Confection - tonal

Here is a tonal study I made for a new painting called 'Confection' I'm working on for the upcoming Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. I completed it with these great water soluble lead pencils that Derwent Pencils makes. (Honestly, I hadn't used them in years - but had a lot of fun with them again.)

Let the primith begin!

I'm choosing to focus on creating some smaller more affordable new works for the upcoming Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition 2016. Here is a shot of the gesso express. (Gesso = the white liquid used to prime a surface for paint, for those unfamiliar.)

Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibit!

People of ‪Toronto‬: looks like I will see you again soon!!! More specifically: July 8-10 at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition! (More details to follow in the future.)

Photo  © Robby Bernstein, http://www.facesoftoronto.com

Countdown - the process

Just for fun, here is the whole process from my recent painting 'Countdown'. 

 Thumbnail studies (bottom right was the chosen one to develop)

 first rough

 rough with text and numbers added. (Getting the text how I want digitally and then tracing it later saves a lot of time.)

 final rough

 cleanup

 tonal study

 color studies done at a small scale digitally to save time. I like to see many varieties on one page. (Bottom right was chosen to expand upon.)

 Premixing the color palette for the painting.

 underpainting (blocking in the darks and lights)

 painting in process

 final painting!

Countdown - all done!

"Do you have anything... uh... not so scary?"

That's a question I was asked (twice actually) late February at The Artist Project, a large art fair in Toronto I exhibited in. It was asked to me on separate occasions by two Mom's looking for something gentler. For a nursery.

You never know what will generate your next idea...

It did get me thinking about what I found gentle when I was very young. I can't imagine life without Sesame Street. I know many feel the same way. I always liked The Count. It was his laugh mostly. (I'm also a fan of Oscar the Grouch.)

I have trouble waking up early... 

I'm a very deep sleeper. At one point I had 3 alarm clocks. The most effective of them all was my twin hammer bell alarm clock (those classic looking alarm clocks - there's a reason they've been around so long). Until it stopped working, it was most effective in accelerating my heart rate each morning. I was thinking about what it felt like to get so abruptly woken up each morning. What would that look like in a painting? 

Combining the two:

The new painting above is called 'Countdown'. In it, The Count, under moonlight is laughing famously as he counts down the remaining seconds of an alarm clock so loud it shatters itself under the arrival of the day's first light! The Count's cape also acts as a veil between the separation of night and day. (Inspired by Greek mythology of merging the abilities of Nyx (goddess of night) and Eos (goddess of dawn). Though he is a vampire, in the show Sesame Street, The Count circuits the day unscathed.)

But is it GENTLE and FIT for a nursery???

In my quest to bring this painting to you, I seem to have strayed from the realm of affable baby decor once again... I guess I just like painting "scary" things...

Persistance of Vision

 WouldLOVE to see this documentary at some point. If you've NEVER SEEN The Thief and the Cobbler (also known as The Princess and the Cobbler) - it is a seriously underrated gem!

For more art documentaries, check out my list of personal recommendations here.

Countdown - progress

Here's some progress of the painting 'Countdown' including the underpainting and palette setup.

It's getting to the point now where I almost need two palettes: one to do the premixing and another for room to do further mixing.

 Looked at some photos online of moonlight and full moon skies. Came across one with a deep green sky and liked it because it was unconventional. (Stolen!)

'The Nightmare' by Henry Fuseli

 I borrowed a book of Henry Fuseli's work from the library and have been devouring it with my eyes. The painting in this video has been among my favorites since I first came across it. I did not know until recently it's resting place is in Detroit though (at the Detroit Institute of Arts). Very unconventional composition too: the woman's arm is really close to the frame and most major elements are on the right hand side. It feels rather unbalanced to me, but is an appropriate fit to the jarring subject matter. And of course the title is a play on words, too wink emoticon