Let's Inspire each other to be Creative

SoCalLisa

I boutht it at Fry's,

painterly

Wonderful about your 7 day workshop, Artsee. Sorry to hear that your fun got spoiled by a breast issue and I hope you got it resolved ok.

I am hoping to do a Romel de la Torro workshop this winter i.e. if he comes back to Sarasota.

Here's what I am working on at the moment.

SoCalLisa

Barbe, I just printed a photo I took of my grandson and it is remarkable..I just love that canvas, it looks like it is painted...and I just used a cheap printer..

artsee

Painterly....got it sort of resolved I think. The painting is charming!!!!

artsee

bump......

barbe1958

Love the painting painterly...you nailed the childness!

Lisa, what kind of store is Frys? Art? Photo? I need to know where to start looking. What is the brand of the paper so I can Google it?

SoCalLisa

Fry's is an electronics, computer , appliance store...

   frys.com

the paper is IBM coated canvas sheets..

Anonymous

Love the painting of the child - so, so real.

I'm still trying to work with watercolor, so frustrating, that I've gone back more to "playing" with soft pastels.  What I call fingerpaints for grownups (which I plan to maybe be some day.)  Just bought a book of Wolf Kahn pastels, for inspiration.  I LOVE his sense of color ( or colour for my friends in London) - have my first watercolor all day "workshop" on 10/30 - maybe will feel better about it after that.  Still find it is the MOST healing way to spend my days, creating something.

I EVEN found the battery for my fancy digital camera, charging it now, to take some pictures. I hope.

artsee

Here's one of the watercolors I did last week at the workshop in Door County Wi.

It's called "Gladiolus in sunlight".

barbe1958

Beautiful, artsee!!!! I'm loving the colours.....

You don't put a year on your work? I always do, and years later, I'm glad I did. I love seeing my own progression.

artsee

barbe...I keep a log of every painting with the year it was created and size and price. I don't want people to see the year in front, because a lot of people want new art and don't want to purchase one from six years ago.

In the back is a disclaimer that has all info on it.

All my paintings are photographed the same. I can't figure out why some a sooooo big?

Anonymous

Artsee - fantastic.  What watercolor paints do you like best?  And what size of brush?  Do you use Kolinsky sable?  Do you think it really makes a big difference?  MY workshop is 10/30 for the whole day 9-5 ( I'm already tired thinking of it) and we'll be doing White Flowers.

How do you "paint" White Flowers?  Well, I hope I learn.

barbe1958

Sunflowers, I did a class where we painted AROUND the flowers and then just did shadows for the inside detail. I didn't do well. I tend to want to do the flower first and then the background. It was tough to wrap my head around doing the background which then created the flower!

painterly

Lovely painting Artsee!

I love the freshness and colour of the flowers.

Anonymous

Ooooohh....Barbe - I hope that isn't what we're going to do.  I take a drawing class - and the one on "negative space" always makes me crazy!!!  I've been with this wonderful teacher - it's my 3rd year - and know most of the others in the class - and we all GROAN when we know the sitll life we're doing is going to be done by "negative space."  I'll bet you're right tho - seems like the most sensible way to paint a "white flower" - and that class is ALL DAY - 9:30 to 5.  I'll be bonkers ( or more bonkers) by the end of the day if you're right ;-)

artsee

barbe is right. You 'negative' paint around white flowers and then you do a cobalt blue watered down for the shadows and curves inside the flower petals.

The workshop I did in door county, specialized in negative painting. It's hard to think 'backwards'.

Practice, practice. My teacher only uses synthetic brushes which I do as well. We talked about it and she said it's a waste of $$ to get sable. Once you know how to paint you can use anything and it'll look good. I just ordered a 1 inch Windsor Newton and three 'Robert Simens' rounds.

I love Qin Gold (Windsor Newton) and allot of Daniel Smith colors. Da Vinci has 37 mil. tubes which are a great price but be careful of colors. Most are ok but some like Quin Gold I hate. I LOVE Quin Gold W. Newton the best.

Anonymous

Thanks, Artsee- I've got WN from DickBlick - boy they are great online.  Also have some of their own brand sable brushes, which aren't too expensive.  I didn't like the DB "artist quality" watercolor paints tho - mostly I have WN.  Don't ( yet) have Q gold - will have to go look it up...

 Ok - I'll prepare myself - it's gonna be "negative space"  - sometimes makes me feel as if I'm walking on my hands - just don't (YET!) know how to "see" backwards  - or inside out, or what ever it is - kinda like tyring to look at the "wrong" place is what it usually seems to me ;(

Anonymous

Another question -

I've been looking to buy a table easel.  I have a Julian travel/box - but it's just too heavy to take to class.   What do you use?

Does anybody know anything about the Mabef Table Easel M-31

I like one where the bottom of the paper can be VERY near the table top.  The only wonky one I have "starts" about 8 inches off the table - so the block of paper always feels too high or far away from me?

artsee

Sun...'Bristol' watercolor easel is what 35 watercolorists use in my group. $44.90 at 'Cheapjoes.com.' It gets your watercolor board nice and close to you. It compacts very small for travel in the car.

Quin gold is one color I use a lot. It mixes great with blues to make a ton of different greens.

Looking at 'negative space' in the painting I posted above.....If you look at the white sunlit glads you can see I painted darks all around them. This is not white paint, but pure white paper. Then I painted pinks and oranges onside the white flowers for texture and depth to define the flower.

