2 Paintings of England

Fall Break is Here!

And not a moment too soon! Of course, by Fall Break, I mean I'm doing just one class right now instead of 2. The class I just finished was the hardest, but the most rewarding class I have taken yet. Just 7 more to go! But enough about school and back to the art!

Framlingham Castle Moat

The painting at right is my favorite so far. It's based on one of my pictures. I prefer to work with my own pictures because I usually connect to them better and I can remember some of the details the camera didn't capture. This picture was an outing we took to Framlingham Castle in England. My husband is carrying our daughter on his shoulders as we stroll through the moat.

2 Tips for the Day:

1. Don't feel the need to accurately represent exactly what you see in your source. If that was the intention, it would be photography, not painting (unless you're doing someone's portrait, which is why I don't do portraits- yet). Painting is about artistic interpretation. As the artist, you get to choose the level of detail and what you want to include.

2. A mediocre picture can sometimes make an amazing painting. In the Castle Moat painting, I liked the picture okay, but I LOVE this painting, which is really saying something for me. My reactions to my own work usually range from loathing to indifference, it's rare that I really love something I've done.

So here's the painting once again. If seeing my source photo would absolutely ruin it for you, don't keep scrolling! (Or scroll really fast to the next painting!)

 

And here's the next one (I really need to think of names for these things!) Can you tell the difference between the top and bottom pictures? I tweaked it just a little and signed it.

 In case you were looking REALLY closely, you might notice my brand new easel (a birthday present from my sister!) in the top photo. That's probably the cleanest it will ever be. For what I changed on the painting: added light green in the top center leaves, added light green on the lower right leaves, added lighter colors to the gravel. And here it is next to the source photo, a picture I took from the window of a tea party in England.

Here are four of my other paintings grouped together:

In other news, I've been asked to teach a painting class for a women's group this month. They've had such an overwhelming response that we are offering the class on a second night! I'm quite excited to be teaching and encouraging others to branch out and try new things.