Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Still Life: Green Apples
Two of the basic tenets that I remembered from the last time was 1) Stand-up when painting and 2) Define the direction of the light. By standing up while I paint, I'm able to constantly move about 5 feet away from my painting to make sure that my massing of colors/values are correct. When I was sitting down, it was not that easy to do it. After about 3 hours of painting, standing up, my knees hurt, but I think that I could get used to it. The second tenet that I remembered was to define the light source. This allowed me to put the lightest color on the major light source area and the darker color on the areas outside of the light.
One of the things that I needed to work on, though, was to make sure that I linked my shadows across all of the objects. This is still a work in progress. I also had a difficult time getting the shape of the bowl correct. However, by standing several feet away from the painting, it was pretty easy to determine how to fix the painting.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with the painting. The bowls and apples definitely have a rounded feel to them. The next area to also improve upon is the mixing of the appropriate colors.
Still Life: Eggplant and Potatoes
Overall, I'm fairly happy about how this turned out. The foreground eggplant worked out beautifully. The background eggplant has the top reflective plane to be too prominent. When working on the eggplants, I realized the absolutely most important part is to get the drawing done correctly. This was the problem that I had with my previous still life: Pears and Apples. Without a solid drawing underneath, it is extremely difficult to get the rounded look.
The potatoes were another interesting component of this painting. In reality, I placed blobs of yellow, white and yellow ochre/burnt umber to simulate the potato. Up close, it looks like a hodgepodge of paint. When you step about 5 feet away, it looks like potatoes. Karen Winslow, my mentor, helped with the initial portion of the potatoes because I forgot the basic rule: Where is the light?
I have to remember that next time. Overall, this turned out to be a good study and a decent painting.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Reworking a painting
Friday, November 6, 2009
Still Life: Two Pears and an Apple
Monday, November 2, 2009
Still Life: Pears and Vase
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Towards the Beach: Final Painting
The concept of the painting was to emphasize different ways of approaching the beach. In this concept, we have the mountains directly accessing the beach from above, the water accessing the beach from the sides, and the abstract shapes accessing the beach from the bottom. All approach it from different angles, but all approach it at the same time.
All Artwork is copyrighted to Doug Hoppes Studio and is not to be copied or reproduced in any form without the permission of the artist. Sale of this item does not transfer its copyright.
Purchase Painting
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Towards the Beach: Basic Color Pattern
This weekend, I started to work on the color layout of Towards the Beach. For this painting, I wanted to match the colors of the mountains, water and beach as closely as possible to a photograph reference that I'm working from. As usual, I first laid down the basic color pattern and, from there, started working out some of the abstract shape colors.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Reflections
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Connection between the trees and the mountain
Reflections of the sea
Shedding light on the land
Friday, October 16, 2009
Dougie and the Ducky
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Towards the Beach: Drawing Layout
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Towards the Beach: Concept Drawing
The next painting will be one of the smaller paintings (11 x 14) and more along the lines of an impressionistic landscape. In this scene, we have the water coming up to a beach and some trees/mountains in the background. The foreground contains grassy fields and rocks.
As usual, the first part of the painting is to layout various concept sketches to decide how the abstract shapes interact with the landscape. When doing this, there are two approaches: 1) Draw the land and then incorporate the shapes or 2) draw the shapes and incorporate the land. The last painting (Reaching Upward) dealt with the shapes being drawn first and then the mountain added to it. In this situation, the land is more important than the unique shapes, so I'll work based on incorporating the shapes into the land.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Finished: Reaching Upward
The concept of the painting was to emphasize the broad strength of a mountain and show how it is constantly reaching for the sky above it. The abstract shapes represent the solid foundation that is always present for the mountain and allows it to reach higher and higher.
All Artwork is copyrighted to Doug Hoppes Studio and is not to be copied or reproduced in any form without the permission of the artist. Sale of this item does not transfer its copyright.
