Teach and Learn

In the last few weeks I had requests to teach things that had me scratching my head and thinking 'how the .... do I do that!'

Near the end of November my friend, Linda, called and asked if I could teach her how to paint abstracts. Now Linda is a wonderful watercolour artist with a deft touch for landscapes and flowers in that medium and when I heard her request I was flabbergasted.  But undaunted, I said "sure I'll do what I can".

Tropical Forest

I really don't know what I am doing when I paint an abstract: I just play with my acrylic paints. Choose the colours, maybe add some mat medium, slap paint on a canvas, spray it with water, push the paint around with a palette knife and it is done! Sometimes I really like what I end up with; other times not so much.

unnamed acrylic abstract

So Linda watched while I started the Tropical Forest painting, then went to town on her own canvases. She kept grinning and saying 'This is fun!" She dropped paint, splashed paint, sprayed and twisted her canvas letting the paint drip and run. At one point she had a mess of dropped paint on the table and went to wipe it up when I stopped her. I grabbed a piece of mat board and turned it down on the paint, twisted and lifted it and ended up with the background for the unnamed painting above - waste not want not - lol.

Here are Linda's paintings - don't they look like she had fun doing them?

It is always great when Linda comes over for a day of painting but better when it makes me think and learn.

The second "how do I do that" was really my own fault. My Tuesday student, Jeannie, wanted to do a still life with fruit. We couldn't find a suitable photo online to use as a reference so I grabbed a few fruits out of the kitchen and put them on a simple plate. But just the plate and the fruit looked unfinished so I draped some fabric around them. Fabric! What was I thinking? Especially white fabric!

I showed the start of our paintings in my last blog and here are the finished pieces.

Jeanie's painting with mat

my painting

Jeannie wanted her painting finished in time for Christmas as she intends to give it as a gift. I demonstrated the technique for the shadows at the end of a class but, because we had a deadline Jeannie did the work at home. The stroke and blend method is not always easy to do, especially for a beginner, and Jeannie was not happy with her background when she arrived at class this week. I showed her how some careful lifting and scrubbing and the use of a bit of white paint could fix the fabric enough that she was satisfied. I was satisfied too - it is so nice to have such a hard working student.

I have always found that I learn something when I teach,especially when I have to figure out how to do something new.

2016 Day15

Today is the halfway point of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge and I can only hope that I manage to finish the rest of the month.

A friend asked me yesterday how I manage to come up with enough ideas for my paintings and I really didn't have an answer. I find that each day brings what it brings: today I was inspired by a frame!

Boat Race

I was looking in my stash for a frame for the Quilled Seahorse I did the other day and came across a little 5 x 10. It is too shallow for the glass and mat that a watercolor needs and has been stacked away for some time. It immediately gave me an idea for today's painting - something tall and skinny.

"Boat Race" is a 5 x 10 acrylic on mat board and is based on a painting I did a few years ago at a workshop with local artist Richard Mitton. It was painted with a palette knife.

2016 Day 7

I did NOT feel like painting today! But I did it anyway - lol.

This morning I attended a "Values" workshop hosted by the Creston Art Club and instructed by local artist Eileen Hirota. It was very informative but tiring (all that concentration!) Then, after lunch my husband and I moved a ton of snow that had come thundering down off the roof of the house.

At any rate, I am very tired and achy so this painting is a 'quickie'.

Snow on the Mountains

Another 5 x 7 x 3/4" home made canvas board painted with acrylics and a palette knife. Now I just have to sign it and seal it and it will be done!

I don't know if it has been the rough canvases or the fact that I have been using gesso instead of white paint but I have found these little canvases so easy to photograph. I haven't had to worry about the flash glare which has been a blessing because the last few days have been pretty gloomy and the light outside has not been optimum for photos - at least not for me - lol.

Don't forget to check out Leslie's blog to see art from the other participants in the 30 Painting in 30 Days Challenge -  http://30paintingsin30days.weebly.com/blog

2016 Day 3

I wonder how many of us doing this challenge feel like we should have our heads examined. What was I thinking? I am writing this in between fixing dinner and I am afraid that I am going to burn the rice or have something boil over because I get caught up and forget what else I am doing. See? Crazy!

At any rate, I did manage to get a piece done for today's post. Another challenge participant gave me the idea when I read her blog for Day 1 - http://nelviasworkshopchallenges.blogspot.ca/

Three in a Row

 "Three in a Row" is a 6 x 8 acrylic on a gallery wrap canvas. It was painted using a palette knife - oops! I just caught the rice - I think I had best leave this until after dinner - lol.

.........Time lapse.........

As I was saying, I used a palette knife, some left over paint and white gesso. The canvas had been painted black so I was able to scratch out the back ground trees and some of the branches. Although this painting has some things that are frowned upon (like straight lines and an object smack in the center) I am quite happy with it.

I hope tomorrow's piece works as well!