Learning relaxation thru color...
- Thread starter KatShealy
- Start date
My fear of putting my art out for others to see is that I was so outranked in my family. I have a cousin who works for Disney. He went to school for so long to become an artist that had he applied that to medicine he would be a doctor. Another cousin was a serious artist that sold her work without problems. She took me under her wing for a while but wanted to throw things at me when I got nervous with a brush. I miss her, though.
laika
Loitering Member
- Messages
- 1,415
Thank you much!At least I didn't have that to contend with
The apple looks good. A nice painting!
Lovely work with the colour - it does have a beautiful glow - and your paint handling looks strong and confident. So glad that you're sharing your work here, and learning new things with painting. I'm learning along with you (I need to remember to think about underpainting, too).
Well, then, I feel like we're in this together.
AKrillLick
Member
- Messages
- 31
Some people do really well under traditional instruction, others don't. I think Andrew Tischler is one of the most technically competent artists on YouTube and I'm sure I saw a video with him saying that “studying” art didn't do much for him and he is mostly self-taught.
I'd brush (no pun intended) those accomplishments to one side for now and just revel in the fact we have thousands of free hours of free instruction available online. Your image attachment is a testament to that fact as well as your own ability to paint.
If you want to get really good at painting realism really quickly I highly recommend Mark Carder of Draw Mix Paint (all free on YouTube). It's made for oils but I found it fairly easy to adapt to acrylics. While I'm not a great painter myself, I improved massively within the space of a couple of months just by watching his videos (not blending, not adding too much detail, not exageratting colours, limited palette, getting your values right).
I loved it when he instructed his viewers to begin by "painting ugly". Resist the urge to blend, at least too soon. I began looking at some paintings by John Singer Sargent. Close up you basically see smudges, etc. You stand far away and it all comes together. His oil paints are crazy expensive though. I'd be scared to use them.
AKrillLick
Member
- Messages
- 31
Glad you're aware of him. 
After watching his videos I decided to try it out and painted a still life. I was painting a wicker basket and it looked a mess. Disappointed, I went downstairs to make a drink and when I came back up and looked at my painting from a distance my jaw dropped. It looked very much like the photo I was copying. As he says you have to “trust the process”.
People are free to paint what they want, how they want but I do find it a bit disappointing that people are so obsessed with blending. If people realised that the brain blends far better and that wet-in-wet blending can be an obstacle to realism then I think people would be more willing to try acrylics. If you look most acrylic versus oil discussions the rebuttals are invariably “the longer drying time lets me blend”. Don't get me wrong, I love oils as much as anyone else who likes painting, I just think blending is overrated.
Go to YouTube and search for a cloud painting demo. The one you find will almost certainly involve lots of blending. Yet if you look at clouds in the sky — as I did this morning as there was a stunning sunrise in northern England — there are no blended edges as painted in those tutorials. It's a classic example of people painting what they think they see rather than what they actually see.
Those sfumato faces people used to paint are another example and kind of similar to what people do online when they use filters to improve their appearance. Even the most youthful clear skin has abstraction all over it.
Sargent was a genius because of his number of brush strokes:level of realism ratio.
After watching his videos I decided to try it out and painted a still life. I was painting a wicker basket and it looked a mess. Disappointed, I went downstairs to make a drink and when I came back up and looked at my painting from a distance my jaw dropped. It looked very much like the photo I was copying. As he says you have to “trust the process”.
People are free to paint what they want, how they want but I do find it a bit disappointing that people are so obsessed with blending. If people realised that the brain blends far better and that wet-in-wet blending can be an obstacle to realism then I think people would be more willing to try acrylics. If you look most acrylic versus oil discussions the rebuttals are invariably “the longer drying time lets me blend”. Don't get me wrong, I love oils as much as anyone else who likes painting, I just think blending is overrated.
Go to YouTube and search for a cloud painting demo. The one you find will almost certainly involve lots of blending. Yet if you look at clouds in the sky — as I did this morning as there was a stunning sunrise in northern England
— there are no blended edges as painted in those tutorials. It's a classic example of people painting what they think they see rather than what they actually see.Those sfumato faces people used to paint are another example and kind of similar to what people do online when they use filters to improve their appearance. Even the most youthful clear skin has abstraction all over it.
Sargent was a genius because of his number of brush strokes:level of realism ratio.
I could spend hours in an art museum. I look at a painting and think, "How did they DO that? What are they seeing that I cant see? Technique is important. I am fascinated when I watch Casey Baugh working that charcoal. I may not be a great artist, but I have learned to really see something. How many people really, really pay attention to what's around them. Makes us different, dont you think?
AKrillLick
Member
- Messages
- 31
Speaking of technique being important, take a look at Michael James Smith on YouTube — if you haven't seen his work already. You'll think he is using reference photos in his thumbnails but they are the finished paintings. Goes to show if you know the right technique you can achieve photo realism without having to spend thousands of hours on a painting.
I personally don't get too moved by his work but am in awe of his technical ability and being able to reduce things down to specific techniques to accomplish certain textures.
I personally don't get too moved by his work but am in awe of his technical ability and being able to reduce things down to specific techniques to accomplish certain textures.
I love impressionism. If I want to get there, though, I want to be able to focus on detail. Teach myself to pay attention. I am fascinated by realiam....down to the pre. That takes a tremendous amount 9d concentration. And it is good for therapy. If I keep
It's funny. I don't have to like someone's art to get something out of it. There may be something in it that I can use to get what I want in my own art. Don't laugh, but I am seriously thinking of watching and following along with Bob Ross just to get used to working with paint and just learning to relax. His voice is relaxing and maybe I can take whatever I get from it and move up to more sophisticated art. Got to start somewhere.
laika
Loitering Member
- Messages
- 1,415
Kat, I feel like the effort to rewire my brain after a stroke was greatly aided by creating such "art" as I was able. There is no question that the work and engagement of trying to draw and paint was a great help. My neurology docs agreed. I think that art is therapy whether an individual knows it or not
If you watch enough Bob, you'll pick up some useful tips. I don't aspire to paint in his style, but he has interesting techniques.
