Oh my. I must be getting immune to embarrassment. This is a dog, but it is another painting on the journey and it just proves to me that I love painting, because I can't wait to paint the next one. I can already see it in my mind.... lol
It is painted on 5 x 7 Uart 800 grit paper and it is painted with PanPastels, soft pastels and pastel pencils. Thanks for looking.
Doug
Ugly? I don't think this is ugly. I'm sorry but in my opinion, if you're really trying to get in your quota of ugly paintings, you are going to have to try harder.
ReplyDeletelol Thanks for the encouragement, Meredith. I was out of my comfort zone and after watching Larry's lesson today, he reminded me that is a good thing. If we don't take chances and just keep doing the same old thing, we won't grow as artists. On to the next one.
DeleteI agree, we really have to challenge ourselves. I know you will keep going....
DeleteDid I miss a class with Larry, though? Or are you talking about the one you downloaded?
No, you didn't miss a class, Meredith. It was the download of his second class I was watching. I finally received them yesterday and it is great to be able to watch and listen to the classes again. It is amazing how much you forget.
DeleteDoug, this doesn't look ugly. It looks unfinished more than ugly. I would suggest developing more detail and value shifts in the flowers. They look undefined. Maybe use pastel pencils to give them some sharpness and detail as well as value contrast for drama? Especially the clump hanging out in one of the "rule of three" prime focal area spots, the ones on the right can stay less defined but a few more strokes in them wouldn't hurt.
ReplyDeleteI can see why you're frustrated with it. There are no value shifts here to speak of except the pastel pencil twig. That's a good twig. I like the shape. I like the abstract shapes of the leafy foliage area. But it might help to develop those in a value range a bit darker than the blue sky. Green and blue together are tricky to harmonize. Lightening the sky with Turquoise Tint might do it, also gradating the sky a bit.
This painting is by no means a lost cause. It's got good structure and planning, just looks unfinished. Keep going?
Thanks the comments, Robert. I think part of the problem was the paper I used. The 800 grit doesn't hold much pastel and after filling a lot of the tooth with the Pans, there was little tooth for the sticks. I was pushing the pastel around instead of layering. The paper worked fine for the soft looking background, but I was having difficulty with the flowers.
DeleteYou learn something with every painting and what I learned about on this one is the paper you use is very important. I won't be going back to it, because I have another painting to paint today. These are just meant to be exercises and some will be better than others. Larry actually said you have to paint 120 ugly paintings. lol I know he didn't really mean they were all going to be ugly, but he just wanted us to know that they are not all going to turn out the way we imagined them to. The important thing is to not get discouraged and to continue on with the journey.
Boy, that was a long winded reply. Take care, Robert, and thank again.
Doug, thanks for that point about 120 small paintings. I think I've been choking on needing to make them good paintings. I should cut loose and do something when I don't quite feel up to it, go even smaller if I don't feel like doing something as major as 8" x 10" even down to ATC size sometimes.
ReplyDeleteGood idea, Robert. That is why most of the painting I have done so far are 5 x 7. I think if I do a painting in oils or acrylics, 8 x 10 might be possible. I know this challenge has helped get me get going on days that are iffy. We can just do what we can do.
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