Class Eight: Ending with African Masks

It is all over, my friends. My amazing class has come to a close and I have learned SO much on this journey. Seriously I cannot thank you all enough for caring and supporting me, for making this happen.

For this final class I was eager to work on the masks, and instead of doing only one big mask Ms. L had me create a collection of masks to paint, as if they we're being seen in a museum or on display at an art gallery. This gave me the opportunity to choose different styles and a few of the many pictures she had available resonated. Specifically three:

As a fan of abstract and colorful things,

 I picked out the bright ones over the brown masks.

After sketching out my plan and getting a few ideas on drawing materials (Ms. L recommended graphite sticks size 6B; they are closest to painting, she said. Oh and a kneaded eraser to go with). She also gave me some tips on using painters tape to create hard edges and that shopping in the painter's section of Home Depot is a great place to find cheap brushes for washes and large background images. Also, burnt sienna and cadmium red makes good terra cotta. Thanks Ms. L!!

I am starting to understand at this point the macro to micro style of painting. And the more I practice the easier it gets. My masks (which still aren't complete of course, I have plans to continue working on them at home) were sketched out with an ocher wash, as was the background. And I played with whether to add any masks to the background.

Creepy, isn't it? Hehe

But they got better! (They're not dead yet...)

Time flew by and I kept moving around my painting if ever I felt stuck, not becoming too attached to where things were or how detailed I wanted to get (cause the details come last!!) I was most concerned with the shadows and giving the masks depth and dimension. Also faces are hard, oh, I mean, a challenge. Lol Time flew by as it always seemed to when I crossed the threshold into the art studio. I worked right up until time to leave. I am pretty happy with my stands but it's not even close to finished.

Where I had to stop...

I like the shading of the boxes, and Ms. L got a bowl out and put a light source on it so I could see how the shadows fell on it. It really helped with the stands but the masks are still pretty flat. I need to start putting in all the details and shading. Also, I got permission to share Ms. L, her name is Lois Ames, and if you ever have the chance to take a painting or drawing class, 

And for now, this is it. But I do plan on continuing my work and posting updates of my paintings as they progress. Maybe I can keep this ritual of posting every Monday. This journal of my experience doesn't have to end because my class did! Once again, thank you to everyone who helped give me this incredible birthday present. Much love to you all!!!

Class Seven: The Landscape and The Boat

BOOM! Today felt like a breakthrough. I watched Ms. L and we analyzed her painting while I worked on mine. I was feeling hesitant, lacking in confidence about where to begin. It was all so smooth, I wasn't sure where it was safe to put my beloved texture, or as I learned today (my new favorite word) impasto. Ms. L put me at ease and gave me a few ideas to get me started.

Now today was a brilliant day for learning and so I will just give you the bullet points because I was so busy, I didn't think to take a picture until the end of the class. :) 

• Dry brushing- smooths out texture and edges
• Landscape land should also be horizontal, like the water; as it is more pleasing to the eye
• Cobalt blue is primary blue
• Impasto- texture and worth mentioning again ;)
• Greys and purples are good for background shapes 
• Fan brushes are good for grass (and waves)
• Know the rules before you break them, and why you break them.
• Don't get too attached to your work.

Ok, this one, this is where she blew my mind. I watched Ms. L work on her boat painting for two classes. And it didn't click until today that she was asking my opinion on things because she was trying to show me techniques. I know it's sounds silly, but as soon as I realized that I started looking at her painting in a whole new light! And she changed up her painting, I lost count how many times, the shoreline changed, the horizon line changed, boats would come and go... All these things she was doing and every time it worked! Be flexible and open minded, she has said, probably every class. And I need to hear it, too, cause I get so attached!! 

I have to admit, it like it. Ms. L loves it and said that I should go home and put my name on it, which I will. But I am gonna sit with it a couple days, decide if I am done. One more thing she taught me today was that each of my paintings are a lesson. This one holds much, and tho it may be missing my precious impasto, the lack of it may be in itself, the lesson.

The Landscape Study.

I took this one in the parking lot because the 

lighting was more true to form. :)

Lastly, since I have raved on about Ms. L's boat, I wanted to share it.

