Simple Changes

It is amazing what simple changes will do.
In saying that, I thought that I would share this acrylic painting with you.

I had been working on a painting which is named "Cherry-O." This painting on your left is my first attempt that was placed aside to rest. On the morning of a critique evening, I decided it was time to revisit it. Having some idea of the areas that needed work, I sat down with my painting that morning to make a few corrections.

Can you spot the obvious?

Yes, you got it! The shadow area of the painting distracts from the cherries. In particular, the reflective shadow area on the front cherry looks patchy. To keep in the style of the painting, I needed very subtle shadows or merging with transition of colour. The shadow should be smooth and not patchy.

Instead of trying to correct the shadow, I rubbed out the shadow area with some of the background colour. Next, I worked on a better transition of colour in the shadow area.

This process was done slowly in stages with much care and nurture, making sure that just enough shadow colour was present just below or underneath the cherries to prevent them from floating. Even though this was a careful process, pulled together in stages, the irony is that it still took less time to paint the shadow the second time around.

What does it do? Well, my eye is no longer drawn to the patchy shadow below the front cherry and my centre of interest is restored to the cherries.


Palette: DecoArt Traditions Acrylic
Phthalo Green- Blue
Quin. Gold
Quin. Violet
Titanium White
Raw Sienna
Ultramarine Blue
Napthol Red
Dioxazine Purple
Hansa Yellow
Yellow Oxide

Just One of the Kids

Three weeks in June I had spent a wonderful time with family and friends in America. The weather was lovely and warm too.

It was the first time for me to meet my niece Riley who is two. I spent a couple of days with her and her mum. I also spent time with my first niece Gracie, she had just turned four and we had two ice cream cakes for her party. Yum, my favourite!

I also had a chance spend time with Mike; he became ten over the summer and also likes to paint. We spent a couple of days together painting and doing gourd art. We had an awesome time!

Mike is a special guy and he is interested in art. Explaining art to a 10 year old was a wonderful experience for me as I looked at it in terms of another perspective. Let's just say, I did not realise how much science is actually involved in art. Well O.K., that is not entirely true but during our discussions, I found myself thinking back to junior school's Ms. Larose science class to help me explain and answerer his questions. Good thing I paid some attention in school.

I wonder if Ms. Larose was a painter in her spare time. I am starting to think so. LOL

Colour pencils aren't just for kids! This summers reading program was called "catch the reading bug." The KVDA girls made bookmarks with the kids at the library. We used coloured pencils. The bookmarks were of wonderful designs by artist Dottie Kuhl. She did a great job and the designs were so cute. We had so much fun mixing colours and tried using different techniques with our coloured pencils.

Teaching art to children is great! When a situation arises and there isn't enough green markers or colour pencils to go around to everyone, improvise and teach children that blue and yellow make green. It's magical.