Purchase Painting
Reaching: Working on the Mountain Color
Friday, October 2, 2009
Reaching: Color Layout
Sunday, September 27, 2009
What to sell
Friday, September 25, 2009
Pumpkin Study
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Evaluating your target audience at the show
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Reaching: Concepts
Friday, September 18, 2009
Craft Show: Recognition Level
In the continuing talk about Craft Show Levels, today’s topic will be the Recognition Level. This level can be described as those shows that have an entry fee ranging between $100 - $500. The shows usually last for 3 days (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) and are heavily marketed in the local area. The attendees for the shows know about the event and plan their schedule around it, every year. In addition, tourist areas usually make use of the event as an activity for incoming tourists.
For the Recognition Level shows, the booths are generally larger (10’ x 10’) and electricity is provided. There are also quite a number of vendors who do this show on a regular basis, even going so far as having the show as one of their traveling stops. The booths around you will be larger and more professional than the Entry Level booths. For the most part, a lot of the vendors will have a niche product to sell. A prime example of these shows is the Holiday (Christmas) fair that begin around the day after Thanksgiving.
At this level, it’s okay to still be working on your setup, but you have to realize that, the less professional your setup looks, the less likely you will make sales. Having a hodge-podge of items to sell will guarantee that a lot of people will look at your stuff, but the likelihood that you will sell a lot of your inventory is minimal. This is especially important if you want to at least break even and get your entry fee back.
In order to attract the most number of people to your booth and guarantee sales, you should have an established presence/look for your booth. Lighting becomes important and helps ensures that your paintings will be seen from a distance. Consistency and professionalism is the term that most people want to see. At this level, when people enter your booth, they should know immediately what you have for sale and how your prices range. For art work, this includes having originals on a vertical display. If you do prints or cards, make sure that they are in a nice print bin with prices clearly marked or on a Spinning card rack.
Most people coming to this show are typically going to be spending around $10 - $200. Having products spanning this price range will guarantee that a lot of people will stop by your booth and, hopefully, purchase something. This is another good time to work on your showmanship and how you interact with customers. Having a mailing list signup is a good idea for letting the customers know when you will be back at this show again, or at another large local show.
This is the level that I am currently selling.
Finished: Spirit of the Bonsai
"Spirit of the Bonsai" is an original 16" x 22" oil painting created on a 1" stretched, high-quality canvas. The painting has been securely varnished and is presented as unframed.
The concept for the painting was to highlight the beautiful curving lines of the traditional bonsai tree and show how it always stands out in the world around it. The flowing shapes of the trunk and tree structure are sharp contrasts to the linear and direct lines of man-made objects. The simple elegance of the tree contrasts nicely with the darker and colder regions of the world that it inhabits.
All Artwork is copyrighted to
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Craft Show: Entry Level
When looking at the craft show market, there are three distinct levels of craft shows, in terms of the artist: Entry Level, Recognition Level, Serious Money Level. None of the levels are better than others, but they do serve a different purpose. So, when you are participating in that event, you need to be particularly focused on certain aspects of the show.
Today’s topic will be the Entry Level. This level can be described as those fairs that are inexpensive to enter (less than $50), do not have a large attendance, and, typically, last one day or a single afternoon. These fairs include Farmer’s Markets, small holiday craft shows, small town craft fairs, etc. The attendance can be seen to be around 50 to 1000 people. The people who come to these shows are tourists, locals who love craft fairs, or random people looking for something interesting to do. The marketing effort by the craft fair producer’s is generally minimal.
At this level, it’s okay to experiment with your setup. This is a great time to put out new and experimental pieces to determine what the public’s reaction to them is. It is also helps you get out of your comfort zone and forces you to engage the customer. You can work on what to say when a customer approaches, how to engage your customer in the booth, how to collect your mailing list name, and how to set up your booth to allow the most customer flow. Since the cost is minimal, you aren’t really worried about making back your booth/stand fee. The point is to work on your show presence and presentation.
For the entry level shows, it’s generally a good idea to have prints and cards made of your artwork. Most of the people coming to these shows will generally spend around $20 - $50. There are rare occasions where you may get someone to buy a larger piece and, if the timing is right (i.e., Christmas time), you may make quite a number of sales of originals. However, for the most part, the print/card will be your bread and butter.
Personally, I love the smaller shows. My first year of doing a craft show, I minimized my outlaying costs by doing these shows. I spoke with a lot of the other vendors and studied their setup. I watched what worked and what didn’t. I watched how they made sales, how they completed the sales and how they engaged people before they came into the booth.
