This past Saturday night, my friend Amelia and I took an oil painting class. It was an absolute beginners and neither one of us had a clue as what to expect.
We had a really nice teacher and this was her first time to teach to adults. She is an art teacher for either middle school or high school, I can't remember. There were about 8 of us in this tiny space and sitting at card tables, 4 to a table. It was tight. So tight in fact that I was afraid to scoot my chair back for fear of knocking over things behind me.
So she taught us just a few very basics, handed out canvases, pencils and directed us towards a still life she had set up. It was so close no one really could see it and there was no room to get up and get closer to draw it. Luckily, she handed out pictures she had taken of it. Unfortunately, they were taken from a still life that she had practiced setting up in her home... haha it was kinda dark. But it worked.
This is what I was able to accomplish in the short 2 hours that it lasted. I sat so close to my canvas and held up my picture so close to it that I was unable to even see what I was drawing at the bottom of the canvas. My foreshortening is all wrong. Had I been able to stand up and away from my drawing I think it would have turned out better.
Oh well, I'm pretty happy with it. It was great fun and took the mystery out of oils for me. Who knew how easy it was?! Not me. I've been scared of them for ever. Not any more! I plan to paint more on this and hopefully I can correct the little sugar bowl and its wonky distortion. I'm up for any critques or advice =)
I am just about sick to death of Roses for the Dead. I haven't even really worked on it for a while, but now I'm all fired up for the oils but need to finish this to get it out of the way So it hopefully will be finished very soon if I can make myself do do it. I'm sure I can, I get into it once I get started. I'm anxious for it to be done. It's one of the largest pieces I've done. I'm ready to start going big!
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I looks nice. I have used just about every medium there is except oils. The turpentines and odors of the paints me since I have asthma. :-)
ReplyDeleteYour oil painting's lovely! Good for you.
ReplyDeleteWOW- I'm really impressed! I've never tried oils, always been too intimidated, but this looks great! (Especially after you described the circumstances) You go girl! Do you have another class this week? Don't give up on your Roses for the Dead- it looks amazing too. I can't wait to see what you do next with the oils AND the Roses pieces- I love how your style shines through even when you're using different mediums!
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