Painting with Moish

I had a chance to do a few more paintings with Moish recently.

Moish preps for painting.

I was trying to make a cabin with a cute little gun shed attached to the front end. I put the window directly on the front end facing the viewer. Unfortunately, the window didn't come out right, so I scraped it off and tried again. And again. And again. Now, each time you scrape off paint and redo it, it comes out a little bit bigger to cover up the previous attempts, so by now it's a real mess and I didn't know how to fix it.

So I threw a giant tree right over where the window would have gone.

So now the cabin has no windows. Wonderful. And how are the people inside supposed to burn a fire in their wood-burning stove without asphyxiating themselves? Come to think of it, it doesn't have a chimney either, so the CO2 would probably get them first. But wait a minute... pump stations don't have windows or anything, they're just little structures designed to protect the expensive turbine lift pumps from exposure to the elements. So, I dubbed it, "Pump Station in the Woods."

Moish's version. His windows came out fine.

A couple of weeks later, I came back and did a waterfall.

The waterfall came out quite nicely. Except, of course, I forgot to put in the rock at the top of the waterfall which would split it into the two cascades we see here. D'oh! You always catch these things once you look at it again after having not seen it for a week. But I'm learning technique and getting comfortable with the concept, which is the important part.

Another Painting with Moish

Moish is on the midnight shift these days, which means he sleeps all day, so painting lessons have been a bit tough. Add to that the fact I work weeknights, which is weekmornings back int eh Old Country, and painting has become quite difficult. Still, we both wanted to whip out another masterpiece, so we arranged for Motzei Shabbat (Saturday night, after Shabbat.) I flew down to Modiin in my Magic Carpet and we were off!

We decided to paint a fall colors scene. In the end, we thought we would do a forest with some fields, but we ended up doing some water in the foreground instead.


Progress - before the shoreline and the little bushes in front.



The final product.A Close-up. Click on the image for a larger shot.


Pretty cool, eh?

Moish let me take a bunch of his the paintings home to spiff up my new diggs. I also bought a bunch of painting equipment off him, so I'll be using the paintings he let me borrow as examples for future works of art. Now if only I could plow through this huge pile of work on my desk, maybe I could actually paint something on my own!

Painting with Moish and the ghost of Bob Ross

Moish, as it turns out, happens to be a certified Bob Ross instructor, Bob Ross being the laid back guy who had half hour television programs showing neophytes how to paint landscapes with happy little trees and the like. I was invited over for a course, so of course I accepted.


We start with coating the canvas with a gray substance which prevents the canvas from soaking in the paint. Bob Ross uses (well, used, he's dead now,) a method of oil painting which involves mixing the paints on the canvas itself.

Painting sealant over the canvas.

The canvas is then coated with a layer of slow-drying white paint which helps keep the canvas from drying out. Using this method, the entire painting must be finished in one sitting.

We've got our sky, and our reflection of the sky over the water ready.

Now we add the water background.

Next comes the first mountain, faded in the distance.

And now for the main three mountains.
Snowfall over the mountains.
Next comes the first foothill.
Then another layer of foothill.
The dark foreground defines where the river/lake will be.
Now for a tree, a red bush, and some grass. We also stretch out the vertical marks along the shore to give the appearence of a reflection.

Then we add some rocks and wavelets to define the shoreline.
Then we add tall tree, some bushes, and rocks for the right hand shore.
This one is Moishe's. It came out a little better, but then again he does this for a living.


My final painting, in beter light.
Yours truly, artist! Now all I need is a giant afro and beard and I could be Bob Ross himself!

And it only took about five hours. Not bad, considering I've never painted an oil painting before.