Friday, February 10, 2012

Keeping On With Painting



"Thoughts unspoken die unborn. The same goes for your paintings. If the desire lies within you, paint your heart out! But above all, keep developing, because that’s where real life begins.”
Tim Adams
Jules Pascin, Le journalI can't deny that I've had a lifelong desire to paint. I do best when I copy other works. This is what most if not all painters do to learn; they copy great paintings.

Anytime I've been in an art museum, I've seen plenty of students sitting there painting or drawing the works of art displayed on the walls.

I'm going to copy the one above. It's a loosely-executed watercolor called Le Journal by Jules Pascin. I love how it's outlined in black paint.

The watercolor at the top was painted plein air while I was visiting Fripp Island. It's of the marshes on the opposite side of the island from the Atlantic. I need to do a little more work on it. I'm not happy with the trees yet.

The framed landscape at the very top was my first watercolor attempt. It was painted from a photograph.

I need to do with painting what I do with everything else that I consider important enough to do. I make an appointment and then keep it. The trouble is finding a good time to make the appointment!

2 comments:

Leslie said...

I love that framed landscape! Very nice. I am especially drawn to all shades of cheery green of late and your painting has so many wonderful greens. I wish you success on the new one. I hope you post a picture.

Lisa Richards said...

I know I've said this before somewhere, but even the most famous artists paint from models. So why should we feel badly that we paint from a photo? It really freed me up when I realized that. Somebody famous said that nobody can remember all the details well enough to paint everything from memory. (You probably already knew that.) :D
Keep on enjoying!