Bill Martin

I found this site on the internet and am finding it very insightful. It helps me understand what Mary has been on about. I like it and now I can't wait to have a go. Pity I am at work and not home in my studio!

Yellow Art Awards

Had a great idea this morning for my next Yellow Art awards so went on site to find out when Wellington is closing and discovered they are no longer going to run the programme . Not only that but the charity auction I was supposed to be invited to as a 'finalist' has been and gone. I feel a bit miffed. Especially as it was the last opportunity to attend the auction.
Oh well. It is awesome to have been a finalist at least once in the 20 years that the programme has been running.
I'll have to use my idea for another purpose!

From dark to light

Struggling with oil painting. I missed two art classes because I was sick (worst case of flu I have had in a long time - I think it might have been swine flu). So I took my canvas of Seth to work on and spent the night trying to paint the fabric around him...disaster. Mary insists that we work from dark to light. Painting in the darkest bits first, then the mid tones then the light. I couldn't get my head around this and attempted instead to do a light background then work my shadows and shades into it. It just didnt work. I should have listened. Now I need to wait til this layer dries then start again.
Mary's parting comment was that I am a 'good drawer' (nice to hear) but I need to work on the painting side of things. Next term she is going to dedicate a class to painting fabric. I will listen carefully this time and follow her advice.
In the meantime if anyone can enlighten me on tips for oil painting and explain the dark to light theory, that would be great:-)