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Celtic Radio Community > Art Work > I Started Painting :)


Posted by: Elspeth 03-Feb-2006, 10:02 AM
Hey guys!

Last fall I started painting, out of the blue.

I never drew/painted before or studied anything. So, any suggestions would be more than welcome.

This is my first sketch.

Posted by: Elspeth 03-Feb-2006, 10:04 AM
and this is the painting......

Posted by: Elspeth 03-Feb-2006, 10:11 AM
And this is the sketch for my 4th painting. It is of my mother's homested in Pennsylvania.

Posted by: Elspeth 03-Feb-2006, 10:13 AM
And the painting of the farm..... This is a photo of a scanned picture, so it isn't too clear. I never did get the house right. Any suggestions as to what I should have done would be welcomed.

Posted by: Cordelia 04-Feb-2006, 01:12 PM
Your paintings are so nice! I've never studied either, but I used to volunteer as a Gallery Attendant at my local art gallery. smile.gif

Posted by: Aaediwen 04-Feb-2006, 07:50 PM
Those are neat. I really like At Rest. it's pieceful, yet vibrant at the same time. Makes me want to be there.

Posted by: Macfive 05-Feb-2006, 10:12 PM
Oh my gosh, these are beautiful! You certainly have some talent there!

My grandfather use to paint and I was always amazed by painters to this day. Keep up the good work and I'd love to see more!

Pa is such a nice place, you have alot of things to paint in PA! biggrin.gif

Posted by: Rindy 06-Feb-2006, 10:45 PM
Those are beautiful Elspeth. Hope you will share more with us. Looks like your a natural... thumbs_up.gif

Slainte smile.gif

Posted by: Siobhan Blues 07-Feb-2006, 09:42 AM
QUOTE (Elspeth @ 03-Feb-2006, 11:04 AM)
and this is the painting......

What great strong colors you've used! And there's a good sense of motion, your eye wants to go right up that path...

Posted by: Siobhan Blues 07-Feb-2006, 09:48 AM
QUOTE (Elspeth @ 03-Feb-2006, 11:13 AM)
And the painting of the farm..... This is a photo of a scanned picture, so it isn't too clear. I never did get the house right. Any suggestions as to what I should have done would be welcomed.

Listen, its just a matter of perspective - that's all. Its very hard to draw a structure and get the perspective right. I'm not trying to be bossy, but what will help a lot will be to set up a little house on a table, like a model or decorative one, and sketch it over and over and over... practise this and you'll get the hang of how the angles change when your view of a structure is from the side.

You've captured the sense of the landscapes in PA, I can tell you that... when I visited there in Jan of 05, that's the kind of locations I saw. We were in the north east part of the state, near Nescopek & Berwick & not far from Wilkes-Barre and Bloomsburg. I haven't done any landscapes from the trip yet but am looking forward to it; its a beautiful part of the country.

Where is your gran's homestead located?

SB

Posted by: Elspeth 07-Feb-2006, 10:36 AM
I wrote a response and then lost it. How annoying!! furious.gif


SB, thanks a million. That is a great suggestion. I am NOT a disiplined artist. Why I don't play the piano, rolleyes.gif so if I'm going to get anywhere painting I know I need directional practice.

The farm in in Indiana County - West Central PA. Steelers Country! cool.gif

I did get the angle much better in the sketch, but just couldn't get it close enough in the painting. I think in part because I didn't have a fine enough brush.

I do like those weird angles. But, as a novice, I know if I tried to do anything head on it would look like a stick figure. The painting I am working on now is of the lake that used to be in the hills above Johnstown, PA until the dam failed and washed away the town. I have a horse and carriage crossing the dam in the foreground, at and angle. I have to get the angle and the depth because the painting covers a great deal of ground. Maybe I should use a model for this too. I have been working off a photo I found of a horse and carriage at similiar angle.

