I've Been Painting

Hello,

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile.  I've been painting.

From inside the painting booth.  Steve Franklin, 2016.

Here is a view inside the spray booth that I made with PVC pipe and large 4mil plastic sheeting.  I ended up making a small bench with two lower shelves to fit in the booth.  I can place a small easel (that I built) onto the table.  There's not much space for much of anything else, but next to this is a taboret. By the time I had a couple of layers of varnish on the tabletop, it looked so good, I covered it with plastic sheeting to protect it. I've been making the panels using ripped 2X4 frame onto which I glue and nail an oversized sheet of hardboard. I used a jigsaw to cut the hardboard, so the cut is rough.  Once the glue is dry, I use a small trim router with a straight bearing bit, which rubs against the wooden frame to cut it flush with the edge of the frame.  Then I putty, sand and put three coats of gesso on the board, lightly sanding between coats. Onto the face, I then brush a coat of Golden Absorbent Ground.  This makes it receptive to ballpoint pen, pencil, watercolors, and High Flow acrylics.  Making the panels is pretty cheap, because I can get a 4 x 8 foot sheet of hardboard for a little more than eight dollars, It takes less than one 2x4 to make each panel.

Once I finish working in the pen work and staining (not unlike watercolor technique). I have to seal the image.  I use my airbrush for this. I mix Golden Airbrush Extender with Golden GAC 500 to use as the sealing layer to spray using airbrush.  This is when I close the booth and dawn a mask.  When I'm done, I turn on a box fan that I put in the window to blow out the foggy mist.  Once dry, I can brush a thin coat of gloss acrylic.  Finally, using a large pallet knife, I apply a thick coat of Golden Heavy Gel Medium.  At this point, the image is lost in the thick milky coat of gel which takes about three days to clear.

Since this blog is more about my sketchbook, I don't think I will put up photos of my paintings.  I'm waiting to accumulate enough new work for an art exhibit before I show them.  I'm working on a series, so I've been spending much of my free time building panels, sanding, puttying, priming, drawing, painting, spraying, etc.

I have been filling up another sketchbook.  I just need to take photos of the journal pages.

Anyway,

That's what I've been up to--working on a series of paintings.  I've only completed three paintings, the first of which I need to rework.  This is the fourth one.

Take care of yourself,

-Steve

So Tired

Hello, artistic person!
Here are pages 32 and 33 of my old Zeta sketchbook.

Zeta Sketchbook pages 32 & 33. Steve Franklin, 2015.

I've always enjoyed scribbling lines using ballpoint pen and sometimes I'm fortunate enough to discover an ink that slightly bleeds when adding a wet brush. Of course, basic shape and color can be important in a work. I initially started to do a portrait but when the subject left, I continued the drawing (page 32) using abstraction as the content.

Somedays, I'm so very tired that I let my subconscious mind take over a drawing.  It takes me inside the landscape of my mind where thoughts become bits and glimpses most likely taken from experience of observing things. Later, I can add color to transform my scribblings into something presentable.

Thanks,

-Steve

Unity, Rhythm, Simplicity.

Big Old Sketchbook pages 141 & 142. Mixed Media. Steve Franklin, 2014.

Hello, wonderful person!  Welcome.

Above are pages 141 and 142 of my Big Old Sketchbook. I combined ballpoint pen (the kind that bleeds some when you wet it with a brush), bleeding art tissue and watercolor. I really like the texture, sense of movement and vitality that comes from repeated strokes a ballpoint pen.  To provide a sense of unity and structure, I implied large, simple shapes across separate smaller ones with pen lines while at the same time, doing so with color on other large areas. At the same time, I'm interested in rhythmic movement. Some ideas for shapes come from the negative spaces left over from cut shapes, letters, rocks and natural things.  Have you noticed there are dog faces in the image on the right?  Well, those may be easy to find.  How about the one on the left?  It may take awhile to find.

Sometimes I like to just start scribbling on a page and wait for symbols and ideas to reveal themselves to me.  These things I develop, clarify, emphasize and sometimes repeat.

Well, I hope this inspires you to do your own page: try scribbling, or cut various shapes from paper.  Then take those shapes and cut shapes into them. Then analyze those shapes and divide them if necessary, arranging, grouping the shapes to create interesting shapes in the spaces between these shapes. Take a picture of these as a reference for an idea, or glue them down.  Try colored paper. Sketch these arrangements.  Draw these arrangements with pen then scribble and shade then color this. Then go back and unify your arrangements using scrubbed lines with a pen, or group areas with simplicity of color.  Am I getting too deep with this?

I like to look at Marc Chagall paintings and study them, trying to think of his sketching process.

Well, I guess sometimes I write too much.

Remember, when you're sketching in a sketchbook, the most important things to value is your own personal take on things.

Stay Creative!

Bye for now,

Steve