My Barn Burned Down

Posts Tagged ‘learn to paint’

Ooh, I’m all inspired! Better stop before I write a book.

Hope that helps in some way – it helped me.

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Raymond Logan's Use of Warm/Cool Yellow

I troll around on a lot of artist’s blogs (for a free education) and one I keep going back to especially is Raymond Logan’s. After attempting the “Whistler style” a few posts back, and in working with color mixing exercises, the use of value and temperature is,  of course, in the forefront of my mind now when looking at artworks. The surprising thing about painting and drawing, to me, is not that we CAN do it, it’s that often the reason we can’t is that we don’t really see what’s there. Nor how to study what is there. This link to Logan’s post on warm/cool use of yellow is a great example. I keep going back to it to study because I know I don’t yet really grok warm/cool in painting and this painting is helping me break through that. Hope it helps you, too.

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For one year I have been on the internet ISO painting instruction. There is lots and lots of stuff available, lots of great free stuff, and lots more expensive (not to say not worth the money, just out of my budget).  I have picked up great tips on artists blogs, wished I had the time and money to go take some of the workshops offered, and even looked into local college courses — again, time and money. During the summer I was saving to purchase The Carder Method, based on some recommendations on some forums and one artist I respect talked about how it showed her how off her color mixing was. My wonderful step-mom gifted me with The Carder Method and I must say, it blew my mind. As I watched him mix the colors and match them using his special tool, I actually had something SHIFT in my mind and I could see the colors differently than before. I definitely think that is worth the $120 plus $15 for the color tool. I was really helped by his method.  However, it is based on setting up an elaborate still life, with special lighting, black everywhere else, and using oil paints with a medium that I would not be able to tolerate. The advantage is one pass painting, and a very smooth Old Masters look. So I am using much of what he taught but was still thinking, why isn’t there a course for the complete buffoon? The complete newbie where they assume you know absolutely nothing and walk you through how to paint in oils?

VOILA! You guessed it! In my stumbling and fumbling I found the Legacy Learning System and as it had JUST come out (late August) it was on sale and had a three payment plan, and I went for it.

The package arrived and whoever designed their packaging deserves a medal. The immediate impression was: Wow, class act! I hope the meal is as great as the presentation. I am on lesson 5 (of 26!) and I am now so impressed I could not wait to blog about it.  Gayle Levee is a marvelous teacher, takes her time, tells you every little step without making you feel stupid (now, wipe your brush, then pick up more paint). I would have been insulted at that level of detail of instruction had I not had my disastrous first experience with oils en plein air at Walney Pond! I did NOT wipe my brush before each stroke and guess what?! MUD.

Anyway, this post is for you out there who has said a gazillion times, “Oh I wish I could paint but I can’t”. You can. You just need training, and in the comfort of your own home, with no one WATCHING, it’s the BEST. The other really great thing they have thought of is to put together a kit of paints and tools so you don’t even have to enter into an art supply store and freak out when you see all the millions of things you know nothing about!

And the biggest, greatest secret I learned about (being super sensitive to solvents of any kind) is good old fashioned Baby Oil! It’s a secret. You’ll have to get the course to find out about it.

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Walney Pond, Chantilly, VA

Yesterday I went on my first plein air painting trip! I am always impressed with seeing artists out with their easels set up and seeing them complete a full painting in one session. Usually the style is impressionistic/expressionistic,  so I thought, well, that shouldn’t be too hard. oy vay. My first mistake was deciding to try plein air combined with just learning oils. (I am used to acrylics). Wet into wet painting is a whole new ball game and everything kept getting overmixed and turning the same color.  The next mistake I discovered was not blocking in the main areas of the scene onto my canvas. I ran out of room for the pond reflections-plus inverse sky.  Pfew. A lotta learning the hard way. After three hours I decided I had to let the thing dry and finish it later from photos.

My first attempt at plein air painting. (No LOL zone)

What I had not experienced before was how challenging it is to even see the colors of nature when you are looking right at it! I actually felt my brain struggling with “water is not blue” because clearly, on a totally overcast day, the water was mostly tree reflections and dark green, brown, gray….not blue. And the bank of trees were obviously made up of individual trees with many different colors….of GREEN. Okay, that tree is green but I can see it next to the next tree which is green, but really red green, next to bluegray green….oy vay again.

But it was great fun, as it was part of a Meetup.com group and hanging out with other aspiring artists was invigorating. The location was gorgeous and I decided that plein air painting and painting from life in the studio are my goals. I definitely recommend you try it!

Here’s one plein air painter’s blog I follow for inspiration: Tom Brown.

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