Scary business this painting. I finally started painting yesterday. Until then it terrified me. Then, once I start, I dont' want to stop. It's jsut the starting that is so hard. unsure.gif

Posted by: Siobhan Blues 17-Feb-2006, 09:52 AM
I've heard of that flood in Johnstown - what a tragedy that was.
Hope the painting of it goes well. It's true that the actual starting of a painting is so hard!! I've got a commission to do right now and I confess its been about two months since I sat down at the drawing board... I know I'm going to be rusty and am nervous about starting, afraid I'll mess it up.
The thing for us both to do it what you already know: sketch it before starting the painting. My mentor used to say doing a page full of little thumbnail sketches, then a couple of larger rough draft sketches, was the best thing to assure that the actual painting will go more smoothly.

Courage then to both of us! biggrin.gif

Posted by: John Clements 17-Feb-2006, 02:52 PM
My dear, you have a gift to follow.

Posted by: Elspeth 16-Mar-2006, 06:01 PM
I finally finished

Lake Conemaugh.

My daughter wants me to include close ups of the boats. My first attempts at people. tongue.gif

Posted by: John Clements 16-Mar-2006, 06:17 PM
Elspeth, Lake Conemaugh is absolutely marvelous. Like I said you have a gift to follow.

John

Posted by: stoirmeil 17-Mar-2006, 09:13 AM
QUOTE (Siobhan Blues @ 17-Feb-2006, 10:52 AM)

The thing for us both to do it what you already know: sketch it before starting the painting.  My mentor used to say doing a page full of little thumbnail sketches, then a couple of larger rough draft sketches, was the best thing to assure that the actual painting will go more smoothly.

Courage then to both of us!   biggrin.gif

Courage to us all! thumbs_up.gif

This is wonderful work, Elspeth. You really do have the right stuff. Such a great natural sense of color, for one thing! And I agree with SB -- your sense of motion or rhythm in your composition is almost musical.

The thing you do with substantive sketches -- it's probably instinctive from your writing, like doing drafts, or small character or landscape thumbnails. Your personal method and sense of how to capture the essentials just crosses over -- the lady with the instinct is the artist underneath, no matter which artistic mode she's in at the moment. smile.gif

This medium is a friend of your heart, I think. It seems very emotionally direct and powerful for you. I hope you work with it a lot, and share the results around as generously as you have with your written work.

Posted by: John Clements 17-Mar-2006, 03:16 PM
Dam....

Well said, stoirmeil.

Posted by: Elspeth 21-Mar-2006, 09:00 AM
Thanks so much stoirmeil!

Now, Johnny, you mentioned in another thead you thought my painting was like seeing through the eyes of a child. Made me feel like a real ameature until you mentioned Picasso. biggrin.gif
Serioulsy, can you expand? In Lake Conemaugh I have seen it sometimes like a kid's crayon drawing and that makes me want to rip it up. sad.gif


On the other hand.... this is meant to be an idyllic painting. Because the place and the story it represents is idyllic. (I love that word, idyllic....)
There isn't a place of earth more beautiful than Pennsylvania in May. The people were rich and priviledged, there were no clouds upon the horizon, life was beautiful. In my story it was a place of sweet, hopeful, once in a lifetime young love. That is what I wanted to capture along with the historically accurate physical charcteristics.

Is that what comes across, or is ithe eyes of a child appearance a lack of technique on my part? You can be honest. Afterall this is only my sixth attempt at painting. I know there are so many places yet to go.

Posted by: John Clements 23-Mar-2006, 08:40 AM
Hi Elspeth, remember when I sad, if you looking for a new experience don’t hire someone with a lot of it. Well that goes for your paintings as well.

It seams to me that a lot artist spend their lives trying to improve their technique. Most often by trying to make their work look more realistic, only to find themselves right back where they started, which is where you are now.

So if I were you, I wouldn’t just keep doing what you’re doing, because I think your paintings are charming, which is a characteristic that just happens. In other words it can’t be taught.

