Speed Painting
It's the most fun I have as an artist.
10 Paintings in 20 Minutes
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Pastel Techniques class Demo - Ten 2-minute paintings done in one sitting. Quick sketches are an excellent way to warm up and to explore an idea or color combination. The time goes so quickly that you can't be fussy or fearful. It's the most fun I have as an artist. The preparation time was way longer of course, and being a confident artist is a lifelong pursuit.
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The Palette
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"Monterey Cypress" Quick SketchDemo
This demo took about 20 minutes, including standing back regularly for a distance view, which is important. It was nicely edited down to 8.5 minutes which makes me sound quite a bit more articulate than I actually was.
From the Art League Blog ...
"With Winter term classes underway, our camera crew is once again making the
rounds of Art League classrooms to record instructor demos. Today we’re pleased
to add the first pastel demo to our library, courtesy of Nancy Freeman!
In the video, Nancy shows her Wednesday morning Exploring Pastel class how
to do a quick pastel sketch, working from a reference photo she took near
Monterey, California. It starts with showing the paper who’s boss."
If you have any trouble with the video, here's the link to the Art League site:
A Quick Pastel Sketch Demo with Nancy Freeman
"With Winter term classes underway, our camera crew is once again making the
rounds of Art League classrooms to record instructor demos. Today we’re pleased
to add the first pastel demo to our library, courtesy of Nancy Freeman!
In the video, Nancy shows her Wednesday morning Exploring Pastel class how
to do a quick pastel sketch, working from a reference photo she took near
Monterey, California. It starts with showing the paper who’s boss."
If you have any trouble with the video, here's the link to the Art League site:
A Quick Pastel Sketch Demo with Nancy Freeman
30 paintings in 30 minutes
The color palette:
My color sense tends to be rather bold and saturated, so I wanted to explore a more subdued palette. I pre-selected a range of lower saturation colors in 3-4 values. |
The exercise of painting 30 paintings in 30 minutes really gets the creative juices flowing, and forces you to focus on the essentials. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the event, I found myself getting quite irritated at that minute going by so quickly. Just as I was getting into the flow of each painting, "Ding!" the minute would be up. It would be easier if it was just charcoal, but I'm a color addict. The entire exercise, including a few seconds between each painting to put the old one away and prepare for the new one, took about 45 minutes. Preparation and clean up added a few more hours.
The advanced planning helped. I had gathered papers in several different colors and textures, and pre-selected a palette of largely compatible soft pastels from which I only occasionally strayed. I already had in mind what I wanted to explore - geometric shapes (squares, rectangles, stripes, and frames). I feel as if I've barely scratched the surface of possibilities. I am so pleased with the experience and the production that I intend to repeat the process, maybe a 60-60, or one with 90 seconds each, or maybe even two whole minutes! |
All 30 one-minute paintings
The first five minutes
Five more minutes.
