ONE STROKE PAINTING- AGAIN

 

                                                                                                                                                                         Page 122 in Daily Painting by Carol Marine. I am attempting to reign in my impatient, impulsive painting technique to a more planned one. Took a tomato from the kitchen which will be in a salad tonight, set it up with lighting and colored background papers. I read Carol's instructions like a recipe beginning with the paint set up. Warm and cool of the three primaries with mixtures of each to create secondaries. My hope is that a limited palette when stop me from using every pretty color my eyes sees.

After sketching the subject onto a canvas I started with the #1 spot with pure color, a warm red. Get in, get out with one stroke. Then onto the #2- #5 colors added to the tomato painting.

 

I have broken the one stroke rule already, don't like my carefully chosen colors and think the whole thing is boring.

What's an artist to do? I am going to step away from the book and paint like I'm enjoying it.

The results will either be wonky or a reject.
Nice to have choices.

Day two: cleaned two bathrooms, unloaded dishwasher plus reloaded dishwasher, finally let's go to the studio for a re-do of the amateurish tomato.

I repainted the background with left overs on the palette and then went to town. In a very short time I painted the following. Quick and dirty, it just happened:)

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2

  

Finished

This is more my style. 

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

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Once upon a time an artist took a used painting with visions of a new figure scape. She turned the canvas vertical instead of the previous horizontal ocean format and sketched in the forms. Then she kept adding and adding until it was over worked and nothing like the spontaneous expressionistic style she was after.

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 What to do? Get frustrated with all the hours put into a mess then regroup and wait for a new idea to appear. On the way to a volunteer function I thought about "Many Shades of Gray".

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 Here is my first quick painting; should I stop before I repeat the same dilemma? Third layer of paint, frustration growing then I happen to look at the back of the canvas. It looks old and spotty, not the quality I strive for so....another one bites the dust. 
It is sitting in the garage next to the garbage bin.

This happens to the best of us:(

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GO WONKY OR GO HOME!

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Now I am focusing on the works Anne Obrien Gonzalez from her DVD on Expressive Still Life. Looking around the house I pulled out my Fiesta water pitcher, a tin can plus a pair of fish salt and pepper shakers.

First Anne placed various papers on a pre stained canvas which had a simple sketch on it. I tend to use good old fashioned white chalk to make my initial sketches. It rubs off easily as I change my mind a hundred times.

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My goal was a complementary color theme using lavenders and yellows. Originally the pitcher was empty but that looked unbalanced so what flowers would fit into my plan? Lilacs! 

No lilacs near by so I googled a photo and faked the rest. I used small circle stamps & lacy rice papers to help enhance the lilac feel.   

Just relax and get "wonky" as Anne would say.

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Step 3 is too bland but step 4  kicks it up a notch.

Turn up the music in the studio, dance around a bit and then have faith in myself.

 Wonky enough?

PAINTING WITH ACRYLIC SKINS

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  Acrylic Skins
  
  

  
  

       Many years ago when we lived in Glen Arbor, Michigan  I 

  worked as an office manager for the Glen Arbor Art Association. The Art Association is still in business and expanding. It was my pleasure to have met the professional artist; Harvey Gordon. Gordon paints in acrylics enjoying their brilliant colors, durability and water solubility. He perfected a planned glazing technique where he uses little paint and a lot of acrylic gloss medium to create phenomenally luminous detailed interiors.

  
  

  
  

     Somewhere I read about making acrylic skins so I experimented with the acrylic glazing medium on palette paper adding colors of my choice. I can hear myself saying;" That was an interesting waste of time", but I saved it anyway. 10 years later I have pulled the skins out to apply to my new expressionistic style on previously toned canvas.

 Flower close up

Finished painting.

A NEW BOOK AND A NEW DVD

By Anne O'Brien -Gonzalez

I am not fickle, instead I am inspired by many teachers. I enjoyed Anne's book and DVD so much that I ordered two more.
It is such fun to sit down to really focus on an audio visual lesson with my little dog snuggled next to me on the couch. Sometimes I take detailed notes and other times I just listen to it over and over again. All of the artists that I choose seem to be colorist/ expressionists so either that is what I am or this is just a stage that I will grow out of.

Either way here are some of my results.

Step 1

I recycled a former painting into my blue chair & flower center piece work. Step 1;  shows the detail of the actual table cloth which was voted down by a jury of one. Step 2;  I stenciled through real lace to give a more subtle detail to the table cloth. Same vote, it competed too much with the flower focal point.

Step 2.

Step 3

   

Step 3;  I thought that I should tone down the table cloth but when I looked at the photos from step 2 I decided the intensity of the pink table cloth worked better for this style of painting.

Step 4;  I added a rice paper blue that I thought linked back to the blue chair. Also I brought back the pink color intensity.

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Step 5;  I began working on the flowers adding rice papers. I like the addition of the lacy papers on the two far flowers but the front one is an enigma.

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I was going for a blue /orange complementary color theme so why did I try white flowers, boring? Blended in the blue paper, tried red flowers and added red stripes. Enlarged the vase and made it black with circles stamped on it. Cross word puzzle anyone?

Even the artist creating this has no clue where it is going. Oh Anne, I need your help:(

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To get back to the blue/ orange complement I painted the cloth orange, flowers white and enhanced the blue of the place mat.  Better but......

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Added the checked pattern, enlarged the place mat and worked on the flowers.

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A little more punch and this painting goes into a time out so that the artist can recover.

10- Finished until further notice.