Trying Out a New Painting Surface

Experiment One: Above the photo and the completed acrylic painting of our nephew's gyrfalcon painted on a 10" square DaVinci Smooth Textured Pro Panel.

Today I chose to experiment with the DaVinci Pro Panels available here. The Gyrfalcon I did last week in acrylic paint for our nephew was my first trial with these panels. For that one, I used a smooth-textured panel and found the surface felt to my brush to be a tad "slippery." It's easy to paint over, paint on, and build up textures, however, so the slippery beginning didn't really deter me from completing the 10" square painting.

Experiment Two: Prismacolor Pencils on DaVinci Smooth Pro Panel

Here's my box of colored pencils ready to go! (Click on each photo to see an more detailed image)

And the progress of working in colored pencils on this new surface:

Upon completion, a coat of acrylic varnish was sprayed on. Several more coats will assure no smearing in the future!

While the process remains nearly the same, working light to dark in colored pencils, I learned that they do not blend quite as well on this hard surface as they do on paper. Even using the Prismacolor Blending Pencil, the colors don't really blend smoothly as they do on the softer surface of paper.

So I'm a tad disappointed in the results, but am glad that I tried the panels out for colored pencil. I like drawing in regular pencil on them, so I may consider doing some pencil drawings in the future on some of the small ones I bought for testing. But I doubt very much I will use colored pencils on this surface again.

Maybe tomorrow will be the day I try out soft and hard pastels on the heavily textured Pro Panels. Stay tuned for more experimentation!

New: PayPal for Purchases Now Available on My Blog!

Raven: Attentive is now SOLD! Tomorrow it will leave via Priority Mail to it's new home.

I applied for a PayPal business account about 7 years ago - then never did anything about it. Until this week...when a reader inquired about purchasing one of my Raven paintings. Since I plan to accept only PayPal for purchases of on-line sales, I suddenly had to update everything both PayPal and this blog.

Mind you, I'm a septuagenarian, so the html language is utterly mystifying to me. I wasn't sure I understood if I was to post the PayPal button in my original blog html settings or where I was to post it. It took me almost 24 hours to figure it out and to actually set up the payment button. But I did it! Thankfully, the gentleman making the purchase was quite patient as I navigated this foreign land. And the really funny part is the fact that the buyer of Raven: Attentive is a computer guru, a software program designer, no less. I had a big laugh over that, when it was discovered!

However, this is the third painting to go out via USPS this week. Two Raven sales and one painting sent to our nephew for allowing me to paint his gyrfalcon! An exciting week!!!

Other than that, I've been stuck at the computer doing office tasks all week. It always seems like such a waste of time, yet it is a necessary "evil" to balancing my intuitive side. There isn't much point in renewing my painting career only to have them languish in boxes in our basement. Better the work be seen, appreciated, and potentially sold to those who are attracted to the work.

I do have gallery representation at the State College Frame Shop and Gallery and at the Bellefonte Art Museum, both in central Pennsylvania. However, this is a small, rural area and so it is to my advantage to have wider exposure and a place on-line to sell my work. Thus the impetus to add the PayPal button to this site. If I don't try something new, nothing new will appear!

Winding Down on Ravens... and "How Long Does It Take to Paint That?"

Above, eleven completed paintings after being sprayed with protective varnish. They're DONE!!! And all, but the two that are sold, are for sale at $125.00/each.

This week I completed painting the last of the 10 Ravens I had drawn on canvas and ready to go. I generally work on two or three paintings at a time, allowing some to dry while working on others. Some need to hang on the wall for a day or more, until I feel satisfied that they are complete and ready to go out to the public.

These past two weeks, I've averaged 5 paintings per week, working nearly every day on them. If they were larger paintings, more complex pieces, or subject matter unfamiliar to me, then each would have taken far longer.

By the way, one Raven is going out via Priority Mail to its new owner this week. And another painting - this one is a Gyrfalcon that belongs to our nephew, Tim in Wyoming, will also go out via Priority Mail this week. Here they are before packing.

Raven Preening (12"w x 9"h) is going to Red Bank, New Jersey to another Raven lover!

Gyrfalcon (10" square) is going to Tim, who raises gyrfalcons in Wyoming.

And moving on, questions of "how long did that take" often are heard by artists. Here is my take on that.

Time really doesn't matter to me, especially when I am painting. Even when I'm not! I haven't worn a watch for years, nor do I consult my cell phone for the time. When painting, one steps outside the boundaries of time/space and lives in the essence of meditation. Painting involves the totality of the artist - distractions rarely enter the time/space unless it comes from a strong outside source. With our children grown with kids and grand-kids of their own, I am rarely interrupted. My dear spouse of 51+ years, knows better than to do more than hover outside the studio hoping to catch my attention!

But it's surprising to me just how often people ask artists, "how long did that take you to paint?" It's truly irrelevant to the piece of art. Some pieces fly through the subconscious into the concrete world and almost paint themselves. Other pieces are done with intense scrutiny, deliberate intent, and incredible lengths of time involved in both thinking, planning, and executing a single piece.

For me, the Raven Series and the two Holstein cows - all painted on black, all went fairly quickly. They are not as detailed, they are nearly monochromatic - black, white, and gray, and much is left to the imagination of the viewer. The viewer becomes an active participant in relating to the birds and the cows.

On the other hand, landscapes and portraits of people, take me ever so much more time to plan, draw, and complete. I've always admired details - I love realistic photography and art, although I no longer choose to work in quite that realistic a manner. Realism takes TIME, lots and lots of time. When one is younger, time doesn't really matter. Perfection of a technique is often the driving force.

