Home Forums Explore Media Oil Painting Oil Painting – Hall of Fame Oil-from-life challenge, Aug. 2017: any subject, but esp. landscapes with water!

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  • #448660
    Grotius
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        Let’s paint from life! Please feel free to post any oil painting of any subject — landscapes, portraits, figures, still lifes, whatever — so long as it was painted primarily from life. This month we’re once again highlighting plein air paintings, and we’re especially encouraging landscapes featuring water, but you are not obliged to post plein air work; any painting from life qualifies for this thread. For the July oil-from-life thread, see https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1430194. Four guidelines:

        1. Please paint primarily from life — not from photographs or imagination. I would like to see your direct impressions of your subject, unmediated by cameras. (It’s okay to post finished studio works based on studies from life; in that case, please post the original study as well as the finished work.)

        2. Please submit something created new, this month, not something you’ve done in the past. (Optionally, you may post a photo of your work on the easel, with the subject in front of you, but this is not a requirement.)

        3. Please paint in oils. That said, please feel free to post studies in any other medium, (e.g., pencil, charcoal, pastel, watercolor, gouache, casein, acrylic) so long as you also post your oil painting(s).

        4. Please list the size of your painting and support. E.g., ‘”8×10″, oil on panel.’ All sizes and supports welcome. (Moscatel regularly submits paintings on Elephant Dung Paper!)

        Optional: Tell us the title of your painting!

        —————–

        Unfinished works, studies, and outright failures are all welcome. There’s no requirement that you paint as well as the Old Masters. I certainly don’t! Likewise, there’s no requirement that you invite comment & critique. If you’d rather post without being critiqued, just say so; that’s fine by me!

        At the end of the month, I will sum up the proceedings with a written awards ceremony in which every artist will receive at least one written commendation from me, in the form of a post here in this forum. (Yes, this is like every kid on the swimming team receiving a medal, lol.) If you’d rather opt out of receiving such a commendation, just let me know. The June awards ceremony follows in the next post.

        I hope you’ll all consider posting something! Thanks.

        - Geoff.
        My website and blog: https://www.geoffwatsonart.com/

        #533540
        t1barkode
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            Wow, July really flew by quick didnt it?

            #533478
            Grotius
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                Sure did! And that means it’s awards time!

                In keeping with last month’s theme (figure-in-landscape), we had lots of wonderful plein air paintings, though not that many figures in the landscape. We also had a surprisingly strong showing of still lifes. As most of us seem to be in the northern hemisphere, I’m continuing our emphasis on plein air for the next couple months, but I could imagine a still life focus when the weather gets colder.

                Anyway, without further ado: the envelopes, please, Vanna! (Reminder: as with youth swim meets, everyone is supposed to get at least one award, so if I left anyone out, please let me know and I’ll correct the mistake ASAP.)

                The Newcomer of the Month Award, for newcomers to the Oil From Life thread, is shared by ptrkgmc and Karendart, both of whom submitted lovely paintings (more on which below).

                The Still Life Awards. This month’s collection of objects was just as diverse as last month’s.

                Best kettle – T1barkode, with one of my favorite pictures in the entire thread. T1, does this one have a title? The light and modeling is glorious.
                Best candles – interestingly, we had two great candles this month: DMArtist, whose candle’s wax was utterly convincing, and Moscatel, with a memorable picture of festive holiday candles.
                Best flowers: Karendart, with lovely paintings of hydrangea and yucca.
                Best antlers: Moscatel.
                Best buoys: me.
                Strangest objects – Moscatel, who continues in her tradition of painting the most obscure things. This included her lovely pictures of Red Utensils of Uncertain Purpose and a Mysterious Container of Some Sort.

                On to the Figure Awards!

                Best figure-only painting: ptrkgmc, who induced our first butt-cheek discussion in the Oil From Life thread.
                Best figure-in-landscape painting: Moscatel, with her photographer husband, and me, with my person and dog. :)

                And the Portrait Awards – there’s just one this month:

                Best portrait: T1barkode. He had a couple great entries, but my favorite is his Guy with Graying Hair and Green Shirt on page 4 of the thread — just marvelous. (I invented the title; maybe T1 can correct me!)

