Evolution of a painting

I just finished another large painting in the studio that will be making it's debut at an upcoming fundraiser for our local school.   I documented the process and revealed the day by day progress on my artist page on Facebook.  

 Day 1 involved a blank canvas.  Prior to this stage, some work went into prepping the surface with artist based gesso sanded carefully between coats to create a smooth and porous surface. 


 This image represents the first day or two.  I began by laying down an underpainting, basically blocking in the shapes and color relationships.  The initial layers tend to be loose and painterly, with opaque layers of oil paint. 


 In days three and four, I continue to paint in both the details of the landscape in alternately layers of opaque paint and semi-translucent layers to adjust color and temperature.  With each day, I typically add 2-4 layers of paint, covering the entire surface.  As I paint, I'm building on the layers below. 


Detail of my work in progress:  Day 6.  I continue to add washes of semi-translucent oil glazes, allowing the layers below to come through and adding subtle transitions of color.  Each layers is allowed to dry before adding the next.  I reveal layers below by wiping away with rags & my fingers when the paint is still wet and carefully sanding when the layers are dry. 



Detail of work in progress:  Days 6 & 7.   With each layer of paint, the painting gains depth and luminosity.  Light filters through the top semi-translucent layers and reflects back from the more opaque layers on the bottom.  In the right light, the painting has a luminous glow.  Because of the thin layers, it also has a smooth surface. 




After approximately 10-12 full working days, the painting is complete.

Foothills
30x48"
Oil on canvas

Available for bidding at the Gala 2011, Magic On The Mountain event.  Proceeds support the Loma Public Education Fund. 



First Friday, Santa Cruz

Join me this Friday, August 5th for Santa Cruz's First Friday Art Tour. My work will be Saffron & Genevieve, a fabulous shop in mid-town Santa Cruz. Info about the art tour is here, and just so you know... Roudon Smith Winery will be pouring at our location.

I'll be there from 5-9 pm. I have some new paintings that are making their debut. I have to say, that in Scarlett's shop, mixed in with her unique offerings, you get a good idea of how well these paintings would look on one's own walls at home.

To participate in the Wine Walk, you'll need to get tickets in advance. No need for tickets to just come by and enjoy the art and say hello!




Beach Glass
Oil on canvas

Sold


Process

The making of a painting

I begin with an image in mind... an idea that eventually needs to be realized. I typically work from my own photographs, and I take hundreds of reference photos that I sort through and make choices about which ones will become a painting. I sometimes work from direct observation, sometimes from memory and always with a bit of invention. My bee paintings tend to be more about memory and invention and narrative. My landscapes tend to be more about capturing a particular feeling or quality of light or a sense of place.

I prep my surface, which is either stretched canvas or a wood panel, with layers of artists' gesso which is sanded between layers to give a smooth surface. I then take quite a bit of time mixing up my paint before even starting on the canvas. I have a big glass palette and lots of tubes of paint, though I go through periods of being in love with particular colors and will be biased towards using them again and again. I use oil paints, mostly because I love everything about them: the smell, how they handle, the slow drying time and the magic of what pigment does optically when suspended in an oil based medium. Oil paints look luscious to me and is exciting to me in a way that other mediums just cannot reach.

Ok, now about the painting...

I typically start with an underpainting. I cover the entire canvas and get the basics of the composition and color relationships down. The painting starts loose and mostly undefined. I tend to work with a medium like Liquin to make the paint flow and dry faster so that it's ready for painting by the next day.


End of day 1.


By the next day, the painting is dry to the touch and I can go over the whole thing again, building the painting. I cover the entire canvas again. The layers here are semi-opaque, so I can see the layer below. Here I think about overall color relationships and composition. I start to lay in the specifics and details.

Detail of sky: Day 2.


By the following day, the painting is dry to the touch and is ready for the next layer. My colors are again mixed up on the palette and I mix in a medium to increase translucency and flow. Again, the entire canvas is covered, but the translucent layers add depth and color to the layers below. I work up close, playing with the subtle transitions between areas, enjoying the details. I try to stand back often to make sure that the painting is on the right track and to make big editing decisions.

Day 3.

This particular painting goes through the same process for several more days. I take a good look at the previous days' work, assess what needs to be done, mix up the paint, mix in the medium and cover the whole painting again. Layers are mostly semi-translucent glazes at this point, with some opaque areas here and there. As I build up the painting, it gains complexity and depth. I resolve areas that need work. I fix trouble spots while keeping my eye on the whole. I make sure that every area holds up to the standards of the whole painting.

Detail: Days 4 & 5.


Finis.


At some point, the painting feels done to me. Even so, I let it rest for a day or so, letting the pigments settle into the canvas. I take the painting out of my studio and bring it into my house so that I can assess it. I live with it a while, observing it under the different times of day and decide if it needs any further changes.

The finished painting, after some drying time, gets a coat of varnish, the edges of the canvas painted, wired on the back for hanging, labeled and photographed. Only then is it ready to make it's debut.



August Wine Walk



August Events

I've been invited to be part of Santa Cruz's First Friday's Art & Wine event for the month of August. I'll be showing my work at Saffron & Genevieve, a gorgeous shop filled with extraordinary treasures. Shop owner & designer Scarlett Reed has an amazing eye, if I do say so myself. See for yourself here, a feature article all about Scarlett in Design Sponge.

