Ten Hundred Art Class at Monthly, April 2021

It’s just over one year since the last one so time for a new post, surely.

I am in the middle of a month-long, intensive online art class at the platform “Monthly”, called Draw & Paint Your Imagination with Ten Hundred.

Reader, it goes poorly. The goal of the class is to produce a finished 11×14 acrylic painting on a wood panel. And this is the no good very bad condition my painting is in right now. In fact, I started a second one (also poorly) in case I throw this one in a fire.

Not. Going. Well. The face has been repainted about a dozen times. You can see how I got mad and scrubbed it with sandpaper (and then had to redo a bunch of the pencil lines). I am not used to this painting style and so far have adapted poorly. I am pretty sure this style demands a level of patience I do not possess! But it’s not over yet.

We do have two weeks left. This is the middle The middle is the hardest, right? And then I figured I would write a blog post and share the misery with the few lost souls who find it. I tell you what, I am NOT saying don’t take this class. Everyone has a different experience, is my guess. I am doing more art than I normally would and that was worth the price of admission. Oh yeah, it’s kind of pricey. I used some stimulus check on it and I consider it well-spent.

I will also say this class has a large variety of peers, many much more skilled than me, and some maybe with fewer skills. But the ones who are posting their updates are all KILLING IT with their painting progress. On the other hand, many people are not posting any updates at all, and I am worried about them.

Below is most of what I’ve done for the class. We started with sketches and ideas and then worked toward a final character and image, transfer that to a wood panel and get to painting.

I believe it started going wrong when I wasn’t really happy with my final image, but went with it anyway. The bottom left with the bird is not resolved and needs another or a different creature. The dog character looks too much like a malformed dog and not like an imaginary creature as he should have. Then I didn’t decide my colors ahead of time. THEN I could not get the hang of painting smoothly and being patient. Which is where I am today, as I write this blog post.

Here is my timeline of progress.

So there it is. I hope my next update is much more chipper!

Thanks for dropping in!

5 thoughts on “Ten Hundred Art Class at Monthly, April 2021

  1. denthe

    Oh Cindy, I think you’re being way too hard on yourself. You’re now in the “ugly teenager phase”, as Flora Bowley would say, and I think all artists hate that phase. Keep going, you WILL get there! On the other hand, i know the feeling when you’re going with something you’re not really happy about. Usually i change it anyway, afterwards, and that’s the beauty of acrylics: they’re all layers, and each layer adds to the depth of the piece, and when you don’t like one layer you just go over it again. and again, and again, until you’re happy. Looking forward to how you finish this! You can do it!

    1. The Beast Tender Post author

      Yes, you’re absolutely right! I have never gotten over this thing where the art is hideous for a long stretch in the middle. And it’s sort of necessary. But I still have such a terrible time with it. I have progressed some from the version posted, but have a long way to go in the remaining week, especially since I dragged my sleeve through the paint. DAMMIT.

  2. Sheri McClure-Pitler

    Hi! I feel your pain and admire your persistence! I love the fanciful aspect to your work! I hope you keep going with this one and share the finished piece. I think it will work out in the end. And if not, learning process right? At least that’s what I tell myself when I end up trashing something, lol!
    Usually, when something major goes wrong for me, it’s because there was something I didn’t fully work out in the drawing stage. Also sometimes the initial drawing looks great but not as nice once it’s painted. Recently when two of my kids requested specific drawings, I slowed down my process and took more time with each stage. I used a lightbox to trace aspects of the original sketch several times until I was sure all aspects had been worked out—nothing left to chance. Then I used the discarded sketches to play with color choices—not in a detailed way, just with large swathes of color blocking to see how they played with each other and how to make some things pop. I had fewer problems along the way with both and was (as much as I ever can be) satisfied with the outcome. As I’ve aged and my hand-eye coordination isn’t what it used to be, I’m finding I have to plan more and rely less on freehand drawings; in my younger days I rarely did preliminary sketches, just drew directly on the media with little or no plan! Now, if I need to be sure a piece turns out well (not just a free-wheeling doodle) I do preliminary sketches and use my lightbox as well as graphite paper to transfer the final drawing.
    Can you add a button to your blog so I can follow you? (Unless of course there already is one and I missed it,lol!)
    Cheers!

    1. The Beast Tender Post author

      Thank you, Sheri! Absolutely all of the learning process is valuable. They can’t all be masterpieces! But I think I will get through this one. Not sure if I would choose a wood panel again. I guess we’ll see how it goes. :D (I will look into that button thing. I have a place you can sign up for a newsletter, and I only send one if I post something, so it’s sort of like following. On the other hand, I don’t always do the newsletter. I didn’t with this last one. But maybe I will for when I’m finished! :D

  3. Ruth Hayes

    Looks good to me so far. Sometimes you just have to look at these things as an experiment and go where it takes you.

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