Outreach Peru

I'm pretty happy with this iteration. Not sure if it will be the last. Looks great in the frame bought for the gala auction.

Maybe it's time to move onto a different scene and offer something different for my friend?

Outreach Peru

Here's another version of the same scene I've been painting over and over again. I think it turned out pretty well. Maybe the composition isn't quite right though?

I'd like to bring the foreground mountain forward and make it look three dimensional rather than flat like an aerial photo. It also seems like the shapes are too equal. Maybe some should be skinny and some fat?

Maybe i need to make the whole foreground mountain much darker to give it form? If anyone has any suggestions to do it differently, I'd love to see comments.

Horse and Train

I love this painting by Alex Colville!

I tried painting my own version and pretty happy with it. It's definitely not as awesome, but I think the experience of copying is very interesting. I didn't get the horse quite right. In awe of how he captured it's form.

I drew lines over the original to study composition. I noticed how the bottom half of the horse's ass is in shadow and fits under a diagonal intersect and the lighter half of the torso is above the diagonal. Also, the horizon is pretty much two thirds up the paper following the "rule of thirds." Even the smoke from the train follows a diagonal in the NW quadrant. It's very interesting.

Abstract time lapse move

Abstract Portrait

I like this painting now. I didn't when it was first finished. It turned out much different than intended. So perhaps disappointed at first and not liking it for what it is. But we're all good now.

I wanted to make a pretty realistic portrait and then put wet wrap over it and smush it around until it was partially unrecognizable. That is, eyes and nose and mouth etc might blend or be distorted. After the smushing everything was unrecognizable and only a vague outline of head and shoulders remained.

I feel like I'm learning a lot everyday about how to paint watercolors and my learning curve is very steep right now. If that is true, I must still be at the very start of my 10,000 hours of painting. That's kind of exciting.

Recent revelations include:

1. layering a colour over another before the first one is BONE DRY will lift the first one and reveal blank paper underneath.

2. A dry brush swished around over almost dry paint or a slight damp area can make some nice brush strokes.

3. Over mixing of colours makes a muddy dull color.

None of these revelations really relate to the painting above. The Peru pictures are move applicable.

Mountain Steps

Here is another work of Peru based on a photo by Donna. It's definitely not too realistic. I like the variety of colors that are in the mountains and the light in the background.

Well I haven't been a full time painter recently. I've been putting more effort into finding a full time job. Maybe I was previously slacking on that, but it still is my number 1 priority. I have been putting more effort into being productive and not blogging so much about it. It's sort of silly to be wasting time complaining about not producing enough when I should be painting. Overall I'm painting more and more active in my job search. Happy the funk has passed!