Surfing art websites on a cold night

One of the things I really like to do when I have time to sit with my laptop on my lap (as opposed to a cat) is to surf other artist's websites and blogs. A few of my favorites are Carol Marine, Karin Jurick and my sister Adele. Once I look through the blog posts I haven't read and check out their new paintings, I start clicking on the blogroll links and look at the other artists they link to. Some new favorites I found just tonight are Aaron Lifferth and Doug Braithwaite. Another artist Carol turned me on to in the workshop I took two weeks ago is Qaing Huang (pronounced Chong Wong).

There are certainly some incredible artists online! With the amount of artwork they sell, there must be lots of collectors out there as well.

I hate posting a blog post with no photo but I can't post someone else's work without their permission. How about a painting I did right after the workshop with Carol? For a person who doesn't like to draw, and who does primarily landscapes, this was a challenge!

Fourth day of a five day workshop

This has been a busy week! All frustration is gone (I realized I have been using that word a lot lately, so no more....I have banished it from my vocabulary!)

The first photo was taken during the morning demo. Carol believes in doing what she calls the most "vulnerable" colors first, or the ones most likely to be contaminated with other colors. She started with the pale yellow of the apples. Her canvas is toned with umber, but that varies according to what she is painting. She sketches in with Burnt Umber.

We are learning lots in the workshop. Carol is a good teacher and has plenty of great information. Her paintings are amazing and if I can just do is 10% as well as she does, I will be happy. I have enjoyed her demos every morning. I did finally get a couple of apples done myself that looked respectable. The big difference between the way she paints and the way I do is that her paintings are very planned out, while mine tend to be pretty spontaneous and inituitive. Planning works better!

The painting in this second photo was done this morning and it is about 3/4 done here. It might be my favorite of the four she has done so far. On each of her paintings, the composition is well thought out and every brush stroke is considered, mixed and applied carefully. Most times she remixes her paint after every stroke and adds more medium. She paints very thinly and the medium spreads the paint nicely. She knows exactly what color she wants and she knows where she is putting it and why. That is the biggest thing I am taking away from this workshop, and when I use the information it should have an impact on my paintings. I remember in my workshop with Tim Deibler, he also stressed that no two brushstrokes be the same color, and here it is again. It must be something I should do more :)

Attending a Carol Marine workshop in Sedona

Today was another experience with the F word (frustration, in case you didn't read my last post). But it was good frustration as I know I will learn from it. Trying to paint a lime that looks round should be easy....it is really nothing but a green egg! But I couldn't do a round lime or an oval lemon. Normally I would have turped the panel out, but I decided to keep it as I will compare Friday's painting with it and see the progress I hope I have made. I am sure I will get better. That is why there is no photo attached to this post. Perhaps there will be one later in the week.

Part of the issue may be that I am reversing how I paint. Normally I get my darks in first and then move to lights. Carol does the reverse, painting what she calls the "vulnerable" areas (the ones more likely to be contaminated and become muddy) first. It will take some practice for me to get that down, but painting for 5 days, all day, will give me lots of practice! I spent this evening studying round forms like apples and oranges on her website. They are all done with straight lines. No curves at all.

A quote from the class handout that I liked " There are no rules in painting, only consequences". That is a good one for this person who likes to know the rules.

Carol did a fabulous demo of four apples (not 3 or 5...no rules). Simple, but wonderful. Hopefully she will post it on her blog in a day or so. http://carolmarine.blogspot.com