I’ve recently joined a daily painting challenge with Facebook Friends, and fantastic artists, Corey Matthews and Jan Little. 365 days of painting! I haven’t been entirely successful in painting every day, but I did decide that when I was able to fit in a little one, that I would like at least half of them to be practise from life. Here is a Raven Skull, generously gifted to me by a friend who knows of my love for ravens.
It was very interesting and satisfying to paint from life, to see the different colors in the white of the bone, caused by the light bouncing around the room and off of various surfaces. I hope to do a lot more of painting from direct observation in the future.
Who else out there, working as an artists, feels like they don’t have time to practise?! I feel like I have so little time to paint that I have to make every painting count, but I know the folly in that. If I’m ever going to improve, I know I need to slow down, observe life around me. Paint the color in the shadows!
