Angry Duck Studio

I'm starting to get more confidence, so I pulled out a nice larger canvas last night. I was planning an explosion of color and texture, but after I laid down the first few red strokes, I changed my mind. Here it is, Planes? Rockets?, in all it's sparse glory.

I've been considering taking some painting classes at the Art Institute. One class they offer is called Copying at the Art Institute. The idea is that you learn by trying to copy the masters.

So last time I was there, on a Free Tuesday of course, I picked a fairly simple still life titled North River Shad (sorry can't find an image online) by William Merritt Chase. It's three fish, a red jar or vase and a plate holding a lobster, all on a shadowy wooden table.

So without further ado, here's the messy beginning of my homage to North River Shad:

Ok, so I did up some squares for the Human Pixel Project. The project's leader, Peter Smuts, kindly sent me 10 2"x2" primed wooden squares. Here's what I did with them.

	Blue -- Really this was blue, kind of a rainy day sky deal. But I got mad at it and attacked it with some other colors. In person, it has an almost metallic sheen covering a few hints of the blue that it used to be.
	Light Green -- I don't remember how it started, but I got mad at this one, too, and it ended up like this.
	Black -- Boring and functional, so I labeled it as such.
	Red -- Crooked Eiffel Tower or Angry Guy with his hands in his pockets. You decide.
	Dark Green -- Maybe a couple walking in the fog?
	Yellow -- You can't see it in the photo, but there's a streaky-jet-stripe design running from the lower left to upper right. Sorry.
	Pink -- I know, you're expecting a pig snout, but it's pretty picnic plaid instead.
	White -- A colorful abstract. It's just there.
	Gray -- Yet another poor square that felt my wrath. This one ended up fairly orderly, with a hint of chaos.
	Orange -- Bold. Simple. My favorite color.