Painter's Mistakes

Recently I have been getting emails and messages from fellow artists looking for advice in oil painting. Since I enjoy writing about my "craft," I figure I can post tips on my blog regularly (which will keep me up on my game anyways). So here it goes:

Mistake No. 1 - Cheap Brushes
When starting out with painting, you may think that most brushes are the same. Walking through the aisle of the art supply store seeing high price tags on some brushes might just seem silly when there is an economy pack on the end cap with 10 brushes and a neat-o little plastic holder for $9.99... but please, don't think these value brushes are anywhere near the same as the more expensive brushes (this also applies to most all materials, but this post is particularly about brushes - stay on track, josh!). Shell out a little bit of money for nicer brushes, it will be worth it. Shown below, I've posted a picture of bristles in my paint! How frustrating! I actually think that the culprit here was excessive shedding from my head (notice the dark color compared to the white bristles), but non the less... hair/bristles in your paint makes a poor quality piece - that also means all you pet owners out there should be cautious too!

I've found that the more that you work, the more that you will realize that you have favorite brushes. My favorites have been with me for quite a while now and I think that has something to do with taking care of my brushes! Treat them well, and they will treat you well - and last long! My best advice to easy cleaning and care for your brushes is a combination of Silicoil Brush Cleaner Tank, followed by Ugly Dog Brush Soap (click links to purchase). Rinse well, then apply a small amount to the bristles again and reshape the brush back to the correct shape. I store the brushes bristle up to air dry over night.

Hope some of this advice can pay off to someone out there. I'll try to make this "Painter's Mistake" thing a regular weekly post... I have plenty of mistakes I've made to share! Paint on, painters!

-Joshua Grabowski

Star Wars Finished

Unless another commission comes my way requesting otherwise, I think that it is pretty safe to say that my first and only Star Wars painting is on it's way out of the studio and to it's new home as soon as the paint is dry enough to varnish. I enjoyed working on this piece: the texture in the building, detail in the boy, experience (always a bonus/reward with every next painting). Enjoy it friends.

click on the image to load a high res. pic.

-Joshua Grabowski

website...coming soon

coming very soon in fact... there is so much work that goes into making a site live and building it from scratch, but mark my words... it will be AWESOME! Thanks to all you trusty readers and followers of my blog in the mean time. I'll be sure to post about it when I have the first edition of the site up and running... then you can tell me all about how great it is, and also about all the kinks and problems that need to be worked out! ;)

Caucasian Flesh Tone Paint - WASTE

One of the worst colors that most oil paint manufacturing companies offer is premade caucasian flesh tone. Granted this is a nice option when starting out mixing colors, but what colors are you really using? Perhaps the mix is more on the warm side of the color scale and adding the wrong blue might leave you with muddy, dirty colors that are flat and weak. When painting human skin, it is best to mix your own. Don't waste money on the premade stuff, here are the basic pigments found on most palettes that I use while making skin tones:

   cad. yellow med.

   yellow ochre

   flake white (warm white)
   cad. red light
   burnt umber & sienna
   ultramarine blue

For light flesh tones, start with flake white adding the yellows and a bit of red, using the burnt browns as shadows and blues to cool the color down if it gets "too warm." Medium tones can start with the yellows, adding white only to the highlights. Dark flesh tones use only the burnt browns, red, and blue. Typically, I try to stay away from any black in my work to keep from flat paintings. The best way to figure out which color mixes work best for you is to actually do it. Yes, oil paint might be expensive, but without trial and error you'll never get any better! Jump in, try it yourself!

-Joshua Grabowski

Little Skywalker

Here is a detail shot of the progress which I am totally happy with! I may not be a Star Wars buff like some people (see: Star Wars Fan 1, & #2) but working on this piece and a recent episode of Family Guy tributing the series has really got my sci-fi movie viewing desires at an unusual high. Maybe I'll relive the SW experience via Netflix someday, until then take a look at my version of Anakin below:

This is just a detail shot of the full painting that I posted a few days ago. The lower half of the boy is needing the most of my attention, but the upper half is coming along nicely! Since this piece was a commission, the client was already excited before I even started it, but now he is literally overjoyed! It's great seeing such a positive reaction to my work. :)

-Joshua Grabowski

Progression - it feels good

I love having my pieces approach completion. Here is a little snapshot of the stage this painting is in currently. Previously I mentioned that I would have this piece completed by today, and even though I didn't meet that self-imposed deadline, I came pretty close. Just a few more sessions of work with this painting and it will be ready for varnish and a frame.

