Your opinions wanted

There is an art competition each year called “Celebrate Agriculture with the Arts”. This is a beautiful show with several categories that relate to agriculture: Dairy, Citrus, Irrigation, Cotton, etc. . . Artists can enter 2 categories, and this year I have 2 ideas for the same category. This is a no-no, because one would be competing with oneself if the same category were entered twice.

This is where you come in! Here are 2 different pieces of art for Farm Equipment And Structures. Since my choosing which piece might be akin to selecting my favorite cat (I love them all to distraction!), I am requesting help from you, my blog readers, in the hopes that you will be more objective than I am able to be.

These are not in order of my preference. Forsooth, if I had a preference, I wouldn’t be asking (begging and pleading and groveling) for your help! And there is no need for anyone to say, “I don’t know anything about art; I only know what I like” because this IS about what you like!

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Choice A

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Choice B

Commissions

Commissions are “an order for something, especially a work of art, to be produced” –

I can do this!!

Some very fine people (with very good taste in art, I ever so humbly add) have a blank wall facing their front door. They gathered about 10 photos, and together, we figured out which photos lend themselves to be grouped together and into how many pieces. Our conclusion was that three drawings, each with multiple subjects, would fit nicely.

Here is the first sketch:

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Next, I took their photos home with me, except for the ones they had torn from a calendar. Those are copyrighted, so I looked through my own photos for the same subject matter. Then, I made three separate sketches so they could see if I was on the right track.

Here is the first more detailed sketch:

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(good thing they already know that I know how to draw!!)

When they approved the first sketch,I started right away. Never mind about prioritizing with other work, closer deadlines, etc. . . I LOVE to draw!! (you knew that) Here is how it looks so far:

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In the fullness of time, more will be revealed. . . stay tuned!

First things first

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Washington Navels – graphite – 11×14 framed – $175

A man sent me some photos of his paintings and asked my opinion. It was unchanged from the last time he asked, which was unchanged from the previous time, which hadn’t changed since he quit drawing lessons to learn to paint!

My opinion is that one must learn to draw before learning to paint, IF one wants paintings to look believable. My point was not to badger him into returning to drawing lessons; it was to let him know that until he learned to draw accurately, his paintings would not be satisfying to him.

When I began painting, I chose subjects that were too difficult for my skill level. When I figured this out, I backed up to what I always tell my beginning drawing students: pick a simple single object, one with which you are already familiar. That object for me is oranges. (There is that series idea again!) At last count, I think I was on Oranges XXXIII. (for those of you in Rio Linda, that means number 33)

In no way do I mean to criticize this eager man who really really really wants to learn to paint! Au contraire – I understand him completely! When I was learning to knit, my attitude was “Scarves? We don’t need no stinkin’ scarves!!”, and my first project was a sweater. Not just a simple pullover, but a cardigan, complete with button bands and button holes! Needless to say, I am the proud owner of many weird sweaters. But, after 3 years of knitting, I now own quite a few not-so-weird ones also. So, one can probably learn to paint IF one is learning to see and understand shapes, proportions, perspective and values in the process.

And, the illustration above is not a simple single object. If a beginner chose this picture, I’d advise cropping it to a single orange with part of one leaf. Get the idea?