What I have learned

What I have learned from Loftus Hall

Oh dear god where do I start on this?  First of all I learned I can accomplish much by just jumping into it.
I have never done a staircase before but I very much believe in the vision of this project and decided to have a go at it.

Perfection doesn't happen in a single painting, the perfecting happens over time as you keep painting, from each painting I learn a bit about myself, my abilities and what my weaknesses are in painting.  Ok I admit perspective is a challenge for me, compare this painting to the photo I used and the stairs look off.
BUT the whole point of this painting was to paint the spookiness of the place, I have never been there, the owner said when you go upstairs it's like you're at a different level.  I made things in that painting to look foreboding.  It's a beautiful piece despite it's imperfections, however some on Twitter have said Loftus was really awesome or badass.

Things seem to come out in my paintings, it's really odd, and in working on this it creeped me out.  First of all the recessed area on the top there that holds the cross, above it you see an eye, I had shaded darkly with some charcoal for a shadow before I painted it with titanium white for the foundation of the painting, an eye jumped out at me, it wasn't my intention, when I stepped back and noticed it looking at me it gave me the shivers, I kept it, then when I did the upper wall more started coming out.

On the right is something that I say would look like a freakin demon skull, the left looks like a skull or a ghostly face, you be the judge for what you see.  In either case it was UNINTENTIONAL I was just dabbing a darker layer in, I started with Titanium white, next a layer of magenta which was really bright, toned it down with zinc white which is transparent and then I thought it needed darkening up, so I dabbed lightly with the purple I had and noticed what was going on at a certain point.  Yah got the chills again, which was good, it's supposed to be creepy.  I have painted before when other images seem to just crop up.  I go with it.  Trust your art instincts.  Let it flow, the painting will paint itself. I love reaching that point when I am working and not even feeling I am in this living world, I am at one with the painting which is another life altogether.  I am glad I found others thinking the same way on Art21's Twitter account, makes me less isolated knowing other artists are in this frame of mind.

Knowing when the painting is DONE I have had a time with this one, I kept seeing areas that needed to be fixed. Granted there are trouble areas with the perspective of the banisters, but if I would try to fix it I would really mess up the painting, I just have to leave it alone and just learn from it.  It is still great, and after working hard on this I had to take a break and do an 'easy' painting, a bit of an experiment in color.

This is Blazing Dawn, I nicknamed it Lollipop because the mane made me think of those swirly lollipops.
It is a smaller painting, which will be on Etsy as soon as I finish the edges, the painting itself is done.
I like working on these 11by8 sizes, I can be free to play more on a smaller canvas, I really do love large works but I get so much work done with the smaller canvases. I take my painting seriously, but I must PLAY that's the key to such fun and bright works, to really let myself play and discover interesting color combinations.  Some may look like kids stuff but hey Picasso said it took him a long time to be able to paint like a child again.

I have been working on Proveglia too but that's another blog entry.

Can't wait to be done!

I am out of Linseed oil at the moment, only a trickle leftover from last painting.  So NOW I will blog.

This has been one very LONG project for me.  It's not perfect, but I am capturing the essence of the place, just have trouble doing the stairs. Still, LOOK at it especially down here at the wall with the spooky images if you can see them.

It's better in person up close but there on this wall down here is something like a demonic skull and on the left it looks skull like too.  I am trying to paint the spiritual feeling of the place and though I was NOT planning out the skull and especially the eye over the cross it just came out that way and when I noticed it I just went with it.

My paintings often paint themselves. 

It's still an amazing piece of work, But I am ready for a new project.  This one still needs to be finished.

Proveglia will be next.  I would LOVE to know how Zack Bagins and the GAC would react to this.

When I do my art I really want a WOW from someone.  If I just get 'hmm nice painting'  or 'that's good' well obviously I haven't made it yet.

I still look at old and new art and see what WOWs me.  

I still have a little bit to go and I have done some work since the last photo was taken but I need fresh batteries as well as linseed oil.

I am hoping to sell this thing on my Etsy shop.

I think it would be really cool if  Zak Bagins bought it.  

A lovely dream.

See Me Paint

This is me on a rickety chair in the kitchen doing my best not to fall.  I had my daughter take this pic.

