You Are At The Archives for October 2014

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Water Colour Portrait Sketch

Last night my lovely wife Meredith was kind enough to sit for me for a little while after dinner so that I could try to paint her using some watercolours. I think it turned out pretty well for a first attempt. There is still heaps to learn about this medium and predicting how it is going to react in different circumstances is half the fun. The other half is having to compensate when it reacts in a way I would never have predicted. 


I used to think that watercolour was not forgiving. It turns out, however, I just need to ask for forgiveness in slightly different ways. 

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Art Classes flyer

Alright guys! Nows the time to get this show on the road. If you know anyone who might be interested please share this with them. Available for 12+ kids and adults alike!

The current location of theses classes is in the Basement of "All In" coffee shop, Downtown Clemson. 106 Earle street, Clemson, SC 

The 15 week fundamentals course will cost $375 per student. 
The open studio session will cost $375 per student, per semester (15 weeks), or have a "drop in" rate of $30 a week.  

A list of required materials will be sent to your email once you have signed up. 


Any one waiting on online versions of my courses will have to wait just a little while longer. ;) ill keep you updated.

Friday, October 17, 2014

Colour studies for sail boat on hartwell

I am glad That I got to hear back from a few of you yesterday, thanks.
Today I went out and took some studies of the lake. They aren't anything special, but they will definitely help my colour choices for my sail boat piece. (and yes, I know I know, it was unanimous that the catamaran launching was the kicker, but there were a couple of boats perched like my reflective piece out by the sailing club so I just had to take it down). 

The interesting part was that the water close to me didn't get nearly so dark as I had made it out to be in yesterdays sketch. 10 points to Griffindor Boerma for first pointing how distracting that was. 




Thursday, October 16, 2014

Sailing boats on hartwell

I did a number of studies for a new painting this morning.
These were my two favourite.

I know which of the two I'd go for but I'm after some public opinion, which one is more compelling?




Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Trick or Treat

 There is always more to do be done but I must move on to my next piece. I hope you enjoy it!
I am alway up for feedback so let me know what you think. 

Trick or treat in downtown Clemson, SC, happens every year on october 31st in the afternoon->night. The store owners all bring out there candy and help to host the event! Originally I started this piece after sunset but I thought that the "golden hour" would add even more depth to it and I love the play between the light coming from the sun and the light coming from the store. 

Cheers,
Justin Donaldson

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Halloween Detail

Here is a little work in progress detail from a halloween/ trick or treat piece I am working on.
These two figures are going to be key to the piece, so I need to get their expressions right.
Everything else in the painting will need to guide them, support them, return the viewer to them.

There are still some slight anatomical issues, but I should be able to quickly sort those out.



Thursday, October 9, 2014

Water Study

This morning was a rough start kinda morning. For no reason other than my body didn't agree with me that I should get up. In fact, I don't know what part of me was suggesting that should I get up because every part of me that I can think of was definitely not in favour of the idea.

So I took a walk... Didn't help.
Drank some coffee... getting a little better.
Multiple cups of water... not as effective as you might think.

However I decided to proceed with life anyway. With any kind of reading out of the question it was time to do a paint study.

A couple of days ago we trundled down to lake Hartwell for a baptism. The water level is lower than normal and so its steeper grade was replaced by a fairly shallow grade that resulted in some really awesome colours coming to life in the water. Where the transition from the shallow orange/yellows of the lake to the deeper green/blues normally happen fairly quickly, we were able to see a drawn out gradient.

So obviously my mind got to racing about what kinda paintings I could compose down there. And hopefully I can get the time to go down there soon to take some serious studies, but for now I decided to just play with the idea.




Tuesday, October 7, 2014

canoeing in the reflection pond

My next Clemson piece is almost finished. It was amongst a number of pieces trapped in my laptop.
As you might be able to imagine, I am so glad I don't have to start again on this one! 


Any feedback is always welcome! Enjoy!

Monday, October 6, 2014

a study in value

Here is a piece I was able to save from my laptop!

A study in value that I think I will continue on to a full colour and fully finished piece!


;) let me know what you think.

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Anders Zorn

I recently started studying the paintings of Anders Zorn. More on what I have been learning later.

The part that hits me is that this painting is not an oil painting. Its watercolor!

Ill leave that to sink in.


Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Art lesson exercise



This morning I have been trialing an exercise for "increasing confidence in colour" to use in my art course. 


Using watercolor on paper is one of the cheapest ways that you can successfully trial your colour harmonies, all the while practicing to mix, growing confident, and doing so in a matter of minutes!

What if you mess up though? well... that cost you only a matter of cents in materials and hopefully not much more in pride.

If you are interested in Classes in person or online then drop me a line! The more interest I get the more that I can put into making it the best it can be!

Cheers

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