"Lemonade Press" WORK-IN-PROGRESS - 24" x 36" oil on canvas

You might think the picture looks the same as it did last time I shared the progress, but the magic is in the detail now. It's only going to get even better! Enjoy!

-Joshua Grabowski

Working through the Resistance!

Some days (today included) I just do not want to paint (also note: here I am writing instead of painting), but I'm here next to my easel. I've shown up and that is half the battle. An artist creates art, and if I'm not painting because I just don't feel like it, well, that is no excuse at all! Some fellow artists have recently written to me asking for advice on painting, a golden rule that every painter MUST know. Well, it's not any genius wisdom that I can give out myself but I can borrow the words of a master to pass along a very important thing to keep in mind:

"If you feel as though you can not paint, you should simply paint, and that voice within will be silenced"
                    -Van Gogh

That sounds simple enough. After I get out the paint, the resistance does just seem to melt away. Here it goes...

Little Anakin & Shadowy Darth

A couple postings back I mentioned that I was working on something with blue skies and sand huts, now progress of that work:

This is a larger rendition (36" x 48") of an existing photo (10" x 15") from a Star Wars calendar. A few questions about making a painting, a couple conversation to discuss details, and a large amount of naples yellow later I am happy with where this piece stands. There is more detail work and a final varnish of this piece left to go, however, this photo gives you the basic general idea of what this will look like in it's final stage - just a little more texture and darkening in the sand & shadow, detail and a tad more color in the boy (Anakin), and  I also plan to brighten the sky a little bit as well. Thanks to the wonders of commission work me and Anakin Skywalker are now acquainted on an artistic basis, otherwise I would have never touched a Star Wars piece... "the force Luke, use the force!"

-Joshua Grabowski

Wallpaper Duty

I'm sure that laying actual wallpaper with such an elaborate design would be much easier, but probably less gratifying than the end result from working magic with my paint brush (I'm sure I have no business messing around with adhesives and whatever else it takes to put up wallpaper anyways). Today started in a great position with the main design elements blocked in and dry from previous painting sessions - all I had to do was spend 6 1/2 hours painting in the details, and voila!

A little more about the painting:
This still life was inspired from real lemonade freshly squeezed from lemons grown here locally in AZ. Michael and I were walking along picking lemons and grapefruits from the fruit treats in the neighborhood and we spotted the best lemon tree around... many problems arose: water flooding the ground around the tree (which posed no problem for Michael and his braveness), branches that jump out at you from no where (leaving battle wounds on Michael... bless his heart for sacrificing himself for the good of my art and our lemonade drinking pleasure), and seems on the bag we used ripping apart carrying 20 lbs of lemons the size of two fists each back home to introduce them to our new friend... the juicer. After making a mess and enjoying the smell of citrus in the air, the peels just seemed as though they were begging to be painted. Digital camera and shadow box to the rescue! Piecing the idea together and settling into my new studio, I created the design, transfered it to canvas and began working. Three weekends of painting later, I have progressed far enough into the piece to share my work so far. Keep in mind that the only part that is "done" is the background... backward to foreword is how I'm working the painting (in other words, now that the background is done, everything that is "in front" of it will be painted in next). I love the still life so far and can't wait to finish it soon! :)

-Joshua Grabowski

Feeling Good

Today is a great day. Feeling great in the studio, just wanted to make a little post wishing everyone a great day just the same. Getting ready to paint a blue sky and some sand huts... don't ask, you'll understand as I progress through the piece a little further and post it up. So many good things are brewing, I'll share more soon!

Enjoy your Thursday! Good moods are contagious... spread the word!

