Ria Sharon

pondering creativity, process, and making art

Secondary colors

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Ria Unson Secondary Colors

Secondary Colors (Dr. Oto Kano)

What I learned:

  • Again, I can mix up 66 secondary colors just from the 12-color split primary palette, all pretty bright (as opposed to the neutral range I worked with yesterday).
  • These are roughly 50-50 blend of each primary color so if I wanted to do percentages, I could have 560+ colors!

Color Theory 101

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Just doing a lesson every day…

What I learned:

  • the range of neutrals I can create with just the 12 colors in my split primary palette
  • I don’t actually have the “correct” complementaries since none of them actually cancel out to absolutely neutral gray but  I don’t care about that as much as knowing what I have available
  • when rendering shadows, I can select and mix up the perfect shade from this reference palette

Back to school

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It’s been a minute.

I’ve continued with my daily at practice, although a lot hasn’t happened in a sketchbook. I designed a garden, renovated a house, learned how to bake sourdough (like the rest of North America). My house is in a constant state of being painted. Finally, I got the itch to get back to making personal art. And when I did, I found myself butting up against my abilities.

What does that mean? For a long, long time I felt at a loss for subject matter — what I wanted to address or focus on through my art. Finally, I have a lot to “say” but can’t capture it the way I want because I don’t have enough mastery of my tools. So I’m putting myself through DIY art school.

I’ve been painting forever but mostly in oils. In actual art school, I focused on printmaking. But for many reasons, watercolor feels like the best medium for me right now. Problem is, I’ve taking exactly ONE watercolor workshop in my whole life.

It’s fun being a beginner. Anything is possible! It’s that whole new-backpack-fresh-new-notebook-back-to-school feeling. 🙂 I’m just going to post here along the way, (really) to document this journey for myself. I could keep an actual notebook but I’m “traveling light” these days.

Ria Unson palette

12-color split primary palette from the Van Gogh pan set

What I learned:

  • what colors I have ready-to-go, along with their specifications (gradients, transparency, granulation, etc.)
  • the essential 12-color palette

 

Portrait study: Quaranteam

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watercolor study, second attempt

Oct. 5: I’m going to set this aside and perhaps come back to it later

I liked it better at the glowy stage. Not sure what happened between then and now.

Ria Unson watercolor

Happy with the sleeves and dark areas but struggled with the middle. Not sure if it’s salvageable.

  • Fixed the eye and neck
  • Need to fix the slices of couch behind the figure
  • And the paws
  • Still lots of work to do on the shirt
  • Still need to do the eyebrows

Reflections:

I really like the idea of stylizing the work overall. It’s not photorealism like Rance Jones. There are aspects of my style that have been consistent for 30 years (see Siesta drawing from 1993).

But there’s a more graphic quality to it now. I can see the design influence for sure. The more formal qualities, the shapes on the face are the same as on the fabric. I like that. It’s almost like… yes, it’s all paint. And the rendering is so much more controlled after taking Louise de Masi’s one class. I’m going to do more because there’s no pressure there. I can keep focusing on technique.

I’m very pleased with this composition. That is also a style thing. All my paintings have really strong angles. I like using the angles to create focal points. I like the limited color palette. And the values that lighten as you go up but then the contrast in and around the face.

When I’m happy with the painting part, I want to scan it in and see what I can do with the background — what if I put it on a solid yellow background or what if I render the background in illustrator as flat shapes?

 

Ria Unson watercolor study

Darkening the face, the glasses, the hair

 

Ria Unson watercolor study

figure: 227; shadows 408, 366+662, 567; hair: 708; pants 533; outside window: 675 plus spots of 227; shadow of window frame: 408; couch: glaze of 756 with spots of 227

I kind of love the colors in this stage – so glowy!

  • the spot above the right eye and shape of the lips
  • fill in the couch color in between dog’s legs
Ria Unson watercolor study

study #2:  shirt wash: 708; background wash: 227, 234

 

Ria Unson Watercolor Study

dog: 408, 411, 708, 568, 339

 

Ria Unson Watercolor Study

first study

Assessment: Good start. Love the color choices — the limited palette, the hues in the shirt and the greens in the background. The composition rocks — the strong angles, the weirdness of having the dog upside down with her eye right on the edge, the strong lines on the shirt, thelines in the windows. Love the splashes in the background

Water control sucks. Used the wrong brushes, especially in the shirt. The dog’s face is all messed up — couldn’t figure out the actual drawing.

Consider “melting” the curtain more into the background

Ria Unson Drawing

inked line drawing

 

Ria Unson Sketch

initial sketch

 

Ria Unson Inspiration Image

Reference photo

Feb 5: The Verdict

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I don’t need this fancy pants phone. Over the last few weeks, I’ve managed to ween myself down to  So much so that I’m going to buy a “dumb phone” this weekend.

It’s kind of freeing. What am I saying, it’s TOTALLY freeing! 😀

I just don’t know if I realized that without really thinking about it, I’ve wasted hours upon hours of time doing stuff that DOES NOT BRING ME JOY just because it was there. A friend reminded me that I was one of the early adopters, that I was on social platforms before they hit critical mass. Perhaps that’s why… I’m also now OVER IT.

So taking notes from the latest KonMari craze… thank you, next!

Maybe I’ll blog more. Probably not. I’m still keeping all of you on the inside posted, so there’s that. And I’m making art, and hanging out with my neighbors and friends. And having spontaneous lunch dates. And all of those things, BRING ME JOY!!!!

 

Jan 17: Happiness

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  • Get outside, move around, take a walk.
  • Get more happiness for your money. Buy experiences instead of things and spend your money on others.
  • Carve out time to be happy, then give it away. Thirty minutes helping others is more rewarding and actually leaves us feeling empowered to tackle the next project, helping us feel more in control of our lives and even less pressed for time. This translates to higher levels of happiness and satisfaction.
  • Delay the positive, dispatch the negative. Anticipation itself is pleasurable, and looking forward to an enjoyable experience can make it all that much sweeter.
  • Enjoy the ride. People who focus more on process than outcome tend to remain motivated in the face of setbacks.
  • Embrace failure. How we think about failure determines whether it makes us happy or sad.
  • Sweet dreams. Get a full night’s sleep on a regular basis.
  • Strengthen your willpower muscles. Exercising willpower muscles in small, everyday behaviors strengthens our ability to stay focused at work.
  • Introduce variety into your day-to-day activities.
  • Stop comparing yourself to others.
  • Reach out and connect with someone.
  • Limit time on social media.
  • Use your phone in the way phones were originally intended.
  • Practice gratitude.

The list above is from a story someone in my office sent me: Realistic Ways to Achieve Happiness: An Interview with Tim Bono

 

 

Jan 15: iMessage

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Because of last Friday’s fiasco, I decided to start using iMessage on my desktop. I’ve always balked at this because who really needs your text messages popping up on your screen… DURING PRESENTATIONS! But I must say, this was a game-changer. I can leave my phone in a drawer all day now!