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Patty, those two by your art teacher are really neat, nice loose paintings. I've never had any lessons so that was never a style that I used unless I really set my mind to it plus I find it difficult to paint that loose with the subjects I like. I had an artist friend visiting Sunday and he made the comment, Boy you really get into the details. I got the impression he liked the work I did back in the mid-80s more but I was really painting a lot in those days which is what one needs to do to improve. I enjoyed seeing your watercolors Patty.
My favorites are the first one (the trees with the reddish leaves) and the last one (the door with the flowering vines around it).
Do you think you will ever bring them to your home in Colorado so that you can enjoy them more?
^Sue, I had to think about that. I don't really want them here. I painted them around 30 years ago and it was a different chapter in my life. I look at them now and they don't bring me joy. They remind me of being happily married with two young kids. I'm not unhappy now, but I'm in a different place. The images I have on my walls here in Loveland are scenics or abstracts. They are what I enjoy looking at, now. How about you, Sue? Does you taste change in things that please you visually? I also have photos of my kids, Ricky and me. That's my life, now and more enjoyable for me to look at.
^I took this photos of lupine and had it printed by Costco on canvas. The wall is purple and I love the color. It looks more blue in the photo than I see it in real life. I have two walls in my office that color.
^I LOVE this one from iCanvas.com. It's over my dresser and mirror at the foot of my bed. It reminds me a bit of the painting I made with the tree trunks and red leaves.
^I bought the tree panorama and the hall abstract from iCanvas.com.
^Three canvases I have. The left one is a file from the Hubble telescope I had printed by Costco. The other two I bought from iCanvas.com.
Originally Posted by boltonblue
ok now you do get kudos!!!
^Thank you, Jerry.
Originally Posted by dlq04
Patty, those two by your art teacher are really neat, nice loose paintings. I've never had any lessons so that was never a style that I used unless I really set my mind to it plus I find it difficult to paint that loose with the subjects I like. I had an artist friend visiting Sunday and he made the comment, Boy you really get into the details. I got the impression he liked the work I did back in the mid-80s more but I was really painting a lot in those days which is what one needs to do to improve. I enjoyed seeing your watercolors Patty.
^Yes, it's hard to be loosie goosie and allow the water and paint to do their own thing. Doing that is part of what I forgot. There are a whole lotta techniques with watercolors to take advantage of, and encourage the paint and water to do what they can do when allowed. A painting in watercolors is created with layers that you let dry and then add on top of. You use a hairdryer to keep going and tip the paper to make liquids flow into each other and mix how they want. Different pigments mix in different ways and you learn that. Probably similar with your paints? My teacher would paint something in class to show us the process. He's start with a soft liquid sky allowing the colors to mix on the paper, and dry it with a hair dryer, before adding more soft flowing but darker colors and then adding the sharper defining strokes. You always start with the lightest values and go darker since the white of the paper is the old fashioned white in watercolors. I have it in my head but, like you said, you have to keep at it to improve, or even remember. When I was taking classes, I got sick of being required to put out a painting every week. It was stressful for me and took the fun out of it. On the other hand, I needed the pressure in order to complete paintings.
Patricia, I never heard of the hair dryer technique, etc. In acrylic's and oils you paint from dark to light, the opposite of watercolors. Finding subjects is the hardest part for me. 20-30 years ago I did lots of landscapes and seascapes. They just don't interest me like they once did. So I know I've changed. Part of my problem is I could look at a 1000 paintings and be lucky to find a dozen I like. I already tossed the lighthouse picture I just did in the garbage - didn't care for it cause it didn't capture what I wanted.
Patricia, I never heard of the hair dryer technique, etc. In acrylic's and oils you paint from dark to light, the opposite of watercolors. Finding subjects is the hardest part for me. 20-30 years ago I did lots of landscapes and seascapes. They just don't interest me like they once did. So I know I've changed. Part of my problem is I could look at a 1000 paintings and be lucky to find a dozen I like. I already tossed the lighthouse picture I just did in the garbage - didn't care for it cause it didn't capture what I wanted.
Huh! I had no idea about dark to light with acrylics. I thought you just painted whatever you felt like working on. I have kept all of my paintings but some just stay in the portfolio case. I also have all the notes I took in college. I think I should dig out my watercolor class notes and toss the physics notes.
Thought you might enjoy seeing my latest painting - surprise, surprise ..... its a car! A Bonneville salt flats home-built hot rod from the late 1940s. Once again I used designers gouache but I tried to keep it in a looser style than my prior one.
02-18-2019, 05:29 AM
