General Chat February 2010

This thread is for us to share our art in other mediums. Discuss anything that doesn't fall in any of the other categories on the forum.

Hi everyone! I'm coming to the conclusion that the Black gessoed canvas might be the way I go. I find it weird working light to dark but for whatever reason I seem to be able to judge values and color better. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do every subject on a black ground but I'll certainly give it a try.

We're getting fairly mild weather for this time of year. Cold but not as cold as usual.

I'll be out of town today so I'll see you all when I get back.

I haven't tried black, but I usually cover my canvasses with a color before painting, so I don't have all that white to distract me. Usually I start with earthy reds or raw sienna, sometimes a magenta or a grey.
I think I might like the black for a portrait or very colorful still life.

Have a good trip, Janet - See you later!

Hi Callie! I'm back bought a truckload of canvases while out of town. I'm stocked and ready to go. Unfortunately the town I was in didn't have much else in the way of art supplies. Oh well maybe on my next trip. I tried the raw sienna and found it distracting anything with any color seems to distract me. I guess I just get distracted easily. I even find the white of the canvas less distracting. So either white or black for now seem to work but I'll keep trying. White not as well as black.

I agree with you on the white an black. I seem to have an easier time with color working on the white and black rahter than a tinted canvas. I never used the black until you, Janet, introduced me to it, and I really like it for certain paintings.

have fun with all your new stash.

Judy

Judy, so I'm not alone... I just thought I was weird. Actually when looking for others that paint on Black canvas I kept reading the same thing about being able to judge values better.

Just thought I'd pop in and suggest that anyone interested in trying out black gesso might want to have a look at Judy's painting in the Group Challenge for this month. She just began it, so you'll be able to see the effect the gesso has from start to finish

Once again, I've let work cut into my painting time - will try to do something about that over the weekend!

Thnaks for the referral, Callie. I have a progress photo to post later today.
Judy

I'll probably start a challenge painting this week. Such a busy time work wise rite now. I'm out of town tomorrow. I might even be able to finally pick up some of the clear gesso. I have several canvases gessoed with black rite now all I need is time.

I'm painting 'Wait ... Don't leave' whilst listening and watching Meatloaf at Storytellers. For certain subjects I find different singers inspirational.

Jack

I love meatloaf - couldn't resist!
I do love that Bat Out of Hell album. Do you find yourself painting faster with Meatloaf playing in the background?

CALLIE
I'm a romantic. 'You took the words right out of my mouth', 'Heaven can wait', etc. Listening to Meatloaf and Patti Rosso is magic.
They actually slow me down and make me paint better. At least I think so.

Jack

Meatloaf... I use to have the Bat Out of Hell album. Wow does that bring back memories. I don't listen to music while I paint but maybe I should give it a try. I was able to pick up some of the clear gesso so I'll be trying it on paper over sketches that I've done.

I went to the mainland on Saturday and picked up some canvases at opus, and a collapsable easle for plein air painting, and some orange terpenes to thin my damar varnish. I wanted to check out the W&N varnishes specially made for the artisans but they don't stock them. I also picked up my son's old dell, so it took most of yesterday to get it set up, and transfer all my files over. Hopefully my computer problems are now history, and I'll be more involved here again.

Varnished 3 paintings yesterday with the diluted varnish - looks good!

I usually listen to Celtic Women but I switched to some Classical. Gee - I'm dumb. I need seashore sounds. Or will that make me have to take more breaks.

I guess running to the washroom would be counterproductive. With me my dog has this thing about going in an out and in and out. I wish we had an automatic door because when I'm painting it just makes it impossible to get into that zone.

Where I paint is close to a back door, so the dogs think I'm over there to let them in and out, in and out, in and out.......
Then they settle in at my feet right in front of the easel so I can't move. Normally, they would never sleep on the floor, they prefer to be on the couch with extra pillows. So when they put themselves out like that, I feel mean trying to make them go away!

As for music, I've got a channel set up on Pandora Radio (so that only plays what I like to hear). At the coffee shop they usually have Radio Paradise on. We really enjoy it, great mix of music. So I've put it on the home computer for when I want a break from my Pandora channel.

I just checked and I can't get Pandora Radio outside of the U.S.

Dale, that bites! I love having my own channels. For those not familiar with Pandora, here's some info:

The Music Genome Project, created in January 2000, is an effort founded by Will Glaser, Jon Kraft, and Tim Westergren to "capture the essence of music at the fundamental level" using almost 400 attributes to describe songs and a simple mathematical algorithm to organize them. The company Savage Beast Technologies was formed to run the project.^[1]
A given song is represented by a vector (a list of attributes) containing approximately 150 "genes" (analogous to trait-determining genes for organisms in the field of genetics). Each gene corresponds to a characteristic of the music, for example, gender of lead vocalist, level of distortion on the electric guitar, type of background vocals, etc. Rock and pop songs have 150 genes, rap songs have 350, and jazz songs have approximately 400. Other genres of music, such as world and classical music, have 300–500 genes. The system depends on a sufficient number of genes to render useful results. Each gene is assigned a number between 1 and 5, in half-integer increments.^[2]
Given the vector of one or more songs, a list of other similar songs is constructed using a distance function.
To create a song's genome, it is analyzed by a musician in a process that takes 20 to 30 minutes per song. Ten percent of songs are analyzed by more than one technician to ensure conformity with the standards, i.e., reliability.
The technology is currently used by Pandora to play music for Internet users based on their preferences. Because of licensing restrictions, Pandora is available only to users whose location is reported to be in the USA by Pandora's geolocation software.^[3]

I wonder if they'll ever be able to expand outside the US.

Unfortunate that it's not available outside the USA it sounds like a great idea.

Try googling 'global pandora'

Hi everyone! Too rainy for plein air painting today Decided to start one of the group challenge pictures (about time!). Of course, as soon as I got started I talked myself into taking a break Hope y'all are getting some painting time in!

I might put a picture of one of the radiators I've painted today. Geee!!!

Love to see one. Judy

Callie, I'm looking forward to seeing your challenge painting. I don't know when I'll be able to paint again. Work has been so busy.

Jack, Radiators... sounds interesting. I'd love to see your painting.