Tag Archives: private art lessons

Juried shows.

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I have a post somewhere on my blog regarding entering juried shows. It is not as hard as you may think; not anymore since digital land. Juried shows can cost anywhere from an average of $9.00 to 30-40 dollars an entry. Usually if you enter two – three entries it may be around $75 to enter. Most show I have seen lately you enter a digital image at a certain size of usually 1000 or a bit more pixels. The rules on the show page will have a required size in the rules. Follow the guide to what they want. You will need a credit card to enter and pay for your image[s]. Follow the directions. When entering I like to enter at least two paintings for the reason the judges see my range of style and control of watercolor. Entering one piece is good when your artwork is spot on and hits the high mark being able to stand strong solo in composition and all the elements.  Some artwork needs to be seen in a series of three if the subject matter is similar in content and similar compositions. If there is not a strong compositional range in the work, then I like to enter three images of close subject matter. For example; say you paint flowers up close in a size 9 x 12. One painting or drawing is not strong enough or large enough to stand alone. Not every case, but for the most part. It leaves the viewer or judge thinking it just can’t make the cut because it needs just a bit more to take it to the next level. But, when you put three paintings together similar in content they enhance each other in content and become a strong entry. It is usually three or five in a series. After five it’s time to move on and expand your artwork to something else so you’re not repetitive.

When taking your best picture I photograph outside under my porch. I have true natural light with no cast shadows. The natural light is usually crisp and I get a true color read. NEVER photo shop your imagines…..you will be disqualified. If you make the first cut you may be asked to physically bring your artwork to place where your work will be displayed and judged. Some shows they judge solely on the digital images. Find a show that fits your artwork and go for it!

Here is a list of a few magazines that list shows and on their sites there will be a listing in the competition menu or event menu. You can find these magazines at Barnes and Noble bookstore or another bookstore in your town.

www.artistdaily.com, www.artistmagazine.com, www.watercolorartistmagazine.com, www.baltmorewatercolorsociety.org.

American Artist Magazine, American Artist drawing, Watercolor Artist, The artist magazine,and International artist. 

Prismacolor.com also has a gallery to display your artwork, sign on and create your artwork gallery. You can look at other artist as well and share tips and recieve feedback too.

Color theory

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Remember when you are painting or using any medium with color that warm colors and tones will automatically come towards you in space. Any cool tone shade or color will go back in space. It is the Law of the land; the way God designed it and that principle can not be changed and altered as hard as some artist will try. If you know of an artist that has had sucess in this please email the name so I can view this for myself.

Dark colors asborb all color and white reflects all color. With the absent of light there is darkness. It is only when you add “Light” will the color show through. Even in black and white mediums there are several blacks and whites shades of color. For example Ivory black is warm tone, Lamp black is cool tone. Use this principle to enhance your work. To see these values get a piece of paper and paint the colors out marking which one is what. Look at them closely; warm tones shades will come towards you in space as darks go back in space.

Brushes

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Here is a way to contain all your brushes in one neat spot. This is bead holder found in the jewelry department. I am sure you can find one on-line. It is a Bead Bellishment Bench by ArtBin, I found this at AcMoore art and craft store. All I did was buy sand from the Dollar Store and added about 60% in each jar leaving the lid off. Added my favorite brushes and it works wonderfully! My brushes are not as long as oil brushes can be, they are watercolor brushes mainly. As you can see in the picture it really works well. I guess you could use beans, rice or tiny beads instead of sand, but sand works. I like this because I can see where the brush I want easily and I don’t need to put a brush cover on any. When you are traveling with your brushes DO NOT just throw them in the bottom of your bag! If you do not have anything to contain them at a quick moment at least roll the brushes up in a paper towel. If you don’t want to buy anything, at least use a paper towel cardboard tube; simply roll the brushes up in a paper towel and stick in the tube. You can find many tube like structures to use around the house. In the Dollar stores you can buy a straw table place-mat which will allow you to stick or weave the brushes through the straw and roll the mat up.

Proof reading

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As many times I looked at the painting of Adam and his car I never noticed I forget to paint the “e” in the website that is painted on the back of my car. Joan noticed it today!!!Thank goodness she did and I had enough time to fix it and resubmit it to the juried show. Wow! Can’t believe I missed it. Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered? IDK,,,,but glad the mistake was caught in time, the deadline is Monday. Tip: double and triple check the spellings in the composition. Plus, when you sign your work give a bit of space; in other words don’t sign on the edge. Awe…what an art day today!  Also, do not write your name large enough to see it before you notice the artwork itself! Do not be so vain……it kills the attitude of the artwork. If you want to write your name in large print….do a painting of your signature. Seriously, your signature should be discrete towards the bottom not seen unless looked for or in the pattern of the composition. Look at the Masters.

