Seeing Red. A New Painting Challenge

Time to get fired up fellow artists.

We're thinking RED.

Warm. Bright, Dark. Light. And maybe contrast it with green.  No blues or yellows but nice greens or perhaps greys, browns, blacks or great mauves and purples as in Cézanne's classic work below right.

If you want to think just RED that is fine.

Red makes a statement.

Look at these paintings 'borrowed' from the internet and from fellow FHAS artists.

 

 

 

  

One sees how the artists use red to great effect. For some it's a hint of red, for others it is full on.
But it doesn't have to be as complicated as all those great works above.

Think smaller items: sweets and candy, autumn leaves, socks, peppers, lipstick, a mug, a glass of Cab Sav, tomatoes, flowers, a hat ...

Look at some photos where red is again important. You are sure to be inspired!

 

 

DEADLINE for your paintings in any medium: 30 June 2020.

Send your work to noninichols@gmail.com or zwets@mweb.co.za and remember to tell us in which medium you did the work.

Cynthia - with apologies

How could your blogger have misplaced this beautiful painting by Cynthia? She did. I apologise profusely, Cynthia,  especially as it was not only on time but one of the first to be received.
Delicate, round and totally delightful. I love the way the vase fades to nothing. Less in more!

Watercolour and pen, Cynthia, or black paint?







































Our Pres, was a little late in submitting her work - she's an artistic lady and was meeting another creative deadline - but she makes it in to this entry. Thanks Ann. I'm guessing this is watercolour.  A lovely mix of colours and objects.


Thank you to all of you who take part in these ideas. That old maxim (from the days of the original ancient Olympic Games?) holds: It is not winning that counts, but participating.

Please participate with other members of Fish Hoek Art Society!

A new challenge will be offered tomorrow. Get ready with your paints, pens and pencils.

Posting your pix - round and glass

We have to thank John for taking this theme and tackling it, once, twice, thrice ... I gave up counting!

But just look at what you can produce on a round shape. He found some wonderful subjects and adapted them to the shape.

The parallel suggestion was glass.


Starting off with an allamanda in a blue base from Fiona done in pastel pencils.

John's cat? Wishful thinking.
Watercolour, we guess.

Marcelle's marvellous tomatoes. Drawn and painted. So low key but excellent.

This reminds one of stained glass windows with its wonderful vivid colours.
Watercolour by Marie Rowe.

Maugie also thought of gold fish and cleverly combined the glass fish 'pond' with a round background.

This is a lesson for us all from Maugie.
She was walking and found this old paint lid - a good circle in which to start a painting. And so she did! A young girl looks wishfully out on a world under a starry sky. No doubt longing for the end of lockdown!

Nicky also decided to combine round with glass and placed her red wine glass on a white plate. Clever idea and a nice trompe l'oeil.

I'm not too sure what kind of a fish this is but John got it to pose in a circular form!
What medium John?

Portuguese Man of War from John. There must be lots of jellyfish with round shapes. Have a look when you can next walk the beach.

Pretty flower idea from John.
This could be converted to placemats for the dining room table.

Is this a cabbage, John?

Do remember to look a veg as well as flowers when searching out interesting shapes.

Another of John's: a wonderful sunset.

Another watercolour by John. Tulips in a square glass pot - reminds me of old ink pots. Great colour combination.

Look how glass 'deforms' what we see through glass. Another work by John.

Two delightful carp lending themselves perfectly to the round shape.
Good colour combination.



















Flowers in the round, by Fiona. Another potential plate mat if it wasn't for the square mount!






And lastly a glass jug and lemon by John.

If you are wondering what the next theme is...stay in touch. It will be revealed in a couple of days.
Meanwhile, keep soaping, keep your distance and keep painting.

Hazel Soan shares some tips, pix and ideas

From Hazel Soan in her studio

"This week in lockdown I couldn't resist returning to the African bush (virtually) and indulged in painting the dust and mud of Etosha and the Kalahari.

