Karin Wells is an artist of amazing versatility. She graduated with honors from both the New England School of Art and Design, Boston, 1965, and the Butera School of Art, Boston, 1986. Karin has enjoyed a career as an award-winning graphic designer, illustrator and sign painter. She also taught Life Drawing and Painting for many years. She has most recently studied for three years at The New England School of Classical Painting in Greenfield, New Hampshire, under the direction of Numael Pulido.

To expand her craft, Karin has traveled throughout Europe studying the Old Masters. Her art reflects the deep influence of these great works. Karin demonstrates a remarkable facility for likeness and for the use of light.

The artist is a member of The American Society of Portrait Artists, Portrait Society of America, The Portrait Society of Atlanta, and The Copley Society of Boston.

To learn more about Karin and to view more of her amazing work, be sure to visit her website and blog by following the links below:

Website: http://www.karinwells.com/

Blog: http://karinwells.blogspot.com/

If you would like to be notified when Karin updates her blog, be sure to click the “Follow” link in the upper left hand corner of her blog.

Counterintuitive Painting – or – The Problem Might Not Be What You Think It Is

Grrrrrr. It fools me every time and happens all too frequently at the easel.

I will try to keep a camera handy and make an effort to “grab” this problem as it arises so you can recognize that thorny old “the problem isn’t what you think it is….it is probably the opposite” situation.

The problem is often a light/dark thing.

Above is a 6″ x 9″ oil sketch of a cement angel by Gaudi that I recently saw in Barcelona. So far so good.

I finish the dead underpainting layer (raw umber and titanium white) and there isn’t much contrast in my reference photo…it’s made out of cement after all. However, I fail to capture the “sculptural” quality.

What to do? I glaze it and build lots of light. And then I build some more and it isn’t working.

But then I realize that it isn’t LIGHT that is the problem…it is that the darks are not dark enough.

So I stop working on the light and pay attention to the dark. . . duh . . . and then I get it right.

The light is unchanged in the last two pictures…but the dark has become much darker and thus it works now.

Although I am getting better, I’d say that I still guess wrong about once a week and think that:

1. The lights aren’t light enough
or
2. The darks aren’t dark enough

But the answer is frequently the opposite of what I think it is.

UPDATE: This is the final painting ( just couldn’t leave it alone).

I picked up the brush to add a little more dark and couldn’t resist adding a little lettering in the lower right to sort of balance the odd composition.

Here’s a detail of the lettering (above).

I was once a sign painter before I took up oil painting….and I love lettering.

This little 6″x9″ Gaudi Angel oil sketch will be part of a fundraiser for the Portrait Society of America.

Statement of purpose within the work:

I’ve been an active painter since the mid 70’s creating works in the Realist tradition. Being inspired by the nature around me and in the things we tend to collect, I produce still life and floral oil paintings in the Classical/Contemporary Realism style on canvas and panels.

With a particular interest in sharp focus realism I produce still life works of incredible detail.  My floral pieces exude a peace and serenity much needed in today’s hectic lifestyles.

Using the Flemish method of 7 layers, a 400 year old technique perfected by the Dutch Masters of the renaissance era, my paintings are meant to stand the test of time in lasting quality.

Oil Painting Technique, Rainbow Hydrangea Demonstration, flemish technique explained…

Below you will find an excellent video demonstration that will explain how Artist Delmus Phelps creates a beautiful floral oil painting using the old master Flemish Technique.  He uses a 7 layer technique that produces amazing works of art as you will see after watching the video demonstration below.

Step 1

He first creates an ink drawing.  This drawing is allowed to dry.

Step 2

After the ink has dried, he tones his canvas.

Step 3

A Burn Umber underlayer is added at this stage.  After the underlayer is completed, it is allowed to dry.

Step 4

A Layer known as the “Deadlayer” is applied.   Delmus created another video that discusses this Deadlayer application in more detail.  This video can be accessed here. At this stage, all of your half tones and shadows are developed.

Step 5

Layers of color are now added. Color is blocked in and then blended.  A large mop brush is used to soften edges and brush strokes…

Watch the video below by Delmus to see how he completes the rest of the painting!  The results are truly remarkable.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX6-YB3LyMY

Highly Recommended Painting Course From Delmus Phelps!

