"Shall we begin?" -Kahn, Star Trek: Into the Darkness
Sources/Inspirations:
- Official Bob Ross YouTube or Streaming Channel
- Amazon Prime
- DVD (unavailable from this resource as of this writing - 5 Feb 2023)
- Book
Materials:
- 1 Canvas (18x24, but I use 16x20)
- 2" Brush
- 1" Brush
- #5 Palette Knife - Detail
- #10 Palette Knife
- Palette
- Easel
- Paints
- Liquid White
- Titanium White
- Phthalo Green
- Prussian Blue
- Van Dyke Brown
- Alizarin Crimson
- Sap Green
- Cadmium Yellow
- Bright Red
- Clean-Up
Assignment
So, with supplies in hand and a stretched 16x20 canvas on my easel I set forth to become the next Leonardo.
Apparently what I hand't considered was that a the large amount of Bright Red would come off my pallet (without me noticing). That being the observant yet lumbering oaf I can be, said bright red paint would spend the next 3 hours being being tracked all over the concrete floor leaving it to look like Charles Manson had stopped by for brunch. Perhaps a drop cloth would have been a good idea? Nah!
Luckily, I did notice this PRIOR to leaving my concrete floored space and traveling into the carpeted adjoining room.
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| A Walk In The Woods (c) 4 October 22 Gilbert Blankenship |
So, no one likes to hear - or admit - that their baby is ugly. But let's face it. As art goes, I don't think this is what Bob intended. But guess what? I had fun doing it. I had a few frustrations some of which resulted in obvious visual issues, and some time unsuccessfully attempting to get blood red stains out of concrete. If you would like, stop by for a coffee and a look. I promise - no persons were harmed in the making of this painting. You bring the coffee, without which I cannot assure the outcome of YOUR visit to the basement - I mean studio (snicker).
Right off the bat, I couldn't figure out why I wasn't getting any detail in the image. Especially in the foliage. I would later learn that, as a former Marine with big meaty hands I may have been - well a little forceful when applying the upper layers of paint.
While it sounds like Bob Ross is hitting the canvas fairly hard when he paints, he is (was) someone who had been painting for years. Someone who could work fast and furious under a 20 minute deadline. I, as someone who had not been painting for years - I needed to learn a new skill which goes completely against my Marine Corps upbringing. Something about ease, and gentle finesse. That, and probably not having half a dozen lattes before trying my (jittery) hands at something delicate.
NAH! It couldn't be any of that.
What I did like was the water (in general) and it's reflections. I was happy with the first attempt and at how easy, however bad it turned out, it was to accomplish.
So there are also obvious issues with composition, creating straight lines, and a tendency to fill space with carbon copies of the same bush shape.
In the end I stepped back a little. Analyzed what I had done right, and wrong, and determined to do better the next week. Whether or not I would, is left to be seen.
So yes, I am on my way to becoming the next Leonardo. Unfortunately it's more likely it will be closer to Leonardo Caprese from the local fast food place up the road than Da Vinci the Master. But I will have fun becoming - and isn't that the point? Anyway - we all know that even if I do make it in this hobby, the chances are that the millions in revenue, and endless adoring fans will arrive exactly 1 day after my demise. So, there's that.
Stay tuned for more happy little adventures!
- Gil
Do you intend to reuse canvases after taking a pic? Or are you going to use a fresh one each time? If you reuse, what is the process to do that?
ReplyDeleteFor each of the actual paintings I re-create using The Joy of Painting episodes - I plan on using fresh canvas and then keeping them (at least for now), or giving them to friends / family for them to dispose ... I mean as gifts. However the last time I shipped a 16x20 off to a family member I was rather shocked at the shipping price. If I am going to continue doing that I will have to come up with an alternative. Sure, family is family - but BUSINESS is BUSINESS (lol).
DeleteFresh canvas every time and keeping every one is an unrealistic plan as I am already running out of wall space, and due to an exceptionally busy life having very few local friends. So I need to determine a method of storage until disposal. I will post something on that journey and the difficulties it presents as well as my solution ... once I have one. I have something in the works but we will have to wait and see how it turns out.
As to other items - I do practice from time to time on things I just throw away. For example, trying to figure out why my paint isn't breaking like I want. In that case, I just tried repeatedly to get the paint to break off my knife until the canvass was full of failed attempts. I then used the knife to scrape it clean, and started with a different paint color. I learned a couple things from that exercise. Some colors break better than others. Now, I don't yet know why. It could be the color creation process - or it could be simply that the oils in the tubes were separating from the pigment - or any number of things. Im still too new at this to make a determination. But, this will also be the subject of a post soon as a friend did tell me a simple way to combat the problem of oil separation or excessive oil to pigment ratio if that is the problem.
If I were going to reuse a canvas for a new project I assume (and I may be completely wrong here) that I would first scrape it down before it dries. I would then let whatever color remained in the canvas to dry and I would try to baseline the canvas using a Gesso - perhaps a white or black. I haven't attempted that yet. But in theory ... it would only cost me a couple bucks to give it a shot.
As an aside - I am using very cheap canvas to date. I get a stack of 5 for about $10 or so from the local art store.
Long reply - but I hope it answers your question. If not, reach out again.