It was a great format, in that we couldn't make tons of choices. That was one thing I was kind of afraid of before we got there. What if I had to pick something out of the clear, blue sky to paint? There's no way I would be able to pick, much less know how to paint it. So it was a relief when we walked in and the instructor handed us palettes with 3 paint colors and told us to just fill up the canvas with color. The only rule was that we couldn't paint in straight lines. Totally manageable.
While we let the paint dry, she explained the basics. Some people in there had painted before and knew all about the color wheel and planes and things of that nature. I knew absolutely nothing. I ventured a few answers to questions she gave the group. I got them wrong. It's a good thing the class was called "painting for dummies."
We then picked one of two things to paint. It was between a bird and a vase of flowers. Although no one outside of the class has yet to guess what it is, I painted a bird. We basically copied a very avant-garde bird sketch she had for us, and then practiced our new-found knowledge in the techniques of color contrast, shading, texturing and such. My bird was by far the fattest in the class, and the colors weren't at all what I had envisioned them to be. I was hoping for a serene, yet jovial, scene filled with light blues and greens, with a splash of yellow and white. I ended up with dark reds and oranges, and varying shades of green. But it really was a good experience, and the right side of my brain is craving more.
The next night I found this Chickadee and did my best at copying it with pencil and paper. The result actually looks like a bird, so that's encouraging.
Also, today is Andy's 27th birthday. Hooray!!!
1 comment:
Bravo! I think that's terrific. Have lots of fun with it!
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