Saturday, March 31, 2018

March Challenge, Upside-Down Artwork

This month our challenge was to produce a piece of art by drawing or painting from a photo that is upside down. It's a great exercise for improving our drawing skills; it makes us draw what we see instead of what we think we see.

 Buy
 This was a scene from North Captiva Island on the Gulf Coast of Florida.  Drawing the house upside down proved to be surprisingly accurate. 

Carmen
carmensart.etsy.com
carmenbeecher.com
carmenbeecher.blogspot.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For this challenge, I decided to use a photo of a fat little female baby cardinal that my daughter took in her yard several winters ago. And it really was a challenge for me. I don't usually draw with a pencil on my watercolor paper first, much less upside down. Below is my process, progress and result. Click on the image to enlarge it. 

Kathy Garvey  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I really enjoyed this challenge.  Painting upside down forces you to really see what you are painting.  I choose a figure from a Gauguin painting because I love his paintings and I thought it would be a good challenge for me.  It was.



This is how she looked while she was still upside down.  Looks pretty close, hmmm?

This is her right side up.  Now what has to be corrected. I can see she is not leaning enough, that her blouse is too big, her hand should be more defined. The question is should I stay right side up or flip it again?

Siesta Donna Vines after Paul Gauguin

Donnavinesart.Etsy.com
Donnavinesart.blogspot.com





Angry Bird
$99

This little guy is my upside down painting for this month's challenge.  I'm not sure why he is so 
angry, but I think it has something to do with the fact that he may have come back to North Carolina, just a little too early.  I think he is seriously thinking about turning around and heading back to Florida, because he is caught in a spring snow storm, here in the Blue Ridge Mts. 

 He is also my first painting, since I left my Florida home to live here in the mountains around Asheville.  I may be following him back to Florida if it doesn't warm up here soon!

He is 5x7" on oil and looking for a home, preferably in one of the more southern, warmer spots of the world.  Leave me a comment if you have to have him.




Carol Schiff



March Challenge: Draw or paint something upside down!
This is a challenge I frequently give my drawing students. It really helps one look at shapes, not identify "objects." I had not tried it in a while and it is a great exercise in patience, too! The original is a line drawing by Matisse. Mine is not too bad except for the left eye is woefully out of place!
Maybe I should do it again!
The original is on right... Yes, I need more practice!

Jean Thomas


***********


Below is a photograph of my Great-great-great-grandmother's childhood home in Virgi. She lived there with my Great-great-great grandfather.. She was a Dressler and this picture was taken at the Dressler family re-union several years ago. I feel as if I could move right back into this home. It even has a spinning wheel. I wanted to try to draw it for this exercise, even though I am not much for sketching. I was trying to make it a values study as well. You can see I didn't succeed at that, but I did get a reasonable  drawing of the cabin.








Sunday, March 25, 2018

The Pieces of Eight Go to Tea

Left to right, Fay, Carmen, Tara, Donna and Mary.

Four of the Pieces of Eight and our friend Tara attended the Ladies' Tea at the River Run Christian Church this weekend. The featured speaker's subject was "Distractions;" coincidentally, there was an air show with the Thunderbirds roaring overhead during her talk.

Saturday, March 24, 2018

Abandoned

Even though a lot of the country is still in the throes of winter this is officially the first week of Spring! When I think of spring I think of abundance and the overflowing of all things beautiful overrunning the deadness of winter.
I saw this truck abandoned by a barn in N. Carolina during a spring trip a few years ago.  I could not help but wonder at how many winters this truck sat there only to be nearly covered in new growth each spring.  How many more cycles would it take to completely cover this once loved red truck?

Abandoned

donnavinesart.Etsy.com
donnavinesart.blogspot.com

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

My paintings on the runway??

Several  months ago, I was contacted by an Israeli fashion designer, Assaf Pelleg.  He was designing his 2017 Spring/Summer Line, and wanted to use one of my paintings in his work.  I agreed to work with him, and we found two of my artworks that were of interest to him.

