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Tidbits: Yesterday a group of students and I met for lunch. It was a very nice time spent. Even though it hasn't been that long ago that most of us have seen each other, for me, it was like old home day. I was glad to see them, hear stories, see artwork, ask questions and learn news...with laughter. There is a lot to say about having a support group that not only is there for art feedback, but also for friendship. (I am sure there will be other luncheons). Thank you.

Take a Class...out of your comfort zone... 

I have signed up for an art class. I feel every artist needs to take classes, especially those that pushes us out of our comfort zone. I am not a portrait painter, but that is the class I am going to be taking....so I am definitely going out of my comfort zone...way out there. The class is by Ted Nuttall.  It will be for 5 days...9-4. 

I have been practicing painting portraits...and by the looks of things, I am not a portrait painter and probably will never be one !!!  Heaven help Ted Nuttall for having me as a student.

If by chance a magic wand gets passed over top of me and I can  paint a few decent portraits, I will with the many compositions and subjects in my head that sprang up from the few I have practiced painting.

The below one is not finished. I haven't painted on it for about 2 weeks and I'm not sure I can finish it after this amount of time without it looking  like 2 people have painted on it. Ted wants us to paint vertically with our watercolors, which isn't the way I paint with watercolors. Also,  I am using Ted's color palette and I'm not use to those colors as my portrait colors...so those two things different for me has been interesting.

Get out there and do something that challenges you. Have Fun.

Not Finished

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Well....Finals Week is here and my Drawing Class pulled it together and did just fine. I had more faith in them then they had in themselves. All I need to do is post the grades and I, too, will be done until Fall Term. 

I hope to do lots of painting and studio rearranging (my yearly). 

My Community Ed students have been invited to join together at a local restaurant for lunch...a once in awhile event...so I'm looking forward to seeing everyone.

KEEP ART IN YOUR LIFE

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Artwork:

Kathy:
Painted from her photo of a glass show....lots of reflections.

Watercolor

Susan:

A study of rocks and beach.

Watercolor

Let Time Help:

I always say...take time to look at your paintings over a few weeks...maybe even put it away and then bring it back out and then look at it for a few weeks. It will tell you a lot of things. Your own artwork will teach you more than other avenues can ever do.

Below are a few examples:

Karen: 

Karen observed a few things with the composition that she could tweak.

Watercolor isn't the easiest medium to make changes or correct problems, but, always try to "save" a painting if possible. Karen did well.

Reworked: 1) Trees were lengthened, 2) log value darkened, 3) A little blue in the green area and a little green in the blue area, 4) Grasses painted in front of the log, 5) Distant dark Mt lightened for more contrast with the tree....etc.

Original Watercolor...before reworking it.

Joni:

Below is the Plein Air painting I did. After looking at it for a while, I have decided I need to glaze over parts of it...to make the water shine with light and the two closer mountains step closer to the foreground (by adding a warm color...remember: warm colors advance and cool colors recede).

I applied clear water on the areas I wanted to Glaze (applying pigment over dry pigment). Remember when Glazing,  you need to use a transparent watercolor pigment so not to cover the color already there, but to add depth and shine.

 

First Original Painting before reworking it.

Reworked: warm color glazed over front hills and water. Applied clear water to areas I want to Glaze Acrylic Painting. I didn't like the brightness of this painting, so I glazed it with a transparent acrylic paint. I only did it to part of the painting to have as an example for classes.