Getting back in the groove

WOW! Last week was hectic, getting back into the painting groove after a long holiday always is. Like the first day at school, exciting but not sure what to expect and a million questions. After the first day I was always glad when the last bell rang..... unless we were doing art projects, then there was no limit on my time. Swimming-in-Paint is a bit like that. If you're not at a stopping point no one wants to pack-up and leave...not even me:=)

This year Swimming-in-Paint is a bit different from last. Our class will cover a full month. We have three Saturdays set aside for quick studies - basically working on a single theme chosen at the outset. The last weekend of the month, Saturday and Sunday, is left to a more serious work based on our previous three Saturdays. The process will be repeated each month throughout the year.

(The first three weeks)

OUR MISSION STORY BOARD

Our first class gave me some visual material to assemble a mission board for the team going forward. 

SELECT A THEME

 (example: HORSES AND THE HUNT)

SETTLING IN ON THE HUNT

The hunt has many elements attached to it besides horses and riders in red riding coats. The hounds, the fox, the landscape setting, trees, sky and weather conditions.......hummmm. Well, no question when it's laid out like this, there's a lot of moving parts to a grand painting theme. Because of that, each element depends on the next, any weakness distracts from the whole and why paintings can fail.

Ideally a representational artist needs to paint anything well so it makes sense to organize and work one step at a time........toward an end goal.

Can't wait to see how this plays out in our last weekend!!

The team, this year is using Jerry's cost effective Centurion oil linen painting pads for our first 3-week exercise. The pads are effective, easy to store flat and if worthy of a frame can be stretched. Blue tape keeps it contained and gives us a preview of what it might look like in a frame. My favorite part, ripping the tape off! 

"Every painting presents problems, how fast we solve them will have an everlasting effect on our result. Keep it simple, work on your weakness! "