12th Blogiversary!

Hi everyone!

Today is the 12th anniversary

of this art blog. (!)

So happy to share it with my "tribe"! 

To celebrate a little, I am posting this drawing 

... from 2003!

(soooo many years ago!)

I was just getting going with art again in 2003

and made this in a class at the University of Alaska Southeast.

It sold during an exhibit of UAS student art!

That got my confidence up.

Still at it, still love it, still exhibiting locally now and then.

For those who follow I thank you very much for

checking in. I am hoping you can take something away

that is useful for your own creative ventures.

Please stay tuned for more!

🙏

3 Graces (part 6 - end of journey)

Second to last photo before the finish

a painting journey

has come to delightful end

travel anywhere ...

So, yep ... my little Haiku for the end of my journey.

 I have not found thought of

anything else I can do to

improve this small painting

(at this time),

so I am calling it

fini!

Revealed at the end of this post,

you can see, or maybe you can't see (?)

the subtle changes 

I made to finish.

To refresh ...

This journey began with a photo

 of condensation on a window screen,

its shape was human figure-like.

I am a gigantic fan of 

Alberto Giacometti (look him up!)

and felt inspired to try

an abstract painting of the human form

in the guise of the three graces.

Googling for The Three Graces, I found

there was NOT a simple description! 

↓The following 2 sentences are directly from the Wiki page:

"Charites, known in Greek mythology as The Three Graces, 

goddesses of such things as charm, beauty, and creativity. 

In Roman mythology they were known as the Gratiae."

If you click on the Charites link, and scroll down the page 

you will see there were/are MANY artists

who depicted them in art ...

... including my husband's grandfather (Hugo Robus)!

Below is a photo of H. Robus'

Three Possible Graces, a sculpture

not quite 3 feet tall.

I did remember this sculpture -

 (but did not set eyes on it while painting until today 

when I looked it up and snapped the photo)

- from our book about Hugo Robus,

his life and work. I am sure it inspired me.

My original sketch

My painting 1st stage

I tried a couple of extra things

to help this painting,

including some more Indian Yellow 

in the top right corner and some gouging

around the "heads"...

tried to give it more value contrast. (think it helped)

3 Graces     Teri Gardner Robus      Cold wax and oil on canvas panel    10 x 8 inches

Thank you so much for following along on this

painting journey! It was fun to have you,

and I hope you stay tuned for more

interesting (and hopefully educational)

blogposts about art!

🎨

3 Graces (Journey - part 5)

A layer of blue ...

... applied with a squeegee.
Ha!
Look how little this painting is!
I will do a bigger painting next time!

Compression with tissue paper and a brayer.

Pulling off the tissue paper, showing
the marks made.

The following series of photos
are those where I added
or subtracted paint.

Some may notice that I signed this version

so I can preserve that area ...

... I might be nearing 

the end of this painting   ?

I think there is room for improvement and 
more experimenting. 

Although I feel like stopping at different points
it is intriguing to see what would happen if ...

So until next posting, I bid you to 
stay warm,
keep making art
... and thank you for viewing this little artblog!

3 Graces (Journey - part 4)

Every time I see this piece with a new layer,
I love it!

↑ And then I wonder what would happen

if I made some stencils and brayered 

some (light brown) paint over it all.

(can you tell I have found the arrows in the editing bar?)

↓So, next layer was a light yellow.

Adding some dark again behind the figures
with an oil stick.

Last thing for this day was a layer of white.

Until next time, wishing you all
a
Happy, Safe and Artistic
Happy New Year!

👼

3 Graces (Journey - part 3)

In the selection above ↑ I used a bowl scraper to apply the paint, 

which I think was Transparent Yellow Oxide (and cold wax of course).

Just a note that whenever I mention a color of paint, for this journey,

it will always be mixed 50/50 with CWM.

The progression below ↓ was using a brayer,

one of the ways you can compress - 

which is a very useful technique when

using CWM + oil.

I rolled the brayer over a paper towel (that had a design) which

left a delicate design in the paint.

Adding the blue and the thick paint ↓ to my "Graces" made

things pop. We will see if it stays around.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day.

Are you ready for 2020?

See you next time and thank you for checking in!

3 Graces (Journey - part 2)

  

The great thing about the cold wax and oil mixture is that it's

quite quick to set up once you have the base layer down. It is ready for

more layers the next day, or even 8 hours later.

The recipe I am using is to mix about 50% cold wax medium
(I am using Dorland's) and 50% oil paint. 

