Cobalt: The Final Days

Our last project at Cobalt. Two days to paint a front and back landscape that changes with light. Sounds like magic? It is. It's also a bit of a pain in the ass, but totally worth it in the end. This was another one that was all sprayers, with bogus paper and kitty litter masking. On muslin.

First paint something with paint on the front.



Then paint something similar, but different on the back using dyes.


And viola! Watch the video and enjoy the way it changes under light!



It's a little long so feel free to flip through!

After we were done with these projects, we were whisked away to our separate parts of the world and it was all over! Thanks for a great time Cobalt!

Cobalt: Day 17

Finished the project started from yesterday. That is all we did today, take a look at the process!

The images are a little bit blurry, sorry!

Tomorrow begins a new project!

Cobalt: Day 16

I'm very tired, and so not saying much. We did foliage today. Here's a step by step.

Not the most brilliant thing I've ever done...

Here is my favorite example of foliage we saw today.

Close up of the very effective and simply leaf work.


And we started our, "You want me to paint what on that?" projects. Some people got really illustrative looking pieces to paint on things like shower curtains. I got a black and white photo realistic rose to paint on paper... Really? We find out why we got assigned what we got assigned tomorrow. I'm interested to hear, as it was the last thing I wanted... I'm not hating it though, it's quite pretty and if it turns out well, I will hang it on a wall.



That would be my drawing and soon to be puzzle stencil for spraying tomorrow (above) and my base coated piece of paper (below).



Everyone cross your fingers and hope it comes out well!

Inspirational Art: Storm King

At Storm King I saw two more works by an artist I LOVE named Ursula von Rydingsvard. I had first seen this piece of hers (below) at deCordova Art Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, MA.
This one is titled, ence pence.

Then Today, I saw TWO MORE of her work. For Paul

And Luba.

GORGEOUS! THEN!!! I found out that deCordova is doing an EXHIBIT of her work open now until August 28th. So, if you like these, I would highly recommend packing yourself a picnic, and heading over to deCordova in Lincoln, MA for both her outdoor piece (at top) and her exhibit. For more information, go here.

ALSO at Storm King was this beauty...
Kiss by Darrell Petit
It seems to be to be a reference to Brancusi's Kiss, but I can easily say, I prefer this one.
I'm just been introduced to his work today, and am looking forward to more.

Very exciting.
Cheers!

Cobalt: Days 14 and 15

Saturday and Sundays we have off at Cobalt, which means, loveliness happens. We are in such a beautiful part of the country, but are so busy, we don't enjoy it much. Today and yesterday, I did.

Yesterday consisted of doing some laundry (line dried), making sorbet from lemon balm I picked from the forest, picking flowers...

And making journals..... lots and lots of journals. I got mostly done with a few made from beer boxes and the masking paper used on our projects in the studio, but the only one I finished was this one for Lisa's (a girl on the program's) husband Tony. I sold it for $15 because she reminds me of my cousin Jill.

Then today, we went to STORM KING ART PARK!!!!!! It was a gorgeous day filled with Richard Serra, Roy Lichtenstein, Calder, Andy Goldsworthy, and SO many more I could go ON forever.

Here's a photo of Goldsworthy's Storm King Wall. It's so magical in person, and beautiful to touch. If you're anywhere near the area, do stop by this MARVELOUS WONDERLAND! Better than Disneyland, and FAR cheaper.

Here's another sculpture from the park. George Cutts, Sea Change. A beautiful kinetic piece, that the video doesn't do justice to, as the way the light hits the metal makes it look like liquid.



I will say sorry that it is sideways, but apparently, you can't change that on either my phone or youtube. Note to self for next time. There are lots of videos of it on youtube from different angles is you'd like to see more.

After it all, we went to a little place called Painter's Tavern for some DELICIOUS and really reasonably priced food and drink. Perfect portions for both the large and small eaters.

Quite a wonderful day!
And Happy Father's day to my poor dad, stranded alone in a hospital in Phoenix.
Get well soon!

Cobalt: Day 13

I can't believe two weeks are up. I'm exhausted, which makes me see that it's possible, but otherwise, its really flown.

Today we finished up the marble projects and did a drapery one.

I think that some of my shadows could be a bit better, but otherwise, a good first attempt.

As for drapery, I didn't loooove it, but it was the first time the professors really expressed that they loved it, so I left it.

After painting today, we did the scenic paint olympics, which consisted of three event, parallel chalk line-up, distance splatter, and the straight line relay. My partner and I got 1st in the parallel chalk line-up with a 1/8 of an inch difference over 20 ft. Very impressive. I got disqualified in the distance splatter for scratching by stepping over the line, otherwise I would have placed in the top three, and then got third in the straight line rely because our strategy wasn't great... Regardless, it was a ton of fun and we all got our signature Cobalt Studios T-shirt, which ironically, I won't be using as a paint shirt.

The day ended with me cooking my signature foods for dinner for the house. Pasta with a fresh tomato, garlic, and basil sauce, Spinach Salad with fruit, avocado, and almonds, tasty bread, and bacon chocolate chip cookies. Everyone loved it, but now I'm exchausted and very much looking forward to a (finally!) relaxing weekend!

Cobalt: Day 12

Finished up wood today. Not such a great picture, sorry. We got quite far on marble, the faux finish is all done, just putting the dimension. More dimension to come tomorrow as well as a drapery project!

