Digital Painting is Clean

Mr. Clean in Pink Bottle, 5.3" x 4", Digital Painting on Nintendo, using Colors program
©copyright Richard Luschek 2012

I have a little Nintendo DS that I like to do sketches on. These little portable devices are great as color sketchbooks. I use a program called Colors to do the drawing. I have discussed it elsewhere on this blog.

I have been pondering as to whether or not to purchase an iPad 3. A student in my class was kind enough to lend me his for a week. It is a pretty wonderful device, but I am still on the fence about it. One thing I missed in the drawing applications was pressure sensitivity- meaning, the harder you push with the pen tool or your finger, the bigger the brush gets or the darker it gets depending on the settings. The iPad has one level, so brush strokes will be of even width. Below you can see the difference with and without the sensitivity to pressure. If I do not get an iPad I am considering a cheap laptop with a small Wacom Tablet.

Left- Stroke with Pressure sensitivity
Right- Stroke without Pressure sensitivity.

It is a tough decision as the iPad sure is 'purdy', and has lots of cool bells and whistles- tech folks call them "apps". In all honesty having such a device could be a bad. Not having web access in the studio is probably a good thing.

Spring like figure session

Nude Study #2, Oil on canvas (with a bad landscape painting), 12 x 9, ©copyright Richard Luschek 2012

I decided to do some painting tonight during our Tuesday night sketch group. Thought I would start by showing the second painting, which I did on top of an unsuccessful landscape painting. Took about 45 minutes and I would have loved to have had a bit more time. The drawing is not great but I was pretty happy with the color.
We had a lovely model tonight and I had hoped to get some good work. The first painting was done in natural light, but that one did not work. I have a shot of how it looked after I unified it with a rag and turpentine.
 Sometimes paintings just need to go away.

Nude study #1- improved, oil on turpentine on canvas, 14 x 11, ©copyright Richard Luschek 2012

A Whole Grouping of Creepy

Continuing on the theme of creepy scenes in the basement.

The basement series. oil on linen, ©copyright Richard Luschek 2012

Of course they are not creepy, they are "lovely abstract designs of light and dark with powerful Caravaggio-esque chiaroscuro".
The two above on the right are finished, the others are just in the rough in stage.
Here are the next set of paintings after some work done today in the studio.

Above the Washing Machine, 24" x 18", oil on linen, ©copyright Richard Luschek 2012

Supply Closet #1, 16" x 20", oil on linen, ©copyright Richard Luschek 2012

Supply Closet #2, 16" x 20", oil on linen, ©copyright Richard Luschek 2012

Next Big Cellar

Behind The Dryer, 24" x 18", oil on linen, ©copyright Richard Luschek 2012

I am working on a new series of paintings all of which are various scenes in my basement. I posted about the first of them in my last post. I have 3 more compositions planned out and will figure out more after those. There are interesting things to paint all over my basement.
The above painting is not quite done. I think I need another session on it, maybe two.
I am finding these paintings to be quite the challenge. Everything in the picture has to be keyed to the bulb. I find that when I am painting, it is easy to key the picture to something more comfortable to look at, like the wall. The wall is being illuminated by the bulb and is a high value. So, every time I bring the painting out of the basement the picture is too light over all and the bulb has no glow. The obvious answer is the plan fact that the painting is not giving off light. Staring at the bulb in real life is uncomfortable. This will never happen with pigment on canvas.  It would look stupid to cut a hole in the canvas for a bulb. Plus that would be cheating.
So, I have to create the effect of a lit bulb, but keying my lightest light to the bulb, and getting the appearance of a lit bulb by darkening everything else way down until I get the glow. So, I am working on this in the basement and then in the studio- where I can actually see the painting in day light. I just have to work on it until it starts to read like I remember it.
These paintings are teaching me the true meaning of verisimilitude- not the "actual truth", but merely the illusion of the truth.

Hanging out in the Basement

Basement Corner, 20" x 16", oil on linen, ©copyright Richard Luschek 2012

My illustration "studio" is in the basement of our house. We have a pretty nice basement as my wife has decorated it with furniture and nice rugs, but it is still a basement with lots of ....well, I will call it patina.
I recently did a very small painting of a light bulb for show this winter and I got to thinking that I should do a series of paintings of various views of our basement.
I have two started, but thought I would post the first one that I have on the easel. I am finding very tricky to do these paintings as the light is not great in my basement and I am painting scenes in minimal light. So, they require a lot of work in the studio. I brought this painting up from the basement and it looked to be keyed too high and was way too yellow and green. Looked great in the basement, but of course it was in the dark.

So, I had to use work on the painting in the studio, from a bad photo and my memory to wrestle this into something that worked. There are still some issues I need to work out, but it is close. Above is a shot of it after a day in the studio.
I also have to point out how difficult it is to paint a lit light bulb. Can't really stare for too long without doing damage.  More to come.

Art Of Winning- and Begging

One of my paintings was just selected for a show at the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame Museum.

A Monster Attacks at Breakfast, 22" x26", oil on linen, ©copyright Richard Luschek 2012

I know what you're thinking if you follow this blog, "For goodness sake, how many times are we going to see this painting discussed on this blog? Has this guy painted any other paintings?!"
Yeah I know. Sorry, but you are going to have to deal with it. It is multi-award winning painting. What is a guy to do?

The show is called the Art of Winning and will open on March 2 and run through the 30th. As was stated in the show description: "This is a juried show. The artwork must be inspired by baseball and will be evaluated on the Reds Hall of Fame's mission statement: "Celebrating Greatness, Preserving History, Providing Inspiration" as well as skill, message and presentation. Only 30 submissions will be selected for the show. A cash prize will be awarded for the art judged to be the best piece in the exhibition on March 9 as part of the Art of Winning event and sale. A portion of the proceeds from the art sale will benefit the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum."

Apparently they are going to let fans and museum goers vote on their favorite work- this along with a group of select judges will choose the winner.
So basically, I am begging you to go vote so I can win the big prize. Now I know you should go pick the best one, or at least your favorite and I have no problem with that, as long as we can agree that your favorite is my painting.

In all seriousness, please visit the show. I am not sure if there is an official opening for the show. I will let you know when I find out more information.

Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame Museum
Tuesday - Sunday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Closed on Mondays
100 Joe Nuxhall Way
Cincinnati, OH 45202
call (513) 765-7923 for more information

Back on the couch

Sometimes work gets abandoned for a variety of reasons: It is just not working for whatever reason, the ability or idea is just not there yet, or it just plain sucks.
This painting was one such piece, stuck in the corner, considered done and gone. It's been around since 2008 and lately it has been catching my eye as something I could tweak into a good picture. I started to think it has some possibilities. After painting on it for a few hours, 3 1/2 years later, I was starting to like it.

Awaiting Spring (study), oil on panel, 11x14, © copyright Richard Luschek 2012

I remember I had taken some reference photos of the model just to check out some different poses. I did this painting from life in about 4 hours so it was pretty rough and had some unfinished areas. So I printed the photo and used it to try to fix the design and refine some of the details while retaining that fresh look of the visual impression.
Interestingly, now that I post it, I see at least one compositional problem, but let's pretend I didn't notice.

Just for reference I will show you the old version before I reworked it.

Awaiting a painter to make this not suck, oil on panel, 11x14, © copyright Richard Luschek 2008