August Challenge 2011 Kevin Donaldson

August Challenge 2011 

Painting No 2.

Shell Painting by Kevin Donaldson

I just had to add this painting by Kevin Donaldson. I have recieved so many shells for the August Challenge that looked similar and amongst them came this incredible composition with other shells on the beach, shadows and so much more than what I had asked for. There is a feeling of light here also.

I think whenever we see a subject or are asked to paint something our brain immediately goes into gear as to thinking how to create what we can actually really see into a painting. But there comes a point in our artistic journey when that isn't enough and we  look into ways of creating what we don't see as well which in turn adds to the individuality of the finished result.

This doesn't by any means make paintings of the shell alone any less important but it does show how far we can go using our imagination.

Because of how I work I would love to see a few soft edges in this piece or maybe sections left to the imagination but wow what a completely different result and one I hadn't expected to see when I first set the challenge.  When we walk around exhibitions certain paintings stand out and we don't know why. Maybe we love the subjects, or possibly we admire the skill and techniques used by the artists. But when we see something completely new and different we often take a double take. I did with Kevins' painting!

As artists we not only need to create but we also need to think about grabbing the viewers attention which is well done  in this challenge by this unique composition!

Thank you very much Kevin for joining in with the challenge!

**************************