Tyvek Portrait and Art Featured at our Church

"Thoughtful"

14" x 12" Watercolor on Tyvek

 

 

Myrna Wacknov demos watercolor on Tyvek

for Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society

I went to a demo by SCVWS member and well-known artist and teacher Myrna Wacknov a couple weeks ago. She was engaged to teach a workshop on portraiture to intermediate and advanced painters. Myrna is so very creative and did a great wonderful demo using Dr. Martin's Hydrus Watercolors on Tyvek. The paint is liquid and very intense and takes well to Tyvek, a synthetic material often used for shipping envelopes. You can use tube paints, but it must be fresh squeezed at each session. I coordinated Myrna's first workshop for us and learned so much from her.  Fellow artists Don and Alison from my South Side Art Club also attended this demo and were so intrigued by her process and results.

Our group paints together Thursday nights, so I brought some Tyvek and the Hydrus Watercolors that Myrna recommends. For the past few weeks we've been working away on our pieces. Penny did two landscapes and they came out very nicely. I've only painted people on Tyvek. Don is working on a musician. Alison is working from a Rose Bowl football game photo. Her nephew played in the Wisconsin band. The photo is dominated by a tuba reflecting the images of Alison and her family. I chose one of my favorite family subjects -- Bob. No copyright or model permission issues, the reason Myrna often does self-portraits.

 

The photo I worked from was quite dark and did not show shadows well, but I like the pose -- very Bob.  My own self-critique is that I should use a lot more dark to create shadows on the side of face and the hands, and I may go back and attempt that. I did some line work, which I like. If I add shadows, I will post again.



 

My art featured at Advent Lutheran Church

during Sunday service

 

During church services a piece of art by masters or world artists are featured on the screen behind the altar, and there is information about the artists and their work in our Sunday bulletin. I was very pleasantly surprised when Pastor Anita called to ask if I would like to supply some images of my art to display this Sunday. I sent five and they selected four. Our cellphone image is not good, but you get the idea. The images were:

 

"Rockport Headlands" (above)

"Franken Vine"

"Fall on Lake Eden"

"My Nepenthe"

 

One of our 8-year old congregants came to chat with me after church because he is an artist. I was blown away when his mom showed me some cards made from his art. I will be buying a set next Sunday. His art looks so far beyond that I would expect of someone his age. His dad told me he goes through three sketchbooks a week! He has taken lessons in acrylic on canvas from a local artist for the past two years.

Another Experiment

Soccer Player, Senegal, Africa

14" x 18" on Tyvek

This past summer, my teenage granddaughter spent a month in Senegal teaching English to young school children and coaching boys soccer. As Jamie says, "Girls do not play soccer in Senegal" (except for her, of course).  Jamie lives in a small town in Northeastern Vermont, so this was a growth experience for her. She wanted to volunteer where the primary language is French. She learned a lot where she lived with an upper class family with electrical power just certain hours of the day, dinner was 11 p.m. when the day temperatures cooled,  and she became good friends with the maid while washing her limited modest wardrobe in the backyard by hand. The deal was that Jamie would raise the money for the trip.

Jamie took some fabulous photos and one of them was of a young man. He looked like teens everywhere, and I found that so interesting. I need a good title to suggest that similarity and I am drawing a blank. I also would love to use "red" in the title, because this is a piece I am considering entering in the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society "Red or Read" exhibit. (You know I have also worked on another.) If you have any thoughts, let me know.

In 2010, I took a portrait class from Myrna Wacknov who does very experimental work. If you haven't seen her blog, do check it out. In fact, she is currently featured in "Watercolor Artist Magazine" and the April issue that comes out in March will carry her article on creativity.  One day we painted on Tyvek, a material often used for packaging and graphics and very resistant to watercolor. It's just filled with wonderful fibers so you are guaranteed great texture. As she recommended, I used Dr. Ph Martin's liquid watercolors. I want to paint this one again, because I see some things I want to do differently (more light on the lit side of his face, more variation of color in his skin, better drawing, to name a few.There is also one fiber bisecting his chin that won't take the paint.)  I hadn't painted on the surface for over a year, so I was working at getting the hang of it again.

