Forgive me for the shameless plug...but I just received my copy of Watercolor Artist Magazine (October issue)! I have a complete demonstration on the technique of negative painting in the Creativity Workshop column.
I am delighted to be featured in this wonderful magazine dedicated to the beauty and education of watercolor. I hope you will give it a peek.
Happy Painting!
Brenda
8/25/2011 Watercolor Artist magazine just posted a portion of the article on line. You are invited to try your hand at negative painting and submit for free subscription, North Light book money... and more. Please read for complete details. ~Brenda
Rejection from a show is a very touchy thing for most artists. When I first began entering shows a rejection notice would send me off moping for days. I felt as if the wind was knocked out of me. It would take a week before I felt like picking up the brush again. The feeling of hurt and rejection was overwhelming. My husband began to dread me entering shows…I can see why!
About 10 years ago my education and understanding of how certain shows are judged was increased when I served a two year term as the Exhibition Director of the National Watercolor Society. The society is one of the highest rated associations in the watercolor community. The annual international exhibition is selected with the greatest of integrity. The first year I had an eye opening experience. I sat in the room while the 3 judges selected the show. The judges viewed paintings projected on a screen. No talking is allowed and the judges vote yes or no with a device. No one knew how the other was voting. On this day the judges had to select 100 paintings from over 1300 entries. It is a very long day. In the first round of viewing all the painting more than half were rejected. How long do you think the judges viewed each painting, 2 minutes, 5 minutes…? How about an average of less than 10 seconds! My painting was rejected in the first round, and my heart sank.
That evening I cried and I poured out my heart out to my husband. Through Mike’s great wisdom, understanding, and love I came to realize I was giving ultimate power to others to determine how I felt about my artwork. From that day forward I decided I wouldn’t give that kind of power to anyone accept those who are a trusted friend, a mentor, or my husband.
I still haven’t gotten into that show but since that day I have gone on to earn signature membership in Watercolor West (WW), Northwest Watercolor Society (NWWS), write two books on watercolor, featured in Splash 11 & 12, contributor to numerous other books, Watercolor Artist, Watercolor Highlights and various other magazines. I teach internationally and abroad. To illustrate my point the two paintings you see were rejected from one show to go on and achieve even greater recognition.
So what’s my point? Don’t let anyone define how you feel about your work! Be proud, hold your head up and let your brush sing with all its might!
Happy Painting!
Brenda
I am delighted to hear from many people who are taking the sketch challenge. Way to go! I want to offer some suggestions, tips, and techniques.
There is a big difference between sketching what you see, and sketching what you think you see. The truth is, we spend very little time looking. I want you to slow down enough, to really look around you. I believe you will begin to see things for the first time. During your day, explore with your eyes. Look at the shape of things, what shapes make up the form? How does light effect the edges? Are the shadows long or short?
There’s beauty in a well done line drawing. Contour drawing is direct and honest. Nothing to hide and you can say so much with so little! This is a slower way of drawing. Contour drawing very concentrated and forces you to slow down, and observe a little bit longer. First be aware of the over all shape. Then put your pen on the and only draw the line as you see it…look longer and draw slower. The pen sketch of my studio was done using this technique.
If you would like to challenge yourself, try a continual line contour drawing. In this exercise, find a starting point at which to put your pen on the page and don’t pick it up until you have finished. There can be a bit of distortion working this way, but I think of the distortion as part of the charm. Look at the pen sketch of the pomegranate and pepper. Here you can see a dot where I began and finished the sketch.
Happy Sketching!
Brenda
This is my third trip to this area of Italy and I never tire of the friendly, people, quaint towns, amazing food, age old traditions and ample locations to paint! I love teaching workshops here!
