Rachel Jones and Art

  Beetle Detail by R.Jones  It was a slower process than expected (due to life in general) but I finally finished the oil painting that corresponded to the preliminary watercolor I painted in my sketch book!  😃 Yay, Me!!!  I wrote about this in a previous post and made a short YouTube video about it.  The idea was that this process helps with making better ‘master’ paintings. Though I have done similar sketches before, it is not the norm and they are usually more linear sketches than a more detailed finished work. Below is the first study.   Kindred Of Nature study by Rachel Jones Making a study beforehand helps to solidify ideas, work out problems such as composition, figure out the color palette, and so forth. Personally (once I get over the fear of the white canvas) I look forward to the natural progression of a painting. Though there is always a plan, there is a certain ‘magic’ that happens when one ignores the references and just paints. I didn’...

By Rachel Jones Hello, All    As I recuperate from a recent incident, I decided to try a few new things. Usually once I have an idea for a painting, I begin it. We often have “that” moment before our easel where we doubt if we ever really knew what we were doing in the first place. Unfortunately, that’s part of the game. But I read recently where a painter was saying how preliminary sketches of the work helps to work out some of the kinks and a small painting is done before every painting (Phew!). I’ve always believed the problem solving happened once the painting started. But, I’m not too old to learn. So I thought I’d give it a try. I wanted to make an oil painting depicting one of my familiar themes (nature inspired) . So I pulled out one of my many sketchbooks (why do I continue to buy more🤔) and put the idea down using watercolor, gouache, pens and forethought. If nothing else, I thoroughly enjoyed the process. Has it helped with the bigger picture? Time will tell so sta...