I produced this mini-doc about painting in a blacksmith shop at Old Sturbridge Village. (Direct link to video)

One of the reasons I'm playing around so much with video is that I'm developing a series of instructional DVDs about painting on location in various media: watercolor, gouache, casein, watercolor pencils, ink wash, and oil. Each full-length video will feature two or three plein-air paintings done right front of you in real time, plus a variety of informative short features.

In the two polls at left, please let me know which media and topics you're most interested in. You can select multiple answers. And in the comments, tell me what else you'd like to see in the long-form DVD/videos.


Garin Baker's painting is in oil, 14 x 27 inches. It was amazing to watch him do it, an impressive feat of concentration. He says: "From the moment you suggested going to Sturbridge Village to paint on the spot, a flood of memories came back to me. Year ago when my daughter was in grade school I was a parent chaperone on a class trip there. I remember the completely authentic feel of the place, so I knew we would find some interesting scenes to inspire a painting or two."

Garin continues: "A few years ago I also remember seeing the original of Norman Rockwell's blacksmith shop ("Horseshoe Forging Contest," above) and how amazing and lovingly every square inch of that painting was handled. So with those two points of interest in mind I set out."


I approached the two portraits separately, since the workers kept changing places and taking breaks. The man above was a retired police lieutenant who was just learning the trade.


I'll be writing in more detail about our blacksmith shop paintings in the next issue of International Artist magazine.

Materials: I was using casein paint, various flat and round brushes, and a Moleskine watercolor book  on a homemade pochade easel. Most of the video is shot with a Canon VIXIA HF R400 Camcorder. The opening shot was with a Canon EOS Rebel T3i with a Canon 50mm 1.8 prime lens.
Previously: Creamer in Casein
My first full length video: How I Paint Dinosaurs
Don't forget to vote at left.

(Direct link to YouTube video) I shot some video last week while I did that little painting of field combat armor, and here's the result.

In the video, you'll see a few glimpses of my friends painting. So that you can see their work a little more clearly, here are some better scans. Please check back later, because there are more images to come.

Sean Murray, study of Papal guard armor, pen and watercolor.

Greg Shea, pen and ink.

Jeanette Gurney, pencil, watercolor, and a little white gouache.

Garin Baker "The Higgins Armory"


Chad Smith, "Romanesque Ceremonial Armor"


And in case you missed it, here's the painting I did of the field combat armor using watercolor and casein, 5x8 inches.

James and Jeanette Gurney painting at the Higgins Armory. Photo by Greg Shea

Yesterday Jeanette and I joined a group of artist friends to paint at the Higgins Armory in Worcester, Massachusetts, the only museum in America devoted entirely to armor.


I was attracted to this pairing of 16th century German field armor poised for combat. What struck me first was the chiaroscuro: light-on-dark on the left, and dark-on-light on the right.

I also liked the sense of action, and I thought I would develop that idea, imagining the scene taking place with real people outdoors.

I started the painting in watercolor, and finished in casein. It's 5x8 inches and took about five hours. I shot video of the process, so I'll edit that together for a future post.


Our group, from left to right included: Sean Murray, Ken Laager, Jeanette Gurney, Marc Holmes, James Gurney, Greg Shea, Richard Scarpa, Chad Smith, Garin Baker, Joe Salamida (in helmet), John Caggiano.

The Higgins Armory will be welcoming any artists who want to sketch from the collection this Saturday in non-oil media. Although Jeanette and I won't be there, other artists will be gathering. Don't miss seeing the collection before it closes forever at the end of the year. Edit: I have heard that the museum officials have changed their mind and will not be able to allow artists to come on Saturday after all. Sorry for the confusion.

We're hanging out with a family of glassblowers in the high country of Colorado. They own a husky named Dea who has a sleeping mat near the wood stove. The challenge was figuring how to get her to settle around us strangers.


We took her for a long walk and gave her a little taste of honey baked ham. Best friends for life!

She got sleepy and comfortable and curled up in husky style, with the nose beneath the tail, just what I was hoping for. Still, I figured I might only have 15 minutes to paint her before she got up and changed position.

I used casein (black, white, golden ochre, and cadmium green), mixing it on my watercolor palette, and painting with a big round watercolor brush. There was no time for a pencil preliminary, and I was working over one failed start where she moved from another position, so I did all the drawing with the brush.

