100 Paintings Challenge: Lorrie # 18

Quantity over Quality

Sounds odd doesn't it?! Quantity over quality………

The purpose for quantity over quality is because most of us strive to paint a quality painting each time we touch brush to paper. We sometimes get too caught up in the quality of our paintings and don't finish them for a myriad of reasons including "it's not good enough," "it doesn't look right," and "it looks nothing like I thought it would."

By focusing on quantity, we set aside the search for perfection and begin to paint for the practice of it, to learn what works, what doesn't and to keep going - no matter how good or how poorly a painting is turning out.

Giving/Receiving Encouragement

One of the things that can help us to grow quickly is encouraging comments - it keeps us motivated to continue painting. We are often “too close” to our own work and someone else, with more distance, can easily see areas to be improved.

Giving Encouragment:

• Be positive and upbeat!

• Use constructive criticism if you offer a critique.

• Be specific about what works well and why OR what does not work well and why.

• Re-read your comments BEFORE posting to make sure they say what you want them say!

• Be kind and courteous.

• Consider that you may not know what the artist’s “vision” is for a particular piece of artwork.

Receiving Encouragement:

• Try it on for size - if it fits, great. If not, disregard the comment(s).

• Take the comment in the spirit it was given - to be helpful.

• Do not fire off a comment in anger or hurt.

• Do not retaliate by being hurtful in your comments back to someone who has hurt you.

If you feel someone is being unfair on a repeated basis, contact me directly so that we can discuss it off-line.

PLEASE NOTE: As moderator of this blog, I reserved the right to delete any and all comments and/or posts offensive or harmful to other participants. This includes excessive negativity. I reserve the right to remove a participant from the blog if offensive behaviors persist after a written warning is issued. All decisions will be final and not open for discussion.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Lorrie # 18 - Butterfly Moment

Butterfly Moment, watercolor 6 x 9 inches

This picture began as an experiment in using clover leaves to imprint their own shapes on the paper. I tried to put paint on a clover leaf and press it onto the paper, but the leaf completely resisted taking any paint at all! So instead I put some clover on the paper and dabbed paint around it... then played with other textures of vegetation nearby. In the midst of this a beautiful butterfly landed briefly and took flight again before I could even begin to figure out what it looked like. No worries, we can have fantasy butterflies, right?

3 comments:

Unknown said...: This composition is so spontaneous. I like the effect you got using the clovers as a stencil of sorts. What a cool idea to use the things growing around you in your sketching! The butterfly landing in the middle is so serendipitous.; May 27, 2011 at 12:02 PM
liz Cutler said...: I love the spirit of experimentataion, and favntasy, I especially love it when it works out.The colors move well throughout the painting.The loosness and the variety of your brushstrokes combined with the stencil makes it an exciting painting..; May 27, 2011 at 7:07 PM
Kelly said...: ...very cool, and great use of the clover leaves! I love the color palette too.

Earlier in the year, I did prints with fern leaves. I had the same problem of the paint resisting the leaf. I read in a book I had to take a Sharpie pen and color the leaf with a Sharpie...and then apply the paint. It totally worked! I guess the Sharpie seals away the oils.; May 29, 2011 at 10:24 AM

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Artistic Development

• This blog is dedicated to artistic improvement. It is a venue for the committed artist to receive ENCOURAGEMENT while taking on the 100 Painting Challenge.

• It is a place to discuss struggles with the challenge.

• It is a place to celebrate milestones, accomplishments and breakthroughs.

• It is a place to offer encouragement to others.

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• It is NOT a place to share negativity or any off-topic subject. This is an art blog.

• It is NOT a place to lurk. The expectation is that each artist will be posting at least 4 paintings a month, one per post.

• A painting may only be posted once.

• The painting should be posted on this blog and not direct participants to another link.

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• Up to two paintings may be posted by each artists for critiques and feedback each month.

About the Challenge

The 100 Paintings In a Year Challenge is intended for artists that are dedicated to the growth and development of their style as well as their artistic voice. The challenge also provides a means for overcoming areas in need of improvement.

The paintings should be a mix of small, medium and large pieces, some sketches, plein aire, and studio work; work from life as well as from photos. The variety is meant to push the artist out of any rut, to provide ample opportunity to create no matter what other time obligations are going on, and to challenge the artist if they do not create in one of these categories. The work can be done in any medium, but it is strongly advised that the artist consider choosing one medium in which to do the Challenge as this will help facilitate faster growth than trying to master multiple mediums.

DO NOT JUDGE the artwork! When a piece is complete, set it aside and move to the next piece of work. Learning to suspend judgement of our work is a major step forward in the development our skills.

Once committed, the expectation is that the artist will fully participate in the blog by posting on a regular basis as well as leaving encouraging comments of others' artwork through comments.

The challenge may be started at any time.

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