The new best brush in my miniature painting repertoire

Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Miniaturist brushes, 

L-R, #3, #2, #1, #0, #000

Comparing #0 brushes: 

 from bottom to top, #0 Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Miniaturist,

#0 Winsor and Newton series 7 miniature, and #0 (regular series 7 Winsor and Newton)

Comparing #000 brushes:

bottom to top, 000 Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Miniaturist, 000 Winsor and Newton series 7 miniature brush, 000 Winsor and Newton (regular series 7)

Along with a few varieties of small synthetic brushes, I've been a fairly loyal user of Winsor and Newton series 7 miniature and regular series 7 for several decades by now, yet over the years I've observed that the amount of hair in the ferules has decreased, the cost has gone up, and although they are still good brushes, for the price and quality I'm just not feeling 100% satisfied with their performance and staying power.  With all the interesting brushes out there to try these days, I thought it was time for some research on sables.  After looking over three or four lines of brushes, I decided to try Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky 'Miniaturist' sables.   

My rationale was that of all the miniature brush lines I saw, the Da Vinci Miniaturist line has more hair (fatter at the ferrule, or base of the brush), and a shorter but still very pointy tip.  It's a round brush made of Kolinsky sable, (which means male winter Siberian Kolinsky sable, the best sable you can get), and I hoped a fatter pointy brush meant it would hold more paint without dripping, and give me more control and precision.

So far I am very impressed with these neat little sables!  Above are some comparison pictures demonstrating the difference between the two lines, especially since the brush sizes do not exactly correspond, and it took me a while reading over the brush dimensions provided online to decipher the sizes I wanted to try.  They are not inexpensive, but I got mine through a nice sale at Dick Blick online.  I've been using them on a commissioned miniature painting in egg tempera, and also on a larger portrait commission in oil.  As soon as I get a little further with the miniature commission, I'll post it in progress.

An Honorable Mention award for Portraiture

"Self Portrait at 34", 3 3/4" x 3", egg tempera on Kelmscott vellum

Great news!  I was delighted to hear today that I won an Honorable Mention award for Portraiture from the Miniature Painters, Sculptors, and Gravers Society for my self portrait in miniature!  The judge for this year's annual competition in Washington D.C. was Jane Mihalik, a talented miniature painter and artist whose work I have long admired.  I hope to be able to arrange attending the opening weekend of the show, Nov. 17 and 18, and the first public showing will be from 2PM to 4PM on Nov. 18 at the Strathmore Mansion in North Bethesda.  The show continues through Dec. 29, and I hope if you will be in the area you'll be able to see it.  I believe it remains the 2nd largest miniature show in the U.S.

For details on visiting the show in person, and to see some of the other award winning works which will be included the show, you can visit the exhibition page at mpsgs.org

Marcia and Harry

"Marcia and Harry" in progress, egg tempera on gessoed panel, 3 7/8" x 3 1/2"

Well, surprise! After mulling it over, I just couldn't resist trying a portrait of this couple! So here is the start of my dual portrait, in progress, of my Mom and step-Dad, Marcia and Harry. They were on their honeymoon when the reference picture for this portrait was taken, and the background once filled in will indicate where they are standing (in a very special spot!)

"After the Davidson College Graduation"

"After the Davidson College Graduation", 4 5/8" x 3 3/8", egg tempera on true gesso panel (click the image to see it enlarged)

Here is the completed version of this miniature, and I'll share with you the framing solutions I've used for my two most recent miniatures in my next post.

Self Portrait at 34, in progress

"Self Portrait at 34" in progress, shown at actual size

Here is a peek at a self portrait which I'm painting from photos I took myself with the self-timer setting of my camera at age 34. I'm wearing one of my all-time favorite wardrobe items, a black velvet cocktail dress, which makes it all the more fun to paint, and the tricky part will be to see if I can articulate in a pleasing way the details of the rhinestone necklace I was wearing. Haven't decided yet how I'll frame it, but an oval might be nice....we'll see.

Getting back into gear

It's been a tough and discouraging summer for me in a number of respects, but I'm at least happy to report that after several weeks of not being able to work in my studio, I'm kicking into painting gear once again.  Expect a post sometime soon on several new miniatures in progress.

