Tuesday, October 18, 2016

MONOCHROME STRIPES, Day 2

I painted the first five studies for this lesson using Bright Aqua Green, Black, and White, with touches of Vivid Lime Green and Turquoise Deep. 

I think of these five pieces as a Little Cabin in the Woods series because I painted them while away with Dave, celebrating our 41st(!) wedding anniversary, living for the week in a West Virginia state park log cabin in the middle of nowhere. I used an improvised and limited travel kit of art supplies, watched the lesson video once when I had access to wifi, and then dove into investigating. 

The lesson called for very specific limitations, and my wilderness setting provided additional limitations! 

Monostripes #2
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varied width and length in stripes;
soft wavy stripes across one wider horizontal stripe in lower third;
vertical stripes all contained in left quarter of page;
collaged squares offering slight value contrast and creating a "dotted stripe"
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I like the way one or two 'louder' elements catch my eye
and pull me in to discover what might be hidden at first glance.

I really had to work hard to be restrained with my mark-making, but I liked embracing the restraint, and I like the results.

5 comments:

Sheila said...

Love the wavy lines and how they break up the hard edges. :) Gives me the feeling of looking out a balcony window towards the sea :)

dotty seiter: now playing said...

Sheila, I just love your observations and impressions. Playing with the wavy lines was fun.

carol edan said...

i love the varient cut papers, vertical and mixed sized squares. Variations are great with subtle patterns.

dotty seiter: now playing said...

Thanks for your observations, Carol. It's so interesting to look back at this piece about a week now since I created it—at the time, some of the bright/light values that came from adding white to my base color felt too contrasty, which makes me laugh now b/c this is a pretty subdued piece! It's also interesting/gratifying to see that some of the decisions I made accomplished exactly what I wanted; for example, cutting up a piece of collage into little 'squares' and alternating darker and lighter bits as I affixed them over the seam between two stripes. I added contrast and some busy-ness for the eye without losing the subtlety of variety that I wanted.

carol edan said...

It's amazing how small decisions influence the results. Something to remember!

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