Views: 3148...USA, Indonesia, Bangladesh and China.

Hi...Time does fly. Here it is almost the end of another term and then Thanksgiving. We have had such nice and warm temperatures for us and now the cold front...13* last night.

I am really excited to share one of my student/artist's watercolor painting. She did a really great job with painting her father-in-law.  Enjoy.

Colette:

Hi...Can't believe it has been way over a month since I posted anything. Time does fly !!!@.
           It seems like I have been on overdrive. You too? Sorry about the delay.

Views: Total....2890. This week from USA, China, Ukraine & Kazakhstan.

Quote: There is no growth in your comfort zone and no comfort in your growth zone.
                                                                                 (no idea who said this)

My last posting was about me going off to take a portrait watercolor class. I bet, since you never heard from me since then, you might have thought I perhaps didn't survive the class. Ha. Well. close !!!
It is always good to have your cage rattled some throughout the years of your life. This class did just that for me. Rattle...Rattle. 

The class was taught by Ted Nuttall. I love his work and even though there isn't anyway I would or could paint in his style (or have any Portrait style  or talent) I did gain a lot from taking his class. I came away from the class with a set of "New Shiny Tools" to add to my "Old Shiny Tools"....and I have more confidence. I really have been flooded with portrait ideas to paint. 
            My cage was rattled by the following.

 The class was 5 days...9-4....at Cascade Fine Art Workshops, Bend, Oregon...www.cascadefineartworkshops.com.
Check out Ted's website...www.tednuttall.com. 

Quote: Paintings are never finished, they are only abandoned. Leonardo da Vinci.


Folks meet "Abandoned"....."Abandoned" meet the Folks !!!
After a 2 week gap, I just couldn't return to the feeling...just couldn't get it done. I've moved on to another portrait...Will see if this new one will  be named "Abandoned II" !!!

"Abandoned"

 (See August 28th  posting to see the beginning of this story).

Blog Views: 2544...USA, Russia, Poland, China & France.

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

Artwork:

Below are three different portraits, using different techniques. I wish I had gotten photos of all the artwork from this assignment....they were wonderful.

The first two Portraits.....Contour drawing is a quick drawing where you look at your subject and not your paper, you never lift your pencil...so there are connecting lines one is not accustom to. The point is to draw what you see, not what you think the subject looks like and to bring in personality.

Byrnie: 
This assignment was to draw yourself with a contour drawing and then paint with two colors only in watercolor with tons of water and be abstract. This painting came out just the way I had envisioned the assignment. It is so wonderful. Thank you, Byrnie, for your years of experience and know how.

Stephanie: 
Again...what a wonderful painting. Thanks.

Diana:
This is from the Complementary Color Challenge of using Blue and Orange. Diana said she wasn't happy with her painting...but I think it has so much personality and the mystery of what is she looking at? I don't think she has done many portraits, but she did so well. Thanks you, Diana. 

Art Challenge:

Stephanie Hakanson: Stephanie is a very prolific painter. Her art challenge included not only self portraits of herself, but also of her husband (I think there was talk of divorcee !!!). For a few terms now, she has been painting family portraits, so it was a natural path for her to paint herself this time.
She usually works in acrylic, but she really experimented with other mediums for this challenge...contour drawings, watercolor, colored backgrounds etc. See more of Stephanie's paintings posted Sept 13th.

This is one of Stephanie"s Plein Air acrylic paintings. We went as a class to the marina on the Klamath Lake (Oregon).

Thank you, Stephanie for sharing.