Week 6 Wrap Up - Instructor Feedback

Today Marcia sent along her feedback on last week's submissions. I include below a small picture of the submission(s) for each lesson with her comments quoted to the right.


Warm-Up 6.1: Produce Sketches of the Final Painting


"This exercise certainly leaves me eager to see what you've come up with. Good job on the warm up. Simply, quick sketches to illuminate the possibilities. Not much more to it than that."






Warm Up 6.2: Getting Started with Painting

"Excellent progression from sketch, to color. This type of flower can be tricky, since you have layers and depth, and it means keeping lots of control over where the color is moving, in an effort to keep your highlights light, and the shadows deeper. So far, so good!






Warm Up 6.3: Deepening Colors, Moving Toward Completion

"Nice progression toward completion. You're keeping the color from muddying, it's remaining vibrant. I am going to hold my other comments till I see the end result..."











Final Painting

"Lovely work! Here is all that's working well, in my opinion. The color is vibrant, and as I mentioned earlier, you've kept it from getting muddy. I don't have any sense that you've overworked it at all. The light areas have stayed light, and the dark, dark, lending a nice sense of three dimensions.

"It's a good choice of botanical composition, classic in many ways. I especially like the way in which you are hinting at certain details -- the way the sepals trail off to little wisps, and the hint at veination in the flower. Some artists like to go even further with this, but I tend to err on the 'less is more' side of things.

"The only constructive commentary I might offer is a feeling that I get from this -- not so much technique, as the mood of the piece. For you and your style, so to speak, this feels a little -- what is the word? -- tight and a little formal, as if you were not loose as you were working. Curiosity question how much did you enjoy this exercise, really? I'm recalling an earlier exercise, in which you added a wonderful, original background. Somehow this doesn't have some of that kind of energy. From a purely technical perspective, it's terrific! Just more a feeling that I get from it, and I know that you like to stretch yourself, and you really seem to value this kind of feedback.

"As always, it has been a pleasure! I'm eager to read your journal. "

Journal Entry

"Many thanks for your thoughtful feedback. I had to smile at this line... All this can happen at seemingly so glacial a rate as to be imperceptible.

"You have come so far, and I have enjoyed your enthusiasm and commitment in the class so much. I should put a little stickie on my calendar to remind me to occasionally visit your blog. I think since I use the computer so much at work, I tend not to think of it for enjoyment, and yet, between art and food blogs, there really are a number of good ones out there, that I should get in the habit of occasionally checking."

End of Marcia's feedback.
--------------------------------------

Okay, now it's me again! :-) Below is my response to Marcia's question on tight, formal, and fun:

Yes, indeed, I had fun, but it was cautious fun! :-) I found my first selection of Sweet Pepperbush too tough to handle. What I presented was my second cut at a rose. After laying down some color, I had become dissatisfied with my initial sketch work and so started over. Although I kept the roses in the fridge, I dealt with some blossoming and misshaped flowers. Towards the end, I was working from my tonal sketch as much as from the rose. All that together kept me tense, but I didn't mind walking the tightrope too much. I just kept telling myself, "No screwing around, Perry. Pay attention. Play close."

I am reminded of a dear friend who happens to be a fantastic artist... She talks about the soul of a painting. To that I attribute the ability to render the uniqueness, the life, of an individual subject. See, I didn't paint "my" rose; I painted "a" rose. I figure in time I'll get more comfortable and can then fly about a bit more relaxed and simultaneously precise. I guess this time around I was totally concerned with execution. All that said, ya, I agree with your observation! :-)

Oh! Here's something that I found so cool! The rose was done; I was looking it over closely under a lamp in a darkened room. I continued to view the painting as I turned away from the light. I then saw an afterimage halo around the rose of about a half inch of bright white with the rest of the paper fading out! I thought now how cool would it be to get that down right--and immediately squashed that thought. I couldn't take the chance of botching up my final work. I'll have to give that a try on my first rose, just to see if I can get there with something of a very light wash.


Okay, this is it. Class over! Movin' on! Sigh... Smile... repeat.

Second Cut - Final

Just a few minor tweaks here--enhanced the tails on the sepals, lifted out a few petal highlights, and added shadowing on the top of the stem. That's it! This image has been submitted; my course work is done.

Week 6 Journal

Here is the guidance offered for our last weekly journal:

You're coming to the conclusion of this course! Please reflect on "highlights" and "lowlights:" what have you enjoyed the most, learned the most, and which aspects of the course have assisted this process for you? On the other hand, where does the course most need improvement in helping you along toward your goal of drawing the plant world?


