Paint Nite 15: Birds of Paradise
I'd seen this one once or twice before, but not at times I could do it, so I jumped at the chance to do it this past Friday night: Bird of paradise flowers!
Not only that, but the teacher lived in Hawaii, so I figured - she would really know how the flowers look. (I mean, I've seen them before, but not recently, and not regularly.) I was stoked.
Here's the model from the website:
First of all, I got set up, joined the Zoom at 7:57p and ... Zoom said that the host hadn't set up the meeting yet. I sat and waited, and waited. And waited. At 8:15p I gave up and went to request a ticket rebook code but then I saw I'd had another email from right around 8p, from the teacher, saying Zoom was having some technical difficulties and to use a different code. So, I joined that Zoom - where, thankfully, they were JUST getting started.
But immediately, I saw the teacher's model, the one she'd painted as an example.
OMG, no, no, no. I hated this one possibly more than I hated the mutant hedgehog-in-a-teacup. Now I did find out later than the teacher had her 11-year-old daughter help with the painting, partly as a way to gauge how challenging it would be. But it was also clear that, unlike most (if not all) the other teachers I'd had, she was an actual amateur, someone who was enthusiastic about painting, but not trained in any way. (Also, she was the only known Paint Nite teacher in Hawaii, and this was her penultimate painting before she was switching gears to another job.). She was doing this painting as a favor for a repeat customer-turned-friend who had asked her - and then invited a bunch of her own friends (I was the only person not from Oahu), and she was a little nervous about doing a "technical" painting, hence the test with her daughter. I thought, "Aha! So she's actually a little more talented." But no - her in-class painting turned out pretty much exactly the same.
So, in the end, as with the hedgehog-in-a-teacup, I followed the teacher's steps but used the website model for how I actually painted, the shapes I made, etc.
First we painted the sky, using a combination of blue and white on the brush at the same time, and (optionally) adding a little teal in to make a mottled, swirly blend of colors, with the colors becoming paler toward the horizon line:
Then we used plain blue for the water at the horizon, and slowly lightened it down toward the bottom of the page.
Then we took a 10 minute break to let the paint dry. I mean, a "walk away for 10 min" break, which I'd honestly never had before. I've had ones where the teacher talks technique, or gives hints about what's coming up, or asks to see your pets, or whatever, but this was an actual "everyone walked away" break. And given that we'd started so late anyway, it felt kind of weird.
But, ok, then we came back, and painted white where the leaves would go, so that it would be brighter over the blue ocean and sky. She was going REALLY slowly, though, and I started going ahead. The teacher was debating whether it was better to paint the white outline of flowers now or later. I went with "now" but the teacher eventually decided on "later" after I'd already started putting in white flowers, so I just went with my plan.
Then we took ANOTHER break, to let the white dry, and this time, the teacher announced we'd do a little scavenger hunt, to kill time. She said the person who brought back their item to their screen - or took the screen over to the item - first, would get a point, and the person with the most points would win a little prize. The first item was bacon, which I knew was in our freezer, but by the time I found it, someone else had brought theirs back first. Next item was a rolling pin, which was in a nearby cabinet, so I won that one. And I won the next one: salt shaker. Then, realizing that most of us were in or near our kitchens she tried to be tricky and asked for a garden hose. But we're in the midst of laying an irrigation system in our rose bed, and part of the kit is still in a box in our living room. And it includes a garden hose. So, I won that one, too, putting me as the overall winner. (The final item, which she did just for fun, even though I'd won, was to show a previous painting. Normally, mine are all up in my bedroom, but it just so happened I had a few in the front hall, waiting for me to mail them to my mom so I was able to whisk those over, too, lol.)
Then it was back to painting. One of the things that was odd, though, was that she was going super-slowly for beginners but didn't explain how to mix a green. She did mention she'd provided supplies to all the students because they'd all had codes for an in-person Paint Nite that obviously had been cancelled so she wanted to be sure they had supplies, so maybe she'd given them some green and orange? But, anyway, I went took my standard green and went ahead and mixed up some lighter (with yellow) and darker (with a little black) so I could paint in the various shades. Like I said before, at this point I was pretty much just keeping my ear out for the teacher but doing my own thing.
Before painting the flowers, I looked up images of real birds of paradise, just to see how they compared with the artistic version. Real ones have little blue spikes, in addition to the red/orange/yellow parts, so I added a bit into mine, too. I'm not entirely thrilled with how mine turned out, in terms of how fine a point I was able to make on my petals, and the coloring in general, but it's ok, I guess, and it's definitely WAY better than the teacher's. (Seriously, at one point one of the other students was making a recommendation to the teacher on technique.) I do kind of wish I'd painted the white flowers on top of the green, like the teacher did, because I did have to put on a few coats in places to cover up dark green. One thing that was annoying, though, was I'd gotten a smidge of paint on the sky, and in my attempt to fix it, I didn't pick exactly the right shade of blue and had to try to repaint the bottom strip of sky but going AROUND all the flowers and leaves. Honestly, I should have just left the little spatter in place. :-P Anyway, this was the finished result:
It turned out that the substitute Zoom link we'd been using was the teacher's personal account, so we were able to go on for however long we needed, rather than having the 2-2:15ish limit on official Paint Nite accounts. It started at 8p EDT (2p Hawaiian time), 8:15p if we count the technical difficulties, and I finally bowed out around 11:10pm. Like I said, I'd been working ahead, and it STILL took that long, with the various breaks and such. Oy.
So, I will say that the teacher was fun, but definitely far less skilled than most, and that was a little disappointing. Just someone who dives into things with full enthusiasm and figures it out as she goes (which was how she was entering her next job, as well, from the way she was describing it).
