Painting Project No. 38 from “Ways to Learn Acrylics”

'Painting wood: Chair' was project 38 in “Little Ways to Learn Acrylics: 50 small painting projects...” by Mark Daniel Nelson. This was an interesting exercise and for once I didn’t go crazy trying to make everything perfect. Painting the textured wood surface first worked, except that painting the background as negative space didn't leave room for error:(.

Painting Project No. 36 & 37 from “Ways to Learn Acrylics”

Today I'm posting two still life projects from “Little Ways to Learn Acrylics: 50 small painting projects...” by Mark Daniel Nelson. They both involve perspective, straight lines and cast shadows…all the things I’m not good at so don’t expect much.

Project number 36 ‘Warm light, cool shadow: Gift box’. This exercise is similar to project 8; didn’t like it then, don’t like it now. Not finding my style yet but I am learning what it isn’t. As with the cardboard box, I spent a lot of time working and reworking the sides but this was more difficult because it had a ribbon. I left it on my easel for days messing around and then finally accepted the fact that it’s never going to be perfect.

Project number 37 ‘Rendering intricate details: Clothes peg’ was described in the book as having intricate parts that make it a challenging subject. Well that’s putting it mildly. Even though it was difficult to paint, the 'Clothes peg' was much easier than the ‘Gift box’. It might be because I didn’t get too worked up about the accuracy of shape and perspective.

Acrylic painting from Karen Pearson’s Art Class - ‘Alice’

Watercolour classes with Karen Pearson were a good opportunity to learn drawing and composition but my watercolour skills didn’t really advance.

To my surprise, in only one of Karen's acrylic painting classes I felt a big improvement. At home, there were a few minor adjustments but for the most part the painting was finished in 3 hours. As always there are things that probably could be perfected but I want to paint something new in her next class.

Painting Project No. 35 from “Ways to Learn Acrylics” - Balloon dog

Project 35 in “Little Ways to Learn Acrylics: 50 small painting projects...” by Mark Daniel Nelson is ‘Rendering a transparent object: Balloon dog’. This exercise is now my favourite; from the first step the image was pretty remarkable. My only regret is that I painted it on mixed media canvas and not a canvas board. The book suggests trying this exercise again with different balloon animals and colours… will do it after finishing the book :).

Painting Project No. 34 from “Ways to Learn Acrylics” - Bulb

The final 16 projects in “Little Ways to Learn Acrylics: 50 small painting projects...” by Mark Daniel Nelson is Chapter 4, ‘rendering surface and form'.

Project 34 ‘Painting simple highlights: Light bulb’ was an example in rendering focus on glass and metal.  In my opinion, the painting was uninspiring but the lesson was a good one.

Watercolour Duck & White Swans in Wendy’s class

In one of Wendy’s classes we painted a white duck in watercolour; I painted the same duck Wendy demonstrated. Watercolour is still a difficult medium for me to use, so it was easier to follow by instruction. Even though much more time was spent on it, mine didn’t come out half as nice as the tutor’s or the original.

The next week we were to select an image of a white bird to paint in acrylics. Painting in acrylics is much easier and I drew an image from Paint My Photo. I was happy with the final painting and even signed it :).

Oil Pastels with The Seasons Art Class - Pear & Cow

In my Monday The Seasons Art Class we spent the first three weeks learning to draw with pencil then the next two weeks learning to use oil pastels.

The fourth week was about the different marks you can make with oil pastels and then a tutorial on drawing a simple object. With a pear in front of me for inspiration, I drew in oil pastel on A3 mixed media paper. The pear came out looking pretty nice and I enhanced it a little in photo shop to make it look even better.

The next week was about drawing simple shapes to form animals. For my subject, I drew a cow from a photo onto A3 mixed media paper. My cow came out really nice with minimal effort. Oil pastels are pretty awesome and I want to experiment with them some more :).