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Wednesday, March 21, 2007

 

ArtPact #13


Finally surfacing to the blogosphere, after a super-intensive week of a workshop and then tending to some non-me matters, such as preparing a roster of our whole membership.

"Not a very complicated task", you say with disdain.

True, but - do it on Windows Vista, where everything looks different, all the icons are suddenly graphic and undecipherable, and you need to figure out how to perform the tiniest task from scratch, as Vista got so much into having everything look cool that they forgot about backward compatibility and other tiny petty details.

A N Y W A Y - last week's workshop was incredible.

And very unique.

Refreshingly, it wasn't one of them paint-like-me workshops, in which you learn to imitate the instructor, use his/her technique and little gimmicky tricks, and you get out either totally frustrated for failing to become him/her, or you end up losing your own voice as you try to follow his/her footsteps.

No.

That one was all about us finding our personal visual language and doing anything but becoming a copy-cut of the instructor. CoolieDZ was amazingly inspiring, very funny and we all fell for her, big time. We worked during the days, partied most of the nights (well, US-style partying, y'know... dinner and such), The JohnnyB and I got hold of her for one evening and had a lot of fun (not sure about The JohnnyB - the poor guy found himself with two artists...), and I pretty much lived on adrenaline and Starbucks sandwiches for the whole week.

Did quite a few paintings during the workshop, concentrating on one photo of Lilush, my niece. She pretested vehemently about her first 2 paintings, so I am now showing the two that I did towards the end of the workshop.

As I informed you more than once, I hate painting in workshops, so I decided to give it a try at home, and spent 3 hours working on this one, in the convenience of my own (hideously messy) studio.
From time to time, I manage to come up with a painting that I truly love, no matter what anyone says about it. This is one of those.
Why do I love it so much? 'cause it truly captures the essence of Lilush.


"April Moon", Watercolor on W/N CP Paper, 10"x7.5" (25x19cm)

And this one, after painting for so many days and trying to cope with composition and value and color, I decided to have some fun.

CoolieDZ kept saying that line is a decorative element, and I kept arguing with her. She is the ultimate shape painter, and them painters do not understand us line painters. Being an Aries, and an Israeli, and me, I insisted that line can be used in many ways - and decided to show her what you can do with line.

So there.


"Lilush #5", Watercolor on Arches HP Paper, 10"x7.5" (25x19cm)

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Comments:

Nava . . .

You are the ONE! You have to look in the mirror and concede that you are right or wrong about your own thoughts and convictions. My hat is off to you for not conceding the point about line being only a decorative element. I will argue in your favor on this one. Your workshop instructor is, indeed, one of THE BEST. She also taught you to stand by your own guns. You are who you are at the end of the paint brush and nobody but you can argue if it is or isn't . . .except you. You did the right thing to accept the challenge. That is what makes us grow and confirms our convictions. Good JAWB!!!!!!!

Paintermon
 

Thank you, Paintermon!

Yes, CoolieDZ really did teach us to stand on our own, and that was an incredible lesson. Actually, she continued your lesson on that.
Actually, she made me realize that compared to many other, even the very experienced and talented and creative, I am more confident in what I think and do, and more determined to go in my own way.
Troublemaker is my middle name, and Audacity is my maiden one, Eh? :-)

 
The painting of Lilush is breathtakingly lovely Nava!
 
"breathtakingly lovely" - wow, Thanks, Rhonda!
I assume you are referring to the colored line one?

 
Fantastic.

As for me, the only thing I do with lines is snort them.
 
Ever tried varying the colors of the lines you snort?
 
No.

Only the length.
 
I see.
You are more of the monochromatic type.

 
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