I'm hanging onto the fridge and you can see the trash just under the painting.  I don't have an easel and that sucks, but I don't have room for it anyway.

When I need a break I do the dishes or the laundry then get back to work. Only thing I'm missing is getting enough sleep.  I have to paint at night and I sacrifice sleep for my art.

If I am stuck just doing chores all day I get really DEPRESSED!  

Here is the EYE that was painted in when I was just working on that part.  It was not planned but when I stood back to check the texture I was making and saw the eye I was like WOW! How did that happen, I didn't even draw it on there, it was just charcoal smudge.

I have been working on a few more problems in the painting but it is coming along well enough.

In the meantime on my Pinterest page I have found some Ravens for some smaller painting ideas,

some skulls for a few Veritias painting ideas I have.

And I got some Pics of Waverly Hills Sanatorium which are posted on my Fav GAC Stuff board.

Yeah, that one will have a blue color scheme.  

And at church today I sketched out an idea for a horse painting, I"m thinking 30 by 30 of three horses running.  When I fledge out the sketch with color then I can scan it in and show what I"m doing for that.

I'm going to paint a little bit more before I hit the hay.

Loftus Hall almost done

This is really coming together.

Gotta say this painting is really getting eerie.

I don't know if you can see in the final pic here, in the niche where the crucifix is

The shadowy part above it, when I painted it and stopped it looked like an eye and part of a face

like a freakin' apperation

AND THIS WAS TOTALLY BY ACCIDENT

I didn't even draw a face on there, just smudged charcoal to shade it

but DAMN!  looks freakin edgy 

I LOVE IT!

I'll try to get a better close up later. but it looks freaky

I tend to do that in my paintings, an image just gets in there and when I see it I keep it 

Also got a bit of Proveglia sketched out.

This painting to be will be done alla prima in my sketchbook I was writing down notes on how to execute this work and I realized I really need to be working the paint wet on wet, especially for that demonic image. It will be painted in lightly, it is only darker here in the sketch just to get the image right, in the painting it will be more subtle but there.

It's like six am and I haven't slept at all tonight and I do have work at the library, only two hours but I am going to have to fill up on caffeine

Not coffee though, waaay too strong, Tea like Assam or Keemun would work.

I really hated putting my paints away but I needed to stop so I can keep my painting looking good.

I cannot wait for Proveglia, that is actually going to be a quicker job.

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Loftus Hall Up the stairs slowly

At one point I had to white out a section of the railing because I had too much there and after I did that it looked better.  Was told oil is a very forgiving medium, I do love it so much more than watercolor though I have done some great watercolors and it was watercolors that I worked with all my life till I got into oils.

I still have a bit to work on but it is coming along fine, I'm just slowly doing the stairs because I am fixing it as I go up those things.

I also started on a sketch of Proveglia, haven't ordered my gesso board yet though.

On the left you can just barely see the demonic entity that is featured as Zack Bagins tat.

It's not totally detailed just a pencil drawing so it's hard to see when it was scanned

but the shot of Proveglia you can see is green.  My daughter thought it looked like it was on fire, green fire.

It will be interesting, I'm trying to capture the spiritual energy of the place and that is the vision that got to me when I thought of the place.

When I think of Waverly Hills Sanatorium I think of blues, more cold, sad and isolated than anything else.

I don't know what size Waverly Hills will be, I haven't found a shot yet to use as reference, I just know what colors best represent the place.

I have other art ideas apart from Ghost Adventures, it's just these three places speak so strongly I just had to paint them, after these three I don't know if I will do more, it all depends on what strikes me.

I can't wait to see the new episodes, been following Ghost Adventures Crew on Twitter.  

I don't get cable, just internet so I have to wait to catch episodes on Youtube. I want to eventually buy all the DVD's of their shows but my funds only go so far.  I'm not all starving artist here, it's just a limit on how much I can get what I want and when.  I'm just thankful I am well stocked on artist supplies, up till now I hadn't painted for two years.  I just need a new board for the Proveglia project, and I am going back to my old canvases to fix them. Like this one here.

I painted this one a few years ago and now I really HATE that tree on the left!!

In order to fix it I have to white it out.

I will paint over it in Titanium white to start over again and fix it.

