The above study was fun to do, but I had a lot of help in the form of (what else?) a YouTube video. Videos are such good ways to see what a person does, and how they paint. To me, watching the methods an artist goes about accomplishing something is one of the biggest ways to learn.
The video I used was one by a YouTuber called “Draw with Shiba.” There are a lot of good videos on his channel, and none of them are so difficult you cannot learn something. As my goal is flowers I found this video of his quite helpful.
Our images sort of match, sort of don’t. His paper seems to hold on to water more than mine does (Arches) so he can lift color from the sides of the roses. He also begins with a lot of wet-in-wet. In this video, he wets the paper entirely with a brush before he paints, and then drops in color so it blurs into all the major areas of the paintings. In other videos he simply drops water droplets onto his paper, thus controlling areas as he disperses the water with his brush. He paints, flat, too, from what I can see.
Overall, I enjoyed this video. The flowers are roses (thumbs up there!), the vase is simple, and the entire painting covers a lot of techniques. I liked the way in which he lifted the paint and painted the roses. I learned a bit and produced a painting that doesn’t make me cringe. I tried to apply a lot of the techniques here to my flower flop of yesterday, and some worked, some did not, but that is life. Live to paint another day!
We have milkweed planted throughout the yard as well as in containers. The other day – just about 3 days ago – I found a new chrysalis hanging from a flower pot. I watched it change from pale green to darker shades.
This morning, I went out to look at the chrysalis, but as I had hidden it behind some other plants, to keep it moist in the hot, dry wind, I didn’t really get a good view of it.
Then the gardener came – and blew everything everywhere. When he left, I looked, and the chrysalis was empty. I hoped the butterfly had not been blown out of its home before it could become a butterfly . . . actually, I was really upset! I was sure I had been stupid not to tell the garden to stay away from that area. I was convinced the butterfly-in-waiting was dead.
And then I bent down, and before I knew it, a monarch butterfly fluttered to the ground. It was her – definitely a her as there are no scent markings on her wings!
In time, I got her to climb onto a milkweed branch and carried her to a bigger plant. She sat there for a few hours. I took this video and some pictures. A bit after doing something in the house, I went back out. She was still on the bush – but then she flew off, over the fence and into the sky.
Now that social isolation is lessening and classes can resume in person, albeit with masks and social distancing, I have taken on colored pencils and acrylic painting. To say I have been having a blast is an understatement. Of the two, the painting class is more “me” but the colored pencil class is an adventure into unknown territory.
Colored pencil drawing seems like a logical next step to graphite (pencil) drawing, and in a way it is, and in a way it isn’t. With graphite, shades of grey is what makes the picture. With colored pencil, pencils become almost more important because color, pencil type, and techniques used to create effects in the painting / drawing are considerably more complicated than graphite! So, here are some more colored pencil drawings I have done.
Moving on from colored pencil, my acrylic painting class began last week. I chose “intermediate” as “previous painting experience” was the only requirement. Since I paint with watercolor and gouache with some success, it was a logical choice. And what a wonderful group! Many people have been taking the same class for 4 years – quite a tribute to the teacher. The class is not structured, so subject matter is up to the individual. This doesn’t mean a lack of instruction, but what it provides is direction from the student and help in the process. It works for me.
Years ago, like 40 or so, was the last time I worked with acrylics. I didn’t like them at all. However, today my attitude is a lot different. I have time, motivation, and the opportunity to learn from many resources – teachers online and in person. My sister also paints with acrylics and she has been very helpful with all sorts of information and such.
This was my first acrylic painting. I brought it to class with the underpainting done. I used a Daler-Rowney Acryla 3 set with about 10 colors. My approach was quite trepidatious! I pretended I was painting with gouache, which helped, but my fear was destroying brushes and having paint dry in seconds. Neither catastrophe occurred. I used Canson XL paper as the support, taped to a bit of gator board.
The next one, above, is a rendering of a photo I took while walking along the bluffs in Carpinteria, north of me along the coast. I did this on Fredrix, a canvas pad which is primed. I gessoed it, and like the paper, taped it to gator board. Here I used matte medium only, and the result was a really pleasurable application of paint – it was fun to feel the paint get all squished around with the brush. The canvas surface, too, was a pleasure to work on. Once off the gator board, the Fredrix is really like a canvas off the stretcher bars.
For this image, and the one below, I followed a couple of videos by Will Kemp on YouTube. The one above I only used water to thin the paints; the one below was only matte medium. The supports were canvas panels, 8×10, pre-primed but re-primed by me.
Comments from those who have seen these apples like the apple in the lower painting best, but the background in the upper painting best. I agree.
This is my latest painting. It is from a video I watched by M. Stewart on YouTube. The video is an hour long, filled with information and funny comments. I think I learned the most with this video insofar that there was more time and more detailed instruction. The simplicity of Kemp’s videos of the apple helped me get ready for the complexity of the Stewart’s video – both are excellent teachers.
Tomorrow . . . I think I need a bit of a break from painting, but I do plan to continue working on art as much as possible every day. However, sewing does call, and so does the beauty of the outdoors, and . . . life is too full for only one thing!
I look at YouTube in the morning after reading the news. The problem is that it is an addicting site. I look at it for art techniques, sewing information, photography, and when it pops up, history. I do enjoy history, modern history probably more than ancient.
When you come across films from different time eras and different places, there is a sense of reality that photos and stories cannot elicit. Here we have one from Berlin, Germany, during what is obviously the 1920s, probably before the depression set in. People are well-dressed (everyone looks well-dressed compared to today’s sloppy standards) – and, it seems, comfortably well off.
Wealthy, middle class. Life in the better parts of the city.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 