Latest Painting Classes

We just wrapped up 6 weeks of painting classes and I can honestly say it wasn’t one of my best. Some days, magic happens on the canvas and other days, not so much. But I am willing to share the good, the bad and the ugly with you, because that’s life, right? I missed the last week of class (in Canada) so I only have 5 pieces to show you.

The focus of this class session was color. Each class we learned about how to mix various paints to achieve the color we want. I really struggle with greens and purple, so it was good for me to take photos of my teacher’s notebook. Joann Augur is so talented and I feel grateful to be in her class.

I am almost embarrassed to show you the really bad ones so I will keep those to the end. Though I believe EACH piece still needs a lot of work and noodling, I am happy with the progress of these two. As I stated I really struggle with greens and purples, and this painting has many versions of those two colors.

Here’s another which I think has promise. Yellow and blue were the focus and who doesn’t love a bowl with lemons? I still don’t have the lemons just right, but it’s a work in progress.

Each class, the teacher passes out a sheet with several thumbnail pictures. We get to choose which of the pictures we want to paint. I always tend to pick the hardest one, because, I am there to learn. Any picture on the top row I thought would be difficult. But I liked the colors of the girl in the hat. Here is how she should look….

And here is what I painted. Sigh. It was so difficult to not paint a face but a series of shadows in odd colors. This is one painting I will need to put aside and look at it with fresh eyes weeks from now.

The next painting my teacher LOVED, but I do not. Maybe because the subject isn’t my style. Our lesson was in the colors of red and my dreaded green. Not sure why I picked this one to paint but here it is. It is really painful for me to show you paintings that I’m not delighted with. This is another one I need to put aside….or paint over.

I am saving the most ghastly for last. Here are the painting choices. Everyone else did either the blue box/plum or the eggplant on the bottom left. Not me…I decided to do the two plums in the upper right hand corner. Again, I really struggle with purple and that bloom (whitish coating) on the plums is so difficult.

So here are my two plums. Groan. It is always helpful to see my painting in a photo. I can tell immediately what is wrong with it. However, when I am painting, I can’t see the problems. This one needs so much work still, but I really want to try and get it right, because don’t they look like two scary eyes? Ha!

The good news is painting is like gardening to me. While I am doing it I am not thinking of anything else. It’s such a nice respite from all the stresses of the world. And even though there are some days that I stink as a painter, I still enjoy the challenge of it all. To see my painting progress over time, click here.

During this reclusive time, I hope to go through all my unfinished art and try to at least finish the ones that are worthwhile. Enjoy your Tuesday and feel free to critique my paintings with your comments. I will read them with a big glass of wine!