Artists evolve as they explore and respond to what their heart desires. In fact, I am happy to say one of the criteria for being a SavvyArt Market artist is a commitment to evolving and experimenting.
Adriana Rinaldi is one of my favourite artists to work with, pushing herself to try new techniques and experience new places and subjects. The excitement she exudes with her art experiences is infectious.
Recently, Adriana decided to change her style of painting. Below she shares that experience. Enjoy!
“I have been painting in the Old Masters Technique for quite a while now. When I started painting and was looking for a “style”, this technique appealed to me because of the limited colour pallet used to create many colours. I was confused by colour mixing and how to get certain colours. I learned with Kathy Marlene Bailey who created the Canadian Glaze Oil Society. I loved the technique and still love to use it in creating larger than life realism still-life. You start with a grisaille (brown and white colour painting), then you create a pasty painting on top of that. Then you start adding transparent washes of colour on top of that. I ended up simplifying this method in my own way to cut down on the time it took to create a painting. Still, the technique is very time-consuming and a bit more tense but I have a sentimental feeling about it.
I wanted to start painting our beautiful Canadian landscape, not only because I knew there was a demand for it, but because my art soul demanded it. I could see other artists painting these scenes and knew I couldn’t do it in my old technique. I decided to start with sky and sea paintings. I have a craving for a good old sunset and sunrise scene. There were a few artists that I admired, Gordon Harrison, Erin Hanson, Van Gogh, who applied paint thicker and more spontaneously and their colours were bright and luscious, and I longed for it. Any time my paintings ended up with those obvious hash marks you could see from the side of the painting, I loved that! But it didn’t really happen with the other technique. I wanted to have fun with colour too! Why not me? I wanted to be challenged. I’ve created three paintings now and can’t wait to do another one using a different variation of colours……. The next challenge….. colourful Canadian landscape scenes, forests, water reflections.
Recently I had the opportunity to give a demo and I took a leap of faith and decided right there I would jump right in and just do it, yes in front of everyone. It was a vulnerable move. I laid down an underpainting colour. I used to do that before I learned the old masters technique. Having an underpainting colour is less intimidating than a plain white canvas. I chalked in the painting. I premixed all my colours so that I could just spontaneously pick them up. Premixing the paint is also a good way to see on the pallet which direction the colours will go and create a colour theme for the painting. I tried not to think about it too much and lay the colours down and leave it alone, no glazing. It was awesome. So much fun. If it didn’t work out, I still learn something which might be helpful.
This is a new excitement for me. I would recommended to any artist to “change it up”. Even just temporarily. After all, aren’t we suppose to be having fun?
Stay tuned for my evolution and growth as I tackle this new technique. "
Art exists to comfort you, whenever you are in need.
Cheers,
Karen
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