Isn't it gorgeous??? :)

Class Six: Landscape Study (Part One)

Yikes, I almost didn't do my post for today... Now that Mrs. C is out of town for the rest of the "semester" Ms. L and I have been doing our own thing. Today was a study on landscapes while she continued her work on this boat/shore scape. EDUCATION: Cerulean and white are the blends that create a beautiful skyline, and carefully picking your horizon line (as long as it isnt cutting the picture in half we are good), and keeping in mind that the farther away something is, the less detail it will have. Skies are blended diagonal hatch marks while the water is always horizontal. Today I took from two landscape images and melded them together (will I ever learn?).

These are the two images my study came from.

The tree and the general structure from the above image 

While using the rocks and plateaus of the bottom image.

So I made my sketches, got all my prep done, and begun my work. It still surprises me how fast time flies in here. Ms. L would mention something on her painting and point out various changes, reminding me that a painting is always evolving and nothing is set in stone. Yet another reason to leave out the details and the texture until last. My efforts to creat smooth blended bases and washes seem to be paying off...

Can you see it? So soft and blended? 

We had some communication issues today, Ms. L and I, which I of course attribute to Mercury Retrograde. :P She mentioned adding a little alizarin Crimson to the sky and completely finish up the sky before moving on. Woot! Details I am on it!

Um, oops. A bit too much crimson? Lol

But my clouds were really coming along.

Here, is the first of multiple miscommunications she and I had. Turns out she didn't want me to put details into the sky after all and then I had to go back and blend it all in. Friends, I have a fondness for texture and this class has been frustrating in this category. So I am busting my brushes to keep everything silky smooth and avoid all detail till later, when Ms. L comes over to check on my work and adds some details to my work. *Breathe* Um, ok, but I thought we were waiting until the end to do that? Oh, it's just to give me an idea of what you're talking about? Ok... But I get my panties all twisted every time someone else paints on MY canvas. I know it sounds egotistical, but my fear is that she might wind up doing things on my work that people will give me credit for, and then I feel like a fraud. I rationally understand that she is trying to explain technique, but I get frustrated. Eventually she moved to showing me things on a scrap paper, which I very much appreciated. 

She was very encouraging as well, complimenting me on my progress and telling me that I am a "real painter."  :) I wish I could pick up all the concepts she has been trying to explain, but I can definitely say without a doubt that I have improved three fold since I began. Ms. L asked me to trust her with a few things, mostly composition, after I would ask why she wanted me to put this there or add that color here. Also the size of brushes was a thing today, so much larger than I even owned, for such small areas, and she tried explaining why, but we just were off today. I will be putting my larger brushes on my to purchase list!

Viola, my half complete, composite landscape study.

Now where are those pesky lights and shadows?

Class Five: Seattle Flowers Cont'd

Today had been busy, and I kinda drug my feet about going to class.  Some days are more motivating than others, but I made it cause I knew it would make me feel better. And of course it did. :) Ms. L was accommodating enough to let me push back our lesson on landscapes (guess what you will see next week?) so I could finish my Seattle Flowers. She's pretty awesome. I started with playing around with the leaves before filling in the background to make the flowers pop.

Giving depth to the leaves...

Working with a cool background was Ms. L's idea to bring out the color in the petals. The leave became a lesson in letting go of detailing too early. Give the illusion of depth and curves in the leaves with vague brush strokes. Learning to see... Be flexible and accept that your work will change and evolve... Never finish one area a hundred percent (like when putting together a chair, don't screw in each screw completely, wait until all are in before tightening them properly). 

Again the flowers that I modeled from.

...And here is the end result. 

(The pic doesn't do it justice, hehe)

I will sit with this and let it be a reminder of my amazing vacation. :) This feels good, I'm getting so much out of these classes. Not my most creative post perhaps, but it does reveal progress. I'll take it. :)

Class Four: Seattle Flowers

After an exhilarating and healing trip to Seattle with my bestie, I happily made my way to class, not sure what we were going to work on next but, to be honest, I didn't really care. Excited no matter what we were gonna do, but apparently Mrs. C had requested flowers. Score! Cool, I can do that, I am an O'Keeffe fan... BUT WAIT! Can I paint from the pics I took from Seattle? Yes?! Oh now we are talking!!

