The beginning

For the better part of the last three years I have been studying 16th century dolls and how to make the dolls. I love to do the research, and I really love to apply the research so I was testing construction methods of the dolls. Well, being the butterfly of arts that I am, I was struggling as I was wrapping up the doll project. I was trying to stay on track but I needed some more variety. That's why I turned to how the dolls were recorded in art during the 16th century. That lead to trying my hand at woodcuts and oil painting.

I really enjoyed the oil painting, something I was a little surprised at, since I have always worked with acrylic and goauches. I'd heard that oil painting was so difficult so I only planned to try a painting or two, just to help me get over this hump. I loved it. It wasn't difficult to go back to after the paint had dried, something I feared since I prefer to finish as much of a project RIGHT NOW as I can. It was a joy. I wanted to do more and I wanted to do it right.

I displayed the painting along with my other stuff at an SCA event, called Steppes Artisan. There wasn't a lot of response to the painting. I also had the painting at another event, Laurel's prize a month later. I got about the same response, but I suspect that with everything else going on at those event I thought that it just got lost in the shuffle or there wasn't any one there that felt they had something to offer.

So I took it to another event a few weeks ago and entered it into another SCA competition.
I met another artisan, an art teacher in real life who gave a lot of good advice, check the portions, the lights and shadows, things like that. Things I could work with. The judging was not as helpful, there was a concern with the lights and shadows, and that was about it. I went ahead and brought it to our Kingdom Arts and Science event. I had hoped for more advice but it was heartbreaking. The advice I had gotten was that I should be mixing my own pigments and the painting was only half done, ready for detail work and I should withdraw it. Go take mundane painting lessons.
There was further advice from someone who wasn't a judge but did help. He talked more about portions and he recommended finding a master artist to follow. It made a lot of sense and something I want to do. While I had been aiming for later 16th century techniques, the first artist that popped into my mind was Durer. I especially admire his work because he didn't do just one thing, painting, but also his woodcuts and engravings... He's my kind of artist. I've ordered some books with his drawings and other artwork. I've also ordered some other books on this style of painting.

So what do I do now? Mundane art lessons are a little out of my league. Along with the cost, the time commitment is just too much. My plan at this point is to start with photos of elements, faces, jewelry, fabric that I want to include in a later painting. I'll do prints in black and white as well as color shots, and put them into a sketch book. I want to do practice sketches of these elements, first in pencil, then ink. In the meantime I'll be purchasing the material to make my own gesso. I'll also be picking up a sheet of birch plywood, to be cut into 6 or 8 inch squares. those will all be gessoed and later become a series of paintings of these elements that I've photographed. Will I be mixing my own pigments right away? No, I'll use the paints I've already purchased. I will eventually try the pigments, but I don't want to waste the paints I already have.

So I have my new sketchbook, pencils and easer in hand. I will be doing my photos tomorrow, or at least the first batch. I have some other books on drawing so I will be review thing as well.

that's what I am off to do tonight