Bad News

Another thing we talked about in my last class was copyright violation.  I hadn't ever really thought that my paintings referenced from various photos and paintings I've found online could be considered copyright violations.  I knew I wasn't planning to sell any of them, and it seems extreme that anyone would take exception to my painting attempts.

I went back tonight and added links to the majority of my references, and I'm going to get in touch with a couple of the photographers that have their emails available.

From now on I'll try to paint mostly from my own photos, from someone that's given me permission to use their photos, or from unrestricted stock photos.  I do get a lot of inspiration and ideas from other watercolor artists, but I won't be directly copying any of their work, apart from the tutorials I complete.

Tonight I also did some research on giclee printers in my area.  A giclee is a high quality copy of original artwork.  Once I'm ready (if I'm ever ready) to start selling my art I can sell the original for a higher price, and then sell nice copies for a reduced price.

Good News

After my last class, my teacher said she thinks my work is ready to show and told me about an art show coming up in May in a nearby city.  She said she'd help me get something ready to submit.

I'm so excited!  And a little nervous.  =)

But now I've got some motivation to keep on painting regularly, even though I'm not in any classes right now.

Last night I painted this dog from a photo my brother's friend took in Belgium.  His name is Aaron Beddes and he's got some amazing work on his site HERE.

I see some problems, but as a whole I really like it.  I had an artist at work critique it for me and he gave me some good composition advice.  It's nice working with artists sometimes.  :)

Week 8: Elephant

Here is the final version of the elephant I started in class last week.  I did some more detail on the eyes and then darkened his body and added some shadows.  Finally, I used some sharp scissors to scratch in the grasses against his dark body while the paint was still damp.

Adding some contrast really made a difference!

I wasn't able to finish this little guy in class, but I really like him so I'll hopefully put the final touches on tonight or tomorrow.

Reference found HERE

Class 7: Cat

I've been having fun painting animals... here's one of a tuxedo marked cat.  I can see things I'd change, but for tonight I'm just going to post it without the critique.

I used the photo here for reference, but I added the white myself:  Black Cat

Next week is my last class, and I'll be painting an elephant.

Class 6: Bird (Seagull)

The teacher demonstrated a parrot, but I knew I wanted to do something more subtle, so I chose to do a seagull instead.  It's been a while since I've loved a painting, but I really think this bird came out nice.

For critique, I'd say I would like to be more confident in my brush strokes.  I'm dabbing more than I'd like and it shows.  I also got too busy near the tail of the bird because I couldn't get it to come out right, and I feel like that's where my eye is going.

What I love is the texture of the wood, and the deep red of the tip of his beak, contrasted with the white of the paper behind the red.  I'm also glad I went with a subtle background.

CLICK HERE to see the seagull photo I referenced from Brian Wilson.  I stuck pretty closely to the bird shape, but I took a lot of liberties with the colors and shadows to make it more interesting and dramatic.

Next week:  Dog or cat