My journal:

It wasn't that long ago that a drew up a commitment to study botanical artistry. As I reflect back upon my process of learning, the Cornell courses weekly bite-sized lessons stand out as reinforcers for my confidence. My shining highlight is confidence; it is building my will to improve.

I recognize that learning is a process. It's not just the myriad skills that need to come together—perspective, shading, light, color, brush and water control, etc... Emotional skills to handle procrastination, unsureness, and fear build slowly. All this can happen at seemingly so glacial a rate as to be imperceptible.

To that, I find it is important to be able to step back and see the process over time, and blogging is my wonderful tool to aid that need. Having weeks and months (and soon years!) of material available in an online journal reminds me of my journey and lets me share it with others of like mind. (Please feel free to link up my watercolor posts for Cornell's use.)

I do have two suggestions where I think the courses could be enhanced:

Video is a wonderful medium that I think could be better exploited. I do understand that not everyone has the luxury of high-speed internet but it is a good deal more common these days. And for folks without fast downloads, a DVD could be offered. Regarding the watercolor videos specifically, I think that camera angles could be improved—the artist's hand often blocks the view of brush and paper. I found myself twisting my head to try to see around her hand. I wanted to see the paint being applied to the paper.

My watercolor class was unfortunately small—a group of three soon slipped to two—so it's probably not relevant there, but I'd suggest that the instructor seed the forums with starter subjects. Another option might be to actually place some of the instructional material as forum posts. I believe there is much to be learned with the exchange of ideas and images, and that some folks do need coaxing to come out into the open. I was particularly pleased that Marcia recognized my methods of initiating and encouraging forum participation, as that spurred me on to more exchanges.

Marcia, thanks for all your support and guidance. I am going to miss you and our conversations. I am surely not the first to say that I wish there were more courses or that each course extended out further than six weeks.

Second Cut - Further Painting

I'm closing in on it. A bit of work with the greens. Perhaps some highlight lifting on the petals. And, that's it! :-)




Last night I was completely lost to a meditative trance. Hours went by unnoticed.

Second Cut - Initial Painting

Last night I got down to initial washes and some shading. I need to submit an in-process painting and this will do. Tonight I'll try some selective washes and neutral shading. Perhaps get a start on the greens as well. I'm taking my time... Wrapping this up means the course is over.

Second Cut - Drawing

I was terribly excited over yesterday's rose. It looked so real. Note the past tense. :-)

Painting begins with good direction, and I need to find that with accurate drawings. Not some simple contour but a tonality map. At least I'm pretty sure that's what I need now, and I suspect many artists use this method regularly. In plain English, planning is critical.

In that spirit, here's a drawing with some detail. I'll create a transfer and refer to flower as well as drawing when I pick up the brush.


Odyssey 2010 is coming soon! Just a short ways up the road from my home, I will be visiting the vendors on Saturday. Some will be there only on that day whereas others will stay for an additionally two days, giving me opportunity to spend even more. ;-)

First Cut

I'm feeling much better with this rose than with the Sweet Pepperbush. (I am a bit sad letting it go but there is always next year.) A few large petals can work for me. Here's an experiment with color--Permanent Rose for a base; Permanent Alizarin Crimson for the shadows; Cadmiun Orange as a light wash to tone everything towards salmon.


Next up is some serious sketch work to pull everything into alignment and correct some details. After that, I can transfer and paint to my heart's content! :-)

A Thoughtful Change In Direction

Sweet Pepperbush is off the table--my kitchen table, that is, where it all happens these days. I simply could not achieve satisfaction with drawing out the inflorescence. So today, like last week, off I went in search of who knows what. I'm back with a bunch of salmon roses that I feel happy and confident with. They're in the fridge while I work out composition.

I'm taking this process one step at a time. First, some simple layouts. I sculpted a kneadable eraser into a rose bud and stuck it on the end of a pencil. Laid it out all ways. Right off I noticed that simple object perspective studies would be most useful for me right now.


I thought about multiple flowers... I don't know... I think I'm going for a solitaire.



I'll rough sketch for a while. I'd love to begin exploring color but first things first.

Sweet Pepperbush - Worksheet

The plan is to go with Sweet Pepperbush for my final painting. Here are my notes on composition, initial sketches, and color mixing. I feel on shaky ground with the initial drawing--the flower spike challenges me.

Sweet Pepperbush is now in bloom just a bit up the road and I suspect there will be good subjects all week long. I may take an extended weekend to wrap things up-- a fantastic excuse to get away from the job for a while.

