"Christina"__14 x 11 oil on linen panel___$650 ..after I tweak it a little
Christina is our model this week. A beautiful woman who we got to dress up as a Native American. (I let the kids be her "stylist" and after every break, they set her back up into this pose...The students are getting self sufficient, able to work without much help, so I am sitting in the back of the room, painting wiith their supplies, and hitting the same walls they do with the changing light and a brand of yellow that doesn;t cover well.
Hard to believe it's only been 5 days of this Western Art Academy...it feels like 2 weeks already! NOT because of the people here, but because of the....accumulation! 12 painters working side by side (not to mention the 12 sculptors in the other room!), equals 12, easels, over 80 tubes of paint, countless brushes and WAY TOO MANY paint rags and full trash cans and canvas wrappers and....We have a busy studio with artists at work almost 18 hours of every day! (not all of them at once!). We also have FINISHED PAINTINGS, lined up along the wall. The still lifes(lives?...come on, somebody tell me the correct verbage, here!) are done and drying.
Speaking of accumulation, all this "stuff" accumulating in our studio is symbolic of what can happen with a work of art. It begins with a great vision, a few lines and shapes of color, then the "accumulation" happens: too MANY good ideas, too Many good nuances of color, too many punches of dark value or too many sparkly highlights can kill a good painting!
Our lesson today:
1. UNIFY the clutter...objects, brushstrokes, subtle color shapes ....can give off a cluttered feel.
2. Once the focal point is established, every inch of the painting should support it!
3. A fairly orderly set-up will keep you engaged in the process...your paints on the palette should always be in the same order, turp bucket in the same place, lay your brushes down the same way (with the handles FAR from the puddles of paint).....and throw away the used rags,
kids!
2 comments:
That's a beautiful painting of the Indian woman. I love hearning about the classes...I taught high school art for 28 years! I believe it is still lifes.
I appreciate you putting an American Indian as a post for today. She's beautiful. Happy 4th. ( if you have the time ,please ck the audio on my post for today )
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