(no subject)
Painting, Weeks 3 and 4
Another interesting aspect of oil painting, and a lot of art in general, is that you start off fast and slow down the closer you get to the end. You start by blocking out big shapes - look at the composition, where things are placed, etc. After that's done, you do the big blocks of color (even in Chinese painting). Then you go in with the details. If you look at one of my older Chinese watercolor paintings:
The leaves appear to have "veins" on them. The leaves are done as a whole first (dip the entire brush in a light watered down blue color, then dip the tip in black ink... do a sideways sweep and you have that two-toned effect that you see). While the paper is still damp, use a very thin brush with the tip dipped in black ink and draw in the "veins."
I'm more than halfway through my art class now, but I don't think I'm more than halfway (or even halfway!) done with my painting. That's okay, this was expected. The class has been a lot more fun than I expected. This next Wednesday's class is actually my last one, as I won't be able to go to the last scheduled class since we have tickets to see the Glee (squee!) concert :-) (it will also be our 4th anniversary...). I'm hoping to do some extra painting tonight and tomorrow night so I can go into my last class a bit more ahead than planned - that way, I can receive the best advice from the teacher, Eric, that I can get. The classmates have been super nice and wonderful, and we have a nice rapport. I already told Eric that when he teaches a portrait painting class, I'm definitely signing up, but I'll be bringing a much smaller canvas.
So, onto my painting.
Week 3
I focused on the trees. I wanted to get their colors more accurate and get a bit of texture in there. I had a lot of trouble with the texture. Eric pointed out that I tended to make my trees very smooth (though I contend I was still in the "getting the colors right" phase and not focused on the texture yet). But I did get a good lesson on painting texture on trees, so I can't complain. I do tend to only use my brushes in one direction - I need to get out of that habit. You can tell on this picture, actually. The trees on the right have a very smooth, unnatural look to them, whereas the trees on the left, especially that one on the far left in front, has a rough, textured feel. I think the graininess of the cell phone camera works to my advantage here - in real life, it's less "rough" and more "diseased" to me. Of course, this would just be me being too harsh on myself - my parents have trained me to be my harshest critic.
The only other thing I did that week was add tiny bits of water on the left side between the trees/rocks and work a bit on that rock jutting out of the waterfall on the left.
Week 4
I only focused on one thing this week - water. Specifically, the portion of the waterfall that's in the upper left area. I wanted to get the "smooth" look of the water flowing. Eric taught me a cool trick to use a dry, flat brush and just swipe down along the direction of water flow at the very end to "polish" everything up. I really like the way it turned out. I feel like the contrast isn't as large in the central area that I worked on, but I will go in and add high- and lowlights to make the areas stand out more. I think in the next few days I'll be working on the rest of the waterfall.
Back to my original point - it seems like I've slowed down so much. 2.5 hours on some trees? In the first two days, I covered up so much more of the canvas. But that's how it goes. Apply paint, apply slightly different colored paint, blend with clean brush. Check to see how it looks, try again or move on to the next area.
I think I'll continue doing these updates after my class is over, for as long as I'm still painting :)
Another interesting aspect of oil painting, and a lot of art in general, is that you start off fast and slow down the closer you get to the end. You start by blocking out big shapes - look at the composition, where things are placed, etc. After that's done, you do the big blocks of color (even in Chinese painting). Then you go in with the details. If you look at one of my older Chinese watercolor paintings:
The leaves appear to have "veins" on them. The leaves are done as a whole first (dip the entire brush in a light watered down blue color, then dip the tip in black ink... do a sideways sweep and you have that two-toned effect that you see). While the paper is still damp, use a very thin brush with the tip dipped in black ink and draw in the "veins."
I'm more than halfway through my art class now, but I don't think I'm more than halfway (or even halfway!) done with my painting. That's okay, this was expected. The class has been a lot more fun than I expected. This next Wednesday's class is actually my last one, as I won't be able to go to the last scheduled class since we have tickets to see the Glee (squee!) concert :-) (it will also be our 4th anniversary...). I'm hoping to do some extra painting tonight and tomorrow night so I can go into my last class a bit more ahead than planned - that way, I can receive the best advice from the teacher, Eric, that I can get. The classmates have been super nice and wonderful, and we have a nice rapport. I already told Eric that when he teaches a portrait painting class, I'm definitely signing up, but I'll be bringing a much smaller canvas.
So, onto my painting.
Week 3
I focused on the trees. I wanted to get their colors more accurate and get a bit of texture in there. I had a lot of trouble with the texture. Eric pointed out that I tended to make my trees very smooth (though I contend I was still in the "getting the colors right" phase and not focused on the texture yet). But I did get a good lesson on painting texture on trees, so I can't complain. I do tend to only use my brushes in one direction - I need to get out of that habit. You can tell on this picture, actually. The trees on the right have a very smooth, unnatural look to them, whereas the trees on the left, especially that one on the far left in front, has a rough, textured feel. I think the graininess of the cell phone camera works to my advantage here - in real life, it's less "rough" and more "diseased" to me. Of course, this would just be me being too harsh on myself - my parents have trained me to be my harshest critic.
The only other thing I did that week was add tiny bits of water on the left side between the trees/rocks and work a bit on that rock jutting out of the waterfall on the left.
Week 4
I only focused on one thing this week - water. Specifically, the portion of the waterfall that's in the upper left area. I wanted to get the "smooth" look of the water flowing. Eric taught me a cool trick to use a dry, flat brush and just swipe down along the direction of water flow at the very end to "polish" everything up. I really like the way it turned out. I feel like the contrast isn't as large in the central area that I worked on, but I will go in and add high- and lowlights to make the areas stand out more. I think in the next few days I'll be working on the rest of the waterfall.
Back to my original point - it seems like I've slowed down so much. 2.5 hours on some trees? In the first two days, I covered up so much more of the canvas. But that's how it goes. Apply paint, apply slightly different colored paint, blend with clean brush. Check to see how it looks, try again or move on to the next area.
I think I'll continue doing these updates after my class is over, for as long as I'm still painting :)