Watercolor continued.

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I knew when I started to draw this times three this was going to be “One of those” pieces! Very frustrating composition….maybe it’s my summer so far? Hot and humid as anything outside and just crappy weather. I wanted to paint a few landscape watercolor paintings this summer outside, but It is really hard to enjoy the day in the blazing heat. Anyway…could be 100 inches of snow.

Saturday; I need to draw up some lessons plans on how to Follow the form 101 for an artist friend of mine and I will post them. Maybe they will help some whom need drawing advice regarding realism. I will post these by Wednesday.

I had a chance to work a bit more, but I made the man’s head too small. So, now I need to figure out how to make the head larger on established wc. I can do it, “I mmm skilled” lol… Tip: when working realism use one color for the flesh tone; Burnt Umber is a nice base for flesh tone. Watercolor realism is about layers. FOLLOW THE FORM. Paint in the direction of a shape or form.  All the tones so far on the people are a base of Burnt Umber. After the forms are in then I will start to add washes of pinks, crimsons. Paint your people with the base color first. Every layer added even with the same base will add increased color to the form or shape; every layer adds to the depth of color. There are NO LINES on a face; they are creases, hills and vallies. In my old set I don’t have fancy colors, I am trained “Old school”. Make your own shades and colors. “Learn how to paint with less” Mr. Sorrels would say. If you need a richer brown add a bit of Vandyke brown. If your portrait needs more of an olive skin type add a bit Raw Umber; found in Fancy sets. I was taught the less you have in a paint selection the better you will learn to mix color! It is true. Today there are too many colors, shades of color, hues of colors and you don’t learn how to mix colors on your own!  With the 12 pan set or less you learn how to mix any color you may need. I just knew I didn’t have the money as some of my peers in college for art supplies and felt quite poor actually. BUT,,,,I can mix you any shade or color you need from my tiny 12 pan set which I still have. So, who benefited? I can afford the 45 pan set now and it really doesn’t impress me as I thought it would.

This is the point I painted too. I need to detail the hands and fingers and start to work the detail. I have time, the show isn’t until Dec. something deadline. I also need to draw up a background. I don’t mind comments and some are really nice, then there are ones for enhancing drugs and porn ads….please don’t send me them! It is a pain in a**  to weed through the crappy nasty sex comments and I have decided to pray for you all with such conflict or feel you have the need to email such exposing subject matter to everyone in your lives. Thanks. I do appreciate the nice comments and look forward to reading/answering them……over 500 and counting!

Watercolor 101

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I believe I will have a window of time to continue working on this watercolor,  it is quite large. Which is obviously taking longer to work the entire composition, but taking more time and patience on my part. I wanted to finish this and enter two watercolors instead of one for a juried show in New York, but I realize if I rush it will not turn out like I expect and envision. So, the mature thing is to wait, not get frustrated, finish on a timely manner and look for another show to enter. There will always be shows to enter somewhere. Why add more stress to already the stresses that come with each new day? Just do the best you can today and let God handle the rest.

This watercolour had been a challenge for the size like I said before and I decided to paint the two boys a bit older when this photograph was taken. I don’t know why….I drew it three times and I realized the painting was coming out that way so I went with it! Maybe a bad idea? Sort of has a new level of challenge. I have too much time in now to toss it….and never just put a piece of artwork to the side and think you will finish it sometime,,,,,later never comes.  I like the way the forms are starting to define themselves in the legs for example. This wc has a long long way to go. As you can see in the photo the background is a bit busy, I need to tone that down when I sketch that out. I like the idea of the fence on a diagonal, it adds to good composition. You want objects in the composition taking your eye through the painting. So, the diagonal fence I will sketch in and some blacked eyed Susans, other than that I am stuck. If I raise the fence in the background I can add more grass and less sky? I don’t want to paint trees in, the subject matter is a more up close view. Always look at the distance in composition and how the foreground subjects are. Awe….this needs a lot of work. This new show called Splash 15 has a deadline Dec. 3rd., so that works.

watercolor painting

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LOL! This doesn’t look like the people in my picture….augh. At first the hair didn’t look like it should, then the highlights! Remember the highlights when painting, not after. Adding lighter highlights  afterwards is harder and the paint [watercolor] looks thick then. Plus, the flesh color layers of color are really sun-kissed and that is throwing me a bit too. Just remember to paint the face as form and normal color first, then add the tan rosy hues. I only had about an hour to work on this late last night, so once a background goes in I hope it starts to resemble Adam better.

