Home › Forums › Explore Media › Acrylics › DIFFERENT STROKES: a forum challenge. JANUARY 2022
- This topic has 121 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 9 months ago by RoadLessTaken, Sheila in Philadelphia.
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January 2, 2022 at 5:18 am #1451815Welcome to our monthly Different Strokes challenge for JANUARY.
The theme is NOCTURNES or NIGHTTIME paintings.
Your painting must be done in Acrylics – any version of the medium!
Any size, any shape, on any surface!
Works must not be uploaded before reveal date, the 21st of the month.Nocturne painting is a term coined by James Abbott McNeill Whistler to describe a painting style that depicts scenes evocative of the night or subjects as they appear in a veil of light, in twilight, or in the absence of direct light. In a broader usage, the term has come to refer to any painting of a night scene or night-piece, such as Rembrandt’s The Night Watch.
Your challenge is to make a painting depicting a scene at night – of any genre – landscape, still life, people, city …. there are some good reference pics in the RIL (when the techies fix the broken link – I reported it last week). Other reference sites are Pinterest and Pixabay.
Some examples for you –
Old Battersea Bridge – Whistler
Rembrandt – The Night Watch -(link above)
Starry Night over the Rhone by VG –
Frederick Remington – The Hunters’ Supper –
Still Life can also be included – plenty of examples on Pinterest,
……. or set up your own group and paint from life!!! – or photo it and use the reference!
Enjoy painting in the dark!
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Cheers, Maureen
Forum projects: Plant Parade projects in the Florals/Botanicals forum , WDE in the All Media Art Events , Different Strokes in Acrylics forum .January 2, 2022 at 11:08 am #1451841YAY! Sounds SO easy and yet, I know how deceiving it can be to do a night scene!
Looking forward to making more chaos!
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.
-Helen Keller
The question is not what you look at, but what you see.
-Henry David ThoreauJanuary 2, 2022 at 1:40 pm #1451867Glad to hear it Sheila!
Cheers, Maureen
Forum projects: Plant Parade projects in the Florals/Botanicals forum , WDE in the All Media Art Events , Different Strokes in Acrylics forum .January 2, 2022 at 1:43 pm #1451869Oo That’s a good one! I haven’t tried a nighttime painting since back when I restarted painting. looking forward to this.
The Purple Dog Painting Blog
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Find me on FacebookJanuary 2, 2022 at 3:10 pm #1451873sounds good… i’ll try!
thank you WC artist community for all you feedback!!
January 2, 2022 at 4:06 pm #1451880Oh great … glad it appeals VIrginia ….. and hope you can join us Rose … ??
Cheers, Maureen
Forum projects: Plant Parade projects in the Florals/Botanicals forum , WDE in the All Media Art Events , Different Strokes in Acrylics forum .January 2, 2022 at 6:17 pm #1451892I really like this idea! Thanks, Maureen!
To add to the list of examples, here’s some more: Van Schendel’s Moonlight Markets & Article on them
January 3, 2022 at 3:00 am #1451942That’s great Ozean … thanks for linking us there.??
Cheers, Maureen
Forum projects: Plant Parade projects in the Florals/Botanicals forum , WDE in the All Media Art Events , Different Strokes in Acrylics forum .January 3, 2022 at 9:36 am #1451988Night scenes are tricky, trying to have enough light to see things while still making it look like night. But then when I have tried them it was mostly from imagination. A good reference might help.
A note about The Night Watch, I have heard that it was actually day time and they are in front of a dark building. For a long time people just thought it was night.
C&C always welcome. Michelle
mkmcreations.com
Every painting is a new adventure.January 3, 2022 at 9:40 am #1451989The RIL link is fixed – there are some good night scenes there …….. I’ve just searched the Buildings/city streets category.
Hi Michelle – I’m sure you’ll find something!:lol:
Cheers, Maureen
Forum projects: Plant Parade projects in the Florals/Botanicals forum , WDE in the All Media Art Events , Different Strokes in Acrylics forum .January 3, 2022 at 9:34 pm #1452076So, I have a question. (Of course!) We look at reference photos or we stand outside staring at a building or tree, or, if we are wealthy we pay someone to sit, stand, or lay very still for a long time. How did these masters get these paintings? How does one get a group of guys in the military to stand outside in the dark for a long time- not to mention the changing light? I expect some of it is practice and quick sketching abilities but the changing light… how the heck! I know I’ve gotten better just by studying a reference photo to “see” all those things but there were no cameras for Rembrandt, VanGogh, or Caravaggio!
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.
-Helen Keller
The question is not what you look at, but what you see.
-Henry David ThoreauJanuary 3, 2022 at 11:43 pm #1452083Sheila, that’s a great question that I’d like the answer to! If I was going to guess, I’d say they did sketches from live models then used lay figures (or mannequins) dressed in costume. Just a guess though as I haven’t looked into it.
January 4, 2022 at 2:45 am #1452097Haha!
Common practice was to use live models, especially women for all those nudes! But yes, they’d also use props.For paintings like The Nightwatch, the figures are real people, members of the Watch, and each would pay for his portrait, the more he paid, the more prominent the position.
Lack of modern lighting meant, of course, artists were well versed in the effects of light upon subjects … candle, sun, moon …. So, though studio painted, observation and experience were top notch!…. part of their training as apprentices.I’d love to see Hopper’s work in RL … his works (to me)indicate a deep understanding of aspects of life which he successfully transfers to canvas … not so different from artists of the past. Has to be gained from study, of all the aspects.
Today, I think the camera plays a bigger part in this study ….. e.g., in my student days there were no cameras in use, we drew from life, sketched and painted outdoors, or worked from sketches …. .not until I joined WetCanvas 20 years ago did I ever work from photos! Of course, using photo refs vastly increases our range of subjects ….. whereas I would have to ‘imagine’ a hunting scene in the last, today I can Google images, gather refs, compile a scene without ever experiencing any part of it!
Cheers, Maureen
Forum projects: Plant Parade projects in the Florals/Botanicals forum , WDE in the All Media Art Events , Different Strokes in Acrylics forum .January 4, 2022 at 8:22 am #1452136Edward Hopper did really in depth drawings before he painted. I was trained to do that when I was in school. I almost never do it now but it is a good habit and would save me a lot of trouble if I did!
I remember we had to do a scene too, that was at all various times of the day, morning, noon, evening and night. I did an archway to a park that was across from my dorm window. I was so proud of them but lost it all in a house fire years later.
This one caught my eye when I was looking at paintings. Not fond of the figures, the renaissance style leaves me cold, but I like how he handled the moon. It’s Adam Elsheimer’s “The Flight into Egypt” 1609.
I like how the figures and lighting is done in Ozeans example. I did a 1000 piece puzzle of this one! It was really hard.
The Purple Dog Painting Blog
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Find me on FacebookJanuary 4, 2022 at 9:04 am #1452140Thanks Virginia …
yes, that sky is a good night sky!
Cheers, Maureen
Forum projects: Plant Parade projects in the Florals/Botanicals forum , WDE in the All Media Art Events , Different Strokes in Acrylics forum . -
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