Autumn Fairy: Sixth Stage Paint

Above: Autumn Fairy, Work in progress: Sixth Stage Paint

Sixth layer paint. Introduced vermilion for the warm reds and oranges, while further defining and refining the details. With the exception of the preliminary pencil sketch everything up to this point has been created using thin layers of watercolor only. No ink or opaque pigment has been added yet.

Autumn Fairy - Fifth Stage Paint

Above: "Autumn Fairy - Fifth Stage Paint." by Portia St. Luke

Here, I'm adding ultramarine blue to the shadows. In the places where it's being painted over existing dark brown (burnt umber) it will look black, but combining ultramarine and burnt umber creates a much richer black with more subtlety. Even when mixed on the palette the "black" that results is much truer to nature than straight-out-of-the-tube "ivory black" or "bone black." The artist can control the mix and create a warmer or cooler black by using more of one pigment than the other.

Great writing: "Recognition"

Poignant and well-written essay about domestic violence from an insider's perspective. If you recognize yourself or somebody you know in this story,please get the help you need.

Work in progress: Autumn Fairy

Cross-posting this for anybody who has not yet visited the Portia St Luke Illustrations Facebook site. I've created a folder of images showing the progress of my new fantasy piece, "Autumn Fairy." Scanning this piece each day means my friends and fans can watch as the piece develops. If you visit the page, click "like" in order to receive updates showing each day's new scan. 

First layer paint: The preliminary graphite pencil sketch is covered in a simple wash of color. I choose a light tint of something that I know will carry well throughout the rest of the piece. 

Second layer paint: The light yellow wash is worked in a monochrome "griselle." This was a common technique of the renaissance masters. Earth tone pigments were, and are, usually less expensive than the bright mineral-pigments used to create the brighter colors. A monotone griselle was a way to define form, highlight, and shadow without dipping into the bright colors. The "griselle" could be worked in deep greens, dark browns, or even true gray (as the name suggests.) I used burnt sienna, since it complements the overall "autumn" theme of the piece.

Third layer paint: The monochrome "griselle" gets the beginnings of color. I started with a very light wash of sap green for the vegetation and light washes of violet to darken and further define the shadows.

Fourth layer paint: Continuing to work in burnt sienna, sap green and violet, darkening and further defining the form and shadows. At this point, I begin working burnt umber with a very fine brush into the details that will be the darkest. True black, like true white, occurs in the natural world only rarely, so these pigments will be added only at the very end.


All images c. Portia St. Luke 2012

  

  

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes, the whole world around you,

because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”
by Roald Dahl

Above: "Satyress." Mixrd media on Bristol. c. Portia St. Luke 2012

"May I develop compassion as boundless as the sky"

"Soon we all will die. All our hopes and fears will be irrelevant. In the illuminous continuity of existence, which has no origin and which has never died, Humans project all the images of live and death, terror and joy, demons and gods. These images become our complete reality, and we submit, without thinking, to their dance. In all the movements of this dance we project our fears, and we make every effort to ignore it. Anything that has a shape will crumble away. Anything in a flock will disband. We're all like bees, alone in this world, buzzing and searching with no place to rest, so easily caught in a net of confused pain. So we offer this prayer: Delusions are as various as the reflections of the moon on a rippling sea. May I develop compassion as boundless as the sky, so that all may rest in the clear light of their awareness."  --Bardo Thodol

Above: "River at Sunset." 
Sketch from life, black wax on paper
c. Portia St. Luke, 2002

Saturno Butto: A Florentine Master in the Modern World

Above: by Saturno Bruno

High Renaissance and early Baroque painting holds a fascination for me in a way than no other artistic period or style possibly can. The meticulous attention to detail, light, shadow, reflected counter-light, textures, drapery, anatomy... For me, the art world reached its apex in the 1500's - 1600's.  Caravaggio has always been a favorite.  Artemisia Gentileschi, his contemporary, was influenced by his work, and rose to a level that was clearly on-par with his brilliance. Often, I feel I could work my entire life with the hope of being that good.

(Pictured right: Caravaggio's "Judith Beheading Holofernes," 1598.
Left: Artemisia Genteleschi's treatment of the same subject, 1614) 

Finding Saturno Butto was like finding a light in the middle of a very dark world. Here is a living painter who has the skill to paint as well as either Caravaggio or Gentileschi ever did, while throwing disturbingly modern twists such as medical equipment, modern lingerie, and weapons, into what could otherwise be a flawless reproduction of the Renaissance Masters.  Far from being a run-of-the-mill copyist, his work has its own dark, uneasy feel to it... elements of psychology and theology intertwine to create a so-real-you-could-touch-it mixture that is, somehow, both sacred and profane at the same time.

Unfortunately, his main portfolio site is possibly the most Flash-heavy piece of web-construction I've run into, making it very slow or difficult to navigate if your computer is not running at peak efficiency.  It's worth taking the time to look through, but, sadly, that may mean time, and lots of it.   Thankfully, the interwebs are vast, and he can be found just as easily on FaceBook.  The on-line gallery von Scaramouche was able to provide this intriguing interview with the Master himself. 

Von Scaramouche describes "a man who, with the exception of a decade related to art studies, never left Bibione, a small Venetian city alongside the sea, where he lives and works," and yet can be called "one of the most captivating figurative painters around today."

For a real treat, find a time when you will not be interrupted and music by Claudio Monteverdi (16th century) or Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (18th century)   (This is very easy to do if you have Pandora.)  Mute your phone.  This world can wait.  Listen to the music, and loose yourself in the dark and twisted beauty of the world that lives within Saturno Butto's paintings.   

(Left and below:  various paintings by Saturno Butto)