Fear of color (continued from drawing critique)

[Jimmie Arroyo]

I will eventually get into oils, but I just want to do it right when I start. My biggest enemy has always been time, and if anyone read my previous post in the drawing section, I didn't win the NJ megamillions.

For the pastels, I've tried the Wallis paper which is great! My painting "Twins" is on Wallis. First time I attempted that brand and loved it. I've never tried a commission on it, though. I'll try a personal portrait first to see how it feels before I do a commissioned piece.

I also go through the fear, anticipation and finally satisfied stages, but with a lot more panic! I plan to post the progress of one of the portraits under the 'pastel critique' section soon, so please critique away. If you guys give me a "hey, he's doing pretty good" then a "oh Jeez, he blew it", it'll be a great experience I'm sure.

Thanks.

[Steven Sweeney]

Jimmie, your approach

[Jimmie Arroyo]

Steven,

I haven't checked in for a while, and didn't realize someone had responded. Sorry about that. I appreciate your words of experience. I understand the long road ahead, which is fine as I'm a fairly patient person.

I will eventually get into oils, but I just want to do it right when I start.

When I wrote this, I meant taking a class and getting the right instruction, not that I expected to be good when I started. Oils is not something I want to do right now anyway, perhaps when my daughter gets a bit older and is in school full time.

As much as color bothers me, I really enjoy working in pastels and plan to do it for a while. What has my attention the most right now is drawing. I think because it's easy to work with around my time schedule. I can work around my daughter (not nudes of course) and supplies are limited and fit in a tin can. I just went on a short vacation to Northampton, Mass. and took a drawing with me to work on at night, which I wouldn't have been able to do with other mediums.

I actually just found a drawing class on Saturday mornings just 15 minutes away from me. I have to miss the final hour to get to work on time, but it's better than nothing. It's been two sessions, but I've been having a great time drawing from life again. Perhaps one day I'll poke my head in on an oils class and see how it's taught, assuming I could get one I have time for.

Thanks again.