I'm not going to get much easel time today so I'm using this painting from yesterday!
Part of my involvement in ArtWalk this year was the Paint-Out, an entertaining event where 3 artists paint a still life in only 15 minutes! I really enjoy doing this. I have done it in previous years at Art Walk and for some reason I just zone out and get in a groove with the pressure of creating something. So how did I DO this in 15 minutes??
I think what I do is I SIMPLIFY what I see in front of me! I don't like to capture an exact likeness...it stresses me out. I like to interpret, so that is how I approached this and I like the result!
I started by taking my favourite colour (PINK) and laying on the background with a house painting brush. I try to use large brushes...I pick a brush I think I want to use, then go larger!! The still life had 3 or 4 pairs of shoes and a pot of lavendar. As you can see, instead of getting bogged down with details and trying to create a duplication of what I see in front of me, I zeroed in on one shoe.
I then blocked in the dark shapes of that shoe, and I tried NOT to think SHOE! Well not until the last 5 minutes...then I did! But even as I defined the outside and the flower and the lavendar, I was thinking shapes, form value and colour. Not shoe and lavendar. It does take practice!
ANd I usually don't paint on supports this BIG....most of my friends and artist friend know I paint A LOT smaller...so that's why I picked the house painting brush to begin with...one can get great marks and happy unexpected results with a tool you don't regularly use!
Part of my involvement in ArtWalk this year was the Paint-Out, an entertaining event where 3 artists paint a still life in only 15 minutes! I really enjoy doing this. I have done it in previous years at Art Walk and for some reason I just zone out and get in a groove with the pressure of creating something. So how did I DO this in 15 minutes??
I think what I do is I SIMPLIFY what I see in front of me! I don't like to capture an exact likeness...it stresses me out. I like to interpret, so that is how I approached this and I like the result!
I started by taking my favourite colour (PINK) and laying on the background with a house painting brush. I try to use large brushes...I pick a brush I think I want to use, then go larger!! The still life had 3 or 4 pairs of shoes and a pot of lavendar. As you can see, instead of getting bogged down with details and trying to create a duplication of what I see in front of me, I zeroed in on one shoe.
I then blocked in the dark shapes of that shoe, and I tried NOT to think SHOE! Well not until the last 5 minutes...then I did! But even as I defined the outside and the flower and the lavendar, I was thinking shapes, form value and colour. Not shoe and lavendar. It does take practice!
ANd I usually don't paint on supports this BIG....most of my friends and artist friend know I paint A LOT smaller...so that's why I picked the house painting brush to begin with...one can get great marks and happy unexpected results with a tool you don't regularly use!
And after the 15 minutes of painting people got to play a game (guess a number between one and something) to pick the painting they wanted! Mine was chosen by a local artist friend Bonnie Heather! Congrats Bonnie!
My good friend Monique took some videos of me painting during the Paint-Out with her iPhone! I cn't wait to see them! I may share them on a future blog post!! Stay tuned!
My good friend Monique took some videos of me painting during the Paint-Out with her iPhone! I cn't wait to see them! I may share them on a future blog post!! Stay tuned!