Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Still Life Lessons

Pair of Oranges, L. Daniel, 9 x 6

My last session at the Weekend with the Masters was a still life class with Quang Ho. Ho is a great painter, teacher, author, and just an incredible thinker overall. Listening to his ideas about painting and creativity is inspirational. He encourages artists to strive for "maximum randomness"... to look for variety and complexity in each area of a painting. Most importantly, he experiments. He is always open to new approaches and simply knows how to play when he works. "Play" is a really good goal and so easy to forget. 

In these two paintings, I tried to experiment with color and edges. The top one was my second attempt and favorite (I was definitely in play mode).

Fruit Toss, L. Daniel, 9 x 12

15 comments:

Tracey Mardon said...

Lucky girl! I love what you absorbed.

silentwitness said...

These are beautiful, and so "dreamy." Thank you for sharing what you learned,and the lovely results. It is amazing that you were able to inculcate his lessons into your own style, so quickly!

Diane Mannion said...

Love them both and thanks for the reminder to play!

David Westerfield said...

These are good Laurel. I need to remind myself to "play" too.

Virginia Floyd said...

These orange are fabulous! This reminds me of Lorraine Shirkus' works.

Kate Merriman said...

Would you let me purchase that still life of the oranges (top image)? I am seriously enamored.

SYLVIANE said...

Very nice paintings!

Mary Sheehan Winn said...

both fabulous but the oranges are my favorite. Loose and fresh with not a hint of mud.

Karen Wilkerson said...

I love the reflected light in the shadows of the oranges. Also, the cast shadows are full of color and therefore interesting. Thanks for sharing what you learned in the workshop. It looks like you definitely had fun.

Jala Pfaff said...

OK, I'm jealous. Quang Ho lives and works only about 40 minutes from me, and I've never been able to take any workshops with him (too expensive, unfortunately). But I've met him at his opening at one of his Denver galleries.

Anonymous said...

While I love the saturation of the colors in the bottom one, I, too, love the top painting of oranges and the representational quality of the paint.

Love you,
Erin

Lorraine Shirkus said...

I love both these still lifes but the 2 oranges are really striking. "Maximum randomness" will stay with me and thanks for the reminder to play. Love Quang Ho's work.

Angela Sullivan said...

Wow! I really love these. So beautiful and portrays such leisure.

Jeff Mahorney said...

Wow, I love that loose still life!

Randall said...

Yep play mode is fun. I tend to play half the time I paint lol. Love the oranges and getting some of that orange here and there makes vibrant a winner indeed. Deffinitely do more of these!!

~Kirby