At the Studio

By working from home during the pandemic I was able to save a little money. It was probably enough for a vacation or a few months of a studio space plus materials. I had been thinking of this for a while. I wanted to have a studio space where I could make larger paintings. 

I’ve been painting and drawing all my life. I always worked on a small scale, so I felt that I could work anywhere. I take photos of nature, paint from life, do plein-air watercolor, oil pastel and portraits of people and animals. For the last 18 or so months I worked from a small table in my bedroom. This is my home studio. It has everything I need; a window which bathes the room in sunlight, a fire escape to sit on, trees, birds and squirrels, my paints and paper, a bed, coffee and 2 cats.  

My roommate works in the other room. We take breaks, going for walks in the neighborhood, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, or sitting at a cafe drinking coffee.  All through the pandemic I taught art on Zoom. I still do, although now I’m teaching in-person classes as well. 

I taught from my small home studio in my bedroom. It was very informal. We talked about the world, the virus and we painted and created. They say I kept them going during the pandemic. I think they kept me going. The room quickly filled up with paintings, collages, drawings and art supplies, as if I didn’t have enough already. I imagined being swallowed up by my artwork. 

So, enough of the digression, after looking at different spaces I decided on the open studio at Trestle Art Space in Gowanus. I liked the big windows and the light.

The first day I went, bringing a 12” x 14” canvas from home and some acrylics and brushes, and having no idea what I would do. This is what happened. 

Next, was going to start a large painting. “Of what?” You may ask. I didn’t know. I went to Dick Blick to buy a large canvas but it was a small triangle shaped canvas that caught my eye. I started thinking about what I would paint on a triangle. I thought a flower. How could I fit a flower onto a triangle? Of course, I bought the triangle instead of the large canvas. I bought a circle as well. 

This is how I started, not yet sure what was going on top. I liked the underpainting and almost left them like this, but then I didn’t.

This is my first painting on a triangle shaped canvas. It’s 12” x 12” x 12”. It was a fun challenge trying to make the flower, work on a triangle shape. It is a fancy tulip. My reference was a photo  I took at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Next I tried the circle. I looked through my flower photos. I had taken a picture of an odd looking flower, probably a type of daisy, but having it directly in the center of the circle seemed boring to me. I put it a little off center. This is a 12” circle.

The next time I went to Artists and Craftsmen, they didn’t have triangle canvas so I bought a triangle painting panel made of wood. I painted another tulip, this time from the top view.  In this one the acrylic paint was drying too fast and didn’t have as much time to blend it.  I should have realized that keeping the fan on in the studio was making it dry faster. It is also possible that paint dries faster on wood. This is 14” x 14” x 14” I photographed it on my chair in the studio

When I’m working at the studio I paint for 3-4 hours at a time. I work quickly and fitfully. When I’m finished I’m exhausted and hungry and I go for a slice of pizza in Industry City and sometimes home for a nap.

The next time I thought of painting it was too late in the evening to go to Blick or Artists and Craftsmen, but Michaels was still open for another half hour.  As you can see, I’m not much for planning ahead.

This time what caught my eye was a round slice of a tree with bark attached. I love bark! This called for a different type of flower. I tried a yellow tiger lily. Why? I don’t know. My painting technique is slightly different and rougher in this. I used some gold and copper paint as well.

The tree bark, although interesting was more about the frame than the subject. I might go back to that at a later time. 

Next another experiment with color. I don’t use red very often.  I went back to using a rectangle canvas for the poppy because I wanted to try the round flower cut of at one edge of the frame. The brushstrokes around the flower are looser and more expressionistic. I do like that. Again, the paint was drying too fast, even using retarder.

Afterwards I went for a larger round canvas and an oval at Artists and Craftsmen which seemed perfect for painting water lilies and lotus.  Waterlilies and lotus are some of my favorite things to photograph and paint in watercolor. This is the first time I painted them in acrylic.

I started with a few coats of Golden bright white gesso and then an underpainting of a mauve-purple. Then I sketched out my designs with the brush.

In the course of painting, I learned a few things and tried some new materials that I like including Golden bright white gesso and gloss painting medium, I prefer painting on canvas to wood. 

The oval one is still a work in progress. Here is the round one. You can see the purple underpainting in the corner of the first photo. The second one is the finished painting.  So far it is my favorite.

All of this work is for sale. If you are interested in buying a painting, you can email me for the prices at linda.s.berkowitz@gmail.com

Thank you for reading!