Sunday, May 06, 2012

Things I learned this week

I'd like to think I learn something every week.  I hope so.  Over the weekend, I've been at a painting class run by Riverton artist, Dawn Barry.  Turns out she's a friend of my old school friend, Astrid (who lives in Auckland but has a wee place at Riverton and comes here in the holidays), and so was one of the women I was sitting next to.  Small world.    Here's some photos from the class:

 There were 11 of us - 1 man and 10 women.  The others were all more experienced that I am, even Rose (left)  who is only 16.  Some had held exhibitions.  I was slightly daunted by this, especially as I've only painted a handful of pieces so far.
 First, we painted something we knew, in a technique that left a black outline.  This worked better on some subjects that others.  Not so well on my portrait, but it was either that or a still life as that's all I've done.
 The second technique was a segmented style, with each segment blending from light to dark, or dark to light.  I quite enjoyed this, but would use less white next time.
 Thirdly, we painted something in flat colours, then added visual texture with oil pastels.  I also painted with my fingers.  Not a great landscape but it's my first.


Lastly, we did a seascape using plaster, sand and so on, applied with a palette knife for texture.  When it dried, we added layer after layer of thin washes.  Mine wasn't very good so I'm just showing some that others did.  Dawn's sample is top left.  All in all, we had a great time.

 I do know you're not supposed to allow lens flare in photos - however, sometimes, I like it.  This was a really interesting afternoon sky recently.
 And while I know how to weave fabric, I had to relearn it as it's ages since I've done it.  This is 2 completely different versions of my Blended Fabric - above, being woven on the ironing board, and a close-up below.  I've stitched it, but want to add some stamping to pull the colours together.  It's a cover for my new creative journal.




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Lisa said...

Love the segmented painting and the fabric weaving - you do such interesting things Shirley. I've just submitted my last assignment for this intake and have a couple of weeks off so I can left my head up form the books and look around at more interesting things for a little while.