 Yesterday I was out of practice. I thought about it all night and painted this rose today. I call it a two day rose. This one I stand by.
What I have learned so far: Sometimes it takes two days!
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 Today the Daily Paintworks issued the fourth Rose challenge. I have entered each one over the years. I continue to learn so much from these exercises.
What I have learned so far; This rose has more layers than a showstopper challenge on the Great British Bake Off. More layers than puff pastry. That's a lot of layers. I am looking for the simple value shifts and changes but I have also spent the week eating a lot of cake and pastry. Why? Because I can  People often ask me how long it takes to paint a painting. I can tell you I started painting peonies in 2013 and it is now 2017. So how long does it take to paint a peony?
What would your answer to that question be? What I have learned so far: Nothing in life that you value comes easily. It is hard but enjoyable work. You can't purchase a skill. It is not something you buy it is something you develop over a long period of time. I think life long love is similar. I am married to my first sweetheart. We have a love that is not new it is valuable beyond measure because it was earned , practiced and given time to grow . I am still learning imovie and am managing to edit a bit. You will notice I hold up a sign that says "dry" on it because I don't know how to insert titles yet.  What I have learned so far:
I am learning that when you turn a camera on things change. I was not aware of how much looking and how little painting I actually do. Observation and mixing take most of a painters time.  The peony has so many folds and angles. You can lost in there. I have posted the steps one and two below to share the simplifying of the essential forms.  Step one and two were about finding the pattern of shadow shapes without leaving harsh edges.  Once that hard work was done it was only the background dark shapes left to add.
What I have learned so far: Peony shapes are full of angles. Not soft curved edges like a rose. Also the overall shape is that of a platter not a cone. Studying these forms has helped inform me about how to make decisions about places where the visual information is ambiguous. In other words...experience helps, as it does in real life.  Yesterday I painted a rose in a value color swap out. In other words I painted it as if color did not matter only value did. I liked the result of pure color but the values were too unorganized so I today. I simplified the value patterns and stayed true to the color of the original rose. I think I have a more cohesive whole. You can see all the value dabs I made before I applied the color shapes. This can be slow deliberate work . More like solving a math problem than like an expression of ones self. What I have learned so far: It is good to explore patterns and simplify them. Less is more when the eye wants a place to rest . Find the key lightest lights and the darkest darks. I think John Singer Sargent called that the "effect". Well I don't know about the effect but I do know he was one of the greatest painters of all time and if I can explore what he was after I am on a good quest. Below you will see yesterday's rose which was necessary in order to organize and paint today's   The challenge of painting an object that is one color is daunting. So first I mixed my darks, medium and light colors and made test dabs to make sure they were the right value ( using my red value viewer). Then I squinted to find the value shapes, loaded the brush and used as few strokes as possible to create a shape.  Once I figured out how to do it. I needed to practice, practice practice. What I have learned so far: It is better to spend time preparing and mixing paint then it is to actually apply paint. We should be called "Mixers" not painters. We spend the least amount of time actually painting.  The secret sauce tip of the day is one I just discovered for when you have a subject that is almost all mid-values. I made a wash the thickness of tea and lay in the colors in blobs . I do not usually do this but I realized I needed to in order to make a unified form . If I had not done this the flower would be flat-ish
What I have learned so far : As usual what I have learned so far has nothing to do with painting. I dropped my ipad on Thursday night and was feeling gutted. I shared this on line and miraculously someone I do not know personally is sending me an ipad right now by Federal Express. So although I made a discovery about how to unify my painting values the lesson was really about the unity of people and "creatives" helping and sharing each other to achieve success. |
About MeI am a watercolor coach, watercolorist, and author. 
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