Of course I KNOW I will have to touch up everything else and that will take time as I go over and think what to change.  

Mmmm I think there is way too much yellow, the staff needs a bit of work. I will start with the tree first and then things will just flow from there I know it.

I have done great work on redos

I also have ideas for new paintings

Ideas just feed off one another here.

How I love it!

Loftus Hall, getting closer

I am getting closer to finishing, still have touchups to do.  I did a layer of zinc white over the magenta which gave the back wall there a rather interesting appearance.  Don't know if I'm going to keep it like that or add a glazed layer to darken it.  I have to finish up the steps then I'll be able to see if it is giving off the right feel I am looking for.  As I am wrapping up this painting I have about five others in mind for my next projects.  Of course there is Proveglia but there is in mind a couple of paintings of horses.  When I finally wrap up Loftus Hall I will blog about what is in my sketchbook.  I have a few sketchbooks, can never have too many.  I like to doodle during church service, keeps me awake.  Sitting still for too long makes me sleepy.

My husband told me at one point when I was working on this painting that I was a better artist than a mother, I didn't contest that but it did hurt.  I love my kids but I don't always 'get' them, I 'get' my art.  I always had the knack of making colors work together.  I haven't ordered my gesso board yet but I will, and I am going to start working on my sketch of Proveglia.

Loftus Hall Almost Done

The stairs are taking a bit to complete but the rest of the painting is about done.

I think it definitely has that spooky quality.  I also just read a bit on Aaron Goodwin's blog about Loftus Hall and now I'm feeling more spooked by it.  It's a good thing because that is the feeling I want to capture in this piece.  I am really proud of this work.  Love the challenge of this.  I had my three other kids staying the weekend at my mom's so all I had to take care of is the baby who will be 11 months on the 15th.

This is a gallery wrapped canvas and I'm painting the sides but I think this baby could use a good frame.

I have very good news, I got some Christmas money from some relatives and that means that with my upcoming paycheck from the Library I will be able to not only get some more Christmas presents for my kids but also get that gesso board I want for the Proveglia project I have in mind.  It's almost three am here and I have to try to get some sleep, I have a long day at the library.  Since I can leave my paints out I might be able to do a bit of work before I leave

that will put me in a chipper mood for the rest of the day.

It's tricky getting pics of my progress here since I am working at night when the kids are in bed and I can't get a good picture unless it's outside in natural light.

But you can see the progress here.  I have started working on the stairs again and you can't see it well but the posts look really good, once I got the color down I added a bit of white for highlight and it looks great.  The whole thing looks spooky, I want it to look foreboding.  On Celtic Demons the owner said when you go up you are at a different level.  The whole place is spooky and dark.  

This post has to be short, the kids are running amok today.  See why I do stuff at night! .

Loftus Hall coming together

When I started working on this I had to start with grid lines to work this picture out.  I don't like using grid lines since as I am drawing they can be distracting though at the same time it's keeping things in place and I can mentally break down the whole picture into shapes and shades and not get overwhelmed with what I am doing here.  I have never done an interior painting like this EVER.  

For many years I have been making paintings that are just straight from my mind with little use of photo references though some sketches from real life like trees and stuff influences some pieces and the sketches of animals and such.  This is different.

I'm wanting to get the staircase as accurate as possible but the coloring has to do with the vision I saw.  

Yeah I started with magenta, but then I layer down Alzirion Crimson.  I wonder if my color choice was inspired by the blood bath from The Shining.  

I really wish I had a way to do a video of my work.  Maybe I can ask for one next Christmas.  

I am planning to block in more of the color tonight but I am doing the stairs slowly.  There is some really good shape and shading and I don't want to lose that in the painting.  I'll be working in magenta and indigo at once to capture the look I want.

Talking about my art and the process of it is really HARD for me.  I don't know if this has to do with my Aspberger's syndrome or the fact I am not at all practiced in this.

I am currently reading a book about NYC artists, transcribed taped sessions that started back in the seventies and goes up to present day.

It's great reading this because I find there isn't a right or wrong way to talk about my work, not really, it's just that I've been pounded on about how everything I do is wrong.

For me it seems I can do my art right.

Even if I have a hard time with a certain perspective or make a mistake somewhere I find my oil painting very forgiving.  It's the one learning process I really trust and can fully let go on.

