A Workshop with Don Taylor

It seems that no matter how many years you have been painting you can still learn something new. Even old dogs can learn new tricks. That's why I take as many workshops as I can. There are always new things to learn, new products to try. Who knows? I may finally find that magic brush I've always wanted that will take me to those artistic heights of excellence that we all pursue. Not only that, I get to have 3 or more consecutive days to paint in a friendly, encouraging setting. That said, this painting is one I worked on and finished in Don Taylor's workshop. He uses a triad of aureolin, cobalt, and rose madder genuine for his under painting. After that dries, he combines ultra marine with hematite pigments from Daniel Smith for a granulating dark effect. The hematites are non-staining and easy to lift. I lost a lot of my under painting getting in the darks but I think the look of a gloomy, rainy day is sort of interesting. This picture was done with his reference and his help on the perspective. Thanks Don!

Georgia Blue Ridge

I spent a long week end with some wonderful "sisters" in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia. What I painted in my little Moleskine doesn't come close to the beauty of that area but I give myself credit for trying. The trees on the hills in the distance had lost all of their leaves so it was just a mass of grayish brown. The center hills were full of evergreen trees with trees with orange leaves interspersed among them. That combination of green and orange was quite striking. Closer was another hill of trees that were barren. The skies were a striking blue the whole week end which is unusual according to the one whose cabin we were visiting. We had an interesting visit by a young bear who wanted our garbage can in the worst way. I wish I had gotten a good picture of him/her but I wasn't willing to venture outside to do so. As a result, I have a picture with a fuzzy black thing in it. At least I know it was a bear.

Starting tomorrow I'll be taking a 3 day workshop with Don Taylor, I hope to have some interesting paintings to post.

Playing with Paste

Ancient Symbols 1 & 2

Getting my cue from Mary Todd Beam in her book The Creative Edge, I tried playing with molding paste. I was given two 5 X 7 canvas boards that were going to be thrown out so somehow that gave me permission to play. Funny how free material does that. On one I used molding paste and the other light molding paste, both sample jars from Golden. (More free material.) I spread the paste on the canvases and used a texture tool, palette knife and jar lids to make designs in the paste. I let them dry overnight and then rubbed a charcoal stick over the rough edges to bring out the design. I thought the charcoal was too heavy so I took some off with a paper towel. Then I started applying thinned liquid acrylic paint allowing the colors to mingle. After drying I added some dark blue, cobalt teal and metallic paint. I think I prefer the molding paste to the light molding paste because it dries with a glossier finish, the light paste is almost grainy and a very matte finish. It was fun to work with and I think I'll try a bigger project on illustration board in the future.

Finish those paintings month

Midnight in the Garden 13.5 X 10.5

Last week I resolved to finish some old paintings that have been languishing in portfolios for who-knows-how-long. They are just beginnings, some with no real subject or direction in mind. Times of play when I just splashed on color and various tools to make texture; saran, filter paper, rice paper, wax paper, salt, alcohol, bubble wrap, etc. When these were dry I didn't continue with them because I didn't "see" a composition in them. So last week, armed with various sizes of mats I moved them this way and that until I found some compositional possibility to pursue. This is my first completed painting from my resolve. It was fraught with many difficulties. I wish I had taken a picture of the underpainting before I started working on it. One of the difficulties was that it had lain so long that mold had hidden itself until the water made it show up in spots. The spots were on leaves, though, so it didn't matter too much. In one area there had been damage to the paper, I suspect from too heave salt residue. When I tried to gently scrub in this area the paper came off in sheets and almost made a hole through the middle of the painting. Since it had become a mixed media painting anyway, I repaired it with white acrylic front and back and collaged on it. It was an interesting challenge and I'm going to start the second one, tonight, I hope. I have four to go.

Rooftops for DSDF

I played around with another piece of Tyvek for my Different Strokes from Different Folks challenge. This time I used almost all acrylic and did I ever go wild with the color. The picture was so monochromatic, and uninteresting in color to me so I went as far the other direction as I could. I tried to concentrate on shapes, and textures. For the finishing touch I used Caran D' Arche Neocolor sticks. I rubbed different shades over some of the areas to enhance the textures made by the acrylic. It was loads of fun just playing and experimenting in a free way. Always the question in my mind was, "What would happen if I..." and then I would just go for it. I hope you catch my sense of play.