Thanks also to those who left kind comments about the return of my missing miniatures.  I wish I knew the story of their journey back to me, but was glad to be able to post a few of these for sale once again.  Those who have followed this blog for a while may recognize a newer version of "Eve and Her Dog"  recently posted on my new portrait blog.  And if you haven't visited my etsy store recently, nine miniatures are also currently listing there for direct purchase online.

The Sacred Art of Icon Writing

I reviewed in an earlier post this Spring the topics discussed at a lecture/demo that I offered at Kingsboro College. Among these topics was icon-writing. For anyone who is interested in knowing more about the art and spiritual practice of icon-writing, and the Prosopon School where I have been fortunate to study, I have done a post about this today which I invite you to read on my spiritual portraits blog, Grander Joy of Spirit.

"Lauren's Graduation Day"

"Lauren's Graduation Day," 5" x 7" miniature scale silverpoint, graphite, and egg tempera on blue-toned panel

Here is the completed silverpoint drawing of my niece, Lauren at her May graduation, which is also a promotional example for portrait commissions.

Silverpoint, graphite, & Egg Tempera on Gessoed Panel

5" x 7" miniature scale (1/6th of life size) silverpoint, graphite, & egg tempera work in progress on blue-toned gessoed panel (click on the image to see it at its actual size)

I still have a little work to go on this drawing, a miniature scale small work, but wanted to post it in progress, since it is an example of how nicely egg tempera combines with silverpoint. This is my first try at silverpoint, a method of drawing with silver which produces finer lines than are possible with pencil, which tarnish and darken over time. Silverpoint was utilized by the old masters for preliminary drawings for egg tempera or oil paintings. Modern acrylic-based silverpoint ground can also be great to apply to the surface and draw on, as one of my next miniatures will demonstrate, but in order to include egg tempera, I drew this one on another great surface for silverpoint: true gesso panel.

This drawing is mostly silverpoint with graphite applied in the darkest areas, with soft highlights in white egg tempera. If questions arise, my upcoming Egg Tempera Workshop is a great place for solutions about mixed media with egg tempera too. I was inspired to try silverpoint by two of my friends and colleagues in art, Koo Schadler, and Barbara Freeman. Please take a moment to see their beautiful work in silverpoint.

What's Next / An Important Update on My Summer Workshop

My next post will be my next completed miniature, a portrait drawing in silverpoint, graphite and white on toned gessoed panel. Until then, an important announcement regarding my next egg tempera workshop:

I will need to hear from five or more definite participants by June 10th in order to hold the opportunity of the private summer workshop in egg tempera in position for early August. To help you decide if you are considering attending, here is some additional information:

The location in Brooklyn, NY is within driving distance from most neighboring major cities and approx. 30 minutes from mid-Manhattan via subway. PLEASE NOTE: the dates have moved slightly to Tuesday through Thursday, August 3, 4, and 5. The cost is $300 for two full days of instruction 10 AM to 6PM with a one-hour lunch break, and $400 for three full days, excluding accommodations which are running approx. $200 and up per night, BUT only if booked now at the Holiday Inn Express and and at similar locations very near the venue in Brooklyn. The workshop fee also covers a gesso panel to paint on, and a few basics (like eggs!), but not all of your art materials, so please plan to bring paints and brushes with you, and a reasonable supply list will be provided to guide you on what you will need.

For those who wish for it, and because I have included the optional of three days instruction: if it is the group's desire to spend part or all of the additional day out on a field trip, it is also my personal delight to take you to one or more possible locations: The Bronx Zoo, the New York Aquarium at Coney Island, Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, or a New York City Cathedral tour including St Patrick's Cathedral. I hear that an exciting new version of the musical "Promises, Promises" is returning to Broadway this summer, and there are many exciting ways to spend your evenings in the Big Apple during your stay.

Your $100 check holds your spot in the workshop, but I will need to at least receive your email responses by June 10th (please email mona@monadianeconner.com). Inquiries also welcomed.

