And the snow, it snoweth…. Days of shoveling snow and sheltering in place had left me feeling uninspired. Did the world truly need another dreary, sunless, winter painting? Around 3 PM I had a cup of coffee. Ahhh — coffee! My muse! I perked right up, threw on my coat and skipped out to tackle those tulips once more…
The first few minutes always look next-to-impossible, but I really enjoy the drawing-in stage. It’s kind of like walking a tight-wire. Will I make it? People who photograph, then project and trace are missing all the fun. Then it becomes more of a paint-by-numbers project — which is way too much like WORK!
Notice how I’m holding the brush? I’m using it as a measuring stick. Early in the drawing-in stage I pick one object to use as a measure. In this case, it’s that first tulip blossom. I compare everything to the width of that tulip.
Once I’ve gotten the basic drawing finished, I start putting in the darkest darks.
Tulips are wonderful to paint! They’ll hold up fairly well for about a week, so I try to get more than one painting out of them. But they’re tricky. They appear to change before my eyes, growing longer and twist around overnight, so I’ve found it best to get them all drawn in on the first day.
If an artist takes a picture, projects it, traces it, and then paints by number, is the person any more an artist than I who can’t draw much more than a stick figure? Heck, I can do that. However, I cannot do all the shading that makes the picture some to life. Thanks again!
Margie Guyot Art 
Thank you for the art lesson!!
If an artist takes a picture, projects it, traces it, and then paints by number, is the person any more an artist than I who can’t draw much more than a stick figure? Heck, I can do that. However, I cannot do all the shading that makes the picture some to life. Thanks again!
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