This species holds special meaning for me here on Nuncketest. I discovered seed pods just before Christmas 2008 and spend a good deal of time identifying. Here's a link to all my Sweet Pepperbush posts.

Week 6 Begins

Here is the outline for the final week. I'll get into the details as I work through each component.

Lesson 6: Pulling it All Together

• Lesson 6: Composition Resource
• Warm-Up 6.1: Produce Sketches of the Final Painting Assignment
• Warm Up 6.2: Getting Started with Painting Assignment
• Warm Up 6.3: Deepening Colors, Moving Toward Completion Assignment
• Final Painting Assignment
• Journal Entry

I thought I was set with my project selection but I'm not confident I can pull it off. I will spend the rest of today exploring my possibilities.

Week 5 Wrapup

And there goes another week!

All my work has been submitted. All my feedback is in. And speaking of feedback, my instructor Marcia (read about her here) is graciously allowing me to quote her! Here are her comments on this past week's work:

Exercise 5.1: Complete a Painting, Discover Your Preference
(The all at once approach.)

My gosh, don't you feel you've come a long way since you started? So much about this piece that's working well. First, you've chosen a challenging subject. Excellent composition. True color, really deep rich purples, especially in the round petals. I especially like the flower bud -- soft green, with that hope of purple peeping through. Very nicely done. Honestly John, you could put a nice mat around this one!

My only suggestion is that there is something about the three pointy petals -- oh, I should remember the term for those! -- that feels just a tiny bit flat, not quite true. Do they appear flat, or is it my screen? Really and truly, it could be my screen. Somehow it feels as if you've captured the depth in the round petals, and the other three feel straighter.

And it could be, that's exactly what they're supposed to do!


Exercise 5.2: Discovering Your Preference, Continued
(The element by element approach.)

OK, so what did you think? In my view, this is the much more interesting painting. It fairly leaps off the page in three dimensions, it feels very true, with loads of depth. I've lost that sense of flatness that I expressed in the first piece. Just notice the way in which each piece has the hint of deeper color that makes it pop out at you. What do you think? I should check your blog...


Exercise 5.3: Painting Background

What a difference a few lines make, John! You've handled this exercise very creatively.

I have to admit that I held my breath a bit before opening it. I tend to use a lot of dark, bold backgrounds, but I sure wouldn't have for this orchid. I was worried you would go dark as you did the callas. Wise choice! This adds both a beautiful background, and also enhances overall the composition. Are you going to frame it??

Week 5 Journal

This week's topic guidelines:

Compare your paintings from 5.1 and 5.2, side by side.

Do you have a distinct preference, in terms of your approach? Do you think the results are any different? Any opinions about the progression? Use your journal this week to address these questions.

(note: 5.1 is the overall approach ; 5.2 is the element by element.)


My journal:

In a nutshell, and as a surprise to me, I preferred the element by element approach.

I entered this week's exercises with some unsureness. I've often read the advice of working a painting overall, not focusing greatly on any one element. The thought is that a feeling of all the pieces coming together as one can be easily lost. I'll admit it. I can be a great one for theory. I'm pleased to be pushed by my exercises to confront some internalized dogma.

That concept of losing the cohesiveness with element by element just didn't seem to apply. I checked as I went along and did make small changes to already completed elements. I did apply light washes to bring it all together. Something I will still consider is the fact that this piece involved only one flower, bud, stem. How will these approaches stack up in a complicated work?

Perhaps there is simply not one rule that fits all situations. For this beginner, for this lesson, I saw more detail and tried to work it in much more in the second exercise—that is, completing one element before moving on to the next. Could it be that since I was using the same subject that the second time through I was on more familiar territory? Quite possibly. Was I more relaxed because I knew I could get at least some approximation of that flower? Ya, sure. Will I always look more closely, irregardless of approach, based on this week's work? I think so.

This has been a fine lesson. I cannot in a six week class greatly increase my skills, but I can open my mind to how I approach learning. Experimentation is just as key (or more so?) to gaining knowledge as are my books.

Orchid Background Final

I grew up in a close and large extended family. My Aunt Sal was known as quite the eccentric but she truly had a heart of gold. Over a period of time, she took each of her nephews and nieces on an individual trip "downtown" to wander about a few stores and eat at the Woolworth's lunch counter. She would also have a small sum of money for each of us, to buy Mom a gift. I selected a little ceramic plaque that I am now so very much reminded of when I see this painting.





