GALLERY RECEPTION & 1ST RESPONSE TO PAINTING CHALLENGE

Here I am at the Gallery Concord Reception with my friend, student and now proud owner of an original "Myrna Wacknov", Judy Rowe. Judy is fairly new at watercolor and doing some very amazing work. She is an architect, so she is branching out in her artistic endeavors.

It was a beautiful day and a very nice turnout at the reception. A number of my friends drove the 50 miles each way to come and I appreciate their support.

Here is Abeer's contribution to the Painting Challenge for October. Abeer is a traditional painter, so I love how she is channeling Matisse and boldly putting green in the face! It's really fun to do something very different from your natural style. I have added her blog to my links so you can follow her painting journey, if you like. Here are her comments on what she learned from doing this painting:

"I am actually learning a lot through this whole process, one thing I learned from the Matisse effort is how important the drawing is, it is the base , I couldn't have had a good portrait by just painting, I also learned that gouache ( my first time use in watercolour) has an interesting effect, I like what it does to a painting it is like the oil painting effect. The one thing I was surprised to find out is that watercolour doesn't have to be always be transparent to be beautiful.
In general this process is making me think constantly, and do research and read books etc... and I LOVE IT!"

I can't wait to see what the rest of you are working on.

FRIDAY DRAWING CHALLENGE #2: MAGNIFIED

Here are the directions for this challenge. They are on page 21 of Experimental Drawing by Robert Kaupelis: Using one or two hours, make a very detailed contour drawing of yourself by looking in a magnified mirror. I did this drawing today using pen and ink in my sketch book. It was really fun to do. I spent maybe an hour and a half. I wasn't timing myself and I kept being interupted but the idea is to take time to really observe and record all the minutiae. I used a standing mirror but you can get an inexpensive magnifying mirror at the drug store in the cosmetic department that you would just hold in one hand. I shifted position accidentally so watch out for that. Since I was using pen I just made the best of it. The other thing to watch out for is working large without having the paper upright. This creates a distorted image. Consequently, my face is elongated. It's not so much about an exact likeness. This kind of drawing is more about learning to really look and record what you see.
I hope I am not the only brave soul willing to post a scarry unflattering portrait of themselves. If I can do it, you can do it! I am looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with! If you really don't want to do your face, take a magnifying glass and do a section of your hand. Check out Nancy Stanley's blog (see my links on the side) for a very exciting slide show! If I can figure out how to do that, I will feature everyone's challenge responses in that format. You can click on individual images and the person's name appears.
I managed to draw my image onto my practice sheet for my next painting but time ran out before I was able to get a brush wet. I will try to get the practice painting done tomorrow after the Gallery Concord Reception for the fall show. It is my turn to be the featured artist. I am very pleased to have so many paintings hanging at the same time.

5TH RESPONSE FOR WIRE DRAWINGS! & MY PREP FOR 2ND ARTIST PAINTING

Another great response to the wire sculpture drawing challenge from Rhonda Carpenter! Great textural details. If you want to see more work by Rhonda, check out the link to her on-line journal.

Tomorrow I will be posting the second drawing challenge. I have something very interesting for you to have fun with. Anyone who wants to add their wire drawing to this great collection can send it to me at any time.

I am ready to tackle my next painting in the style of....(drum roll please!) CHARLES REID. I thought I would tell you in advance in case you wouldn't be able to identify his style from my painting. I have four books by Charles Reid plus a DVD instructional on figure painting plus I have taken a workshop with him. You would think I have this down by now, but there is so much for me to learn from this master. After following the instructions in one of his books, I started drawing in the modified contour mode and loved the results so I continue to work in this style most of the time and it keeps evolving, just like handwriting keeps evolving. I did this page of drawings trying to define the shadow and light shapes.
I will be sitting at the Gallery Concord tomorrow, so I will have time to do a practice painting and hopefully at least start the one on the bozzetto sheet. I paint fairly fast, so I am hopeful.

My husband saw my list of artists to study and asked why there weren't the really famous masters from the past. I told him the purpose of my list was to understand and absorb what these artists were doing in the hope I would be able to further develop my own abilities. So, what did I Iearn from Van Gogh? I think the power of repeating a theme over and over. I learned something about optical mixing, too. I also learned I don't want to make little marks over and over; but I think I already knew that.

ANOTHER GREAT RESPONSE & 1ST FINISHED BOZZETTO!

Here are the fabulous drawings from Kathy Mitchell. Thank you Nava for helping me to post them. Really had to jump through hoops for this one, but well worth it as these are masterful from a great artist.