But as I have aged, I realize that in painting, as in real life, the details really aren't that important. It's the essence of what is being portrayed that matters. Just how one attempts to portray the essence of something is totally unique to each artist - author, poet, musician, actor, all creative people. It is our unique perspective and relationship with what we are creating that comes through to the viewer, reader, audience.

So the bird paintings are essentially coming directly out of my love for and nurturing of birds and wildlife. My painted birds seem to look directly at the viewer and ask for an intimacy between that viewer and the painted bird. And that is a delight to me! It is what any artist would be thrilled to have occur between the audience and the work. An interaction, an exchange, a connection.

My next series of pieces are more birds - can't get them out of my system, so I'm just going with them! Song birds, baby birds, a heron, a couple of Ravens. A dozen small canvases are now prepared and ready for paint. Tomorrow will begin then next period of time where I disappear into the studio and lose all track of time.

Baby Robin (10" square) above and Great Blue Heron (11"w x 14"h) below

Stay tuned!

So Much FUN Painting Birds!

Raven in the Snow - (c) Pat Dolan 2017 - 9hx12w" - $135.00 + 6% PA tax + shipping

These past two weeks have been a time of intensive painting in the studio. I'm preparing for an open studio in early May, so I need work to have on the walls. Right now, most of my bird paintings are hanging in The State College Frame Shop and Gallery. Several have sold, and I will be picking them up next month. But it's always a good idea to have a lot of work on hand when people are coming to visit one's studio!

Here are several of the 8 Raven paintings that I've been working on recently.

Raven Complaining! - (c) Pat Dolan 2017 - 9hx12w" - $135.00 + 6% PA tax + shipping

Shy Raven - (c)Pat Dolan 2017 - 9wx12h" - $135.00 + 6% PA tax + shipping

Raven Attentive - (c)Pat Dolan 2017 - 9wx12h" - SOLD

Continuation of the Raven Series

Raven Preening - (c) Pat Dolan - 2017 - SOLD

It's been great fun and also a bit challenging to reveal the personalities of the different Raven's I'm painting in this series. Without a personality, a bird seems so much less impressive! But I'm also noticing that there are many bird species that seem to appear to be identical to one another. Robins and Blue Birds both seem to be so similar to one another, not very expressive of their individuality as compared to one another in their appearance. Yes, they can occasionally take on a pose that sets them apart from all the others, and that is what I like to capture. The uniqueness of each bird...

Ravens seem to have very expressive faces and postures, at least the ones in my reference photos by Wendy Davis! Here are several of my recent pieces with a step-by-step approach so you can watch them evolve on the easel.

First, the drawing in white/silver pencil on the black canvas.

Initial layin of light and medium values.

Refining the values, bit by bit.

Getting close to completion...

Once the highlights are added to the eyes, the bird seems to leap forward and squawk directly in your face!

Raven Squawk - (c) Pat Dolan - 2017 - 9"w x 12"h - $135.00 + 6% PA sales tax + shipping

Here's another step-by-step:

Only one eye is really showing in the photo and I began this way, but didn't like how it looked without a gleam in the eye that was turned away from us.

Building up the lights gradually...

Building up the lightest lights - rather boldly!

Accentuating wings with dark tones and the breast feathers with light accents.

Adding the "hidden" eye and softening the head feathers.

Shy Raven - (c) Pat Dolan - 2017 - 9"wx12"h - $135.00 + 6% PA tax + shipping

Here's one corner of my studio where I can hang these paintings, let them sit for awhile, and determine if they need any changes or if they are complete as they are. You can see Wendy Davis' 2017 Raven calendar hanging on the wall, too! Her photography is so inspiring!

Painting & Learning More About Ravens

Caw (c) Pat Dolan - 2017 - 12"w x 9"h - $135.00 + 6% sales tax for PA residents

I've started to read about the Raven population and am finding it quite interesting. I have 2 books, both by Bernd Heinrich, Professor Emeritus of Biology at the University of Vermont. The titles: Raven in Winter and Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds. His writing style is both informational and amusing. He provides plenty of antidotes which embellish his prose, to say the least. As a professional biologist, he has made a study of the Ravens since the mid-1970's or so. Actually, he reminds me a great deal of our son-in-law, also a biologist and an author - who can make information about trees, bugs, plants, stones, and the like absolutely fascinating!

Anyway, I'm not too far in the first book, Ravens in Winter, and the author has proposed plenty of theories and had most of them dashed by the objects of his studies. The stories make a great accompanyment for my painting of individual Ravens as photographed by Wendy Davis, a wonderful photographer living in British Columbia. She posts "Raven a Day" on Facebook, which is how I found her photographs. So captivated was I, that I wrote and asked for permission to use her Raven photos as reference material for my Raven portraits. She graciously agreed, and also recommended the two books that are enriching my experience of these wonderful birds.

Above, "Attentive" in process. Below, completed painting "Attentive" (c) Pat Dolan 2017 SOLD

Below, three stages of "Preening" (c) Pat Dolan 2017

First stage of placing lights vs. darks on the painting, making sure of composition.

Second state, toning down lights and darks, or accentuating them, as needed.

Final state, adding appropriate details to capture the essence of the Raven as he preens his feathers. "Preening" is SOLD.

Below are two photos of the early stages of "Caw" shown at the top of this entry. I started boldly, then tones down the lights to captivate this Raven cawing.

All Raven bird portrait paintings at this time are 9"x12" painted on black canvas with acrylic paints. Most are available for purchase.