As I am working on this piece I am thinking about the others I want to do.  I got a real love of horses and have seen some excellent horse art on Etsy, my chosen selling platform.

Horses, whales, dolphins, wolves, and yet I am totally focused on Loftus Hall the first building interior I have done since oh Green River Community College art classes when I had to do some perspective drawing.

LOL actually I hated doing buildings then, but I did a few paintings of cityscapes for class. 

I really just wasn't into them, some of them were kind of flat.  

I don't know what got into me though I am a bit obsessed with Ghost Adventures.

It just hit me when I saw that photo of the staircase that I had to paint that, then the other places I really want to paint those too, then I started thinking of other ideas beyond Ghost Adventures Locations.  I have my own stuff in my many sketchbooks waiting to be fleshed out in paintings.

For two years I have not been able to paint and now it's just exploding forth

I have to follow it.  I end up staying up late at night to do this but it's worth it.

Painting on and on into the night

I got a lot done tonight and should stop and get some sleep.

This is how I look now

Yeah I"m beat, time to quit for the night.

I'm really wanting to stay up to do the staircase but I do have to go to work at 10 am, it's only for two hours and I can handle sleep deprivation during that time, just have to make sure I don't run into the shelves as I'm putting books up.  The spatial areas of this painting look really good.

As much work as I"m putting into this I wonder what I'm going to price this thing.  

I really love working on this, it's such a challenge but I'll be glad to get it done because I have tons of other things I want to do.

Of course there is Provegila, but another idea I had talked about at home here was to illustrate straight from my favorite book The Neverending Story, I would  love to paint these scenes but I don't have the funds for that but I can draw them out, got plenty of drawing supplies, just not enough gesso boards.  In fact I used up all my boards but still have some 11 by 14 canvases but those are for smaller more quicker works.

I hope to get some more done next night plus a full sketch of my Proveglia idea.

Drawing Portion Done on Loftus Hall

Oops I din't mean to put all the pics I did up at once.

Well as you  can see in the final two I got ALL the dang drawing done on here and am blocking it in with titanium white and also working the color in at the dry areas, going to put another red layer at the steps too.

Needed to take a break so I am doing the blog now and I'm a bit hyped up on caffeine  Been drinking Earl Grey Moonlight this time.  Not as strong as Assam but I have had two pots already so I"m buzzing.  Last night I didn't do any painting because I wanted to sleep.  Now I'm saying to heck with sleep I'm a gonna paint.  What will I do after this one is done?  I'd say I will take a bit of a break then figure that one out.  I have smaller canvases to use mostly 11 by 14.  I have a few ideas for the smaller paintings from my sketchbooks.  

In the other pics it shows where I stow my paints when I"m done.  It's in an old Caboodles box.  That thing was ment for makeup but I never wear the stuff anymore, allergies, itchy eyes, sniffy nose and sensitive skin.  Don't have a problem with my oil paints though.

You can see my tea and scones on my table.  I had dragged this wooden table from the dumpster area at my apartment complex.  It had two broken leaves which I took off.  While I was expecting baby number three (Aislinn)  I painted the thing.  I LOVE Celtic Knotwork and the table looks awesome.  It is being heavily used so scuff marks and the like are appearing.  The top of the table is the only part painted, I didn't get to do the rest.  I got the design out of a book of Knotwork designs.

I'm going to need to order my Magenta paint.  I have a small tube and I need to buy the larger studio tube.  Whenever I want to try a new color I just get a small one, once I see how much I am using it I order the larger one.

I don't know if I will be able to order a gesso board for my Provegila idea now.  Just waiting but I have a sketch done in.  Been thinking of  placing a the corner of the painting the image of Zack's tatoo that is symbolic of the possession he experienced there.  

In my sketch that corner just looked empty

I  Really REALLY love the wings on this things, and the way the wings are drawn is similar to how I draw wings.  Yeah I think I really need to put that into the left corner of my future painting of Provegila it just makes sense, it connects.  I can't wait to do it but damn it I'm just not sure I can wing it right now because it's Christmas and I still have a few things to get.  Well I'm ready to get back to Loftus Hall.  Maybe I can find some quiet Celtic Music to play.