Art with Cynthia

We  are off to a good start! Some homework for you: Tami:  Your goal is to finish some of your paintings, and you chose your river painting. Practice under-painting and over-painting for your river. - try different interesting underpainting colors, and different kinds of brush strokes for over painting. There are lots of opinions about under painting. I like to have flashes of the underpainting showing through. I often use a complementary color, or a main color from another part of the composition. In my Mt. Pisgah painting (below) I was inspired by the sky in van Gogh's "Women Digging Potatoes" for the red underpainting as well as the brush work in the sky: Becky:   1. You talked about painting the ocean. Bring a photo of a landscape that means something to you, and be prepared to riff on it in an abstract way. By riffing, I mean it doesn't have to look like a beach or a landscape, but somehow evoke beachiness. Examples: 2. B uy some new tubes of blue, and paint splo...

Our  assignments last week led us on a rich dialogue! We looked at paintings that inspired you in the New Year.  I was impressed with your choices, and inspired in turn.  After our discussion I set some homework for you: Tami:  1. Work on brush handling. Check out the step by step painting web site for some exercises to try. (She also has a buying guide if you ant to get any new brushes.) 2. Your goal is to finish some of your paintings, so please choose the one you want to work on and be prepared to work on it! Becky:   1. Explore Red.  One of your choices for inspiration was this one, below. Your assignment is to buy some new tubes of red and paint splotches of many different mixtures of red, taking some notes,  and make a list or a chart of colors you like best so you can begin to incorporate them into your work. 2. Bring a photo of a landscape that means something to you, and be prepared to riff on it in an abstract way. Abstract Landsca...