The library always costs me money because I want to own practically every book I check out. I can't believe I found the Vincent Van Gogh book for $19.95 on line!!!!! They are only charging me $3.99 for shipping. I guess they forgot to weigh this book!! There are other copies of this book out there for bargain prices but this was unbelievable. The book new is well over $200.




I have made my list of artists I want to "disect and absorb". I needed nine as I have divided a full sheet of watercolor paper into 9 equal sections. I planned where I would put each of the nine paintings so as to have a balanced and interesting finished painting. I decided "Vincent" would be in the center as it had the most active brush work and lots of bright color.
Here is the finished bozzetto next to the practice piece. Doing the practice one helped me make better choices for the finished piece. I could feel myself starting to impose my impulses into the new piece while still keeping the spirit of Van Gogh. I learned something about optical mixing using this style. I think I want to study his reed pen and ink pieces. This was a fun exercise and I am ready to move on to the next artist.

MY FIRST PAINTING

I received some fabulous drawings today in response to the wire sculpture drawing challenge. So far, I have not been successful in loading them onto the blog, so hopefully tomorrow you will be able to enjoy this fabulous artist's efforts.

In the meantime, I have been busy painting today! This is my practice piece.
I went to the library and found the most amazing book on my chosen artist. The book "The Work of Vincent van Gogh his paintings and drawings" by Reynal and Company is the heaviest book I have ever hefted! It has every painting and drawing known to be done by Van Gogh. What a fabulous book. I was amazed at the amount of art he produced in such a short period. His pen and ink drawings are magical. He drew and painted many of the same images over and over and over, working to get it perfected. There were pages from his sketch books - totally covered with drawings on every inch of the paper. What can we learn from this approach? Along with the images were excerpts from his letters. Often he mentions how he started 4 canvases that day! I made notes on his techniques, colors, brush strokes etc. then set the book aside and created my painting without looking at one of his. I am excited to do the first of my bozzettos tomorrow. The practice painting gave me an opportunity to try different approaches and experiment. I hope you have started your list of favorite painters and are starting your painting for this month's challenge.

ANOTHER RESPONSE & 1ST MONTHLY PAINTING CHALLENGE!

These drawings are from Abeer. This is her first effort at contour drawing! WOW! Both heads are the same person. Notice all the wonderful interior shapes that are created with this type of drawing.



This is a self portrait done with the Script Writer pen and then a wet brush along with some stamped words from my sketch book. This ties into my challenge for painting for the month of October. I have been telling myself for a very long time that I wanted to study the styles of my favorite painters by painting a series, each one in the style of my idols. I do not wish to copy one of their paintings. I plan to use my own image. I haven't decided if it will be the same one each time or vary my pose. I am going to take a half sheet of watercolor paper 15" x 21" divided into 5" x 7" sections. These are called Bozzettos. You can check out my website www.myrnawacknov.com under NEW WORK to get the idea. If you wish to join in the challenge, pick one or more favorite artists you would like to explore their style and techniques. Paint one painting, paint a series of paintings, your choice. Pick subject matter that is meaningful to you. I will share with you my favorite artists as the month progresses. Be sure and send me your results! I will only post those who give me permission but I would love to see everybody's efforts.

2ND RESPONSE TO WIRE SCULPTURE DRAWING CHALLENGE

This is a contribution by Nava who used her self-portrait and created two different versions. I see the possibility of some very exciting paintings from these images. The drawings can stand alone as they are exciting and intriguing. Keep the drawings coming!
I took some pictures at an art show at Fort Mason in SF some time ago of some very exciting wire sculpture art. One of my favorite artists makes very three-dimensional animals - birds, roosters, etc. They are extremely complicated and intricate. Unfortunately, I didn't get to photograph his work and I can't even tell you his name (I don't remember it!). The artist represented below uses wire in a very different way - more like drawing with wire. I think these pieces are brilliant! Notice how a wire sculpture casts shadows which becomes an important element of the piece. Again, I failed to record the artist's name. I must do better next time




I spent yesterday at the Gallery Concord putting up the rest of my paintings. I am so excited to have two of my series well represented at once! It was a long day but I managed to do a few drawings in my sketch book. Today I woke up and did two contour drawings while still in bed so I could make sure to do some art. I spent the day in San Francisco at the Society of Western Artists annual exhibit and reception. I was honored to receive an award. There were many many fine paintings in the show, so I was very fortunate.
Tomorrow is the first day of the month, so stay tuned for a month long painting challenge! It is going to be something that I have been promising myself to do for a long time.