Day 1
Margarida Pinheiro
26.04.21 - 02.05.21
- This week I started with some physical work at the studios – stretching and priming a 200 x 130 cm canvas.
- This is the first one of three identically sized canvas. I intend to make a tryptic that should be read from left to right. Telling us a story of metamorphosis with its pictures and titles that play with the meanings of portraiture and still-life as a genre.
- I started by building the stretchers. With some help, I used the floor and another set of stretchers to correct the angles.
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-Then, using a roll of canvas, I laid both canvas and stretchers on the floor and took the measurements for how much canvas would I be needing.
- On top of a couple of tables, I then stapled the canvas onto the stretchers until unwrinkled and as tight as possible without any stretching pliers at hand.
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- I was afraid the canvas was a bit too loose on the stretchers and would look ragged. But when I started priming it in watered down layers of acrylic gesso, I was glad to see that the primer was helping tightening it up and I am satisfied with the result.
- I intend to paint these three paintings all at the same time, therefore I need to have all three canvases ready to start at the same time. One done, two to go!
Day 2
27 Apr. 21
- Today I was able to finish stretching the remaining two canvases and started priming them.
Day 3
28 Apr. 21
- Happy to be finishing priming the canvases and starting the underpainting today.
- For these paintings I want to work from a distance in order to always have a fuller view of the whole composition. I realised that I used to be very comfortable painting small formats because I could always see the “big picture” at all times, and doing big formats used to be hard because I would focus mainly on small details.
- In order to do this, I brought to the studio a broomstick I had at home to use as an extension of my arm and, therefore, be able to stand further away from the painting whilst working.
- The broomstick had an attachment application that I thought would be ideal to attach the brush to. However, that ended up not working and I just taped the brush to the stick.
- I decided to do the underpainting with ultramarine blue acrylic paint, because I would like the blue to come through underneath certain parts of the painting when painting with oils on top. I chose acrylics instead of oils washed down with turpentine for a faster result.
- Since the acrylics dry quicker, I mixed a lot of water to delay that process a bit and also for the paint to be more flexible like oils would.
- I also used white acrylic gesso to help me correct proportions and get cleaner lines when trying to find the drawing on the canvas.
- But I still need to correct a few things before moving forward to the other two canvases.
Day 4
29 Apr. 21
- I realised I needed to move up the composition a bit higher on the canvas and to correct a few proportion issues.​
- I worked and reworked the drawing until I was tired of looking at it, so I decided to get a move along on the next one and leave this one on stand-by.
BEFORE
AFTER
- I was able to do the next sketch much more easily and faster because the previous one got me used to the size of the canvas and doing the sketch with bigger movements. I might just paint over the first one with a light layer of gesso and start over.
- Also, I was thinking of painting the whole canvas with some watered-down blue as a medium colour to start understanding the values better. I might do that on the third one before starting the sketch.
- I really like the movement of this one's composition, it instantly reminded me of these works by Matisse.
Henri Matisse, "Nu Blu II"
Henri Matisse,"The Dance"
Day 5
30 Apr. 21
- Today I was feeling rather tired because this past week has been quite physically demanding with stretching and priming and sketching 3 big paintings all at the same time.
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- I have been enjoying the feeling of accomplishment and productivity, though. And I feel that this residency really helped me staying focused and pushing through. Maybe on a regular week, I would only go to the studio half of the week and the other half would be more focused on reflection. But I thought I would take advantage of this residency and go to the studios every day and create.
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- I am also very excited about this project and I would really love to finish it within the next couple of months, so that also helps with wanting to stay on this productive wave.
- Today I started the third and final painting of this triptych.
- This time, I first painted the whole canvas with a wash of ultramarine blue to use as a middle tone, and only then will I be working the volumetry of the image with a lighter and a darker tone.
- I have been using my own body for reference to help me correct the proportion of the figure as I go along, since it is a life-sized painting.
- I did the first impression of the sketch and corrected it once. I was very pleased with the fastness of the process and with the sketch itself. In the beginning of the week.
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- The first sketch took me at least 2,5 days of painting, drawing and correcting and still I am not happy with the result. The second was already much easier than the previous one yet took me at least 1,5 days to mildly solve.
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- This last one was the easiest and fastest so far and my favourite until the moment.
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- I think I might do the same technique of the painting the canvas with a blue wash, on the other two as well.
- As I was sketching the main traces of the face, it came to mind a memory:
After taking a shower, when the mirror was fogged, or in other occasions, with a bar of soap, I would trace my face in the bathroom mirror. And this sketch really reminded me the faces in the mirror I used to outline with my own reflection as reference.
Day 6
1 May 21
- On this day, I started by giving continuity to the sketch of the third painting. I developed a bit more the shadows and, using watered down acrylic gesso, I roughly pinned down the lighter spots on the canvas.
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- I painted a blue middle tone wash on the other two paintings and I realised the third one was a bit too dark. I am thinking of painting the background a sort of golden yellow referencing the Ancient Egyptian Art. Therefore, I had to light up the background on the underpainting a bit more.
- While working on this, I realised that the first two figures are a bit too large in comparison to the third painting, and that I must use this size has reference for the others.
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- I think that next week I might start painting with oils.
Day 7
2 May 21
- On the last day of this residency, since I could not access the studios, I took the opportunity to reflect on this week’s work.
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- I was happy to realise how, every day, it got easier to work on such a big format and how much faster I was able to get the figure right as time went on.
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- Also, I really enjoyed working from a distance with the extended brush. It helped me get a lot more comfortable with the composition and to not focus too much on details on this phase, which would be counterproductive.
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- I would have liked to have had a research part of the week more present during this residency, but the practical work kind of took over and there wasn’t much space to think.
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- Nevertheless, I am very happy with the amount of productiveness achieved during this time and I am eager to keep working.