The Challenge for May: Abstract

Our challenge for this month is to do an abstract work of art.

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Donna Vines

I have always enjoyed looking at Abstract art but painting it is not easy.  It has to evoke an emotion, a feeling, something beyond a recognizable thing.  The more I thought about how to approach this the more I realized it is all in the colors to me.  I looked at several artists then looked through my photos to find a mood.  I finally chose a fall mountain scene because it looked so vibrant, alive and hopeful.

Vermont in the Fall
9x12 oil

Donnavinesart.Etsy.com


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Jean Thomas

This is an abstract landscape that I made up from a sketch. My purpose here was to experiment with watercolor and try to get a wide range of value. The original is about 7" x 9".

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Abstract was a totally new idea in the art world when painters attempted to render a piece with no recognizable subject matter. The goal was to provoke a certain feeling and most art enthusiasts just didn't get it. "Radical, my kid could do it, just paint thrown on" were some of the oft heard reactions.  While times have changed I'm one who will tell you that good abstract art is much harder than painting something we can all identify.  Try painting an emotion (and no fair using flowers or a sunshine.)  I can't really get there but it is fun trying.  My piece definitely has discernible objects in it altho my husband and I see totally different things.  Maybe I got closer than I thought!

14 x 11, acrylic
Cindy Michaud
art@cindymichaud.com

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"Love in the Time of Coronavirus"
6x8, acrylic

I am not an abstract artist, so I employed a little Jackson Pollock to this and dropped the paint on the board from about four feet. Then I enhanced the round blobs to resemble COVID-19. It was fun.

Carmen Beecher

carmenbeecher.comcarmensart.etsy.com

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Mary Warnick's Abstract

"Ocean Motion"

I have admired the work of John Salmonen for many years, especially his beautiful cityscapes.  Several years ago he gave a workshop in Melbourne and I signed up.  It turned out to be an abstract workshop.  It was very intensive and complicated.  I think he was trying to incorporate a few techniques into the process, including line drawing and the grid method of transferring an image.  Over time I tried simplifying, but stuck to his advise "if it starts looking like something, get rid of it before you fall in love with it".   This little watercolor is a very simplified version.

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Kathy's response to the challenge:

I love to doodle and when I have nothing in mind to draw, that's what I do. One of my favorite methods is to randomly draw two lines across a page or canvas and then fill them in . Below is my progress from start to finish on canvas. Then I took it into Photoshop to finalize it. Click on any image to expand it.

Moment of Impact
8x10 Acrylic to Photoshop
Kathy Garvey

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Hope is a Thing ...
Mixed Media Collage
by Fay Picardi

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One Percent
Denette Schweikert

This "painting" is the left side of the I am very beginning of a large 36" X 46" picture.  I am not very good at abstracts.  

March Challenge, Landscapes

The challenge for March is to paint a landscape.

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Jean Thomas' Landscape

This was inspired by a hike that we took near Falls Creek Falls State Park. It is North of Chattanooga, TN and a real treat to visit. We had finished the hike, hot and tired, and I sat down to catch my breath. In front of me was a meadow full of wild flowers. It was late spring so I was marveling at how many different shades of green were surrounding me. The only other recollection I have of that day, was that I sat on an old wooden bench and got the worst case of chiggers I've ever had!!

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Carmen Beecher's Landscape

Florida Jungle, 8x10 Oil

I just love a nice thick, tangled Florida wood, especially when a tree is decorated with a big air plant.

www.carmenbeecher.com

www.carmensart.etsy.com

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Cindy Michaud's Landscape

Crossing to Safety
acrylic on cradled board
Price Lake Park, Boone, NC

This is from a lovely day at one of my favorite parks in the area.  A bridge of stepping stones in and over the water, in and out of the shade, seems an appropriate metaphor for todays time.  I loved making the many different areas of texture on this piece and found the acrylic fun to use.

Cindy Michaud

art@cindymichaud.com

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Denette Schweikert's Landscape

Puerto Rican Sunset

Several years ago we spent some time in western Puerto Rico enjoying the beaches, where I took a photo from the ocean.  Then a painted this picture in short painting session with the Pieces of 8.  I usually takes me days (or weeks) to finish a painting, but I am pretty happy with it.

Kathy Garvey's Landscape

A View from a Train
9x12 Watercolor

I've never had any desire to paint a landscape except for a visit in the late 80's to Italy. For some reason the hills, mountains, dark green olive trees on light green fields, and charming castle towns appealed to me. So, when this challenge came up, I looked through my pictures from that visit. I think I took the original photo from the train on the way from Naples to Assisi.

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Mary's landscape

This little watercolor painting is called "Dreamscape" because I dreamed this scene one night, and then tried to capture my dream on paper.

It was fun to do and I used a lot of water to get the effect I was looking for.

I normally paint  a lot of landscapes, but haven't done one for awhile.

Mary Warnick

                                     
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Donna Vines

This painting is a scene from North Carolina.  Driving through some back roads we came upon some small family homesteads on a hillside.  I just loved this collection of old farm buildings and had to paint it.  I painted on a board using  big brushes to give it that rustic feel.  I also made the tree a little more pink than it was but  love the pop of color.

