Wednesday, April 16, 2014

"all looseness is lost"


The latest class assignment for Carla Sonheim's 2014: Year of the Fairy Tale requires the use of a credit card as the main paint application tool. Hmm, credit card? Have I been living in a cave? I checked on the internet and it's a well-known technique. Okay, credit card it is.

I was frustrated with desiring to place color just in a specific area and the only way of applying it was with the uneven line of paint clinging to the edge of a thin piece of plastic. An imprecise tool? Yes. Did I want to grab a paint brush and be done with it. Yes, please.

We could use a brush for finishing details and a pen to define the figure. And here is the painting:

Pretty "loose" all things considered :-)

As Carla said in her video: when she uses a paintbrush, "all looseness is lost" and those words stuck with me - because they're so funny and also because they became a quick mnemonic to remind me that keeping it loose is one of the goals of this assignment.

I'll keep saying it to myself as I work on the second painting... yes, the assignment calls for two :-)


2 comments:

  1. your painting turned out so nice!! i love your soft colors. this was a fun assignment for me…but a little frustrating :\

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  2. Thanks :-) I definitely felt challenged (and frustrated) by the imprecision of the tool. I was feeling that as I watched the class video and I think that's why I didn't immediately start the assignment. Now I am looking forward to painting #2.

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