A Real Art Lesson

Capture the joy of painting and creating things of beauty with your own gorgeous oil painting. An oil painting that you create following this step by step technique, and once learned, can be repeated over and over again so you’ll enjoy a lifetime of artistic freedom in creating many more masterpieces.

Here’s what you’ll DISCOVER within “A Real Art Lesson”

• You will learn all the technique needed to do any painting you would like.
• With over 140 pages of information and 225 photos you get a complete how-to manual.
• How you place your objects, lighting and composition.
• How to prepare the canvas step by step.
• How we transfer the drawing to the canvas.
• You will see up-close, the umber under-layer, and how it is done.
• The finished umber under-layer and all the steps to get you there!
• You will learn how to mix your paints.
• How to make the “dead layer” or Gray layer, and why.
• Closeups of brush strokes and how the paint is applied.
• All the details are taught to make your paintings stand out.
• And many more photo’s and explanations than what I can give you here.

Follow this link to learn more about this exciting course!

Location: Townsend, Wisconsin

Title of Artwork: Meandering Times

Dimensions of Artwork: 16″ H x 20″ W

Medium: Oils

Support: Canvas

Website: http://www.natureartists.com/poppb.htm

Describe this Piece: This is a quiet moment created from a scene in northwestern Wisconsin. I enjoy the many lakes and waterways that northern Wisconsin has to offer. This scene is one of them.

(Click on Image for Larger View)

“I am trying to paint water rings like you would see if you dropped a pebble in water and am having a difficult time finding any teaching on this. I have a water “mound” in the center of the water rings. I am painting on a 4×8 foot mdf using acrylic paint. Thanks for your help.”

Do you have any information that may help Rauel?  Please leave your response in the comments box below.  Thanks!

As you know, acrylic paints do have their drawbacks.  They dry quickly, colors change value when dry and you can’t rework an area after it has already dried.   Well, thanks to Chroma Atelier Interactive Acrylic Paint, this has all changed.  The properties of this acrylic paint are somewhat magical.  The folks over at Chroma, have created a paint that stays workable for longer periods of time and maintains its color after drying.

These paints do dry , but they dry differently than traditional acrylics.  Normal acrylics dry quickly and form a skin. Atelier Interactive Acrylic Paint goes through what is known as a “Curing” cycle. It will go from a wet workable phase, to a tacky stage, then to a stage known as “touch dry”.  The “tacky” stage is the interactive stage where these paints really begin to shine. You will recognize this “tacky” stage when your brush begins to drag and is no longer sliding smoothly on the canvas. At this point, you can either wet your brush, or use a fine mist sprayer to wet the paint to bring it back to a workable state.

Now lets say that you leave your painting to dry over night, or even days later and you want to rework a certain area.  For this you will need to use a special medium called “Unlocking Formula”…

Learn more about this acrylic paint by watching the video below. If you would like to purchase Atelier Interactive Acrylics or the Unlocking Formula online at a discount, see below…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_OhsAAMrAk

Chroma Atelier Interactive Artists’ Acrylics Chroma Atelier Interactive Artists’ Acrylics are the world’s only acrylic paints that can be used for conventional acrylic painting techniques, but when needed, artists can easily take advantage of their unique ability to rehydrate for blending techniques. Chroma Atelier Interactive can be used for ordinary acrylic painting effects such as overpainting, scumbling, or glazing when used on its own — or for extraordinary wet-in-wet blending effects by simply using a water sprayer during a normal painting session. The next day — or days later — use Unlocking Formula to blend, reveal, or scratch back. The techniques and methods employed are readily accessible to beginners and professionals alike. Atelier Interactive can be mixed with any other professional artist acrylic, but the paint will not rehydrate as when mixed with other Interactive colors. Atelier Interactive is a world-class acrylic — archival and lightfast — with exceptional consistency, brushability, color load, and a satin finish. When purchased in 80 ml tubes, Interactive offers one-third more paint than standard 60 ml tubes — and it often costs less. Whether creating a landscape, doing portrait/figurative work, creating a still life, or exploring abstract techniques, artists who use Atelier Interactive Professional Artists’ Acrylics control the paint, instead of having the paint control them! Visit the Resources tab of this page for additional information and technique instruction sheets.

Unlocking Formula* Use Unlocking Formula as a paint layer to permit blending paint back in or wiping away sections of applied paint. It can also extend wet blending time. It’s easy to apply using the Water Sprayer.