DS Passion Project Check 1

My Drawing Studio Passion Project Update - Only 30 minutes dedicated to my piece.

For Drawing Studio, it is my plan to do a calming painting of a landscape and a river. So far, I am beginning to reconsider my subject. I had a hard time trying to figure out what I should do and painting is not my strongest suit. I definitely prefer colored pencils because I have much more control and overall, it is less of a mess. I have to say, though, I am surprising myself with how well and clean it is turning out considering I have little to almost no experience with painting. I could possibly do the same landscape I have in mind with colored pencils and I may be happy. I think I will continue to pursue painting this landscape for a while, but I may end up changing my subject. I think this is a very good start, however. I learned a lot about how to mix paints and how paint behaves. My space is rather messy, though. I have a lot of details to add before the deadline comes up by the end of 2019. And now, looking at the photo, I see that my ground is rather lopsided. I think landscapes are so pretty, but I am unsure if my painting skills can capture the landscapes the way I want to. There is plenty of time however, for my to change my mind or continue to work on this piece. Even if I do end up changing my subject, at least I learned more about painting in the process.

I was also thinking that maybe I should reserve this painting for a weekend or something where I have a lot time to work on it, because I found that I want to blend colors in more but my constant breaks allow the paint to dry too soon. I guess I can look into this when I pick up the painting again.

Although I am a little upset with how it turned out (I should keep reminding myself I am not a professional painter!!), I think that one of the best characteristics is the baseline for the river. Overall, this painting so far is just laying out the shapes and colors and later, I will go over an add details, but I think my river looks really nice. It looks smooth and winding, and takes into account perspective. I also like the subtle hints of purple and pink in the reflection of the water and how I can see it but it is not overpowering. I will add white to the river's ripples to make it seem more realistic and have movement. I have a lot of ideas for this painting, but I am not sure if I will be able to execute my vision for this painting. Only time will tell how my painting comes along. I have a lot to do in the meantime.

All in all, I just chose a landscape to do because I really wanted to portray nature and beauty in a piece I do. This painting, however, has proven to be more difficult than I thought, and I have grown unsure about using paints to illustrate my love of nature. I see potential issues in blending my paints and colors down the road due to how quickly the paints dry, and in order to achieve the effect I'm looking for, I need to do my painting all at once. And I hardly have time to work on it for long stretches of time. I will have to adapt my schedule and push through, possibly even needing to start over to create the piece the way I want. Wish me luck!