Monday, September 23, 2013

Red Sweet Pepper on TerraSkin


Red bell peppers are one of my favorite foods whether they are raw, sautéed or roasted but before this could be used for dinner, it begged to be painted.  I really like its twisted form.  Earlier in the week, I was picking out red peppers to use for stuffed peppers.  For those, I was trying to find full, straight peppers.  Then, two days later, I returned to the store to look for a pepper that had an unusual form that would catch the light in an interesting way.  If anyone was watching me pick out this pepper, they probably thought I was a bit nutty because I spent so much time picking out just one pepper and it was such a weird looking one, but I'm very happy with my choice.

I've been wanting to try using oil paint on TerraSkin so this seemed like a good subject for a quick painting.  TerraSkin has a slicker feel than most traditional oil painting surfaces so I wasn't sure how the oils would behave.  At first, I didn't like the feel of the paint on the surface but after a few minutes, I began to like it.   I wanted the paint to be very transparent so that the glow of the paper would show.  I'm pretty happy with the outcome.  I would use oils again but only thinly as was done here.  I think that watercolors and acrylics benefit the most from this surface because a variety of textures can be achieved.  Of course, I have a very strong bias toward water media paintings.  : )

Red Sweet Pepper
Image Size 5" x 8"
Oil on TerraSkin


18 comments:

  1. This is so beautiful Nancy! When you zoom on it, you really appreciate the color, and brush work!! Wonderful
    work!

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  2. You did an awesome job on this twisted pepper, great shadows to emphasize the shape ! Yes, who would ever choose such a weird pepper if it wasn't for painting LOL !

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  3. Thank you Hilda. It was a fun one to paint.

    Thank you Jane. If it weren't for artists to pick out the weird fruits and vegetables, the grocers would have a lot more waste. : )

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  4. Your pepper painting is so beautiful! Love the shape, color and highlights. Great Job!

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  5. Bonjour chère Nancy,

    Bravo pour ce travail incroyable avec la lumière et les belles nuances de couleurs de ce poivron...
    Tout comme vous j'adore ce légume. (je ne l'aimais pas lorsque j'étais enfant !! Les goûts changent et évoluent)
    Je viens de faire un excellent potage au poivrons rouges.
    Votre peinture a les mêmes saveurs, celles de l'été, du soleil...
    Vous êtes très talentueuse.

    gros bisous

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  6. I love raw green peppers but confess that is the extent of it. That said, I sure love the painting! I think the paint behaved much as I've seen watercolor on Yupo behave. I know not exact, but something in the background greens...

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  7. Thank you Judy. I'm glad I was able to find such an interesting looking pepper.

    Merci Martinealison. Votre soupe semble délicieuse. Je vais devoir essayer de faire quelque bientôt .... peut-être après ma prochaine peinture végétale.

    Thank you Sherry. There is definitely a glow with this surface that is different than when a canvas is used.

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  8. You've got a great shine on the pepper Nancy. You certainly picked a very characterful specimen which made for a great painting.

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  9. Thank you Wendy. It's fun to pick produce for something other than dinner (although it worked well for that too)!

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  10. Wow!!! You picked a perfect one to paint. Your colors are gorgeous!!! I love the recent pieces you've done on Terra Skin and the one that you did after the wc demo you went to is really wonderful...so much movement and texture.

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  11. Not sure what your support is. Really like all the color and depth you have here. Bet it was entertaining to watch the pepper selection process :)

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  12. Thank you Joan.

    Thanks Nelvia. TerraSkin is a 'paper' made from stone and a type of resin. It's not absorbent and it's really fun to paint on it.

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  13. Nancy would it be similar to Yupo?

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  14. Gorgeous! Perfect color for the background:)

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  15. Yes Nelvia, it is very similar to Yupo but is not so plastic feeling and has a softer surface. It has a little bit of tooth and is more forgiving with fingerprints. You should try it.

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  16. Thank you Jennifer. I wanted to use some type of green to help make the pepper 'pop'.

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  17. Hi Nancy,
    I'm not exactly sure how I found your interview re: TerraSkin, but I'm sure glad I did!!! Your paintings are exquisite! I, too, love, love, love TerraSkin! I read about it somewhere when it first came to the states, and wrote the company for samples. They were very generous and I owe the gal who sent it to me a thank you card on TerraSkin at the very least! (I should've done it right away, and as a terrific procrastinator, now I'm embarrassed by my laziness). Anyway, the paintings shown in that intervew simply blew me away, they are simply gorgeous. You are correct, you are able to get permanent layers that somehow stay translucent, which is so watercolor like. You have my deepest respect, as I do not have the patience to paint realistically the way you do. I just loved letting watercolors dry on the TerraSkin, and enjoyed seeing the puddling that happens. My next experiment will be to work on it with Golden acrylics, thinned out like you talked about. I can't wait to see what the possibilities are! Congratulations on the interview and know you have a new fan!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Kathy. It's so nice to find another artist in love with TerraSkin.

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