The Great Art Debate

[TANGODANCER]

This is the reason I mentioned the Morris men. I'm seriously thinking of having a go at this.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Go for it TD

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Before I reveal the actual painting I think I should say a few things about it.
Overall, it's better than I hoped for a first attempt with proper watercolours, and my father-in-laws equipment has found a new home because I think I'm going to take it up as a hobby. I don't think I did too bad a job on composition, structure, line execution and perspective. Where I fell down badly was on depth - it looks a bit 'thin'. I was struggling a bit to get what was in my mind's eye down onto the paper.
There are four areas I know I could improve on the next time I have a go, and hopefully if I improve in those areas then I might achieve what I want to impart.
1) Whites - I shouldn't have chosen a whitewashed building as the subject - I hadn't appreciated how difficult it is painting by omission.
2) Colours. I knew the theory that if you limit your palette then you unify your colours, but put theory into practice was a bastard. Having chosen the paletteit became obvious pretty quickly that I had no idea what colours I could produce. I didn't even know that blacks have to be produced through mixing. It took me five minutes of searching through my f-i-ls tubes to realise there was no black and another five minutes on the internet before I found out why. Also I hadn't appreciated that what looks like green in wet paint doesn't always dry to the same green on the paper. So I struggled a lot with my colours.
3) Drying, and Layers. Again, I had no idea how long it takes to get paint down. Early on I was putting wet paint on wet and the results were horrible. Again, I knew the theory about getting the translucency that watercolours give through a gradual build up of layers, but in the end I didn't have time for all the layers I wanted. I also removed too much paint with a wet sponge when I tried that technique, but equally if I didn't remove some of the layer it ended up as a solid block (ughh - like in the grass at the bottom left).
4) Depth. Getting depth into the painting was almost impossible, and I've got no idea how to even start doing that with my next painting. Whatever I tried it still seemed to come out flat and two dimensional.

I also shied away from people and animals. I didn't attempt to impart movement (wind, cars, people walking) into it either. One step at a time, those are experiments for the future.

Oh well, next time maybe I'll get it right...

[Lost Leopard Spot]

here goes...

[Bruce Rioja]

Wow. Loving your work, Sir.

No Vulcan Bomber flying over the pub though, so points deducted for that.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Cheers Bruce. I believe it takes years of dedicated toil before Vulcan bombers can be introduced.

[Bruce Rioja]

Well keep up the good work.

Will they hang your painting at the pub? Where I was brought up we had no end of people painting our place then trying to sell us their works. Some were truly awful.

[thebish]

I've inherited the lot, it includes big books of art paper, so I might as well otherwise it's just going to go to waste. I used to sketch (with pencils) when I was a student, but I don't think I've picked up a watercolour paintbrush since my school days. I don't think I'll touch any people or animals to start. I might do a landscape or something, then it'll be less likely to move and bugger off.

don't bother spotty - you'll be rubbish and you'll hate yourself!

(more wisdom from the Bish-school of motivational studies)

see... told you!

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Well keep up the good work.

Will they hang your painting at the pub? Where I was brought up we had no end of people painting our place then trying to sell us their works. Some were truly awful.

They've got a strict rule about paintings, prints and posters - beer and hen related only. They used to have a local artist who was truly awful, but that was a few landlords back.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

don't bother spotty - you'll be rubbish and you'll hate yourself!

(more wisdom from the Bish-school of motivational studies)

see... told you!

I know.

[thebish]

seriously, though... a very creditable effort! won't be long before we can get Mummy to curate a TW art exhibition...

[Gooner Girl]

here goes...

I know very little about art but I do know that I like that a lot. Well done Spotty, you clearly have a talent.

[thebish]

Well done Spotty, you clearly have a talent.

clearly he does... one day we'll find it!

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Bloody hell - another cracking effort! This is quite a good example of where a detail - the red phone box and post box - lifts the whole thing. Not sure I can explain why that is...

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Bloody hell - another cracking effort! This is quite a good example of where a detail - the red phone box and post box - lifts the whole thing. Not sure I can explain why that is...

I think it's because that's the part of the painting where the most 'depth' actually lies. It's the only bit of the painting where I managed four layers (five if you count the very first grey wash I put into three areas [top and bottom right and lower lefthand side]) It kind of highlights why the overall painting is disappointingly 'flat'. I think the human eye is naturally drawn into areas of depth - probably something to do with our stereoscopic ancestry when swinging through trees. On the other hand it might just be the colour red, but I don't think so... I'd guess that if the telephone box was a vivid blue or green it'd still be the bit that 'lifted' the painting.

[TANGODANCER]

Absolutely top-notch Spotski. That really is a superb effort. I'll have my Barley Mow Morris men up shortly, but I warn you it's pure impressionism and I stopped when I'd gone as far as I wanted to. Hope you really are going to keep it up. You have talent man.

[TANGODANCER]

Here you go. The tune they're dancing to is "The Vulcan Bomber"

[William the White]

Here you go. The tune they're dancing to is "The Vulcan Bomber"

Shouldn't you add in a mushroom cloud, for interest?

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Marvellous Tango...it's almost like you've visited the place

[TANGODANCER]

Marvellous Tango...it's almost like you've visited the place

Cheers. I'd never even heard of it till yesterday.