Another Go and a Series

I have been painting more than usual.  I managed 2 more.  The first is another landscape of a tree with a field of flowers.  Biggest disappointment in this one is the tree.  Acrylics are think and sometimes it's tricky to get fine detail.  At the completion of the piece however I went and bought from GOLDEN Soft Gel (matte) medium. Definitely liking the stuff. Just need to figure out the best way to use it.

The second piece I've completed is the first of a series I'm going to do. I've been researching and reading about art and artists and often the advice for beginners is to paint what you know or what you like/love.  Well considering my background in food, I've decided to work with food for a bit.  So the series I'm going to do is fruit.  Yes, yes I know it's not that original of an idea, but that's not the point here.  I'm practicing, feeling it out, trial and error.  If it works well, then maybe I'll try and mix it up (once I figure out what my style is).

This WHOLE thing (painting, the blog, blogging about painting) is pretty much to help me find a voice and style of my own.  I need to figure what I like to paint and what I'm good at painting.  I'm also looking for my favorite medium.  Graphite, charcoal, pastels, acrylics, watercolor, etc.  I haven't tried oil yet, pretty intimidated by them at this point.  Plus, I don't have the $$ to reinvest into yet another medium.  So in the mean time I'm going to continue with my acrylics. 

"Landscape #3" 9x12 Acrylic on Canvas board

"Apple" 8x10 Acrylic on Wrapped Canvas

Landscape #2

OK, I think I finished it.  I went back and used some GOLDEN Retarder and Titanium White to help soften the sky a little.  Then I started on the trees.  They needed to be lighter and I needed to fill them in a bit.  It took a little more experimentation than I anticipated, but the end result is OK.  I moved onto the fields.  During this process I finally concluded where the light was coming from (the left).  This helped me to decide how to go about adding the detail into the fields.  Playing with these colors was a lot of fun.  There was a lot of blending involved.  I manipulated the terrain a bit, but it's hardly noticeable unless you know where to look.  I may end up keeping this one.  I really like my rock/boulder!  Just Ultramarine Blue, Titanium White and a little Phthalo Blue (Academy Acrylics). Not sure it's to the caliber of the art my mom usually displays in her home.  But that's OK, I'll just have to do another one!

For next time, I'm going to do a landscape again.  Most likely will keep it smaller too, like the "Tree with Flowers".  Working on the 9x12 canvas board allowed me to focus and keep my colors and composition a bit tighter.  I enjoy working larger, but that may have to wait a bit.  Again, if you have any comments or constructive criticism, please share. Also, forgive the lighting, it's actually a bit darker than it appears. 



"Wild Blueberry Fields in the Fall", Acrylic, 16x12



Procrastinating

I haven't forgotten about my fields painting.  I can't get it off my mind actually.  I keep thinking over and over what I'm going to do to improve on it.  I have a few ideas, I may even just paint over the whole thing and start again; an idea I'm warming up to. 

Aside from working on my game plan, pulling everything out and setting up seems daunting.  This whole week it's been just the baby and me all day.  Rodney's shift changed to days, which threw a wrench into everything.  AND the baby has officially switched to an afternoon nap, but that's a good thing.  However, it means he goes down a bit later which eats into my personal time. 

Just need to get started again.  It's just like an earlier post, inspiration and motivation come in short bursts.

Landscapes

I finished two landscapes this week. The first one was from the class I attended on Thursday, "Tree with Flowers".  I'm very happy. I sort have surprised myself with it.

The second one is supposed to be for my mom, titled "Wild Blueberry Fields in the Fall". It was/is a challenge. It still may be considered a work in progress.  Something is missing...  I want the fields to be vibrant.  Its supposed to be more representational than photo realistic.  I may have to come back to it tomorrow. 

Constructive comments are welcome.



9x12 Acrylic "Tree with Flowers"





12x16 Acrylic "Wild Blueberry Fields in the Fall"

A painting class

Signed up for a Michael's Fine Art class a few weeks ago.  It was advertised as a landscape course.  I was excited because I haven't completed a landscape before.  Showed up to the class and was informed by the instructor this was his first class. Oh! and that he hates doing landscapes...Awesome.  But we did one any way.  It was only me and another lady who flaked out in the middle of it and quit because she just couldn't get the hang of it.  It really wasn't that difficult, but she was used to watercolors and we were using acrylics.  Pretty happy with the end result.  Still needs to be finished.  I'll post a pic when its done.  I would really like to take a real art class, where I could be taught something. Alas, not much in the way of availability here.  Just have to keep up with the trial-and-error technique.