These are the pictures from Seattle that I chose to work from.

As per the new routine, I sketched out two ideas of my plan before putting brush to canvas. A nice yellow ocher and burnt sienna wash later and off to the races we went.  Poor Mrs. C never made it to class, so Ms. L and I had our own little session together. She worked on her flowers while I worked on mine. Music, paint, zen... One little composition gem I heard today was to make sure the eye moves around the whole piece. If you get stuck in one spot, then the painting isn't doing its job. Also a good reminder to use your colors all over the painting. Lovely.

A wash and the sketches of my Seattle Flowers.

Yeah, I wish I had taken note of the flower's names too.

Where are the lights and where are the shadows?  Creating shadows where you may not see them in the photo but you know they are there. Working on that, check.  Oh and remember that blurry/vague to detailed idea that we discussed last time? Yeah, still effing hard to do. I kept working as best I could to avoid detailing as I went, but wow, it is clearly a habit that I need to put more effort into breaking. Ms. L tried to help me with my shading and as she painted some broad strokes across my highly detailed flower I felt myself weep a little inside. She asked me if I thought it was improved... I'm sorry! Im so sorry but I really liked it better before. Now here is where I get a little cerebral. I want to learn, want to improve my skills, but I feel like my style or signature as she says, may be different from hers. So how do we balance the two?

Yeah. so, um, flowers.

Do you see all the lines? I really think I am beginning to understand what Ms. L says about Lines versus edges and shapes, but here is where the ability "to see" comes into play. I do not know how to paint without the lines. They feel so important and how does one see shadows underneath the object? A great lesson,for sure, and I hope to have some time to work on it more before next week. Unfinished, but hey, we shall see where it goes.

Class Three: Healing Art

After an unexpectedly difficult weekend, I was looking forward to distracting myself for a while in class. Mrs. C had arrived early this week to get started (good idea, Mrs. C!) as I heard the two casually talking as I approached the Drawing & Painting room. I had considered asking Ms. L if I could retry Water Pitcher and Tomatoes from scratch on a new canvas, but she blessed me with something better- a Matisse! YES!! An abstract piece, now that was something I felt confident in.  It was exactly what I needed to clear my mind and feel good about my work. Another blessing to increase my enthusiasm; I was able to paint on an easel for the first time since my neck procedure (to improve the mobility of my left hand and arm). Turn on that music, Ms. L, I am ready! Thanks go to Mrs. C, who was generous enough to give me a 16 x 12 canvas so I did not have to suffer my tiny 9 x 12 canvas board the Water Pitcher and Tomatoes were done on. I will get you back next week, Mrs.C perhaps with an even larger one...

Still Life of Goldfish. Matisse, 1912

I got straight to work, now I knew the routine. Set up your palette, water, brushes, kerchiefs and sketchbook. Ms. L recommends that two "thumbnail" sketches should be done prior to painting, one vertical and one horizontal to help become comfortable with your design. I had already begun painting by the time I learned this two sketch plan, but I will be all over that next week. :P 

I chose to follow the original (for the most part) for my study, 

and was excited to see how my concept translated on the canvas.

Then the next three hours just flew by. I took my time studying the original. It read very pink and green to me. I decided to change up the black shadows with navy, as  Ms. L encouraged. So I washed the whole canvas with a light pink before mapping out my design with a weak wash of yellow ocher. By the way I am really digging this yellow ocher! Ms. L gave me a recommendation for a good tube of premixed purple- Dioxazine Purple. Oh yes, I have great plans in store for that purple! Well, my plan is to use the crap out of it, but that doesn't negate the fact that it IS a great plan. Anyhoosits, I focused on working large to small, and from light to dark... The sweet beauty of painting and feeling motivated while all my cares faded away. 

In progress...

