Felix
its a stretch not a link, so I guess not uploaded. I will just add it when I do the final project.
From Real to Abstract - Event Discussion
Great event Felix. As you said, will be a challenge to all of us landscape painters, but also a nudge to grow!
indicationofart Hi Tomi, I like your submission to the event. Beautiful mixture of colours and strokes. Can you offer any explanation how you arrived at the finished product to help me understand this process?
I enjoyed this challenge MUCH more than I thought I would. The key was really to choose a subject that inspired me - which was my pet portraits. When I started doing my sketches, they were not loose at all! LOL. By the time I got to #6 I actually did it super fast (like a little kid not worried about the result) and finally got what I wanted.
flippergirlpaints it's fabulous.
I'm enjoying it very much as well. Just settled on my final concept, now it's time to explore
I'm still in the process of getting my head around this. Looking at the picasso example it reminds me of that film "the man with xray eyes" where he starts off being able to see people walking around in their underwear. Throughout the film his xray vision went through various stages. It progressed to allow him to see fully clothed people completely naked, then he could see their muscles, internal organs, and eventually he could only see skeletons. 
I'm struggling with this. For me to put a painting on my wall I have to see the beauty in it which is messing with my thought process. I have a subject in mind but I can't seem to achieve what I want without slipping into surrealism. Otherwise my final painting is going to look like a corporate logo, but I guess that's OK coz it doesn't need to look anything like the original conception?
Anything anyone does should be fun as @Felix said. Have fun with it.
I think it is okay to not think of your own art as beautiful. There are things in life that are not beautiful
Felix Thanks. That reminds me I've been meaning to ask, you know that ugly stage that artists often mention early on the painting, sketching and blocking in, I can't do that as I can't see beyond it at that time, it just looks so messy. I just want to build the finished painting as it progresses like Bob does. I think the ugly stage is likely used by traditional painters where Bob offers a short cut, would that be a fair assumption? I can't even sketch and it's holding me back painting a dog that I want to paint. I feel a bit trapped. So I've decided to have a go at drawing something and see what I manage to do.
You're not alone with this!
This is actually one of the most common things painters struggle with. Both the "ugly" stage of a single painting, as well as the first time of learning to draw seriously, where you have fantastic ideas in your head, but everything looks just terrible, because you don't yet have the skills. The only way to get through this is to go through this.
I'll go through my sketch books and see if I can find something that I did a year ago that is similar to something recent, so you can see how fast you get better once you start to seriously work on your drawing skills.
I'm also actually working on something that will help people transition to this more skill-based way of painting and drawing. It's still in the very early stages, but you'll know when it is done.
Felix Thank you, much appreciated.
I had to delete my submission. There's still a lot of ideas in my head that want out before I can call this finished
Felix I thought it represented your idea really well, and it was a neat piece of work. It wasn't ugly, I'd have it on my wall
Look forward to see what you come up with. I've known what I want to do from day one, its just doing it is it
I've now uploaded my final one, the first version just didn't feel finished yet with the circles
I am loving all the creations i have seen so far on the event page, you guys are magnificent painters and your work shows this.
- Edited
Felix hey Felix, have you tried a similar stretch sitting down? Sit on the floor back straight, legs out in front of you. Open your legs as wide as you comfortably can until you feel a slight pull on your thighs, hands on knees or on the floor in front of you to steady yourself as you lean forward, with straight back, as far as you can then straighten back up again. Do it several times as part of your routine. After only a few sessions you should be able to touch your forehead to the floor. It's good for inner thigh muscles and helps keep you supple. Very quickly it becomes easy so mind you don't bang your head like I did!
You could turn your painting vertical!
12 days later
I struggled with this, but Bob often said every once in a while you have to paint something crazy. I agree you have to get out of your comfort zone (occasionally) if you want to grow.