Next post: not remotely related to painting.
Not only that, but the teacher lived in Hawaii, so I figured - she would really know how the flowers look. (I mean, I've seen them before, but not recently, and not regularly.) I was stoked.
Here's the model from the website:
First of all, I got set up, joined the Zoom at 7:57p and ... Zoom said that the host hadn't set up the meeting yet. I sat and waited, and waited. And waited. At 8:15p I gave up and went to request a ticket rebook code but then I saw I'd had another email from right around 8p, from the teacher, saying Zoom was having some technical difficulties and to use a different code. So, I joined that Zoom - where, thankfully, they were JUST getting started.
But immediately, I saw the teacher's model, the one she'd painted as an example.
OMG, no, no, no. I hated this one possibly more than I hated the mutant hedgehog-in-a-teacup. Now I did find out later than the teacher had her 11-year-old daughter help with the painting, partly as a way to gauge how challenging it would be. But it was also clear that, unlike most (if not all) the other teachers I'd had, she was an actual amateur, someone who was enthusiastic about painting, but not trained in any way. (Also, she was the only known Paint Nite teacher in Hawaii, and this was her penultimate painting before she was switching gears to another job.). She was doing this painting as a favor for a repeat customer-turned-friend who had asked her - and then invited a bunch of her own friends (I was the only person not from Oahu), and she was a little nervous about doing a "technical" painting, hence the test with her daughter. I thought, "Aha! So she's actually a little more talented." But no - her in-class painting turned out pretty much exactly the same.
So, in the end, as with the hedgehog-in-a-teacup, I followed the teacher's steps but used the website model for how I actually painted, the shapes I made, etc.
First we painted the sky, using a combination of blue and white on the brush at the same time, and (optionally) adding a little teal in to make a mottled, swirly blend of colors, with the colors becoming paler toward the horizon line:
Then we used plain blue for the water at the horizon, and slowly lightened it down toward the bottom of the page.
Then we took a 10 minute break to let the paint dry. I mean, a "walk away for 10 min" break, which I'd honestly never had before. I've had ones where the teacher talks technique, or gives hints about what's coming up, or asks to see your pets, or whatever, but this was an actual "everyone walked away" break. And given that we'd started so late anyway, it felt kind of weird.
But, ok, then we came back, and painted white where the leaves would go, so that it would be brighter over the blue ocean and sky. She was going REALLY slowly, though, and I started going ahead. The teacher was debating whether it was better to paint the white outline of flowers now or later. I went with "now" but the teacher eventually decided on "later" after I'd already started putting in white flowers, so I just went with my plan.
Then we took ANOTHER break, to let the white dry, and this time, the teacher announced we'd do a little scavenger hunt, to kill time. She said the person who brought back their item to their screen - or took the screen over to the item - first, would get a point, and the person with the most points would win a little prize. The first item was bacon, which I knew was in our freezer, but by the time I found it, someone else had brought theirs back first. Next item was a rolling pin, which was in a nearby cabinet, so I won that one. And I won the next one: salt shaker. Then, realizing that most of us were in or near our kitchens she tried to be tricky and asked for a garden hose. But we're in the midst of laying an irrigation system in our rose bed, and part of the kit is still in a box in our living room. And it includes a garden hose. So, I won that one, too, putting me as the overall winner. (The final item, which she did just for fun, even though I'd won, was to show a previous painting. Normally, mine are all up in my bedroom, but it just so happened I had a few in the front hall, waiting for me to mail them to my mom so I was able to whisk those over, too, lol.)
Then it was back to painting. One of the things that was odd, though, was that she was going super-slowly for beginners but didn't explain how to mix a green. She did mention she'd provided supplies to all the students because they'd all had codes for an in-person Paint Nite that obviously had been cancelled so she wanted to be sure they had supplies, so maybe she'd given them some green and orange? But, anyway, I went took my standard green and went ahead and mixed up some lighter (with yellow) and darker (with a little black) so I could paint in the various shades. Like I said before, at this point I was pretty much just keeping my ear out for the teacher but doing my own thing.
Before painting the flowers, I looked up images of real birds of paradise, just to see how they compared with the artistic version. Real ones have little blue spikes, in addition to the red/orange/yellow parts, so I added a bit into mine, too. I'm not entirely thrilled with how mine turned out, in terms of how fine a point I was able to make on my petals, and the coloring in general, but it's ok, I guess, and it's definitely WAY better than the teacher's. (Seriously, at one point one of the other students was making a recommendation to the teacher on technique.) I do kind of wish I'd painted the white flowers on top of the green, like the teacher did, because I did have to put on a few coats in places to cover up dark green. One thing that was annoying, though, was I'd gotten a smidge of paint on the sky, and in my attempt to fix it, I didn't pick exactly the right shade of blue and had to try to repaint the bottom strip of sky but going AROUND all the flowers and leaves. Honestly, I should have just left the little spatter in place. :-P Anyway, this was the finished result:
It turned out that the substitute Zoom link we'd been using was the teacher's personal account, so we were able to go on for however long we needed, rather than having the 2-2:15ish limit on official Paint Nite accounts. It started at 8p EDT (2p Hawaiian time), 8:15p if we count the technical difficulties, and I finally bowed out around 11:10pm. Like I said, I'd been working ahead, and it STILL took that long, with the various breaks and such. Oy.
So, I will say that the teacher was fun, but definitely far less skilled than most, and that was a little disappointing. Just someone who dives into things with full enthusiasm and figures it out as she goes (which was how she was entering her next job, as well, from the way she was describing it).
Next post: not remotely related to painting.