2017 was a bang-up year for me artistically. I painted like mad and gained some much needed confidence. I made some real effort to promote and sell my artwork. I did my first live demo, a risk which paid off tremendously. Furthermore, I feel an incredible readiness to try new things.
One of the successes I had was with painting smaller, quick pieces. All landscapes, which provide a nice break from animal portraits. I used the same paper and technique for many of these landscapes: UArt 500 grit with a wet underpainting of harder pastels (Rembrandts and NuPastels) and alcohol. There's a bit of freedom, looseness, that nicely balances the detail and tightness that are a hallmark of my animal portraits. I don't have to adhere to a likeness with a landscape. Ehhh, it's just a scrap of paper. I am still very much driven by the pressure to make every painting frame-worthy even though I know that the learning experience is far more valuable.
if the idea is to keep myself painting, to keep practicing this skill, then these mini-scapes do the job.
One of the successes I had was with painting smaller, quick pieces. All landscapes, which provide a nice break from animal portraits. I used the same paper and technique for many of these landscapes: UArt 500 grit with a wet underpainting of harder pastels (Rembrandts and NuPastels) and alcohol. There's a bit of freedom, looseness, that nicely balances the detail and tightness that are a hallmark of my animal portraits. I don't have to adhere to a likeness with a landscape. Ehhh, it's just a scrap of paper. I am still very much driven by the pressure to make every painting frame-worthy even though I know that the learning experience is far more valuable.
if the idea is to keep myself painting, to keep practicing this skill, then these mini-scapes do the job.