Is SNOW really WHITE? - Painting & Drawing Tips

Well this year we had WINTER!!

Well for a few weeks anyway.  

It was cold. Really cold. Minus some ridiculous number cold!  We had snow.  Real snow. 12-14 inches of the stuff.  

A FLASH OF BLUE IN THE SNOW - 12 x 15 Vanished Watercolour on Wood Cradle   

Ok, I admit it.  I loved it!  

We had beautiful cold, crisp days, the sun was glistening off the snow and the mountains.  Fantastic!!  It was real powder.  None of our usual wet slushy stuff.  

Of course I had to PAINT it!

See what I mean, Snow is gray tones.  Not very exciting

When I looked at my snow reference pictures I discovered my camera had a common goal.  Use only White and Gray!  The snow was white and sure there were shadows, but they were usually tones of gray.  Not my idea of a great snowy scene.  

I decided to add some colour, my snow didn't have to be WHITE. . . .

First I went to my Resources: Stephen Quiller, a watercolour artist who's work I really enjoy.  He does lots of snow pictures and his snow is NOT WHITE.  

Then I chose my palette: I decided I would have pinks and blues for my snow colours as my Stellar Jay was going to be blue it would look good with my bits of ferns. I felt the soft glow of the pinks from the setting sun would give a nice punch to the whole picture. 

My colour chart for my snow - Light to Dark 

It was interesting to look at my colours in black and white.  It gave me a much better feel for their value.  

An easy way to see the tonal values of my colours - note how light the Cad Orange is. I was surprised at that.  

I studied my colours and arranged them from Light to Dark.  This helped me interpret the values on the snow with a colour.  I was surprised how light the Cobalt Teal Blue was.  It was my lightest blue.  And the Cadmium Orange, although very yellow, had a really light tonal value.  

Finally put Paint to Paper: 

Painting the Stellar Jay and my ferns was fun and fairly easy.  The kind of thing I am use to doing. But when I started on the snow I found I really had to take it slow.  Using colour for each area and assigning a value for each area did take me longer.  I found I needed to check my values as I went.  

The first section seemed so dark!!

When I did the first section I thought, OMG! That is way too dark.  . . . .

I kept checking things to make sure it was working out.  The more colour I put on the more things began to to work out.  In the end I had only a few very thin strips of white but my snow really read as Snow to the eye!! I found my eye really accepted all the colours, even the yellow and greens.  

I hope you are having fun with snow pictures too.  I think all of Canada and northern United States has snow now.  Give your snow pictures and infusion of colour.  I found it really makes me happy to see all the colour.  It reminds me of my walks on those sunny, cold crisp days.  I love the glow of colours in  the A Flash of  Blue in the Snow.  

 Move your work to NEW LEVELS?  

Contact Me for:

1. Private Drawing Lesson: (3 Sessions 2.5 hr each $250)  North Langley (Walnut Grove) 

Do you want your animals to breath, your flowers to sparkle or your people to walk?  Whatever subject your like to paint or draw I can build a drawing program for you.  Private Lessons allow you to focus on the skills you wish to develop.  Wendy is a experienced teacher, providing a calm, relaxing experience as you learn how to use the principles of drawing.  Beginner to Advanced are welcome.  Special rates for younger students.  More info here.

2.  Online: Teaching, Mentoring or Critiquing Your Work - Don't live in the Fraser Valley,  I would be happy to tailor a program just for you online.  Drawing and Painting Lessons, Mentoring you on your Art Journey or Critiquing Your Work with an Eye to Move It Forward.  Drawing & Painting Lessons: 1.5 hr sessions $75.  Mentoring or Critiquing 30 minutes sessions $25.  Flexible schedule and sessions can be longer or shorter depending on your goals. 

Be sure to like and share my posts.  You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email 

Have a great Artful Day,

Wendy

3 Ways to BE more Intuitive in Your Painting - Painting & Drawing Tips

Working in my Studio, I sometimes feel my work is a flat.  

It is winter now.  We had our burst of snowy, crisp, sunny days.  But now we are back to Wet, Dreary, Gray Ones.  

Bright Sunshine and Colour seem very far away.  

FRIENDLY GUYS - Intuitive Approach meets Control Freak - In a Joyful Way

It's times like this I feel my work becomes more rigid.  I plan, I execute, I finish.  I am in total control.  

I know, sometimes that feels great but other times . . . . . . it feels restrictive.  

