Harvest - have yourself some play time

 

Harvest   oil/canvas   11 x 14 x .5

Cast aside illusions of grandeur.  

Grab a smallish toned canvas....there might be a failed painting underneath.

Set up a few fruits or veggies.

Use large brushes and large piles of paint.

Spend a couple of hours making sense of the information presented to you.  (a working discipline of design elements is a huge benefit)

Focus on shapes, movement, and, perhaps, color.

Make shape and form more important than detail.

Do like the daily painters do.

Celebrate your simplicity.

Varietal...

potatoes, varietal beans and varietal line, the mix of which is ever so exciting!  Mixing it up can give us artists a totally fresh perspective.  Sometimes, in the drone of making, we use the same the same the same and approach things the same the same the same.  In our workshop, we used charcoal sticks to experiment with the many ways that simple stick can be used:  pouncing, on its side, on an angle, on its end.  This, to me, is poetry.  Why use a multitude of small strokes when a big one will do?  And pair it up with some small ones to give it more power.  Yes.  We also used our erasers to make smudgy marks and shapes.  In the sample shown, those beautiful wavering lines were created with an eraser.  As are the large half-toned circular shapes.  It is, in my opinion, through these simple lessons in playful abstraction that we are able to play, to experiment because reality doesn't get in the way.  Hopefully, we are able to cross over these lessons with a fresh eye when approaching reality drawing.