….thanks to Cee for hosting the Fun Foto Challenge
Hand Painted Egg
Part of a Ray Cattell Painting in my house
Watercolour done by me
COVID Painting in the Neighbourhood
Granddaughter’s Painting
Painted Road Sign
Peeling Paint
….thanks to Carla Sonheim for this wonderful class
I’m in the habit of purchasing on line art classes and then not completing every assignment. Luckily I have access to the class forever so I can always go back and see if I am more inspired later on.
The last class I purchased, Flower Crazy 2, kept me motivated throughout all eight assignments. The final assignment involved creating two paintings, using watercolour, gel medium, collage, ink and pencil or charcoal. There were numerous steps involved and with each step the painting evolved into these interesting abstract creations.
….lesson 4 and 5 of Carla Sonheim’s ‘Flower Crazy 2’ class
In the next two lessons we were encouraged to make some abstract flower shapes on Swedish tissue paper using water colour and chalk markers. I didn’t have Swedish tissue so I used a tissue like Japanese paper that I had on hand. Here are the flowers I created, first with the chalk markers and then the watercolour paints.
Then using some of the techniques learned so far I created a new abstract floral painting and layered the collage pieces on top using a mat gel medium. Once the medium was dry I added some shading using pencil and highlighted area with white ink.
….another interesting technique from Carla Sonheim’s ‘Crazy Flowers 2’ lessons
Instead of buying expensive stamps you can make stamps from kneadable erasers. Simply knead the eraser into a tube or cone shape and flatten one end till it’s about the size of a quarter. Then press the flat surface into something with texture or add marks with a pointy tool or the edge of a knife.
Pick up some ink from a stamp pad and try it on a scrap piece of paper first. You can play around with ghost printing and overlapping colours. Here is my sample sheet of flowers made using this technique.
The next assignment is to use all the techniques taught so far and create three small painting of abstract flowers.
…using 12 unconventional tools
Lesson two in Carla Sonheim’s class, Crazy Flowers 2, we had to come up with 12 tools that you would not normally use in painting and use both ends of the tool to create interesting marks. Here are my 12 tools.
Then we had to create a pattern on a large sheet of watercolour paper using all 12 tools. Since both sides are being used you should end up with 24 different marks on the paper. As you can see the paper became very busy but now I have a reference for future assignments when I want to create an interesting mark for an abstract flower.
….day 4 of Sketchbook Revival
This lesson was brought to us by Angela Fehr. Her approach to painting is to let the paint take you to the next step. It’s a very zen like experience after you lay down the first color and then let your intuition guide your next step. I used watercolour on watercolour paper. The only thing I would do differently next time is do it on a larger piece of paper.
…Charlie O’Shields from Doodlewash calls colouring with paint child’s play
This is day three from Sketchbook Revival. Charlie O’Shield is trying to get us to tap into our inner child. First I sketched the flowers with my fountain pen and then I added watercolour. The goal was to use only three colours and vary the intensity with water to create a range of shades.
….more difficult than I thought
I’ve done two more painting of the cliffs at Howth and I’m trying to be less rigid and looser in my approach with shapes and lines. I’m not there yet but each painting is slightly different from the first one that I attempted a couple of days ago. I’ll keep trying.
….trying to be less rigid on days 174 and 175
The second assignment with Anita Lehmann was to do a series of landscapes using the same elements we used for our pears. Anita is trying to get us to pull out shapes to create an abstract painting. I chose a photo that I took when I was in Ireland. We took a hike along the cliffs of Howth and I took this photo overlooking the Irish Channel.
Here are my studies:
The following piece was my first motive painting. I realized as I was painting that I was being too finicky and that I needed to be more relaxed and loose. Some of the comments that I received were ‘You have made some great marks – i would try and go more abstract if that’s the direction you want to take in this class. Just a suggestion of rock, grass and sea..’ and ‘Your many studies become wonderful investigation of the next steps in a landscape and perhaps the mood or mark that becomes true to the concepts you wish to convey.
I don’t think I’m quite there yet. I’ve done two more of the same scene that I will share with you tomorrow.
….Days 172 and 173
In Anita Lehmanns’s class, Translating Landscapes, we had to take an object and draw and paint it eight different ways using different elements of design. We had to create a play field and create pleasing shapes while investigating the design elements shape, edges, line, texture, value, space and colour. For our eighth painting we could choose our favourite elements.
