Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Embracing Limitations

Our final lesson in the Find Your Joy free weeklong course was all about imposing limits.  The teacher listed materials to use (three paint colors plus black and white) along with a few other supplies like charcoal and oil pastel, pencil and ink.   We had an order to add brush strokes and other marks to the paper as well as a small bit of collage.  Each step was in order.

This makes for a lot of limits.  But like a sonnet, there are strict limits and a form that you must follow. But in the sonnet you can express whatever idea you desire. (I learned this concept from a children's book that I read every year or so. - The book is "A Wrinkle in Time.")

Here are my four paintings from this exercise.
#1

#2

#3

#4
Honestly I have my favorite.  I think the last one needs something to finish it.  I am not sure what at this point.  The other three I am happy to leave as they are. 

I do believe that I will be using these limitations again, although I may re-write them just a bit for my purposes.   This would be a great exercise to use for painting on greeting card blanks made of watercolor paper.  But perhaps it would be wiser to paint the pieces on watercolor paper and just attach those to the cards. Why?  Because as I am doing these I don't know which will work out to be the "top" when they are finished.

Until Next Time,  
Stay Creative 


Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

6 comments:

Barbara said...

I think they are all wonderful, but I’m partial to the 3rd for its combination of some favorite colors and high contrast. Well done fun!

Debbie said...

You just jump into these challenges and create surprises! My favorite is #3....it takes me to another place.

piecefulwendy said...

#3 is my favorite with its intense colors and movement, but I'm also quite partial to #1. Thanks for sharing these - such fun to see!

A Left-Handed Quilter said...

My favorite is #1- terrific exercise - wonderful results - ;))

Kathleen said...

Fun exercise! I think 2 is my favorite.

Barb said...

Wow Gene, I love them all....