I'm currently taking a weekly acrylic class at the clubhouse in a nearby neighborhood. I like the teacher, Janet King; she's a great artist. She's very methodical in teaching, and that is good for me. The first painting was of a single tomato. That one was pretty simple. The class is two hours long, and it took me one class session and part of another one to finish it. I particularly like the stem on the tomato.
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| "Tomato" acrylic on canvas panel, 8 x 10, September 2016 |
The tomato was done last fall. I had taken two classes out of the eight-week series when Lily relapsed. Actually, Larisa and I were taking the class together. The night of the second class, Larisa came to class and told me that she'd taken Lily to the pediatrician because of some suspicious symptoms, and her blood work had come back a little wonky. So that is where I first learned that Lily might have relapsed. It was a day or two later before the relapse was confirmed. Larisa and I dropped out of the class since our world was turned upside down for so long. Things have leveled out a little now, and I registered for the class again this spring, and I picked up where I had left off. I'm hoping to convince Larisa to take it with me again in the fall.
The first class of the spring series, I started a study in black and white. I finished it this past week. As I worked on it, I kept thinking that the fabric didn't look like fabric. However, now that I softened up some of the edges and deepened some of the shadows, it looks pretty good. It still doesn't scream, "This is draped fabric!" but it's not bad. It was a helpful learning experience. Janet is very good at guiding the learning artist! After using oils so much lately, it was a change to go back to acrylics again. Blending is certainly easier with oils.
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| Acrylic on canvas panel, 11 x 14, April 2017 |
The next project for this class is a bowl of pears with a glass of wine - and another draped cloth! So far I've blocked in the base colors and have almost finished shading the pears. I need to finish the shading and do some highlighting. In class next Thursday, Janet will show me how to paint the wine in the glass. This will probably be the last painting I'll finish for this series. I had to miss two sessions when we were out of town. The sessions are only two hours long. So not a long time to paint. There are only two more classes left - and finishing this painting will take up those sessions.
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| Acrylic on canvas panel, 11 x 14 |
What I like about Janet's style of teaching: She is more detailed, and I'm a detail kind of person. I enjoy working on exact shadings and lines. It's all part of discovering what kind of art appeals most to me. While I enjoyed the brighter colors and free-flowing (and very quick!) art of Dreama Tolle Perry and Nancy Medina, there is a satisfaction in drawing and then painting realistic scenes, too.
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