Pastels and Watercolors (and a few other art media)

[SquarePeg]

Nailed it!

Thanks!

 

[terri]

Class last week was about building depth in landscapes. This is my attempt to follow another relatively bland photo from the instructor. Depth wise I think it works for the most part. Added the distant birds to perk it up a bit. Used just the 3 colors he uses for everything - Ultramarine blue, Alizarin crimson and Nickel Azo yellow. I’m learning a lot about mixing colors. I think my blending washes is getting better. It’s a bit overworked along the bottom. It was too light and my attempts to darken it went a bit off the rails…

Thoughts and advice always welcomed.

View attachment 288815

Terrific! Plenty of depth here; the eye candy travel through this with ease. The birds are a nice touch. I love the foreground; doesn't have an overworked feeling to me. Great job!

 

[SquarePeg]

My latest struggle painting. Still can’t seem to get as loose as I want to for florals. I’m taking a 3 day abstracts class in a few weeks maybe that will help. Here’s the various versions of this mess along with the inspiration pic.
Inspo - wasn’t trying to copy it exactly, just liked the looseness and vibe. Done with oils do you think?

First attempt flowers all wrong

Next update better flowers (IMO) but all facing the same way is weird right? And still not loose.

Tried to correct the sameness issue… also made the vase taller. Now it’s super fussy looking. And I don’t like the shadow. I’ve removed it and put it back 2x. Thoughts, suggestions, advice?

 

[snowbear]

The flowers in the third one looks pretty good, For the vase, just try to simplify the color. Maybe a wash with the base shade of blue (multiple layers may be needed), then a layer or two of dark and light for dimension. For the shadow, go with a wash - maybe a blue-grey. If you’re working in wayercolor, lay out the highlights first or paint them with gouache over the base.

Try doing this with graphite or charcoal (bone works but will get your hands dirty). Work on light/dark values as a warm up. Draw a corner of the room - two adjoining walls and the ceiling: three surfaces, three values.

 

[terri]

Done with oils do you think?

For some reason, this has a digital look to me. Can't quite say why. So there's nothing accompanying this from the artist, I take it?

Regardless, it's a little over the top for me - I like your efforts better overall - and I really like the first one the most!

 

[snowbear]

Original may be oil or acrylic. Not sure that it's digital.

Edit: her website says "She chooses acrylic as her medium of expression due to its immediacy and the ability to create bright and vivid colours."

 

[SquarePeg]

For some reason, this has a digital look to me. Can't quite say why. So there's nothing accompanying this from the artist, I take it?

Regardless, it's a little over the top for me - I like your efforts better overall - and I really like the first one the most!

Not digital - there were some shorts on YouTube of her painting various areas. Usually the description will specify paint but this one didn’t. The blending and soft edges reminded me of oils for some reason. But per snowbear’s post she mostly uses acrylics.

I’m not crazy about any of my versions of this. I’ve already started the canvas over several times so this one will probably end up in the trash or painted over and used as a test piece for colors.

Original may be oil or acrylic. Not sure that it's digital.

Edit: her website says "She chooses acrylic as her medium of expression due to its immediacy and the ability to create bright and vivid colours."

Thanks I didn’t see a website when I looked - I must have missed it somehow.

 

[snowbear]

I just did a search on her name. Paint type in About

 

[SquarePeg]

Painting day today. Finished up a couple from class then did a more atmospheric loose style watercolor based on a Karen Rice demo. Love her watercolor landscapes. Once again a bit bored by the subjects for class but maybe more the tight style than the reference photos.

My version of Karen Rice’s demo. My streams need more work. Not curvy enough!

Last week’s seascape. I just don’t love the lack of focal point.

Added some rizz to this one from a previous class which I think I shared already. The color and flowers but I think I’m going to go over it again and make the flowers a dark purple instead.

 

[terri]

I just don’t love the lack of focal point.

It doesn't bother me; I think it's just a lovely scene. You could add an element here or there if you wanted - birds, a boat - either in the water or on the shoreline- or even a lone figure.

Wouldn't take much. But I like it as is!

 

[snowbear]

I agree - it's fine as it is.

 

[SquarePeg]

Here’s the final (for now) of this one. I like it better. Added more flowers and darkened them so they would be less distracting from the overall scene.

 

[terri]

Here’s the final (for now) of this one. I like it better. Added more flowers and darkened them so they would be less distracting from the overall scene.
View attachment 289273

I like it better, too! Didn't really have a problem with the original, but now I see that darkening the foreground with the line of flowers is a nice improvement. The whole painting looks a bit more grounded.

 

[snowbear]

Looks like shade in the foreground. Everything comes together. Good job.

In MD; MLSIL’s AC wasn’t working. Ended up being a fuse (outside by the unit) and a bad capacitor. Cooling down slowly.

 

[SquarePeg]

Last week’s class painting. I’m really proud of this one. Not because it’s all that great, but because I wanted to bin it and instead I fixed it. Didn’t take a pic of the before but it was terrible. All similar sized flowers with no shadows or depth. No pov. The tree was a dark blob of ick. The next day, I decided to try washing off the paint - just the side with the tree. I put the paper in the sink and sprayed warm water over that half until the tree was just a light green stain. I did the tree over. It’s not perfect but it’s 100x better than it was. I also looked at some different reference photos and increased the size of the foreground flowers to give some depth. Then I added the sprays of background flowers to pull some white up away from the foreground flowers. Also warmed up the flower centers but it still seems like two separate paintings to me, I think because the white is so eye catching and the tree is so warm. Any suggestions to pull it together? Should some of the background flowers be a bit more defined?