For several months, I heard nothing!  Then, suddenly, an email with the completed designs.





I am thrilled with the results!  

This is the fun part of what I do.  I sometimes struggle for days, over a specific artwork.  Just this week, I have worked on a piece for 3 days, and scrapped it this morning!  Then there are the boring hours after hours of internet work.  Taking photos, editing them, posting them.  Sometimes it seems the reward, is not enough to justify the effort. 

 But then, one day, a painting effortlessly falls off my brush, or a student sends me his power point presentation about how he was influenced by my art, or someone on the other side of the world, likes my work enough to place it in his collection.

That is the payoff!

Thanks for reading my blog today!

Carol Schiff

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Photo Collage of a Beautiful Location

by Kathy Garvey


Valkaria Gardens Buddha
I like to collage favorite photos of a location in Photoshop.  I recently took a little tour through Valkaria Gardens in South Brevard.  The place is full of gorgeous bromeliads, orchids, succulents, palms and pots! They have pots! If nothing else, go for the pots!

Well, they also have some incredible large Buddha statues! The one shown at left stands over 8 feet tall!

I took lots of photos. Here are just a few to give you an idea of how beautiful the place is. Drop by with your camera for a treat.

Directions: 8205 Babcock St SE, Palm Bay, FL 32909
Head south on Babcock and keep going past the intersection of Malabar and Babcock. You'll soon pass over the interstate. Several miles further south you will see the gardens on your left.
They have a website: Valkaria Gardens

My favorite Buddha - over 8 ft. tall





Caterpillar Plant



Bat Flower!







Saturday, March 10, 2018

Floral Still Life, Flower Painting, Daily Painting, Small Oil Painting, "Roadside Treasure"

When I go on my daily walk, up and down the country roads, I marvel at the gorgeous wildflowers and weeds (?) I find.  It was on these walks, that I discovered the lovely daylilies I planted in Florida, grow wild in the mountains.

So that is the inspiration for this painting, as I gathered these blooms from the ditches and easements along the country roads.

I plopped them in a favorite piece of pottery and started painting.


purchase here 

This piece is 9x12x.75"

Thanks for reading my blog today.

Carol Schiff

www.CarolSchiffStudio.etsy.com
www.CarolSchiffStudio.blogspot.com



A little coffee a little cream

I love painting landscapes but set ups are so much fun.  I am pretty lazy about them though.  I usually fuss around forever trying to set something up and am never happy.  It is so much better if someone just says paint this!
I painted this at an Elio workshop.  He always has several pieces in a set up and I usually pick a few things or an area I like and paint that.  For me the simpler the better.  At the time this seemed a simple set up but the creamer has a difficult shape and position.  Also the creamer and mug were white so all of the color had to come from the background and table cloth.  I used as much shadowing as possible to keep it interesting.  It turned out to be one of my favorite pieces.



 
donnavinesart.blogspot.com
donnavinesart.Etsy.com
 

Saturday, March 3, 2018

A little more crow

In keeping with this months challenge I also did a collage featuring crows.  I used Van Gogh's "Wheatfield with crows" as an inspiration for two reasons. First so many people know it and secondly I have always been fascinated with the way you can paint a squiggly line in the sky and it is suddenly a bird.  Everyone who sees it knows it is a bird, yet it is just a V shaped line.
I decided to try Wheatfield as a collage.  I used a lot of busy papers because that is Van Gogh to me.  Motion, movement, color.  The birds are not black but are musical notes and written or printed paper.  They fly through the air carrying messages of song, love, hope.

Wheatfield with Crows after Van Gogh
Notice the busyness of the paper.

All of the crows have a musical or written message on them.

The original is below the collage. Notice that the colors are transposed.

Donnavinesart.Etsy.com
Donnavinesart.blogspot.com

Ballard Park, Original Oil on Canvas

  I had not painted outside in two years, so this was quite a challenge. It was one of those paintings I had to improve upon in the studio. ...