I haven’t done much painting, but I’ll give it a shot. The question is, are we trying to out-schlock him? That might be tough. To out-saccharine him, I’ll need some glitter or something.
Alrighty then. Whoever comes in last gets a loaded gun and a photo of another Doper.
MAINLAND
GO
Sorry, instead of getting started last night, I sampled the latest version of Fox’s crack cocaine TV.
Up to you. Myself, I’m going to try to turn shlock into real art. Or my best version of it, anyway.
I damn near pissed myself when I read that.
I hope you’ll try Ms. Edwards’ books, then, Terrifel; she includes exercises that art students do (my only quibble is she acts like she thought of them - NOPE!).
All of the “how-to” art books you see on the shelves are published and sold exclusively for hobbyists - no art teacher I’ve ever met has their students buy any of them. Edwards’ first book is the closest I’ve seen to an art “textbook” (my hs art teacher recommended it to me).
You didn’t ask, but I’ll give you a couple of ideas anyway.
From my own experiences with Painting 101 (which I’ve taken several times), I’ll tell you that teachers usually have students start out with a limited palette, say just reds/oranges or blues/purples. Or you might try focusing on just browns or greys. Diving in to the whole color spectrum right off the bat can be a bit overwhelming.
I’ve also found that copying photographs upside-down is extremely helpful (your work should be upside-down, too). It enables you to see recognizable objects as simply shapes.
Have you looked into adding texture gels or pastes? That’s one of the fun things about acrylics, the ease with which you can make them 3D. I hear you about the mess, I’m the same way. Acrylics are still somewhat toxic, though - those cadmiums really do have metal in them, and you should NEVER sand down dried acrylic paints (unless you have specialized equipment for dealing with toxic dust, perhaps). That’s why dry pastels are actually the most toxic medium, because of the dust. Oils aren’t as bad now as they used to be, because nobody uses turpentine anymore; they’re still a bigger drag to clean up, though.
If you want to save some $$, buy the “student grade” el cheapo earth colors, but stick to the “professional quality” reds and yellows, the difference is worth the cost. Hold the tubes in your hand - the cheaper grade paints are lighter, because they don’t have those delightful (yet toxic) metals in them.
If you’re having trouble committing to a piece, just remember you can throw the damn thing away if you don’t like it. Personally, I often do. There’s a saying that you should just throw away your first 500 paintings anyway, the point being that you’re entitled to make many, many, many “mistakes” on your journey. Most of my students (I’ve taught pastel drawing a dozen times or so) expected to do something “good” right off the bat. Sometimes that happens, but more often that expectation is unrealistic and inhibits people from just trying, making mistakes, and learning.
fessie: thank you very much for the advice, especially the safety tips. Funnily enough I was just thinking about trying to sandpaper down a couple areas of canvas, so that was a timely caution. I haven’t fiddled around too much with texture gels yet-- as a matter of fact I’ve been going in the other direction, mixing in a lot of acrylic retarder and water to get a smoother, more blendable consistency.
It may be a good idea to throw away one’s earliest paintings, but alas I am constitutionally unable to throw away anything at all. I figure by the time I get to 500 canvases, the apartment will be pretty darn crowded (which is not to say that it isn’t a total fire hazard now, of course).
So how is everyone doing with this? I finished a rough draft of mine the other night. There are perspective and paint flow problems, but I think it’s a starting point.
Hey, way to go - that is quite charming!
I did a wretched drawing of some horses last week (I’ll post it if I can find my camera) but since I so rarely do anything, I was excited anyway, just to do it.
Thank you! 
That’s quite a compliment from someone so talented! Of course we’re no Opalcat, but who is?
The thing about this painting is that I want to include all of the quaint charm of Kinkade, minus the bucketfulls of sugar and with a bit of seaside New England charm. I might want to add in one or two more elements to suggest that it’s December.
This was in response to my post #23. To my shock and dismay, I started this project before a new TV series began, and finished weeks after the final episode. Good thing this lark of a project didn’t take place while I was watching 60 Minutes, huh?
Whee! This sounds like some fun. I’ll put this on my list after a few other things have been tidied up. Besides, I believe I have some Peeps, a shoe box lid and some flung poo!
I think I may give this a shot. I’ll try making it in 3D as my painting skills barely rise above the level of stick figures in MSPaint. I just recently started another picture, but as both this and that are both naturey scenes there will be a fair amount of cross over, so with any luck I can do this in a month or so.
I am about to buy Painter (the software that simulates paintbrushes and paint texture and so on and lets you make virtual paintings–it’s not like some filter that makes a photo look like a painted image) and this might be a fun project to test it out on. I hesitate to start on an actual painting right now because now that school is over, I have to go through everything I own and pack up my house (and have a yard sale) and then move to Ohio.
M’kay, I didn’t lay the smackdown on anyone with these little watercolors, BUT it was a lot of fun painting them yesterday. No cottages in sight, just cornfields. Sorry about the sloppy images, we’re on our way out the door in a minute.
It was kinda funny - when I was doing the the first one I couldn’t figure out why the paint was acting so goofy. It wouldn’t spread, just kept sinking right in, and was really textured. I was trying to work very quickly (that one took 30 minutes, the other one, 20) because I just had a little time during the twins’ last day of school (sob), but finally at the end I flipped it over, to see if I’d done something else on the back, maybe that was making it weird, and realized I was painting on the cover of the pad of paper!. bwahaha.
What, no comments? Nuthin? Not your cup 'o tea, or just simply bad? What?
They look fine to me! Anyone who’s willing to submit their artwork to review by this lot is okay in my book.
Slight hijack: I wonder how ArtDopers would compare Kincaid’s work to someone like Bierstadt, who showed off his mega-canvasses (sp?) to the masses in a very commercial sort of way.
fessie: I think they’re both quite good, although I say this as someone who is pathologically afraid of watercolor myself, and who thus may be unqualified to evaluate its technique. (I instinctively avoid pretty much any art medium that can’t survive having RC cola spilled all over it.)
I find the picture you accidentally painted on the back of the pad cover to be the most compelling, though the other one is fine as well. It seems to me that the first one has a much greater sense of depth to it-- “See? The other side of the field is all the way over there!”-- even though it doesn’t have any middle ground objects for comparison like the tree in the other picture. Your choice of colors for the cornfield also seems very effective, and works quite well with the more literal rendition of treeline and sky-- that sort of partially impressionistic approach is one I’d be too afraid to attempt.
P.S. Quite an impressive range of images on display in that album, by the way.
I like both of them, but #2 gets my vote. I love watercolor and I think you have good technical skills and you grasped the serenity of the scene. Very nice!
Is that mandatory when school is over in GA?