Painting 2

This painting was the first painting I produced while taking classes at the Collin County Community College in Frisco, and my second oil painting overall. The location was a killer, but it was a great campus, and it seemed to have potential. The instructor thought a really great way to learn painting is by painting studies of other people's work, and he encouraged us to do the same, which is what I did to create this painting. I don't remember the artist, but I liked his use of color. I remember being frustrated with the colors because his blues were more turquoise and vibrant, and I had difficulty mixing the colors to my liking. The painting is very small, 8" x 10" or so. It looks better onscreen than in person, but I think most of these will. I agree that painting from other works does help, but it's not as satisfying, and I think if you do take up the practice, you should paint one from someone else's work, and then do 3 or 4 of your own creation before you do someone else's again. That gives you an opportunity to apply what you've learned from a particular artist before you studying another technique. If this were my vision, I would be extremely proud of it because it's so stylized and I admire his fearless color choices, but I'm not very attached to this one because it really doesn't say anything about me, or mean anything. However, it did give me confidence to continue on, and so I still have it, sitting in my closet. That's one thing you should know about me, most of my paintings end up in my closet. My own special tiny art gallery.