In my view dust and mud are made for watercolour, and watercolour is made for dust and mud!

From my high vantage point at the Oliphantsrus waterhole in the western side of Etosha, the elephant herd appeared from nowhere, almost silent, pacing quickly, kicking up the white dust and veiling the latecomers - all I could see beyond the frontrunners were familiar shapes, growing in size as they approached - the shapes intoxicating, so beautiful and het so odd.

Elephant colouring in Etosha tends to cold blues and violet with burnt sienna glowing in the shadows and yellow ochre in the lights, so these were the colours I chose for the dusty painting.

Close up, nudging through the mud, I wanted a brighter, bolder approach so I ladled masses of cerulean into my palette.

The wildebeest in the the Kalahari, also coming to water,  are fanning out from their single file approach as they near their goal.

When the dust is raised, and is backlit, the dust-laden area looks white in colour and is significantly lighter than the surrounding background.

To create the gradual by stark exchange in tone I always wet the area way beyond where I want the dust to rise, so that the colour spreads into the damp paper without creating an edge or seam around the dust.

Heavier paper is therefore preferable to prevent buckling but even using Sanders Waterford 300lb my paper still buckled because I forgot I was in the cool of the studio and not actually in the heat of the African bush and used as much water in the painting as the wildebeest and elephants were about to drink!"


*.  *.  *.  *.  *

"I remember with affection the excitement I felt at the beginning of this new decade. I particularly like the rhyming symmetry of the number '2020' before the pandemic clipped our wings and gave th number a less poetic resonance.

I do love words, nearly as much as brushstrokes, so it was fun to have an excuse to use the attractively balanced number in a title.

I completed a three-part series for THE ARTIST MAGAZINE called "2020 Vision" - how we see as an artist and honing our artistic eye - published in the May, June and July issues.

The third and final part of this series discusses the theory, yet highly significant question so often asked: "How do you know when a painting is finished?" and offers several practical methods to help you assess your own work, all of which I use continuously.

The Artist Magazine is available in stores and online.
https://pocketmags.com/the-artist-magazine 

Here is a flurry of feathers to encourage you to open your artistic wings wide at a time when no one can fly!"

Members of the FHAS may be pleased to learn that Hazel has another book coming out on www.amazon.co.uk in the beginning of July. 

If you'd like to go directly to her book on Amazon, here is the link:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Learn-Watercolour-Landscapes-Quickly/dp/1849945934/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=learn+watercolour+landscape+quickly&qid=1591909812&sr=8-1 

In an unusual move, it was published by www.amazon.co.uk digitally before the hard cover version and  for less than £5. This blogger bought a copy and is delighted

As always, Hazel explains the themes succinctly and in an interesting fashion with apt paintings to illustrate her text. 

In an effort to improve style, and without the benefit of a live tutorial, I have read a couple of the chapters and then tried to copy what Hazel has done. It was with varying success but that is not important. It's the observation, analysis and the doing that is important. Why not try it for yourself. Her marvellous collection of books are there to teach and help us.

Lastly, you can follow Hazel on Instagram and on Facebook. Hazel is very good about posting on these media. You can follow her on the sites below:

hazelsoan.com

allsoanup.com

Facebook

Instagram

Round or Glass?

How are your works shaping up?

John has - as ever - been busy and we've already received some contributions from other artists.
So, we look forward to seeing yours.

THE CHALLENGE - choice of two or, get smart, combine them!





We are suggesting a ROUND work of art (take a dinner plate and draw a circle and work 

within that!) and if you are stumped for a theme, then the suggestion is GLASS. 

...A glass, a twig in a glass, a glass of water, a glass of painting water, a vase, your reflection 

in a mirror... 

You'll have plenty of ideas and if you don’t want to be challenged by glass, invent your own theme.

Deadline for receiving works is 15 June.

Send your work to us either at noninichols@gmail.com or zwets@mweb.co.za 

Just for your information, Hazel Soan is going to be contributing with some tips and pix. You can see some of her works online and download some videos. But more of that later.