Alabama watercolorist here!

Patricia Joyce · 10-18-2005, 01:20 PM

Welcome, Monique,
What a delightful painting. I just want to sit down next to this child and play in the sand!! Looking forward to your participation.

You will learn so much here, I promise!

Monique McFarland · 10-18-2005, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patricia Joyce

Welcome, Monique,
What a delightful painting. I just want to sit down next to this child and play in the sand!! Looking forward to your participation.

You will learn so much here, I promise!

LOL...thanks so much! I'll tell him, he's 11 now!! and would probably prefer a game of two hand touch in that same sand now. I do love this dear painting, of course, I'm partial, since it's of my son when he was a baby. Look at how it looked before, when I went to the conference and see if you can find the changes I made..some of them are obvious. It hung on my wall for a while before I got the courage up to take it out of the frame and apply the changes that came from my portfolio critique at the conference in washington.

Thanks for being the first to reply!! So glad to meet you and yes, I already have learned a lot!! So many resources and so many countless fabulous artists!! I'm loving it already. I lurked around and read and viewed as much as I could possibly view before being accepted. I couldn't wait to take part...lol...ask Cynthia...

here are the before and afters of it:

Carolyn Bannister · 10-18-2005, 01:42 PM

Monique,

Welcome, glad you survived the storm and can get back to painting!

This is lovely, i especially like the green tones in the sand.

Hope you find this forum and the people on it as informative and helpful as i do

Carolyn.

Patricia Joyce · 10-18-2005, 04:41 PM

Ah, very nice improvement. Basically, you placed him in his shadow as he should be, darkening the shirt is the most noticeable. I am learning myself how extremely crucial it is to understand the separation of light and dark, to really study where the light is and where the shadow forms. It's so much fun, the more my eyes are trained to see lights and darks.

Your son was an adorable baby, I bet he is a cute kid and that you have several pieces you've painted of him over the years!

Garth Herrick · 12-27-2005, 01:05 PM

Welcome Monique!

It's nice to have you here. There are so many good oil painters and so few watercolorists. You're needed here!

I'm glad you are being able to pick up the pieces of your lives disrupted by the likes of Katrina and Rita and resume some state of normalcy. I can't even imagine that challenge.

You know, we probably crossed paths somewhere at the PSOA conference last May. I hope you don't mind me saying, but I like the first version of your son as a baby equally as much as your fixed version, because it has a more believable luminosity, in keeping with the setting. Sorry I didn't get to see it in person in D.C.

Again welcome,

Garth

Monique McFarland · 12-27-2005, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garth Herrick

Welcome Monique!

It's nice to have you here. There are so many good oil painters and so few watercolorists. You're needed here!

Well....lol...I'm crossing over myself...look at :
this
I've gotten the bug...all because of you guys, lol...it's YOUR fault.. I seriously love it...I learned likenesses the hardway, in watercolors..now I'm stepping back and trying my hand at oils..knowing how to do the likeness thing...but having to learn a medium from scratch!! I'm excited about the possibilities!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garth Herrick

You know, we probably crossed paths somewhere at the PSOA conference last May. I hope you don't mind me saying, but I like the first version of your son as a baby equally as much as your fixed version, because it has a more believable luminosity, in keeping with the setting. Sorry I didn't get to see it in person in D.C.

OH yes, I saw your work, and have recently looked up the thread on here about it...it was fabulous. I spent a good while a few inches away from it, trying to soak every single stroke up into my memory. There were so many perfectly wonderful portraits there that It was nearly IMPOSSIBLE to pick a favorite and vote. Once I did so, I regretted it and wanted about two or three or four others to have been my choice. It was nuts!! Do you remember Stephen Pann's portrait? Wasn't it beautiful? so very different than ANYTHING I could do...his style was so different and very artsy. I really really like it also. Plus to make it even more appealing was meeting him and his very humble nature. It was a real honor, to me. I saw you many times there, in passing, but of course, not knowing anyone there except the two I went there with, it was difficult to just jump into a conversation with a stranger to compliment them and their work. We met a few people standing in line each time and ended up sitting with them at the different demonstrations...that was really neat. I love interesting artsy, but not so far out, folks. Oh yea, loved the kilt!! You did stand out from the crowd with that on. That was you, right? or am I making a fool out of myself....maybe I'm thinking of the fantastic man standing on the hearth, the painting in the corner. The one that the incredibly YOUNG artist did....

what a memory...what a wonderful wonderful experience. So glad to have taken part.

Thanks for taking time to respond to my introduction....it was a nice surprise. Wish me luck in my oil journey!!

Monique

Garth Herrick · 12-29-2005, 12:42 PM

Dear Monique,

Yup, that was me in those plaid golf shorts, the first night. Golly we really did cross paths! That's really cool. (How did you know that guy was me?)

I hung out a lot with Stephen Pan at the conference. He would be pleased to know how much you liked his work in the finalist's display. I certainly understand if you had a difficult choice on picking your favorite of the thirteen; there were some pretty good paintings in there! I felt humbled.

I am glad you also had a wonderful time in D.C. Now, I hereby grant you the very best wishes on your artistic journey!

Garth