Studio blog of Julie Galante – painting ridiculous things in Scotland
It has been over two months since my husband died. I am through the worst of the paperwork and other post-death responsibilities, and my life is starting to get molded into its new routines and habits. I got a kitten so I don’t have to come home to an empty apartment. She likes to play … Read more
(To start by stating the obvious) November is at an end already. I’ve been doing my best to fit in creative time when I can. Most days it’s just a bit of drawing in my sketchbook. Here are a couple of the images I’ve created over the past month. I noticed that the heads on … Read more
I love painting and drawing faces. Portraiture has always been a big part of my artistic practice. So why have faces been missing from so much of my recent work? It’s possible that I was too focused on faces, to the point of not paying enough attention to other parts of the composition, the body, … Read more
A work in progress for you today, the very last day of Art Every Day Month. Today my expressive drawing course is tackling architecture, which is a different challenge than we’ve had so far. Mostly we’ve been looking at organic shapes until now. How to maintain expressiveness while communicating straight lines and right angles? I … Read more
This was an exercise in adding and taking away using pencils, graphite powder, and erasers, leaving a history of mark-making on the page. I think I could have pushed it further, but I started to run out of daylight. I’ve found that I can work comfortably after dark with bolder materials such as ink and … Read more
Another experiment today. This one is graphite powder, pencil, and charcoal on drawing paper coated with linseed oil. I must have spread the oil a bit too thick, because in spots (such as the big diamond-shaped area on his chest) it seemed to suck up the materials and refused to let them go. So I … Read more
Happy new year, my three readers. It’s cold and drafty in my studio, but I’m pretty sure it’s building my character, or something. This month my art has mainly focused on Scottish landscapes. Landscapes are a new challenge for me. How to create paintings that are interesting? Communicating an aspect of the beauty of a place … Read more
Now that that’s over, I’m moving on to some larger canvases, and now suddenly I have too many options. Do I focus on cityscapes next, as I had planned? Pursue Highland landscapes a bit more, as they turned out to be my favorite new subject last month? Go back to the Edinburgh pub and restaurant … Read more
I never know what to title blog posts here – I usually want to discuss a half-dozen random things in each post. These days I am spending a lot of time in my new studio, excited about having so much space, trying to figure out what to work on next. I have some ideas for a … Read more
Work in progress: Under the fake cherry blossoms, 48 x 36 cm, mixed media on watercolor paper, ©2013 Julie Galante. Finished piece will be available as a reward for a Kickstarter backer at the $350 or $600 level. This month I am working on developing the body of work I started during my February artist’s … Read more