In the meantime, I've been busy making NEW paintings for this exhibit. I'll be hanging the work this weekend and the opening will be next Friday.

For more information about the First Friday August Wine Walk, click here:


Hope to see you there!

Passing Gale

We were at the beach. My daughter was a toddler and we were having a grand time digging in the sand and playing in the surf. We watched as a thundercloud approached. The sky darkened, and you could see the downpour of rain. Lightning flickered and a cool breeze picked up. We packed up our things, but waited to see if the summer shower came ashore. It never did, just moved parallel to the shoreline. Our beach day continued, undisturbed.


Passing Gale
24x30" Oil on canvas

Sold

Summer Intermission


My children are on summer break, which for me means that they are my constant companions until school resumes in August. My romanticized version of summer break is that we all settle into our daily routine which involves being happy and productive. What actually happens is that there is an acclimation period where my kids don't quite know what to do with themselves after the crazy busy schedule of the school year. They sometimes bicker, they want to bury themselves in electronics, they look to me to find something for us all to do, and as a result I have to become a more active parent.
We jump-started our summer break with a long-overdue trip to the East Coast. It was a two week whirlwind tour of visiting family and friends. Starting in Vermont and working our way down the coast, we ended up in Virginia where friends made a strong case for moving back there. Beginning our trip in Vermont was perfect. My mother does not have internet access, and there is no cell phone coverage where she lives in the mountains. My children and I relaxed. We read books, explored the back roads, went fishing, caught fireflies and had s'mores over our nightly bonfires.

My daughter, who seems to be growing crazy fast, in Vermont.

Vermont: The Green Mountain State

Lake Monticello, Virginia

Rope Swing at Lake Monticello

Slip-n-Slide



Cottage Gate

Cottage Gate
6x6"
Encaustic painting on panel


Note on the painting: In this painting I start to explore using photographs as a collage element. I love using my own photographs, and this one has personal history. This gate was part of the first home that my husband and I bought... a 1920's bungalow in Richmond, VA. The gate opened up to a little cottage garden that we had in the backyard.
This photo has been mounted to a wood panel then painted with encaustic paint, which is made with a mixture of beeswax, damar resin and pigment. In addition to the photograph and paint, I've also used India ink and marks made with metallic foil.

Art Giveaway

And the winner of this painting is.....

Constellation Field
4x4", Oil on canvas


Melissa P.!

Melissa is the recipient of my first-ever-online-art-giveaway. The rules were simple: join my Facebook page and/or leave a comment under the Giveaway post below. I wanted to be absolutely fair, so I used an online random number generator to come up with the winner. Melissa was #86, and I sent her an email with some JPEG's of available works, giving her some options. She picked this one, a painting of bees above a field of dandelions.
Melissa & I attended Maine College of Art together, and because of Facebook we have connected in recent years. She is a talented chef and food writer and has a fabulous blog of her own that you should check out.
I find it perfect that she chose one of my bee paintings, because as it turns out, Melissa means
"honey bee" in Greek!


June Baby

Confetti
6x6" Encaustic
©2011 Giselle Gautreau


There's so much going on in June... graduations, Father's Day, beginning of Summer. June begins with my birthday, and on the first day of the month, I share a birthday with Marilyn Monroe, Andy Griffith and Heide Klum.

Last year happened to be one of those milestone birthdays for me, marking the beginning of a new decade, and I celebrated. This year I feel like GIVING on my birthday. I've seen a few online friends do a giveaway on their birthday, and I thought I'd also share the love.
Here's what I'm going to do: I'm giving away one original painting. It'll be one of my small scale oil paintings or an encaustic... I haven't quite decided yet.
Here's what you need to do to enter: leave a comment here on my blog under this post AND/OR join my Facebook page. All names will be added to the same pile and a name will be drawn randomly.
About a week from today I'll announce a winner both here on my blog and on Facebook. The painting that you see above is not necessarily what I'm giving away. Chances are I'll give the winner their pick from a few available pieces.
Thanks for your wonderful support!


Art events: May & June

Moss Landing, 36x48", oil on canvas

My painting, Moss Landing, is part of a special exhibit that opens today at the Santa Cruz Art League. The show is titled Earth Portraits: Contemporary Landscape Painters of California. This is SCAL's 81st annual Statewide Exhibit featuring landscape painting. You can read more about the history of this special exhibit here. The show promises to be a good one. According to SCAL's website, you can expect to see "the best of the best in living California landscape painters. You can expect to see inventive, colorful, daring, sublime and refined artwork presenting the beauty of the State of California."

Beach Glass, 20x20", Oil on canvas

It's the final weekend for my solo exhibit at Regale Winery, here in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It's a such a beautiful venue with really wonderful wine. If you're looking for something fun to do this holiday weekend, be sure to stop by Regale's tasting room on Saturday or Sunday.


Approach, 6x6", Oil on panel

This little painting is on view at Many Hands Gallery, in Capitola, CA. I'm one of the featured artists for the months of May & June, 2011, with the themed show of Birds & Bees. There is lots of other wonderful work there as well in a variety of media. Definitely worth the trip!