Comments for Brown Hound - Design for Web, Print and Fine Art

Comment on Sarum Portrait Painting by Helen

Helen — Wed, 02 May 2012 11:32:16 +0000

Hello Russell. I should have taken better progress pictures. Day 2 of the portrait of Pippa went sooooo off course I don’t know how I got it back on track. I know what you mean about the unfinished look too, although I’d have liked more time to have built up my paint layers some more. Like you, skin tones remain a challenge for me, but the Easter course did leave me with more confidence.

Hope your arm is better now and you’re getting lots of drawing and painting done. H

Comment on Sarum Portrait Painting by Russell Bignold

Russell Bignold — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:32:41 +0000

Hi Helen, I must say I’m drawn to the second portrait and love the ‘unfinished look’. I think some work can be overworked and lose that freshness. For me I’m struggling with keeping the skin tones from being to ‘hot’, so colour mixing is on the agenda for me questioning Nick come July!

Comment on Old Dishes by Helen

Helen — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 10:15:12 +0000

Sounds like you’re getting lots done, which is great. If you’re in Salisbury in the summer, I’ll bring this painting along for you to see in the flesh. I should be able to varnish it by then and assess the surface quality. It will certainly be for sale… always more materials to buy (as you know all about too)!

I’ve just made yet another medium to experiment with. It has sun thickened linseed oil, Canada balsam and turps as the components. It is quite fast drying, so stickiness could be an issue if not suited to the painting style I guess. The paint fuses really nicely though, and so far I quite like it. There’s a video on Marc Dalessio’s site of him making this medium (as well as other useful clips which are good to see). I absolutely love his work and hope to do some landscape painting in the future. http://www.marcdalessio.com/minute-painting-videos/

Comment on Spring Flowers by Helen

Helen — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 09:43:07 +0000

Thank you Russell, it was good fun to paint. Sorry that you didn’t make it to Sarum this Easter. It’s really becoming clear to me where I’m hitting barriers. Confidence has a lot to do with it, and I think Alla Prima exercises like this can be quite good in tackling that. Just got to get the paint on the canvas!

Comment on Old Dishes by Russell Bignold

Russell Bignold — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:15:47 +0000

I do love this work and can’t wait to see it framed! I’m still drawing figures with charcoal but aim to return to oils soon. I’ve mixed up the medium described in Nicks book but think I mixed too much liquin in as it seems to dry too fast. Still looking forward to reducing my palette to the limited one for portraits and figurative work (no blues, no greens, no cadmiums). I’ll work on a still life next week but can guarantee it won’t be as good as this work (I want to buy it!!!)

Comment on Spring Flowers by Russell Bignold

Russell Bignold — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:06:48 +0000

Excellent Helen, I love this piece and the painting ‘blossoms’ with the spontaneity of application

Comment on Old Dishes by Helen

Helen — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:31:00 +0000

Thanks Russell. I keep tweaking this painting… I really must leave it to dry thoroughly and wait until I can varnish it. I hope that will unify the surface, which is a bit hit and miss due to my messing about with different mediums.

Anyway, the set up was a single light source of a lamp on some crates with a daylight bulb. The saucers themselves were placed in a black shadow box on a wooden base. I keep forgetting to ask Nick where he ordered his lamp from. I like the adjustable height feature and would also like a diffuser. In this instance I set the lamp far enough back to soften the glare.

How are you getting on?

Comment on Old Dishes by Russell Bignold

Russell Bignold — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:10:50 +0000

I love this work, it seems strong yet delicate. May I ask what the lighting setup on this was?

Comment on Sarum Studio February Week by Helen

Helen — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:35:53 +0000

Thank you Russell. It was quite dark in the hall, so maybe you remember the paintings as better than they are! It was a good week though. See you at Easter if not before?
H

Comment on Sarum Studio February Week by Russell Bignold

Russell Bignold — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:43:59 +0000

Well what can I say…..the pics doesn’t do justice to the amazing work you completed in the week. Tremendous talent and thanks for sharing some of your experience and knowledge. Best wishes RB