Challenge 28. February, 2013

Marsha, very nice sketch of the courting couple. You have captured their happiness in each other and I agree very good work on the dress.

Catherine, your kingfisher sketch is great. The detail of the bird and the post is great. Nicely done.

Marsha, great job on the sketch of Jen's parents.  The fabric looks very good.  Cropping it was a good idea.

Catherine, great kingfisher.  I like the pattern on feathers on his back and tail.  Also, the wood looks fantastic on the stump that he is perched on.  You are becoming quite the artist.   

Marsha, great job on the sketch of Jen's parents.  The fabric looks very good.  Cropping it was a good idea.

Catherine, great kingfisher.  I like the pattern of feathers on his back and tail.  Also, the wood looks fantastic on the stump that he is perched on.  You are becoming quite the artist.   

Thank you Bonnie and Sam!

Having finished off Howard (so to speak)! I started on the glass and rose. Just started but thought you might like the steps

Drew off the picture and sprayed the image. About 6 x6 on Uart sanded paper

 

step 2 start on background. It does not really show but I used two greys in Nupastel and white and rubbed it well in then added a softer gey blue at the top and a lighter blue half way and white on bottom. All well rubbed in. This gets a foundation of pastel on the paper.

 

More on Thursday!

Jen, now that you've finished off Howard thanks for starting the step-by-step photos of the martini glass drawing. I started that yesterday and am very interested to see how you portray the way the glass is delineated from the wall. It's so subtle, and yet the viewer can see where the upper rim of the glass is. Looking to your drawing for ideas on how to do this!

Alex I am just feeling my way through this. It's not so much drawing the glass as not drawing it if you see what I mean this is definitely a shape thing. Just paint what you see. I have no idea if this will work or be a right mess!! I am pretty sure the elipse at the bottom is going to give me a hard time and as for the rose!!! It is just a lot of lights and darks. At least that is what my art teacher always said! Sigh:)

Jen, good start on the rose and glass.  The background looks great.  I've pulled up a chair to watch.

Yes Jen, I agree this is very interesting to follow your work with pastel. I didn't realize you could spray your sketch before starting to keep it. That would have helped with my blue jay because the sketch always gets rubbed out as I work down the page I sketched as I worked down the page as well and then ended up with a delema of the objects size in relation to each other. This is great information.

This is my first attempt of the martini glass and rose. I have started to sketch a second one but thought I would post this to point out some of the problems I had and maybe there would be some comments to help with my next try. First, the background did not turn out like I had imaginedl.The magazines always say make your own grey and not to use paynes greay so I tried and then it is sort of an odd colour, seperated and made irregular areas, this may be due to my poor skills at wc washes. Second the rose seems very tight, not loose and soft although I don't think it is much smaller it just looks that way.  Also not sure about the relfections in the glass stem, makes it look crocked, think I have left to much not green. Also not sure if the glass is level on the bottom.  When I list all these problems you realize how many things there are to get right when you do a painting.

Bonnie, we've mentioned being one's own worse critic.  Well, you win the prize.  The rose is absolutely lovely with beautiful colors and shapes.  You did the glass very well.  It has the sparkle of glass.  I love to do glass.  All it is are the background colors with highlights and some darks as seen on the image.  The stem is fine.  The ellipse at the bottom may be a tad off.  I agree that your mixed gray isn't the best color for the background but it works.  In oil paints, I used to get the most beautiful pearly grays with Alizarin Crimson and Veridium Green.  Don't know how well that would work with wc.  I think this is a very nice painting.  If I were framing it, I'd crop some off of the top.  It is very worthy of a signature and frame. 

Yes Bonnie you notice all those things but most of us don't I looked at it and thought wow she made that rose look three times as good as I did so there you go maybe the bottom of the glass isn't perfect but it doesn't have to be

Jen  your WIP pastel looks great I'm waiting to see the finish I know it will be worthwhile

Bonnie, I almost fell off my chair when I read what you wrote about your martini glass painting! I do think it's important to say to ourselves, "What did I learn?" "What can I do differently or better" "What would I like to do differently?" and so forth, so I respect your self-criticism. Having said that, it is beautiful. We have many options available to us when painting from the photos, from capturing them exactly as shown to giving our impression of them or even presenting a stylized Zentangle version. You've opted for realism, and so, there are tiny details that can be enhanced, but so many that are lovely! Leaves - very good job of capturing the limited difference between the light and dark surfaces. Reflections in and highlights on the glass - excellent. Bottom of the martini glass - perhaps could be reworked very slightly. Rose - perhaps have slightly more saturated color toward the center than at the outer part of the blossom. Disappearing line of the top rim of the glass against the background - superb. Aw, heck, I'm envious of how good it is!

Bonnie, I have to agree with Sammy and Alex you are the queen of you own worst art crtique!!! :) the background colour may not be the same but it works just fine. Mixing equal parts of any of the compliments red/ green, blue/orange, or yellow/purple with white will make warm or cool greys. Just experiment to see which will work for you. I think the stem works just fine. Reflections in glass are odd shapes that is what is so fun about glass. The rose is fine too some flowers are just tighter than others. This one is still opening! I think you have done the leaves well too. As for the elipse I won't mention yours if you won't mention mine!! Now really, be proud of this it is beautiful. You have set the standard so high I may just hide mine as there is no way I can get such crisp lines with pastel. I am not that good. I have seen some people do extraordinary detailed paintings in pastel but I am not one of them! Just for imformation I will probably spray the bottom white again so I don't rub in as I work. ( I am so messy you should see me with oil paint I bathe in it!!! ) another idea is to put tracing paper over the part you are not working on but I forget to do that in my rush to get into it!! You are good girl! Believe it!!

Sam, Jim, Alex and Jen, thank you so much for your comments. They certainly made me feel better about the ptg. I think it was mostly the background that bothered me the most. And I did mix a red and green but it was off a little so I added some blue. It looked ok on the sample I tried but when I applied it the paper warps a little and it settles and a wc wash is an art in itself I think.  I will experiment with the colours you recommended Sam, I used really dark colours and maybe they should have been lighter.  Alex, I will try and darken the centre of the rose a little more, that may work and make the outside lighter. And, yes Jen reflections in glass do give some different shapes, it is amazing to paint and see how it becomes and object. Thanks again everyone.

Jen, I will have to try the spraying or to use the  tracing paper in saving the work already done so it doesn't get rubbed out. Looking forward to seeing your ptg progress.

Bonnie, I just spray pastels on paper that can take it. WC paper will take it but say a paper like Canson you would have to be very careful. I use Spectrafix on pastels. Fairly lightly. When I do a charcoal sketch on canvas prior to painting oils I just spray it with the cheapest hairspray I can find. I don't do water colours but I know it can be tricky and has a mind of it's own.