From Your Reference Library

[AmritS]

Well if you ask me this is amongst the Wet Canvas best that I've seen but each to his own taste. Honestly this could go on the wall of a museum. I seriously think if you stick to this style for a bit with other portraits you could charge a lot of money fairly rapidly. But I don't want to inflate your ego here, I'm only going by what you've shown.

How long did this take you to do? I'd love to see your other works.

[tj1358]

I'm so appreciative of your words Amrit but it's far from perfect. I'm just learning like everyone else. I did start out with realism cause I figured if I wanted to attempt to paint in the style of Sargent, Sorrolla and so on I'd have to first be able to be good at color and it's value before I started eliminating colors and values. I worked really hard and got little done but I learned a lot for me.

I'm a bit of a slow learner I do like art where you can see the paint without compromising what it is you are painting! I learned that's really HARD! But I love all styles of art and mediums especially abstract expressionism. DeKooning is one of my favorite painters.

This painting took me 6 painting days. About 4-6 hours per day. But I do take a day to get the drawing down and premix my palette. So all told 7 days.

Website? I keep a simple blog where you can see some of my studies in realism. http://thepaletteandbrush.blogspot.com/

Thank you again for your kind comments. I really appreciate it

[mringey]

Beautiful!!

[Mares Rex]

Extraordinary! Reminds me of la belle epoque (I love that era in French painting).

[RPut]

Beautiful Work! I am in Awe!

[AmritS]

TJ, I see from your website you're a fellow Caderite (Mark Carder method).
Were there any other courses/dvds you found useful on your journey to relearn painting?

[Karen70]

She's beautifully done.
Original photo is by randysart and called anna, I\'m a ballerina.

[Coastal]

Really moving and captures a mood
Visited your blog. Wow. The sargent and bouguereau are so respectful and good!

[tj1358]

Thank you Melissa and Ruth. Your works are beautiful too. I am always amazed at the great work out there on the net.

Oliver la belle epoque era I had to look up. That is a real compliment. Thank you so much. I spent hours yesterday looking at the artists from that era. I found a painting by A. Drumaux that I really liked. In some of them I can see what you might have seen with regards to approach - the brushwork or paint application. NOW YOU'VE GIVEN IDEAS Thank you so much!

Thank you Karen for your kind words. I need to change the title of my blog post. Anna -I'm a ballerina is so fitting for a title. I emailed the photographer but I'm not sure they are still active cause I'd like to credit them. That's why I posted in the first place. Give credit where credit is due!

Thank you John for taking the time to look at my little blog. Actually copying another painter is way easier than it looks. They've done all the work for ya! The problem afterward is trying to take what you learned and incorporate that into your own stuff. NOt so easy! Plus that Sargent I did made my work look so amaturish.

Amrit 20 some years ago when I was in College taking fine art, the only painting method I learned was the grisaille method. Did a few paintings for the class and never painted again.

So I am NOT re-learning to paint! I only did two paintings for a class and those were pretty bad

No other DVD's. I like this working method and after going through the learning process to the best of my ability, I can now work on the creative part. Which is the fun part

[KingCrimson]

Such classical beauty! Love it!

[Hasey]

beautiful painting

[AmritS]

Well I am a newby and my aspiration would be to paint something like you've done. You are a true inspiration to many of us, so please continue posting. I am a fan

Originally Posted by tj1358

Amrit 20 some years ago when I was in College taking fine art, the only painting method I learned was the grisaille method. Did a few paintings for the class and never painted again.

So I am NOT re-learning to paint! I only did two paintings for a class and those were pretty bad

No other DVD's. I like this working method and after going through the learning process to the best of my ability, I can now work on the creative part. Which is the fun part

[tj1358]

Thank you John and Hasey. Honestly I am surprised at people I don't even know taking the time to comment on some 16x20 painting by a total unknown like me! I live out in the middle of no where and do have a tendancy to close my self off to the world. I really appreciate it

Amrit you are too kind. I went to your blog and you have some excellent pieces there. Honestly, the only difference between you and one of the big names out there is that they started in the field before you.

Painting is hard but one thing that really helped once I got it into my head....

1) Painting is a craft. Someone told me it was like learning to make jewelry. First you have to learn the tools of the trade, get use to using those tools before you can start creating successful original pieces.

I have a sculpture and drawing background for fine art. No real painting. I was pretty good at sculpture but I first had to learn how to use a chisel and train my eyes and hands to work with that material. Painting is the same.

Once I thought of painting this way, it was actually freeing and I was able to set goals that really helped.

My painting right now is okay. It's decent. There's lot of room for improvement but that comes with time. I'm not going to beat myself up over what I can't do right now but at least realize what I can do that seems to work.

Think of painting in terms of learning to make jewelry or refinishing furniture or another similar craft. Really makes the process easier to tackle

[AmritS]

Hi TJ, I tried to private message you but it's not working. I just wanted to say thank you for being so open and honest with your advise. I see what you mean about the sculpting. In fact I've seen a massive difference in people who have started painting having already learnt to sculpt so there must be something there which trains the eye and hands.

You see, there is such a gap between you starting out and someone like me starting out. I have purchased many books on painting and spent a lot of money on courses such as the Carder Method, however none have really taught me to go with the flow and teach me what you described. The nearest hint is from Scott Waddell http://scottssketchbook.blogspot.co.uk/ who like me paints very thinly.

I am currently working on an oversized self portrait. I have a totally different approach with this one since I'm spending my time enjoying the portrait rather than rushing through it. I'm also not doing any underpainting. Just straight out, one section at a time. I did go through a phase whereby I spent months procrastinating not sure what to do next, so I decided whats the point in producing so many paintings in a hurry, why not just work on one and do it well, even if it takes me months.

So using the Carder method, I've been using my colour matcher tool to get accurate colours, and it's made a visible difference. I'm also reminding myself not to get lost in the colours but look at sculpting the object as a whole, and have invested in 10 new small brushes so I have plenty of colours at hand to be able to do the adequate "sculpting" of the object on the canvas. I'll post once I get more finished but at the current rate it will take weeks.

Thanks once again for your advise.

Amrit

[tj1358]

Amrit I am glad you have found someone that you like their method. It's true you do have to train your hands and eyes not just to read color and it's value but getting use to the brush. Don't get discouraged cause painting at least for me is hard. I mean think about it - you are putting little dobs of greasy colored paint onto a cloth using a stick with little hairs attached to it - I mean, HOW INSANE IS THAT!

Whatever you do just really really follow someone else's method. Learn their craft before diverting and doing your own thing. That's the key.

I followed everything down to the very letter with Carder. All the supplies etc. and even down to the amount of time per painting. Gosh my first painting I sat for 2 long days just mixing the palette and 6 weeks of painting. Which is what he said the first painting should take you to complete to get the most our of the program.

As much as I wanted to do my own thing or start tailoring it, I didn't. And with each painting it became easier and easier. Now I can mix a complicated palette in about an hour or less and no color checker. Just my own eyes. So all the work paid off.

That I guess would be my advise - to think of it as a craft and do everything your instructor tells you for at least 5 or 6 paintings before you start tailoring it.

Listen to those professionals. They are professional for a reason I wish you all the success. And I know you will succeed!