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Thursday, February 9, 2012

Little Ditty...getting your brushes moving...

Juicy   Watercolor   8.5 x 5
Winter sessions of painting classes have begun.  The first class is always a challenge as assignments have not yet been made.  There are always new artists who don't quite know what to expect and sometimes arrive at that class without materials.  So the goal for lesson #1 is a simple ditty with shared materials and shared experiences.  This time I brought a bag of oranges.  Each artist was then free to cut the fruit and arrange it in a way that was pleasing.  And....we painted.  No instruction, no warnings.  Just mucking around.  Truly, there is no better way to learn to paint.  The lessons must come over time...and a few at a time.  I painted with orange and its complement blue.  The arrangement of soft and hard edges (lost and found) create a rhythm (hopefully) around the subject matter.  I don't move my brush quite as freely at the focal area in order to retain whites and a bit of crisp detail.  As always, there is a bit of a thrill as colors run into each other to become happy accidents.  No high expectations.  Just play.  A Little Ditty.