Blog Views: There has been over 1000 views. This week so far, the views came from...US, United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea & Philippines.

Quiz: What is vernissage?
Answer: A private preview of an art exhibition before it opens for public viewing.
                      (How long have we lived and not known this word??? New to me!!!).

Student Art:

Bonnie:
Bonnie is in my Beginning Watercolor Class. She had never painted before taking this class. The below painting is her 3rd or 4th painting ever. We were studying reflections, mountains and clouds.
She seems to really enjoy painting and I hope our paths cross again.

Thank you, Bonnie

Student Art:

Patty:

Patty is in my Beginning Watercolor Class. She has painted before and knows a lot about it...she just needed to get reintroduced and gain more confidence. 
We were studying oceans and below is her painting. 

In watercolor, the painter must reserve the whites of the paper to have any white showing in the finished painting....there is no white pigment in watercolor. It takes planing to know where those whites are to be placed. Patty used a white crayon to resist the paint and leave the whites. She marked her watercolor paper with the crayon before putting any paint on her paper. Masking fluid, candles, masking tape & crayons can be used as the resist. 

Thanks, Patty

Welcome back. I hope everyone had a great holiday. 

Blog Views: United States, United Kingdom & Poland.

Quiz: What is a vernissage?

Shapes:
A few people have asked how to find the shapes for a painting. This is in regards to the Nov. 16 posting, when students painted upside down. Below, I have outlined the main shapes in blue and then broke down the main shapes into smaller shapes and they are in red. The shapes do need to connect some how, in order for the viewer's eye to move around the painting. Remember, that shapes are not only the positive ones, but negative spaces are shapes too.

                 Happy Thanksgiving

             Have a great day. I'll post again next week

    Be yourself, because everyone else is taken.
                                                                                                                               (unknown)

Readings:
I'm reading a book, The Sistine Secrets by Benjamin Blech & Roy Doliner.

I loved seeing the Sistine Chapel* ceiling...it was breathtaking. I've seen it  twice...the first time was before it was restored and the second time it was during it's restoration (lots of scaffolding and closed off areas). Even though I plan on visiting mostly the small hill towns of Italy on my next trip, I will go see the Sistine Chapel....this time in it's full restored state and I will be thinking about this book.

Inside cover description of this book...says:

"Five hundred years ago Michelangelo began work on a painting that became one of the most famous pieces of art in the world--The Sistine Chapel ceiling. Every year millions of people come to see Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling, which is the largest fresco* painting on earth in the holiest of Christianity's chapels; yet there is not one single Christian image in this vast, magnificent artwork. The Sistine Secrets tells the fascinating story of how Michelangelo embedded messages of brotherhood, tolerance, and freethinking in his painting to encourage "fellow travelers" to challenge the repressive Roman Catholic Church of his time.
Blech & Doliner reveal what Michelangelo meant in the angelic representations that brilliantly mocked his papal patrons, how he managed to sneak unorthodox heresies into his ostensibly pious portrayals, and how he was able to fulfill his lifelong ambition to bridge the wisdom of science with the strictures of faith. The Sistine Secrets unearth secrets that have remained hidden in plain sight for centuries."

*Sistine Chapel...The Vatican, Rome, Italy.
*Fresco....(Italian for "fresh"). A wall covering technique that involves painting with  water-based paints on freshly applied wet plaster. Also known as buon fresco. Fresco last because the paint mixes with the wet plaster instead of sitting on top of the plaster, where the paint could get rubbed off.

Viewer Comment:
(I'm passing on a 2 comments that were e-mailed to me).

(In regards to the 11/16/12 posting)

Joni,

I am compelled to comment on this one....

Every time I get "stuck" on a painting, I turn it upside down!  I am so happy you taught me this and have passed the trick onto fellow painters!  Great tool if I am struggling with my painting!

Thanks!

Debbie

(In regards to the 11/ 12 posting).

I like to title my paintings, especially if I have painted them on location. It helps me recall the location and even the friends I have painted with. 