Are you understanding? questions? I'm here.

artsee

Here's another done last week of fallen leaves. One had dew drops on it and I had to paint them as well.

SoCalLisa

wow those pictures are wonderful and my hat is off to you..way to go

Anonymous

I love the leaves!

I'm just a lurker who admires all of the talent.

barbe1958

artsee, I'm pretty sure we're all talking about the same thing - negative space. It is very unsual for me not to 'get' a procedure. I am very blessed to be so artistic, so it was very humbling to not be able to do something!! I totally understand the concept, had it nailed in my head before I even took the course, but the application was difficult. We only had the teacher's drawings to go by and I don't like copying a technique. I have to make it my own. I failed.

Anonymous

Artsee - those leaves - you are INSPIRING .  I love it, just love it.

Barbe - I feel the same way about negative space in drawing class.  Don't know if I will handle it better with watercolor.  I think it's my "left brain" wanting to make edges from what I see - not from what I "don't" see - 

I know some of the friends in drawing grasp the concept SO easily, their works flows, and after they're done the "places" left are exactly like the still life.   MINE - well, think a funky cubist ddrawing!

Artsee - off to sheck out cheap joe's - THANK YOU!!!!! ;-))

painterly

I love the playfulness of those leaves Artsee.

Looking at them reminds me of an incident in a printmaking class that I took about 25 years ago. The assignment was to pick an object and draw it and use it as a starting point to take it to another level. So, I drew a kleenex box with a tissue coming out of it. After I finished my assignment I was very pleased, it had all the necessary technique to make it look real (body tone, body shadow, highlight reflected light, background, foreground). The drawing was on a metal plate (intaglio whereupon the image is incised and from which you print an image from the prinkmaking press). The drawing was so realistic, you had the feeling that you could reach and take out the tissue (so I was told later). So, I took it to class, printed a copy and waited for the teacher to walk around the class and look at everyone's effort.

When she got to mine, she said "well done, excellent drawing - now try to take it to another level."

Of course, I hadn't a clue what this other level was that she was talking about. So I sat looking at my kleenex box. I was complaining to myself how I hated printmaking and started playfully pulling out the tissues in frustration. I watched them land all over the box and onto the table. Ha..I said, that's what I will do. So I got out the intaglio plate again and added floating tissues into the background and over the tissue box and into the foreground.

Back at class, I printed this new image and placed the two of them on my desk and waited for the teacher to come around. She said "Oh!" and I thought, OMG, what have I done wrong.

Then she got the students' attention and said: I want to show you two images, one is extremely boring and the other is brilliant. (My excellent first drawing had been demoted to boring!!)

I bumped into this teacher two year's ago and told her I was in her class and mentioned the kleenex box drawing that I did. She told she remembered very well and uses my kleenex box drawing as a teaching aid. Funny story eh!

Anonymous

Painterly = wonderful!!!  I'd love to see the print.  I think that's the best example of "art" I've read!

Playful creation  - coming from a deep inner sense of PLAY, well, maybe frustration - but when you recognized the possibility - tra, la - ART.

painterly

Great comments Sunflowers. Your comments act as a summary to my anecdote.

I meant to summarise my anecdote but got side tracked with phone calls.

Further to your comments I would add to my anecdote and say that it is not just about technique, but art is about going beyond what is in front of you and allowing for playfulness in your work especially flowers or leaves and this is what I see happening in Artsee's work.

I have a few other funny anecodotes for you if you are interested. One is about what Greg Norman said when I showed him a pastel drawing that I did of him from a magazine. The other anecdote is why I call myself painterly.

chabba

painterly, I, for one, would love to hear them.  I do enjoy your paintings.

Anonymous

PAINTERLY - MORE, MORE, MORE...please

When reading your experience with "Kleenex" I thought again of one of my FAVORITE examples of "ART" - has everyone seen Picasso's sculpture which he called "The Bull."

I'm not going to describe how he constructed it - until everyone has SEEEEEEEN. It.  

One of my favorite SE's of studying drawing, watercolor, botanical art as I have been for the past 3 years is how my "VISION" has changed - how different things, leaves, trees, look to me.  How much I enjoy just standing there REALLY looking at the patterns in the bark of the tree.  ANY tree. How much I notice shadows.  WOW.  Who knew shadows were so fascinating.  Especially the shadows cast on a MOON BRIGHT night.  Looking forward to moon bright light on a new snowy night.  Boy, do we get snow in weatern MA.....and the diamond crystals that shine on the snow at sunrise. My little cabin is on a rise, so I get gorgeous sunrises and sunsets over the fields.

Fascinated by the patterns of frost on the windows.  Always have to remind myself not to get too close, or my breath melts it.  Looking from the inside, usually too windy, cold to study on the outside. 

artsee

I'm loving this conversation between artists. No matter where I drive near, far, I am constantly looking at Gods great creation through an Artists 'eye'. Your right, how would I paint that? Could I use purple for those tress? This goes on and on and sometimes I wonder why I didn't end up in a ditch.

I'm going to look in the archives and post a few where I pushed the envelope and went out of my comfort zone. Maybe everyone can do that? It would be a learning lesson eh? Just picked up paintings I had on exhibit in Milwaukee...taking three in for exhibit for this Friday and Next Monday I take down the exhibit that juried me into a 2012 Calendar. This is work!!