Challenge Two

Fonda:
It has been a rainy summer in Canmore Alberta this year, so that is the inspiration for our second challenge. Incorporate rain into an art piece. Obviously this could take many forms so I'm excited to see what we produce.

The First Finish

Fonda: So I've just finished my first challenge. As you may gather already, I'm a bit of a slow painter. I'm a scientist by training, so I always seem to gravitate to more detailed, precise painting styles. And this challenge was no exception. It took me far longer than Pascale to complete this challenge. I think she completed about four paintings to my one (though to be honest a small child in my house may have had something to do with that as well).

This was a hard project, not just because it made me analyze my face way too much, but it made me step out of my safety net a bit. I chose a totally new painting style, which was very fun and I'd love to work in this style some more. I was trying to paint details but also keep lots of white space because I wanted to have the dark contrast between the background and my skin. The only seriously detailed part of the painting was the eye, which was what I did first. While this might not be my finest work, it did intrigue me and left me wanting to explore more techniques and styles, and allowed me to step outside the box. And so on that note....cue Challenge 2!

Take two... not so good!

(Fonda, Not to worry about the sketch, we will write up the challenge before we start next time!)

Ok, so after finding that my first pose was pretty boring, I tried a second painting with a mirror on top of my head... It was a little hard on the neck to look up and down for more than two hours as I was painting... but here is the result. My first intention was to do it as seen from the bottom but it made me look like if I had a GIANT double chin!

Also, I am not sure about the colour choice... I think I liked the green better! But this is not about creating a beautiful artwork every time, this is about the process! Fonda, I am glad that you had the time to write your impressions, keep painting those dots! Can't wait to see your piece!

I've Already Cheated

Fonda here...and I have a confession to make. I'm a cheater. But to be fair I didn't mean to be. When doing the project I sketched first, then started painting. And because Pascale and I had just talked about the first challenge verbally, I sort of forgot that was against the rules. But I don't think it matters because the challenge is FREAKIN' hard anyway.

Here are some of my thoughts as I have been working on it. Firstly, how did I get so old, and why hasn't anyone told me that I have jowls! Seriously I have no idea when that happened. I sat down and started sketching, which actually went pretty good as I was thinking about the angle I wanted to work from for a while (which is usually all the time I want to be painting but am doing laundry, cooking and cleaning for the family). Then I attacked the painting, which immediately started looking like something from a junior high art class...maybe even elementary school. The perfectionist in me cannot handle this so I had to paint the painting white and start again. I had been reading an art book and wanted to do a technique using pointillism (otherwise known as little tiny dots!). It's great and looking fantastic but not a speedy process. Sooo rather than write more now, I going to get back to the grindstone and dot my heart out so we can post our paintings.

On that note, Pascale and I have been talking about trying to get other artists to participate along with us in the challenges so we're working on having a place for folks to post their painting and thoughts as well. So stay tuned!

My impressions

Bigoudi:
Now that I have done it, I see why I wanted to do this... This is NOT easy!But this is FUN!
First, there is you: which angle you will choose so you will be able to have the same pose when you return from messing around with your paint (wax, saucepan and hot-plate in my case)? After a test of a quick painting, I realize that I will have to be serious because any attempt to smile will look fake. (Maybe after all, Van Gogh did not have the choice to look like a serious guy when he painted himself? Maybe he was a very jolly guy?! Embracing life and the fact that people would spend millions of dollars for his paintings after his death? Jolly no?) Second, seen from the front, a face shot looks boring so I go for the classic (and also boring) 3/4 angle. This is why I choose to paint mostly with my favorite green... And as I am doing this and adjusting my strokes, I have these thoughts:
I do look like my grandmother Anita a little bit. I do have my Mom's nose and my dad's eyes. Should I paint my age spots or no? Working on paper is fun, I can just mess around and throw it if it does not work. I need to buy some giant sheets of paper and do more. I don't feel like I need as much paint on paper then on canvas. I am dong this exercise in a loose way, I am curious to see Fonda's approach.
I need to do a less-boring angle, I will try again with the mirror under my face...
Fonda, how is it going?

The First Challenge

Bigoudi:
For some reason, I managed to choose the first challenge... And here it is: Our challenge is to paint a self-portrait without a photo or a sketch.
The reason for this challenge is that Fonda and I always start from photographs for our paintings and we think of our paintings in terms of composition, light and colour... pretty much like a photographer. So I wanted to force us to just paint to paint, without the grid or any idea of what it would look like before. Masters have been doing that kind of self-portrait for centuries and I have done this in school but this was a very long time ago so I think that it is time to give it a try again.