I've been wanting, needing to paint something for Katharine Cartwright's blog, Twenty Minute Challenge. If you haven't yet, visit--it's inspiring and a great boost if you're stuck or constrained for time.
I had a teacher several years back who would have us set up a two- or three-object still life on our desks; paint it in five minutes; then pass the objects to the person next to us and paint their objects ... musical still life. People in the class always groaned about it, but I loved that exercise, just as, in life drawing, the two- to five-minute poses were always my favorite: those short poses yielded some of my best work in the classes.
It's amazing how much you can learn in twenty minutes; the time really goes rather slowly. As I drew it I became worried that this subject was too complicated or detailed and almost abandoned it, but I decided just to push through the next nineteen minutes and see what I got. Without meaning to, I painted very wet and so lost a lot of the details I had planned to try to keep, like the pollen inside the crocuses (those purple blobs are crocuses) or the turnings of the dogwood petals ... Turns out, I don't miss them.
Next time perhaps I'll set something up with fewer objects, but here I'm pleased with how the wetness--which, in twenty minutes, you don't have time to work with, compensate for--solved the overcomplication problem.
I spent about one minute drawing and the last five minutes looking for things to "fix." I was tempted to soften the line on the jar at right, but my alarm had sounded, so I resisted.
17 comments:
It works really nicely, well done! I never would have imagined it was done in 20 minutes.
Un bel lavoro, fresco anche perchè non hai potuto intervenire ulteriormente. Ma tu sei davvero brava, i tuoi colori mi piacciono in modo particolare, si può dire che caratterizzano il tuo stile personale. Ciao e grazie per l'informazione.
This 20 minutes work looks great! You inspired me to try asap.
Your watercolors make me want to paint again!
Hi Laura, once again I love your colors. 20 mins. leaves little time to overwork it,which is a good thing. I like the lost and found edges,something I am always confused about but enjoy in others paintings. Sometimes I get half way through a painting and think now what? Crazy hey.
Great 20 minute challenge. I love the looseness and the bright colors of this painting.
Laura, I think this is beautiful! I am amazed how you've done this in such a short amount of time. I think I really overwork everything I do. Maybe I need to start exercising some non-compliant muscles that can't loosen up well.
I just saw this on the twenty minute challenge blog and I wanted to come over and tell you how much I loved it. =)
Fresh, clean and lovely. Well done!
Hi Laura,
You are a super painter. 20 minutes.
Amazing.
Gr8 in 20 mins! Will chk tht blog out:)
You got so much information show in only 20 minutes - that's the sign of a quick painter who also thinks quickly about composition. Nicely done.
"musical still-life" sounds like great fun!! Thanks for sharing that.
Your 20 min. painting turned out marvelous -- wonderful exercise!
ps, thanks for suggesting the Tombow markers -- I googled them and the dual brush tips sound fun --I'll give them a try next time I order supplies.
the bright, clean colors caught my eye immediately. love the high contrast and variety of defined and soft edges.
This is truly lovely. I am inspired! I also love your artists' quotes!
WONDERFUL!
Laura! Good to have found your blog! I LOVE your pantings! So lovely! This one is definitely my favourite!
Post a Comment