Painting Project No. 24 from “Ways to Learn Acrylics” - Abstract

Project 24 in ‘Little Ways to Learn Acrylics: 50 small painting projects..." by Mark Daniel Nelson was ‘Redefining the brushstroke: Drip Painting’. Jackson Pollock is one of my favourite artists so there was no trouble making this painting. The only thing is knowing when to stop. I took a few photos of the different layers just for fun.

Painting Project No. 22 & 23 from “Ways to Learn Acrylics”

Moving right along; I’ve posted two landscape projects from ‘Little Ways to Learn Acrylics: 50 small painting projects..." by Mark Daniel Nelson.

Project number 22 ‘Varying brushstrokes: Road and sky’ came out nicer than expected. Most of the landscape projects in this book haven’t really been my thing. For some reason I liked this one; it’s loose, was easy to create and the image is easy on the eye.

Project number 23 ‘Using loose strokes: Impressionist landscape’ didn’t come out as well as the previous one. The technique was similar but the colours were more vibrant. This painting was hard for me because I was working from the artists painting and not from my own image. I like the technique but would like to try it on one of my own landscape photos.

Royal Academy, British Museum & Tate Modern - London 2016

My birthday was last Saturday and my husband took me to London for the weekend. He bought me a membership to the Royal Academy of Arts and we went to see the ‘Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse’ exhibition. It was Friday night and very crowded so there wasn’t enough time with each painting. I want to go back and get a better look some time during the week. The great thing about becoming a friend of the RA is you can go to the exhibits for free.

On Saturday, we went to the British Museum for Francis Towne’s watercolours of Rome.  It was pretty amazing to see all these fantastic paintings in watercolour from 200 years ago. It’s the first time I’ve seen so many watercolour paintings in one place by one person. It was also interesting because Towne used ink and wash for most of his paintings and I love that technique. The museum had some wonderful sculptures as well.

On the way home on Sunday we walked down the south bank and I got some really great photos of performers that would be nice to paint.

We also went through the Tate Modern to see what exhibit was in the Turbine Hall, but weren’t too impressed. It wasn't a wasted trip because the book store had a great selection of books to improve painting skills; it was nice to browse and see what might be interesting. I picked up three that looked good and bought two on Amazon…more about that later.

Painting Project No. 21 from “Ways to Learn Acrylics” - Flowers

Project 21 in ‘Little Ways to Learn Acrylics: 50 small painting projects..." by Mark Daniel Nelson was ‘Using expressive strokes: Flowers in a glass’. The instructions for this exercise were to create simple shapes for the flowers by scribbling or hatching.

Because I don’t like to see white on the canvas, my first version had a light purple background.

The purple background didn’t allow the flowers to look as vivid, so I prepared a second painting with a white background. This painting was done very quickly and the flowers were brighter; but I think the first one is better… possibly because it’s tidier.

Portraits – Pencil, Watercolour Tone & Colour

So last week all my art classes were on the topic of portraits.

On Monday at The Seasons Art Class  we studied 'Figure Drawing, the construction of a body and face’. My body drawing didn’t come out as well as my face drawing. The exercise was to draw the head shape then shade it in with pencil; then draw in the eyes and use measurements to place the nose, mouth and chin. After the final step of drawing the ears and hair, I decided my face looked like Jude Law.

On Wednesday in Wendy’s  class we painted a portrait in watercolour. I always have trouble painting in watercolour, so I painted the same subject the tutor demonstrated in class. It was a good result but wasn’t as easy as Wendy makes it seem.

On Thursday in Karen’s class we did a tonal study of a person that Karen photographed. My watercolour, of course, didn’t come out half as well as Karen’s. I was happy with it, except for the eyes, which I didn’t manage to capture properly…mainly because they were in shadow.

Painting Project No. 20 from “Ways to Learn Acrylics” - Bird's nest

The second painting, project no 20 from Chapter 3 in ‘Little Ways to Learn Acrylics: 50 small painting projects..." by Mark Daniel Nelson was ‘Using hatching strokes: Bird’s nest’. The assignment was to use directional brush strokes to create the illusion of form. It was very similar to project no 19 and also harder to create than it looked. After spending way too much time on the bird's nest, I decided to stop over working it. Again the example in the book was nicer than my painting... hope this doesn't become a trend.

Painting Project No. 19 from "Ways to Learn Acrylics"

After much anticipation it’s time to start Chapter 3 in "Little Ways to Learn Acrylics: 50 small painting projects..." by Mark Daniel Nelson. This chapter is less about acrylic painting fundamentals and more about design principles and brushstroke techniques.

Project number 19 ‘Using contour strokes: Ball of wool’ is all about how the stroke direction can make the object look three-dimensional. This wasn't as easy to accomplish as it might seem. In hindsight, the top of the ball would probably look better if it was a little lighter; for this exercise the painting in the book was nicer.