I reworked the bamboo repeatedly with tracing paper and a few times on the painting. Once drawn in, I lightened it up with a kneadable eraser. I'm not sure that I followed the spirit of the exercise, perhaps more closely followed if with a brush and wash or something or other--but, I did follow my spirit. :-)

Orchid Background

This week's third and final exercise involves adding a background to an existing painting. Here I dropped a sheet of tracing paper upon the painting and tried out some sketches. It's obviously rough at this point but I'll be pecking around with element size and composition and determining the medium. Graphite, or perhaps some very light brushwork with Payne's Gray.

Second Orchid Wrap

And that's it for the orchids!




Learning to paint is such an interesting process. Naturally, one must gain competence with paint, brush, paper, and water. What I now feel is a greater challenge is to see and feel with all the detail that a flower offers. I call it "honest seeing". As a beginner, I can mentally gloss over details that I sense beyond my ability, or I can accept that I'm not working out all that I see--kind of a "I'll wait until I'm better" mentality. I play it both ways, for now.

Orchid Petal-by-Petal

This is the beginning of the second exercise where I am asked to complete a painting one element at a time. So hear I went, one petal at a time. Phew, three hours later...

I am asked to compare this technique with the previous exercise where I worked the painting as a whole and then offer my thoughts on my preferred method. Well, I think I saw more going petal-by-petal. But who knows at this early stage in my practice which I might prefer?



You will notice quite the color shift from the first exercise. Yup, it's the same orchid. I'm actually a good deal closer to actual color with this second painting. I am amazed at how far off I could be without noticing. Am I filtering out color as I struggle with wash and shading? I don't know... Weird...

Orchid Finished?

This post is titled as a question as I'm not sure yet. Maybe a bit of smoothing on some transitions. Perhaps better to stop now and call it a good practice. After all, next up is the same image painted petal by petal. That is, instead of how I worked the entire painting here a little at a time.

I'm a bit light on the anatomy here. I thing I need to get in with a bit of magnification and sketching. That will probably be for after the course.

Orchid Starter

About three hours here. In this exercise, I move from element to element with light glazes, feeling my way along.

Orchid Sketching

Here are snippets from the guidelines for the week 4 journal:

Sometimes I find that it takes me awhile to settle into painting, and then when I do, it's all I want to do. But getting there is a challenge.
...
Do you find that you have mental steps that prepares you for the creative process? Reflect on what happens prior to painting, and how to foster that sense of settling into your work.

I suppose that today's been a good example of my process. I spent a couple of hours poking about on the web before heading out for a model. I'd thought about a sunflower but had trouble finding one so I figured I'd just take a drive and see what showed up. Pretty loose, eh? :-) I hadn't gone far when I ran across a local florist, one that's been there forever but I'd never visited.

The kind owner, with closed sign in her window, kindly let me in. I explained what I was up to and she patiently offered suggestions. I noticed some lovely orchids in the back of the walk in and she helped me pick one out that might face well for my exercise.

I got it home and in the fridge and then spent an hour or so killing more time. Finally, I set it up with lots of tape in a vase and got down to sketching. I've done little sketching lately and it wasn't long before I felt that I was in over my head. Then I remembered my lessons... Block it in. Watch the angles. Negative space.

I simplified by scaling down to one flower and bud. I sketched and transferred a few times. Now I'll try a transfer to watercolor paper.



Well, that's the story. What I left out was the emotion. Doubt, unsureness, negativity. The job looks too big. A few lines appear and I feel a bit better. Hey, maybe I can do this. A rough flower appears and I accept it as that. Try again. I'll get closer. If I don't, I can erase. I can try again.

Week 5

Lesson 5: Progressing Toward More Complexity

This week we explore our preferred style of painting. That is, working the whole painting in stages (exercise 1) or working a section at a time to completion (exercise 2). The third and final exercise for this week is to take an existing painting and determine what kind of background might best enhance it.

The journal topic is to discuss one's preferred style of painting.

My week 4 journal will be coming along soon. No worries about that as Marcia is away for the weekend and won't be getting to recent submissions until early in the week.

I did earlier submit and receive feedback on my first three exercises. Good reviews, especially happy with the highlights and the fact that I'm pushing the saturation.

Calla Redux

After last night's post, I visualized this image. Rather than a patch-up of yesterday's painting, this is a new piece. About 2.5 hours. This one will be my last exercise submission for this week. (Not sure why the shading didn't come through on the leftmost lily.)

Calla Blues

This week's final exercise calls for laying down a very dark wash around the subject, preferably something light in value. Using a trace from an exercise in my Cornell drawing class, it wasn't long before the calla lilies were shaping up. Delicate veins, shadowed stems, and shading with neutral tint on the lilies.

