Oil-from-life challenge, Mar. 2018: optional "green" theme - WetCanvas: Online Living for Artists

This topic has 45 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 6 years ago by Cyndi L.

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March 1, 2018 at 12:03 pm #452213
Grotius
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Happy March! Let’s paint from life! As always, feel free to post whatever you like — landscapes, portraits, figures, still lifes, whatever — so long as your work is painted primarily from life. This month I’m suggesting an optional “green” theme, partly because spring is approaching, partly because Saint Patrick’s day is approaching, and partly because green is a complement of last month’s theme, red. As always, the theme is optional; post whatever you like. 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 either last month or this month, not something you’ve done in the more distant past.

3. Please paint in oils. That said, please feel free to post studies in any other medium, 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.’

Optional: Tell us the title of your painting!

—————–

Unfinished works, studies, and outright failures are all welcome. 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, if the spirit moves me, I may 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. If you’d rather opt out of receiving such a commendation, just let me know. (Incidentally, you can find older oil-from-life threads in the “hall of fame” subforum of the Oil Painting forum.)

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

- Geoff.
My website and blog: https://www.geoffwatsonart.com/
March 2, 2018 at 12:00 pm #576436
Grotius
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@DMArtist: I didn’t see your suggestion for a “green+cyan” theme until I’d already drafted this new challenge. Good idea! Perhaps I’ll try it in a coming month. For now, I’ll stick with “green” for this month’s optional theme.

In other news, today’s life class was canceled because of the Nor’easter here. We’re not getting snow or rain — just high winds. The first “wind day” I’ve ever had off.

- Geoff.
My website and blog: https://www.geoffwatsonart.com/
March 2, 2018 at 1:12 pm #576459
DMArtist7
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No problem. I’ll just sneak in cyan anyways. Gotta be a rebel sometimes! Ah, hopefully, that wind isn’t too serious. It’s really cold over here and we had a bit of snow as well, pretty unusual for NL.

"Choose only one master – Nature." ~ Rembrandt
March 2, 2018 at 1:53 pm #576435
OK
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Apparently there are no green roses so these roses are on a copy of Richard Llewellyn’s “How Green Was My Valley” :rolleyes:

Dave.

“What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!—and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons?”
— Allen Ginsberg
Are you ready for a Journey?
PS Critiques always welcome but no plaudits or emoting, please don’t press the like button.
March 2, 2018 at 11:14 pm #576437
Grotius
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The roses may be red, but their leaves and stems are glorious green! So our first painting of the month fits the theme just fine. OK, the red may draw a bit more attention than the green, but the green is holding its own just fine!

Actually, my favorite bit of this one is the book, with the frayed or peeling cover at the top, and the remarkable array of values and colors on the visible block of pages.

- Geoff.
My website and blog: https://www.geoffwatsonart.com/
March 3, 2018 at 6:02 am #576429
moscatel
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Geoff, thank you for starting a new thread for his month.
Journeyman, wonderful work! How long time did you spend painting this beautiful still life?

Maaaaaayyybe we can somehow meet up and do one round of plein air session somewhere?

DM, would be so cool to meet and paint plein air together. I don’t know yet much which roads we will take, I still need to study the map where to find the windmills. I’m interested in artistic windmills to paint :thumbsup:, not so much the biggest and the most famous ones. But it looks like we would be in Holland sometime in the middle of August (work doesn’t permit before). I will know later more.
Thanks for social media and instagram info, will see if I open a new account sometime. I heard about vero also but I studied who is the owner, I don’t like the people behind it so I won’t open account there.

My Art
March 3, 2018 at 10:24 pm #576438
Grotius
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I hope you two can meet up sometime! Let us know if you do.

This was the first of a two-session pose. Sometimes I think I do better if I know it’s just a one-session pose! I focused on getting the drawing right, and I am closing in on a likeness, but there’s work to be done. The color is drab right now, but I plan to make it more vibrant next week, now that I have most of the drawing down. “Shoshana,” oil on panel, 11″ x 14.”

f

- Geoff.
My website and blog: https://www.geoffwatsonart.com/
March 4, 2018 at 7:14 pm #576462
Patrick Barrie
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Painted from life this week. Waiting for it to dry then maybe some glazing to deepen shadows. My lemons are pretty raw, bright yellow and look a little flattened.
March 4, 2018 at 8:49 pm #576439
Grotius
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Very nice, Boogiechile — it certainly fits the optional “green” theme, and wow, does that book look familiar! Is it about bridge or some other cardgame? Or a cookbook? I know I’ve seen that book before. It’s very well-rendered in any case. Heh, you and Dave both make beautiful still lives, and all I can talk about is how much I like the book in each. :P

I went out to paint plein air today, but the remnants of storm Riley proved too much from me. In theory it was 50 degrees F outside, but it felt like the Arctic with all the wind! I gave up after a half hour.

- Geoff.
My website and blog: https://www.geoffwatsonart.com/
March 6, 2018 at 7:56 pm #576463
Patrick Barrie
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Geoff,
Thanks for responding. Right, It’s a cookbook. Better Homes & Gardens, vintage.
You’re bravery than me venturing out in the weather. I’ve recently improved my plein air set up, & itching for warm weather.
March 10, 2018 at 12:36 pm #576457
t1barkode
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8×10″ oil on linen

Just painted this for the sake of painting. Think I will try to get outside for some plein air sometime this afternoon, beautiful day today.

Boogiechile, love your still life. I think that cookbook is something that most anybody would recognize. It must have been standard issue to everyone’s Mom or something lol. I just always remember my Mom having it somewhere near the kitchen. Very recognizable, love it.
March 10, 2018 at 10:24 pm #576440
Grotius
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T1, that’s a cool-looking jug. Great lighting as always. You’re much more courageous than I am when it comes to painting pottery that has designs on it. I tend to leave them out, which is cowardly of me! Well done.

I was supposed to continue a pose I started last week in life class, but today someone took my spot and refused to budge. (Grumble.) So I started a new one. As usual I ran out of time. I wish I’d had 15 minutes to model her eyelids and eyes! But I was very happy with the overall look, and even without completed eyes, it’s a pretty good likeness. “Shoshana,” oil on panel, 12″ x 16.”

- Geoff.
My website and blog: https://www.geoffwatsonart.com/
March 11, 2018 at 5:47 am #576430
moscatel
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Excellent work with soft and rich textures Journeyman, Boogiechile, t1barkode and Grotius! It’s pleasure to look at your work. I’ve been painting plein air and it has green and white + cyan so would even go with the theme but have been tired lately to post. Maybe I give that plein air some studio brush strokes and then post. Hope I find energy to post.

My Art
March 11, 2018 at 3:20 pm #576464
Patrick Barrie
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Journeyman, so painterly once again. Love it!
Geoff, great brushwork, and got the turn of the head right. nothing like painting the figure from life, so much learning.
Eric, that jug is excellent, great handling of paint and color.
March 11, 2018 at 10:19 pm #576441
Grotius
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We got some of T1’s nice weather today, so I sneaked outside for an hour to paint. It was great to be outdoors painting again. I painted on a canvas pad, so this was a “practice painting,” but I like how it turned out. “House behind trees,” oil on canvas, 9″ x 12.”

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