                On to the Plein Air Landscape Awards!

                Best clock towerKarendart. I love this picture; it has almost a watercolor feel to it.
                Best color study – Moscatel‘s color study of rocks and a waterfall. The broken color here brings to mind Monet.
                Most convincing road – DMArtist, her road and house painting on linen. At the time, we all focused on the lovely solid structure, but when I looked back on it, I was really impressed with the texture of the road. It’s hard to do roads that well.
                Best plaza – T1′s flagpole scene. Great light and color.
                Best field – Moscatel. As long as she keeps painting this subject, I’ll keep giving it awards, because it has a classic French-impressionist feel to it.
                Best house shrouded in trees – me.
                Best seascapes – Moscatel. Her Scandinavia series is a remarkable achievement. The painting with sparkling water drew particular acclaim.
                Best beaches – me, Moscatel. We both had fun painting beaches. It’s summer (for most of us – not Eliza!) I hope we see more this month.
                Best bridge – DMArtist with a yummy picture of a bridge spanning a stream.
                Best mountainMoscatel’s “snow peak mountain”
                Best doomed building – my picture of the Woodmont Cafe, which may well be torn down soon.
                Special achievement in lighting: T1, “Parked.” The light on the house and car shimmers.
                Best reflections – T1‘s water hole, a really neat picture of a place he knows well.
                Best watercolor studies for future oils-from-life – ntl.

                And that’s it! Good work, everyone! I’m looking forward to what you all come up with this month. :)

                - Geoff.
                My website and blog: https://www.geoffwatsonart.com/

                #533479
                Grotius
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                    Also, I do want to encourage people (as an optional thing) to title their pictures! I for one need to prompt myself to do this more often, as it helps me focus on what I’m trying to say in the picture, and thus helps me develop as an artist. (Also, on a more mundane level, a title helps me identify pictures when I give them awards, but that’s not an important factor.) Moscatel and T1 did submit a couple titles this time; I resolve to title everything I do this month. :)

                    - Geoff.
                    My website and blog: https://www.geoffwatsonart.com/

                    #533541
                    t1barkode
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                        “Sunset Over Angel Ridge” – 5″x7″ oil on canvas panel

                        Quick little painting, I tried to capture a sunset from my front yard. My second time trying to paint a sunset, this one came out better than the first time I tried it so I am happy :) Geoff, I am glad you mentioned that we should try to title our paintings more! I rarely title my paintings and I think it will give them more character, regardless of what I title them :) :) :) Can’t wait to see everyone’s work this month!!!

                        #533480
                        Grotius
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                            T1, nice title, and a vibrant painting! I love the texture of the canvas panel. I really need to try those.

                            Can I ask you about a medium ‘couch’? I know you said you don’t use that method, but if one does use it, what does one do the next day? The paint isn’t dry enough for another couch. Does one need to mix medium into paint so that fat is over lean? Or is it all the same layer, since a day later one is simply painting wet-into-wet?

                            - Geoff.
                            My website and blog: https://www.geoffwatsonart.com/

                            #533542
                            t1barkode
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                                From what i have heard, if u paint wet into wet, it all becomes the same layer. The problem i imagine would be when you have some passages, for example using burnt umber, already dry, while maybe some thick areas full of titanium white are still wet. You have 3 options. Just go ahead and resume painting without caring about fat over lean and/or a couch. This is what i would do most of the time, unless maybe it was a commission or something. Option 2, you can just bite the bullet and wait for all paint on canvas to completely dry and then put down another couch. Keep in mind you want to do this as few times as possible, i have heard that the more couches you put down, the more complex things get, therefore more chances of cracks etc. Option 3 – mix a fatter or just as fat medium into paint on pallet, or dip into it as you go trying to do so consistently. I hate to premix medium into paint blobs on the pallet. Only time i do is when sometimes i have a tube of paint that is really stiff paint, i might mix some oil into it to loosen it up.

                                90% of the time i dont concern myself with fat over lean, most of my paintings are done in a couple hours for one, and two, most of my paintings i consider practice and not worried. I have only been painting for a year but i have not seen any cracking or abnormal things going on yet.