It has taken me until to now to realize I rather paint up close realism, but I need to expand my artwork subjects and not get stuck painting the same subjects just in different comps. If I do that my work will get boring even though the skill is top-notch. This wc is large and hard to arrange the board to hold or put the board an angle to actually paint. The size is a bit overwhelming at first. I drew this three times! Once it came out too small for the subject matter and the second I had it drawn larger and beautifully….I had spaghetti sauce on the back of my hand and didn’t see it and I even washed my hands very well! Guess where the sauce went? If that isn’t a kick in the ass…..I drew it again. Understand, this is what it is to “keep pressing through” the situation you’re in. Here I have this great composition to paint, which I think has a good shot at least getting a mention in a show if I paint it well. Then here is the devil coming against me trying to destroy me through stupid sh** like the spaghetti sauce. He knows the Great things God has for me and if I give up too quickly or don’t keep trying I will lose and he wins. Thought for the day; Don’t give up and be defeated….keep pressig through”.

Sometimes in your drawing or painting  [and the actual artwork skill is good] but, something just does not look right to you? Maybe it is the size? Are you drawing it too small? Some subjects need to be larger drawn to “MatcH” the subject matter. For example; when I drew this smaller it didn’t look right to me. When I drew it again larger it “Fit”. But don’t overwhelm yourself at first with size…..work your way up to sized compositions.

Thank you to Gabrill and the office mates for all the kind words and checking out my artwork…….God Bless.

Watercolor completed and the Elements of drawing 101.

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When I first started to paint this watercolor I really thought and considered not finishing it! At first it was overwhelming in size and felt intimating to paint. I rather paint closer up realism vs. in a large busy composition. It is a good thing really; signs of growing as an artist! I am working outside my comfort zone and the only way to grow as an artist is to work and challenge yourself in scale or subject matter. At the same time though you need to be able to admit the challenge may be too much out of your reach at this point. Now I need to figure out what I need to do in order to enter this in a juried show? Need to cut a matt and framing. Do read the rules prior to entering, which I did…but now need to actually take a moment to understand and carry them out. Wish me luck! Where’s my old drawing prof now!  *******Notice the edges! Neat and clean. That is what artist tape does for ya! I could matt about a quarter inch bigger to show the edges off if I wanted too.******The neatest part taking off the tape!

The Elements of drawing:

1. Line: gestural line, contour line, construction line, cross contour line and lines of shading. Line, shape, shade, form, color, value, space and texture.

In order to understand value range in scale and shape, form and line you need to have a strong foundation in understanding these elements and drawing. I suggest starting in graphite, a black and white medium. You need at least three to five solid compositions under your experience in order to start to understand value of shades along with solid composition. If the composition doesn’t work then the entire drawing will not work neither. There are several drawing exercises you should practice as well. These I can teach you. As soon as I get an extra moment I will post pictures of these exercises that you can follow. If you think you do not need them….then your wrong. You need a strong foundation of principles. Once you master these principles on all the elements your work will come more easily to you. Plus, a Life drawing class is the strongest foundation you can start with. You will learn to see all the elements with out too much pressure when working on a composition. When you are working on a drawing or any artwork you want the artistic magic to flow and it will with a strong foundation. Trust me on this. I am sure you have seen still life set-ups with circular shapes, sphere, cylinder, and cone shapes? These still life  are to teach you basic shapes that can relate to all things found in the natural. This teaches you the elements and how to draw them, but how to see the changing light on one object and how they affect each other in light. The following pictures may help you understand what I am saying when I say elements. One picture is from a drawing book [ Drawing the creative process by Seymour Simmons III and Winer] the sphere is one of  mine from college. These are great drawing exercises to practice.

So far……

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This has been a crazy watercolor painting so far. I still need to fine tune the realism and finish the bumper sticker in the background. Not sure if I will enter the wc juried show with this one yet? IDK…. I need to take down the value of color of the reflection in the car. It needs to be toned down in the car color when it dries well. I don’t want it to smear and blur. Plus the shirt needs attention….

Anyway, this is it so far.

Do I keep going?

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Happy Foruth of July….. “One nation under God”.

I worked on the driveway and details on the skin color. Mega detail here,,,,the size is bit overwhelming and  think it is throwing me off some. That’s all I am going to work on it today. IDK if it is show worthy?

Awe……..this [ fill in the blank! ]  I am Not happy with the results so far. I should of went smaller…..The realism is only level one and I will take it to level four, but I want to work the entire composition first.