Art Workshop......day 2!

Day two, artist Carol Marine, started our class off with an interesting 'values' exercise...which proved to be very helpful. The assignment was choose one color, either burnt siena or ultramarine blue and a simple subject. She then gave us 30 minutes to look at our still life and paint what e saw. The time limit made you think and think quick. Here is Carol's demo, which she painted in just a few minutes! The dominant value is the mid-tone, next is the dark-tone and least is the light-tone.



I chose to paint a tiny bird nest that I found in Ruidosa, New Mexico. After 30 minutes, Carol said stop. Here's my little nest. The dominant value is light, mid and dark. Then she told us to get out another canvas and with the same rules, change the values and this time we'd have 15 minutes. Go!

Same nest, closer perspective on a black background. Dark, mid and light. . . I liked this one.



Then, Carol went crazy and told us to repeat this exercise again but this time we'd have only 5 minutes. . . Can you tell what the dominant value is?

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After lunch, fellow artist and author of children's books, Bruce Mcmillan, asked if he could take the following photo. . . for his site. Apparently Bruce saw an interesting connection.

POSTCARD PHOTO of the DAY! June 6, 2009

Photo of bird's nest art, subject and artist!

Roxanne Spradlin at the Carol Marine painting workshop HERE in Salado, Texas on June 5, 2009

The Painting, the Subject, and the Painter

Art without constraint, we are what we paint.

by Bruce McMillanAmerican children's book author and photo-illustratorhttp://www.brucemcmillan.com/1947All text and photos © 2009 Bruce McMillan~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~

See some of us painting, including Roxanne, at the workshop HERE.Photo of workshop artist, Texan Roxanne Spradlin in Salado, Texas on June 5, 2009

Roxanne's art web site HERE.

The Other Side of the Bird's Nest ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~

Strange but True FactsThe active ingredient in Bird's Nest Soup, a Chinese delicacy, is bird saliva. A few species of swift, the cave swifts are renowned for building the saliva nests used to make the unique texture of this soup. These edible bird's nests are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans.~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~end

Tell me the truth! Does my hair look like a bird's nest?