I am starting a new Giveaway. I will be giving away a custom painting of a celebration cake on May 25th. To enter please follow me on Instagram @Jowatercolor55 and post a comment or tag a friend. Since you have to break few eggs to make a cake I am also looking for photos to paint from that are about baking . You can send these to me when you subscribe to this blog and newsletter.
What I have learned so far: I have been inspired by cake artists for some time. They have to be sculptors, painters, bakers and architects. I don't know how they combine all these skills and make delicious things for all of us. I am enjoying meeting many of these people and calling them friends.
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It is time to open a new category of custom paintings for sale. I am calling them celebration cakes. I will be happy to paint any photograph of of something delicious you want to remember and have either in your house or the house of a loved one who celebrated with you.
Let's spread the joy and eat with our eyes. Here is a link to the new cake page here. What I have learned so far: I have had a passion for cake for a long time. I watch the GBBO and almost any baking competition on the Food Network. I think cake is the one food everybody is happy to have around. It creates smiles and memories and I want to be part of that. So if you have a cake you want to share with me I will paint it for you and add it to my gallery. If you like it you may purchase it and if you choose not to it will make somebody else happy and that is how we are going to share the joy. This is a tale of two roses. The one above is a successful rose. It was studied carefully and each value was put in patiently until overall patterns intertwined. There was no scrubbing, or rubbing or white out used. It is a rose at its most essential essence. This is an unsuccessful rose. You can clearly see it was a troubled soul from the 'get go". There are too many folds and hard edges. It has rubbing and smudging and well.....you can just see it was a battle can't you?
I can... What I have learned so far: You may think you are thinking clearly and seeing things accurately but if you are not making careful calculated decisions or in this case if you are plugged in but not present. The value decisions become muddled. Sometimes this can be salvaged but often times not. So just like in our social lives. You have to really be available and present if you want a relationship to "blossom". I finished this larger painting of green glass objects today. It is 14x20 inches. I think I will frame it up and include it in my show for the Governor's Gallery ( more about that later).
But what I really want to talk about today is the concept of when you run your own business you can make your own rules. Why did this thought never occur to me before? I thought you had to follow a template laid down by someone else in order to be a success. What I have learned so far: You really can make your own rules at certain points in your life and if not now ? When? It is the equivalent of eating dessert first. What a delicious way of looking at life. How would your life look different if you decided to "switch it up? " This painting is all about neutrals. Neutrals are those colors that have no name. They are mixed by using the color wheel to combine opposite colors. The result is glorious mud colored pigment.
I think I captured the light in the hallway and my sweet Fig Newton dog as he strolled to the studio behind me. What I have learned so far : Neutrals are important to see as value shapes. You can use them to focus the attention on shapes that perhaps you don't want to emphasize but you need to include for the illusion of depth. I used to fear neutrals and now I embrace them and plan to use them in my peony attempts soon to come. My collie was looking out side as the sun streamed in the big glass doors. All of a sudden I saw the whole scene as value shapes and colors.
When this happens it only lasts about an instant but it is so exciting. So I said "Thank you " out loud and of course Mr. Fig Newton thought I was talking to him and was quite proud of himself. What I have learned so far : Black in the shadows in very dark indeed but it still has some blue in it. Perhaps from the reflection of the big blue sky that surrounds us on a sunny day? But I get really excited when cerulean blue can be used for spots of light. I think it energizes a painting. The painting above was painted yesterday . I did it to see how much my style has evolved since I first painted this subject three years ago . What I notice is that the painting from yesterday has a darker value range. I also see the use of neutrals which help make the colors pop. I think overall the marbles appear rounder in yesterdays painting because I could anchor the round shapes in their shadows better with color mixing and more confidence in my ability to achieve forms.
What I have learned so far: Sometimes you don't see your own growth until you find a way to measure it in a concrete way. Doing this experiment allowed me to see how much daily painting has improved my skill level. And I just have to add.... I no longer rely on cadmium yellow to achieve brightness. I have learned to use it sparingly. The bottom picture almost looks like it is being viewed through yellow colored lenses. The painting above was painted yesterday. I did it to see how my style has evolved since I first painted the same picture three years ago. Here is the painting from three years ago.
What I notice is that I have learned how to make my value range darker. I also see the use of neutrals which help to make the colors pop better. I think overall the marbles appear rounder in yesterday's painting because I could anchor the round shapes into their shadows with better color mixing and more confidence in my ability to achieve forms. What I have learned so far: Sometimes you don't see your own growth until you find a way to measure it in a concrete way. Doing this experiment allowed me to see how much daily painting has improved my skill level. And.......I just have to add....I do not rely on cadmium yellow anymore. I have learned to use it sparingly. I mean really. The bottom picture almost looks like it is being viewed through yellow tinted glasses. Yikes! |
About MeI am a watercolor coach, watercolorist, and author. Archives
September 2022
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