-Joshua Grabowski

Raw Sienna

Tinting canvases today for a warmer color base. Turpenoid, raw sienna oil paint, and a nice sized brush will do the trick... all I have to do is wait for the base to dry and I'll be on my way to completing the commission piece. :)

Traffic to my blog is looking up, which could possibly mean that it is about time to get my "real" art site up and running. Look for [at least] two brand new finished large paintings by the 6th! Smooth sailing folks!

New Canvas

Occasionally, a new blank canvas can be intimidating. All that possibility, virtually limitless within the confines of your materials and your own imagination. Sometimes, that feeling of intimidation can completely be wiped away when you know what you are going to be working on ahead of time. Starting a commission piece is a great example of this, I already have the image and can basically envision the painting in it's completed state before I've even put the bristles to the canvas. 36" x 48" of canvas are ready for me in my studio, better not keep it waiting! Progress will follow soon. I've set some ambitious completion dates for myself on this piece in particular, looking forward to meeting my goals! :) 

-Joshua Grabowski

The smell of oils.

For those of you that might not know first hand, oil paints have a very distinct smell, unpleasant to some and a fond and meaningful aroma to others. I happen to fall into the "others" category which also just so happens to be overly convenient for me since the profession I chose to follow requires me to use paints... see definition of artist: oil painter. Today marked the first stab at oils with my newest still life creation and the color I mixed up is a beauty! I have a long way to go, mostly because of the elaborate involvement of the subject matter and textures and patterns I'm attempting... but I always love art that challenges me. I'm not ready to share visual progress just yet for this piece, so I will some pictures another day, but in the mean time you can take a look of this fun little pic of my paints that I used today: phthalo blue, viridian, titanium white - all diluted with turpenoid. I got out some galkyd lite (amber colored liquid) and didn't even use it... but before you pass judgement on my wasteful action, rest assured that I sealed it up in a "medium jar" for use another day. ;)

what a fun, artistic little picture we have here! the paint color shown above turned out a little more blue than it actually is though... it's more of a turquoise.

-Joshua Grabowski

Untitled 1, 2, 3...

...is part of my previous large body of work created over the previous winter months that I've only shared a small portion of so far. These three paintings form a triptych, which by definition is a work of art that is divided into three sections. Each stands alone at 7ft tall by 3ft wide for a total width of around 9ft depending on the spacing between the pieces. The colors used here are also in every other painting within my "Reflections" series. They were my favorite pieces from the whole collection... but as the proud artist of this great work, I can not discredit the others, which are all strong and great in their own individual ways. Currently these pieces reside in WI but I have eventual big plans for these, as well as the rest of the series,  with a confidently higher price tag than what I am used to. Below I've included some of the pictures of the construction and painting process of these beauties. Custom HTML by yours truly should allow you to click on any of the images to view them in your full browser window. Enjoy, everyone! Questions as well as comments are (as always) encouraged and welcomed! :)

-Joshua Grabowski

New Space w/ GREAT Potential

To keep everyone in the loop of the things going on in my art life (read: "life"), I thought I would post a little something about the new space I have been creating my newest pieces at. In the land of sunny Arizona, there are plenty of opportunities around for artists to gain exposure, which one is the "right place" is different for everyone and sometimes can take many attempts to find what truly works. Originally I was skeptical about moving my things into my current studio, but after the first official week (tomorrow is the 5th day there!) I have found that the exposure is going to really be a great thing. SWAP$MART is the name of the business harboring my working space, available to the public Friday through Sunday for all your artistic needs! Within the first weekend, I have spoken to many people interested in what I am creating and handed out plenty of fliers directing people to back to my work. Commissions are coming in from every direction and should keep me plenty busy! During the days there, I sit and put on my headphones and paint my little heart out and pause for the occasional interested potential client looking to buy some of my stuff on the walls, get a price quote on a new piece, or just talk about art (which I always love to do!)

Keep a look out for progress on my new "lemonade" painting (not sure of the title just yet), and newest set-in-stone commission Star Wars piece... not my typical subject matter, and I love that about it! Anakin Skywalker, you pose no painting threat to me! Also talks of portrait work... portfolio expansion, I think so! AWESOME!

side-note: speaking of "sunny AZ" we are looking at 100's next week... that's another AWESOME!

