"Leaf Posing" 11x 14 oil on canvas 2024

                    

Sometimes I like to create in oil.  It has many similarities to pastel but I personally find Pastels to be more challenging yet more familiar to me.  One thing I dislike about oil is the reflection and the amount of time it takes for the multiple layers to harden. (Oil paint never dries.  Did you know that?  I was shocked when I learned that it actually "hardens'.)  Pastels are immediate. No waiting.

The piece above is oil.  I did maybe 10 layers of various thin application of color on top of a brown under painting. I wanted the leaf to glow to show that it has energy. I wanted to mix colors through layering to get multiple values and hues. I put it in a night landscape because I have spent a lot of time in my life staring out the window at the soft Wood County open fields when I couldn't sleep at night. Of course I didn't sleep well as I was caring for Dad during his last few weeks.  Looking out the dark window during this time and remembering the gold leaves inspired this painting.

Any how, if you look at the photos below you might understand my fascination with leaves, nature and open fields.  You see these influences in many of my still life.  These are photos of my parents yard.  Dad took such good care of his garden like yard for the 60 years that he and mom lived here.  It makes sense why going to my childhood home for several months was so emotionally healing for me. All I needed was the love of my large family and a few walks around the property.

I started this oil above during this time but finished it last week.  I called it leaf posing because the shape of the leaf looked like something I might draw in life drawing class of a posed model. It has no deep message but it was healing for me.

                                             Where I grew up, in Bowling Green, Ohio.                       

                     

             

                                                                 "Abstract 2"  11 x 8.5

If you are familiar with my work you know that I very rarely draw abstract.  I decided to do this mostly just to practice some techniques and have a little fun.  I sat down in front of the blank paper and just started making marks.  I did deliberately avoid any shapes that could be construed as "figurative" since thats what I mostly draw.  What came out was this sort of burning lava under a layer of pretty shapes.  Have fun psychoanalyzing me over this one.  HA  I am interested in how this drawing makes my viewers feel.  please let me know here or on facebook at emilychristoff.

 

    

 "Nettie's Leaf" 8 x 10" pastel on velour 2024

I have not drawn in the past few years thanks to a long healing broken arm followed by a car accident which messed up a pre existing condition in my lower back. I am being treated for that now. I went to my childhood home last fall and brought art supplies with me, hoping to get working again.

I did a series of pieces over the 2 and a half months I was home assisting my siblings taking care of Dad. This is one of the first ones I did. I grabbed an interesting leaf from the front yard and a precut piece of velour paper. I simply held the leaf in my hand while I drew it from life. It got me excited to work again despite my painter's block, depression and aches. I will be posting my works from Ohio throughout the next few weeks. Now I am in the studio every day, working full time. I was starving to create.

Is it greedy for artists to have a patron?

1. 

Is it greedy for me to have a patron in order to make better art?

No, it is totally normal.  Read below to hear why..

I finally did it.  I am asking for patrons so that I can keep making art full time.  The Patreon site is cool because you can donate as little as $3 per month up to $50 per month and cancel any time.  I have 5 tiers with various prices and give aways.  Some of the things I will be giving away will be free classes, 30% off of all original work and free pet or people portraits.  I'll also be giving away signed and numbered giclee prints and all sorts of other really cool stuff.

Is it greedy to ask for patrons you ask?  Traditionally all artists had patrons.   Michaelangelo, Davinci, even van Gogh had popes, friends and family financially support them.  If not they would have needed to get a day job flipping burgers at some Renaissance marketplace.  After working 8 or more hours a day there is no way that Davinci would have been able to create the "Mona Lisa" It is extremely rare for an artist today to have this privilege. We are expected to have a day job then paint on our day off.

I have always been able to find art related jobs as I have mentioned in past blogs, but I know that if I were to go out and do that again that I would have to give up my dream.  I work at least 8 or more hours a day on my art during my quarantine unless I am sick or have a family thing.  I am just not willing to give that up, although lately I have given it serious thought. I have lost my entire income with the Covid19.

In years past I sketched profiles from life in about 10 minutes to buy the groceries.  When my body gave out I switched to teaching painting parties.  Both of those things seriously slowed the real art down.  The quarantine forced me to see what I should have been doing all along.  I should have been making art, teaching to serious students, studying and all of the other many things that go along with being an artist.

So please, if you have some spare change laying around become one of my patrons through Patreon.  I promise to give you services or products that far exceed your donation amount.  If you don't you will see me cashiering at the dollar store soon.

Here is my Patreon link.  Please tell me what you think?
https://www.patreon.com/Emilychristoff

How do you know when a painting is done?

"Listening to Mozart" 11 x 14" Pastel 

Winner of the French Canvas award at the 44th  Annual Pastel Society of America Juried Exhibition

First place in pastel at the Momma Juried Art Competition, 2016

Juried into the IAPS 33rd web show, 2018

Published in "Strokes of Genious 10  2018

How do you know when a painting is done?