One of my favorite supports for egg tempera and for miniature painting

At left is a 3/16" thick birch ply panel from Pandora, and on the right is a 1/4" thick masonite panel from Chester Gilder

Certain types of surfaces, or supports, are important to use with the medium of egg tempera. Egg tempera requires a painting surface that is both rigid and very absorbent. Some of the popular miniature painting surfaces such as drafting film, mylar, polymin, and ivorine would not ideally meet either of these requirements. The surface most universally preferred by egg tempera painters, which oil painters also still enjoy is traditional gesso, sometimes also called true gesso, which is the gesso that was produced prior to the advent of acrylic gesso. Traditional gesso recipes vary, but are usually composed primarily of rabbitskin glue and some form of whiting.

There is a fundamental incompatibility between the plastic content in acrylic gesso and egg tempera which can be risky for long-term adhesion. The greater absorbency of true gesso compared to acrylic formulas is an additional reason why it is so nice for egg tempera painting. It's piano-key smooth surface also makes it ideal for the refined details in miniature painting. Egg tempera painting superimposes many thin translucent layers with glazing and scumbling as the primary method of paint application, and traditional gesso can absorb these thin layers.

The labor involved in producing a true gesso panel, which involves cooking the gesso, painting at least four to eight layers on a wood or masonite panel, avoiding air bubbles and sanding it smooth, (combined with the difficulty of doing smaller cuts in the case of miniature panels) accounts for the cost of purchasing pre-made gesso panels. In fact, some artists actually prefer to make their own, sometimes doing "panel-making week" once or twice a year to produce the supply they will need.

I prefer to buy mine pre-made so that I can spend more of my time painting, and there are a number of panel makers out on the market producing quality panels. It's easy to see how True Gesso got it's name, and their panels come highly recommended, so I look forward to trying them too. My suppliers so far have been Pandora, which also produces icon panels, and Alexandra Hadik of Chester Gilder (*click on 'custom framing') who airbrushes the gesso on. Pandora will cut to custom sizes, and Alexandra has been willing in the past to cut me a batch of small mini panels to approximate sizes for my workshops, or for my own use, which for a flat fee gives me an ongoing supply.

my lecture/demo at Kingsborough

One of a series of large spiritual portraits in progress which I brought along to my lecture/demo for the illustration class and Art Club at Kingsborough College. The dark red area is red clay bole painted over the gesso in preparation for water gilding. At right are two patches---one of burnished gold leaf, and the other of a mother-of-pearl tile, which will border the gold leaf area of the portrait.

Right on the heels of my lecture/demo at Kingsborough Community College and producing an article on my work in miniature, I travelled to help and support my family at two graduations in New York and North Carolina. It felt wonderful to be present on these special occasions in my niece and nephew's lives, but it's great also to finally have time to share with you in more depth my experience at Kingsborough, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm told that the article I wrote for Small Talk, the Miniature Art Society of Florida's newsletter, will be published in the next issue, which comes out very soon.

For the lecture/demo at Kingsborough I covered highlights on three topics: miniature painting, egg tempera, and water gilding. I wish I had a picture to share with you of the enthusiastic and attentive illustration class and Art Club in attendance! (If anyone present took one, I hope you'll email me at mona@monadianeconner.com.) I talked with this group about the world of miniature art competition, sharing four of my miniature paintings along with some favorite show catalogs and books on miniature art. Among them were Wes and Rachelle Siegrist's Exquisite Miniatures, Love and Loss, American Portrait and Mourning Miniatures, by Robin Jaffee Frank, and The Monarchy in Portrait Miniatures From Elizabeth I to Queen Victoria, by D.S. Lavender Antiques, Ltd.

Next I demonstrated how I prepare egg tempera medium, and mix my egg tempera in several different ways, both in advance and on my palette. I showed them where I was in my progress on the egg tempera portions of the large panel painting above. I explained how with this spiritually-toned portrait I am borrowing aspects of icon painting to echo a spiritual feeling, such as working on a traditional arched icon panel with it's niched edge, and the inclusion of water gilding.

Having painted several layers of red clay bole on the background of the painting in progress, I demonstrated the laying down of one piece of gold leaf after moistening it with the breath, known in icon painting as "the breath of God". The professor who invited me to do this demo, Valerie Sokolova and I took lessons together in the past at the Prosopon School of Iconology, where more recently she has become a teacher, so in tandem with her I talked with the class a little about icon painting, it's spiritual significance, and how it involves both egg tempera and gold leaf.

