I just returned from a refreshing and inspiring family vacation to Europe. We visited family in Germany, and managed to make lasting memories there as well as in Holland, Belgium, and France. I also hosted my first European art workshop in Duesseldorf, Germany. This is the city where my wife was born, attended University and my father-in-law worked his entire professional life. It was a very meaningful experience for us!
This is it...the final installment in our seven-part UART underpainting series is here with Part Two of the mineral spirit wash. As the sun sets over Cisco Beach in this final painting, our series has come to a close. Thanks for all the amazing feedback and encouragement you've given regarding the relevance of these instructional videos. They clearly struck a chord with you all. Please leave a post on the blog to let me know what you think about this last video.
I'd love to know what you really want to learn from me in upcoming instructional videos. As I dream and plan for the next series, your feedback would be so incredibly helpful. Portraits, still life, landscape, specific techniques, materials questions, or anything else on your mind? Just leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts. Be as specific as you can about where you would like guidance. Thank you so much in advance!
Enjoy the beautiful June weather, and be inspired!
Our underpainting series continues with Part One of the final underpainting technique in the series, the mineral spirit wash. This collaboration with UART to demonstrate a variety of underpainting methods has been such fun. Please let me know what you think about this "local color" method of underpainting by leaving a comment on the blog!
My wife and I will celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary on Thursday, June 2. This video pays homage to one of our favorite places to vacation, and the site of our first honeymoon visit. I hope you enjoy watching a glorious sunset over Cisco Beach, Nantucket, develop in the medium of pastel. It’s a reminder to me of a treasured memory, and more importantly of how fortunate I have been to share the last 15 years with my lovely wife Mirjam.
Our underpainting series with UART Sanded Paper continues with Part Three of our complementary alcohol wash demonstration. In this video, I'll show you how to refine the painting using a variety of blending techniques and adding details without covering up your underpainting or losing the freshness of your bold marks. I hope you enjoy the final result! Leave a comment and let me know what you think.
There really are so many ways to apply an underpainting. Keep an eye out for my next blog post where I'll teach you how to use odorless mineral spirits to apply a local color wash. It’s going to be bold, loose and exciting!
Our underpainting series with UART continues as we mass in bold marks using soft pastel over a complementary underpainting in Part Two of this video demonstration. You'll be excited to see the impact that placing red underneath the rice field full of greens and violets will create.
There is one final stage in this painting to go, so look forward to Part Three in my next blog post, as we refine the painting together. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think, and then try your own painterly landscape using an exciting underpainting technique.
Our underpainting series with UART Premium Sanded Paper continues with the application of a complementary color wash in alcohol. This painting demonstration will develop over three short videos released throughout the month of May. In them, I'll guide you step-by-step through the process of achieving exciting color results in the landscape using a complementary color underpainting. I absolutely love this color strategy to add life to a green-heavy painting. I think you will too! Please leave a comment to let me know what you think, and come back next week to see Part Two of this demonstration!
I hope you enjoyed the first installment of the new UART underpainting series last week on watercolor washes. Today we are thrilled to unveil part two in the series, where we'll see this landscape study come to life with the application of dry pastel. Leave a comment to let me know what you think- and look forward to additional future lessons in underpainting on UART Premium Sanded Paper coming real soon!
I'm thrilled to announce my collaboration with UART Premium Sanded Paper to bring you a series of videos on underpainting techniques. I absolutely love this versatile and durable surface and use it in a variety of ways to achieve different results. I'll be sharing a few of these techniques with you over the coming months. This first video in the series is Part One on watercolor underpainting. Enjoy- and check back on Tuesday, April 19, for Part Two!
I am very fortunate to be featured alongside some of ArtistNetwork.tv's most popular instructors on two new compilation videos. "Top 10 Art Techniques- Portraits" and "Top 10 Art Techniques- Composition Secrets" are available now in the online store!
An Unfinished Story 18x12" pastel on UART400 Sanded Paper
I have been inspired to create a series of artistic works in response to my recent trip to Southeast Asia. It was an extraordinary journey, allowing me to see many things both heartbreaking and breathtaking. Since my return, I have started creating work in response to these experiences. “Reflections of Hope: Cambodia,” is my personal reflection on the people, places, and stories of God’s enduring grace, revealing the beauty found in the midst of the brokenness.
“An Unfinished Story,” is one of the very first works in the series. This portrait in pastel is based on a young girl I met at a wonderful church in the center of Phnom Penh. Though I didn’t get to know her personally, she was one of the children taking part in Vacation Bible School at the church, and probably an orphan living nearby. As you can see, she is quite beautiful. Much like Cambodia, this precious girl’s story is still unfolding. I wonder what might happen to her, and whether she’ll experience great opportunity or grave danger in the days ahead. Both are very real possibilities.
