Hello
Welcome to the FLOAT-YOUR-PIGMENT Newsletter #285 Realistic or Abstract
Happy Voting Election Day!
I have been getting a bunch of things organized in my home studio as the weather has been getting colder and packing things in for the winter. I am also cleaning my home studio due to some news that I just received, but it is unavoidable in this pandemic world we are living in at the moment. With a new buyer of the building that houses my BeckerArt Gallery/Classroom, I will be leaving and closing the doors to my studio at the end of November.
I will be taking my classes back to The Studio next door as I had done in the past so hopefully, both our businesses will make it through this pandemic.
The sales of my Daily Paintings are going strong and I would like to thank all of you that are purchasing my works... it has definitely kept me in business during these trying times of keeping a public storefront business going. Sorry to those folks that have bought a painting and the delivery with the post office has been so delayed. It has taken a month at times to get a painting shipped... very frustrating when other paintings get there in super-fast time.
Got word last week that I made it into the Plein-air painters online newsletter for my 2 awards with the Grand Marais Plein-air event I was at in the fall. See Article HERE
Yes to Class at the Civic Center in Libertyville November 5th from 1pm to 3:30pm
Yes to Class at the BeckerArt Studio in McHenry November 7th From 9am to 11:30
For so many beginner students learning to do a watercolor painting means taking a photo and copying it to make it look as realistic as the photo. That is a good way to start out as a beginner, but that is not the only way to learn about designing a painting. Sometimes you will want to try and make it more than what you see in the photo reference.
If you look at the 2 rooster paintings below and were asked which you liked better, 9 out of 10 people have chosen the bottom abstract designed one compared to the top realistic one. The top painting is done just like the reference photo while the bottom one was done in a style where no reference was used and a stencil was applied to the painting making the background somewhat designee and abstract. You won't find this look in a photo so you have to design it by creating your own
design and ideas about how you want your background to look.
This is not about one being a right or a wrong way to paint, this is about giving you options to do it either realistic or with somewhat of an abstract background.
So you may ask "how do you design an abstract background?". That is a great question but it is a tough thing to teach. You still need to follow your value pattern of lights and darks, but then it is up to the artist's imagination to come up with a style to use as the background. It can be anything, like the stencils I used in the painting below or it could be simple brush strokes done in a certain way or pretty much anything you can dream up as long as you follow the value pattern you worked out
beforehand.
I used stencils in the bottom rooster image, but at first, when I started putting them in they were looking like tire tracks, then as I put more in they started resembling hay so I did a bunch more and stopped when I felt it had a well-designed look. This is something you just have to practice and you may ruin a bunch of paintings at first but that's how you learn... by doing and making mistakes and doing more and more until you get the feel of a good design sense,
You can use stencils, rubber stamps, and pretty much anything you can think up that will put watercolor down in an abstract way.
Have fun!
David
BeckerArt WORKSHOPS and DEMOS of 2021
WORKSHOP The Villages, WC, Villages, FL. January 11th and 12th INFO HERE
WORKSHOP The Villages, Acrylics, Villages, FL. January 13th and 14th INFO HERE
WORKSHOP Gold Coast Watercolor Society Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Feb. 16th 17th and 18th INFO HERE
WORKSHOP Michigan Water Color Society, Battle Creek, MI. June 1st, 2nd and 3rd INFO HERE
WORKSHOP Dillman's, Lac Du Flambeau, W/C, Wisconsin, June28th - July 1st INFO HERE
I have had students ask me about cutting mats and what I recommend... I recommend if you are not cutting hundreds of mats, this Logan mat cutter. Together with a ruler a couple of clamps, a cutting surface you can cut some really professional mats.
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Plein-air Magazine has an event coming up in January which they say is gonna be the Largest online training event. I saw this artist who will be teaching at this event and reminded me a lot of Joe Zbukvic's work.
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BeckerArt Demo/PAINT-A-LONG
Learning to paint a Rooster with a realistic or abstract background.
This coming Thursday Nov 5th at 6:30pm CST
See the live video by following this link HERE
BECKERART DAILY PAINTINGS
Daily paintings are available for purchase, on sale $150 now $90 dollars, order on my website.
The sales of these original paintings are to help me keep my art business open.
Thank you in advance if you purchase one!
Click HERE to buy my daily painting below
Shop Amazon by clicking the logo below to help me fund this newsletter... Thank You! If you are looking to help me fund my BeckerArt Studio/Classroom during this Pandemic may I suggest purchasing a daily painting and for those that want to help a small business stay in business click the Donate button below. For those wishing to send a donation you
can do it to:
BeckerArt 3314 Pearl Street, McHenry, IL.60050
THANK YOU! For any other info please email me at david@davidrbecker.com
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