                                                                Hilly Farm

donnavinesart.Etsy.com





 

Challenge for December: Do a Painting Using Only 50 Strokes

Carmen: This challenge is really challenging! A painting done using only 50 strokes. What a great exercise this is for making us simplify.

When I got to the last stroke my hand was itching to do just a couple more details, but I resisted.

Carmen Beecher

 "50 Strokes of Chicken"

 www.carmenbeecher.com

www.carmensart.etsy.com

www.carmenbeecher.blogspot.com

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Donna:  50 strokes, no problem...after the 4th try of 4 different subjects  I finally had something!!

There are lessons to be learned here but let's just say pick something simple, a stoke is a stroke be it long or a dab, roundish strokes somehow cover more. You will notice the original photo is upside down by this time I had learned that 50 strokes is not a lot, the pear would have to stand alone.

A pear in 50 strokes

donnavinesart.etsy.com
donnavinesart.blogspot.com

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Kathy: I kept trying with this challenge. I never managed to produce something I liked well enough to leave alone after only 50 strokes. Of all my attempts (3 different birds and a butterfly), this was my best and it kept the closest to 50 strokes.

Left: 20 strokes, Middle: 33 Strokes, Right: 50 Strokes

 I was supposed to stop there!

I had to finish this little chickadee and did not count how many strokes that took! 

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Fay: Above is a photograph of a great white egret in flight. It was taken by my late friend, Tom B. Sanders, and is used as the cover for a book of his photographs of  birds along with the poems of his wife, Bonny B. Sanders. I recently helped Bonny format and edit this book. I was so taken by this image, I decided to use it for my challenge, seen below.

This challenge does not meet the requirements of 50 strokes (or pieces of paper), but it comes close. There are 47 wing feathers, 6 additional pieces of paper for the head, shoulders, shadows on the wing span and legs. I added one outline of the eye in black, filled it in with yellow and surrounded it with the typical green found around the Great White's eyes. It took 2 strokes to make the black feet. If I have counted correctly, I am still under 60. I should have made fewer feathers. No going back now.

Fay Picardi

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Denette: Above is my fifty strokes although was more sixty strokes. It was interesting but not my cup of tea. 

Glad I tried it and learned a lot. Denette Schweikert. 

denette.net 

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Carol: I am an oil painter....in a slump!  However, I am away from home for 3 months.  In the interest of saving space, I left my oils at home and brought a collection of watercolor, pastels, and alcohol inks.  I wanted to stretch myself, and maybe ignite a new interest in my art.

This is a watercolor, and oil pastel painting.  My reference photo had many, many more trees, but I could not add them in under 50 strokes.

This is a second try; a scene from Sanibel Island.

I will try this again.

www.CarolASchiff.com

www.CarolSchiffStudio.etsy.com

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Mary: After several really bad tries, I used one color, alizarin crimson, and two brushes, a one-inch flat to begin and a number 10 round to finish.  Fifty strokes exactly.  Not the most interesting painting, but better than the first attempts.  It was fun to try, and just being with the Pieces is always fun!

Mary Warnick

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A Day in the Gardens

L

Left to right, Denette, Kathy, Donna and Fay

My journal page 

Carmen Beecher

Challenge for July, Florida Themed Art

Our challenge this month: simply, "Florida."

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Cindy: When the theme for the month was “Florida” I knew immediately which piece said it all for me:

Hanging now in my NC studio this piece is huge! About 48” tall and almost 30” wide, it was rendered right before I left the state.  It was from a compilation of photos I had taken while kayaking the Indian River with a liberal dose of imagination thrown in for good measure.  I love the mountains and its four defined seasons but when I feel lonesome for a good river paddle on a hot day I simply lift my eyes and visit Florida in my mind.  This was done for me, me, me and it never mattered if anyone else liked it or not!

Detail of my swirly colorful water....

Cindy Michaud

https://www.cindymichaud.com/

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Kathy: I'm on a roll painting leaves lately and Florida has some beauties! I was watering my brother's Monstera plant and its gorgeous giant leaves just begged to be painted. I trimmed one off that was hiding near the ground and past looking healthy, and photographed it. (This leaf is 30 inches tall and 27 inches wide!)

Monstera Deliciosa Leaf

Sometimes I experiment in Photoshop to see how I might want to paint something. If I don't get around to painting it before our Florida challenge is up, below is my digital version. By adding patterns and filters I can make a photo look like a watercolor. The background is created by "painting" with a "brush" made from the same photo.

Also Monstera Deliciosa

Kathy Garvey

etsy.com/shop/snailflower

spoonflower.com/profiles/kgarvey

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Carmen: There is an island in Florida that is just as good as being in the Bahamas, and it is called North Captiva. I am thinking of painting a large version of this lovely spot.

