Challenge with Terry Miurra....Should be fun!

I consider myself very fortunate to be teaching at the School of Light and Color. First of all, Susan Sarback is an amazing artist and teacher. She founded the school in 1989. So not only do I get to teach along side Susan but also Terry Miura, David Lobenburg and others who are just amazing artists.
This week Terry has challenged us to join in painting a city scape in a simplified manner, so read up and join in the fun. I'll be posting my work and progress after I get started....

Simplify! - A Cityscape Challenge

by Terry

OK! Looks like we have a bunch of takers! WooHOO~!

I'm glad so many of you want to try this. I think it'll be very interesting and instructive not only to do an exercise like this, but to see how others solve the same problems. How exciting~

OK, so the photo above is the reference we will all use to do a painting. Everyone is welcome to try - this is just for fun, remember, so don't even worry if you feel like you're too much of a beginner. Just give it a try. I guarantee you'll learn something!

I think we ought to have some basic guidelines.

• Use the reference photo above. If you click on it, you'll get a larger version on your screen. Feel free to download it to your desktop to print it out or whatever you need to do to make it easier for you to paint from.
• Deadline. Let's say three weeks. You have to have it done and posted by March 11th.
• By "posted" I mean you can send me a jpeg via email, or if you're a blogger and you'd like to post your efforts on your own blog, just email me the link.
• Any medium.
• Any size.
• Remember the point is to simplify. NOT to try and render every damn detail.
• You may use some or all of the "rules" that I talked about in my last post. You don't have to use any of them. You can come up with your own set of rules. You don't have to have any rules at all.

Again, this is just for fun so do it in the way you feel comfortable. There are no rules as to technique or methods or sequences. I just want to see how different (or similar) our solutions are.

If you're a blogger, you might post the work-in-progress on your blogs. Might be fun, and your readers may want to try, too. If you do post your progress, please send me the link.

I think that's it for now.  Good luck and have fun~

Cityscapes are hard to paint not only because everything has to be drawn well, but also because there's just an overwhelming amount of information that needs to be processed. Simplification is key, but arbitrary editing of detail can easily end up with a weak painting that lack a sense of intent.   With so much "stuff", it's not easy to know what to include and what to edit out, especially because you know all that detail contributes to the texture of the city clutter.

One way to approach it is to have rules for editing –and you know by now I like rules. This way, you can do it systematically (more or less) and it helps me to get the painting going in the right direction. Here are some that I use often;

• Decide on a dominant color theme (in this case, blue green) and mix every color as a variation of it. (you want violet? start with blue green and bend it towards violet. Think of it as a violet-er version of the original blue green)
• Paint every element (car, tree, asphalt, etc.) in just two values.  Later on you can add a third value to the more important elements.
• Link all similar valued adjacent shapes.
• Have a large passive area. (Forces me to have an area with NO detail, juxtaposed against which the more active areas need less "stuff" in order to look detailed)
• Treat super sharp edges as exclamation points. Don't shout everywhere.

These are not rules for all painting nor are they for every painter. They're just rules that guide me to do what I do, and they work well for me. With another painting, I may have a completely different set of rules. The point is, having this type of structure is helpful in keeping my mind organized and focused. It helps me avoid making arbitrary and thoughtless decisions. 

I had this idea of inviting anyone who wants try this way of approaching the cityscape to give it a go, and sharing your results and thoughts on the experience.  I would post a reference photo for us to use - we'd all use the same photo so that we can compare and contrast how we each respond to the same problems. Wouldn't that be interesting?  Challenging, to be sure, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?