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Painting a Victorian Couple in the Garden

Rod and Gretchen, colored pencil, watercolor, and gouache

Photo by Susan Toplitz

Last weekend was the Plein Air Invitational, with over 20 outstanding plein air artists coming to the gardens to paint on location. As soon as theres an online gallery of the results, Ill post a link.

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Painting a Moving Subject

Excerpt of the new video feature "Portraits in the Wild." (Link to YouTube Video)

Blog reader Bjorn asks:
"I do 15 minute portraits at business fairs. Of course no one is able to keep a smile for that long. So when I draw what I see, the people relax their facial muscles. But since we are used to photos with people grinning and smiling, the person portrayed looks angry by comparison. I can imagine that in the days before photography a portrait was perceived differently.
Portraits in the Wild 
Download (66 minutes, 1080p HD widescreen MP4 video) Available at Gumroad, Sellfy, and Cubebrush.

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Norman Teeling Painting on Location

Dublin artist Norman Teeling (born 1944) describes the experience of painting on location. "When I paint a picture," he say, "I want to be elevated, I want to escape from the mundane and enter a world of the romantic whether it be an interior or a landscape."
Thanks, Garin.

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Painting a Bakery Case in Watercolor

Yesterday I painted a bakery case in watercolor. (Link to YouTube)

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Painting the Giant Bird Pelagornis

The April issue of Scientific American magazine includes a feature on Pelagornis, the largest known flying bird with a 21 foot wingspan. You can see the artwork being created in this free six-minute video. (Link to YouTube)


In the sketches, I focus on the bird taking flight, since flight dynamics is the emphasis of the authors of the scientific study. These birds were specialized for soaring flight, not flapping. Taking off would be a big moment. Design director Michael Mrak likes the basic design of #1, with the warm color scheme of the one in the lower right.


I make the "2D to 3D" maquette out of paper, armature wire, and two-part epoxy sculpting compound called Magic Sculpt. Its stronger than Sculpey, and doesnt need to go in the oven. The YouTube video shows the construction method.



The final art is oil on illustration board, about 12 x 18 inches. It appears in the April, 2016 issue of Scientific American magazine.
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Read more about 2D to 3D maquettes on a previous post.
Materials: Magic Sculpt epoxy clay, Tacky glue, armature wire, Acryla Gouache

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Painting Singers While They Sing

(Link to video) When I set up my easel on the sidelines of an old-time singing convention, I didnt know what to expect.

Palette of casein colors. Mixing surface is a metal pencil box lid spray painted white

Portraits in the Wild 
Download (66 minutes, 1080p HD widescreen MP4 video) Available at Gumroad, Sellfy, and Cubebrush.

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Painting in Progress Prometheus Bound

Prometheus Bound    Donato Giancola    18" x 24"   Preliminary Drawing

Progress shots on a new science fiction painting on the drafting table this week.  Included are a few close ups displaying the open splattering and color experimentation I enjoy in the early phases of image development, typically executed in acrylics.  Following is the development in oils, reining in the color and evolving the value structure of the piece.

Prometheus Bound    Donato Giancola    32" x 42"   Preliminary Washes

Prometheus Bound    Donato Giancola    32" x 42"   Preliminary Washes

Prometheus Bound    Donato Giancola    32" x 42"   Preliminary Washes

Prometheus Bound    Donato Giancola    32" x 42"   Final Oil Progress

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Painting Ice Water in Gouache

I couldnt find anything else to paint, so I painted the cup of water. (Link to YouTube)

Ice Water, gouache, 5 x 8 inches.

But looking at that ice water made me thirsty so I had wait a half hour before I could drink it.
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Download the Gouache in the Wild Tutorial
Materials Pentalic watercolor sketchbook, Holbein gouache set, Schmincke half pan set, gamboge watercolor

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Painting a Complex Subject in Watercolor

(Link to You Tube) Painting in transparent watercolor requires careful planning, and thats especially true when theres perspective and lettering involved.

In this case I spent nearly one hour of the 2 hour session on the preliminary pencil drawing. After I was sure of that, the rest went pretty fast.
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Watercolor in the Wild Gumroad tutorial

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Painting Progression Lady of Mermaid Inn

Lady of Mermaid Inn

Since my posts on Muddy Colors and EveryDayOriginal.com happen to fall on the same day this month, I thought Id post a bit about my painting and show some progression images. (thanks to Dan Dos Santos for the suggestion!) This painting is oil on board, 5x7”, and is titled Lady of Mermaid Inn.

I had recently read a bit about haunted pubs and inns in the UK, and came across the ghosts of Mermaid Inn in Rye, and this painting came soon after. She appeared earlier in some marks on the surface, and I was inspired to continue with some new abstract marks in the atmosphere, as if she appears to be emerging from the atmosphere, just as a ghost might appear... Below is a bit about how the image came about...

The painting was initially started a while back, and it was one Ive had hanging around my studio. I tend to work that way a lot. I have many abstract starts around me in my studio, and different images tend to form in the surrounding paintings in a way much like we see forms in the clouds. On any given day, one painting in its abstract state may speak to me more than another.

The initial marks made on the surface

This painting had been sitting out in its abstract state for a little while, and I had at one point taken it over to my easel to develop two figures that I saw in the marks one day. I didnt quite like the posture of the figures that I brought forward from the marks, but I liked the painting enough to give it some more hang time and thought I may spend more time with it possibly in the future, so I kept it in that state after having scratched it out a bit with some sand paper.

Finding forms in the marks

As it turned out, my day to post on Every Day Original was coming up, and since the paintings I post on EDO are smaller works, and this was a nice small sized painting (5x7”), I decided to revisit it. As I mentioned above, I had just recently read about haunted inns, and this mustve been in the back of my mind when I started to paint this painting. I hadnt intended to erase one figure altogether, but as I made some abstract marks to cover the figure on the right, I decided I liked what was there enough to continue with just the one figure. Also, I saw a face and head tilt in the remaining figure that appealed to me more – the head was tilted back, which made the jawline about where the eyes were. This seemed to flow much better. And the ghost type figure was subconsciously developing...

Changing it up! (a bit different from the previous state)

I had a lot of fun adding some abstract marks for the background. The painting was dry enough underneath that I could add some dark tones with a bit of linseed oil on top of the painting and carve back out with a spatula, splattering a fine spray of turp as well for texture. I wanted to give the painting a feel of outdoor light, as if walking through a patch of trees and seeing a figure in the light and shadows, but as abstract shapes, so as to be interpreted in many other forms as well.

Added some abstracts in the environment

As the painting was in the final stages, I added a bit more glow and color on the outer edges of the hair.  Also, I felt like the face and figure were a bit too cartoony and had too much contrast in some areas which didnt lead to a proper ghost-type feel, so I spent a bit more time on the face and figure to knock back the darks and blur some edges to keep the appearance of the figure moving in and out of the environment.

Near-finished

This last stage is where it felt right, to me, as an all-over image – in mood, composition, color and lighting. Its a free-form process so, to me, when working in this way, its finished when it feels right.  This painting will be posted and available for purchase here: EveryDayOriginal.com - Lady of Mermaid Inn, today at 10:00am - (2/27/2016).

The painting in its finished state

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No painting is a waste of time!

I found few, if any, paintings are a waste of time. Like canvas #910, small at 44x40, potentially a nice work, suffered multiple interruptions and eventually lost its way.  I have step-photos to prove it! We gotta take the bad with the good so here it is. I promise, the good is here, somewhere!

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