Unconventional Watercolor Selfie" Portrait Workshop

We are into our 3rd week of 5 classes and all of the students are creating some remarkable portraits!

Bayou Country

There are a lot of people who have never seen the bayou and since I was there just a few weeks ago, I thought I would share some of my photos to show everyone what the bayou looks like.  

This first image was taken at the Blue Heron Nature Preserve.  Sort of looks more like a jungle than a preserve, but this was along the trail that took us to the lake, where the Blue Heron actually have their nests. 

This photo was taken along the trail also and I wanted to show you that even though this looks like a grassy meadow, it's actually a swamp complete with alligators.











This last image is of the nesting place where the Blue Heron land.  There were several alligators patrolling the lake but they were too far away for me to get a good photo, but one was stirring up the mud directly under the dock we were standing on.  

Wouldn't it be great to have a plein aire workshop in a location like this!

Photos are courtesy of Cindy Powell.  All rights reserved. 
 

April Challenge

Last month the challenge was to make some image transfers from magazines and I'll bet you have a bunch of these now, but what will you do with them?  Here's an idea:  Combining Ev Hales suggestion of using splashes of color as backgrounds, you can simply adhere your tape transfer directly over the color splashes using glue that will dry clear, deco podge, or a gel medium.


 Here are a couple of samples that I made:

 If you would like to take this process even further, coat the entire image transfer with the clear drying gel medium, glue or deco podge and let dry.  This becomes a permanent acrylic surface that can be further painted on using acrylics or gouche.  If you want to hide the straight edges, you also can cut the tape to remove most of the edges.  For instance, I would cut out the bird and the branch it is sitting on.  The background would then become the color splash.  Experiment and see what you like best. 

As for Ev Hales book, it is one of many creative, art books that she has written about watercolor.  A great addition to any library.  I prefer the Kindle edition, but you can order a soft paper style book direct from Amazon, by clicking the book cover in the right sidebar.
 

February Challenge-Contour Drawing

“To see we must forget the name of the thing we are looking at.” 

                                                                                                      Claude Monet

 February Challenge:  Contour Drawing   by: Cynthia (Cindy) Powell ©2014

 Whether you work with positive or negative shapes, the size and shape of the subject being painted, is established at its edges, by the application of a line or the absence of one.  (Lost & Found)

“The quality of line is more important to the painting than mathematical precision” (Grant Fuller)

I’m not sure I agree with that statement but it certainly qualifies for “food for thought”.  What do you think?  Is perspective more important than shape or size?  Can a painting be a painting without one or the other?  Would it be considered an “Abstract” if it had no perspective? 

Why explore the concept of line drawing?  Art is line and without line we have no shape to objects, no vision-or comprehension of what we are seeing, no movement.  Lines are just one of the key elements to design and line defines the shape of all objects.  These lines can be thick or thin, visible or partially removed.  (Our brain fills in the blanks.)  Lines can also define the curve of an object or the 3-D plane along with light & shadows, which can also be defined by lines.  The lightness or darkness of a drawn line can determine where the shadows are on a subject.  These lines are called: “Cross contour lines”.  These cross contour lines create the depth of vision or depth of field in a painting.  They can be free form or be created using a straightedge depending on the object being sketched.  They can be quickly drawn or detailed with perfect accuracy, but it all takes practice.   

(Photo courtesy of Annie Wu)

The image I used, with permission from Annie, http://www.flickr.com/photos/anniew/  clearly shows depth of a person standing in a circle which could be a pool of water or simply a background to give added dimension.  Without these cross contour lines, we would have a very flat 2-dimensional outline only, which is what we usual use when painting images like landscapes.  What about urban landscapes?  Or flowers?  Would this technique of cross contour lines be beneficial?  Topography (map making) utilizes this method of drawing, but would it be useful as a tool in your art?  If so, then you may find these links useful:  They are links to tutorials for contour, blind contour and cross contour drawing.

http://thevirtualinstructor.com/line-quality-cross-contour.html

http://www.studentartguide.com/articles/line-drawings

A few other contour images to explore:

 

Blue stripped shells: (In Nature)

http://allthingsstylish.tumblr.com/post/19184764554

Wavy Lines:

http://www.contemporaryartdaily.com/2010/10/cut-at-evergreene/img_2864/

 and: If you google: “contour drawing images”, you will discover a wealth of images to inspire your practice.  Grab your art journal and have fun!

 This image is from my art journal and the drawing is of glazed ceramic bottles that I used as a practice reference because I loved their shapes.  I first drew the shapes (outline only) in pencil, then painted the contour lines (+shapes) and finally, erased any pencil lines. 

To get crisp edges, you can use a piece of paper or other mask, like tape, then paint the lines and remove the mask.

Monday Paint Group

Wow-We had a great turn out yesterday!  Not an empty seat in the house!  Everyone was enjoying themselves by chatting with friends, watercolor painting or playing along with me (Cindy).  Acrylics can be a lot of fun and we were enjoying the various processes of experimenting with some texture tools, layering colors, stamping, etc.
Reminder: next Monday is Martin Luther Kings Day, so the senior center will be closed.  See you all again on Jan. 27th and those of you who played with the acrylics and want me to bind up a field journal, please bring your 6" x 4" (12 pieces) watercolor paper and your painted covers.  I will bring the bind-it-all machine. 








Playing with textures: 
Playing with Bubble Wrap
















Leo's painting that he used for his Christmas Cards this year.  Beautiful!