Learning from the Cosmos

A View of the Cosmos, oil on canvas, 10 x 8 inches

Yep I studied the Cosmos and learned something today.  This is my week to share simple painting mistakes.  I paint a lot so I make a lot of mistakes.  I thought writing about them as soon as they happen would be fun to do, might give you a chuckle or two. 

    While walking around my garden this morning spotted a couple of cosmos flowers that had popped up between my bean plants.  Loved the color and how delicate they looked so I picked one and brought it in to paint.  Being so excited about the new little subject, I put it in a cup and started a painting.  I got one small painting done, went on to do a second painting. As I was painting noticed my flower on the canvas seemed much larger than the actual flower. 

Thought that was strange but kept painting.  Next I noticed the distinctive pointed edges of the flower had just disappeared.  Well, here is my mistake for the day:  if you pick a flower to paint, remember to put it in water!  Yep I stopped and added some water to the cup and what do you know, my flower uncurled and came right back to life. 

 Three done, off to add a 4th.  Using an 18 x 24 canvas pad for these little studies, the ones I like will be cut and matted and listed later on to Daily Paint Works.

Mary

Schiros_Art

Painting Mistakes

Sunflower Stages, Oil on canvas, 14 x 11 inches

     There are tons of rules about painting.  You learn them in classes, from books, but the ones best remembered are from experience.  That is why I say every painting is a learning experience, no matter how long you have painted. 

    I am going to share one of these with you.  Yesterday the sun was shinning, the sky clear and my sunflowers looked great, time to set up the easel outside and paint.  I grabbed 4 canvases, a pile of brushes and paint and went to work.  Each canvas I used a different approach (yes I tend to multi task).  The one I am sharing today had a light green base color already on it and dry.  As I was looking at the sunflowers, I quickly applied some random strokes to the canvas. 

     Mistake #1, Composition, didn’t think about it at all.  Sometimes that works and it is pure luck, but most of the time if that basic foundation is skipped, like a house it comes crumbling down. 

     Mistake #2, rule of odds.  As I was working on it I put two sunflower buds in it, neither one worked as a focal point.  Oh that is right, mistake #3, lacking a focal point.

    Proceeded to try and correct this by adding a flower.  Mistake # 4, perspective, although they overlapped, the painting just looked flat, the clues to foreground and background were just not happening, they just looked bunched up.  So I removed a bud, better, still just not right.  At this point I had to set it aside and work on something else. 

That is why I always work on more than one painting at once. 

   Later I sat and studied my problem child and saw mistake #5, not taking into consideration focus.  In life when you are looking at something only one area will be in true focus, the rest is slightly out of focus.  This error was actually fun to correct, big brush mess up everything that that had too much detail; except for the area I wanted the detail. 

    At the end I am fairly pleased with this one, maybe because it was a great reminder of rules that need to be remembered.  So it doesn’t hurt to keep this things tucked in the back of your mind while painting, just remember to pull them out and use them once in a while.

As Robert Genn said: "I go from move to move--working out the puzzle--until it's either completed or abandoned."

    Next time I will share my other big mistake, from the same day, just another canvas.

 Mary

 Schiros_Art

Four Pears

"Four Pear" Acrylic on canvas 14 x 18 inches

Last post I shared some paintings of single pears, using different cool temperatures.   I had thought about making a collage of the 4 paintings, but thought it would be more of a learning experience to create a painting instead of a collage.
Here is what I came up with.

Mary
Schiros_Art

Color and Temperature

"Warm Pear"  Acrylic on canvas, 12 x 9 inches

I have often admitted I am an art supply junkie, and of course that includes books about art.  So, it is time to start sharing some reviews of painting books.  The latest one in my collections is “Color Theory” by Walter Foster.  This is an easy to read, small book that really covers the subject well. 

   A good way to use a book on painting is to read it then go through and pick some examples and give it a try on your own.  Thought I would share my first practice.

I painted a pear trying to capture the difference in warm light and cool light, just one of the subjects covered in this book.

"Cool Pear" 

 Mary

Schiros_Art

Daily Painting

     As most of you know I post to Daily Paint Works to sell and auction my paintings.   But one of the things I really like about that site is they have challenges for the artists.  This week it was all about sunflowers.  Thought I would share what I posted.  
     Sometimes being part of a web site that has many  artists in it can feel a little like getting lost in a crowd, but this group makes me feel like part of a family:)
Mary
Schiros_Art 

mini art videos

Thought I would share how to do a quick and easy video of your art.

First your need a digital camera,  and keep it handy to where you are painting.  I like and use a Nikon Coolpik. Take  picture of your starting point, and maybe also of what you are painting.
I use mainly single photos, to create my video from.  But you can also set up a camera and take video segments to link together for a full video.

Two: take more than one photo, never fails the one I think will turn out ends up blurry.  I usually take 3 photos at a time.

Next either set a timer of stop and take a photo when ever you notice a change in the character of your painting.  And don't be a scared to take photos at points that may not be a "perfect" looking spot in the painting process, working through those points are what makes the process interesting.

Download and edit pictures cropping to the same layout, and I also resize each photo to the same size, I like at least 1900 pixels and a DPI of 300.  I use IrFan View for my photo editing.  IrFan is program that can be down loaded off the net for free.

The video program I use is the basic Windows Movie Maker.

Remember to use music that is legal to use, if adding music.  Personally I prefer music to talking.  I use Dano Music because it is good music and has a lot of types to choose from.

Once you have you photos and music downloaded on your PC, open up the Movie editor and select the photos and music and import them to the Movie editor.

Then it is just the process of lining up the photos, dropping in the music, adding any extra transition, titles, or notes and saving the new video.  Remember to share it on youtube so everyone can see it!

http://youtu.be/5GdzJNFCP2s

Hope you have fun with this.
Mary
Schiros_Art