And now for something completely different.
Hi my name is Kathleen;
I spoke to the powers that be here the other day and we have decided that there is one facet of the Arts Community that is sadly neglected.
I am speaking of those of us that are not in possession of any formal training in the Arts and or in possession of a Fine Arts Degree.
Just to make it clear, I paint totally within the realm of Acrylics, and nothing else.
Where do we go for advise/information and support with the progression of our Acrylic Painting?
Whom do we ask for help? It can be rough to be an Artist without a Degree and or no formal training.
How do we decide what brand of paint to use? And what style are we following? Who can advise us on Canvas and or other supports? There are a gazillion questions we all have, and hopefully you will be comfortable enough to not only ask these kind of questions here, but as well pass on any learning experiance you have had.
There are many of us out there, and often it is like being a small fish in a very big pond. We have no wish to sound dumb and or look like we are completely out of the Arts loop. While we are not dumb by any means, it is rather intimidating to ask a fellow artist with a degree, “How do I decide what brand of Acrylics is right for me?”
Many places offer classes, and for the most part they are a wonderful learning experiance. But, in order to benefit from these classes, we often have to gain confidence to be able to sign up, and participate with those that are already well established Artists.
That is my purpose with this Blog. Hopefully we will interact, compare works, discuss various terms re the Art we produce and the Art world around us.
We might even have a bit of fun while we are at it.
About me:
I am a senior (read over 60 years old) that has never had any formal training in the Arts. While I have always been able to produce small works, my life before retirement focused on raising and supporting a child as a single parent. There was no time for me to follow my dream of painting. There was even less money to indulge in re the cost of paints/supports etc.
For my 60th Christmas, I received the gift of all gifts….My very own Easel and a wonderful gift certificate for paint supplies. This was from my Daughter & Son-in-law, and to date is the most wonderful gift I have ever received. While my child was aware of my desire to paint, she was also aware that I had suppressed this need for so many years, that I had completely shoved it into the back of my mind as an impossible dream.
They made my dreams come true.
Literally!
There I was with an Easel, paints (Hopefully the right kind), brushes, canvas, and no idea where to begin.
Iwanted to paint everything, but could I? How and more importantly, where did one begin?
Well, I began when someone challenged me to paint a Realistic Landscape in three colours with the specific direction “That I could NOT use Green!”
WOW! I had to do this. And I did.
This is my first painting. It was done on unfinished MDF board, purchased (sealed and primed by myself) from Totem Lumber. I had read that MDF was an economical surface to paint on (if prepared properly) if you bought a 4′ X 8′ foot (Unfinished MDF only) size and had it cut into standard canvas sizes.
I had this sheet cut into four 2′X 2′ squares and with the four peices, I was all ready to go.
I decided to paint a water scene of a river that I was familiar with. and began.
I sketched in a rough drawing, and began. As you can see, eventually the painting took on a life of its own, and while beginning with a sketch I travelled in my own direction. The final result was quite pleasing to my eyes.
And even better, it was very pleasing to others that looked at it. I had begun to paint seriously.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v131/kathleensmith/my%20art/blueriver7.jpg[/img]
Gaining confidence in the learning process of becomming an artist was hard. I know now that sometimes it is better to jump into the water,learn how to stay afloat,
and follow your instincts. I still suffer from the old “What in Heavens name have I
begun?” with each painting I start.
But, I push on, am very critical of my work and use the internet for learning purposes daily.
Hopefully we all will benefit each other, and if any qualified artists want to pop in with advise, please do so!
Your input will be welcomed. We can make this a community that interacts and helping each other is my goal, and hopefully yours.
I will try to present a blog entry weekly, and if I miss a week, it will be only because it was totally unavoidable.
One thing. At the end of this blog there is a space for “Comments”!
If there is something you want me (or you) to address, art to show,questions to ask, feel free to post them. I will keep up with them and everyone will be responded to.
So todays entry is a welcome to you all, and a big hello from me!
QUESTIONS ANYONE?
~~Kathleen
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
For a first painting it is really good. My first was a hill that looked flat, laugh. I agree with much of what your saying in your letter blog here, who can you talk to, where and how. At least you had the courage to try with this. I like you have had no formal training or degree just a lot of practice, smile, and have gotten a lot better than my first. Again yours is better, does show talent and parts are very good, the rest will come along with practice and mistake/accident corrections that work better, laugh. That is how I learned to paint anyway. Get a challenge and try. That flat hill in my first painting really bugged me.
Thinking about your blog it dawned on me I never answered or suggested an answer to your question about what type of acrylics to use.
A Gesso base, Gesso is expensive but covers everthing / sticks to most things, even glass and most but not all plastics seemingly permently, so works well as a wonderful primer. You can get it smooth or cross hatch it with a brush as it is drying to create a canvas material look.
Bottled acrylics are fine. Thinned down they work well for a water colour looking painting. A style that is harder to do to get the results you want at first. It is a great way of adding shading to area’s without covering all the detail of your original painting on a regular acrylic painting which they do quite well enough for me. Straight from the bottle they paint, add extender to get them to move better while keeping the strength of the paint, or just thin a bit with water (sometimes you can erase the dried paint when just water is used so extender is better a lot of the time( water is handier and cheeper though). If you paint outdoors they are handy, less water to carry though you need wells in your paint mixing tray to mix colours. If you spot paint now and then like me, it is handy to have paint ready to be used on a moments notice. Even with thickner added they do not become thick enough to use a pallet knife as used in oil painting ( though it is fine for water lines which you have to use thin paint to achieve)
Tube acrylics are great for doing oil like pictures because they give you the texture, thicknes, and allow you to use a pallet knife. Thinned down they are exactly like the bottled acrylics. Your paint mixing tray can be flat, a board, a plastic plate since the paint won’t run sometimes a problem with the bottled ones.
Another suggestion is have a few extra canvases, one you can use your garbage left over colours on. What ever the colour left over or the amount is not important, laugh. Prime your spare canvas with it. Be loose and free. Make a sky or water or hills with the next bit of left over colour, even though it is purple or black or yellow make trees and or a bank, none of it is important it is just left over paint. One day looking at that you’ll get inspired to add details here and there, or just use it as a back ground, or prime it again and do a real painting on top of it, laugh. The bumps and humps may give you a challenge at odd times though laugh.