Paintings Inspired by Meredith Kuntzsch

 

     

A few months ago at the Alexandria Festival of the Arts I was inspired by the pastel paintings of Meredith Kuntzsch. She describes her landscapes as dreamscapes. She uses dry pastels, also called hard pastels. Mine are similar enough to Kuntzch's that I would never sell them, because I'd be infringing on her idea, even though I used a different process to create mine.

Here's how I did mine: 1) Painted a watercolor under-painting. 2) Added oil pastels, also called soft pastels, to all but the top left one.

From top left:
Blue Sky Orange Sand, Purple Grass, Purple Trees Red Grass, Yellow Sky Purple Trees, Pink Sky Yellow Grass. All about 4.5x6in.

More on Stained Paper

I received a lot of positive feedback on Green Trees, so I did yet another painting using a Phtalo Green under-painting and Chinese White (yes, I know it looks like the under-painting is blue, but it's not). This painting is huge (24 inches wide) and took a lot of paint to create.

Horses at Night in Winter (c) 2010 by Jess Sanaie, 18x24in

About this blog... (updates)

Thank you for visiting my site. Here are the updates:

• I've added a couple paintings to my mom's page: Ginger Sanaie.
• Lesson 9 was the last Herron class of the semester.
• I've discovered a new color of paint: the color is Olive Green; see me use it in these paintings

Herron Class 9: Abstract Watercolors

Process: The lesson was about winging it. Paint some colors and don't worry about what they're going to be. Wait until that dries, then darken some areas. Because Susan likes have some recognizable shapes, she'll add trees or flowers after she lays down the initial shapes.
My work: I find painting abstractly in watercolor challenging because it's hard to get dark shapes and it's hard to revise shapes. Therefore, although still imaginary, the landscapes I painted are less abstract than Susan's.

Tree in Field (top)
Fisherman Casting Net (bottom) - This one came about because a coworker gave me some very old rough watercolor paper - it was so dark and aged that I decided to paint a night scene.
Both (c) 2010 by Jess Sanaie, 12x16in

Herron Class 8: Still Life

The lesson today was abstract still life, but I did a realistic one.

The basic idea of today's lesson was to do a loose still life drawing with overlapping sections, then color in various sections leaving white space in between. The subject(s) were to be painted in warm colors (e.g. red, orange, yellow or brown) and the background was to be painted in cool colors (e.g. green, blue or purple).

However, I did this still life instead. Here's what I did that was similar to the lesson: 1) sketched the drawing in loosely (I used paint instead of pencil for my outlines); and 2) did a still life with overlapping shapes. I don't do still life subjects often, so this was a nice change.

Still Life with Tea Kettle, Mug and Water Container (c) 2010 by Jess Sanaie, 10x14in

Christmas Cards

So I've painted my Christmas card for this year. Now to figure out how to print some off and send them!

Poinsettia Holiday Card (c) 2010 by Jess Sanaie, 4x6in

Herron Class 7: Part 3 of 3

Practicing Method 1 from Herron Class 7, I created this owl.

How I did it: When I laid down the gel, instead of using completely random brush strokes like Susan, I made my strokes go only in one direction, like feathers (the strokes are going top to bottom). After the gel dried, I used a very limited palette (see Herron Class 2: Limited Palette) to paint the owl and tree. I only used Caput Mortuum, Lamp Black, Raw Umber and a bit of Prussian Blue.

I like how the owl is hiding in a place of safety: Serious Owl (c) 2010 by Jess Sanaie, 7x10in

Herron Class 7 Continued

Using Method 2 (the tissue paper and gel medium method) from Herron Class 7, I created this painting:
New Mexico Landscape (c) 2010 by Jess Sanaie, 10x14in

Herron Class 7: Using Gel Medium

We used textured paper - we created the texture with gel medium. The gel coating makes any surface archival quality. We used two different methods.

Method 1, Just Gel: Mix gel medium and water in a 1:1 ratio. Apply with a foam brush onto matboard*. Wait for it to dry, then paint it. The gel creates texture and makes the board water-resistant. To lift color, just add water.

I did Blue Ocean Waves with Method 1, (c) 2010 by Jess Sanaie, 10x6in.

Method 2: Gel Plus Tissue Paper: Apply gel medium directly to matboard*. Next, crinkle a sheet of tissue paper and tap it down onto the board so it sticks to the gel. Dry it with a hairdryer, then apply a coat of gel mixed with water in a 1:1 ratio to the board with a foam brush. After it dries, paint it**. I haven't finished my assignment for this method yet.

*Note 1: You could use illustrator board or watercolor paper.
**Note 2: If you don't apply a coat of gel over the tissue paper, any paint applied to the tissue paper will run uncontrollably.

New Palette Colors Follow Up

In my previous post Supplies I Use to Paint Watercolors I listed the colors I was using. But I just changed my palette today to this:

PIGMENT:

• Lemon Yellow (same, but using it less often)
• Winsor Yellow (same)
• Transparent Yellow (same, but might use it more often)
• Cad Orange (same)
• Winsor Red Deep (same)
• Quinacridone Rose (same)
• Alizarin Crimson (same)
• Thioindigo Violet (new) 
• Caput Mortuum (same, but using it more often)
• Raw Umber (same)
• Lamp Black (same, but might use it more often)
• Hooker's Green (same)
• Cobalt Green (same),
• Manganese Blue (same)
• Coeruleum Blue (same)
• Prussian Blue (same, but using it more often)
• Ultramarine (same)
• Ultramarine Violet (same)

NO LONGER USING:

• Burnt Sienna (ran out, might not buy more)
• Burnt Umber (would rather mix browns using Caput Mortuum)
• Terre Verte (not potent enough)

Green Pasture

I received a lot of positive feedback on Green Trees, so I did another painting using a Phtalo Green under-painting. Because I had to let the under-painting dry before moving on, this was a multi-night project. It is a painting of a green field near where I used to live.

Green Pasture by Jess Sanaie (c) 2010, 13x17in

Painting for a Friend

 

I did this painting for a friend. It was inspired by a photo she took and the line "small but mighty" (from a movie about chihuahuas). The idea here is that someone small (as symbolized by the tree) can do great things (it's flourishing in a seemingly inhospitable environment). 
Tree in Israel by Jess Sanaie (c) 2010, 12x16in

Herron Class 5 (Glazing) Follow Up

After numerous rounds of doing a layer, waiting for it to dry then adding another layer, this is my finished painting using the glazing method. The key to making this work was giving my previously too-yellow sky an additional red glaze.

Glazed Field by Jess Sanaie (c) 2010, 14x20in