A Sound That Will Ring
Tag: waves
Sultry Night
Oil Painting Lives Again!
Since I started my Watercolour Sketch a Day aka daily Art practice on 26 January 2019, I haven’t used Oil paints. I love painting with them, it’s just that I’ve been so focused on Watercolour they seem to have disappeared from view.
That was, until last weekend.
I thought I’d start again and decided to paint two subjects that I had previously painted some time ago and see ‘how I would approach them now?’
The earlier paintings were painted with Student quality paints, the latter with Artist quality (Art Spectrum) paints.
The first one is of a Sand Dune:
2014 & 2020
In some ways I like the first version better (top shadow effect – dune) though I like the sky in the 2020 version better.
The second one is of the ocean:
This one is ‘no-contest’ as far as I can see! I love everything about the 2020 and not much at all about my earlier version.
I shall continue with my Watercolour Sketch a Day practice but Oils will not be disappearing into the background again, in fact, I’ve just started another one, a shipwreck.
Loving the journey!
Written by David Johnson
18 October 2020
Washed Away…
The Journey Has Begun…
As long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed looking at Art, particularly Paintings.
Many hours have been spent visiting Art Galleries, viewing books, magazines on Art and Art images on the Internet. I love investigating the different Styles and Movements that have (& are being created).
Prior to 2010 I hadn’t really given much thought to actually picking up a brush, except that I thought I might ‘have a go’ when I retired. ‘Out of the blue’ I decided to take a 6 week drawing course at a small Art Gallery about half an hour from home.
I learnt there that I (apparently) draw by line instead of tone and had a wonderful time drawing on A5 to A2 paper using Graphite pencil and Charcoal on subjects such as Architecture, Head & Shoulder Life Portraits and Nature.
It was after the Drawing course that I started to get interested in actually trying my hand at painting. I started playing around with Watercolour. At this point I did not even realise that Watercolour is considered to be the hardest medium. From there I ventured onto Acrylic and enjoyed playing with that, though after talking to the owner of a local Art store I decided to try Oil painting.
I am enjoying Oil painting immensely! I have not had any lessons at this point in time, just tips from my Brother, my Mother-In-Law and a couple of friends. Other influences are the copious amounts of Art books I borrow from the local library, magazines and You Tube videos.
At some point I do intend having some official lessons but for the moment I am enjoying exploring, experimenting and having fun. Sometimes I try to paint from a reference photo and other times from my imagination. I think the latter is my favourite.
Oil painting has become another ‘escape’ for me, much like the other forms of communication found in this blog. It allows me to leave ‘reality’ and it refreshes me.
Sometimes, I can vividly see the scenes that I would like to create via painting, but my technical skill is a fair way behind where it needs to be to be able to replicate what I see in my mind. In time I hope it catches up! In the meantime, I’ll enjoy the place I am at and look forward to the journey of self-discovery and learning.
Here are a few examples of of my paintings thus far…
Written by David Johnson
30 August 2015
Communicating Creatively 