I am looking for that balance, of control and yet a looseness that adds sparkle and surprises in my work. I want to be more Intuitive.  

What is Intuitive Painting? 

What does it mean to work Intuitively? 

 How can that mesh with my Process?

These are questions I have been focusing on for some time.  Here are some of the things I have learned. 

What does it mean to paint/work Intuitively?

This is focused on your approach to your work. It is about self discovery, spontaneity, exploring but most of all, having a fearless approach to art.  

Wow!  That is a hard one for me, I am a bit of a control freak.  After all, I am a wildlife artist that enjoys realism.  

Intuitive Approach meets Control Freak

3 Ways to ACT more Intuitively

Yip, that's me. Trying to break out of my box but not loose myself in the process.  

1.  Change up the Colour

This is area I have really been working on for awhile and I feel I have found some success.  Working with  birds and animals, requires a setting.  Nature settings are often a sea of greens or blues, depending on landscape or waterscape settings. 

Have you every got lost in the greens of summer?  

MOSSY TREE - What Can be Greener than a moss covered Tree Stump?  

Becoming more Intuitive in my response to colour has really changed the world for me. My painting of the Mossy Tree was a breakthrough painting for me.  I pushed myself to try different colours with my greens.  The Sparkle of the reds and oranges in the sunlight and the blues in the shadows was very freeing for me.    Now, I find I like to push myself to introduce new colours all the time. Especially when things are starting to feel flat!!  

2.  Make A Big Shape

It's the big shapes that can catch you. The plans are set.  Your layout is complete but things are not right.  There is a feeling of incompleteness.  (not sure that is a word but it certainly is a feeling. )  This is when disappointment, a sense of fear set in.  What if I wreck it? 

My Answer: I use my bare hand.  . . .

Using my hand I can see that a shape at the top left doesn't look as nice as one in the top right. 

I put my hand where the problem is.  Move it up. Down. Over. This gives me a feel for where something is needed and how big it must be.  

My Dalia was a flower drawing from a flower prompt.  This is a flower I seldom draw as the number of petals drives me crazy.  My focus was to draw the flower.  I did. Actually I was pleased with the results. But then what?  Using my hands a shape holders I can see that putting something in the top Right side and lower Left, seems to feel good to me.  How does it make you feel?  

Once I know the where, I need to decide the What.  Realistic or Abstract shape?  In the old days it would always be Realistic, now not so much.  It can even be a bit of both. I am leaning towards adding part of another flower on the side and a stem and a few leaves at the bottom.  But I am also thinking of a frame with the flower extending out or banners down the side or . . .  See what I mean. Once you have a direction, your imagination can ignite and flow.  

3.  Add Small Shapes

This has been a really fun addition to my work, that cam out of my Intuitive Research.  Tamara Laporte, is an artist I met online that I found really inspired me.  She makes realistic work with a very whimsical feel and she has a flare for colour.  Colours I love.  

One of her favourite things to do is add her own little symbols and decorative marks to all her drawings.  Some of her favourite shapes are stars, hearts, and castles. 

MUSHROOMS IN THE FOREST - Some of my favourite marks are circles, dots, and sometimes just squiggles  

Adding small touches can add excitement, interest and a bit of you to your piece.  I found it fun to take this idea and bring it into my work.  Organic shapes seem to catch my eye: Tiny flowers, leaves, curvy lines, circles and dots.  I was amazed how powerful a dot or circle can be.   These shapes create interest. They capture the eye.  They have the power to unify the composition.  

Adding my own Small Shapes adds Interest, Eye Candy and Unity to the Piece

My Research on Intuitive Painting and bringing it into my Process is ongoing.  To date I have found I have learned new things, gained more confidence and brought more joy into my work.  

Looking for More: 

"Putting More Intuitive Painting into Your Work with Wendy Mould" - Video:  Take an Intuitive Journey with me as I work on my Mushroom Story (Sketchbook Activity) 

Looking forward to hearing about your Intuitive Adventures.  See you next week. 

 Move your work to NEW LEVELS?  

Contact Me for:

1. Private Drawing Lesson: (3 Sessions 2.5 hr each $250)

Do you want your animals to breath, your flowers to sparkle or your people to walk?  Whatever subject your like to paint or draw I can build a drawing program for you.  Private Lessons allow you to focus on the skills you wish to develop.  Wendy is a experienced teacher, providing a calm, relaxing experience as you learn how to use the principles of drawing.  Beginner to Advanced are welcome.  Special rates for younger students.  More info here.

