Watercolour class today – progress on Bright Flowers and Vase

Today, we worked on doing value studies. Value studies are monochromatic paintings that only explore the values of the subject, darks, mediums, lights, etc. Starting from a monochromatic print of the subject image:

monochrome subject for bright flowers and vase

monochrome subject for bright flowers and vase

I then traced over it to capture just the value portions with no detail present:

value tracing for bright flowers and vase

value tracing for bright flowers and vase

From the tracing, I transfered the shapes to a new sheet of watercolour paper and using french ultramarine blue I painted in just the values:

value study for bright flowers and vase

value study for bright flowers and vase

There are only 4 values in the above study, including white, or no value.

The value study informs me about what colours to put into the actual painting. This is still a work in progress, but doing the value study has definitely informed me about the what the final values:

WIP: Bright Flowers and Vase

WIP: Bright Flowers and Vase

This is still a long ways from done, but you can definitely see things starting to take shape.

Halloween costume — not what you think it is.

Aside

RT @: Kid came to the door in plain clothes except page taped to chest: "404 - Costume not found." Gave him an extra chocola ...
@feliciaday
Felicia Day

Brilliant. Just Brilliant. Well played.

Jobs restates Shaw

Quote

Steve Jobs quote about misfits being geniuses

Steve Jobs quote about misfits being geniuses

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things. They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” –Steve Jobs.

Just remembering G. B. Shaw:

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” — George Bernard Shaw

In between Shaw and Jobs, we also have Margaret Mead:

“A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

Genius knows it’s own.

What’s the most delicious meal you’ve ever had?

I would have to say it was our celebration meal near the end of a business trip in Grenoble, France, put on for us by our host. This was during the Nuveau Beujelais season, which is Novemberish, so there were all sorts of autumn flavours and delicacies available. It was also my first introduction to the digestif Chartreuse. Great food, great drink, great colleagues, gracious host, French cooking and atmosphere all combined into one fantastic experience.

Ask me anything