#evolveartist

“Draw in 30 Days It was good to practice forms Now Keys to Drawing.” Evolve Artist assignment 1.19 Two Cats So per my conversation with an instructor on the last assignment (due to my time constraints), I did this assignment by painting each section one at a time (as opposed to painting the whole thing in phases). The first thing I noticed after photographing the painting though, is that I see a bunch of imperfections that weren’t noticeable during the painting process. What stands out mostly is the right cat, possibly because this was still wet compared to the left cat. The shade that’s used for the reflection on the extreme shadow seems much lighter in the photo than in real life—it was hard to see the value differences between the two when I was painting. Consequently, I see some ugly brush strokes for the highlights on the extreme shadows. I think I’m going to adjust the lighting in the room and possibly adjust the angle of my easel for my next painting. Another thing I noticed on the right cat is the contour on the right side of the cat’s head and neck. The moderate shadow of the background seems really close in value to the moderate light on the cat’s head and neck. So here’s my question. Did I get either of these values wrong (or any other values in the painting for that matter)? But let’s assume the values were correct. I think if I encounter this situation again, I’d add a half step lighter shade on the contour of the right cat’s head and neck. But since the painting itself looks much better to me than the photo, I think I did a decent job. I really liked painting these animal statues for the past few assignments. There’s really something amazing about seeing realistically rendered shiny objects in oil paint. https://www.denniscnolasco.com 👨‍🎨 #oilpaintingclass #evolveartist #evolvestudent #oldhollandcolours #dailyhaiku #stilllife #artfundamentals #artistoninstagram (at San Francisco Bay Area) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNZI7INsvSb/?igshid=ryucxwei7bkj

Evolve block 5 part 20.

“Art prerequisites It’s something that’s much needed Go test that theory.” Evolve Artist assignment 1.20 The Pumpkin I must say, before I started, I wasn’t too jazzed about painting a pumpkin. But after I started I got really into it. I think it’s the fact that it’s an organic object with lots of little imperfections—it was fun painting all those little things as opposed to something that is unblemished. Also, I was finally able to loosen up, and the tablecloth helped me in this respect as well. I guess the combination of the imperfect pumpkin and the messy tablecloth finally enabled me to mentally let go of trying to do tight perfect brush strokes. There were so many little undulating details, I thought, “to hell with it, let’s have some fun.” Oh, and I adjusted my easel to be more vertical. This helped a lot with the reflections on the canvas when painting. I didn’t realize how bad of an issue it was until I adjusted it. Now I can see the values much more clearly without having to manually move the board around. As a bonus, it helped out with taking the photo as well. Block 1 is finally finished; onto observational drawing! https://www.denniscnolasco.com 👨‍🎨 #oilpaintingclass #evolveartist #evolvestudent #oldhollandcolours #dailyhaiku #stilllife #artfundamentals #artistoninstagram (at San Francisco Bay Area) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNwMY5zsV7I/?igshid=13iamur4396un

“It is what it is Who was the first to say this? No matter, just roll.” Evolve Artist homework 1.18 Two Rabbits This one is very similar to the previous cat one, so I felt it served as a good jumping off point for these bunnies. And I really liked doing the reflections on them, it really gave it that realistic glass finish. But it sucks that we cannot go lighter than the extreme light, so some of the reflections don’t show up. I guess I could’ve tinted the surrounding area a half step lighter to achieve that effect though. Will the later blocks allow for highlights that can go lighter in value? I also have a question about the hard edges of the cast shadows. Are we allowed to soften them up so that they appear similar to the reference photo? I wanted to soften the cast shadow on the chest of the dark grey bunny, but wasn’t sure if I we are allowed to do that. I also want to mention another point about painting just an hour every day. On the last assignment I mentioned that the old paint on the canvas dried up so that it was hard to blend stuff on top of it later (such as gradients or reflections). I managed to get around that by repainting an area right before I do any additional work on it, and it seemed to work good. But another student mentioned that they would just paint an entire object one at a time when they don’t have much time, so I may try that for the next assignment instead. https://www.denniscnolasco.com 👨‍🎨 #oilpaintingclass #evolveartist #evolvestudent #oldhollandcolours #dailyhaiku #stilllife #artfundamentals #artistoninstagram (at San Francisco Bay Area) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMv-M-DsKJ_/?igshid=7wvjiokhr9li

Getting by with sleep Seem to be doing just fine Get up earlier. Evolve Artist Assignment 1.17 Cat on Cube This painting seemed to be a big jump in difficulty due to the fine organic shapes of the gradients, but I think I did fairly well. I really enjoyed doing the subtle little details of the cat’s face. I would get lost in the moment, and before I knew it, I had to start the rest of my day. I’d like to mention (since I’m doing these in one hour sessions) that it was hard to get a nice photo because most of the paint layers had already dried up and the newer layers left a wet sheen. E.g., I touched up the moderate shadow of the cat’s body behind the front arms, but in the photo it appears lighter compared to the rest of the shadow which dried days ago. I’ve also been experimenting with only adding 1 cm of paint when I run out of a color. Although this saved me paint, it takes longer to prep since I have to replenish it more often. I’m going to go back to replenishing with 2 cm of paint next time. By the way, another student referred me to Piper’s “Gradients Made Easy” video tutorial. I really like her approach. I was already doing something similar, but it’s good to see her explain it in detail. https://www.denniscnolasco.com 👨‍🎨 #oilpaintingclass #evolveartist #evolvestudent #oldhollandcolours #dailyhaiku #stilllife #artistoninstagram (at San Francisco Bay Area) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMGT7hTMcCe/?igshid=1wd1ih3p7gd16

Evolve Artist Assignment 1.15 It was hard for me to find the time and/or energy to paint in the evenings or weekends, so I bit the bullet and switched my painting schedule. I now get up earlier so that I can paint for an hour every day before work. To eliminate any blockers I just go straight to painting before even doing anything else. Doing this every day, I was able to get the assignment done in about a week. Although I’m not a morning person, I’ve got to say this has done wonders for persevering on the Evolve curriculum. I no longer have any issues with time or energy for painting. As far as the painting itself, I liked painting the bird. Although it is still a still life, painting living (or pseudo-living in this case) things is much more enjoyable. Still life is just not my thing, but I’m able to get over that with my new schedule. There were also some sticking points such as having to prep and clean up more often, but I think I’ve resolved that. But since it took a week to do, I had to prep my palette about halfway through due to drying—I ended up wasting a bunch of paint. I think I’ll just use 2 cm per color next time and see if that’s more economical. https://www.denniscnolasco.com 👨‍🎨 #oilpaintingclass #evolveartist #evolvestudent #oldhollandcolours #dailyhaiku #stilllife #artistofinstagram (at San Francisco Bay Area) https://www.instagram.com/p/CK60ULVsbxD/?igshid=u8vot4mrvhwu