How I painted "Missed You" with just 4 Colors

I received a question by email about how I made the painting I discussed earlier called "Missed you". Another question was about the palette used.

Here's the painting again:

In spite of all the variations of color that you see in the painting, the palette is very limited.

I only used titanium white, burnt sienna, burnt umber and a cool ivory black, of white I always have large amounts of these colors (and 3 more) available for painting, because I paint a lot of portraits and human figures..and since mixing creates many more colors with these four for topics other than human flesh.

                        


For this painting, I chose ivory black because it's a cool black, which would give me a bluish gray when I mixed it with white. And blue is the complementary to orange, of which the color of some hair colors is a derivative.

The variations in color and value are achieved by mixing. Every inch of the painting has all four colors mixed together., with predominance of one of them in different areas. For example, then, on the hair, burnt sienna and burnt umber predominate ..but there is black and white in it as well... just less.And there is burnt sienna and burnt umber in the gray background and in the "apparently white light and highlights", just less.

A painting is a sculpture of light...but remember, that light is like water, it seeps through and moistens everything it touches to a larger or lesser extent. Thus, the light of the environment, the reflected light from the objects in space, all acquire the color of each other.There are no absolutes. Creating this
concept with colors gives a more real and dimensional appearance to your painting, regardless of your style.

I only use 2-3 sizes of brushes, and the size of choice, depends on the size of the painting surface (e.g. canvas) and the level of detail I want to achieve.

You may have seen videos of people using fan brushes to paint trees. While this is a crafty shortcut, it does not always produce the most realistic look. Call me an unbeliever! I only use round, flat and rigger types of brushes..basically because I'm familiar with them, they're easy to use and they can do everything that other brushes can do.

I hope this answers your questions! Contact me if you have any more questions I'ld be glad to answer!

Thanks for supporting me by visiting my blog today and by purchasing my art!

Missed You - From This World?

A couple meets again, we don't know when or where. The embrace is soft and given to each other in total surrender. The background is as endless as the embrace, perhaps eternal. The embrace, like their bodies, and the light on them, is soft, clean and sincere.

If there is life after death, this could be the rendezvous of lovers in the afterlife, but even in life, the passage of time suspends itself when we recover contact with someone we love, or just when we actually..'love'. In a sense, then, in the language of love, life and death are one and the same, perhaps continuations of each other. There is no end.

The light and the soft gauze of her dress, and the liquid appearance of their skins, all have nearly the same hues, painted with a very limited palette, delivering the state of a complete fusion of their beings. The chromatic harmony of barely complementary colors of subdued saturation add to the sensation of unity.


Love is not red, it's not fire, Love is not the strong, nearly chaotic gallop of an untamed heart. Such is the description of lust. True love is calm and colorless, timeless and transcending distance. Love is not more strenuous nor noisier than a whisper or quiet breathing.

Wherever they are, these two, are no longer two.

Thanks for visiting my blog!
Thanks for your support by buying my art!

Till the next post!

Fire in Her Hair: A Rebirth of Venus

I've been away "surviving" hurricane Maria. I was fortunate that it didn't do damage to my home, but it did cause months-long power outages in my area. I've had power since January (the hurricane happened in September 2017) but we still get occasional outages, about once every 2-3 weeks, for several hours or a couple of days at a time. Each time they are going to rebuilt part of the electric grid, they have to shut down parts of the island of Puerto Rico, where I've been living since 2012.

In any case, I survived and I've been painting but I wanted to start showing some of the paintings I've (finally!) posted online for sale as originals or prints.

Today I'll talk introduce "Fire in Her Hair"...one of my favorite experiments in art. I've always been inspired by the Birth of Venus, by Botticelli, so I decided to make - not a copy - but a "modernized version"..of her face....a version that would travel from the time of Botticelli to ours, yet retain her air. I therefore saturated the complementary colors present in the original painting and emphasized the line. The original is made with acrylic paint on gessoed paper and measures 11 inches x 15 inches.

It's one of my favorite paintings, for its vibrant colors and calm mood. It moves yet it stares at us as it moves.
If you enjoy it as much as I have, you can get a canvas print of it, posters, or other printed home decor and stationery items at Fine Art America, where I have one of my little shops. 

I deeply appreciate your purchasing my art! Thank you and thanks for visiting my blog! :) 

Here she is:

           

Feel inspired?

