Still here

A long time has passed since my last post and I know I left you all hanging in Denmark.  Had a busy and lovely time in Denmark then flew to the UK to be with a friend who was going through a difficult time.  It was here I lost the heart to post.  I just dealt with the day to day business of being there to support my friend and blogging became the last thing on my stressed little mind!  I will backtrack over the next couple of weeks and fill you in on the more enjoyable aspects of my trip but for now.....it's take a look at my art time.

Since returning home some 5 or so weeks ago I've had to finish two very time consuming assessment pieces. The first was our assessment for perspective and required a detailed drawing of a hideously complex building.  Aaaargh.  It is done and handed in so I can enjoy life again.  My final piece for this last unit was to copy a piece of artwork by Cindy Wider.  Cindy wrote the course that I'm doing.  Copy, ok, that'll be easy.  Oh my, it was far, far more complex, difficult and time consuming than I had anticipated.  It took over 40 hours to complete. This included the preparation of the canvas, griding and transferring the image accurately to canvas, mixing paint colours from a limited range of colours and finally painting.  The painting we copied was in the semi-abstract hard edge style that Cindy frequently uses.  Getting those crisp clear edges was a challenge but I generally enjoyed the exercise and was pleased to be finally painting even if I needed to do 4 coats. 

Now I have to plan my own original piece, draw it, get it onto canvas, paint it and hand it in for assessment.  Nerve wrecking and I can't seem to settle on an idea or concept at all. Do I do a similar style to the above (as it's so unfamiliar to me), do I do a painting that focuses on realism?  I would like to do something using Cleo (who I met in the UK) as a model but am not sure. What do you think. See the beautiful Cleo below by the way....