Do Breaks Help?

My painting I bought from Dreama:)

Some of you know I had a whirlwind summer with back to back workshops with Ovanes Berberian and Dreama Tolle Perry. (Both fabulous artists and teachers). It was a heady mix of extreme color boot camp overlade with brushstroke abandon.

Afterward I continued to twirl my way across a rainbow palette like a giddy grade school-er on ice skates for the first time, dancing to disco. It was euphoric but a little like eating all the icing and forgetting about the cake.

To fully learn something, I believe it's best to go all in, (you might have noticed).The more you immerse yourself the more you'll get in return. The method of my madness is to practice a new skill until you can naturally incorporate it into your work more effortlessly. For example, I always try to break up my canvas into unequal areas. I feel it creates more interesting shapes, it appeals to me more and is a basic principle for creating a good composition. Now I don't consciously think about that when I paint, it's almost like second nature.

Did I say too much icing on my cake? Hard to imagine I know. But now I'm evaluating just how much I want to add to my creative diet and evaluating what direction to head next. Every small break, whether it's a weekend or moving, is an opportunity to start over again and for me getting back to basics is a great way to do that.

I really love the drawing process and decided to begin with 3 or 4 thumbnail sketches of each scene followed by a value painting. Most of the problem solving is done in this phase and then I'm free to jump into the painting more intuitively. I especially like working from a black and white reference and allow the color harmony to develop on the palette.

The learning continues and the color adventure is a life long project fueled by personal preferences. The opportunities for improving painting skills are endless and it's my feeling we should do this as often as we can. Workshops, breaks, changing locations, seeing things with beginner's eyes, making a fresh start are all helpful in developing a rich and unique creative life. More cake anyone?

How I've been working things out:

Thanks for hanging in there with this extra long post. I appreciate your time, your comments and welcome

your questions.

Cherry On Top

Cherry On Top  6 x 6  oil on board

Still having fun with this theme and the endless variations.

I made another step by step tutorial so you can

follow along from start to finish!

I've created a short video you can view here or scroll down to look at he the photos below.

to purchase this painting for $100 click here

Here's the process:

                                                                                Finished!

Cup for Two

Cup for Two  6" x 6" oil on board

I really enjoy playing with the light and dark patterns of

these small daily paintings.

I'm posting another step by step shown below.

to purchase for $100 click here

Process:

Set up the still life with patterns and colors I like:

Make a drawing of the light dark patterns and how the canvas board will be divided.

Decide what the dominant value will be:

Start with the cherries inside the cup and then begin to paint the

cup inside the pattern cloth.

Add the dark patterns on the cloth:

Put in the background, all the lights and the stems are the final touch:



Two on the Side

Two on the Side 6" x 6" oil on canvas

This painting was done as a primary palette challenge on 

Daily Paintworks.

I thought I would take photos of each step in the

painting so I can share how these striped 

paintings progress.

to bid on this painting click here

Process:

I figure out the set up:

 

Then I stain the board, usually with a transparent color and 

wipe it down with a paper towel.

Then I divide up the painting and decide where everything will go

and mark it with small strokes of another color and wipe down:

Next I decide on the light dark pattern making sure that

it is either mostly light or mostly dark. This one

is dominant light:

I continue to refine the drawing and add the pattern of the stripes.

To help remind me of what is the lightest light ( highlights and white stripes).

I will take some orderless turp and paint over the white stripe and wipe off the color with a paper towel.

 

Next I will usually lay in the darks first and try to keep the values close together:

Then I continue to define the cherries in the cup and then the cup inside the stripes:

Now I can just play around with the stripes.  I'll put in all the light

stripes of one color, in this case the blue stripes.

Now I'll add the other color stripes and play with the transition colors between

the light and dark of each color and the brushwork between the light areas

and the dark areas:

Finally I added the bottom cloth, the stems, and the highlights:

 Easy Peasy!