Posts tagged ‘toreador’
Experiment, it’s what we do
Summer is the time when I really give myself permission to experiment, to try something new: new paper, new colors, new styles…and this summer is no exception. Every week I have four days of four hour afternoons in Frank O’Cain’s class at the Art Student’s League where experimentation is encouraged. I’m not trying to produce the next masterpiece (although that would be nice). I’m just trying to do something different.
First, I started fooling around with Yupo, that plastic paper (see my June blogs) and discovered it was really good for painting the rock formations and striations and reflections I saw in China.
Dragon Path, 14×10.5, $725
It also worked really well for capturing the colors and feeling of Spain.
Toreador, 11 x 14, $725
Then the alcohol based inks I had ordered from Jerry’s finally arrived and I experimented again, this time at home. What a mess! Red ink all over everything (including my hands, my desk, my nightgown and, yes, the Yupo) before I finally figured out how to handle it. When I was finished, the colors made me think of Imperial China…
Imperial China, 14 x 10, $700
Same paper, different medium, very different result.
Back at the League, I was having trouble with a painting of a bridge I saw in Ronda, Spain. Frank suggested I try Ching-Bor’s approach so I started flinging paint (see my last post for more of the gory details).
Ronda, ver. 3
The result gave me a healthy respect for Paul Ching-Bor and the realization that I had better take his class at the League if I wanted to pursue this technique.
Somewhat chastened, I decided to focus on the unique and complex still life set up in Studio 12 at the League and try to just paint what I saw (sorta), albeit somewhat differently from my usual style. The results so far are somewhat of a mixed bag.
Summer Hat II, 12 x 15, $775
Summer Hat, 12 x 15, $775
Beach Ball, 12 x 15, $775
Two summer hats (on different days) and a beach ball later, would you ever think everything in this post was painted by the same person? Ah, I love summer experimentation.
Spain and Yupo: a match made in heaven
Since my last post, I’ve spent two weeks (almost) in Spain and continued to experiment with painting watercolor and ink on Yupo (that plastic paper). The colors of Spain and the flow of paint on Yupo are really a match made in heaven. I also went to a demo of watercolor on Yupo at Utrecht (art supply store in Manhattan).
The end result (so far) is:
Fiesta, 8 x 11, $550
The colors are on fire, like some of the spices in Spain. We loved the tapas and sangria. This is how I sometimes felt.
Spain II, 9 x 12, $600
Can you tell we had a wonderful time?
Toreador, 11 x 14, $725
Sunny days, comfortable cool nights, sometimes spicy but always delicious tapas, lots of sangria, friendly people, spectacular cathedrals, museums and wonderful art … what more could you want?
Possibly our best vacation yet!
Ruth Hurd | BLOG 