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

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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 

Challenge for January, Paint a Flower Quickly

The challenge for January was to paint flowers in watercolor quickly and simply.

Carmen's Response to the Challenge

I did several paintings but got 'fussy' with them. It's so hard to stop!

Yellow Rose

Lilies

Pink Poppies

In all honesty, I believe the very simplified painting below fulfills the intent of the challenge. A few strokes quickly applied, and a flower appears. 

Carmen Beecher

Carmensart.etsy.com

Carmenbeecher.com

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Donna's Response to the Challenge

This was a tough one for all of us impatient oil painters. I have to say that I spent lots of time on this one.  It wasn't a total loss though, through the frustration of trying to do something so simple I realized that I had gotten very tight and fussy.  I joined a 5 day 20 min. painting challenge and it really felt great to just paint.   I think I learned a lot, loosened up and made some progress.  This painting was done after I had painted a 20 minute oil on day 2 of the challenge.

OH Happy Day

donnavinesart.blogspot.com
donnavinesart.Etsy.com

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Carol's Response to the Challenge

Watercolor is, indeed, a challenge, for me.  I only do about one watercolor a decade!

I was attracted to this image, because of the strong shapes and colors.
Thank you, to Donna Vines, for allowing me to use your photo reference.

I have to admit, I do feel inspired to try another!

Carol Schiff

www.CarolASchiff.com

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Kathy's Response to the Challenge

I stopped at Walmart on my way to Ralph’s to pick up some lilies and a Gerbera daisy for our flower painting challenge. Below are my results. I’m glad we were able to do this    challenge all together during our session as I will miss painting with The Pieces during the rest of the month.

Kathy Garvey

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Fay's Response to the Challenge

Now I know for sure if I want to do water colors, I need to take some lessons. Not that I didn't try. I just didn't get the results I wanted. To wit. 
Here is the photo I wished to portray.

In doing a watercolor, I wanted to capture the intense color and the interesting formation of the leaves. The following are the tree best of what I managed to produce after six tries. Although none of the ones I finished really pleased me, I have a favorite. Can you guess?

Back to collage for me!
Fay


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Jean's response to the challenge

Tried painting from a real orchid, not a photo. The challenge for me is to paint fast!
I tried, really I did, to paint more quickly. 
There is a lot of truth to the expression, "knowing when to quit!"
So I did after the second one. 

New Rosie, 12x9 Watercolor Painting by Carmen Beecher

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This painting was part of a series of working people done for a pipefitters union. This one was my favorite. She reminds me of Rosie the Riveter, as she does what is traditionally a man's job.

I am so impressed that she makes a few fashion statements in spite of having to wear ugly overalls and those white gloves that are not going to be seen at any tea party. She has a hairdo, hair ribbon, and earrings. She also has a career with an excellent pension, a rarity these days. Don't bother to badmouth unions to her.

Speaking of women in men's jobs, did you know that over 400 women fought in the Civil War, disguised as men? Some were discovered when wounded, others when their bodies were recovered after battle. Discovered women would usually be sent home, although a few were imprisoned or institutionalized.

It was also illegal for them to vote--and now a woman is running for President. The times, they are a-changin.'

Carmen