From the last stage to the one above,

I added paint with a brayer,

and also used a palette knife.

My palette is earthy warm colors (so far) and as you can see,

in the progress photo below, I re-lined my figures because I didn't want 

to "lose" them under paint layers. 

I used a burnt umber oil paint stick made by Shiva and Jack Richeson
- these are the kind I have below.

There are a couple on the market. 
Another brand is R&F Pigment sticks. 

I haven't used that kind.

I will try to keep "finding" my figures

as I work with the layers I am applying.  

My goal with this piece is to have many layers of CWM and paint

so I will have something to scrape and gouge into.

Speaking of gouging and scratching,
I took a photo of the other tools-of-the-CWM-trade I have been using
for this painting. There are many, anything you can
think of to help you make marks! 

Below is a photo of the Dorland's CWM (Cold Wax Medium) jar,
Citrasolv, various palette/painting knives, a brayer, a bowl scraper (green), 
a black plastic fork, and some tissue paper. The blue box
is a "wet palette" keeper. It does well keeping the
oil/CWM from drying out too much.

Until next post ...
since it is getting close to Christmas,
I wish everyone a

Merry Christmas!
&
Happy Holidays! 
🥗

Come on a journey with me

This journey is one of exploration. 

I have not been there before. 

I don't think you have either, and

I wonder if you would like to tag along to see where we go?

It began around March 2019 when the screen in our bathroom window

developed this image (above) from condensation drips.

It looked a bit like a figure ... a Giacometti-type figure.

I didn't think it would be possible to get a photo of it, 

but it came out ok.

Then,

I started thinking 

about this idea as a painting. 

The sketch (below) was from March; 

am tentatively calling it 3 Graces.

 Painting began

in July.

Charcoal on an underpainted canvas panel   10 x 8 inches 

The panel stayed like this until December.

I am going to use Cold Wax Medium with oil paint.

First layer is a light value.

I will journey through this painting with you by my side.

 I don't know where it will end or when.

It will be an adventure.

Thank you for checking in.💕

🎨

Treadwell Ditch Trail "A Lovely Hike"

Along the Treadwell Ditch Trail, Douglas Island, Juneau, Alaska.

A Lovely Hike  (b&w)

I just finished a commission painting that was a no pressure painting. How many commissions can you say that about?

I did what I wanted to do and the client was happy.

Here are progress photos that I remembered to take!

This panel (a gessoed masonite board) was meant for another painting,
but I abandoned that idea.

My sketch (and notes) from a photo that the client took. 
I originally wanted to take my set-up and go out to the trail and get the painting started.  

Time got away from me and winter began, so I didn't do it.

The following photos show the mark makings as I stumbled through.

I knew I wanted the vanishing point about 1/3 up from the bottom.

To me the photo showed the trees all "almost" pointing 

toward another vanishing point up in the sky.

I think if you had hiked the ditch trail, you would recognize it in this painting.

I have hiked it many times and love it. From our house, doing a circle route,

the hike is about 7 miles.

The most fun was painting the understory and the path, 

trying to leave some of the underpainting showing 

but giving the feeling of lots of senescing vegetation.

I want to go hike it soon again!

A Lovely Hike (Treadwell Ditch Trail)    24 x 18   oil on Masonite   ⓒ Teri Gardner Robus

Thank you so much for checking this blog.

 I appreciate you!

Plein Rein 2020 new calendar time!

The plein air painters of Juneau, AK 
(Plein Rein Painters - this link is for the facebook page) 

have made a calendar for many years

and I have been involved for a few of the recent calendars.

Our method of selection is quite democratic; 

we submit up to 3 images

and then on one day we show up

and vote for 14 our favorites. 

One for each month, one each 

for frontispiece and the package cover.

This year my painting (painted IN June) is the June 2020 calendar page!

I am honored to be in this famous calendar.

I never did blog about this group plein air outing, 

so I will now ... here are the photos from that day.

Above photo is the original scene from where I was standing

  (out-standing in the field ... 🤣) ... sorry ...

I remembered to take some progress photos!

My fav wildflower, if I must pick, is the Shooting Star.

Dodecatheon jefferyi

There were a ton of them out in the wetlands 

of Eagle River (a bit of the river is showing in the painting).

Shooting Star Blanket       oil   en plein air   8 x 10 inches

Please note: this painting is now in a private collection in Austin, Texas.

Thanks so much for checking in ... happy fall and happy painting!

🎨