Practice Painting? Painting Practice? Paint Practicing?
Never mind. Doctors practice medicine, attorneys practice law, and this artist practices painting. Some days I feel as if I am brand new, with no idea how to tackle a subject. Some days I think I’m figuring it out. Only once in awhile does the process feel easy.
I have a solo show coming up a year from now, and I want to be ready. No last-minute panic painting, just a well-planned body of work that is cohesive, looks good together, represents my best efforts, and most of all, represents the best parts of Central California, specifically Tulare County. Or perhaps is the best representation of Tulare County, a place of superlatives, both great and terrible.
Hey Central California, stop your bloviations and show us some work.
Ahem. Would you like to see what I was practicing on?
About time.
I started with more detailing on the trees.
Then it was time to work on the background. All those vague and messy branches and clumps of needles were a bit confounding, but that’s okay, because I was just practicing. It helped to put in the sunlit strips of ground.
I had to turn the canvas sideways in order to place the tip of my brush WHICH I WAS DRAWING WITH, SO THERE, in the right place to get accuracy. In order to paint those ferns in detail, I DRAW WITH MY PAINTBRUSH.
Finally, I hung it on the wall to dry, and that’s when I realized I had begun the scene upside down but hadn’t actually reversed the canvas. Oh well. A wire is easy to move.
5 Comments
I love it, it looks great either way. Merry Christmas to you from John and Wendy
Aw shucks, Wendy, thank you! Merry Christmas to you and John!
I’ve been “practicing” crochet for over 60 years, but one thing I do not like,–no, not at all–is ripping out a row or 2 or 5 because I made a mistake awhile back. That’s called “frogging” by the way. Rip-it, rip-it, rip-it. But I digress.
Knowing your goal is half the battle. Do we have a date for your gala event? I want to make sure I haven’t planned a dinner out so I can try TRY and be there!
Merry Christmas!
In knitting, we also call the ripping-out of several rows (or more) “hitting the frog pond” or “frogging”. When we pick it out one stitch at a time, it is called “tinking” (“Knit” backwards is “tink”.)
Opening day is tentatively a Saturday in October, or perhaps November. All is still squishy.
“Tinking” I like that!
October would be better–I might be able to pop up for that!
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