In shining a light upon the precious people and extraordinary places I’ve seen, I hope to awaken the viewer to consider their own response to this unfolding story. One that exposes great pain and injustice, yet also summons us to participate in a noble work of restoration. I believe that hope is found in the midst of our response to the problem. For as we engage with issues of injustice, we discover that each of us holds the potential to change our world.
I hope you will join me in imagining a new chapter for Cambodia. One that is full of hope and healing as we join together to make a difference in the lives of people like her. To find out more about my experience in Cambodia, visit my REFLECTIONS OF HOPE: CAMBODIA webpage.
Premier Limited Edition Prints are now available in the online store. In my own effort to support the work of restoration in Cambodia, I'm donating 30% of the proceeds from the sale of these prints to FOUNTAIN OF HOPE, an extraordinary ministry doing great work in Cambodia.
Be Inspired,
AJ
1. Every great painting is born of an equally great plan.
2. The most important step of your work takes place before you ever begin the painting, as you clarify your vision and develop your plan. Create small thumbnail sketches as a way to focus your vision.
Here's a little thumbnail sketch I created for a painting called, "Let There Be Light!"
3. With a clear vision before you, consider using an underpainting wash to efficiently chart the course for your work, and establish an overall color mood. Additionally, you can wash in complimentary colors to add some color interest to your final painting.
Underpainting wash with alcohol for "Low Tide Sunset"
4. Now develop and refine your vision on the surface without overworking it! The underpainting gives you a very effective way to establish the large masses of value while setting up the color. It also gives you a feel for the overall mood. As the work progresses, ask yourself questions to assess when you are finished, Here are some questions to ask yourself:
"Where do I want the viewer's eyes to linger? Where is my darkest dark? Where is my lightest light? Are my values working as a whole? Is the dominant color warm or cool? Are my shapes simple enough? Are there edges that need softening or sharpening? Do I need any color accents to liven things up? Is there too much detail in any area? Do I need to apply any freshening marks to the painting? Are there quiet areas in the painting? Have I accomplished my vision yet?"
Keep this inner dialogue going throughout the painting process so that your work progresses intentionally and efficiently, and doesn't become labored. When your personal inventory of questions is satisfied, step away from the easel because you are done!
Low Tide Sunset pastel on Wallis Museum Grade 12 x 18" by Alain J. Picard
With the success of the "Capturing Light" instructional videos, I teamed up with Terry Ludwig Pastels once again to develop a sumptuous set of 14 warms and cools that pair perfectly with the DVD series. I had such fun hand selecting each color to suit this beautiful set of soft pastels. The picture below shows me engaged in the rewarding challenge of choosing just 14 perfect colors. Until now, this exclusive pastel set was only available by purchasing the Capturing Light Kit from North Light Shop. The Capturing Light Pastel Set is now available for purchase in our online store!
Alain Picard hand-selecting pastel colors.
Attending the IAPS Convention in Albuquerque, NM was a creative highlight of the year. I was invited to give a portrait demonstration entitled, "The Painterly Children's Portrait." Our model was 17, so we just made the cut there! I used an approach to painting this portrait that relies upon massing in the big simple shapes without any detail at the start, then progressing to the refinement of smaller shapes as the work develops. Here you can see the portrait at the first break, where I've washed in a basic skin tone color, and addressed all the major shapes of the painting. I've come to really enjoy using an underpainting with alcohol in my portrait work to keep things loose and simple at the start.
After about 90 minutes of work, I took a second picture of the portrait in progress. Here you can see that I've worked on anchoring the darks, developing the color relationships in the hair, shirt, and background, and beginning to address the smaller shapes of the facial area. This method of development can be known as, "pulling the portrait out of the fog".
Here is the final portrait study at the end of our three hour portrait demonstration (about 2.5 hours of painting time). I continued to develop the smaller details of the face, as well as addressing the overall color harmony and accents throughout the portrait. I gave special care not to overdevelop the shadow areas, keeping them simple and quiet. I had great fun building up the skin tone colors in the face and the painterly texture throughout, taking liberty with color. Enjoy!
"Portrait of Kathleen" Pastel on Wallis Museum Grade 18x14" Collection of John Philbin Dolan
In celebration of the recent release of my instructional art book, "Mastering Pastel," my local library in Southbury, CT hosted a public portrait demonstration this week called, "A Portrait in Period Fashion," as part of their Downton Abbey series of events. Our beautiful model, "Lady Claire," provided much inspiration as the portrait developed. Over 70 attenders joined me in a grand trip back in time to the roaring 20's for two hours of portrait painting in pastel. Portraiture is a magical profession which has endured through the dramatic changes of the past century. Even with the advent of modern technology, it's still such a thrill to see a portrait emerge on canvas or paper!