Then came that powerful wash. Well, I think it is, but we are asked to go darker. I've botched up my stems with all that Payne's gray. So I'm a bit put out over this, but really, there should be no worries. It's only a few hours work and the purpose is to illustrate how a dark background can can make a subject jump out.

In my case, this background seemed to negate the light shading in the callas. So, I will lay in a heavy wash to really darken the background. Then I will work in more shading on the lilies and try to fix up my stems.



So even if I'm not thrilled with the results, it's proving to be a darned good exercise. Also, it has now given me the thought that I have some material that I can transfer for watercolor.

Another thing, I figure that if in the future I want to work with a dark background that I will start with dark paper and use colored pencil or gouache.

Oh, and lastly, after looking over the course example for this exercise, I see that the image was a close crop and not floating in a sea of wash like mine. A close crop of the callas would probably be just the ticket. No matter. No worries. I'll wrap this up tomorrow and send it on its way. After all, week 5 is afoot!

Cherries

Here are instructions on completing the third exercise:

Study your selections. How might you render one of them using the fewest brush strokes possible? Can you capture the "essence" of a tulip, or a banana --or the daffodil below -- in just a few strokes? Try it.

This is important. It can help break the habit of over-producing a painting, and can foster the sense that some of the most beautiful paintings are delicate and quickly rendered in nature.

Try this until you truly tire of it. Loosen up your arm, try not to be so invested in the results. Then make a selection, scan and submit. Of course, if you have questions, include them in the margins of your paintings, or in your journal.

A began on the left with some transferred shapes and then worked my way to the right simply making shapes with brush. I felt like I was picking up a nice easy method as I worked through the last few cherries, getting to the "essence" of cherry.

Permanent Alizarin Crimson with various amounts of Payne's Gray. Stems with good old Viridian in just one stroke by pushing into the brush for the abscission zone.

I like that thought about overlaying stems. Now I should try overlaying the fruit themselves. Hey, this could turn into a bowl of cherries! :-)

Tomato Touchup

This is the same tomato from last night's post. Although I had trouble with this... I don't know, I still liked it, at least when I viewed it from a distance. :-) This evening I tried to kick up the tonal range and smooth things out a bit. (How come I don't notice botch ups until viewing them on a monitor? Strange, and consistent.) Toning in around the sepals seemed to add a bit of dimension. So, a bit weird, a bit fun, I call it done. I'll sit on it for a few days but it will probably be my second exercise submission.



I picked up another bag of cherries this afternoon after eating all my models. I did get in a few sketches and will go for more this evening. These sketches will be the basis for an exercise that calls for painting with the least number of strokes. Sounds fascinating and I'm excited to give it a go but I figure I better have the shapes down tightly before attempting to portray them with minimal brush strokes.


The last exercise has me dropping in a dark background around my subject. I have a few daisies from the yard that might work if they keep. I picked the last three good-looking ones; seems they're going by so if I'm lucky timing might work for me.

The weeks are going by so quickly. I've been holding off taking time from work, expecting that I might need a few free days for wrap ups. So far, it's been easy enough going.

Next Up, Tomato

Here's my first cut at a tomato in the same style as the previous exercise. I'll probably be up for another try or two with this one. Once again I'm working with a staining, Permanent Rose, and an easy-lifting pigment, Viridian. I love it when these two mix on paper.

Onion - It's A Wrap

That's it for the onions. I tried a third last night but my heavy washes just didn't work. Today I took my time with lighter washes and even tried masking a few edges to illustrate highlights. This last onion will probably be my course submission.

Next exercise is similar to this one, except that I get to pick the subject. I'm going to try a few tomatoes on the vine.

Onion Revisited

This evening, after taking critical notes for improvement, I took another try at the onion exercise. I'm pleased with cleaner edges, more even transitions (less blooming), and more accurately placed growth lines. Only thing is that I should have held back on the sienna washes over the blue. Instead, I ended up with overworked greens.



This is proving a fine learning exercise for me. By the way, this is the first demonstration exercise in Beautiful Botanicals by Bente Starcke King. We are asked to repeat this exercise until we are happy with our composition and colors. There might be another onion coming...

Bicolor Onion

The first exercise calls for painting an onion with only two colors, specified to be Raw Sienna and Phthalo Blue. Blue is to portray shadows. These two paints offered a subtle challenge--thalo stains while sienna lifts easily.

Week 3 Journal

Wow, where is the time going? The course is already half way over!

I had some great exchanges with my instructor, Marcia, leading me to topics I'll continue into my weekly journal.