Painting is a sort of drawing. The only difference is that the brush and paint give you much more versatility and control.

Here's a quick study in casein of a back street in Buena Vista, Colorado, painted while we did our laundry. I like these contre-jour street scenes because they automatically organize the values and they give a feeling of brilliant light.

Here's an early stage, showing the semi-transparent lay-in of big shapes, painted with a half-inch flat brush. I used just five colors: Titanium white, Venetian red, golden ochre, raw umber, and cobalt blue. The smaller details and refinements come last, painted with a smaller brush. Some of the final power lines are drawn with colored pencils.

Our timing was lucky on Tuesday and we got my favorite booth at the Red Hook Diner, the one with neon sign in the window that says OPEN.

Barbara brought the coffee right away and took our breakfast order. That left me with 22 minutes before the scrambled eggs would come.

I used black and white casein for most of the painting and then brought out the watercolor to give the highlights a warm and cool touch.



TOOLS:
I was using Richeson / Shiva casein
1/4 inch flat brush 
Moleskine watercolor notebook
Waterman Phileas red fountain pen 
Lots of info on casein at Richeson's FAQ
Previously: Creamer in Casein

YouTube week continues as I bring you along to the farm to paint a donkey and a horse. (Direct link to YouTube).

Here's a quick video showing you a casein painting of a couple of old willows in a park. (Direct link to video)
I'm using a fuller palette here than usual: titanium white, ivory black, cobalt blue, cerulean blue, chromium oxide green deep, alizarin crimson, light red, golden ochre, and cadmium yellow light.

I also used a few touches of water-soluble colored pencils over the dry paint, with notes drawn in a fountain pen. I like this combination of painting and drawing materials because it's fast and you can get textures and effects that you can't get with drawing or painting media alone.
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Sign up for my pay-what-you-want live stream this Saturday in New York City at Concert Window Open.
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Here's the tech:
I was using Richeson / Shiva casein
1/4 inch flat brush 
Moleskine watercolor notebook
Caran D'Ache watercolor pencils
Waterman Phileas red fountain pen 
Camera: GoPro HD Hero rotating on a kitchen timer at 2 second intervals
Lots of info on casein at Richeson's FAQ about casein

Water media and a rainstorm don't mix, as I learned on a recent painting excursion.

(Direct link to video)


Here's the painting, which is a mixture of casein and watercolor. The fun of this subject for me was the contrast between the comprehensibility and order of the right half of the scene and the strange abstract patterns on the left.

Even without the issues of the rainy weather, it was a mind-bending challenge to reconcile the view seen through the glass with the second world reflected in the glass, especially because the glass was old and wavy. Had I been working from a photo, these worlds would be brought to the same focal plane, but not so when painting from direct observation.

I hope you'll stay tuned tomorrow for the DVD/download release, and please subscribe to my YouTube channel to get the new releases first.

Last evening I sat beside the Hudson River to paint the sunset.




This short video (link to video) shows how it came together. With such a subject, there's not much need for a preliminary drawing, so I just jump in with the brushes.

The colors I'm using are: Titanium white, cadmium yellow light, raw sienna, cadmium red scarlet, Venetian red, cerulean blue, and ultramarine blue deep.

Video tech notes: I shot the real-time video by mounting the camcorder on a new swing-out camera arm that I have mounted on my homemade pochade easel. The time lapse is shot with a GoPro camera mounted on a wind-up timer that sits on a Lego-powered motion control dolly. I have a second timer set up for tilt shots as well as pans.

Materials:  casein
1/4 inch flat brush 
Moleskine watercolor notebook
Waterman Phileas red fountain pen 
Lots of info on casein at Richeson's FAQ about casein

"It's not pitch dark," I said. "Every once in a while there's a flash. Plus there's some light from that tiki torch."


I was mad obsessed. I hunched over the sketchbook in my lap. I couldn't make out any chroma or hue, and only could distinguish three values at best: white, middle tone, and black.

From time to time someone from the party came over and stood next to me, munching on potato chips. "What are you doing?"

"I'm painting," I replied. I glanced up at their puzzled faces, lit by flashes of red light and sulphur smoke.
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Here's what I was using:
White, black, golden ochre, and Venetian red casein
Round 6 watercolor brush
Flat 1/4 inch synthetic brush
Watercolor notebook
Fountain pen