Time Passes Quickly...

Here we are. It's been months since my last post. Life has it's funny way of setting you up for opportunities where you least expect them: guess everything really does happen for a reason. Painting has not stopped by any means. Lots of great things in motion that will start to show over the next couple months. Until the details are worked out I'm leery of leaking much info, but: ART SHOW IN LATE JULY! Kenosha, WI has most certainly never seen artwork like this. Be ready. It's sure to impress. More information should be coming within the next couple weeks.

Seriously just remember the reasons you have to smile.

Take care friends!

  -Josh

Feel Alive

Been adjusting to some new schedules and having "blog-writer's block." Promise to post some updates soon.

"The only time I feel alive 

is when I'm painting." 

- Vincent Van Gogh -

Do you feel alive?

-Joshua Grabowski

FOCUS!

"The ability to focus attention on important things is a defining characteristic of intelligence." 
        - Robert J. Shiller

Okay... time to define my intelligence and stop playing with my paint and get to to work. I think it's a rather fun picture though! :)

-Joshua Grabowski

Facebook Fan Page

For those of you that aren't already following me on Facebook, I've created a "fan page" for my art. You can check it out here. I've also become a tweeter. Thanks everyone for your support!

-Joshua Grabowski

Fruit Still Life Series

I've been working on a series of new still life pieces that mainly involve 3 key ingredients: colorful fruit, high-contrasted victorian wallpaper backgrounds, and of course oil paint! (ok maybe the last ingredient is a little bit obvious!) The first piece is the Lemonade Press that I've wrote about before already. After creating this composition, the results inspired me to continue with a series; the second still life that I am working on is on Oranges & A Vase (which I've also wrote about earlier). The third and fourth still life is Blueberries & Yogurt  and Carmel Apples (both are new to the family as of yesterday so there are very rough sketches!). I have a bunch of new canvases tinted with a combination of naples yellow, cadmium red, cadmium orange, and loads of turpenoid w/ a touch of cold pressed linseed oil. Going to shoot for 10 paintings in this series but not sure on the details of the entire vision I have with these...


Hope everyone is doing great! Have a wonderful day! 


SITE UPDATE INFO: I'm working on updating the "under construction" page and including a little more functionality and content. When this new stuff is live on the net, I'll still be working to get full functionality up and running. Prints, online image galleries, contact pages, about pages, THE WORKS! Coming soon! :)


-Joshua Grabowski

Monday Painting Advice #3

Don't get overwhelmed by all the fancy stuff you will find in the painting section of the art store! There are always going to be fancy products that come with fancy price tags (read: overly expensive). Walking down the aisle without knowing what you're getting yourself into can become a lot to take on! I remember when I was getting started with oil paints, seeing all the different oils and solvents was like reading an ancient language that I had never heard of before. I'd consult the internet and books on which products to use, but then I realized something, each recommendation was originally coming from some other artist... and it turns out that each of them essentially have a different idea of what works for them and their work. It really had come down to the moment of truth when I started to mix my own mediums and started to realize what was working for ME and the work that I WAS DOING! Experiences are what make us grow. Each piece of artwork is a growth opportunity and should be taken as such. Start simple. Simple ways to get into oils are starting with acrylics and understanding what it is like to have your paint dry within minutes. Traditional oil is a different beast and will dry much slower, but if you want it to dry faster/slower/shiny/matte/texturized/etc., there is HUGE selection of options and Google seems to offer the answer to just about anything now-a-days. So start small, get a couple items you research via web or books, yes, you can still find things in books, and get painting. You'll find out sooner or later what works for you and what doesn't.


In most of my oil paintings to date, I've enjoyed using Galkyd Lite as my medium of choice which in most cases I end up mixing directly with the paint. It typically dries overnight and adds a high gloss to the finish. I've been getting creative with the medium concoctions lately, adding stand oil and poppy oil to play with the drying time and making the paint more fluid. If I could explain the way the oil paint with medium feels under the bristles of my brush with words, I would... for lack of better words, it is "awesome" and complete satisfaction; enough of a reason alone to keep painting!


Keep Painting Painters! You too can enjoy that sensation... today!

-Joshua Grabowski

Painter's Mistakes takes on New Name!

Last Monday I decided to start including a blog post about some type of mistake novice painters might make, sharing my wealth of knowledge to those who may not know what I know (and hopefully inspiring others who are reading that know more than I do to in turn share with me!). I've decided that instead of limiting it to "mistakes" that I will just make it "Monday Painting Painter Wisdom" or something else catchy, suggestions anyone?

Anyways, my advice/tip/whatever-you-want-to-call-it for today is, plastic wrap! This is a must have in the studio! Unless you are working with small palettes that you use in one day, you will most likely have paint left over and the easiest way to not waste the left over paint is to simply cover it with plastic wrap. Simple! Cheap! Disposable! The next day, just peel off, toss in garbage (or get crafty and make a collage or something), and paint. :) If working with acrylics, you might want to spray with a water bottle to add some moisture to paint and give the plastic wrap a little something extra to stick to. When working with oils, you just want to make sure that the big globs of paint are secure under the wrap. Chances are, when working with oils, you will have to worry less about it drying out overnight, but if you don't plan to be back to work for a couple days it is just nice to know your paint is protected from dust aside from the drying issue. I'm still a firm believer in disposable palettes which are very similar to wax paper. They make a huge selection of options including some shaped like a traditional hand-held palette with a thumb hole. You can pick up a pack of sheets at most craft stores carrying oil paint supplies for under or around $10.

Again, the best advice I can offer is just trying things out. Jumping into it yourself will show you what works best for you.

-Joshua Grabowski

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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