On my ride home last Friday I had all sorts of ideas for this project, yet none of them were anything like what you see here! My plan was to stay in my comfort zone and create a silk scarf using either the leaves or the flowers from the still life that we had on Friday for the design. One thing that I have kept in mind all week was from our conversation with Robert about what he tells his students when deciding on a concentration and that is to keep it personal. And then this past week my district has had a Summer Institute for teachers and for two of those days the art teachers were able to have Rusty Jewell come and work with us using watercolor and painting 'en plain air'. It was wonderful, and again his suggestion for subject matter - keep it personal! We walked around the historic home section of Seneca and found that I was drawn to bright colors and the door or entrances of many of the homes. Thinking back to the day at the museum the artworks that I found the most interesting were the colorful pieces that had movement, especially Monet and any Impressionist piece.This piece is 10 x 14 and is my second try with this composition. My goal is to be able to create with watercolor like the impressionist with the dabs of color so that when you back away it looks believable. We began our pieces this week by beginning (after sketching and doing value studies) with washes of warm and cool colors. Once these areas were built up then the details were begun. It's hard to see in this photograph, but I have gone back in with a the fine line marker we received to add some detail, which helped bring the piece together. I'm not happy with the grass area, it has gotten too muddy. I plan tonight to work in some colored pencil to see if that will bring in some detail that I want. If I am still not happy, I have another sketch ready to begin with.
I hope to turn this into a series of doorway/entrances from around the area that I live in.
3 comments:
Suzanne-I have similar frustration with my work but you are being hard on yourself. Your artwork may be trying to tell you to broaden your view about what is a good style for your subject. Enjoy it.
If you are able, I would like to see your series to get an idea of your process. Due to exhaustion, I may forget to ask so please volunteer. It is torture to get home and remember the opportunity I missed.
The doorways and entrances looks like a exciting series. You did not say what you paint on fabric? or paper? I believe that you captured a "personal look of home".
This is on watercolor paper. I generally do batik using the serti method on silk. This is only the second watercolor project I've done. I know enough to help guide students and demonstrate basic techniques, but the instructor I had this week was really great to work with and has gotten me interested in exploring the media more so I hope to continue over the summer with this series.
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