Views: 3654....USA & Canada.

Hi...again the Intermediate Class has faced a photo challenge. Even though there aren't many paintings represented...the quality is superior. 

They had a choice of a Seascape Photo to work from or they could work from an actual Still Life that I set up. 

Thank you Painters.
 Enjoy.

Colette:

Watercolor

Watercolor

John:

Watercolor

Mary:

Watercolor...(rough texture)

Mary's paintings done during class:

Watercolor

Watercolor....Crater Lake area
(sorry for the glass glare)

Quote: "You can't use up Creativity. The more you use, the more you have". Maya Angelow


Quiz:
What is the technique called where painting is applied in a thick, textured way, with the marks made by the brush or palette knife remaining visible, such as in the work of Vincent van Gogh? (Yea...Karen, for the correct answer).
Answer: Impasto.  

Artwork: Some more beautiful artwork by my artist/students. Thank you.
Karen:
                  Look at that depth !!!!...(watercolor).

Bonnie:
             Great.     

Challenge: I gave each student/artist one sheet of gold & silver Josh paper and a Chinese New Year Money Envelop. I said go for it.

Colette: 

This is Colette's  art. 

Liz:
....and this is Liz's artwork.

Joni:
...and here is mine.

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

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.

Karen:
 Karen is one of my artist/students. Once in awhile, a painting comes around that does
 it's job...catches your eye, evokes an emotion and just plain gives the viewer a warm
 fuzzy. It gives me great satisfaction to have been around to watch the process. Karen
 experimented with spraying, allowing color to run, mix and blend etc and her results
 are beautiful. This painting should encourage you to free yourself to go belong your
 comfort zone.

You can see Karen's other paintings posted on Sept. 28 & Oct. 24.       

Thank you, Karen, for sharing.

                    

Quote:  "Why fit in when you were born to Stand Out".  Dr Seuss.

Blog Views: This week...USA, Russia, Germany and Colombia.

Viewer Contribution: Mel McRobert is sharing a new Plein Air painting he did at the beach. I love he sent along the view photos. You might remember his other  Plein Air painting he shared with us on September 9.

He said:

" Here is a small plein air painting I did last

 weekend at the beach and the weather was great!

This was done at Nehalem Bay State Park. With this painting I premixed my

colors and started with the sky and painted down to the front.

I'm trying to learn to keep it simple and to finish under an hour. I am

happy how it turned out (but it went one hour and 40 min)."

Thank you, Mel, for sharing.

Joni Leaf:
I'm sharing  my Art Challenge paintings/studies on trees.

Title...United To Weather Life's Storms.
I live in an aspen grove and this is an acrylic painting of the aspens in the yard. There use to be  another tree, but we had to have it cut down because it got hit by lightning and it was seriously leaning toward the house. I look at these trees everyday surviving the seasons and they seem to tell me a valuable life lesson...you can survive the bumps in life of you have the support of others.

 Here, the sun shines everyday, even if it is snowing 10"...so that is why  I painted a yellow underpainting.  A lot of the texture of that underpainting and the applied paint was made by using plastic wrap...paint, crinkle plastic wrap, press down, weigh it down, let dry and pull off the plastic wrap....oh la la....texture.

This is a study of trees...different species using different brushes.   

Blog Hits: 352....This week hits came from...USA, Russia and Germany.

Quote: "Tell me, what is your plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
                     ...Mary Oliver, poet.

Contributions: It seems that you are a little timid in posting your work. I understand, but maybe you ought to pull out that camera, take some photos of your work and e-mail them to me....you have but one wild and  precious life !!!

Viewer's Contribution:
Stephanie is sharing her acrylic paintings. She is one of my students...if you can call her that ! Thank you for sharing...they are all great.

 She is doing self-portraits and portraits of her husband as her art challenge. 

Art Challenge: How are you doing? How about a few comments or sharing? Wet our appetites a little? Running out of time?... join the club...but try and keep at it, you will be glad you did.

Have a great day.

Quiz Answer:  How many paintings did Van Gogh sell in his lifetime? One....!!!

Plein Air: There are many end results for a Plein Air Painting.

It is what it is....

1...It never is intended to be touched up or finished after returning back home. It is either  finished

     or not finished before you leave.

2...It is meant to be finished after returning back home.

3...It is a study for the painting you start and finish after returning back home.

Viewer Contribution: 

Debbie, from California, is sharing her Plein Air Painting. We also get the pleasure in seeing a photo of her view. We can see how she made it her own by how she simplified and changed the composition. Thank you...your painting is beautiful. 

Here is what Debbie said:

I am going to attempt posting a comment again.  I really like your blogsite.

Here is my Plein Aire painting to share for today....I am going out again today with a group of friends.  We'll have a lot of fun - I know.  I'll send you another post later this week.

Cedarville-Warner Mtns.

I painted this in July from under a shade tree at the Modoc District Fair Grounds.  The group I paint with meets at least a few times through the summer months and travel to different parts of the county.  Sometimes we pack a picnic for our break too.  I use Joni Leaf's plein air painting list to keep my "packing" to a limit and also so I don't forget items that I need.  I have even made a plein air paint tote so that I am not packing my entire studio paints with me.  I like the freedom that outdoor painting provides.  Everyone in the group always has a different perspective, composition, and style.  I am getting ready to go again today....

Happy painting!  

Debbie Pedersen

P.S...Also, I forgot to mention the importance of a thumbnail sketch.  During this outing I did not use one, and look! the barn is in the middle of the picture....I think I'll use this one for a "field painting" and repaint it this winter in my studio...

Thanks

What to do with all those challenge painting studies????

3D Paintings

This is one way I decided to do my Challenge Trees....those 4" x 3" studies just meant having those small little paintings with nothing to do with them, but to paste them on card fronts (been there, done that). These I can sell or send out as greeting cards.  I experimented and have 3 different ways to fold them.
Let us know about your challenge.

Below you can see my 3D painting in process and you can see my Color String (the blue to yellow-green). Mixing a color string  helps me have ready my tree values.

(I also rubber stamped words...you all know how I love adding words...onto the paper first. It wasn't water proof, so it bled some...which I liked.

What is and how to mix a Color String?

A color string is a line of paint  on your palette that you have premixed with different values. 

Start with a color and you step-by-step make that color either lighter or darker or step-by-step make that original color into another color.

I did a "2-way" string??? I started with  Blue in the middle, then I  added  it's complementary, Red, to darken the blue going in one direction..... Then going from the blue the opposite direction, I added yellow to make the blue more green and lighter. Now I had at least 3 needed values (light, medium and dark). Usually a color string starts with one color and goes in one direction to either lighter, darker or into another color.

Beginners tend to mix their paint as they go...usually guessing along the way. Premixing your values helps you get those...3 needed values, color unity, depth and a smaller color palette.

Enjoy!!!