Skip to main content

Art Day

In my attempt to improve my painting skills, I discovered that I was washing quite a bit of paint down the drain after a session of making a mess on a piece of canvas. I decided to start using the left-over paint on canvas swatches—4x4—and I've discovered I usually like the scrap bits better than the original piece I set out to create to begin with.

After painting something that left me with pinks, white, and oranges, this is what the throw-away paint gave me:

After a pathetic attempt to paint the head of a tabby cat on a bright green background, here is what I was able to make before washing out the brushes and wiping the pallet clean:

and after a simple landscape, one I actually liked in the end, here is what the left-over paint gave me:

Here's to not wasting paint, which isn't cheap, by the way. And here's to learning to paint something other than cypress trees.

Comments

Shazza said…
You sure look like you're having fun with this!

Check out this blog, her paintings are fun and yours remind me of hers: http://karinjurick.blogspot.com/
MmeBenaut said…
Robyn, my favourite is centre left. This one is worthy of hanging. I see a budding van Gogh in the making:)
Hi Robyn,
Very appropriate effort during Earth week!

Caleb just puts waxed paper over his palette and puts it in the freezer. Paint seems to keep indefinitely.

Colorado Susan
dive said…
What a great way to use up scrap paint, Robyn!
I love the splash of orange on the first pink one.
Both the middle ones are fabulous; I especially like the way you have captured the fading colours in the distance on the left hand one.
The bottom ones look like English oaks, which I find a real pig to paint. I like the earthy ground colour on the second one.
Excellent stuff! You are really creating your own style very quickly.
Great idea using the swatches Robyn. I'm all for recycling and inthe name of art, even better.
he he i like the bottom tree on the left - you've left some space in letting the sky poke through.
Alifan said…
Wow Robyn you are creative.... like them......

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Birthday To...

Pope Leo IX (the Pope) JCF Bach (German composer) Jane Russell (of Gentlemen Prefer Blonds fame) Daniel Carter Beard (founder of the Boy Scouts of America) Jean-Paul Sartre (French philosopher) Maureen Stapleton (Academy Award winning actress) Mariette Hartley (who?) Prince William of Wales (the prince) but most importantly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 45 years ago today, I was born in Alabama in a small town on the banks of the Tennessee River. Yesterday, someone asked me if my family has any birthday traditions. The answer is no. My family never cared very much, but I do remember a few birthday highlights. I was given a birthday party in the back yard when I was ten years old. Two years later, my sister got married on my birthday, so I was just a bit overlooked, although I did get a stuffed animal--it was a white Yorkshire terrier with an AM radio in its stomach. When I turned 20, a different sister took me to an outdoor performance of Dvorak's New World Sympho...

Right Brain Dominant

I am reading A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future , by Daniel H. Pink. I wouldn't have chosen this book had I been book hunting because I lean toward fiction—it was a gift from someone who, like me, is right-brain dominate. I haven't gotten very far, just far enough to learn that in Hippocrates' day, the left side of the brain was considered the true source of thought, the thing that separated us from the animals and made us human. It was the source of reason and logic. The right side was considered a useless left over, a parasite. Now we know that both sides of our brains are equally important and equally involved in our daily thoughts and functions. But some of us do seem to be governed by one side more strongly than the other. Me, sometimes I think the left side of my brain has completely atrophied, that the right side governs everything. But I am learning that I don't give that other side enough credit, that logical mathy side. As I read on ab...

Everybody Needs A Little Crème Brûlée

I went out to dinner with some friends the other evening and ordered crème brûlée for dessert. It was lovely—crispy sugar crust and creamy custard underneath. I'm a bit of crème brûlée fan and order it more often than I order any other restaurant dessert, which is not to say I always order dessert—only now and then. On my way home, I remembered I had a crème brûlée kit at home with ramekins, a torch, and a basic recipe. I love the torch. So, now I have made my favorite dessert at home, and I recommend that everyone have crème brûlée. It makes the world better. I used the recipe on the box, which was simple and basic. My only suggestion for improvement is to use less sugar for the caramelized crust. It was so thick, it was like chipping away at glass. An ice pick would have come in handy, or a diamond. Other recipes suggest 1/4 cup to be divided among six ramekins, making just over 1 tablespoon per serving. Crème Brûlée serves 4 1 cup heavy cream 2 extra large egg yolks (I used 3 re...