Comments on Teresa Mallen Studio: simply pears, new cp work in progress

Hi Christine! I can't imagine gardening in Florida...

2009-07-28T00:09:25.198-04:00

Hi Christine! I can't imagine gardening in Florida. Isn't it lush there all of the time? :-) I do enjoy growing things and I am delighted to report that the previous owner already had some flowers and shrubs planted which I am enjoying. I also divided lots of my favourite plants from my former home and brought them with me (we moved here two years ago). It was a lot of work but it was worth it as I now see them thriving here.

Karie-Ann, I hate to give up on a piece! I have only ditched a few and I did end up playing and experimenting with them further in order to learn techniques etc. All the rest I have managed to do something with that I liked even if it wasn't where I was originally headed. :-) I have even put a piece away and finished it years later once I had developed my skills further.

Hi Maria and thank you. May I encourage you to keep taking photos? When I first started my art journey I was intimidated by having to take my own photo references. I learned by doing and I took hundreds of pictures. This was back in the days of film and it wasn't exactly cheap. But perseverance paid off and now I am much more comfortable composing a shot, working out light angles and so on. Your photography will improve with practice. Also, you might find it helpful to study good photos. You can look anywhere. I found high end magazines had lots of great inspiring photos. Food magazines gave me ideas on how to create still lifes and garden magazines always give great ideas on how to crop flower photos well. Have fun with this and I promise you your pictures will improve!

Love the pears. I got out in the garden today to t...

2009-07-26T17:58:09.435-04:00

Love the pears. I got out in the garden today to take some photos of the trees with berries on them. Unfortunately, I am not a good photographer and many of my shots require artistic license when used as reference. Your pear shot looks really nice to me.

brilliant tips Teresa, no one manages to get thing...

2009-07-25T03:26:13.647-04:00

brilliant tips Teresa, no one manages to get things completely right as they work away, it's wonderful to hear things can be altered and brought back onto the correct path, and judging by the last pears pic it looks pretty good to me.

These pears look yummy... your painting is coming ...

2009-07-24T20:15:00.610-04:00

These pears look yummy... your painting is coming along fine, and I am glad that you tell all and let us learn from your mishaps! I am looking forward to the progression of this piece.
You are also quite the gardener it seems...very pretty flowers you have there in your garden. I miss the summers living in a cooler climate...the growing season there is much shorter than here in Florida, but oh so abundant and colorful.

Hi Carol, I'm glad you like the pears so far! You ...

2009-07-22T19:34:38.830-04:00

Hi Carol, I'm glad you like the pears so far! You are welcome for the sharing bit - maybe the info will come in handy for someone. :-)

Hi Jennifer Rose, glad you like the progress photos and yes the electric eraser working so well was a surprise.

Hi Valerie, yes LOL indeed!!

Hey Paula, I shall hop on over to see your pears. I can't wait to see what sort of surface your pears are on! :-)

Hey, I'm doing pears too! Don't feel bad about th...

2009-07-22T15:37:12.251-04:00

Hey, I'm doing pears too!
Don't feel bad about the marble mess ~ I did that with the signature on my last one. Glad the electric eraser took it off, I didn't even think of that for mine.

The pears are looking lovely by the way, can't wait to see the finish.

Beautiful pears and beautiful garden!! Test strip...

2009-07-22T09:39:48.933-04:00

Beautiful pears and beautiful garden!! Test strips??? aww....who needs those? LOL

thanks for the progress pictures :) the pears are ...

2009-07-22T07:55:26.463-04:00

thanks for the progress pictures :) the pears are looking great and good to know that an electric eraser will not take off the texture to the paper

anything resembling yarrow gets pulled right away from the garden, makes everyone sneeze :/

Hi Teresa, Ooo - I love how the pears are turning...

2009-07-22T06:40:25.961-04:00

Hi Teresa,

Ooo - I love how the pears are turning out. And it's great to see your step-by-step and learn from your marble-background mishap! Thanks for sharing all of that. Look forward to seeing the final version!
Carol

Hi Laure! Ummm, being adventurous and flying by th...

2009-07-21T22:14:03.379-04:00

Hi Laure! Ummm, being adventurous and flying by the seat of my pants got me an ugly, inappropriate marble background - so perhaps that attitude does need to be stored in a drawer! But wait, experimentation is good - but on a separate piece of paper!!!!

Slow down? Test strips? Assessment? Ha! Where is...

2009-07-21T19:26:15.674-04:00

Slow down?
Test strips?
Assessment?

Ha! Where is your "adventurous, fly-by-the-seat-of your-pants" attitude?!!!

I suspect in the same place as mine, in the drawer marked "I've-learned-the hard-way and wasted-too-much-time"!