But Ms. Kennedy's tips and "rules" have been a big help.
The spot light definitely helps add interest to even the most mundane subject. I didn't have any fresh flowers, and was tired of the oranges, lemons and onion, so I pulled out a floppy little teddy bear that a dear friend gave me years ago.
Do you know what a CHALLENGE it is to mix brownish tans with blue, yellow red and white?
At least my effort seems interesting.
Again, getting the oranges, golds and shadowed tones was tricky... let alone decent stripes using the relatively large brush I was using.
But again, I'm surprised that my mish mash of strokes are recognizable at all. MUCH better than what I could have done before the workshop. I definitely learned a lot about observing. Perhaps I should read up about observational painting, too!
Remind me NEVER to to plaid in OIL paint again. Acrylic would have been SO MUCH SIMPLER! This needs a little something extra. Or maybe just a fresh start! (I was painting this without a reference... funny how it has a different "feeling.")
And another painting with no reference. I was painting for the sake of putting paint on a background. It turned itself into a landscape. I feel a childlike pleasure in the memory of applying the paint and recognizing that it looks like "something." Have you been anyplace that looks like this? I have been to places that were like the different parts of the painting (reddish soil, purple mountains, prairie grasses), but never a single place with "all of the above."
