Dear Wonderful Artists!

Where do your good ideas come from?
I confess mine grows in the bathtub. Everytime when I don’t take my phone with me and just lie in the hot water, wonderful things happen. I think the angels are whispering.

Has it happened to you that you lost interest in art or in everything?
Are you struggling because you don’t have enough strength to get started?
Do you often have “other” important things instead of creation?
This is not by accident.
Yes, it happens to everyone.
What if your family going to your brain?
When you are overhelmed and you do everything for everyone what are not your task?
Would you run away but don’t have enough strength?
It happens to anyone.

You can run away into the flow.

Believe me, if you start, you will be better .
Alone you don’t always go, sometimes you need a little ass kick.
I’m here. I need a little boost too.

What about a little challenge?

February is great with its 28 days.
We are already past the non-fulfillment of the January receptions.
Let’s divide into 4 weeks.
I do not want to give exact topics but figure out details, because I want you to improve beside the happiness 

we will use a different medium every week.

1st week February 1-7
DRAWING

In the first week I want you to use only pencil or charcoal.
You may know that the basic of everything is drawing.

2nd week February 8-14
ACRYL

3rd week February 15-21
OIL

4th week February 22-28
AQUARELL

You may know that I created a “Paint a Flower a Day” 21 days challenge last May (2021).
I made it with oil and it was really good to start the days with flower painting.

In fact, there were no rules, you just had to paint a flower with any medium.
I have to admit I got to 14+1 instead of 21, but that was great too.
I also made videos about it, shared a few on youtube.

Being in a challenge is a very inspiring and empowering thing.

What do you think will you join?
Would be great to boost our year together.

Should I make the decision easier?

OK
Everyone who will upload a photo of a newly made painting / drawing every day, alltogether 28 – will be entered into a raffle where I will draw a spot to my new ‘aquarelle from the beginning’ workshop to be completed soon.

Join to our facebook group where the challenge will run

ART CHALLENGE is HERE

WEEK 1 DRAWING CHALLENGE

Sharpen your pencils!:)

Imagine the first week as a warming-up.
Everything needs a base and the base of art is drawing I think.
Better drawing skills makes better artwork.
I prefer you draw from life not from photo or computer.
(of course it is a suggestion but every challenge is better if you step out of your comfort zone.
I’m sure you heard about how many perspectives are.
one point, two points, three points, aerial perspective etc but did you know there is photo perspective?
Yes, in photography, there are two types of distortions: optical and perspective. Both result in some kind of deformation of images. A photo of a beautifully set still life will be distorted so it is better draw from life not from copying.
read more about distorsion here
Try to draw from life in this challenge, it worth.

HERE ARE THE TOPICS FOR THE FIRST WEEK:

(it can be line art or fully shaded and blended)

1, something cubic like table chair rubic’s cube
2, something connected with ellipses vase, jar,can, glass, flower pots
3, food vegetables, fruits from life from your kitchen bananas, onion, orange, lemon
4, put your tablecloths or scarf or a drapery and draw from 2 point of view
5, still life with glass and fruits or cutlery in a glass bottle
(you know glass distort the object you put in or behind
6, shoes, boots
7, draw what you love

WEEK 2 ACRYLIC CHALLENGE

Advantages of acrylic painting:

  • easy to clean up,
  • have low odor,
  • heavily pigmented, meaning the colors can be very bold and vibrant.
  • you can continue to paint over the dried areas and not see any mistakes, hence it’s a very forgiving medium for beginners
  • they typically dry a darker hue than the pigment they exhibit when wet,
  • they do not spread (like watercolors or gouache),
  • they dry very quickly (which has its perks but can make blending tricky),
  • they’re water-soluble when wet, and
  • they are water-resistant when dry which means that once dry, they cannot be altered.
  • relatively inexpensive and easy to work with

HERE ARE THE TOPICS FOR THE SECOND WEEK:

