Posts made in July, 2010

"Nothing But Nose" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic painting on Multimedia Artboard, 5 x 7". Copyright ©2010 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved.

Lately I’ve been feeling that my painting efforts aren’t focused enough. I bounce around from one painting challenge to another, learning from each, but I’m not accomplishing much beyond that. I feel the need to do more. I need to focus my efforts on something that’s 100% me, and when it’s over, have something more to speak for the experience than just a bunch of unrelated paintings gleaned from other people’s photos and experiences.

So I’ve started a series of paintings I call State Fair, USA based on three years worth of reference photos taken at my local state fair. Literally thousands of photos. Through September, I’ll be posting new paintings almost daily to the State Fair USA blog , so please check it out if you want to follow along.

The State Fair blog is more geared toward the non-artist. I’ve come to think of this blog – Lesley Spanos Art Studio – as the artist blog, since most of my subscribers are my fellow artists. This blog won’t close – I’ll still be posting occasional step-by-step and challenge paintings here.

The Sate Fair series is my first attempt at almost-daily painting, and I’m amazed by how difficult it is. Kudos to those of you who are daily painters. You have earned a new level of respect from me!

You can subscribe to the new blog here:
Subscribe to State Fair USA via email or reader

"When Ducks Gossip" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic painting on Multimedia Artboard, 5 x 7". Copyright ©2010 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved.

These little rubber duckies in the Duck Pond game seemed to be sharing secrets.

Carnies look at you a little weird when you photograph their ducks for too long. I’m thinking next time I need to placate them by spending some money on their games.

Here are a few images captured along the way:

Usually I’d tint the entire board a darker color then paint over it, but some of the yellows I use don’t cover dark colors well. To keep my yellows pure and bright, I needed to define the yellow spots early, and paint the dark water around them.

I’m working in layers, building up the transparent yellows gradually. I wish I hadn’t used that dark grey marker for the drawing… it’s really had to cover with paint.

I’m still learning how to paint water. I tried to keep my strokes loose and calligraphic.

The final layers were glazes thinned with medium, used to push the yellows in either a warmer (duck sides) or cooler (duck tops) direction.

"The Merry Jester" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic painting on Multimedia Artboard, 5 x 7". Copyright ©2010 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved.

This is the image that got me interested in doing a State Fair series. I love how the carving sparkles. My favorite time to photograph an outdoor carousel is around sunset. That’s when it comes to life, when it’s just dark enough for the glow of the bulbs to be visible, yet there’s still enough daylight to give it form. This time of day sets me up for a pleasing mix of complementary colors, from the the cool reflected colors of the sky to the warmth of the electric lights.

Here’s a shot taken in the morning:

See how flat and uninteresting the molded carvings look when the light is less than ideal?

Here are some images taken along the way:

After tinting the board with reds, I blocked in the masses with paint instead of drawing lines. Sometimes you just need to dive right in to the paint.

I refined as much of the drawing as I could with the brush before picking up a pen.

The face is the hardest part, so I decided to knock it out first. I would love to know who the artist used as a model. He looks a lot like entertainer/’80s talk show host John Davidson to me.

Acrylics are ideal for paintings like this because they dry quickly, allowing me to draw the intricate carvings directly over the paint minutes after it’s applied. I wouldn’t be able to do that with oils. Because my markers are water soluble, I can wipe off mistakes quickly with a wet paper towel.

The sky looked more like paint than sky, so I redid it. The key to getting a sky you can look through is using a variety of colors. In this case, it was violets, greens, and yellows. Anything but blue.

The bulbs on the carousel have a swirly pattern in the glass, so when I applied the paint I swirled it like the frosting on top of a cupcake. It doesn’t show in the scan, but I like the way it looks in real life.

Adding the final carvings. I’m so glad I chose acrylics for this piece so I could quickly build up these layers. I’m intentionally leaving some areas loose. I usually want my paint to look like paint, suggesting a surface rather than tightly mimicking it.

I thought the carvings at the bottom would be hard, but they were actually kind of fun. It was just a matter of laying in a mid-tone, followed by darks, then highlights.

This one was so much fun, I might need to do it again, larger.

"Pop Up Showers" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic painting on Multimedia Artboard, 5 x 7". Copyright ©2010 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved.

The local weather people like to forecast “pop-up showers.” Cracks me up every time I hear it. I’m reminded of the old “Pop-up Videos” on VH1. This painting shows the aftermath of one of these brief Midwestern storms at the Indiana State Fair a couple of years ago.

"Dogs" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic painting on Multimedia Artboard, 5 x 7". Copyright ©2010 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved.

It was early morning at the State Fair, and the food vendors were setting up for the day. This brightly colored hot dog booth glowed in the sunlight. My favorite part was the giant graphic hot dog with mustard displayed on the skirt of the booth.

Here are a few shots taken along the way:

Sign backgrounds go on first…

Then the scary part – the lettering. I tried to go slowly, then fixed my mistakes with the background color.

Whew! Adding those final details was a bit nerve-wracking. In an effort to keep from overworking today’s painting, I told myself I couldn’t stop for dinner until this one was done. That provided the incentive I needed to finish quickly. Now I am off to enjoy my reward, grilled chicken and summer squash fresh from the garden.