The challenge this month is more simple than previous ones:
do a piece of art on a black background.
I actually love painting on black and wonder why I do not do so more often. There is a bit of an adjustment as any color will be heightened in intensity when used on a black background. But the good news is that you have a "magic eraser" - a tube of black paint. I start my black art with acrylic and finish with oil.
Mint Tea, 10 x 10, sold
Sweet Tea, 7 x 5, available
It's fun to see how many places you can leave the black canvas as part of the painting...maybe that is the "magic brush" part. Cindy Michaud - questions? art@cindymichaud.com
******
One of my favorite paintings is Van Gogh's The Starry Night. Not a unique choice, but certainly an explosive one. When I originally saw time lapse photos of the Perseid Meteor Shower, I could not erase Van Gogh's painting from my mind.
The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh 1889
My Inspiration: A Perseid Meteor Shower
Time Lapse Photo
Perseid: Homage to Van Gogh
Mixed media collage on black paper 5x8
I had fun with this challenge. After I was happy with my composition, I played around with the photo and increased the contrast before I posted it.
Fay Picardi
*************
I almost always paint on a black surface. At first, I had difficulty starting with such a dark support, but it is now second nature to me.
SOLD
There are always tiny areas of black, showing through the other colors, which helps to intensify
the hues.
Carol Schiff
www.CarolASchiff.com
www.CarolSchiffStudio.etsy.com
****************
***********************
Doing this challenge reminded me that I had not painted on black for awhile, just for a change. I had almost forgotten how dramatic the effect could be and how much your colors were affected by such a dark background.
Even though this is not a photo of an overcast day, I could not seem to get the sky or ocean light enough. If I really wanted to be as light as the photo I would have had to use a pallet knife to add layers of lighter color.
This was a painting I did about a year ago. Look at how thick the paint is to add lighter color and highlights.
www.donnavinesart.blogspot.com
www.donnavinesart.etsy.com
***********************
BLACK BIRD
By Jean Thomas
POPPY ON BLACK
Mary Warnick
*************
I almost always paint on a black surface. At first, I had difficulty starting with such a dark support, but it is now second nature to me.
 |
| Purchase here |
There are always tiny areas of black, showing through the other colors, which helps to intensify
the hues.
Carol Schiff
www.CarolASchiff.com
www.CarolSchiffStudio.etsy.com
****************
I so enjoyed the "half-face" challenge that I used the same technique that I used on that one to paint my picture on black.
 | |
#Me Too
This is my homage to the #MeToo Movement. Her experience has broken her into little pieces and given her a haunted look, but she will gather strength from knowing that she is not alone. The sheer force and energy of her fellow victims are bringing about change. Predators, beware!
Carmen
www.carmenbeecher.blogspot.com
www.carmensart.etsy.com
***********************
Doing this challenge reminded me that I had not painted on black for awhile, just for a change. I had almost forgotten how dramatic the effect could be and how much your colors were affected by such a dark background.
Even though this is not a photo of an overcast day, I could not seem to get the sky or ocean light enough. If I really wanted to be as light as the photo I would have had to use a pallet knife to add layers of lighter color.
This was a painting I did about a year ago. Look at how thick the paint is to add lighter color and highlights.
www.donnavinesart.blogspot.com
www.donnavinesart.etsy.com
***********************
BLACK BIRD
By Jean Thomas
I created a gel print on black paper a month or so, ago. This uses a gel plate and you roll acrylic paint on it and add shapes or draw into it. Then you lay a sheet of paper on it. It is like a mono-print without the press.(Look up gel prints on YouTube to see the technique.) I was going through the prints and this one grabbed my attention. It had potential, but it needed something. Added the blackbird and a bit more color. Voila!
***********************************
POPPY ON BLACK
When Denette suggested painting on black for the August Challenge, I remembered a one day workshop I attended several years ago with the delightful and talented Kaye Shannon on painting with watercolor crayons on black canvas. Her paintings were beautiful and I tried her methods for awhile, then moved on to other things. Well, time to try again. It was more difficult than I remembered, but I kept going.
I was having trouble getting what I wanted with the crayons alone, so I added some watercolor inks and Arches liquid watercolor paper.
Mary Warnick
Pink and Palm
I made a lot of mistakes when I painted this. I put black oil rather than acrylic for the background so it took forever to dry. Then I had to put a heavy layer of pink and green oil colors and then let it dry. A week later I started to add to the rest of the colors. I like it. However, the surface is bumpy, which I don't like. Oh well.
Denette Schweikert
Kathy Garvey
I love to paint on black, but this month I have a little too much on my plate so the 12 x 16 inch acrylic I started on a gallery wrapped canvas is still not finished. I'm posting it below at it's current stage and if I magically get it painted before the deadline, I'll update this entry.
