alepaints

Hi there, this is the first post of my art blog. Welcome!

Here I will be writing about my process of painting, ideas, maybe tips and things that I learned in the way. I hope you enjoy it. Of course, I will try to make it not so serious and also please excuse my grammar mistakes.

So, I started painting “Guidance” before naming it. Usually, I name the paintings after they are finished. The reason is, because while painting them, a lot of thinking and meditation happens. It just happens.

The process

The first step is the drawing or transfer to an already primed canvas. I use charcoal or graphite transfer paper for this. I find it easier just to trace the most important lines of the image, the lines that have the more contrast and the ones that are guides for the painting. After this is finished, then I proceed to the first layer.

For the first layer, I use turpentine to thin my color mixes. The first color mix that I prepared for this particular painting is a dark blue mix using Prussian blue and raw umber. It appeared to me that the reference photo had more warm tones in the upper part of the image and colder tones in the lower or bottom part of the image. So I also prepared a color mix of ultramarine blue and raw umber for this. I make sure I make enough mixes to also cover the sides of the canvas.

I like to paint the background first because it helps me get started fast, as I don’t have to match many colours or think much. This also gives me time to go into the painting mode easier. Once this is done, I don’t have the daunting blank canvas anymore and I can immediate start painting the subject.

Before starting to paint the subject, (still with turpentine as medium) I take the time to prepare the color mixes that are required. For the skin tones I make several mixes, warm and cold tones; vermilion, cadmium, mixed with raw umber and yellow Naples. Once I have the mixes ready I proceed to do a pass starting with the darkest tones, then middle tones, finishing with the highest tones. Sometimes I cannot finish painting this first layer on the same session, but I just make a note so that I don’t forget which layer I left the painting at.

Once the first layer is finished and is dry to the touch I can continue painting the next layer. For the second layer I use old holland painting medium to thin down the following colour mixtures. I again take the time to prepare the tones keeping in mind that this can be the last layer of the painting, so I try to make as much details as possible. At this stage I find important to carefully blend everything with a clean brush to make the brush strokes less visible. By now I am already thinking about who am I painting, and why, and why is it important that I keep going, do I have to finish the painting? When is it going to be finished? So I remind myself again the reasons I started painting it in the first place.  

The reasons were:

• I wanted do capture the realism of the light and the light reflected on the wax.
• I wanted to capture the skin tones going from warm to cold as the light fades from light to dark.

The meaning

Then I start thinking about the meaning of the painting. It is not just a hand holding a candle, what does it mean? The hand could symbolise help and the light could mean guidance. So I start thinking back about all those times that I asked for help in the past, and I find many many examples where I asked for help and someone helped me. This help didn’t seem like a lot of effort for the person helping me, but it meant a lot more for me. This tiny help actually made me see a complete path forward that I didn’t see before, and that changed everything or at least more than I was expecting.

And I have experienced this many times in my life, at school, at work, with relationships, etc. So that is the whole reason this painting is called “Guidance”. Now you know more about the painting, about my process and about me. Hope you enjoy the short read, and I hope to continue writing more posts like this.

Ale