Paradise, 7x5

Carmen Beecher

https://carmenbeecher.com

https://carmensart.etsy.com

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I painted a familiar landmark in the area The Grant House.  It was built in 1916 in the town that is now Grant,  by the Benson Family, who were pioneers in the Melbourne area.  I have visited there several times and always marvel at the how small and isolated these early pioneers must have felt in this vast wilderness that was Florida.

The Grant House

Donna Vines

https://donnavinesart.etsy.com

http://donnavinesart.blogspot.com

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I have always loved flowers. When I first moved to Florida, I planted 4 hibiscus trees in my backyard. The blooms were a lively color between coral and pomegranate. And DOUBLE, which I love.  I have used one of my photographs of a single blossom multiple times. Below is the collage I made when my oldest daughter ask me to create my concept of God. You may notice that my two daughters as well as my four grandchildren are all tucked into the pedals.

24"x 30"

For this challenge, I again turned to this hibiscus and to collage. I think I captured the vivaciousness of the hibiscus, but my shadowed pedals are too dark. The  two leaves are from my handmade papers. If I try this subject again, I will use all handmade papers. 

9"x 9"

Fay Picardi
www.faypicardi.weebly.com

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FLORIDA!
Our theme for this month... fun and appropriate!

"Sandpipers on Melbourne Beach"

Watercolor, 8" x 11"

    These are two of the things I love about living in Florida, the ever-changing water, and the birds. Isn't it entertaining to watch the little pipers run along the surf's edge? I love how they stay ahead of you while searching for those elusive morsels in the sand.
Taking a walk on a beach will sooth your soul.

Jean Thomas
Ozworks22@cfl.rr.com

I had to post this image for my "Florida" challenge.  After living in Florida for over 40 years, my husband and I moved to Asheville NC recently.  We still spend three months, every winter, in Florida.

During those three months, I am now a snow bird, with no responsibilities.  We rent on the beach, and I get to enjoy the Florida I never knew as a resident.  That includes, a morning walk on the beach.

This painting is the path, I take, each morning.

Carol Schiff
www.CarolASchiff.com

Living on the beach in Florida is amazing.  Every morning the first thing I do is look out at the ocean.  
There is often the sun rising; sometimes so vivid it does not look real, but it is!
Pelicans are often flying above or congregating on the water.
This is a large oil painting that I did from one of my morning photos and a bit of imagination.

Mary Warnick

June Challenge, Black and White Art

The challenge for June was to do a piece in black and white.

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Donna: When I heard Black and White my mind immediately thought "collage".   Hmm... black and white, penguins, tuxedos, pianos, people, words, photos???   No, songbirds, musical notes, sheet music and of course polka dots.

Song Bird 8x10 collage

Donnavinesart.Etsy.com

Donnavinesart.blogspot.com

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Carmen: I love roots and the patterns they make. I was just in the Smoky Mountains and saw these beautiful roots spreading across a ledge. This challenge gave me an excuse to draw them in pen and ink.

Carmen Beecher

https://www.etsy.com/shop/carmensart

https://carmenbeecher.com/ 

Then I decided to do a black-and-white oil painting, so I chose a subject that had little color to begin with, Ruby Beach on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. This is a tiny 5x7 painting.

Carmen Beecher

https://www.etsy.com/shop/carmensart

https://carmenbeecher.com/  

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Carol:  For this challenge, I chose three small paintings, done in black and white on a red support.  I allowed small amounts of the red to show through, which I believe, gives an interesting warmth to the paintings.

These paintings were all done from photographs of flapper movie stars.

Carol Schiff

www.CarolASchiff.com

www.CarolSchiffStudio.etsy.com

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Fay: Several years ago, a distant cousin sent me this picture of the old Dressler family homestead. My great, great, great grandfather, Thomas Wilson Richardson, married Margaret Dressler in this house in 1860. My great, great grandfather was born here. I was inspired.

I started drawing the cabin free hand. REALLY free hand.

I decided it wasn't dark enough, so I darkened it up a little and added some sparse trees.

The final sketch below is a try at graphite transfer. I wish I had known about this technique BEFORE I spent hours trying get the cabin above in proper prospective. This discovery may have change my whole approach to art!

Fay Picardi

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Kathy: Below is my response to the challenge. I love drawing with Micron Pens on good watercolor paper. This drawing was inspired by a leaf found in a cluster of similar leaves in an open field. I was on a one month artist's vacation in a beautiful cabin at the Furnace Mountain Zen Center in Kentucky. Surrounded by woods, I got to hike, paint and draw every day. I thought the leaf was just a beautiful dandelion leaf. There was no stalk or flower. But later I checked online and through several field guides, and it is most likely a young leaf from a milk or bull thistle.

Kathy Garvey

etsy.com/shop/snailflower

spoonflower.com/profiles/kgarvey


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Jean: I love black and white. My sketchbooks are full of ink/Pitt pen drawings. Black and white forces you to simplify to achieve tonal variation. The drawing below is of my son Chris, underwater. He loved swimming. I found an old snapshot of him from one of those throwaway, underwater cameras. So I sketched him!

Jeanie Thomas
ozworks22@cfl.rr.com