Okay… I know what I’ve learned… Keep the edges intentional, watch my values, dull those receding colors down! Let’s implement.
Sarah, Natalie, and I took a trip to Syndey, Montana’s MonDak Heritage Center today to see Onesti Krieger’s exhibit. We learned a lot: dull colors down, clean up and refine edges thoughtfully, and do your painting RESEARCH. It’s worth the work to read a recipe and the fundamentals of tasty food when you are trying to cook a delicious meal. It’s worth the work to read about the principles and elements of art and design and how to implement them in your chosen medium before you set out to paint a picture.
Time with friends critiquing artwork is more valuable than the maximum-monetization-of-time spirit inside of me would like to recognize. I think I understand painting a few percentage points more than I did at the beginning of the day after looking carefully at other artists’ work for an hour or so.
The flowers from Monday are back and they are still gorgeous.
Lined up side-by-side at Natalies dining room table, Natalie, Sarah, and I set to work on these pretty little pink flowers. We pulled this bunch from the rest of the bouquet to help simplify the details of what we were aiming to paint and it helped us all zone in on the important aspects of our work. Less color variety meant we had more time to practice within a hue. This painting was ripe for the opportunity to play with shade, tint, and saturation in order to create a sense of depth in the flowers and petals.
Painting with friends is a treat and it’s always fun to compare our work at the end. I am impressed by Sarah and Natalie’s willingness to paint by my side and to challenge themselves with this picky medium that is oil paint. It’s a daring feat to create a painting and today we all succeeded!
