Challenge November - December 2009

I've selected a reference photo for each of the major subject catagories: Still Life, Animal, Landscape, Portrait or Figure and Master Painting. Post your updates to this thread and or finished painting. You can work on as many of the photos you would like. You can use any style you would like and change the photograph in any way you'd like.

Ready... set... have fun!

Still Life - Credit for the Reference photo Flickr Jackie Hodges
Link to higher res photo select All Sizes: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8602028@N04/522512821/



Animal - Credit for the Reference photo Flickr Chi King
Link to higher res photo select All Sizes: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davelau/1347486440/



Landscape - Credit for Reference photo Flickr Chi King
Link to higher res photo select All Sizes: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davelau/1072046663/



Portrait - Credit for Reference photo Flickr babasteve (Steve Evans)
Link to higher res photo select All Sizes: http://www.flickr.com/photos/babasteve/3922570585/



Master Painting - John Ottis Adams - Gleaners at Rest

Link to higher res photo select All Sizes:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11706546@N00/?saved=1

Hi Janet,
I love your choices. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait until the cast comes off, but then I may tackle a few (or at least one)

Judy

Hi Judy! I'm glad you like the choices. I'll probably start working on my first one in a few days. I have some work to catch up on. Don't overdue it. This challenge will run until the end of December. After that they will be monthly.

I have the perfect background done for the still life. I did it with the cast on using a technique the Callie told me about. Once I can do more detailed work, I'll give it a try.

Judy

I'm looking forward to seeing your painting Judy. I'll be out of town tomorrow but I'll probably be able to start on mine on Thursday.

I have my art show in December and am working furiously to complete the art. After that I hope to try something.

I certainly understand. Good luck with your art show and keep us posted on how it's going.

Ohhh, nice, nice and nice! But alas, I have so many paintings I want to do from plein air studies and photos I've taken in my area. I like painting what's close to me. Still, those trees... they are inspiring! Guess I'm a tree-person

Chantal, I'm glad you like the references! I certainly understand your preferences. Whatever you're doing... keep doing it because the results are fantastic. Drop in at any time on the challenge. No need to participate in the painting end to comment.

I guess I should get started on that still life. I have the drawing done so it's time to start the painting process. I'll be doing it in stages one area at a time. I'm not going to do an underpainting on this one and see how it goes. This is just a test of working in stages to get some ideas on how it will work. Crossing my fingers and toes.

I've started mine finally. Just starting this in sections. Not the greatest photo but all that's done so far is the background.

I think I'm finished and I think I'm returning to my abuse of white stage. So much for doing it in sections. I think I might have to learn to paint in one session with bigger brushes because once I get started I just can't stop. 16X12 on canvas.

Good job. Janet. I don't think you abused white.

Here is a link to a great free video by Mike Rooney talking about lightening colors without using white.

http://www.jerrysartarama.com//videoApplication/videoLesson.html?title=Mike%20Rooney%20-%20%22How%20to%20Lighten%20Bright%20Colors%22&id=159&res=lowRes&catTitle=Artists&subTitle=Mike%20Rooney&cat=4&sub=4

If you have a chance, there are a lot of free videos on the site and Mike also does one on darkening colorswithout black or complementary colors...really fascinating.

http://www.jerrysartarama.com//videoApplication/videoLesson.html?title=Mike%20Rooney%20-%20%22How%20to%20Darken%20Bright%20Colors%22&id=155&res=lowRes&catTitle=Artists&subTitle=Mike%20Rooney&cat=4&sub=4

I'm getting ready to start the still life while my Mozaart painting dries.

Judy

Thank you Judy for your kind words and links! Funny thing is I know about lightening a color without using white and I still do it. I'll reread through these though to refresh my memory because I'm slipping into the same habit. I'm looking forward to seeing your Still Life.

Well, here is the start of the still life. The background was done in acrylics while I was still in the cast and could only use my left hand. It is on a 9 x 12 canvas paper. I put a very thin coat of walnut oil over the acrylic to help with bonding and flow of the paints which are WN Artisans.



I'm using a cerulean blue, light cad red and lemon yellow for the moment. This may change but I'm not sure. My supervisor made sure that I did everything right.



Here is the end progress for today.



I'll probably wait two days before I work on it again.

Judy

Judy, your still life is coming along very nicely. Looking forward to your next update!

In the "tips for painting a landscape" thread, I explained how I put my photos through filters to blur the details and establish the values, much like I would if I were squinting while plein air painting. I offered to show an example of a filtered photo for the november-december challenge so here it is:

One of my favorite filters is the "charcoal drawing":



This one is kind of neat too, called "wide strokes":



It can also be useful to reduce your image to black and white so you can determine the values more accurately. Usually, when I'm almost finished with the painting, I go back to the unfiltered photo to add a touch of final detail wherever necessary, but since I'm more of an impressionist than a realist, I try to keep that to a minimum.

Hope someone finds this useful! If you want larger photos, I can send you the full-size version.

They are great. It is amazing to see how a photo can be so totally altered by a click on the computer. Thanks for taking the time to show us.

Judy

Chantal, Thank you for doing this and the explanation! I really appreciate it! When I get to the landscape I think I'll give that second one a try. The size works for me because I do it on my laptop and I don't need it really big. You're the best!

Janet - well done, especially that vase (odd shape). Here's your prize for being the first to complete a painting for this month's challenge - (we don't have any gold stars!). One suggestion; in the highlights on the apples, you could add a little blue, also - see how blue the light is on the plum? Maybe glaze over the banana highlight with some very thin lemon yellow. You can always go back and add more white if needed.
As for using too much white in general, you could try starting your paintings without it - only put it on the palette after you've made a good start (basic shapes, shadows, some local color).
In spite of your "white abuse", it's still a very nice painting

Judy - Good start there, I hope your hand is doing OK.

Chantal - thanks for the photo manipulations. Some pictures can seem a bit overwhelming, it helps to remove the clutter.

Thank you Callie for the blue star I'll treasure it forever. Thank you for your kind words and advice. I'll set it aside for now but might take a stab at it again later in the month going over your points. Good tip on how to avoid the "white abuse" problem

Good start judy.

Janet, yours looks great, especially the fruit - I like how loose they are.

Thank you Sofie!

Great job on the still life Janet! I don't think you overdid the white.

Thank you Chantal!