MatthewGrimes's Blog

Just for grins

matthewgrimes — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:35:47 +0000

Quick sketch, followed by a more careful approach.

Under painting, just like the masters of old would do it….kinda.

After a nice glaze of quinacridone burnt orange, Ta da! There’s my BFF. The fact that he has to be chained up in the yard to keep him from running away seems irrelevant.

Mr. Stripey, in still life

matthewgrimes — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:53:02 +0000

Mr Stripey takes center stage this week. This is a tribute to a very sweet and juicy, but always imperfect tomato. Picked, painted and eaten.

I have ruined many nice contour drawings with my paints.

It’s hard to have a fresh idea in the internet age. I used Google to search for “Watercolor Wednesday” and never found my blog. After 12 pages I gave up. I will not be sounding the horn about Watercolor Wednesday anymore, but I will still be trying to post on Wednesdays. Thank you for your interest in my blog.

On the River

matthewgrimes — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:18:59 +0000

A fun day on the river turns into a photo op and from there it became several paintings.
I used several different techniques here. The painting in the upper left side was done mostly wet on dry, on 140 lb soft press Fabriano Artistico. For the painting on the right, I tried something new. I masked out the highlights and details and then poured paint onto the paper, cold press Fabriano.

The larger painting was a combination of the two. I did not use masking fluid, but I did pour, throw and spatter paint onto the paper. I used a wet on dry approach for the reflections and ripples in the water, mixing colors on the paper. I carefully painted around the highlights of the boat and figure, but as things spiraled out of control I had to go back in, after the paint dried, to reclaim lost highlights with my trusty pocket knife. The large painting was done on Fabriano rough press, my new favorite surface for many subjects.

Soft sky over Belen

matthewgrimes — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 01:03:51 +0000

I’ve been Working on my soft skies this week. “Wet on wet” can be difficult to control. I think a lot of paper has to be wasted, a lot of attempts must be made. The paper must be wet enough to create a soft effect, but not so wet that the paint spreads out of control. If the paper is too dry there will be hard edges, so things must be perfect. Things are not perfect this time, but I paid attention and so next time things should be better. I enjoyed painting the negative shapes of the buildings in this painting.

Harrison street

matthewgrimes — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 00:07:15 +0000

Harrison street, 2:00 pm.

I used a limited palette for this one. French Ultramarine blue, Perylene maroon, Quinacridone gold and a touch of Cerulean blue mixed with the F. ultramarine in the sky. This restricted pallete has hopefully helped balance things out a bit.
It’s rather boring, but perhaps I’ve captured the essence of the scene. It is Russellville after all.

Waiting on a friend

matthewgrimes — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:29:41 +0000

I began whistling an old Rolling Stones tune as I drew in the figure with his hands on his hips. That theme also works for the character sitting on the sidewalk in the foreground.

“Waiting on a friend” is the largest painting that I have made. It is on a Full sheet, 22X30. Transparent watercolor.

3 strikes and I’m out, for now.

Handsome Devil

matthewgrimes — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:20:29 +0000

Playing around on Fabriano 140 lb hot press. 7 1/2″ x 11″. From my FaceBook profile picture.

Summertime

matthewgrimes — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 20:48:50 +0000

On location, from the garden.

“Summertime” is 7 1/2″ x 11″ transparent watercolor.

The flower facing the viewer is exciting, wow! The other is equally boring. I did not time myself because that would suck the joy from the project, but I did make a conscious decision to be quick about it. Fast and splashy.

This was fun. Not even the ankle biting flies could keep me down.

Cityscape

matthewgrimes — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 03:05:22 +0000

Happy WCW! I was going to lay some heavy color theory dogma on you today, but you don’t want that. It’s too hot for it. You don’t want to eat your peas, you just want to sit in front of your fan and eat ice cream. I understand that. No split primary color mixing charts. No reading about warm and cool yellows. It was 98 degrees yesterday, today, tomorrow and for as far as the weatherman can predict. They are all hot yellows right now. That’s all.

There is a neat website for like minded people who are crawling around cities all over the world drawing and painting their habitat. it’s called urban sketcher’s. if you have the speed I recommend checking it out sometime. I have not been there in a long time but I assume it’s still out there.

This was not done on location, but from an old photo which I took with this project in mind. At the time I knew I did not have the skills to pull it off . I regret having not taken an earlier morning shot and an evening picture, for more dramatic light and shadow. It’s a small study (11″x15″) for a larger project which should already be done.

WaterColor Wednesday

matthewgrimes — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 11:57:31 +0000

Hello and welcome to the first ever “WaterColor Wednesday”. Very exciting for all of us, I’m sure.

This began on site but by 11:00 the sun was really blazing, so I took inside and made up some of the details.

15×22 Transparent Watercolor.