-Joshua Grabowski

Artist Necessity

Thanks to a special "art connection," I was introduced to this book in the form of a gift! When I recently had hours and hours of time to fill on both airplanes and airport terminal waiting, I dove head first into this golden token of art knowledge. Any artist, no matter your craft, should read this book if a career in art is the goal in mind. Personally, coming from the painting side of things, I feel that this book spoke to me directly. An easy read with so much information on what to do and where to do it, and with a price tag that will most certainly not break the bank it is a no brainer... go get your copy now of How to Survive and Prosper As An Artist: Selling Yourself Without Selling Your Soul by Caroll Michels!

PS- THANKS JAN AND TOM!! :)

-Joshua Grabowski

Bell Peppers

Somehow time passes so easily between posts on here! I thought I'd share another still life piece. In the mean time I have taken a little trip back to WI, gotten settled into a new studio space, and just been enjoying life. As work progresses, I will always be sure to share the new stuff! Currently I am working on another still life (as well as other projects that pop up). This new still life piece is a little bit "graduated" from the simplistic compositions that I've previously been posting, much more elaborate and carefully planned. Use your imaginations until I share the progress and think, "lemons!"

Delicious! I love bell peppers! Especially of the mexican stuffed variety, and even more so when they are made by my mom!

5x5

As I progress with working with the easily available fruit from the produce section, I have decided to follow in the footsteps of many "daily painters" and work some smaller pieces, in this case 5" x 5" stretched canvas. This is great because I can start and finish a piece in one sitting; however, I find myself trying to paint more expressively under a time limit but tend to work continually until hours have passed and the piece looks more like a photo than an expressively painted piece made of a limited number of precisely placed strokes. Either way, I think this piece is a success and works well for the size... BIG painting on a SMALL canvas.

Look familiar? This is the middle, last row from yesterdays post of the thumbnails. Of course there is more to come. :)

-Joshua Grabowski

Apple Thumbs

After a failed attempt at jumping into a 5" x 5" piece of an artichoke, I decided it would be a good idea to start out safe with a direction this time... thumbnail sketches to the rescue. Twelve 5" square compositions later, I feel like I have at least a few solid ideas that I can translate to canvas comfortably. These are made on newsprint paper in my big sketchbook with drawing graphite pencils and a white prismacolor to highlight. Which one do you like the most?

For those of you interested in art books, I am currently reading a couple that peak my interest:
- "How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist" - Caroll Michels... great book on advice to artists about how to make a career out of your passion, without selling you soul!
- "The Artist's Way" - Julia Cameron... interesting approach to discovering and recovering your creative self, more of a spiritual path, must look at this one with an open mind! Still great!

Also just watched a movie, "Local Color," about a young artist studying under Nicoli Seroff, a great Russian Impressionist. Great movie... it totally touched my sense of artistry and approached contemporary art with near the same views that I myself have. According to Netflix, this movie got my 5 star vote. Feel free to share any books or movies worth checking out.

-Joshua Grabowski

Tea Time

Grabbing things around the apartment to put together a still life piece will naturally include a tea cup or two. The green tea cup I used for this setup is my favorite from the bunch of tea cups randomly found by Michael's dad (funny, and very random story). Going with the fruit-filled still life theme, I setup this composition using an orange that I picked from one of the trees outside. I loved the texture from the odd-shaped rhine. It gave more depth and angle to reflect light on... delicious! However, actually not so delicious, since the oranges hadn't fully ripened at this point... more accurately, very sour!

The picture quality isn't completely amazing. If anyone is interested in seeing more, let me know. Also, BTW... as with most of my art you see on my blog, these recent pieces are for sale. If anyone is interested please feel free to contact me: jg@joshuagrabowski.com. Hope everyone is having a great start to the week enjoying the great weather. Get outside to see the green life! :)

-Joshua Grabowski

A Pair of Pears + 1

Since my recent exploration of fruit still life piece has come about, I've been posting some of the results. Here is another piece that I have decided to add the finished still life collection. There was only one surviving pear; however, the procrastination of throwing it away turned into a fruit fly safe haven. When it finally saw the garbage it looked nothing like the way I've shown it below.

