Wow! Great job, everyone. You all did a wonderful job on this difficult topic, and I look forward to your submittals on future challenges.
Submittal Deadline: August 1, 2010
11:59 pm MDT
A 4-week challenge
We were super busy during June, and I struggled to find the time to paint the June challenge. Work (the kind that gives me a paycheck) dominated my time most of the month. Then there were those "end of school year" parties, anniversaries, and birthday parties, and...well, you get the picture.
At first glance, the photograph seemed to be too complicated to find something in it to paint. However, I had the photo displayed in my studio so that I could see it whenever I worked on something else or when I was just passing by. When I did have the time to paint, I first did a few thumbnail sketches to plot out the darks and lights and the general pattern of shapes. I also modified the composition of the area that I was going to paint. This piece came together fairly quickly (for me, for I am notoriously SLOW).
Which brings me to my next comment: the point of these challenges is to get the creative juices flowing. Not everything in a picture will be important enough to include in the artwork. If you enjoy copying it as a learning exercise, that's great! But feel free to edit the details of the picture.
Maybe you want to make a study of shapes, or light patterns. Maybe you want to display the image as line art. Or, maybe you want to explore unusual color choices. These are all good ways to learn about your art. Find an approach you enjoy, and you will find yourself painting/drawing/coloring/... more and more!
And maybe my photo doesn't excite you enough to paint (like, "Hey, Barb, I can take better pictures than you can!"), but it does give you an idea for a future art piece - somewhere you might have to visit to research your idea, paint plein aire, or photograph. That is a wonderful thing! Go for it!
The July challenge is a Koi pond. Water is always challenging to depict, and this photo shows a still pond with lots of reflected images on the water surface, and small fish swimming just above the bottom of the pond.
You will have four (4) weeks to work on this challenge. Remember to follow the "Rules of the Road" on the right and send me your images as an attachment to your email by August 1. I hope to have something special lined up for the August challenge, so I'll see you back here then. Thanks to everyone who participates.
Happy painting!
