Fish for Dinner, acrylic, 14 x 11 in.
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There’s nothing like the pulsing energy—the electricity—of the city at night. Yet, there’s something mellower, warmer, more accessible about old neon signs lit up in the evening sky. And they’re often touched with a bit of whimsy. These cultural icons of our recent past have provided the inspiration for one of Misty Martin’s current, ongoing series.
“I think nature is beautiful, but man is a part of nature, and the things we create can also be beautiful,” explains Misty. “Yes, architecture can be grubby and worn, but these signs and buildings are part of history. I want to record them for posterity.”
Besides, adds Misty, they’re a fun subject matter to paint, and that’s a more-than-good-enough reason to paint something. Misty particularly enjoys the challenge of creating contemporary-feeling paintings based on nostalgic subjects, using very old artistic traditions.
Drawing on History
For obvious reasons, Misty’s nighttime subjects are created entirely in the studio based on photographic references, but that’s where her use of technology ends. “From then on, it’s all traditional hand drawing,” she explains. “I don’t get along with computers, and although I’ve heard that projectors could make things easier, I’ve never used one.” Misty insists that an excellent drawing is the essential foundation for a good composition.
Working at full size on tracing paper, Misty will actually combine lots of photographs into a single drawing to get just the look she’s after. “I spend hours working out the composition in the initial drawing, which can take even longer than the painting itself,” she notes. Thanks to her years of drawing practice, she knows just when to correct the perspective in her drawings (which is often distorted in the reference photos) and just when to give it a little twist to make something more interesting. But, she points out, “I don’t include any detail in the drawing. That’s achieved with the paintbrush.”
One of Misty’s primary goals in the drawing phase is to devise an intriguing, dramatic viewing angle. “My husband jokes that I walk around with my head in the clouds,” she admits with a laugh, “but it’s true that I like to look up. Most of the time we walk around without ever looking up and noticing what’s there. I like to show people what’s there with my paintings.” This is important because her steep viewpoints and tight cropping are some of the key components in the contemporary quality she achieves.
Layering ‘Til It Glows
When she’s ready to begin the painting, Misty attaches the drawing to the front of the canvas, and slips carbon paper in between them to lightly transfer the drawing. The drawing remains attached throughout the painting process. Says Misty, “That way, I can continually check the accuracy of the drawing in my painting without having to re-draw the whole thing each time I finish a layer.”
My paintings offer so much more than what you’d find in a photograph. I’ve pushed the perspective and the color far beyond reality to thoroughly enhance the mood.
In general, she says she develops her images from back to front, so she begins by applying either a blue-based ground or a red-based ground—whichever is more harmonious with the overall color scheme she’s planned for the subject—over the entire painting. “Because the acrylic glazes are fairly thin and easily show edges, I have to be careful about where layers begin and end,” explains Misty, “so I immediately unify my foundation by applying my background color over the entire canvas.”
She then continues to build up glaze after glaze of rich color, again always watching out for softening those edges. “I’ve learned through trial and error how much water to mix into my glazes, so I don’t use any medium or extender,” she goes on to say. “I just know instinctively how fast the paint will dry and what I can get away with. Sometimes I use the back of my hand to soften the edges before they dry, but mostly I use angled brushes dipped in a little additional wet color to feather out the edges.” Some of Misty’s other tools for keeping her acrylics wet and workable are a wet/dry palette and a squirt bottle of water to rewet the paints.
While Misty might refer to her photographs for general color information, she actually pushes the color intensity much further than it appears in real life. “I get a little crazy with my colors,” she says, laughing. “What’s gray becomes purple, what’s blue becomes teal. I play with using more intense color, especially on the neon, to bring out the vibrancy.”
Of course, color is at its brightest on the neon lights themselves, which is why the bright acrylic colors are such a perfect fit for portraying this subject. “When I get to the neon itself,” Misty explains, “I initially paint the area white to block out the dark background, which will enhance the contrast of the values to come. Then I start building the colors and the glow that’s reflecting off the surface behind the neon tubing.”
To get the neon to glow, she usually has to layer on several variations of the main color, always working up to the hottest, brightest highlight color. So, for example, a yellow neon tube might have reds and oranges in the base layers, working up through yellows, and finishing with a pale yellow highlight.
Mixing Old and New
Misty is absolutely delighted with the enthusiastic response she’s getting from collectors and viewers. Ironically, however, she says that many people describe her work as photorealistic. “My paintings offer so much more than what you’d find in a photograph,” she says with a smile. “I’ve pushed the perspective and the color far beyond reality to thoroughly enhance the mood.” By incorporating the very best artistic traditions, Misty’s work expresses volumes about the cultural treasures we should hold dear in contemporary life.
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