This was my favorite when i was working on the four still life piece at once but the oranges have come out to be my favorite completed piece (so far). As I progress with these pieces, I am getting more comfortable using my medium of choice, which in most cases seems to be oils. More to come soon.

-Joshua Grabowski

Not from Concentrate

It has been common practice for artists throughout time to find an idea that works and reuse that idea until it has run dry. This particular piece wasn't created for the purpose of following my longtime-past concentrations of "oranges" and "faces," but since it is familiar working with the subject of oranges this piece called out to me. The color, the smell, the texture, of course the taste - oranges are by far my favorite fruit! When the orange trees are blossoming, AZ is the place to be! Every gust of wind carries the amazing aroma of sweet, fresh flowers and the trees start to bear large, ripe fruit ready to be picked and eaten! Delicious. If that doesn't make your mouth water with orange cravings, I just don't know what will.

A few weeks ago, I was reading up on some art blogs that I follow and found some postings about the use of a "shadow box" to create dramatic, controlled lighting for still life masterpieces (actual results may vary). Inspired and determined to make my own still-life-masterpiece-creation box, POOF, I was a still life junkie. Four piece later, I am starting to use my creativity more. I've also noticed my comfort with my color mixing, medium use and dilution, etc. I'll post more on the other three pieces-in-progress as they approach completion; however, in the mean time, I'd like to call the oranges finished (of course I will second guess this, over and over, including the possible color correction on the blue bowl... but that is just a possibility, no matter how likely I actually think it is). This picture was the best I could get. You can see the outline of my black shirt against the reflected white wall behind me. Damn reflection! Anyways, Enjoy!

Details about this piece: 12" x 12" oil on stretched canvas.

On a note aside from art, I have been able to run consistently without much pain in my foot! BONUS! The weather has been wonderful and mountain side running just can not be beat. Tax time is here (or at least the dreaded due date) and it feels great to have gotten them done in time and not have to have that weight on my shoulders... make sure to stop out somewhere that has "Tax day specials" and take advantage of the savings! Just don't eat McDonald's, it's plain nasty - unless you are eating chicken nuggets, in which case I say GO FOR IT!

-Joshua Grabowski

Dabbling Back Into Pastels

Just the other day, I received an email from someone interested in my "Swirl Sunset," oil pastel piece. This got me interested once again working with this medium. Easy clean up, fast application, vibrant colors, easily blendable (yes, that's right, I did just make up that word). To kick off the pastel fun, I decided to simply make a 2010 version of the original. The picture below is the results from attempt no. 1! 

Vibrant & fun colors. I was using my newsprint sketchbook, and the weight of the paper is just simply not acceptable for the pull on the pastels (in other words, the paper can rip quite easily since it is so thin! be cautious!...or just use better paper!) Since this medium is so "hands-on," I'm left with a oily, gritty (yet colorful) film on my fingers, which now is spread throughout my keyboard. Yay!

-Joshua Grabowski

Let there be sunflowers...

...at least one, so far. After looking at this piece hanging on the wall untouched for a couple weeks, I decided it was time to work on it some more and call it finished! The reason that I started this piece was for the About.com Photo Challenge of a sunflower I found. Submissions take 1-3 days to appear on their site, so I can't link to the image on their site, but I can however share the image on here. Enjoy!

This piece is an 8" x 10" oil on stretched canvas. Yes, to answer your question, the piece is for sale! Inquire within! :)

-Joshua Grabowski

More of the Reflections Project

I'd like to share a little collage of pictures from my Reflections series. This collage of images was put together for a gallery viewing opportunity but I went with another image instead (I didn't think this image showed them well enough). After browsing many sites for hosting my artwork, I think I may have found a couple that offer services with advertisements appearing on the page for their "free version" where at any point you can choose to upgrade for a reasonable monthly fee... I figure, what do I have to lose? It's free! I'm going to try to get these images up soon since it has been about a month and a half now and I've done plenty of research at this point!

I've been working on some still life pieces recently, just for fun. I'll put the results and the works-in-progress up over the next few days.

Hope everyone is taking advantage of the wonderful weather, and if not... get out there!

-Joshua Grabowski