I have always wanted to paint something big and bold. This class gave me that opportunity.
First Published August 26, 2023: This week, yet again, I stepped out of my comfort zone. I normally stick with 9×12 and 11×14 projects. They feel doable. Probably comes from my printer background where the biggest we could print was 12×18.
But this week I found a class on the Art Bundles for Good package that focused on dramatic landscapes on 30×40 stretched canvas (yikes! Big and a substrate I do not work on very often.) I had a 24×36 canvas I wanted to paint over, so I used that.
Nikol Wikman donated five lessons on large canvas to the Art Bundles for Good package. They are all landscapes, and each is very dramatic in its own way. As my regular readers are aware, I don’t follow instructions well (:)) and this lesson was no different. I wanted to be able to make something using her techniques, but with my own composition. Nikol stressed a minimal palette and her use of large brushes and broad strokes was inspiring.
Her landscape was abstract and I wanted mine to be, too. But I used too many colors (I know, she told us not to), and I think I actually used too many strokes, too (Remember in the movie Amadeus when the King of Germany — I think — told Mozart he had too many notes in his symphonies?), which made what could have been dramatic just look busy.
Nikol shows how to use different tools to make marks, such as a spatula, and she loves to make drips! I love her work, and I love how she matter of factly put together a stunning piece in a relatively short span of time. I especially admired her use of the big brushes, which before this lesson I had only used to paint my house!
I would recommend this as a great course for someone who wants to go big for the first time. Nikol has a way of making you feel free to do whatever you want.
Here is my piece from the first of the five lessons in the course. I have to say the hardest part for me was not adding a flower!
My goal was to capture the desert hills in central northern California where the big lakes are surrounded by sandy-clay hills. I called it Purple Rain.
Hope you enjoy your week of painting!