A Small Poppy Painting

"Poppies on a Cloudy Day"
Fluid Watercolor on Tyvek
5" x 7"

It's been a busy week and not too art productive, though I am currently working another larger piece. So I did a small California Poppy painting on Tyvek using the Dr. Martin Hydrus Liquid Watercolors. They are quite intensely colored and work well on the Tyvek. I used the line design element to enhance the shape.

Granddaughter Jamie's art and a souce of Tyvek

Art by Jamie Cyr

Jamie is my 15-year old granddaughter who lives in a tiny Vermont town. The public schools in Vermont always rank near the top of the 50 states, and they offer more than core subjects. Jamie is taking art this year, and she has always done art since she was a tiny child. I was so impressed when my son sent me these pictures of her art and wanted to share them with my blog friends. I could not crop the top piece as it was done at an angle, but you can appreciate her creativity.

I also have a source where you can order Tyvek if you want to give it a try as a support for watermedia. I learned about Tyvek from Myrna Wacknov who is a fearless experimenter. Myrna buys in large quantities and will sell large pieces at cost to anyone requesting them. However, a friend was able to locate a source online. The sheets are not as large, but they are a very good price and you can get low quantities. Check out www.allweatherblueprints.com/tyvek-sheets-printing.html

Myrna prefers to paint with Dr. Martin's Hydrus Liquid Watercolors because they have concentrated color. Tube watercolors work too, but fresh squeeze them. I have also used tube acrylic watered down. I definitely think the liquid watercolors is the way to go and I have some on order from Art Supply Warehouse.

Myrna's Workshop, Installment 2

"Quiet Beauty"

Profile painting
14" x 19"
Watercolor on Tyvek

"Baby Bob"

Child portrait
14" x 16"
Watercolor on paper

We completed our 5-day workshop today. I believe I made some progress. Of course, drawing is all about seeing, and in the case of portraits, about knowing structure so you can apply what you know.

"Quiet Beauty" was my profile portrait. Myrna pointed out ways to check relationships, and also talked about eye structure. I always wonder how many times I have to be told these things before they become a part of what I know. I chose to do this piece on Tyvek. We had critique at 3:00 and it was fun to see the results of our work. I was pleased when Myrna said she thought this was the best drawing she had seen me do, and over the past couple of years, she's seen quite a few. Myrna created a slide show of profile paintings.

Today, Myrna's morning demo focused on painting small children. They are born with adult-sized eyes, but the rest of the facial structure is infantile, so feature placement is different. There is more forehead above the eyes. She also pointed out that light, transparent colors say child. Children are very rosy, so she used lots of rose on her painting. When doing the eyes, do not close the bottom lid with a line. She works quite wet on watercolor paper to achieve softness. I chose to paint Bob as a baby. The photo is part of a collage of family photos that include Bob and his two daughters, when each were 18 months old.

Myrna said I had done a great job on the drawing. She suggested a better approach to adding the shadow colors on the lower face. She glazes single colors in layers rather than mixing the shadow color on the palette. I want to paint this piece again, but I want to create a full sheet with Bob and his two girls from the family photos. I am always struck by the distinctive shape of their mouths and full cheeks. I will work on a design. You can compare baby Bob to grown up Bob here , done in profile.

Myrna Wacknov Workshop

"Myrna's Friend Linda"
Watercolor on gessoed watercolor paper
14" x 18"

"Myrna's Friend Linda"
Watercolor on Tyvek
14" x 18"

"Myrna's Friend Linda"
10" x 16"
Watercolor on Tyvek

Myrna Wacknov is teaching her Beginning Portraits class for the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society. If you like to do people and you enjoy Myrna's experimental approach to watercolor, take this class if you have the opportunity. Being raised in New England, there is a touch of the Puritanical upbringing that says it's sinful to have this much fun!

If you follow Myrna's blog, you will recognize Linda as one of Myrna's images. I painted Linda because Myrna likes my image of the Egg Lady, an old woman we saw in France. Most juried shows do not allow a piece of work done in a workshop under supervision, and Myrna did not want me to waste my image in class. She told me to practice the techniques and then do the Egg Lady. Thus I painted this image with Myrna's permission.

