Last week my friend Linda came over again so we could paint together. When we painted in March, Linda supplied the subject; this time I did. I found a tutorial in an old Watercolor Magic magazine - 'The Elegance of Untouched Paper' by Tony van Hasselt and we both were keen to try the vignette idea.
It doesn't seem to matter that we work from the same instructions when we follow a tutorial - we always end up with very different paintings.
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| Linda's Painting |
Linda chose to loosely copy the subject from the tutorial while I chose a different building.
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| My Painting - The Old Red Barn |
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Most of the elements are the same in both paintings; a barn type building, a silo, a crooked fence, a few trees and bushes and, of course, the same palette of colors. But, our approaches are quite different. Linda often uses a layering effect with blended washes on top of dried washes while I mostly use wet-in-wet techniques. We did try to follow the guidelines in the tutorial but I am not sure how good a job we did.
Here is a synopsis of the vignette guidelines:
-Between 30 and 40 % of the paper should be untouched
-The painted area should touch the edge in 3 or 4 places but not in a sustained way.
-The untouched areas should have and interesting, interlocking shape - not proportional or equal
-Hard edges should dominate ( I think Linda was more successful with this aspect than I)
We had just started thinking about doing a second painting when I realized that I needed to start dinner so Linda went ahead and painted a second piece.
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| Linda's Tree Silhouettes |
I think our total painting time that day was about 2 1/2 hours. Between eating lunch, visiting, checking out new home improvements, doing dinner and just talking about our lives we don't have a lot of time before Linda is on the road back home.
It doesn't matter how short or how long the time is, painting with a friend is great and well worthwhile.
How neat is that to paint with someone. As you say same thing but two different impressions. But also someone to,spur you on, just like in exercise class. To also work off of one of the masters is yet another incentive. Both are super results and like Linda's soaring trees as well. Great job. You always inspire me t stretch.
ReplyDeleteHi Nelvia. Thanks for your comments. I have been watching your progress on the pearl earring girl and admire your resolve. I rarely try to copy another artist's work - especially one of the masters - I might try a technique but always like to put my own stamp on a painting. Either way - it is good to stretch our skills and to try new things. - have a great day.
DeleteLoving the contrast between the first two paintings - I think you both succeeded wonderfully on your mission to work your way through a challenging technique!
ReplyDeleteThanks Win. I know that Linda and I were both very happy with our paintings and feel that this is a style we will try again.
DeleteBoth paintings are wonderful. How fun to paint with a friend :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Sheila, glad you like the paintings. It is fun to paint with a friend and more special because it doesn't happen often.
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