In addition to setting up in the smaller craft show, it’s a good idea to visit some of them. Watch what sells and what doesn’t. Talk to the vendors and see what type of sales artists make. There are some shows that are perfect for artists and some that are perfect for jewelry. Even with the small outlay, you are only wasting your money if the people coming to the show aren’t interested in purchasing paintings.
The next topic to follow will be the Recognition Level shows.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Evaluating the painting
Monday, September 14, 2009
How to setup for a Craft Fair
Friday, September 11, 2009
Still Life Study: Vase and Eggs
As I’m currently working on a painting that involves painting a more realistic bonsai tree, I decided that I need to do some more work on rounded objects. So, for last night’s painting session, I set up a still life that contained only rounded objects: a vase, two eggs, a lime, and a bottle. Overall, I’m fairly pleased on how the painting worked out. Unfortunately, I ran out of time so I was not able to finish up the bottle, besides laying out the basic color and general shape.
For this painting, I decided to work on sanded gesso-board, rather than a canvas pad. The gesso-board was a lot smoother and, frankly, I’ve never worked on it and wanted to see how it behaved with water-soluble oils. The first step was to tone the entire board by laying down the base color of the wall behind the still life. In the past, I would never use any mediums at this stage, but have realized that the paint would be applied too thickly. Therefore, mixing liquin with the oil paint created a thin enough layer to cover the panel and still be able to lay more color on top.
Now, it’s time to lay down the colors. As before, I laid down the mid-tone colors and used various levels of grey and surrounding colors to get the correct look. This is where the work really begins. Color matching is not my strong point. So, as I’m mixing the color, I hold up my palette knife up to the object to see how close I am. I then use the grey levels to modulate the color.
Now that the basic colors are down, the fun part begins: Shaping the structure. Using information I learned from Jack Winslow, I defined the upward and downward facing planes of each object. At this point, since my light is above my still life, the upward-facing features will be lighter than the side and downward-facing features. So, the entire painting was working with this principle.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Color Layout Finished
Now that the basic color layout phase of the painting is completed, time to add the detail work. For the color phase, I like the dark sky/water scene such that it really balances out the painting and forces your eye to the tree area. Also, there is enough detail in it so that the eye has interesting items to view while working its way around the painting.
In order to not draw too much attention to the dark areas, I’ve decided that no more detail will be added to it. The tree, however, will have a significant amount of detail. Changing the value patterns on the foliage will allow the tree to become more rounded. I will probably add more bark to the tree to make it more lifelike.
Final consideration would be to decide what the sky will look like behind the tree. At this time, I’m thinking that soft white puffy clouds would be best. Something subtle. Maybe a hint of pink
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Color Layout: Water Section
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
First Color Layout
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Canvas Size
Once I’ve defined a concept sketch (previous post), the next phase is to decide what surface that I should paint on. For me, I’ve tried paper, illustration board, etc and have decided that I prefer the standard stretched canvas. I like the feel of the canvas beneath my brush and I like the light weight. However, the biggest benefit, for me, of a stretched canvas, is that I can paint really large or small and do not have to worry about framing.
Therefore, I work on canvases that are stapled on the back and I continue the painting on the side of the canvas. This way, the painting looks nice from any angle and, if there is some damage to the canvas, I can easily repair it by painting over the damaged part.
So, what sizes do I work on? This depends on the topic and how much of an impact I want to make. I typically work on 4 different sizes: 22 x 28, 16 x 22, 14 x 18, and 12 x 16. This allows me to have a variety of price ranges at a show. When doing craft shows, it is important to have some pricier items/larger paintings and a
So, for this painting, I’ve chosen the 16 x 22 canvas size.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Bonsai Tree and Shapes: Concept sketches
As you can see, the sketches are extremely crude, small and kind of messy. However, the purpose of the sketch is to decide the layout. There is no reason to put the detail in there. That will happen when the actual painting starts.
Once I was done with the sketches, I decided which one would be the most interesting. In this case, the bottom image was my favorite. Every time I went to do a new concept sketch, I kept referring back to that one. Therefore, that is the one that will be painted.
Next on the list, selecting a canvas.