Plaid's Let's Paint Live: Farmhouse Pumpkins

Time to share another painting from Plaid's Let's Paint Live events! (Click to see my sunset cactus, my starfish and my other cactus.) I always learn so much during these paint events, which is what I love about them. This one took me WAY out of my comfort zone.

Not only is it about as far from my usual style as you can get, but it was my first time painting with a palette knife. That was a really fun challenge.

I didn't realize it when I started, but I accidentally challenged myself further. Since I didn't see myself displaying a heavily distressed, farmhouse-style painting of a pair of blue pumpkins, I opted to paint on watercolor paper rather than a pricier wooden canvas. My paper was 9" square (rather than 12" like the recommended wooden canvas), which meant I needed to scale things down. Not a big deal, except that I had to be a lot more careful with the palette knife to fit it into smaller spaces. Combined with the fact that the palette knife didn't move as smoothly across the textured watercolor paper as it would have across the wood canvas, I hadn't exactly set myself up for success. No matter- I learned a lot and I had fun. Mission accomplished.

Just for fun, here's a look at the sample project:

Compare it to this screen capture of the one instructor Jessie Pniewski painted live:

When I look at her two paintings together, I see why mine is so heavily distressed, even though that goes against my usual style. Because the tool and technique were completely new to me, I was following along closely with the live version, distressing heavily while Jessie distressed heavily.

Plaid hosts Let's Paint Live nights on the first Thursday of each month at 7:30 pm Eastern, which means the next one is Thursday, December 5. Jessie will be teaching three adorable painted holiday ornaments. I can't wait!