I had a grandiose idea to try to do a drawing/painting each evening for the month of August. So far, it’s not happening. Summer activities got in the way and since there were no classes in my queue for this month, my motivation has dwindled. So I decided to make efficient use of my time during the evenings and look through my pictures (thousands of them) and print the ones I wanted to recreate on paper or canvas. Several 5×7 packs of paper and ink later, I have a nice collection.
A few weekends ago I had the chance to start a painting. Well, I started a sketch/outline from one of my pictures. It was a picture I took at a winery where they placed a bottle of wine in a brightly colored beach pail/bucket. Naturally, I had to take a picture. Here’s my pencil sketch:
I painted the first few layers of the bucket and then let the painting sit on my easel. I would walk by it in the evenings and waited for some sort of inspiration to take over me. I really liked how the shovel came out:
Eventually my motivation came back and I painted in the bottle. Then I realized that I should have painted the backgrounds first. That was a suggestion I learned from my last class. Paint in the dark values and then the background. So I shifted gears and painted a rough background. Hmmm. Did not turn out as I expected:
So my painting sat on my easel and once again I continued to walk by it. I decided I needed some inspiration. I spent some time on the Internet looking at other artist’s pastel paintings. Some were very realistic with lots of details (completed in 80-90) hours and others were loosely painted gestures (6-8 hours). I also read many artists would paint practice pieces. The key word was practice.
Today, I sat down in front of my easel and started to paint. There was no pressure. No schedule or errands to run. It did not take long for me to get into my creative groove. More than likely because I did not think too much about what I was doing. A few hours later this is what I had accomplished:
I did light layers of color as I knew I would be building up the colors or in some areas changed my mind. I did a lot of blending as I like having a softer painting effect versus harsh lines of colors.
I was so happy to be painting again that I forgot to take a break and get up and look at my work. It wasn’t until I took the picture that I noticed the “not quite right” issues. I’ll tackle those issues another day as I’m thinking too much about them right now.
I need to create a painting or signage for my new art mottos: “Painting is very good!”, “Just Paint It!” and “Think less and paint more!”
Art Medium: NuPastels by Prismacolor on 11″ x 14″ – Premium Toned Artist Paper by Global Art
SusieG Studio 