Be sure to like and share my posts.  You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email 

Have a great Artful Day,

Wendy

What's Stopping You from Creating Now? Painting & Drawing Tips

We have SNOW!! 

Well of course, it is winter here on the West Coast.  But we hardly every get SNOW and if we do, it is gone in a day or two.  What the heck is this stuff still doing here??!!

It's time to hibernate.  . . . 

Conditions are right: minus something crazy outside, no place to go, hardly any daylight.  Time to hit the studio, get the creative juices flowing and worry about coming out in SPRING.  

I have just the thing for you to do: 

1.  Try a NEW PROCESS:  Monotypes

Easy to do.  Requires few materials.  Interesting, Inspiring Results.  

I was introduced to Monotypes 2 years ago and really fell in love with the process.  It really appealed to my love of mixing abstract and realism.  You may find other ways to integrate it into your process.  But regardless give it a try.  

Three pieces created using the Monotypes Process in one of my first attempts  

Above are 3 pieces of watercolour paper which I painted using the Monotype Process and acrylic paint.  I thought each had some interesting shapes and colours.  Very Abstracty but also Interesting. I used them as pages in my Book Art.  

Do you recognize the page from above with my duck added?

I loved how this page worked out.  The feeling of rich, deep foliage in front of the duck is vivid and real.  Yet it is something I never could have planned and painted.

Can you see how the top right page was turned and became another duck swimming in the water?

Yes, this is another one of the pages from above.  It became one of my favourite pages in the book. For a step-by-step description of the process see my post: Have You Tried Monotypes?   and accompanying video " Getting Started with Monotypes (Monoprints) ".  

2. PERK UP YOUR DRAWING SKILLS

Pick a subject.  Something that interests you and DIVE IN.  I have tried this many times and each time come away with Wonderful Treasures:  Inspiration that has kept my heart pounding and mind churning with ideas for days; A renewed confidence in my drawing skills that has filled me with joy; And Projects that jumped off the shelve and out the door.  (Some were even sold while still WIP.)

Tulips in the Sunshine - My Focus Tulips

One of my favourite topics was tulips.  I used only a few tulip shapes. I reversed them, cropped them and bunched them up.  I experimented with composition.  With medium.  Zoomed in.  Zoomed out.  I got to know the shape well and felt my confidence grow and I worked them into different settings.  My sketchbook was happy and so was I.  

I tried other subjects: pumpkins, deer, squirrels, ducks, owls.  Whatever caught my eye.  Certainly the one that surprised me the most was my Snowmen.  I started off with my usual style and finished by pushing myself to the limited.  I was thrilled with the results. 

3 Snow Friends - Definitely something totally different for ME  

Surprised?  If you have followed my blogs and know my style you would know this is not my usually fare.  This was totally outside my box but I love these guys.  They remind me that if I open my box their are lots of new things waiting for me to do.  

For help in getting your Drawing underway check out my post "Can Repetition REALLY be FUN?!! There is a video to go with it as well "Repetition Can be FUN" and if you need a reference picture I have a Free Download of Tulip Pictures to get you started.  

If my Snowmen are calling to you, check out their own special post "What?? A Treasure Hunt can Help my Drawing Skills? and of course they have their own little video "Building Drawing Skills with a Treasure Hunt".  And if your snow is like ours right now - crisp, light and dry - lousy for making snowmen, I have a Free Download of 5 Interesting Snowmen that you are welcome to use.  

These are a few projects to get you started.  With your new found confidence I will try and entice into more Intuitive Work with my next post.  I know, again strange words coming from me.  But yes, even if you like things a little more structured than others, you can indulge yourself.  I like it this way, I still have my box, but I use it in many ways.  Have fun and see you next post.  

Looking to Move your work to NEW LEVELS?  

Contact Me for:

1. Private Drawing Lesson: (3 Sessions 2.5 hr each $250)

Do you want your animals to breath, your flowers to sparkle or your people to walk?  Whatever subject your like to paint or draw I can build a drawing program for you.  Private Lessons allow you to focus on the skills you wish to develop.  Wendy is a experienced teacher, providing a calm, relaxing experience as you learn how to use the principles of drawing.  Beginner to Advanced are welcome.  Special rates for younger students.  More info here.

Be sure to like and share my posts.  You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email 

Have a great Artful Day,

Wendy