The honeymoon is over

[devi]

I've done a painting I don't like. I think it didn't work because I was trying to paint something I could see very clearly in my head, rather than just starting to paint and seeing what happened. Oh well:






I do like this one, though:





And now, in Good Art news, who wants to see this Antony Gormley exhibition with me? It's in London, so it'd have to be a weekend for me, but it's on from 17th May till 19th August.

Comments

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

Ooh - yeah. I like the second one. It's quite Tolkienesque.

[anam-uk.livejournal.com]

I desperatly want to see the Gormley exhibition, I must now go & fettle my calendar to see how it would be best to do it

[libellum.livejournal.com]

The second one is gorgeous! I have friended you, even though I'm astonished that you want to continue the acquaintance given quite how epically trashed I was during our conversation on Saturday ;)

[kyte.livejournal.com]

Indeed - first one nice, second one 'oooooh' :>

I can't help feeling that you've painted Lantern Waste...

Definitely interested in the Gormley exhibition, but dunno whether I'll get my act together enough to go...

[shermarama]

I really like the second one. I could say, particularly because there's enough mass of pale foreground branching stuff to change the emphasis and make it look like it could be a picture of a great variety of things, of which trees is one of the less likely. Some weird angle through a tangle of nerves on the inside of an eyeball, perhaps.

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

The first one looks like meat cooking in a pan. Think of it that way and it begins to look quite tasty!

[shewho.livejournal.com]

london eh? make it a Rock Steady weekend, and i promise to be more with it this time :)

[boxcat.livejournal.com]

Count me in for Gormley.

He is my all-time 2nd favourite sculptor (after Ms Hepworth).

Actually, hmmm, why don't I have 'Barbara Hepworth' as an interest? I should fiXX0r

[a-llusive.livejournal.com]

Interested - and trying to go to London weekend of June 2nd for a party anyway...

[fraxl.livejournal.com]

i love the green one! that is exactly the sort of piece i would love to have hanging on my wall.

[al-fruitbat.livejournal.com]

I have no idea if this is pretentious, or any use to you whatsoever. However, I remember when I was starting to paint and my parents (both officially artists) gave me lots of advice. Two bits in particular I still find useful and very simple, so I'm going to type them at you.

1) Turn the canvas upside down to check the proportions of things. Sometimes it's worth filling whole bits of the picture in 'upside down' - our brains are peculiarly fickle when it comes to size and perspective.
2) Step back, and really squint through slitted eyelids. This will allow you to perceive contrast properly. (This is also very useful when painting from real life, and trying to capture shadows)

I wouldn't dream of criticising your work - for one thing, I can't have an opinion until I see it fullsize. I would urge you to keep painting though - I wish I had the discipline and time to buy a new set of watercolours, instead of copping out in potatoshop whenever I get the creative urge!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_kent/]

I actually really like the first one. :)

[ksta.livejournal.com]

fwiw I like both, but I love trees so particularly the bottom one. Do you paint a lot?
I ;iked the stuff you posted last time too.

[wyvernfriend.livejournal.com]

liking the trees.

[sumbitch.livejournal.com]

i love the glowing tree-things! they look like a grey alien's about to be silhouetted.

[several-bees.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I want to see the Gormley.

[darklily.livejournal.com]

Getting in here more than a tad late, but if there's still a Gormley exhibition trip in the offing, I'd be potentially interested in tagging along...