Yesterday was a good day for practicing. I experimented with a couple of images from a book, The Watercolour Bible by Joe Garcia - graded washes in an evening sky, flowers, even an animal!!! I'm always amazed that my work seems to look better here than in real life. Wonder why?
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So - it's been over 10 days since my last post. Time flies by doesn't it? I have been working - although not as much as I would like to report. I think I'm finished with the sailboat from Lian's class. Worked on the waterfall yesterday. What I am learning is that I'm not excited by doing the small, detailed work. I like big, loose, experimental stuff. So, I will finish the pieces on the go and... as part of my daily practice, I will play. More later!
So - the Chinese watercolour course. Different paints - more like gauche than transparent watercolours. Different brushes. Different paper. Day one we used - shuan paper which is not rice paper. Very absorbent like a paper towel. Day two we used a sized paper which was not absorbent so quite a different process and result.
Final paintings are not done - yet!!!! But here's the work (unfinished) from day two. Last week I was in two classes, both with watercolourist Lian Zhen. The first was three days of watercolour, followed immediately by two days of Chinese watercolours - and there is a difference. Here's my work from the watercolour course.
I heard about Robert Burridge many years ago - a fellow artist told me about taking one of his workshops. And then, yesterday I ran across one of his YouTube videos. It was great - so I went to his website and starting watching all of his videos. More great!!! I particularly liked the one on drawing people - like carrots!!!! So I spent the afternoon practicing my 'carrot' people. They were such fun!! Next time - in colour.
So - what have I been doing for the past two weeks? Well, I did have a week in Calgary 'working' and the past week I have been working away at the acrylic paintings I posted - the ones that were driving me crazy. I have shifted my perspective on this work and now I am experimenting with transitions between darks and lights, playing with colour and not trying to create anything - just playing. So I'm in a much happier place and looking forward to more fun.
One thing I have noticed is that I tend to get into dark colours very quickly, losing the 'light' that the white canvas offers. The other thing is that I tend to slap down paint, usually dark, without giving any thought to why I might use that colour, that shape, not considering what and why. I'm not suggesting that I analyze every move - just see the work from a different perspective. I find myself having to cover up a lot of my impulses. The Sources of Inspiration show at the Vernon Community Art Centre opened on April 22 - and I have included some work from my learning journey over the past 6 months. Here's what it looks like.
Note the date. I forgot to publish the post so it's out of sequence. Sorry about that.
I was in Amsterdam for a week - tagging along with my son and his family and providing childcare assistance. We've been cycling all over the city and having great fun. I have my travel art kit although not a ton of time - and my internal clock is totally mixed up. I'm trying to do at least one sketch each day - usually early in the morning. |
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