Palette knife lesson

2pianojudy

I haven’t posted for a while because the teacher we have currently does quite a bit of didactic work in class.  We actually work on projects designed to teach specific things.  A couple of weeks ago we had a lesson on light and shadow.  Last week we all tried to copy a barn and field of corn from a photo teacher took in Iowa some time ago. The challenge was that we were not allowed to use a brush — we were to practice learning how to paint with a palette knife.  We were also supposed to finish the painting in class, which i was unable to do (as were my classmates.). So i have worked on it a  bit at home this week.  Because you use very thick paint and no medium it takes forever to dry.  therefore fixing mistakes is somewhere between tricky and impossible.  So — i attach  the reference photo and my attempt.  It was challenging but fun.

(P.S. this week we’re all going to paint a pear>)

4 thoughts on “Palette knife lesson”

  1. mimiepstein42's avatar mimiepstein42 August 21, 2019 / 6:06 am

    Funny how using a palette knife may turn our to be like water color in that it is hard to correct “errors”. I like the barn and the silo. The corn field, not so much. A blue roof would be nice. You might be able to do some of that impressionistic work with the palette knife. I look forward to seeing more of this new process.

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    • 2pianojudy's avatar 2pianojudy August 23, 2019 / 12:59 pm

      Thanks, Mimi. Yes, a blue roof would have been preferable, i agree. Maybe when, and if, that roof ever dries, i’ll Try a glaze over the top to lighten up the color. And yes, the corn field is a problem. Teacher said if i didn’t like the way those thick strokes turned out, i could try scraping off some of the paint. Stay tuned…..

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  2. brandialexandracatknapp's avatar brandialexandracatknapp August 21, 2019 / 1:59 pm

    Judy, please consider that your teacher may be somewhat sadistic. Lots of subjects lend themselves to palette knife only treatment. NOT something with corn in the foreground. 

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  3. 2pianojudy's avatar 2pianojudy August 23, 2019 / 12:56 pm

    Thanks for your very supportive comment, Myra. However, the truth is that i should be able to make that corn work with the knife. I was not patient enough and not practiced enough. So am trying to be and do more of both!

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