July's Challenge: Wild and Crazy Colors

This month's challenge is to paint something with wild colors that totally do not sync with the subject. Examples: Landscapes, a furry animal, a face - in vibrant unrealistic colors.

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Cindy's Purple Cows

This is acrylic with oil on cradled board. Using unexpected colors made me really pay attention to the shadows and shapes, it had to read “cow”....

Cindy Michaud

cindymichaudart.blogspot.com

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from Carmen

About ten years ago I painted a giraffe triptych (see below), and I used that image to do my wild and crazy giraffe above on the computer. That was fun.

I also had fun doing a tiny painting of a bird in a mask, using brush pens.

This is so much fun I can't stop. This one is oil on canvas. I took a painting I had and reworked it with wild colors.

Carmen Beecher

carmenbeecher.com

carmensart.etsy.com

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This little pleinaire painting was dull as a dormouse.  I painted over it with brighter colors to meet the challenge, red over dark green, orange over light green, yellow over blue, purple over gray and blue over light brown.

Mary Warnick

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I really had fun with this one.  I have always been fascinated with the beautiful Henna drawings that Indian brides have done so I traced by hand and tried one with colors to see how it would look.

I also wanted to paint an animal a different color so I decided on a rooster.  It is amazing how color changes everything.

Donna Vines


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I have cheated a bit.  This is the picture I am painting for my granddaughter for her room in her new house in Seattle.  I am a fan of Photoshop Elements that changed the colors to purple and green.  You will see the real one next week.  

by Denette Schweikert

http://denette.net

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Since we have all been affected by having to “stay in,” I have been taking some courses online. I do much better when I have a deadline. This is one of the course exercises. My goal was to be colorful and paint more loosely. It was fun to try and get my mind off all of the unusual goings-on. What is our new normal? Don’t know yet. Painting is still my happy place.

by Jean Thomas

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Kathy's challenge painting: 

"Color Does Not Define Us" 

22"x30" Acrylic on Heavy Textured Rice Paper

Detail

I love this heavy textured rice paper from Ralph's Art Supply. It's a little hard to paint on, but the lines and textures influence and inspire some of my designs and I enjoy that. Since the paper is quite large, and split leaf Philodendron's are so complex, this took me almost two weeks to draw and paint the basic shapes. I then spent another five days adding small designs in a variety of fun colors. 

It's most likely not finished as I need a place to rest my eyes. I'll probably put in some solid background shapes eventually. Despite the major reds and oranges, this split leaf philodendron is still completely recognizable. Thus the title "Color Does Not Define Us" (which I applies to the human race way more than this painting).

See Kathy's Watercolors and Home Decor on Etsy

CAPRI by Fay Picardi

CAPRI

by 

Fay Picardi

Who could forget a beautiful day of sailing around the Isle of Capri and stopping from time to time to take a dip in the clear refreshing water. Certainly NOT Me!

I have tried to recapture that day and the feeling of lying back in the sailboat and letting my eyes follow the mast up to the top of the rocks and into the sky.

There was no way to photograph the water below and the sky above from my angle of repose on the sailboat.  I had to use three photographs and a little imagination. 

Well, maybe more than a little imagination. For starters, you can find lions, reptiles, silk skirts, a t-bone steak, and the world's largest Buddha sculpture. 

What do you think?

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Country Music's Greatest Lines: Lyrics, Stories & Sketches from American Classics

Here it comes again...the book we're so proud of, Country Music's Greatest Lines, written by Bobby Braddock and illustrated by little ole me. 

Yes, I know I've told you about it before,but this is a reminder. It is sold in bookstores and online at arcadiapublishing.com,amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and booksamillion.com. Anyone who likes country music will LOVE this book! It's a peek inside the creation of some of your favorite songs, plus 81 illustrations by, as I said, little ole me.

Carmen Beecher

Grand Tetons, 10x8 Oil Painting Western Landscape

$125 + Free Shipping

With everything going on with our new book Country Music's Greatest Lines, I am having to paint when I get a chance. I finally finished this one, a scene from our driving trip around the West. It was a beautiful view of the Grand Tetons (translation is "Big Breasts").

Now back to shameless self-promotion of the book I illustrated, written by Bobby Braddock, with 81 illustrations by me. Sold out a couple of times on Amazon, but it is available today. Also, check your local bookstore.

Carmen

In further shameless self-promotion, this is the back cover of Country Music's Greatest Lines: Lyrics, Stories & Sketches from American Classics, which I illustrated in collaboration with the author, Bobby Braddock. The blurb endorsing the book is by the awesome author, Malcolm Gladwell.

Carmen

Big News from Carmen!

Announcing the publication of a new book, Country Music's Greatest Lines: Lyrics, Stories & Sketches from American Classics, written by Bobby Braddock, with over 80 illustrations by yours truly. We are so excited to have our hard work come to fruition!

Bobby Braddock is a longtime friend, and a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Country Music hall of Fame, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York, with many notable hits, such as “Time Marches On,” “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” “Wanna Talk About Me,” and “People Are Crazy.” Braddock is the only living person to have #1 songs in five consecutive decades. Also notable, he discovered Blake Shelton and produced several #1 one hits with him. Naturally, when he presented his idea for the book I jumped at the chance to illustrate it.  

Available July 6 on amazon.com and arcadiapublishing.com, the book gives an insider's view of classics from Hank Williams, Roger Miller, Kris Kristofferson, Taylor Swift, Eric Church and more, and spans decades from the 1940s to present. 

To quote Bobby: “ By featuring songs and song lyrics that span the early days of country radio to present-day downloading and live-streaming on the Internet, hopefully there's a little something here for everyone: an illustrated brief history of the words of country music, and the songwriters who created those words and made them sing.” 

Book signings at the Country Music Hall of Fame and elsewhere had to be canceled because of the pandemic, but thankfully, we have the internet.

Here is a sample illustration. Can you guess the song? Hint: It's by Marty Robbins.

Carmen