1, fruit or vegetable maybe the same you already drew in week 1
(put it in 3D, don’t forget the shadows and light)
2, bird you choose your favourite or a colorful one 🙂
3, flower what you have in your home or in the garden – would be great to paint after a ‘real’ model not a photo 🙂
4, something furry – a pet (dog, cat, bunny, fox, etc)
5, starry night
6, PLAY-DAY without brush
something abstract use different mark making tools you find in your home or in the kitchen
(fork, sponge, lemon, plants, leaves . . .) do NOT use brush
(if you paint a bigger piece this can be a background for your next acryl intuitive  painting – what do you think?)
7, paint what you love

the following weeks topics will come 🙂

WEEK 3 OIL CHALLENGE

We are in the middle of the February Challenge.
How are you? Do you still have power to continue?
I hope you don’t mind to try some oil. For the first time it seemed scary for me but I tried the simplied way to paint with oil the alla prima which means we paint a painting in one session.
Try it in small. Choose a board prime it with gesso and try it, maybe this will be your favourite medium and you never change back to acryl or aquarelle.

WEEK 3 OIL CHALLENGE

There are many number of ways to paint with oils but basically there’s direct painting or indirect painting. Indirect means where thin layers or ‘glazes’ of paint are built up over time with many layers. In this case you have to wait between layers to be dry.
I prefer to paint in one session called ‘alla prima’ because I don’t have the patience.
If you have never painted with oil before here is the time to start. Choose a quality paint. I suggest to try a limited palette eg: 2-2 cool and warm shade of yellow, red and blue, a white and black. There are other limited palettes what great masters uses. If you want to dive deep, look around about limited palettes of old masters.

Use this tips:

  • Simplify your subject.
  • Use a limited palette of colours for example I mentioned above
  • Paint all the darks first and then the lights.
  • Paint the darks thin ( transparent) and the lights thick (opaque).
  • Use big brushes except for a few small details right at the end of the painting.
  • Have fun! This is just an exercise not a museum quality master piece

HERE ARE THE TOPICS FOR THE THIRD WEEK:

1, fruit or vegetable maybe the same you already drew and painted in week 1&2
Would be great to see the same topic with different medium

2, bird you choose your favourite or a colorful one 🙂 see the difference what the different medium shows.
3, flower what you have in your home or in the garden – would be great to paint after a ‘real’ model not a photo 🙂
4, a plush toy
5, green landscape without tube green  use black+yellow or blue+yellow+orange make some experiment
6, sweets (ice-cream, cake, lollipop . . .)
7, paint what you love

WEEK 4 AQUARELLE CHALLENGE

Last week is already here in the February Challenge.
How are you? Do you still have power to continue? This is the easiest part of the 4 weeks I think.
I love watercolour as I think it is the most forgiving medium although it is harder to fix mistakes.
I use watercolour the easy and loose way. If you know me my style is very colourful and loose. I have no patience to paint too accurate.
Give it a try. Advantages that you can stop anytime unlike oil and continue.
But be patience don’t let complemantery colors to flow into each other to keep bright colors instead of mud.
Do you know that I have NATUREART SEASONAL courses where we paint with aquarelle.
NATUREART SPRING is starting in 5th March with 14 lessons including Easter. Imagine it like an entertaining inspirational ART MAGAZINE.

WEEK 4 AQUARELLE CHALLENGE

HERE ARE THE TOPICS FOR THE FOURTH WEEK:

1, fruit or vegetable maybe the same you already drew and painted in week 1&2&3
Would be great to see the same topic with different medium
2, bird you choose your favourite or a colorful one 🙂 see the difference what the different medium shows.
3, flower and permanent marker what you have in your home or in the garden – would be great to paint after a ‘real’ model not a photo 🙂
4, black and gold
5, forest with sunlight among the trees
6, practice with eyes  (they can be a human or animal eye)
7, paint what you love

ART CHALLENGE is HERE