So you want to paint like Rembrandt? Should you?!!

Should an artist aim to develop his/her own style?

Skill and artistry are not the same. Developing a style is what makes the difference.



 History and the recent example of Odd Nerdrum are proof of this point.



Honest copies of the great masters and paintings made "in the style of" Old Masters require tremendous skills and part of a sound education in the visual arts. They help an artist survive financially, but are these true art in the pure sense? As much as I myself value it and like seeing this, I think this actiivty is not itself art.



Why would the world want 2 Rembrandts? Or 2 of Van Gogh?

Most likely, the second version will not be remembered as an artists.

Fast and Simple Art Studio 1: The Easel

Setting up an art studio: the Easel

One of the most important parts of an art studio is the easel!
I started drawing on the floor as a child, later at a restaurant table or my desk as a teen...and eventually I got serious and bought an easel. Some artists prefer a drawing table, others use easels. And yet others who produce large pieces of art, use a mounting on the wall. Some like to stand while they paint, some sit. Therefore, knowing your style is the first thing you have to do...After you become aware of that and of your budget, choosing an easel becomes an easy decision.
I do use an upright easel because I stand while I paint and because the media I use (primarily acrylics and oils) are suitable for an easel. For artists that use watercolor or ink, which are runny, a horizontal surface like a table easel or horizontal easel are probably the best options.
Easels will display your art at an angle that aligns with your head axis so that you see the painting the way it's going to look on the wall. Most easels also adjust for various sizes of surfaces (canvas or other) so that you can choose to have an easel that holds the sizes of paintings you usually make. And, if you are like me, you can always choose to hang it on the wall and step back now and then to double-check....from the beginning of the creative process.
If you work outdoors like the impressionists, consider a field easel. These easels are lightweight and usually include a handle or shouder strap as well as a storage box for your brushes, paint, jars of turpentine or water, rags and more. I've found that, in choosing plein-air easels (as field easels are also known), you have to accept a compromise between portability and stability. While a lightweight easel of this kind might be good for carrying it to the place where you want to paint, if it's too light it may not be stable enough to withstand the slightest breeze. Keep that in mind when choosing one.
Here are some easels to consider:
Great for indoors:

Table easel:

This one is great for all of you impressionist plein air (outdoor) painters!

H-frame Easel

If your budget is the budget I dream to have... here's a wall-mounted option to consider:

These are but a few of a variety for easels...your style of painting, the size of your studio and whether you're indoors or not..and hey...your budget too. You may choose these I love or you may want to shop around for the one that fits you the best! :)
Happy painting!

ArtesVives : Animal Paintings

All available at my shop: ArtesVives Fine Art America shop
 Some available as originals (while they last), some only as prints.

Check it out! It's my new little space at Fine Art America! :D I hope you visit and see my paintings. Some are available as originals (while they last... remember I sell locally too!) or as canvas prints. This is additional to my Zazzle posts. Fine Art America has more a affordable pricing schedule for the prints and is more focused on art itself. Thus, I've added more of my paintings at Fine Art America than at any other site, and will continue to do so! Please, do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or inquiries. You can contact me through this blog or through the link in my art pages in Fine Art America. Here's the link to my shop!

Gorgeous Portuguese House... Alentejo style :)

ArtesVives Casa no Alentejo Canvas Print
by ArtesVives

Bote branco

White boat by the seashore. Miniature painting in acrylics and watercolor.(sold)

Lonely Seagull

Miniature painting in acrylics and watercolor. Lonely seagulls rest over wrecked boat on the beach shore. (SOLD)

When you live for some time in the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the seagulls become part of your life. I have lived in many places where seagulls and pidgeons abound, but, in the Gulf of Mexico the seagulls are particularly abundant. From Panama City (Florida), Destin, Pensacola, the coast of Alabama and the coast of Mississippi, seagulls are your neighbors and you can picture them in many real or imaginary settings. The elements in this painting, also a miniature (2.5 x 3.5 inches) are somewhere between reality and imagination, but the colors and ambience are absolutely real. 

Bote na beira do Tejo (Boat on the Tagus Riverside)

Miniature painting of a boat on the coast of the Tagus River. Made with acrylics, watercolor and pastel pencils.

