This painting is not new - but not many people have seen it as it was a commission from several years ago from a friend who wanted a painting of the Iris flowers his wife wore on their wedding day. It was fun to do and I had just finished a wonderful workshop with THE Keith Hiscock, 'dark into light' so I was able to practice some of what I had learned.
Tonight I was at our Studio 30 Art Club meeting and enjoyed a demo by Victoria artist Susan Baker, a very interesting, talented, down to earth woman who was happy to share tips and ideas and recommend some of her favorite artists with us. She mentioned Edward Potthaft, Suzie Baker, and Tom Christopher as artists we may want to look up. Susan is currently painting in oils and her palette is Cobalt Violet, Thalo Blue and Green, Prussian Blue, a yellow, white, and Burnt Sienna which she uses as a foundation to put in her shapes; she finds this a very useful color. (You may remember one of the things I learned in the 30 Paintings challenge was having a few 'go-to' palettes can be very useful.) A quote she shared was "when you DO, you DO learn." Other tips, some you will have heard before: reflections are what makes water look like water; warm beside cool, dark beside light; warm comes forward; fat over lean for oils or they will crack years down the road (thanks Gail); step back & look at what's going on with the painting; sometimes having a 10 minute break is good for the eyes; will use a cutout to try placing a person or a log in her painting; burnt sienna and white makes a pretty nice skin tone; shadows are very important, especially when painting people; use a shadow to anchor a figure; a painting needs 'something' in there, e.g. a log with a bird, people swimming; people love paintings of people walking in the rain with shiny reflections and umbrellas; burnt sienna and white are our friends.
Thanks Susan (and Katherine, our program coordinator) for a great evening. And thanks to you for visiting!
Tonight I was at our Studio 30 Art Club meeting and enjoyed a demo by Victoria artist Susan Baker, a very interesting, talented, down to earth woman who was happy to share tips and ideas and recommend some of her favorite artists with us. She mentioned Edward Potthaft, Suzie Baker, and Tom Christopher as artists we may want to look up. Susan is currently painting in oils and her palette is Cobalt Violet, Thalo Blue and Green, Prussian Blue, a yellow, white, and Burnt Sienna which she uses as a foundation to put in her shapes; she finds this a very useful color. (You may remember one of the things I learned in the 30 Paintings challenge was having a few 'go-to' palettes can be very useful.) A quote she shared was "when you DO, you DO learn." Other tips, some you will have heard before: reflections are what makes water look like water; warm beside cool, dark beside light; warm comes forward; fat over lean for oils or they will crack years down the road (thanks Gail); step back & look at what's going on with the painting; sometimes having a 10 minute break is good for the eyes; will use a cutout to try placing a person or a log in her painting; burnt sienna and white makes a pretty nice skin tone; shadows are very important, especially when painting people; use a shadow to anchor a figure; a painting needs 'something' in there, e.g. a log with a bird, people swimming; people love paintings of people walking in the rain with shiny reflections and umbrellas; burnt sienna and white are our friends.
Thanks Susan (and Katherine, our program coordinator) for a great evening. And thanks to you for visiting!