ten days of art | creative play

by | Jul 14, 2022 | Art, Artistic Endeavors, Creative Play, sketches | 7 comments

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As I shared in THIS POST, I want to make the most of this season of waiting.  One of the things I want to do is take some art classes that had to be set on the back burner when I needed to focus my attention on packing.  Now, I am able to find some time to learn, read, and practice.  If you know me at all, you know that I am a multi-tasker when it comes to just about everything!  I’m usually not reading one book, but several…listening to an audiobook, reading another, and looking at another picture-heavy book for inspiration.  I don’t just sit and watch TV, but I watch TV and knit or sketch or sew or get on the floor and stretch.  And, when I’m taking an art class, I don’t just take one, but bounce between a few.

The class that I’m focusing on the most currently is Ten Days of Art by Roselyn Pratt offered on Jeanne Oliver’s website.

The focus on the class is studying master artists in different mediums for ten days.  It’s an invitation and a challenge and it’s right up my alley.  I do admit to going rogue a bit, but the entire point of the class is exploration, not imitation.

While sitting out on the driveway at my parent’s house, I worked on thumbnail sketches of paintings from some of my art books as well as reference pictures provided through the class.

ten days of art | online art classes | studying the masters | miss mustard seed

Some were more successful than others!  My Picasso study was almost comical, but I like my Lautrec study as well as the boy in the Monet study above.

ten days of art | online art classes | studying the masters | miss mustard seed

When people think about art, they don’t usually think about the practice that goes into it.  We recognize practice in a musical instrument and sports, but we think that other artistic disciplines like art, design, and even something like singing is purely about natural ability.  That’s just not true!  A natural inclination helps (just as physicality can play into what sport or instrument might suit you best), but it does come down to practice, trial and error, and developing muscle memory.  I am abismal at drawing profiles, for example, but I know that’s something I can improve with study and practice.  Lots and lots of bad profiles before I draw a good one.

I also tend to draw faces longer and more narrow than they are.  Even with measuring, I seem to do that!

I dove into an acrylic study after John Dunca Fergusson’s Woman in Hat, 1950.  I didn’t feel particularly drawn to this reference photo, but I was intrigued by the colors and the challenge of painting something that is a departure from what I gravitate toward.

This is my set-up in the sunroom at my cousin’s lake house.  This is our home for a little over a week until we move on to our next location.

ten days of art | online art classes | studying the masters | temporary art studio | miss mustard seed

I also hesitated to paint this because I didn’t have a tube of red acrylic paint with me, so I had to rely on burnt sienna to be my red.  It ended up being such a fun assignment and I learned a lot about playing with colors and making a painting pop with outlining.

limited acrylic palette | miss mustard seed

And my burnt sienna definitely reads as an orangey-red.

ten days of art | online art classes | studying the masters | after Fergusson | miss mustard seed

I have always been a little frustrated going back to acrylics after working with oils.  I am absolutely smitten with the slow dry times and moveability of oils.  Acrylics force me to put paint down and leave it alone.  This painting ended up being great practice for that – laying the paint down and moving to another area to let the paint dry before I overworked the wet paint.

ten days of art | online art classes | studying the masters | after Fergusson | miss mustard seed

I’m looking forward to doing more of these studies in my time of waiting.

ten days of art | online art classes | studying the masters | after Fergusson | miss mustard seed

And now I want to learn more about Fergusson!  I ordered the books Living Paint: J.D. Fergusson 1874 – 1961 and J.D Fesrgusson so I can study his work further.

And I want to try my hand at monotypes, silver point, etching.  More learning always leads to more curiousity which leads to more learning which leads to more…

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    7 Comments

    1. sandi m

      LOVE this Woman in Hat, your version. So nice to see you work outside your color wheel. The ‘red’ just makes everything else come alive.
      Love the thumbnail sketches, too!

    2. Debbie Wilson

      I love this one, Marian! Everything about it is just perfect!

    3. Irene Kelly

      So glad you are painting and enjoying doing it while on the road. Will you be taking some site seeing trips north ?

    4. Jeanne

      Beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

    5. Norma_saad@hotmail.com

      Marian your painting is wonderful! IT’s great that you are taking another class. I want to thank you for alla prima I have learned so much and reviewed a lot. Thank you and hope you will do another class for us in the near future.

    6. Theresa Pennell

      Marion: You can check and see if your city has any Art Clubs and join. This is how I learned so much about painting = as I lived in Richardson and Plano, Texas and they both have great art clubs = once a month they have an artist paint at their meetings and you can learn so much from them and watching them paint a picture – they also have art contest which you can enter. I moved to another city and the think I miss are my former art clubs.
      This is just an suggestion for you. They also have workshops which you can take from time to time
      Wiching you much success on your paintings.

    7. Gail

      Hi! I see your lovely pen up there. 😉 Could you provide links to some of your favorite pen and ink tools? Thanks!

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