Sometimes when I'm painting I won't be "done" or "finished" with my original starting off plan. But it looks so beautiful and interesting I just want it to stay as is.. have any of you ever experienced this?

Ethan and I got into a fun conversation about painting (you might have been notified..) and he starts speaking on sophistication in painting. I feel myself get snagged on the word 'sophisticated'. Hmm 🤔 😬👀welp, I'm very committed to exploring each and every degree of trigger in my system! So here goes. This is an adjective for painting that I suspect is subjective... can we agree on what amount or type of knowledge or how far from the beginning of learning something sophistication occurs at? Or more importantly for us..in the case of a painting can we agree on what sophistication looks like in paint? Is sophistication an elitist concept? What would look like accomplishment and knowledgeable to a new painter as opposed to an experienced painter and if it differs should some points of view be eliminated? I think that when we are CREATING we can leave the arena of what's acceptable and understood as knowledge/accomplishment. I've had people write about my work without even understanding what it is that's making them engaged with it or curious.. calling it simple, technique abandoned... etc. I want to discuss this with you all. What do you think is a sophisticated painting? I'd love to see visuals!

This month the challenge is to paint a monochromatic composition. As I was tapping my inspiration for this challenge I was called back to a memory of a particular painting by the artist Esther Deans of New Zealand. The first image is the one I LOVE! Please go check out her instagram for inspiration. We meet Wednesday, February 25th @ 1pm - 2pm PST USA (all members) to show each other what we painted! The link is in the calendar.

What are some different ways you can create a monochromatic painting? I'll go first: You could set up a still life of objects that all lie in the same color family, and paint it from life with your usual palette. What else?

As monochrome project.