apply local colors over the grisaille

Fourth Step, paint over the local colors with a restricted palette.

Colors used in this exercise: Naples Yellow, Ochre Yellow, Burnt Earth Sienna, Natural Earth Umber, Burnt Earth Umber

A diptic

The final exercise to finish the course I was previously describing, was the developmento of a project based on a triptic or a diptic. I choose a diptic.

The Fire

Each one of the paintings work alone however I think that they have more impact together.

The letter.

When I was working in them I was thinking in the relation between them. It is not clear, one gets the light from the other, however they might be at a world of distance, one might be a wife reading a letter from a husband (a soldier?) on the other side of the world just where the fire (explosion?) is.

This is the Diptic expected Layout

They were at an exibition in the Autumm Salon at the Chilean Society of Fine Arts, and "The Fire" got an Honourable Mention.

Variations on the same subject

Because the Mische Technique is quite slow I did some variations on the subject while the layers of the main painting dried.

A simple portrait painted on white backround without a previous drawing as guide

A portrait in a sort of "comic" style based on CSI las Vegas.

Egg Tempera or Mische Technique

Based on the previous work (The Girl with the Pearl Earing).
I will try to apply somo old masters technique, mixing oil painting with egg tempera, this I have found the sometimes they call it Mische Technique. The steps I applied are as follows:
A wooden 55 x 46 cms panel is prepared with 6 layers of gesso. Then, it is sanded until it shines. Then a red gouache layer is applied as backround. After the gouache layer, I continued with a detailed drawing with soft pencil

The drawing is stabilized with a fixative

When the fixative is dry I applied a layer of medium (a sticky medium made with 1 part of stand oil, 1 part of turpentine and 3 parts of dammar varnish)

This layer is dryed by hand tapping over the panel until it becomes opaque

The next step is paint the lights with egg temperaAfter the lights are ready I applied a layer ocher yellow over the drawing (no a glazing, but a layer of paint) Then when it dryes I applied again the sticky medium and did more lights with egg tempera getting more volume. Then, the next step is apply a glazing on the face with Quinacridone Rose and Indian Yellow

After it comes a glazing of the sweater with cerulean blue, Quinacridone rose, and raw umber
More lights...
More glazing on the face...
More Lights...
Painting of the background...
More glazing...
More lights, etc
Patience...