December Challenge

txomsy

Apprentice of amateur
Messages
60
Given my loosy memory, and before I forget I had committed, let me try to entice you to a new Challenge.

Welcome to the December Challenge!

Remember when you were a child? You didn't know 'bout anything but it didn't stop you from trying. So, please, do have a look at the following images and give them a go. I have tried to have something for everyone. You do not need to try all (or any) of them, just see if you think it looks appealing to you, and do not worry about the looks, just about how it makes you feel: if not, you may end up discovering that the apparently easiest ones are the most deceivingly difficult.

These are all pictures I took myself, so no copyright trouble with any of them. Some even are in public domain repositories, so feel free to be creative and do with them as you wish.

As this is the Water Media forum, the only restriction is that your work includes some water media. Otherwise, collage, computer edition, re-framing, abstracting, re-composing, colour shifting, anything that fancies your creativity is welcome.

Remember the final goal is to have fun, not to come up with the ultimate Work of Art. The price to be won is no other than your own joy, entertainment and satisfaction, so, please, be my guest and enjoy!

Since we are in autumn / fall, I thought I'd include some seasonal example:
autumn-leaves.jpg


And, just as an exercise in "color psico theory", a spring image for contrast: this is (believe or not) a BLACK tulip (they start as a deep red and grow more and more intense till they look black) from my own garden (have a soft spot for them):
bloom-black-tulip-home.jpg


I know some prefer animals, so there:
bear-zoo.jpg


For a higher contrast, or those who like to try special papers, say, black paper and gouache, for example:
orchids.jpg


I know, some prefer marines:
boat-tied-asturies.jpg


or urban sketching/art. If you want to practice perspective, maybe this view from the Knockerbocker tube station in NY will do:
knickerbocker-ny.jpg


And if you want something less "mundane" and more "striking", what about this unusual look of the Eiffel Tower in Paris?
eiffel-tower.jpg


Talking of Paris, another classic are bridges, which will also allow you to practice with water and perspective:
paris-pont.jpg


Look quiet, doesn't it? I hope the following does also look calm (and dreamy). This, I think was taken at the Canary Islands:
patio-flowers-well.jpg


As was the next one, which I include as a teaser for lovers of geometry:
white_walls-canary-islands.jpg


Now, I can start hearing the complains from the landscape lovers, who maybe start feeling sided? OK, there:
sunset-on-fire.jpg


and there:
puddle.jpg


And if you are one of those who look for mood:
misty_moisty_mossy-madrid.jpg


Sorry, have to go give a lecture, but I hope this will induce you to pick a brush, paper and try. And remember:

Everybody is welcome.
 
Last edited:
Thanks, I hope you will have fun. I should have made some corrections (e.g. it is not Knockerbocker, but Kinckerbocker, obviously) of errors I made while writing in a haste, but when I returned from the lecture the editing period had expired. Anyway, just feel free to adapt, they are only a prompt to lure inspiration, and have fun.
 
Wow! Grapes, that bear is excellent; it has a "liveliness" that fills the image all of its own! Love the expression. And the work on hair is stunning.
 
Now that we're close to the end of the month (and the year) I see it's been difficult to cope. What with the preparations for Christmas, end of year load of work, family gatherings, and all that, it's been rather busy and what I had originally intended to do has been reduced to a hasty minimum.

Anyway, here are a couple few quickies:
PXL_20241227_150010644.RAW-01.COVER.jpg


This one makes for a good exercise in plain washes and values. The above image is in postcard-size watercolor paper. Colors are somewhat off. When I got the color right, it would look off in the cell-phone picture, so I tried another one, this time in postcard-size rag paper
PXL_20241227_150041667.png


this was a box of postcards I got at a Zara Home, out of curiosity, and because of the metallic box (mostly). It turned out to be shaggy rag paper so I am using it to finish it off and substitute with cut to measure better water color paper. Once more, the picture falls short on blues.

The next one was another 15 minutes quick watercolor on another sheet of Zara postcard-sized paper:
PXL_20241227_163558962.png


Again, the blues are off, and the "quality" of the paper can be seen in the rope, which should have been a thin line but spread sideways.


All of these were done with Lefranc Bourgeois professional-grade watercolors and various pony hair reversible travel brushes in a kit I got off Amazon. L-B watercolors are pretty nice, my impression is they may be honey-based. The pony hair brushes are not something to shoot fireworks, but I got them on a very good offer, are collapsible which makes them good for carrying around and cheap so I do not care much if accidentally damaged or lost.

Anyway, nothing fancy, not the brushes, not the paper, not the size, much less so the results, but at least that's something to upload before month's end.

I know I did a couple more a couple of weeks ago, also quick 15' ones, but cannot find them now. I'll try to find them and upload them as well.

Oh! And Merry Christmas to you all.

And in case I cannot reconnect, I wish you a Happy New Year as well.
 
Wonderful bear, Grapes. Nice shadow and light capture.
Txomsy, lovely little, quick work.
I had hoped to join in but as you said it’s a very busy time. Thank you again for hosting.
 
Txomsy, love the little paintings. Been a rush around here. Thanks for hosting, see all y'all next year!
 
Back
Top