This is the same oak leaf I painted for Challenge #6. The leaf has been sitting in my studio, turning brown. I thought it would be interesting to try it again using the fracturing technique.
Only 5 days left in the 30 day challenge. I've learned a lot during this time. I've adopted the painting technique created by Julie Ford Oliver, and I'm beginning to be more adventurous with color and brushstrokes. Still not where I want to be, but I feel that I've made a little bit of progress this month. Composition is a weak area for me, and I can see that weak composition results in a weak painting.
During this challenge, I have used a slow-dry medium that Mark Carder recommends. Mark is a realist painter and has an interesting theory about color. It's worthwhile to watch his videos. If you click on his name, it will take you to his site. He also gives a recipe for his medium. It makes oil paint behave like soft butter and it stays open for several days. I love the stuff.
The down side is that paintings take more time to dry. I have an embarrassing situation right now - one of my paintings sold and I can't ship it yet because it's still wet...a very amateur mistake. At any rate, I'm going to hold off posting to Daily Paintworks until I'm sure the paint is dry enough to ship.
The big lesson for me is that it's not realistic for me to paint every day while I'm working at an outside job. Practice is so important, but for me it has to be balanced with my other responsibilities. I like the discipline that comes with painting, so will probably try to paint on weekends and 2-3 times during the week. I'll be retiring next June, and then I can devote more time to painting.
I'm eager to hear what other artists have discovered during the month. Hopefully, Leslie will offer a "lessons learned" session in October.