This week's prompt:

Think of a favorite painting, drawing, or other work of art. Perhaps it is one you have enjoyed since you were a child, or maybe it jumped out at you during a trip to the museum earlier in the year. What was it about that piece that spoke to you?What details do you remember about it? What feelings did it inspire? Did plants appear in the piece? If so, what may they have symbolized (i.e., what did a drooping flower or tree shattered by lightening evoke?)

How did the artist use color, line, form, texture, and light to convey feelings and ideas? What ideas or themes are represented in the piece?

You do not need to address each and every one of these questions; rather they are intended to help you probe deeply what it was about the piece that has stayed with you, and what you found to be compelling.


Earlier this year at the MFA Boston I was mesmerized by Gerrit Dou's “Old Woman Cutting Bread". This image from the MFA Online Calatog misses some of the the flame's fiery nature, leaving it a bit pale instead of with the warmth in the original.



How often does one see the lighting as nearly the subject itself? Not a far off sun or light streaming though a window, this flame radiates in all directions. Notice how well the intensity falls off--faces are brightly lit, the hanging basket to the left moderately so, and the overhead basket and rafters dimly portrayed.

I love this composition. All the action takes place in about one quarter of the space, all nestled together. It's a warm, homey, comfortable feeling. Light against darkness.

This has been a trying week of exercises. I felt like it took a long time to gain little headway, and I felt rushed at the same time! So now I look back on how I've been practicing a few techniques. That's cool. It's progress. I'm looking forward to next week's exercises where I'll get into painting subjects.

From time to time, I just have to go throught bouts of whining and wondering.

Dark Edges

This week's final exercise involves dipping the brush tip in a second darker color. Payne's Gray is suggested. The idea is to create three dimensionality with shadowing, all in one stroke. I quickly found this to be harder that expected. Getting two paints to proper levels, picking up just the right amount of Payne's Gray, and gaining the intuition to know just how long that gray holds up--well, practice is needed! :-)



This week's exercises proved to be more interesting and challenging than expected.

Lifting Areas of Pigment

This week's third exercise is about lifting areas of still damp pigment. The recommended practice is to use a cloth or tissue. Tissue worked fairly well, but as I was working with small areas to start with, there just wasn't much room to move about. Cotton swabs (Q-Tips) proved effective for those small spaces!


This seems like an easy way to add a little bit of depth.

Lifting Veins

After dry brushing we are asked to experiment with lifting veins. In this case, we are to apply clean water to lift and separate the pigment. I've done a bit of this where after applying water, one gets in with a tissue and mops it all up. See, in that case one picks up the pigment. Here the pigment remains, pushed to the sides.

It helps a good deal to catch the paper at just the right state of dampness. Too wet and the veins spread, too dry and one must work repeatably and only gain a lesser effect.


I think what I most liked was the effect created with parallel veining. I think it will well simulate the monocots like the grasses and those lilies that are challenging me.

Lily Color and Dry Brushing

A bit of dry brushing and experimenting with color mixing. I planned on more today but was thrown off when I discovered a yellow daylily was already in blossom!
So where to begin? Color study? Petal texture? Why not both? I worked with Winsor Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Cadmium Yellow, Burnt Sienna, Thalo Blue BS, Thalo Green YS, and Cerulean Blue.

At this point, the yellow seems to base fairly well with Winsor Yellow with just a bit of Cadmium Yellow Pale. For green, the Thalo Green as a wash seems okay.

I tried some shadowing with Neutral Tint but ended up with Payne's Gray which leans a bit into blue.

Dry Brush

I did get in a bit of dry brush last evening and more this evening.

But before we get to the results, I must tell you about a recent and exciting development. One of my fellow students digs her very own earth colors from the Appalachia region of North Carolina. We have exchanged a number of messages on the topic with her providing pictures and ending with an offer to send me some of her earth pigments! I'd been thinking about trying my hand at mulling my own watercolors from a Natural Pigments kit and now it's going to happen. There will be a bit of delay as she sends up the earths, the kit comes back into stock, and the course wraps up. So, an apres course activity is set. I've actually another activity lined up; more on that later...

Week 3

Week 3 has arrived!

Other Helpful Watercolor Techniques: continuing to become confident with brush, paint and water.

This week we are asked to peruse the web for watercolor techniques and societies. This is so already done for me!

Brush work begins with dry brush technique. We have a little video to get us started but this is of course a matter of feel and experience. Fanning the brush is mentioned.

Next up are lifting exercises, running a brush with clear water over a damp painted area to part and lift the pigment.

And then an exercise in using absorbent material to soften edges or lighten strongly painted areas in still wet paint.