Capela em Setubal (Baleal)

Little chapel by the beach (Baleal, Setubal...in Portugal!). Painting with pastel pencils, watercolors and acrylic. (Miniature) (sold)

Vase with Blue Flowers

Vase with blue flowers. Miniature painting in acrylics and watercolor.

Barco Negro (Black Ship)

Pastels, acrylic and watercolor painting based on "Barco Negro" (fado). (sold)

 This dark painting is based on the fado titled "Barco Negro" (Black Ship). It tells the story of a young fisherman's wife. As she waves farewell to her husband at the beginning of a fishing trip, the older ladies - all wearing black as they were widows and had lived the same things before - advise her not to expect her husband back. In denial, she says..."They - the older women - are crazy...How could it be that you won't come back if I saw your white hand wave at me from the ship? How can they say you won't be back, if you never left...How can they say you won't be back if I feel you in the morning breeze?"

Very tragic story, so common in the lives of fishermen and their wives in old time Portugal.

Esteva do Algarve

Ok, here's the latest. Inspired again by Portuguese topics. This time, it's a ceramic jar with blue flowers and an "esteva". All my paintings are always a work in progress. Sometimes, I think I'm done and I come back and change something, or add something...perhaps making a shadow more drastic, or light brighter...rounding out what should be round, etc. I am satisfied enough with this one to show it, but I do not know that it is complete...I will sign it when complete :)

This is a quiet scene, or a freshly cut esteva left by the jar on a old wooden shelf.

Again, using Rembrandt soft pastels, Gioconda pastel pencils, charcoal and a workable fixative.

I didn't know about the estevas, after a dear friend from the Algarve region told me about them. Estevas are flowers native to the Mediterranean basin, growing anywhere from Portugal to France. They are used as ornament and sought after for their aroma. Their resin, called "ladano", used in perfume fixatives, is collected from the saliva of goats after letting them graze on the estevas. Curious, huh? :)

Unfinished Work #1

Well, this is the first pastel I am showing to the world in this blog. It is made with Rembrandt pastels and Gioconda pastel pencils, then covered with a workable fixative. I am awaiting self-satisfaction with the painting before applying the final coat for protection from light and time.
I love still life paintings, ...although I prefer portraits. But sometimes, beauty is in little things that do not talk, Still life is, in a way, a portrait..a portrait of life as it surrouds us. Things like bread, some fruit, rosemary, an old book and artisan work. This one depicted is inspired by ceramics from the Algarve region, in Southern Portugal. I will be posting a follow-up finished version of the painting in a few days.
Will love to receive your comments. Add yourself to my page if you feel so inclined. I speak English, Portuguese and Spanish and... I can read and write some French.
Stay tuned and thanks for visiting!! :)

Artes Vives

Thank you for your visit to Artes Vives. I hope you enjoy your visit and keep coming back as I post art that I am continuously creating.
My love affair with art began in childhood, both music and painting. Most recently, a growing passion for history and culture, particularly those of the Iberian Peninsula, has enriched my ideas. In painting, it evolved from pencil drawing into ever more complex compositions. Today I enjoy pastels, acrylic and oil painting equally. I have never exhibited my art in galleries, but many of my paintings (mostly pastels) have sold through the internet and to people I know and to friends-of-friends.
I have never had formal training and I claim influence by no artist, famous or not, though I admire the impressionists. The only time I tried to learn formally, I was dismissed after the first class because the lady wanted me to start drawing cubes, apples and ceramic pots and I asked her to refine my aims at painting portraits and human figures...for which she said I had to go somewhere else where they specialized in teaching that. Oh well, such is life...Incredibly, I turned to the sciences as a career and later as a job, and I could never crystalize my dream of formal training in the arts.
I do, however, sneak out of my conventional roles into my little hiding place where all my painting supplies sleep during the regular hours. There, in that little room in the back of my house, I travel the world (real and not) and meet characters, places and ideas out of my natural reach, within my imagination. It is, as if all that had been floating in my mind during the day, would gather together in that room...and each day I go back to that room, I visit friends and places yet to be depicted. Little by little, sometimes working on 10-12 paintings at a time, I revisit their appearance to make sure I am portraying them as they are or as the evolve...or perhaps until I get to know each one well...until I get it right, often taking months to finish each one. During those hours, I paint my mind...whether based on real characters, objects and places of history or created completely in my head, each paper or canvas contains idea, a story or perhaps just a feeling. It is that time - when I am painting - when I consider myself truly free.