Painting 11

Well, I thought at the time I needed to loosen up, and the previous painting wasn't successful because I added too much detail which, I just explained, wasn't the entire reason why. Yet, I tried again with a more stylize approach. Still nasty. As for color, not very pleasing combination with the sky still looking out of place to me. Doesn't hurt to stretch now and then. Even if it means failing twice and causing you to wonder why you paint in the first place.

Somewhere around this time, I had a break from painting. I signed up for the class but it didn't make, mostly from the school's error in placing Karen and Gail in the morning class, leaving too few for the evening to make. It's good to walk away for awhile, just so you don't do it for too long.

Painting 10

I'm so losing track of what paint come after each one. I used to be able to go through each painting in my head in the order I painted them, but now I'm not so sure, but I fairly certain this come next. Another landscape, and actually from my own reference, not a professional photographer, or someone else's vision. And boy, it really doesn't seem like it paid off for me. This is my parents yard on an early fall day and it didn't make an interesting painting. Bad photography can equal a bad painting if you don't take steps to correct what doesn't work in the photo.

Here's a few things I see. Tree stuck dead in the middle. Sky color seems wrong for the time of year. Nothing of interest in the foreground. No focal point to speak off. No point of view, nothing to say.

What do I like, The variations in the grass and some of the play of light on the trees, which again, doesn't go with the sky.

What would I do now, in hindsight? Perhaps move the big tree towards the middle, and lose the one in the middle. Lessen the heaviness of the trees on the right. I would warm up the sky's color and clearly define my light source and then place something in the grass in the foreground. I tricycle, or broken toy, which means I'd have to move up the horizon line. This is why it's said the the painting you are working on now is just preparation for the next one. I see the wrongs now, so hopefully I can make better choices in the future.

Painting 9

I can't believe I'm only on painting 9! I need to do a furious blogging session and get these painting up. I'm not sure where I'm at, but I must be hovering around 30 paintings. I just completed one that I love and I want to be able to share it.

The subject of this painting is from a calendar I borrowed from Gail. Examining this painting, I see nice things. Simple composition, a little too cut down the middle, but calm peaceful. I'd rather see a little more color in the grass, not sure I like the color. The water is nice as are the reflections. I don't think too much of this painting because I painted it in about an hour. My first painting in one sitting, so it's all wet on wet. It's also very small, just 8x10. It was a good exercise and actually looks better than a lot of my paintings that took much longer to paint, yet I so easily dismiss it because I didn't belabor it. And yes, I know there's a lesson I can learn from this.

Painting 8

It's been forever since I've updated my blog, but I've been plugging along in my paintings and will one day meet my goal. Not sure why my blogging has suffered, but I guess I'd blame it on Text Twist which calls for me anytime I'm near a computer.

My life is better since the last time I wrote, I have a new job! I'm very pleased to be working for the American Heart Association. It has everything I yearned for in a job and I'm pleased to go to work every day. After a really awful year, it's going much better for me now.

As for this painting, I downloaded this photo off the computer because I loved the artistic quality and wanted to see if I could capture the soft focus of the background and carefree, random display of tulips. The painting for me was more about the stems than the flowers, and I should have moved the composition up on the canvas because the tulips get more play than I wanted, especially at the top. I put a lot of color in the leaves and stems which don't show up on the computer, and as I look at this painting, I think I could have added more darks in the green recesses, and perhaps varied the color of the red, going lighter as the tulips receded.

I don't have many fans of this painting, and I know the vast area of fuzzy tulips is disruptive, but I found the processes to be quite a learning experience in how I look at things. I found myself unable to follow what I was seeing and had to translate the leaves and stems to my own vision. Something about the repetitiveness and pattern confused my eye and I could not always look from reference to canvas and make a true replica of what I was seeing. I had to rely on my inner eye of how things are supposed to look. I was getting in touch with painting as an art form, not as replicating what I see, but interpreting the subject matter in the way I want it to be. It seems common sense, I strive to be real and I get caught it that trap very easily year, I'm feeling much better with my life.