                                #533543
                                t1barkode
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                                    “Between a Rock and a Tree” – 9″ x 12″ oil on panel.

                                    Woke up early this morning and really wanted to do some plein air. It was cloudy and I drove around for about an hour and couldn’t find anything screaming out for me to paint it. I finally settled on this bland little scene and just decided I would do the best I could. :) It is at a weird angle in the photo because I was doing the best I could to keep glare off of it.

                                    #533481
                                    Grotius
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                                        Gee, that scene doesn’t look bland to me at all. I really like the rock in particular. And the title really does add something! I hope other posters do the same, eve if it’s just a tentative title.

                                        Thanks for the info on couches. I agree that premixing paint pools with medium is a drag. I forget half the time, and then I end up with spotty paintings. So you dip your brush into medium occasionally, then load it with paint?

                                        - Geoff.
                                        My website and blog: https://www.geoffwatsonart.com/

                                        #533544
                                        t1barkode
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                                            So you dip your brush into medium occasionally, then load it with paint?

                                            Yup, this is what I do. Sometimes I will mix a big pile of color like this and mix medium into the whole pile with my brush. Sometimes just a little dip here and there, it just all depends. When I first started doing it, it really felt…wrong for lack of a better word lol. It did take some practice to get used to. Then eventually you just kind of get to a point where it becomes second nature and you “just know” when you have the right amount of medium. Also you need to adjust your consistencies to plan for your painting concept. Like, you don’t want to put down a bunch of super thin, medium rich paint that you plan to paint thick paint wet into wet over. It is easy to get thin paint to stick to thick, but not vica verca. This can also complicate things, because if you lay the thin paint down thinly, its easy to paint over, but if you lay thin paint down thickly, thats when a mess will happen. I probably just made things much more confusing than they need to be, but honestly its still a confusing subject for me and probably always will be lol. Good luck :)

                                            #533482
                                            Grotius
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                                                Thanks for the explanation, T1. I’ll experiment with those suggestions.

                                                This is “Boat in its rack on the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal”, work in progress, oil on panel, 11″ x 14″.

                                                I sat on our dock for a couple afternoons working on this one. It’s okay, but I want the boat to pop more (darker shadows on the right hull, darker trees behind it, lighter lights) and the reflections need work. Still, I think I’m going to take a break and paint other stuff today.

                                                Also, how does one paint middleground and background trees? Darks first? I always end up with unsatisfying blotches of dark green dotting other blotches of light green. ;-)

                                                - Geoff.
                                                My website and blog: https://www.geoffwatsonart.com/

                                                #533545
                                                t1barkode
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                                                    The last thing I can give any advice about is trees, because no matter how many times I try to paint them, they just feel like the most difficult thing there is for me to paint. I feel more confident painting a portrait than a tree!

                                                    I really like your trees on our right of the river. You really captured a ton of depth the way you made them recede like that. I feel like my eye wants more detail near your boat. Then its really going to pop! Looking great though!

                                                    #533533
                                                    Karendart84
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                                                        I’ve been busy with life and haven’t had a chance to comment in a while. I really enjoyed the July awards. Great job to all.
                                                        t1barkodevibrant sunset. Your rock and a tree is definitely not bland. You really gave the scene life.
                                                        geoffRehobeth is a beautiful area. I used to live and work in Wilmington. The canal is looking great. Love the canal colors. Your trees look good. I usually work dark to light.

                                                        Karen
                                                        C&C's welcome

                                                        #533534
                                                        Karendart84
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                                                            Hydrangea and potentilla arrangement.
                                                            9×12 canvas board.
                                                            Didn’t get to go out so picked these flowers and painted in studio.

                                                            Karen
                                                            C&C's welcome

                                                            #533483
                                                            Grotius
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                                                                Looks good, Karen! Lovely flowers, and I especially like the modeling of the big leaf on the right, plus the marvelous folds on the table. Also, I’m glad you enjoyed the awards!

                                                                - Geoff.
                                                                My website and blog: https://www.geoffwatsonart.com/

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