Oh by the way, I happen to think that crayon is a great medium to work in, and the real armatures are those who don’t recognize it.

So, what are you doing here, you should be painting.

Johnny

Posted by: Elspeth 23-Mar-2006, 09:08 AM
I'm listening to the music and writing. tongue.gif Writing a story for a contest about the year without a summer.

Actually, it was writing that brought me to Highlander radio. Five hears ago, when I was writing my second novel I needed to listen to Scottish music (it was all scottish then) I found HR and it helped me write my novel by introducing me to songs I probably would have never come across any other way.


Posted by: stoirmeil 23-Mar-2006, 09:26 AM
smile.gif
I wonder sometimes why "eyes of a child" is equated with "lack of technique." What's childlike about it that has NOTHING to do with technique is the cleanness, the purity of the colors, and the way the vistas move and open out in that lovely rhythm we were mentioning. Like, the eyes of a child can contain huge potentials, all that stuff they socialize out of us in the name of being practical and realistic. There's a sweet kind of tentativeness too, in those tender little clouds especially and how they are arranged in the sky, that expresses just what you were saying about the image before. And those brave, sharp little pure white sails on the boats. Going right for it, whatever the trip brings. It's really very moving. Like I said, your emotional state seems to flow right out onto the canvas without much of any interference, and you're so lucky to have that!

I love this lake picture. I hope you don't tear it up. I have the feeling that as you gain technique you are going to want to look at this one again and again, to remind you not to let good technique shrink you til you're too grown up.

Posted by: Elspeth 23-Mar-2006, 10:04 AM
Rather fascinating considering my hopeless state of mind that I still a paint with the eyes of a child.... Intriguing....

No, I won't tear it up. I could never tear up what I created. Might get shoved in the attic, but never destroyed.

It's haging right above my computer. For after I finish the short story I'm doing, I've got to get working on the novel this was painted to depict.

I do want to keep it simple. I just read a writer talking about not letting the writing get in the way of the story. A well turned phrase can ruin a story by drawing attention to itself and away from whole of the work. Bet the same can be true in painting. Or any art form.

Posted by: Dogshirt 23-Mar-2006, 08:53 PM
Do a google search for Jane Orleman. She is a friend of mine who survived a truly horrendous childhood of physical and sexual abuse and paints as therapy to work through it. I used to strech her canvas and frame her paintings. After all the years she has been doing it her technique hasn't changed much, but she does sell some and it has helped her. So keep on painting and don't get discouraged! And I like your lake painting. tongue.gif


beer_mug.gif

Posted by: Elspeth 23-Mar-2006, 09:22 PM
I looked her up. Soul Journey - quite powerful.

Posted by: stoirmeil 23-Mar-2006, 10:57 PM
Thanks for the reference, Dogshirt. There's some very strong material there. And I think you're right -- the point is not technique at all, it's what she brings together in relation in all those composite images of herself, over and over again. And of course, she could have just done that hard work to save herself, and that would have been fine. But it's out there for others to make use of in their work. It's very brave and generous.

Posted by: Siobhan Blues 29-Mar-2006, 09:34 AM
QUOTE (Elspeth @ 16-Mar-2006, 07:01 PM)
I finally finished

Lake Conemaugh...

Excellent!

Posted by: Elspeth 16-May-2006, 07:06 AM
Finished the painting of my grandma's country kitchen.

Posted by: crazykiltedcelt 16-May-2006, 09:27 AM
I like it remind me of early Amercia style of pianting.