I only show this image to remind myself that the finished product doesn't have to happen from the get go. It is a resistive process, the retraining of my brain in not just how I see, but how I create, all the while fighting my old BYOB painting style: background, foreground, then final details, completing each section as you go. In this class we paint by color, working over the whole painting at once. Ugh, seriously it took some discipline resisting the urge to paint in details here! But I forged ahead, continuing on until my magical bubble burst, the clock struck four and I was a sad pumpkin once again. When I left, however, I had this feeling like some weight had been lifted by my time here today. And for that, my amazing friends, is just another reason I am so grateful for this gift. 

Swanky's Study of Goldfish. 2015  :P

 

Class Two: What is a Line?

As part of my homework, I took a trip to the local library to print some Matisse (and took the liberty of a few O'Keeffe) paintings to commit an act of artistic plagiarism. Haha, no. There isn't any way someone would mistake my work for Matisse. Anyhoosits, a small adventure to a graphic design store later and I acquired nine lovely color pages that I could reference. Check me out, smug... All prepared and shit (meanwhile Future Kelly laughs and laughs).

My fellow student Mrs. C was properly late to class so at first it felt like a private lesson. :) And after showing Ms. L my printouts she gives me a photograph and says "Let's do this one today." Oh, yeah, this will work too. (Were mine too simplistic? Too hard maybe? Don't read into it, go with it!)

Haha, how meta. Phsaw, yeah, I got this. 

Where is my wine?

"Set up your palette. And I will be right back." Oh yeah, I can setup my palette, sure, er. Crap. How is that exactly? I soon discovered two reds, two yellows, two blues, two browns, and a large dollop of white constitutes a properly prepared painting palette. Heh. ;P Starting off with my washing of Yellow Ocher I followed the sketch I made of the photo, simplifying, but not redesigning, the image.

YES! This is why I am here. EDUCATION!!

Ms. L turned on a mix CD and for the next two hours, we painted. I got into it, asked questions here and there. "Turn both the photo and your canvas upside down to give you a better sense of shape and color." Insightful! Mrs. C finally showed up and worked on a painting she  brought from home. "Where are the lights? Where are the shadows?" It was wonderful, and I felt in the zone. When I realized there was less than an hour left to paint, there came the pang of sadness, but... But, I'm not ready to stop! :'( Keep on keeping on. Still painting and talking, listening to music, their idle chatter making me feel younger than I have in a long time. Ms. L leans over me and tells me to stop putting lines in my painting.

*Tires Squeal* (I would almost swear you could smell rubber.)

Wait. Um, what? How can I not put lines on my painting; it is literally made of lines and curves, everywhere. She shows me a quick painting of the two pears from last week  "See? No lines, just shapes and edges." Blink. Drool. Duh. I saw lines all over those pears. I saw lines between the colors and lines of each color from brush strokes all over the painting. So my patient instructor tries again.  She grabs a pencil and draws a line on a piece of paper. "That's a line." Thank you, yes, we agree that is indeed a line. But that doesn't change the fact that I see lines on the pears and have NO idea what  she means by stop painting lines on my canvas board. At this point I am beginning to feel the heat of frustration in my face and neck. She is looking blankly at me for a second, quietly, while I try not to transport myself back to fifth grade math class, not knowing how to say that I still don't understand, even though clearly this is supposed to be obvious. Luckily Ms. L isn't my fifth grade maths teacher and she kept at it for a while. We got into a smaller debate about what colors we saw in the photo, I saw grey and she saw purple. I saw orange where she saw red.  

My face cooled off and we got back to painting, but I still don't feel confident that I got it. To the best of my understanding, she wants me to blend my colors, with as little paint as possible, without dry brushing the texture of the canvas. Either that or she doesn't want me adding detail yet, but I don't know how NOT to put detail onto the canvas much less accomplish shapes without any lines. So I  focused my attention on blending. What felt like moments later, it was time to clean up and head home. Water Pitcher with Tomatoes to be continued...

"Creating art is 70% looking and only 30% painting." 

Me thinks these pupils are only registering about 25%. :P  

This is definitely a whole new way of painting for me. It isn't background, focal point, details and done in two hours. I am supposed to take something I see, turn it into blurry, lineless blobs of value before creating the objects I see. Yet I am still left asking, where is the wine?