ART, Everything you don't have to do.
I thought I had got my act together with this painting lark, but my latest efforts have not gone so well, three attempts at this image and I finally have something I am starting to be pleased with. As I said good and bad here is my progress with this.
Trying too hard so painted it out and started again.A bit bigger in the frame this time, didn’t take any progress shots but ended up painting it out.
Just posting a few pages from my sketchbook some old and some more recent, like everything I am doing my sketching has a long way to go, so I keep on practising.
This week at art-class we have been working on our Brian Cook type pictures l have been simplifying the lines in my image to give a feeling of flow to the landscape. Late in the day I decided on white lines between the elements in the picture, I started by using masking fluid the lines were not very clean, perhaps my inability to paint with it,but I did find a little water helped. ended up using white gouache got some nice lines with my rigger brush.
Still working on tone and colour at our art class, so combining my classwork and continued practice with acrylic painting this week I produce this piece.
I painted out a picture that was not working, so on a green sort of ground and only using ultramarine blue and cadmium red I produced this in 4 hours, I am pleased with the result as I have been working on being more spontaneous and loose with my painting, working on the feel of the picture and not getting lost in the detail, progress at last.
Credit to the photographer for the working picture.
This week at art class we looked at colour and the work of Brian Cook.
spent some time discussing how he uses colour and mixing a colour palette from one of his pictures, using red, blue, yellow, black and white gouache yet another media I had not used before, it sits mid way between water colour and acrylic.
we are now starting to think about working up our own pictures.
jeff coles art 