Posted by: Dogshirt 16-May-2006, 06:56 PM
I LIKE it, your style reminds VERY much of Jane's. Not the subject matter, Jane is VERY dark, but the style is very much the same. Keep up the good work!


beer_mug.gif

Posted by: Rebecca Ann 17-Mar-2007, 10:27 PM
Your paintings and drawings are great. Don't feel bad or get upset when people tell you paint with the eyes of a child. It is a very great complement. Your pictures are simple but bright and full of life and sunshine. You see life as a child does with great beauty and wonderment. We are told by the Lord to be as a little child. We are told that a little child shall lead them. Children are full of wonder and light, they are full of love and music. Many a great artist cannot see with the eyes of a child. You can and do. You see light and beauty, and such bright colors. Stand proud when someone tells you you paint with the eyes of a child because it is a great thing that few can do and a very great gift.
I wish I could paint and draw like you. Maybe someday.
RebeccaAnn

Posted by: Elspeth 18-Mar-2007, 04:10 AM
Thank you so much Rebecca Ann. You are right, children are full of wonder and I never want to lose that wonder.

Posted by: Rebecca Ann 18-Mar-2007, 05:55 PM
Elsbeth
I know two special artist you might like to check out. You can find them by doing google search and there are even some books about them. One is Grandma Moses. She didn't start painting until she was about 80. The other is Maud Lewis. She was a little lady that lived in a little house in Nova Scotia. I got to see her house. It is like a little child's house painted with bright wonderful pictures and colors like your paintings. Both are well known artist and their art work hangs in museums. Maud Lewis, I don't think is known much out of Nova Scotia. But to me she is very special. On our last trip to Nova Scotia we saw one of her paintings in a little museum and Jean-Thomas said we need to find more about her. He found a book about her for me and we found her house. Maud had polio. Jean-Thomas looked at her paintings and told me mommy you can paint too, like her. It was a few years after that that Jean-Thomas went Home to Heaven.
RebeccaAnn

Posted by: Elspeth 18-Mar-2007, 08:34 PM
Thank you so much Rebecca Ann for the references. Grandma Moses I'm familiar with, but I will have to look up Maud Lewis. She sounds fascinating. Reminds me to of the old lady character on the Walton's Maud Gormley who took up painting birds and sold her primitive paintings to the tourists. smile.gif

Posted by: Rebecca Ann 20-Mar-2007, 07:45 AM
I found a Maud Lewis site you might like to check out, She painted on anything she could find, including shells. http://www.lighthouse.ca/maud.html
There are also a few other sites Nova Scotia artist and Canadian artist. There are also books written about her with her pictures. amazon.com has a few listed. She is a folk artist.
RebeccaAnn

Posted by: Elspeth 20-Mar-2007, 07:58 AM
Thanks for the link. Those are cool paintings.

I'm new enough to the idea of art that I struggle with the question - what is art - so it's nice to be exposed to all kinds of art.

Posted by: Rebecca Ann 20-Mar-2007, 10:50 AM
According to my brother, who is a craftsman that works in a children's museum art is beautiful and enjoyable. It makes you think and lets you explore. He creates, designs, builds and maintains the exhibits at the Madison Wisconsin Children's Museum. Jean-Thomas says art is a gift from Heavenly Father. It is also said that art is in the eye
of the beholder.
I don't know if you ever watch Touched By An Angel on tv or not. They had a great episode in an art museum. All the people were wondering around looking at the paintings and talking about them. There was also a group of gifted children there studying the art work and making some of their own. There was an artist there who wanted to destroy his painting because it was no good and he couldn't figure out why he painted it. It was yellow and black with a little bump, nothing more. He said it was nothing, it gave no feelings and didn't inspire. A little boy came up to him with a painting he had painted in his hand and gave it to the artist. He told the artist your painting isn't finished yet. The boy's painting had the same yellow sky and dark ground with the bump that the artist painted but out of the bump grew a little tree. He went to the painting on the wall and explained to the artist this bump is a little seed in the ground. It needs sun and water and grows like me, into a small tree that will get bigger. The artist then knew why he had painted that picture and it was beautiful with great meaning, but it took a little child to help him see.
RebeccaAnn

