Sunday, January 8, 2012

Flora's challenge


Chelsea in the snow
Ipad drawing on Sketchbook Pro
8 x 10 inches
Barbara Muir © 2012

I start school in the morning and talked to
famous Canadian artist Flora Doehler tonight
via telephone while I made dinner.  She challenged me to
draw something real with my iPad.  I explained
that I'm just using my fingers, but she wouldn't
back down.  I decided she had an intriguing thought.

So here it is.  It is a house near my brother's place
in Chelsea, Quebec, in the snow.  Still learning
Flora, but it certainly was fun completing your challenge.

Have a following-friends'-ideas day.

15 comments:

Kim Rempel said...

Well, it's just gorgeous! I love it! Very cold, wintery and Canadian : ) I've got one too and haven't done any painting on it - clearly not using it to it's potential!

Liza Hirst said...

This is great, Barbara! I liked your abstract i-pad drawings, too, but this one is my favourite so far. The way you chose the different colours for the trees was really clever! You managed to create the illusion of a lot of depth.

Carol said...

I have only done a bit of drawing on my iPad but it is fun! I have the Pogo Sketch stylus to draw with on the iPad, which is much easier than using just my finger. There are other ones available so do a bit of research but I do reccomend using a stylus. Apps I like are "Brushes" (you can playback your whole drawing as an animation, from start to finish) and "procreate" which is a new and really properly thought out app that is supposed to rock on the iPad2.

Carol said...

Oh, and of course I really like your drawing!

laura said...

Beautiful--love the limited palette, the warm and cool blues, and especially black!

Sheila Vaughan said...

Barbara, glad you are feeling better. That blue is stunning with the dark branches. Never tried an iPad though.

Flora Doehler said...

Gorgeous Barbara….and I'm not one bit surprised!!

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Kim,

I think the wintery thing works well on the iPad, because of course it's great at the white space.

Your paintings are beautiful. Stay away from the devices. Except to blog of course.

XO Barbara

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Liza,

Thanks. I actually just tried to recreate the colours in the photo reference. Not possible -- but maybe that's okay. You actually have a great
variety of colour and tone available, and I don't understand all of it. But it's delicious in a certain way. Soon I'll be back to 'normal' painting.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxBarbara

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Carol,

I could spend my whole life on my iPad, and that would make me sad. The other day I had the flu, and my husband and I sat on the couch with our computers. It was fun and all, but I don't think I'm going to go that much further with this -- it doesn't go to 6' x 5' -- and I need to go there. However, I did think it would be fun to paint from the drawings, trying to recreate that bright abstract quality. Don't know whether I will or not. Time with tell.

Thanks for all the info, you are great.

XO Barbara

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Laura,

The palette was inspired by the photo and the landscape. I actually tried to work almost like you do in watercolour, so I started with the back of the background, and moved forward. I have another lovely reference from that set, and I might do another iPad drawing and then a watercolour, or acrylic painting of the scene.

My lucky brother sees this stuff every day. Meanwhile here -- no snow.

XO Barbara

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Sheila,

The point of the iPad is that I can put something out here when time is limited. The whole photographing/cropping/adjusting the colour and light for accuracy part is missing. I email the image to myself, cut down the size, and it's ready. Otherwise I would always paint, or draw, or both because hands on with actual equipment is so wonderful. Love your recent paintings (well love all of your work.)

XO Barbara

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Flora,

I had a bit more time for it last night. You are so cute, and funny, and sooooo inspiring. See -- that's what talking to you did.

XO Barbara

Carol said...

Drawing on the iPad is an amusement, although there are some really fascinating works being with the Brushes app. Google it on YouTube and you will see that instead of trying to replace real media, Brushes animations truely add to the experience.

Nicki said...

This is an exciting painting Barbara! I'm so glad Flora challenged you... and you rose to it!

XO Nicki

Portrait Artist

My photo
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I paint and draw on commission and for shows. To commission a portrait, or purchase one of my paintings please contact me at: barbara.muir@sympatico.ca
A major highlight in my career? Drawing Oprah Winfrey live via Skype for her show "Where in the Skype are you? Galleries: Studio Vogue Gallery, Toronto, Canada. The Amsterdam Whitney Gallery, New York City. Gallery at the Porch Door, Kingston, Canada. Your positive comments on this blog mean the world to me. I'd love to hear from you!