And lastly, what I think will be my favorite, is dipping the brush tip in a darker color to apply a wide range with a single brush stroke. This reminds me of instructions from when I dabbled in Chinese painting. (That's a whole other story... Yep, I have brushes and inks and papers and DVDs, oh my!)

Weekly Journal. This week's topic:

Reach deep into description and experience in discussing a favorite painting.


Student Open Forum. This week's topic:

Share our web discoveries from the above assignment.


Okay, that's this coming week. This is third and final preparatory week. Next week we begin full paintings using all our acquired skills. This week looks like a lot of fun for me and I could use an easy week. Allergies (no it's not my age, no it's not my age, no...) have been slowing me down lately but I have crawled into work.

But enough of that. There is a new project afoot! More on that very soon... :-)

Week 2 Journal

Here are the guidelines for this week's journal:

Are you too hard on yourself? I am surprised that I often hear from so many students that they work very hard at not being too critical of themselves as they undertook a new course, challenge, or project, such as watercolor.

The creative process can slow us down, quiet that noisy, self-critical voice, and allow for moments in which we're not planning ahead to the next hour, day, week, event. Check yourself: are you taking this one step at a time, or are you expecting much more achievement than is realistic? Is it relaxing, or stressful?

And my submission:

I don't feel that I am too hard on myself, although I think others see me that way. I do feel highly motivated to reach for quality. I can recognize that I am a beginner and see some of my work as a real mess but I do manage to pull off some pieces that I really like. It is all experimention and learning at this point. Maybe that is how it will always be?

I had a plan to pursue painting when I retire—a moving target somewhere between one to four years. When I questioned why I should wait and instead build a foundation, I overcame inertia and now work every day at something or other. That I post a blog article daily, meaning that I must have material, helps to keep me producing. The wonderful comments I receive from readers nurture my confidence and creativity.

Sometimes I can feel content and settle into my work, time disappearing. Otherimes I am in a rush and knock something out for a blog post. Regardless, my daily commitment to produce is probably a very good way to proceed. It's that coming back to it time and again that has subtlely made art work an integral part of my life.

In the big picture, I am now so pleased. You see, I did spend a few years collecting books and supplies but spending very little time doing. Tons of research, yes. Doing? Nope. Now, with joy and confidence, I have lifted off. I think for me it comes down to having the faith that daily practice and learning will bring me along.

Leaf Shape Washes

Marcia asked that I try more washes with shapes other than boxes and try washing from very light to strong color. So here's a real mix with some outside the box play time as well.

That funky looking viridian maple? A mistake by waiting too long to come around the leaf let the wash dry enough that the second pass didn't blend. Rather than try to let subsequent washes cover it up, I decided to leverage the mistake and push it through.

Drying time is seriously affected when the air conditioner's running--low humidity sucks the moisture off the paper with a vengeance.

And that's it for wash week. I have a journal entry to knock out and then it's time to plow into Week 3.

Wash Sticks

Here are a few vertical washes, some experiments with multiple grading. Work has lately been draining and I just couldn't push a lot of effort in tonight, but this evening I did upload a bunch of washes to Cornell. I may send in a few more but there's probably more than enough already. In that case, I can wrap up this week's work with a journal submission.

Graded Washes

This evening I pushed the graded washes a bit with some wet in wet work as well as dry overlays, especially with yellow ochre. The dark brown is the Rublev Umber. Green is Viridian and the light red is Permanent Rose.

I like this long horizontal. Perhaps I should try a vertical format as well...

Wash Experiment

Ah... something other than a square. Finally...

Within our wash exercises we are to also apply washes to leaf and other shapes. Here I tried to work in various wash methods. More of these to come later this week.


A few more blocks here. One must be very careful about dropping water. In the middle block a large splat must have been busy at its work for some time before I noticed and drew off the puddle.




Happy Solstice! :-)

More Wash

Here's a bit more wash work. A real mix--flat, graded, blended, and a bit of overlay with yellow ochre. There seems to be a real art to getting the wash just right, not too wet, not too dry. Light colors smooth out easier, leaving very little streaking. The darker colors, ah, they need more practice.




There's a bit of an oops here... Forgot to spin the scan ninety degrees counter-clockwise.

Wash Experiment

I've been practicing washes and ended up with all kinds of overlays, essentially overworking my washes. No worries as I think the washes were coming out fairly well. I'll get back to some of them for course upload tonight or tomorrow.

I clipped a lily leaf just to get the feel as I might try, timing permitting, to paint a yellow Day Lily. The fine parallel veining was beyond my brush skills so I lined with a Gillott 290 nib and straightedge, and then applied various washes.


