Should I take it as a compliment ?

I know I’ve been going to art workshops for many years and have lots of experience of them. Its for that reason I say that I can paint anything for anyone, because of that huge experience. I was looking forward to the one at the weekend as it was a snow scene in pastels, and fortunately the weather so far this winter hasn’t come out in sympathy for it so it was easy to drive there. I knew the tutor would be taking source photos for us to use, but I wanted to use my own as I had an image I’ve been itching to use for ages. After we’d set up our easels and work spaces he went into his demonstration and explained a lot about papers and how they worked with pastels, and obviously knew his stuff. He’d brought along a good selection of pictures he’d done, specialising in animals and atmospheric landscapes, and  drew a lovely snow scene before letting us get on with our own picture. I excitedly looked at mine, and bearing in mind that he had said how differently a pastel picture will turn out if its drawn on a complimentary colour as opposed to a contrasting one – like painting a forest scene on a green paper rather than a red one, both will work fine, its just the green one will look harmonious and calm whereas the red one will zing with colour and be more vibrant. So I asked him which colour he would use for my picture and he chose a pale blue for it, and not the warm yellow I would have chosen. And at the end of the six hour session with blue smudges on my hands, I realised how many lovely positive compliments I’d got from the other artists around me, and that the only decision and guidance I’d had from the tutor was the colour of the paper! He hadn’t told me how to decide whether to do it vertically or horizontally (yep, the horizontal works for me), which colours to use (pale greys, apricot, lemon yellow, turquoise, pink, black, purples, magenta) or how to apply them. But I think rather than take it as a bad workshop – whihc it certainly wasn’t – I look at it as one where he didn’t need to add anything to what I was doing, other than encouragement, and it was a compliment for me, since he felt I didn’t need the help! 🙂

I think I may do some more to it now its at home though, maybe hide some images within it, faces or animals maybe…… I love the delicate colours  but its not mine enough yet! I’d like to do it similar to this watercolour painting I did some years ago  called “Fire and ice” with the animals merging into the forest itself …….

 

But, this week, I am back on my favourite subject……

……. a lovely erotic pose that has so many georgeous lines in it that are excitingly interesting and sensually suggestive. It is of two people, a man and a woman and they are both topless but this painting is very much about hands and what they are saying.  And it will be in acrylics, not pastels!