Schedules for artists - HA!

OK, so people who work for a living start at some time on the clock and quit at some time on that same clock. How little that has to do with my life as an artist.

I used to feel embarrassed when people asked me if I painted every day. Now I just say no and I've figured out how I work.....in mad spurts! I get some things going and suddenly I can't do anything BUT work on them, paint them. I think about them when I'm cooking dinner, about to go to sleep, daydreaming out the window at my computer desk. But they consume me until they are finished. Then I don't have anything to do that remotely resembles a painting schedule.

There is a point where suddenly it grabs me that I haven't been creating new work for a while (a few weeks? a month?) and I get itching to start the next work. And I do.

Just don't talk to me about a painting schedule. I don't have one, never did.

Get more than your feet wet!

To what main characteristic do I attribute success? The persistence factor. That is, NEVER give up.

This leads me to consider that when we really step into an area with both feet and live in that realm, possibilities and ideas just are not hard to come up with because we immerse ourselves in what we have chosen to do. It is, to me, one of the key ingredients of creativity. You can't just skim across, you have to get in and swim! (I'm hopelessly addicted to analogies as you see!).

Good composition

Here you can see the elements of a good compositional set-up. It was done by one of my students before she started her painting. There is good variety of the major things one needs to be aware of. Good tone or value variety, good differences in shapes and sizes and good colors as well! There is also a good arrangement of these shapes such as the lighter bowl against the dark rooster. If the bowl were against the background, it wouldn't show up so well since it is close in tone to the background.

Always be on the lookout

 

 

I took these photos when I was in my local mega-sized hardware store. I carry my camera with me at all times because I never know when such an opportunity may come up for a painting idea. These were so beautiful! Don't know if I'll ever paint them, but you get the idea. Stay on the lookout! Noticing possible subjects for a painting is your stock in trade!

Keep Sketching!

I admit that I don't sketch as often as I think it would do me good.

I tell all my students to do it to sharpen their perception of visual shapes and compositions.

I was going through my sketch books yesterday and found this one.

My excuse for not sketching more is that I draw a lot in the studio warming up to do new paintings.

I'm hoping that counts!

But one can always be better at noticing things and then doing a fine job of rendering them.

I show sketches to my students that have been made by the masters. Cezanne is one of them.

His sketches are scribbly and messy.

But look where they led him....to his masterpieces.

When there is a ridge line you don't want

Here you see three images of parts of a recent painting of mine.

There were some areas I needed to change and when I painted

over what I didn't want, you could see the leftover part underneath

as a ridge line. It caught the light and so you could see it. It's

sort of like having your underwear stick out from your clothing

when you don't want it to show!

The first photo here is where I have taken #220 sandpaper

and knocked back the ridge so it wouldn't show. You can see

the old line underneath the other paint now, but it no longer is

a ridge of dried paint.

The second photo is a longer shot of the same area. It was

a tall wine cabinet and I had it too tall!

The third photo here is showing the ridge line next to a woman's

shoulder in the same painting.

Go to my blog at http://joyofartforever.blogspot.com and you can

see the whole painting which is nearly complete now!

Tone and color drill

What is this?

On the right is a tone chart done by one of my students.

The black cloth is velvet and that's about as dark a tone as something can get!

To the left and right of it you see parts of a fabric chart I made. It has various colored rectangles that the student has to identify regarding their tones.

What is tone?

How light or dark something is.

Is the tone of something the same thing its color?

No.

These are drills I do with my students to learn the difference between the two.

That red on the left is pretty dark in tone, but it is not the # 10 on the top of the chart.

This is seen by comparing the black velvet right next to it.

When figuring out the tones of things, you can't do it in a vacuum.

You have to relate one to the other and then come up with what they are.