Cobalt: Day 11

Finished up on of the wood grains, almost finished the other, and base coated two marbles! Everything was going great, until I did my lowest highlight on the finished wood completely crooked... I guess I'll fix it tomorrow!

Cobalt: Day 10

Today was wood graining! Hooray! We worked on two different types, finished wood and old distressed wood.

Both types started with an outline, a vertical scumble base coat, and graining.
The finished wood took one last wash to add dimension.
The distressed wood took another layer of graining with a highlight and then a dry splatter.

Tomorrow, we will be adding in the shadows and highlights to add dimension to the surface over the texture.

Hooray!

Cobalt: Day 9

Not much to show for today. We did perspective on a large scale. You can't really see it, for which I apologize, but alas, not much I can do.

Cobalt: Day 6

Here is the rest of the work I did on the practice flat. The lining was done on Thursday and all the shapes work was done on Friday. No more work until Monday, but I am going to a wedding and will post some of the prettier pictures I take!

Also, this is perhaps the ugliest thing I have ever painted.

Cobalt: Day 5

Hard to believe it's already 5 days in.

Here's a picture of our little house we live in.

Unfortunately, it got hit by a tree today from the storm that rolled in around 4:30. Luckily, we were all painting in the studio.

We were going to have a cookout for our meal tonight, but since it was storming, we went out for pizza instead to a brick over place called Benji & Jake's. Cobalt painted them this lovely sign.
(The brick isn't real...)

By the end of dinner, the storm was gone, and we were able to enjoy a beautiful sunset on the deck.

Less exciting for you, more exciting for me are the pictures of the work we did today in the studio. We layed 4 different types of texture over our base coats from yesterday and then did 3 different types of splattering. All can be seen below. Then we did line work, but I was running late, so didn't have time to snap a picture of the finished product of that, so I'll have it up tomorrow. We are just basically making sure we have all our basic techniques figured out before we jump into faux finishes next week!



Oh and that texture I couldn't remember the name of yesterday is called a scrumble.

Cobalt: Day 4

DAY 4: Short Post as our activities ran quite late and it's hot and I'm tired. But here's what we've got. This morning was spend doing an even larger transfer in groups. Ours was this lovely art nouveau woman, which I was quite excited about, as it is one of my favorite styles. Here was the reference image...



I can't figure out how to turn it presently, and as I mentioned, I'm tired, so it's not of importance.

Here are some pictures of what we came up with after about an hour or so of working. Not finished, obviously, and now forever gone.




I was responsible for the middle section.

Then we worked with the colors we matched yesterday to do some base coats.
One a gradient and the other a... skonche or something ridiculous like that..... I don't remember, shows how much I'm learning, and that I'm tired. I'll let you know tomorrow.



We also played around with sprayer, which I have never done, but primarily learned to fix them, as I hear they clog often.

Tonight finished with an AMAZING English dinner of toad in a (the?) hole, mash, and veggies followed with a rhubarb cobbler with ice cream. We finished our show and tell pictures tonight, taking 2 hours, so this is why I am so tired, and slightly typing grumpy.

More tomorrow, and a hopefully better mood!

Cobalt: Day 3

So here I am, Day 3. Yesterday, I had the best of intentions for posting, but for whatever reason, I was completely wiped out and went to be around 9. Today, however was much better. Full of prepping for tomorrow's project.

On Monday, we worked on transferring images. Here is my Calvin, taken from tiny paper size to taller than me size. We all cranked these out in an hour or less, really very impressive.

Earlier on Monday, we covered soft and hard flats with muslin. Today we trimmed the edges and coated them with starch to prep for painting tomorrow.

Then came basic color theory. We mixed color wheels with both ROSCO Iddings Deep Color and Super Saturated. We finished the day with color matching two swatches to prep for our painting project for tomorrow. The ROSCO Paint Products Manager, Jen Knott, was also in today, with her adorable dog who she rescued. She filled in all the extra gaps in our the how's and why's of paint lecture as well as gave us some cool ROSCO gear. Yes to a sweet paint apron!

At last we have a few pictures of the paint deck (directly below) and the paint shop (bottom). Both impressive and exciting beyond what the pictures show.

That's all for today, more updates tomorrow!

Cobalt: Day 1

So here I sit, in the Tree Room at Cobalt Studios in White Lake, NY. Going to bed at 11pm so that I will be ready at 8:30 to begin what the other students here are affectionately calling Scenic Painting Boot Camp.

But no matter how difficult the work day will be (9-5 with an hour for lunch doesn't seem too bad?), the environment here is so adorable, I can't imagine the next three weeks won't be relaxing and fun at the same time.

I got in around 5pm today, driving 5 hours from Boston, super afraid with no idea what to expect of this place. The first impression is good though, as the first thing I saw was the two students who had arrived before me cooking with one of the teachers followed by her telling me the first rule was to make myself at home.

Thank you, I will. I had my choice of adorable little themed rooms, as the house where we live used to be an old boarding house. I settled on the Tree room, if you know me you will be able to tell why from the pictures below.

So cute, down to the little trees painted above my bed.

The food was delicious, the grounds are gorgeous, the town in the area also ADORABLE. I can easily see how people live here and do nothing but paint for two years. I do love painting, so hopefully, I'll be happy for the next few weeks. I think I'm probably the youngest and the most inexperienced here, but that's alright, it's not a competition. At some point, we're doing show and tell, so maybe then I'll know for sure.

I'm going to try to update every day, with picture of what I'm working on at the very least.