Posted by: rhatcher1313 21-Mar-2007, 12:57 PM
I agree totally with RebeccaAnn ! Seeing through the eye's of a child is A wonderful gift! I also enjoy your work. It reminds me of a more peaceful, innocent time, as in being a child, again! Ohh, & A message to RebeccaAnn, YOU have the same gift, only yours are through words, such beautiful mail you have sent me! Please share these wonderful stories w/ our community here! Thank you to both of these very talented women! Each is an accomplished artist, in their respective fields! May God Bless & guide you both through your wonderful work! Again, many thanks !!
Slainte,
rhatcher1313


Posted by: Rebecca Ann 17-Apr-2007, 08:54 PM
Elsbeth
I got this neat children's book from the library I thought you might be interested in. It is SILENT NIGHT by Will Moses. Ever wonder what happened to Grandma Moses and her family? Well according to the book cover information about the author painting is as much a part of the Moses family tradition as the family homestead in Eagle Bridge, NY. Will Moses learned to paint as a little boy from his grandfather, folk artist Forrest Moses, who learned from his mother, Anna Mary Robertson Moses (Grandma Moses). I found a link to Will Moses' studio. http://www.willmoses.com/
I love your paintings. You are a folk artist. You see the essence, color, and beauty of things and paint those things for others to see. Some people say I should publish my poems and stories. I would be honored if you could illustrate them.
RebeccaAnn

Posted by: Elspeth 18-Apr-2007, 07:20 AM
Rebecca Ann, that is such a sweet thing to say and the honor would be mine, but I know I am no where near good enough to do your writing justice.

I write as well and have spent some time learning the ropes of the publishing business. If you ever want to chat about the process of publication, let me know. So far I haven't been sucessful, but I'm still trying and learning.

I will look up the link you posted. Thanks so much for letting me know of it.

Posted by: Rebecca Ann 18-Apr-2007, 04:47 PM
Elsbeth
My writing is not much and your paintings are perfect. I write from the heart, you paint from the heart. What greater justice is there? I do not know the first thing about being published or even if anyone would ever find my writings worth taking the time with. I can think of no one better than you to make pictures for some of my poems. If you don't mind, maybe I could make stories or poems for some of your pictures. We could put our works together and see what happens. rhatcher1313 says we both have a very special gift. Why not put our gifts together?
RebeccaAnn

Posted by: rhatcher1313 18-Apr-2007, 07:36 PM
To Rebecca & Elsbeth,
As i said before, both of you have a very special gift, If both of you got together & create a book, it would be A top-seller !! If both shared the wonderful talent in A joint venture, I foresee A great work of art. Only thing, WHEN it is published, not if, please sell me the first public copy, signed, of course by both! I would be very honored by this. You two have more talent than most people posses, that have gotten their work published. Best of luck in this venture. I may not have the talent to write, or paint , but, I do have quite an extensive library, & spend lots of time reading, & admiring art. Hey, there was a reason that you 2 have met, don't let this wonderful opportunity get away. Many thanks to both for sharing your gift here. & when you both are rich and famous, don't forget the cheering section here! LOL, Thanks again.
Slainte,
rhatcher1313

Posted by: Elspeth 19-Apr-2007, 01:50 PM
Wow, both of you. You blow me away. Really, I know I'm not that good, but Rebeccca Ann, if something I painted inspires you to write a poem, by all means do it. I'd love to read them. And who knows? All kinds of books get published. You never know. smile.gif

Posted by: Rebecca Ann 25-Apr-2007, 12:58 PM
Elsbeth
I got a new children's book from our library I thought you might be interested in.
CAPTURING JOY: The Story of Maud Lewis by Jo Ellen Bogart. It has neat pictures many of them hers.
RebeccaAnn

Posted by: Donajhi 02-Aug-2007, 08:54 PM
I don't know anything about painting, but I do know I like your art work very much.
Thank you for sharing your brilliant paintings.

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