Thursday, January 3, 2008

January Challenge from Myrna - Radial Girls, Step 1

Well, she has given us another interesting and growth-producing (I hope) challenge! Who? Why Myrna Wacknov (http://myrnawacknov.blogspot.com/), of course! This time, we choose our subject matter first. Then 1) choose one of the 7 elements of design. What are they? They are 1. Line 2. Shape 3. Size 4. Direction 5. Color 6. Value and 7. Texture

Then?
Well, then you choose a composition/format from the list of:

1. Horizontal 2. Vertical 3. Pyramidal 4. Checkerboard 5. Asymmetrical
6. Staggered 7. Frame in Frame 8. Cruciform 9. Cantilevered
10. Radial 11. Floating
Whew! That's a lot of compositional styles to choose from but you can learn more about them all in the book by Marianne Brown titled "Watercolor by Design." Now how
did Myrna know I had this book?!?

So is that all? Nope! Not yet.
Next you choose one color to be a "mother color" a la Stephen Quiller - a color that touches each area of the painting in some way or blends in some way or influences all of the painting in some way to being harmony to the painting.

So I have my subject chosen - a nude figure from my new Virtual Pose cd - I didn't limit myself to one pose but left that open.

Then I pulled the Design Elements and the Compositions/Formats from the box, blindly (after printing out the list and putting them in 2 separate boxes for drawing).

And then I used the last of the watercolor titles I had left in the hat from December's challenge - and pulled 1 for the mother color.

And what did I get?

1. Image : Nude Figure

2. Design Element : Texture

3. Composition: Radial

4. Mother Color: Monte Amiata Natural Sienna (no, I did not buy this color, it was a freebie from Daniel Smith when I bought a lot of other colors!)

I thought, okay, not bad but how does one make a nude figure radial? Thinking some and in my limited way thinking about radial designs from the center outward and came up with this as a starting point: Radial Girls - step 1

Now to see where it goes from here.

8 comments:

About said...

Great title and concept! Radiant Girls. Very cool. Sounds like an interesting way to learn the steps. I'm looking forward to seeing this progress!!!

Michelle Himes said...

Interesting concept for a radial design, Rhonda. I'll be checking in to see what you do with it.

Because of your triad projects I've been following Myrna's blog, and I decided to do something similar to this month's project, but not as complicated. I chose a subject, and then chose an element of design. (not random). I decided to emphasize line. Next I will do the same subject concentrating on shape. The first one is on my blog.

Nava said...

That's gonna be one fun subject to work with!!! I still need to pick mine

Sandy Maudlin said...

You are so flexible. I'm going to jump on the challenge wagon next week when I get home. I love what Myrna's doing to expand and develop creativity. Good luck with this one. Can't wait to see what you do.

Watercolors by Susan Roper said...

Rhonda,

I so admire your persistence with these challenges. Just finding time to paint is enough of a challenge for me! I have a new two-painting commission to do, followed by a birthday present painting and I really want to work on my canyon landscape I started before our trip. This is to say nothing of the beading and wire-wrapping I want to do after hitting the gemstone shops here in Quartzite this morning! I think you do beading, too? Well, you should see the red coral beads I bought to make myself a necklace and bracelet! So many plans, so little time! I'll put a photo of the finished necklace and bracelet on the blog when I get them finished. If I had my beading wire with me in the motorhome I would be doing that this afternoon.

I think your radial desisgn with the nudes is a great one and look forward to seeing how you paint all of this. You go, girl!

Myrna Wacknov said...

Rhonda, this is going to be one smashing painting! Now I like your subject better than mine! Interesting color you picked, too. I will be anxiously awaiting your progression. You can send me the steps as you go along if you want.

RH Carpenter said...

Tracy, thanks for stopping by to comment :) I'll have something new tomorrow on this.
Michelle, I really like your ti plant painting using Myrna's challenge (well, some of it as you focussed on LINE and did a fantastic job on it).
Nava, I have to jump in and pick something while the enthusiasm is there (plus I knew I'd be doing other things for the next day or so and not have time to work on it).

RH Carpenter said...

Sandy, I'm so glad you're going to jump in here with Myrna and the gang :) Everyone come on over and join us - if Myrna can't get you motivated, no one can :) And all from the internet - what a great thing!
Susan, it seems like you have too much to do and not enough time but just take it slow - it will all get done so no rushing. I'd love to see the beading (Sandy M. beads, but I just buy them and then look at them! I have been known to attach one to a card now and then.)
Myrna, I'm glad you like where I'm heading - although I'm not sure where I'm heading right now!