For our third session, Shilo had me work on one painting at a time and using thicker, but still turp/paint mixture, a little thicker than the very thin wash.I worked on "Snapdragon", putting in the burnt orange, apricot, and peach. It is looking kind of muted because of the wet on wet. Putting in the few spots of light yellow helped it a bit. Definitely, using DIFFERENT SIZED BRUSHES is something I need to keep in mind all the time. Vary the brush size. Vary the color.
After an hour of painting and listening to my iPod, it was clear I needed to step away from the canvas and move on to the next one. (I listened to Diana Krall, which seemed right for the sultry, romantic mood I was going for.)
Next, I worked on "Hakonechloa, Variegated Geranium and Blue Ajuga". Mostly I put in the red violets, rusty brown and a few golden tan accents. (For some reason, the picture is sideways.) For this one, I listened to the Rolling Stones, because these plants remind of tropical HEAT and a more primal energy. I am pretty happy with the big brush strokes of brown. It felt good when I did them!
For the last hour of class I worked on "Maple tree and Iris". I was going for the purples, lilacs and violet hues. Also put in magenta and burgundy touches. It's kind of wild (Stones again.) Probably should have listened to something calmer for this one! The good thing is that the paintings are starting the diverge from each other, developing into distinct paintings. And, definitely, they still look nature-inspired. I'm glad that so far, I've been able to fulfill my goals for these lessons: stick to the "intent", keep it abstract, learn how to use oil paints.
Shilo says she is making me do it in stages (turp wash, darks, thicker medium values, etc.) so that I don't get overwhelmed. As I get more experience and confidence, it will be more intuitive, I guess. We shall see.
