Paintings Have Feelings Too (Part 1) (3)

This week, after refreshing my color mixing knowledge, I came to the fact that it would only make sense that practice was going to help.  That still didn't stop an ounce of paint going down the drain, which just shows how nature savvy I can be. (SARCASM ALERT: DO NOT EVER POUR OIL PAINT DOWN THE DRAIN EVER!)  

After that thick texture mixing, I had to run back to the store and re-stock on new supplies, and I'm not going to lie, but they cost a fortune!  Maybe that's what I get for thinking Michael's is a run of the mill, ordinary craft shop, the Wal-Mart of art, when it's actually more like the Whole Foods of art.  

After I paid the price, I sat down and thought about what I was going to paint.  I had a cool plan laid out, and I think that schedule is pretty good, so this week, following color mixing I'm going to add texture and feeling.  Texture blends (no pun intended)  together the shading and tinting of color mixing, and emotion and feeling, a different lens, view, perspective. 

One of my main focuses of texture is not necessarily rough textures like rocks, concrete, but more worn, soft textures, such as the sky, wood, plants, or even water can have a rougher texture if its choppy enough.  I want to work on these, because softer, smoother textures require perfection, as the fourth, third, and even second stroke over gives an unwanted, bumpy texture, that might be hard to blend.    

After hours of last-minute painting choosing, I finally settled on this photo right here:

Jungle Sunset

It's not as colorful or vibrant, but it has different shades and hues across the painting, in the jungle, in the sky, in the sunset.  Also, textures are not as prevalent as I want them to be, but the relative softness of the trees and the rigidity of the stone calls for the need of some texture.  

Now, gifs and time lapses of progress are going to be a lot less common, due to the time constraints I now have. The reason for these time constraints?  A studio session.  What is that?  Let's find out... today?  Yep, that's me procrastinating this.  

Saturday (Day 1) 3/4

I walk into the studio with a blank canvas and supplies, and sit down at one of the art tables.   The studio has 20 people in it, which half are painting.  It's not crowded, but the people seem pretty nice.  I don't have any photos, but if the chance arises, maybe they'll be posted.  Now, surprisingly or not, I'm actually not a newcomer to this studio.  The last time I went to the studio was maybe middle or elementary school.  But going there, I felt frustrated, and rushed through artwork, and I didn't get a full experience of painting.  Anyway, the intro class begins.  

Progress from art class

Being the forgetful person I am, I forgot to graph my painting out.  When you transport an 8x11 paper to a large canvas, it's a good idea to have nice little squares to fill in proportionally.  Other than that, I got a little feedback on the sky, which was nice.  Anyway, I made a composite image again, and found out that a lot of things had been shifted to the right, like the pyramid, and the hills, and how the jungle was too high.  Needless to say, some drying agent will get me to paint over, without any more mixing fiasco.  

But what did I learn from art class that I couldn't just google? It was an intro class, and it was about what paint supplies to buy, so I didn't learn too much, already buying materials.  We got a packet, and one of the things I looked most at was the criticism section.  When critiquing art, it doesn't matter whether you like it or not, it matters whether its expression is shown.  Art is subjective, like music or literature, and even if you don't like it, if it got its point across, it is a successful painting.  Other wise words from the instructor were that when looking at a painting, it can be obvious to tell whether the painting was genuinely liked, or if it was a pain to work on.  So, emotion needs to be expressed during painting, maybe over photorealism.  Anyway, here is the end of Saturday:

A good start, if there was no shift

My goal was to express photorealism, so the next day, I would decide to reshift everything to the left.

Day 2: Sunday (3/5)

What did I do to correct myself?  Well, I laid the photograph over the painting, and observed the shift, and found it wall all to the left.  So after hours of constant mixing, blending, and waiting to dry, I eventually had a new problem: blending of the edits and the original layer of paint.  Luckily, I bought some paint drying agent, and am waiting patiently for the sky to dry.

As I was waiting for the shift to dry, I tried to elaborate on the jungle.  I didn't go pixel by pixel, but went by general region, like a different section of the canopy.  When everything is dry with the sky, I will elaborate, adding lighter tones, thinner strokes, and the clouds.  

I am nowhere near done, and this likely won't be the last to see of this painting.  But after two days, this is what the shift did to the painting:

Sunday: An overall fail

Anyway, the green of the jungle is starting to grow into the air, like some new kind of mold, which is not good.  Blending is good, but not today, where the jungle sort of split-complements the orange sunset.  The orange and purple blue sky look good, but the horizon is too blended, and the sky needs to be a little grayer.  Otherwise, the painting is off to a good start.  The small specks of light will be an interesting touch.  Also, making buildings look like buildings are actually quite a skill, unlike a tree, or a mountain.  I will add a bonus blog post on the completion of this painting, where I will reveal my next ambitions.  Until then, keep in touch!