Later this evening, I spent some time with various washes.

Week 2

This is wash week!

We are provided with a video instruction of wash techniques and advised to check the web for more examples. Reference is also made to Coral Guest's Painting In Watercolour.

Four types of washes are introduced:

• Flat - a single color evenly applied with a constant value.
• Graded - a single color applied with a graduated value.
  
• Blended - one color blended into another color and applied with a constant value
• Overlaid - a single color evenly applied with a constant value over any kind of wash. Be sure the wash is dry before overlaying.

We are encouraged to be brave about mixing plenty of wash and in doing so to create vibrant color. We are cautioned about overworking.

Weekly Journal. This week's topic:

Are you too hard on yourself? I am surprised that I often hear from so many students that they work very hard at not being too critical of themselves as they undertook a new course, challenge, or project, such as watercolor.

The creative process can slow us down, quiet that noisy, self-critical voice, and allow for moments in which we're not planning ahead to the next hour, day, week, event. Check yourself: are you taking this one step at a time, or are you expecting much more achievement than is realistic? Is it relaxing, or stressful?

Student Open Forum. This week's topic:

Have you found a watercolor that was really inspiring to you? Is there an artist that you admire? Please use this week's forum to share some examples of work that you very much appreciate, and tell us a little bit about why they are compelling to you.

Week 1 Journal

Each week, students submit a personal journal on the week's assignments and suggestions from the instructor. Here's this week's guidance:

One of the exciting elements of painting is choosing a subject. This week, if you have not yet had the opportunity, then please spend some time considering and gathering objects as subjects for your painting.

In the process, have you found any treasures? You may reflect here about any element of the creative process to date, how your familiarity with the tools is progressing, and any concerns you have about Moodle or any other aspect of the course.

And here's my journal:

It is enjoyable being back in class. You know, prior to joining up for the first course, I described to my friends in excrutiating detail why I didn't need a course. All the time I knew my motivation was fear, so I had to throw myself in. I am so glad I did, as now I look to this class without trepidation. Perhaps it helps that I blog something or other daily and that my readers comment in a most supportive fashion. I will be looking for in-person guidance after this course. I'm obviously not cured of fear but it does not have the hold it did some six months ago.

It's been three months since the last course and this first journal could begin to read like a "what did I do over the summer" essay. To minimize that, in a nutshell, I made forays into Gothic calligraphy, Celtic art, and split primary (mostly) color mixing. It's all blogged about in detail so I'll leave it at that here, except to say these recent explorations excite me and leave me wondering on direction.
One constant seems to be my love of this art. I've dropped music and band, at least for now, to better focus. I felt my available time too short and needed to focus my interests. I am trying to develop a good foundation of knowledge and experience for retirement within a few years—all while having a fun time.

Regarding subjects, I have lately been attracted to vines—English Ivy, Bittersweet Nightshade, Poison Ivy, and Virginia Creeper. They are all about my yard. Most of them show dramatic change throughout the seasons with flowers, berries, and leaf coloration. But I am not sure yet if they make my whole picture. Perhaps something of a showy flower.. Yellow Day Lilies come to mind, but the timing might not work as the pods are now small and hard. I find their beauty not only in the full blossom but in the quickly turning shriveled browns. I can always rely on my local florists if need be.

While blogging the prior course, I often gleaned material from the week's posts for my journal, but this week of charts is quite similar to prior weeks and weeks of similar material. There is one subject I found most intriguing—brown and grays and saturation and value. See this post, and especially the exchange of comments, for the details. Color theory is so fascinating.

I think I will wrap up this week at this point and get a good start on washes. I'm especially looking forward to practicing blended washes.

Play Time

Well, I was asked to play. :-)



Picked up some nice feedback on the charts.

Sap Green

From a a previously unopened tube of Permanent Sap Green...



Permanent Sap Green is what is known as a convenience color, a mix of a couple of pigments. In this case, Winsor Green YS PG36 comes premixed with Isoindolinone Yellow PY110. That Winsor Green is actually a phthalo, a real heavy hitter. I was reminded of that as soon as I began mixing, as even the cadmiums had a hard time holding their own against that powerful pigment.

Students are asked to "really push those greens" and starting with green instead of blue in this exercise made that quite simple. I particularly liked he way the greens rolled off into browns as we moved further towards red and then into the earth colors.

I may get back to another chart or two, but I think next up is an exercise where I am to simply "play with my paints". Maybe for me that is not as easy at it sounds, having been boxed in with all my color charts.