Knowing when a painting is done is a tricky matter.  For most artists there is no definitive way to answer this question. But for me, I just keep adding layers until it clicks.  After I feel this snapping feeling I put it away for a few days or so, then look at it one last time.  Once I decide that I am done I sign it, photograph it and put it away until I can frame it.  If I don’t put it away, I will fuss with it forever.

Once I was at one of those art festivals where there were not a lot of people buying stuff.  I sat at my easel for 3 days in a row and putzed around with the same drawing.  I spent way more time on it than I normally did at that time.  The last day I forgot to bring a new piece so I just continued playing with the same drawing in hopes of getting some attention towards my booth.  Towards the end of the last day it popped into place finally. This little drawing was the first one that I entered into a show other than a festival.  Pastel Society of America, which is an international society for pastellists and very competitive, not only accepted this piece but gave it an award and sold it. 

I had not joined the Pastel Society of America yet but they strongly suggested that I should. They bumped me past the first level and put me right in level two.  This was the first society that I joined. Thanks to the attention of this piece I am now a signature member of PSA! "Listening to Mozart" went on to win many other awards.The lesson learned here for me was to take my time as much as possible and do tons of layering until it clicks.

There is an instructor at the art center where I work who responds quite well to this same issue.  When a student asks him if it is done, he sits the painting across the room and asks the student to look at it from a distance, then asks THEM if it is done yet.  Usually they answer their own question.  Another instructor at the center actually rings a bell when one of the students finish.  I love this idea.  I am thinking of buying a clown horn or something for my students.

Besides putting some space between you and the painting by hiding it for a few days or literally looking at it across the room, what else can you do?  As mentioned in a prior blog post I go for the critique.  It is nice but not helpful at all when people say, “Oh that’s so pretty!”  I need someone to give it to me straight.  I have quite a few artist friends online.  We share our drawings for the rest of the group to critique, but if this is not helpful I ask my son Eddie.  He does not mince words.  Often times his dad, my ex, will also critique it upon rquest.  He doesn’t worry too much about being overly blunt, plus he is a talented artist himself.  I like to have non artists critique my work too, so my husband is often my Guinea pig.  Critiquing is so important that I like to add it to the end of every class that I teach.

It also helps to get a fresh perspective to give you a hint if it is done.  I often look at my drawing upside down.  I don’t mean that I stand on my head, I just turn it upside down.  I also take photos of it and compare it side by side with my reference photo if I am going for the photo realism impact.  Most studios have mirrors in them as well, since looking at your work in a mirror gives it a fresh eye.

Artists often get eye blind if they look at their drawings for too long so all of these practices above can help open their eyes and answer if the drawing is done.

Do you draw nudes? (giggle giggle)

The   Willendorf Venus, thought to be the earliest example of working from the figure

Do you draw nudes?  (giggle giggle)

My typical response to this crazy question is to keep a totally straight face and say, “Yes, but I have to leave my shoes on.”

The reason that artists draw from life with a nude model is simply because we have to understand the anatomy of the human form before we can draw it clothed.  My focus in art school was life drawing, so I have much practice with this.  I live in a very conservative area of the United States, so the galleries where I teach I always have our models in shorts and a tank top. 

The first time I drew a nude model from life was my Sophomore year. We had no clue that this day would be a special and rather embarrassing day.  We had been drawing a rather complicated still life over the past several classes.  On this day however our professor told us that he had something special to add to the variety of flowers, vases, fake fruit and drapes of cloth.  In walked a woman wearing a robe.  She simply stood up on the podium and took off her robe.  The room was so silent that you could hear a piece of pastel drop. 

He started with quick gestural 2 minute poses, then we did a few longer ones followed by one pose for about an hour.  Drawing the figure from life is actually much like starting with a stick figure then adding the muscles on top of this structure. This is basic life drawing from a model. Once you learn this process of starting with something that looks like a stick figure, then you can go sit in the park or a coffee shop and draw strangers. 

I have read several accounts of the life drawing classes during the early impressionist years, around 1860 or so.  There were 3 podiums.  The artists would get there very early to get the best spot.  The late comers would argue about where to put their easels.  It must have been highly amusing for the model. 

The first known artists to paint or sculpt the unclothed figure is normally attributed to the Greek painters of the 5^th – 6^th centuries.  However, the first nude figure in art is often considered to be around 30-25,000 BC. This is the date of the tiny statuette, probably designed to be held in the hand, popularly called the Willendorf Venus and depicting a corpulent female. (https://nitramcharcoal.com/looking-at-the-history-of-life-drawing/)

So, the next time you wander into an art museum you will be able to wow your family with a little tidbit about the history of drawing the nude figure! If they giggle and blush, just remind them that it is respectable art and to get their minds out of the gutter.