Sunday, March 23, 2025

Alan Spring 1

 I’ve been working on some different techniques for the examination of the 1400 block of Belle Plaine. I finished the Yupo version and sprayed it with high gloss fixative. I quite liked the result. The little burst of flame is just a reflection of the lamp.


I took an 8 X 12 canvas board that I treated with gesso. Then I did some drawing with a Tombow pen. With the Tombow, the ink diffused when touched by water. I was trying to go for a little darker time of day. I also added some texture by adding some touches of acrylic paint to give it a rough look and added some relief to some of the limestone details. You can really see it with an enlarged view. I finished it with a high gloss fixative because, like Yupo, the paint is still just floating on the surface. 


I’m going to try some “cobbled” still lifes. This is where you sit down and pick some items that you can see in the room and imagine a still life in your mind. I planned on using several different types of ink pens from highly diffusing to low. I just did a quick sketch of  the building image I’ve been working on using a Universal One ink pen which diffuses when hit with water but leaves a pretty solid line as well. 




It’s just a little sketch in my sketchbook but leads me into the cobbled still  lifes that should be fun. 


6 comments:

  1. ekoMarch 23, 2025 at 8:17 AM

    I really like it when an artist does the same thing many ways. I love the light hitting the windows on the third painting. It just glows. I'm not sure how I feel about the "texture" on the middle painting. I like the painting and I like the look of the texture from afar, but zoomed in, I'm distracted. Maybe there's not enough impasto across the rest of the painting or maybe it conflicts with the grain of the canvas...I'm not sure. I really like the feel of the Yupo rendition. Oh, and the chimney in the middle painting looks like a person standing there. What's his story? About to jump? A roofer at work? A partygoer checking who's coming next? And now I can't unsee that, even though I know it's a chimney!

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    1. AlanMarch 23, 2025 at 9:08 AM

      Did you mean “Ken the chimney sweep?”

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  2. sjdMarch 23, 2025 at 8:57 AM

    Each painting has a different vibe. I like the simplicity of the watercolor.or sketch. The yellow glow in the windows is lovely and the sky adds a lot of interest. The middle one also has an interesting sky and all the textures really give it depth and a certain moodiness. Then the blobbiness of the paint on the yupo one is eye catching.

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    1. AlanMarch 23, 2025 at 11:54 PM

      You know……I got done with the last one and it was just boring. Then I dropped some lemon yellow into the windows and it perked it right up.

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  3. Uncle KenMarch 24, 2025 at 9:48 AM

    I like the yupo just fine, but I like the the gesso thing even finer. More detail and more grit and I love details and I really love grit. Bravo.

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  4. paoMarch 25, 2025 at 8:22 AM

    They each have a different vibe. Even the flare on the fixed yupo one looks cool. I gotta say, I still don't think painting with watercolor works on gessoed canvas board. It can't compete with the striations of the brushed gesso. Acrylic and/or oil would bury it, but watercolor just highlights it. What is it you like about using the board? What about just gluing watercolor paper onto it if it's the weight or thickness you like? Or sanding the gesso smooth so the texture doesn't show through. And then the gloss fixative seems to highlight that texture even more. I do like you watercolor and pen sketchbook painting. The bits of yellow just sing.

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