LAAFA Class with Johanna Spinks
Hydrangeas and Tangerines
11" x 14"
Oil on RayMar Board
Still lifes are not something I've generally sought after. Mostly they don't inspire me. I paint them because I feel I need to keep learning and stretching my skills. They force me to see and paint the values so that what I'm painting "reads" correctly.
In September, I started back again with Johanna Spinks after she moved to LAAFA because she is a good teacher and I need the challenges she provides the class.
In this class, we paint a still life one week and a model the next. Great practice! Surprisingly I really enjoyed the still life set up. I liked the colors and the variety of objects. Of course, Johanna, painted her demo while helping all of us -- critiquing, advising, badgering and using the stages of her demo as an example of what we should be doing and looking for. Hers, painted, in 1/3 the class time was WONDERFUL. (See hers on posted on her blog here.) Mine was not. But I did like the set up, so I decided to work at it at home so I could take it back to class this week. I messed with the flowers... trying to capture the form as the light filtered across the petals. I redid the flower pot...remembering the many times Johanna has talked about value... Three in the light and two in the dark. There had been a rolled-up carpet in the set up and it just didn't look right, so I took it out. I also took quite a lot of liberty with the light as it played across the backdrop and the flat carpet that the objects were sitting upon. All in all I'd say it turned out better than it was, AND, best of all, I enjoyed the process!
In September, I started back again with Johanna Spinks after she moved to LAAFA because she is a good teacher and I need the challenges she provides the class.
In this class, we paint a still life one week and a model the next. Great practice! Surprisingly I really enjoyed the still life set up. I liked the colors and the variety of objects. Of course, Johanna, painted her demo while helping all of us -- critiquing, advising, badgering and using the stages of her demo as an example of what we should be doing and looking for. Hers, painted, in 1/3 the class time was WONDERFUL. (See hers on posted on her blog here.) Mine was not. But I did like the set up, so I decided to work at it at home so I could take it back to class this week. I messed with the flowers... trying to capture the form as the light filtered across the petals. I redid the flower pot...remembering the many times Johanna has talked about value... Three in the light and two in the dark. There had been a rolled-up carpet in the set up and it just didn't look right, so I took it out. I also took quite a lot of liberty with the light as it played across the backdrop and the flat carpet that the objects were sitting upon. All in all I'd say it turned out better than it was, AND, best of all, I enjoyed the process!
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For those of you who have been following this post, you may remember that my in-laws from Italy visited over the summer. My niece and nephew are teenagers and spend a lot of their time texting and doing things on the Internet. Nicola, my nephew, has a blog on which he posted his U-Tube story of this trip through some of our lovely country. Here is his view:
For those of you who have been following this post, you may remember that my in-laws from Italy visited over the summer. My niece and nephew are teenagers and spend a lot of their time texting and doing things on the Internet. Nicola, my nephew, has a blog on which he posted his U-Tube story of this trip through some of our lovely country. Here is his view:
See if you can figure out the spots he thought were important to include. ENJOY.
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