June 25th, Utrecht, Kansas City, MO. I was working on a 30W X 30H pre-stretched canvas that day.
The more demos I perform, the more I realize how important it is for the demo to not only be informative but fun and encouraging so that the audience feel comfortable enough to ask questions and share a few clean joke or two. Anyway, I started the drawing with a piece of charcoal that day so everyone can see my drawing. Otherwise, I normally just use a pencil. Also, it was important for me to pick a composition that I was comfortable with. Preparation is the KEY to success! This allowed me to focus more on the informative and interactive portion of the demo. It was a great crowd! It was as full as the space allowed :)
This is the part where I took the opportunity to either educate or reinforce tips about different palette knife sizes and their purposes, paint consistency, color mixing and other tips about oil painting. I do not use medium in my paint anymore. I do not like the smell of Liquin and I don't use it because it is too reflective to photograph my work. Since I do not glaze, the advantage of using medium for me is speed drying which honestly, I have no issues with :) Lastly, I use a mirror or frame as my palette. I usually tape it to my desk to reduce movement while I mix my paint.
From the time I finished my drawing, I quickly fill the canvas with paint. I chose to work with BLUE as my color for my shadows and also served as my underpainting. This is the phase where I establish my lighting source and values.
I work from dark to light so work my way to lighter value part of the apple. In this case, greens and yellows will be painted over the Blues. I paint wet on wet. I think people are fascinated how well the paint goes on the painting despite the thick application and the fact that the previous layers are still wet. In return, I found it fascinating bc that is the only way I am able to finish a painting in one setting.
This process gives me the freedom to manipulate wet paint and to peel back to a previous layer of color that I want to show through. Anyway, I believe towards the end of this phase, I was ready to take a break and chat with them about my other
products and to answer questions.
It been at least an hour and a half and it was great to be able to stretch and interactive with the crowd once more.
I was just about to wrap up here. I finished the stems, added some contrasting accent colors to enhance the painting and to place a few water drops to give it another feature to admire. It helps to bridge my stylized painting style with realism.
You can definitely appreciate the water drops here. Also, this view gives you a good idea how much texture I give to my paintings. It has a sculptural feeling to a two dimensional painting. I think this is what separates my work from alot of talented and gifted artists out there. Hope you enjoyed the narration and for those who were there, thank you once again to you all and to Utrecht especially. I look forward to the next demo. Thinking about painting two still lives simultaneously. It is truly exciting just thinking about it.
BTW, Happy 4th of July and thank you so much for your support as always :) There is no better place to be when Kansas City has been my home and where my professional career began. It is crucial that we support our local Artists. If you have any questions and/or comments, please do not hessitate to email me at
allan@allanchow.com
Allan Chow
website:
www.allanchow.com
store:
www.etsy.com/shop/chowallan