Myrna began the class by stating this workshop is more about drawing and less about painting, though we got to paint quite a bit. The first day was spent creatively learning about the proportions of a human face and how to design our painting. As Myrna pointed out, the photo is the reference, but you do not just reproduce the painting. You must apply design principles. She had us do 3 thumbnail sketches with different value patterns. She really liked my pattern that used rim light. Myrna saves pictures from magazines and newspapers that have interesting value patterns, so she pulled out a photo that used rim lighting and pointed out that the features were all visible, but the background was dark and the person was lit with a halo effect.

Next we cut our paper to size, ensuring it was proportionally larger by using a method Myrna demonstrated, that I had learned in Arne Westerman's workshop several years ago. Next we cut tracing paper to size, allowing for the space a mat would cover, and drew our image on the tracing paper using a simplified grid method. Basically we folded the paper lengthwise and crosswise so we had the midpoints in each direction. This makes it easier to achieve placement and correct proportions. Then Myrna showed us her method of transfer which she believes she invented. We turned the tracing paper over and traced over the lines with a turquoise blue watercolor crayon. We turned our tracing paper back to the drawing side, taped it over our support, and used a mechanical pencil to transfer the lines. Myrna does not like using carbon paper for this application because it can leave residue on the support. Watercolor crayon dissolves as you paint, and the blue is nice if any of it remains.

Myrna likes to paint on different surfaces. My first painting is done on watercolor paper that I gessoed. You can even cover over failed paintings and reuse your paper. (Just think how excited future art critics will be when they discover a second image underneath your Mona Lisa). I had not used this surface before and I really enjoyed the way you can apply paint and lift paint, and the wonderful painterly surface you can achieve. This is a wonderful tactile experience, and I had the feeling of sculpting my painting.

Myrna also paints on Tyvek. I'm not sure how she got started with this paper. It's the same stuff they wrap new homes in minus the writing. Art stores used to carry it, but no longer in our area. It's used by printers. Thus Myrna buys a bundle of 500 sheets at a time and freely sells them to others at $2 a sheet. However, a friend found a place where you can get 25 sheets. More one that tomorrow. The Tyvek has a very plastic surface and there are wonderful threads running all through it, so the resulting painting has great texture. Last year I bought some Tyvek from Myrna and have painted a few pieces on it, but I have little experience. This time I chose a standard lighting pattern, with a single light source from the left. I used a limited palette of Hansa Yellow, Ultramarine Blue, Magenta and Diozanine Purple. Myrna says using limited palette guarantees harmony. Myrna prefers to use Dr. Martin's Hydrus fluid watercolors, but I mostly had to use standard watercolor. She advised that tube watercolors must be fresh squeezed.

By now, it was mid-afternoon and I had a half hour before critique. Myrna had shown us that it's good to learn to use a brush and draw your piece directly on the support. I had also talked with Myrna about having trouble using non-traditional colors. She suggested painting with just three colors that are not flesh tones. When Myrna had talked about thumbnails, she showed us how she uses two L-shaped pieces of mat board and moves it around on the image to determine cropping. She then demoed using one of her favorites, her Morris image. The piece was close cropped and lost one part of the face.

With a half hour left, I grabbed a narrow sheet of Tyvek, selected 3 colors (Ultramarine Blue, Magenta, and New Gamboge) and did a brush painting using Cerulean Blue. Much of the line remains visible. You will see I straightened out the image and it's not quite as accurately Linda, but I had so much fun with this quick piece. Myrna gave me kudos for my bravery.

At critique we saw some wonderful paintings, some by artists who had never painted a person before this workshop. Outstanding! View the slide show on Myrna's blog. Myrna's personal favorite of my images is my first piece on gessoed paper. She said I achieved the best likeness and she loved the value pattern.

I have two more days of workshop -- one day of painting a young adult in profile and the final day is doing a young child. If you are in the area and want to take this workshop, there is a second scheduled for January 22 to 26 and a few slots remain. You can either take the first three days or all 5 days at a cost of $70 per day, a real bargain made possible by the watercolor society staffing with volunteers and taking a non-profit approach. I am the coordinator for this workshop.