When you study whatever it is that you're about to paint, whether it's a still life, landscape, flower, or figure, your eyes move rapidly across the surface surveying and interpreting it. The challenge of this project is to put this observation down on paper.
Set yourself up with a number of large sheets of paper (A2 size or larger) so you can easily remove one and go on to the next. Use pastels, a waterbrush with ink in it, or a brush with a pot of paint. Whether you use one or several colors is up to you.
Decide on what you're going to use as a subject, but don't study it closely before you start. If you're using a model, ask them to take on a new pose every five minutes. If you're using a still life, set it up on a small table you can turn to get a new view. If you're looking at a landscape, turn to one side for a new view.
Start by setting a kitchen timer for five minutes and for the time paint with your eyes mostly on the object and not the paper. Follow the way your eyes track across the object with your hand, as if your eyes and hand were directly connected.
Don't focus on the outline because we don't look at objects like that. We take in the whole object, from top to bottom, side to side, then look more carefully at particulars.
Work big, to the edges of the paper; don't produce a tiny painting swimming in a sea of white paper. Don't be worried you're going to muck it up. The aim is not to get the details down accurately, but to get you looking intently and practice translating that observation into marks on a sheet of paper.
Use the whole five minutes. Don't stop because you can't see where your lines are going or you think your painting's messy. The emphasis here is about seeing, on tracking the way you're looking at the subject, not the final picture.
If you're using several colors, there's no 'right' time to change a color. If you sketch very quickly, you could change every time you think your eyes have swept across the whole subject or, alternatively, when you think about a minute has passed.
Repeat the project setting various time limits, from five minutes to half an hour. Each time limit produces a different kind of result. (Compare the five-minute example above with these 20 minute examples.)
Submission: Please note that new submissions for this project gallery are currently not being accepted. (Check the current project.) If you want feedback on your project painting you need to post a photo of it in the Painting Forum.
Set yourself up with a number of large sheets of paper (A2 size or larger) so you can easily remove one and go on to the next. Use pastels, a waterbrush with ink in it, or a brush with a pot of paint. Whether you use one or several colors is up to you.
Decide on what you're going to use as a subject, but don't study it closely before you start. If you're using a model, ask them to take on a new pose every five minutes. If you're using a still life, set it up on a small table you can turn to get a new view. If you're looking at a landscape, turn to one side for a new view.
Start by setting a kitchen timer for five minutes and for the time paint with your eyes mostly on the object and not the paper. Follow the way your eyes track across the object with your hand, as if your eyes and hand were directly connected.
Don't focus on the outline because we don't look at objects like that. We take in the whole object, from top to bottom, side to side, then look more carefully at particulars.
Work big, to the edges of the paper; don't produce a tiny painting swimming in a sea of white paper. Don't be worried you're going to muck it up. The aim is not to get the details down accurately, but to get you looking intently and practice translating that observation into marks on a sheet of paper.
Use the whole five minutes. Don't stop because you can't see where your lines are going or you think your painting's messy. The emphasis here is about seeing, on tracking the way you're looking at the subject, not the final picture.
If you're using several colors, there's no 'right' time to change a color. If you sketch very quickly, you could change every time you think your eyes have swept across the whole subject or, alternatively, when you think about a minute has passed.
Repeat the project setting various time limits, from five minutes to half an hour. Each time limit produces a different kind of result. (Compare the five-minute example above with these 20 minute examples.)
Submission: Please note that new submissions for this project gallery are currently not being accepted. (Check the current project.) If you want feedback on your project painting you need to post a photo of it in the Painting Forum.