 Yesterday I went to Burlington Vermont to visit my artist friend Lynn Cummings. We had a great visit on her back porch ( check out the view of Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains).
Lynn knows how to paint "happy". She can paint in a variety of mediums and styles. She is also a great teacher. We talked about many things and she gave me a few tubes of color to try. Going on this visit was one of my summer goals and I am so glad I got to fit it in . Thanks to Lynn's generosity. I don't know how many people you can talk to for an hour about color temperature . For some reason I titled this post "in which" because I felt like I was a bit of a Winnie the Pooh and it was a grand day out. What I have learned so far: You have to meet and learn with real people in real time. It creates excitement and energy and you never know what you will see or learn in the process.
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 I find food to be a great motivator. I have been enjoying peaches and corn and all the delicious summer things there are to eat right now. Sushi is not one of them but I decided to paint this because of all the colors, values and textures. I will be starting an on line course today and will keep you posted on everything I learn as I complete each lesson. I hope to work on my lost and found edges and mid-tone values and of course color temperature which is still some what elusive for me. What I have learned so far : All great wisdom is learned at the kitchen table. Below you will find a picture of my kitchen table with a surprising lack of clutter on it.   Context is everything.
Let me explain. Everything exists within a context. When I watch Tiny House Nation on TV people are expecting to see small spaces so they describe the bathrooms as "huge" or the living rooms as "large". On the next program House Hunters, people are looking at a large suburban home and suddenly a bathroom that was the size of the entire tiny house is described as smaller then they hoped often accompanied by the lament that there are no double sinks. Oh the horror. So what does this have to do with my little kitchen painting. Well for one thing I watch a lot of HGTV... but that is not my point. My point is that context is everything and we bring our expectations with us. So a painting of a cluttered kitchen counter can be high art. Just like any other object of desire. You just have to leave all pretext at the door. What I have learned so far: Kitchens are full of colors and shapes. Make a value map before starting or things will become a muddy mess quickly.  I figured out how to solve the forest challenge.
The solution is to find and simplify zones of value. Change the front from horizontal to diagonal to provide a way for the eye to move in and create a new plane from which to observe the scene. What I have learned so far: Task analysis may take days but it is worth the mental effort to think things through and break them down into component parts.    This is me tearing my hair out. The challenge from the Daily Paintworks this week was to paint a forest scene and they provided a photograph to download and work from.
I decided to get right on it. That was Sunday. Now it is Tuesday and these are the three that survived the cut. I had a very hard time finding value shapes and was tossing and turning during the night trying to figure out how to handle this subject and achieve success. What I have learned so far: Photographs are always darker than real life Trying and learning are always of value Tearing your hair out is OK . It shows how much you want to succeed. Using photographs you would not chose on your own always creates a challenge. |
About MeI am a watercolor coach, watercolorist, and author. 
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