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comment by mk
mk  ·  2881 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pavlov dog

Your dog has a pupil, but the dog on the iPad doesn't. That's your brain drawing, not your eye.

You drew a pretty good dog. Do not see fur, do not see the dog, but draw the shapes of light and dark.





wasoxygen  ·  2881 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    draw the shapes of light and dark

That could be a quote from the film. Did you see it? "I'm an idiot at this," he says, before painting a remarkable portrait in a few hours.

mk  ·  2881 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Here's my current project. The entire time I am trying to avoid thinking about lighthouses, water, or anything of the sort. Especially when I am using a small brush.

When I tweak the lighting/atmosphere at the end, then I'll allow myself.

wasoxygen  ·  2880 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Hope this isn't a spoiler, but I think you'll be pleased to find a very pretty lighthouse when you step back and look at your picture.

A friend is taking some oil painting lessons. He got some good results, despite little experience. So I shopped for some oils, looking for cheap primary colors to start. The nearest I could find is a set of eight or so colors, in very tiny tubes. Is paint such a big expense?

oyster  ·  2880 days ago  ·  link  ·  

A little tip, don't cheap out on your paint brushes. You don't need the most expensive ones but don't buy the cheap ones unless you want a million brush hairs on your piece.

mk  ·  2880 days ago  ·  link  ·  

It's not cheap, but a little paint goes a long way, and you can mix to get the range you want. You'll want some liquin and some linseed or walnut oil to mix with the paints to thin them and get different textures.

I paint on plywood because I think canvass is a pain.

We watched Tim's Vermeer last night. Really interesting. I have little doubt that Vermeer was doing something like that. It changes his art for me. Now I see it an amazing labor, but accessible.

mk  ·  2881 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I haven't seen it yet. Just watched that though. That's basically the trick I try to do in my minds eye. I try to paint the light, not the objects.

That said, I think that is the starting point for interesting paintings. If you can achieve that technically, then you can vary it with purpose.