I also brought along an actual icon painting I have in progress, and since Daisy, an Art Club member in attendance, expressed an interest in learning about icon painting, perhaps I'll do a post on this topic in the near future on my spiritual portraits blog,

Grander Joy of Spirit in Portraiture. Interesting questions arose on all three topics, and all too soon our time together was over. Delightful refreshments were served afterwards. Special thanks to my friend and colleague Valerie Sokolova, to dept. chair Judith Wilde, and to all the students and members of the Art Club in attendance. I really enjoyed meeting you!

Since I am catching up, tomorrow is when I'll cover just part of a topic that I will be including in this summer's Egg Tempera workshop: true gesso as a painting surface.

An article in progress on my work in miniature

Today I am preparing an article on my work in miniature art for next issue of the Miniature Art Society of Florida newsletter. More coming soon....

"Tulip Garden at Giverny," and more tulips at home

"Madonna in the Leaves," 2 5/8" x 1 7/8", egg tempera on Kelmscott vellum

"Tulip Garden at Giverny," 2" diameter (shown enlarged for detail), oil over gold leaf on bone

view of the open basket box and lid

Tulips at home in Prospect Park, Brooklyn

Bird bath at the Litchfield garden

Tulips and grape hyacinth at the Litchfield garden

I'm hoping Parklane Gallery (in Kirkland, Washington) accepts "Tulip Garden at Giverny" since it has a dimensional quality to it. I've sent two miniatures to the Parkland Miniature Show, and the other one is "Madonna in the Leaves," shown here at the top.

Local tulips at Litchfield

tulips in Brooklyn's Prospect Park at the Litchfield Villa

More on my tulip painting of Giverny Gardens soon, but today on my walk I very much enjoyed these local tulips in the park on the hill at Litchfield.

Giverny Gardens on Gold Leaf

(click to see it larger)

Miniature painting of Giverny Gardens in progress, 2 inches in diameter, oil paint over gold leaf on bone basket box lid (my photo of Giverny Gardens is on the left, isolated in a similar circle)

Giverny Gardens Painted on a Bone Basket Box

lid and bottom of bone basket box, image area is 2 inches in diameter

bone basket box

I'll be posting my rose miniature for sale as soon as it's frame arrives.

Meanwhile, however, I am so excited to try this new challenge---painting a miniature of Giverny gardens on this exquisitely carved bone basket box! Some of you know that in 2007 I had the great experience of visiting Monet's Giverny gardens during tulip time in April. I've had a number of miniature paintings in mind to paint from my experience at Giverny.

Here I'm experimenting with the best way to try egg tempera on this smooth bone surface, very like ivory, but when I reached this point above, I realized my medium was not adequately absorbed and secured on the bare surface itself, so I am recording this try and wiping it off in order to apply a hide-glue-based ground on which I can paint with egg tempera more successfully. I may seal it all with liquin upon completion; I may add some oil paint highlights on top. I'd like to try adding gold leaf to the inner rim around box lid too. We'll see. It will take a bit of extra patience, but that is what miniature painting is all about, and I'll post my progress with this tiny landscape as it develops.

a little more progress.....

Kinda creeping along on this, it's mainly the leaves I worked on and hopefully in another few days it's a final post. I'm also hoping to install my new Photoshop software tomorrow, so I'm very excited to try it out!

What's Next

"Heaven on Earth Rose," (Step 3), egg tempera miniature on vellum

I'm back online, and I have several things going on. Above is my latest rose miniature as it looked when last posted and I'll have some progress to show you on this painting soon. I'm installing and adjusting to some new software, and it's tricky, but I know that some important improvements will come out of this effort.

I'm also working very hard to finalize four of my large paintings, and begin several new ones to be included in my portfolio which will be submitted to galleries who may represent my work. You can follow my progress with this on my spiritual portraits blog: Grander Joy of Spirit in Art

Completed Drawings of Corin and Ona

"Corin's Room", 8" x 10", graphite portrait drawing (click image to enlarge)

detail (click to enlarge)

"Ona's Room", 10" x 8", graphite portrait drawing (click to enlarge)

detail (click to enlarge)

Merry Christmas Ona and Corin!

Merry Christmas also to all of my blog readers and buyers, and thank you for watching my art journey this year! I hope your day has also included some snow.