Thursday, January 20, 2011

How to watch a DVD



Open package, load DVD, watch. Nope, there is more to it.

I just got through watching, Caroline Jasper’s art instruction DVD called “Landscape Oil Painting on Red Ground”, excellent DVD, highly suggest it. But the truth is this is the second time through it for me.

What I like to do is watch an instructional DVD the first time, relaxed, as if watch a TV show. Put the DVD in the player, put my feet up, and just relax. The second time I am ready to go to work. I have my material ready, and my digital camera handy.

As I start painting along, I will pause the DVD, and take a quick snap shot of what is a good reference point of my painting. The reason I do this is short term memory, yep I will most likely forget what I did along the way. This happens especially if my materials are slightly different. Jasper paint on red ground (red colored gesso) with oil paints. I like gold ground better and use acrylics. So by having references to how my painting develops I can expand on this in the future. If you can refer to how something has been was done originally there is no going back and reinventing the wheel.

There is so much contrast to the start and end of a painting, and both points are extremely important, references are important.

Most of the time I start with gold as an under painting but I also posted a photo of a blue under painting, because I like to break my own rules. But if you follow my blog you have probably noticed that I do think that a colorful foundation can be very helpful with acrylic painting. And Caroline Jasper is an artist that uses that base to make beautiful work. Check out her DVDs and web site to find out more.

http://www.carolinejasper.com

Hey don’t forget to check out my web site too:

http://mbschiros.artspan.com