Debbie

Student Art:

I have my students paint from a photo that is upside down. This disengages their mind from thinking in terms of object to shape....example: the mind will go from "tree" to a "shape" when seen out of context in the upside down format. If you look for the "Shapes" in what you are painting (start with the big main shapes...then break those down to the shapes within etc) you can paint or draw just about anything.

Below are 2 examples from my beginning watercolor class. Aren't they great !!! Give it a try.

The photo is one of mine from a Bend area lake.

Sue:
This is the view Sue saw while painting.

This is our view now that the painting is finished. 

Patty:

This is the view Patty saw while painting.

This is our view now that the painting is finished. 

Thanks for sharing.

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To Title or not to Title?
I didn't hear from anyone about this topic, so I am unable to pass on any comments.

Personally, I love to title my artwork...but then, I love words. I  also like to mix words within my art. Another reason I like to apply titles, is that I may have painted to make a statement and I like my title to further express that idea. It's not that I think the viewer is slow or anything...I just want to continue my emotion  from creating, to created, to viewed.

The flip side of that coin, to Title or Not To Title, is that many artist believe that the title itself will influence the viewer...and that the art alone should evoke the emotion...rather or not the emotion evoked is what the artist had in mind or not.

Some artists just hate to be bothered with thinking of titles, or it is hard to come up with something.

Where do you stand?

 

Quiz: In watercolor, what is granulation?
Answer: When the pigment separates out from the water, creating a speckled texture.

There are watercolor pigments that are granulating by nature (example...paynes gray, cerulean blue etc), however, you can make all pigments that way by mixing your watercolor pigments with a liquid "Granulation Medium".

Inspirational Person:....
Great Aunt Genevieve:
I had a great aunt, Mary Genevieve Wilcox (1888-1987), that was a teacher, poet, artist, Shakespeare lover and all around interesting person. She was an inspiration to me. I remember going to her apartment and seeing the many layers of stacked paintings leaning against the walls. I just recently acquired some of her watercolor paintings. She painted on both sides of her watercolor paper. I don't know the years these were painted, but I believe she was still painting up to the years before she passed away..? Below are a few.

 She also wrote poems ...and for the holidays she would write a poem instead of sending out cards. I received a special poem for a wedding card...made especially with me in mind. Her poem below (in her handwriting) was a 1981 holiday poem...with her original drawing. Enjoy.

Do click on it to enlarge for reading.

Quiz: In watercolor, what is granulation?

To Title your Art or Not To Title Your Art...That Is The Question???
Let me know what you think about this topic...in a few days after hearing from you, I'll write about my ideas.

Byrnie:
Here is another great painting from Byrnie. I love the movenment.

Thank you Byrnie.

Art Challenge 2: ...Balance. (See the sidebar for more information).

We as a class this term, picked a new challenge. The last day of the term was our gallery showing. Some worked on this challenge in class, and some worked on it at home.....so some were brand new to us during our gallery showing. I will daily post our paintings student-by-student.

Stephanie:

I had to smile when I saw the first painting below. How many times I have thought that I really balanced my clean dishes, but, I didn't think about it being a perfect subject for the Balance Challenge. Art surrounds us !!!

Stephanie is creative in the way she divides her painting surface into framed and unframed areas. 

You can see more of her paintings posted Sept 13 and 27.

Thank you for sharing.

Art Challenge 2: ...Balance. (See the sidebar for more information).

We as a class this term, picked a new challenge. The last day of the term was our gallery showing. Some worked on this challenge in class, and some worked on it at home.....so some were brand new to us during our gallery showing. I will daily post our paintings student-by-student.

Karen:
Karen drew her challenge...I was glad to see other medias used. The balance here is really ready to topple....I could just pull out one cherry and there it goes. Choosing "Balance"  for our challenge was a good one.

You can see more of Karen's artwork posted on 9/28 and 10/24.

Thanks, Karen, for sharing.