Christmas cards

[Ringwraith-Wife]

This painting is called A RIBBON RUNS THROUGH IT, and it's my card this year.
If anyone has made cards of their own, please post them.
Merry Christmas, Friends.

[Gandalf the white]

Did you paint that?

[Strange Elf]

That is beautiful in its simplicity.

Wonderful work RWW.

[Ringwraith-Wife]

Thank you, Strange (50) Elf.

Yes, I did, GTW... this was my year for a "serious" card... I change up every year... next year it will be a cartoon... one year I taped a Christmas song ( I won't do THAT again for a while!)... I live right outside Woodstock, and the joke is, that there are more artists than rabbits...

[Mrs_Pippin-Took]

This is already a while ago since you posted it but you are a great painter RW!!

[Ringwraith-Wife]

Thank you very much, MRS P... today I'm trying to work on a piggy... but it is SOOO nice out...

[Primula]

How did I miss this thread? Thank you for bumping it, Mrs. P - you make me want to make my own too, RW!

What I'm wondering is if this is a clip out of a larger picture, and what the bigger one might look like - I love the way you catch the light, in this case in the silver shine on the ornaments and how you've used the darker background to really bring that out. I tend to be a coward about dark colors when painting, they're so strong I think I'm always afraid they'll overbalance something but you have this (pardon the pun) down to an art!

[Ringwraith-Wife]

I paint using a technique called GRISALLE. It IS very involved, but I think the end result is worth it.
I draw my painting on the board... I use Ampersand Gesso board (Gesso covered masonite) exactly the way I want it to look.
Then I Paint over that drawing, using nothing but black oil paint, and a medium called LIQUIN. I blend everything. The more it looks like a black & white photo... the better.
When that dries, I go over the whole painting in a thin oil wash (Oil color and Liquin)
The painting below (2'x3') is the one I'm working on now. Originally intended for a something called THE FOOD SHOW... about food & the Hudson Valley... It will have a VERY light & airy sky for a background, and a glimpse of the Hudson and the Catskills...and become increasingly dark towards the front, once you get past the curtains.


When the oil wash, or GLAZE dries, then I come back and glaze the painting again... this time only in certain areas:



This time I glazed the piggy, cherries and apples in the sky (don't ask)
a few of the fruits & veggies in front of the piggy. I also deepened the blue glaze on the water behind the pig.



Now I've glazed the curtains, veggies & mountains behind the pig. Because the foreground will be very dark... I did something I rarely do, but in this case is necessary... I used white to bring up the hairs all over the pig. I usually wait until the very last day to add white. (I had paint left on my brush, so I scumbled in a cloud or two.)

The idea is to keep glazing/drying/glazing/drying with thin, pure color... no white or black added... until the painting is the color you want it to be. At the very end, you use white, with VERY little Liquin... and dot it on the highlights only... and blend ... blend... blend.

Look at the apple to the left of the pig... through the red glazes you can still see a small oval... after I'm happy with the color... I'll put a dot of white in the middle of the oval, and blend forever.

On this painting... when the hairs on the pig have dried... and the veggies in the front have been painted in... and dried... I'll cover everything EXCEPT the sky, water & background hills with a very deep red/brown glaze... and start painting in glazes again. When the whole painting is finished I glaze the whole thing one last time, so that none of the colors look harsh or gaudy. (My best picture using this technique was overpainted, or glazed, 37 times)

I'll keep adding pictures here until it's done.

(Something else I do is move the painting from room to room... the light in my house is not the best... by doing that it ensures that it looks good in almost any light once it is finished.)

That is the longest answer to your question, Prim... but that is the way I did the Christmas Balls... and in my mind, the small painting 10"x10" isn't quite finished. It's also one of those paintings that looks better the farther away you get. (I think South America should do it.)

[frodosmiss]

On this painting... when the hairs on the pig have dried... and the veggies in the front have been painted in... and dried... I'll cover everything EXCEPT the sky, water & background hills with a very deep red/brown glaze... and start painting in glazes again. When the whole painting is finished I glaze the whole thing one last time, so that none of the colors look harsh or gaudy. (My best picture using this technique was overpainted, or glazed, 37 times)

I prefer a citrus glaze on my pigs...... Thank you very much- I'll be here all week!

Love the Xmas cards and am fascinated by the progression of the yet unglazed pig! I am in awe!

[Pippin's Sunshine]

I love this piggie! he's so cute!

[Ringwraith-Wife]

Thank you, PIPPIN'S SUNSHINE, ( I'll tell him you said that)
I like mine with plenty of Cracklin', FRODOSMISS, and a citrus glaze would "go down, mighty fine" ( I won't tell him we said THAT!)

[DoctorGamgee]

It is interesting to see how you do it, RW. The painting is just lovely (and the card too!). I wish I had talent like that, but my eyes don't see everything anymore, and I was never good with my hands. The Tape, however, I could manage ...

Dr.G

[Ringwraith-Wife]

Thank you, DrG... You, Sir, have talent aplenty! I made a mistake of working on a few small pieces recently, which messed up my hand a tad ( now I remember why I don't work small any longer) So the poor piggy is being pushed aside, yet again, even as we speak.