Lost World Circles

Myrna Wacknov's paintings on Tyvek intrigued me and I tried one but the watercolor just beaded up on it. Then she blogged about using a Golden Acrylic product called GAC200 that increases adhesion to slick surfaces. So I coated the Tyvek with a GAC and gesso mix as recommended on the bottle, let it dry, and then I was able to get some success with the watercolors. I played around with making circles and lines, used some watercolor crayons and some acrylic paints, and finally drops of alcohol. When I thought I was happy with it I let it dry. While I was looking at it upside down I noticed that I had three circles in a vertical row right in the middle! (Top painting.) Aaaagh! The curse of putting things in the middle. I put the top picture in Photoshop and corrected the two lower circles and liked it better so then I went into the real painting and did some watercolor editing. The surface, being rather slick was pretty easy to edit. The bottom picture is the finished painting, Lost Worlds, 8.5x11 . I showed it to a friend and he asked, "Why paint on Tyvek rather than traditional paper or canvas?" I came up with three reasons; you get at different effect, it's a challenge, and the Tyvek was free (a builder gave it to me).

Smart Women

I'm up and running in Florida! We had more problems than usual this year upon our return but things are settled into "normal" whatever that is! I finally added the finishing touches to the acrylic and collage painting that I started about a month ago in Minnesota. It's so good to be back in my own little studio/room off the kitchen, surrounded by my usual stuff. We artists do like "our stuff", don't we?

As I look at this painting I think I may have gone overboard with the "stuff", perhaps it is too busy, but I'm happy with it. I've been reading The Creative Edge by Mary Todd Beam and her advice is to paint what pleases you. She says, "You have really reached a milestone when you don't care what anyone else thinks." How true this is in life as well as in art. I hope that I can continue to paint with that freedom.

Happy week end!

A Short Absence

I will be disconnected for a few days until we reach our home in Florida. If the weather cooperates I'll be able to paint a little bit in the places we visit on the way down. I'm looking forward to seeing my painting buddies in Florida again!

Hotel Les Roches

I'm supposed to be packing and getting ready for our migration back to Florida and I found a little painting I did in France in 2006. We stayed at a wonderful B&B called Hotel Les Roches in Mont St Jean, France. One lovely afternoon I sat and painted the front entry. The face in the arch was the face of the wife of the builder and original owner of the chateau.

If you ever want to get a taste of the French countryside in the Burgundy area I would highly recommend this chateau. The rooms were clean and spacious, and the food and wine was an A plus. The area was full of vineyards and ancient caves full of dusty old bottles of fine wine.

Mini equipment

Today's post is a picture of the second painting I did at the lake. It's of one of the clumps of birch trees that are around the property with the lake in the background. To my dismay, I've painted so many Florida scenes that I have almost forgotten how to paint birch trees, one of my first watercolor lessons. I think I captured the look eventually, though. Along with the painting is the the tiny brush, Pocket Box and and Moleskine. Until I started painting the miniature paintings with gouache last summer, I never used a small brush except for an occasional detail. Just look at me now!

A Break at the Lake

We were invited to spend a few days with our friends at their lake cabin in northern Minnesota this week. I was looking forward to some fall color and I wasn't disappointed. The maple's reds, oranges and yellows were a lovely contrast to some of the trees that were still stubbornly green. It seems like the maples always go first. I sat on the pontoon boat and did a quick painting of the shoreline in the distance. I finally got to use my watercolor Moleskine that has pages that are 5 1/2" by 3 1/2". It's pretty small but the only brush I had was the one in Sketchers' Pocket Box with 12 half pans of paint in a little palette. I'm trying to see how "minimalist" I can get with my equipment. I'm not sure of the size of the brush but it's certainly no bigger than a #2. It's fun to see what can be done with a small book and palette.

A Rose Collage

I painted this Rose Collage in a workshop a couple of years ago. I remember that I really liked the technique but I haven't done much of it until the most recent workshop I did. The last workshop was with acrylics on canvas, but this was done with watercolors on paper. The other similarity was that it was in a square format. It's fun going over pictures of previous paintings and finding that you are building knowledge and techniques all along the way. Each workshop and class is really integrating with what you already know even if you aren't consciously thinking of it. Workshops have a way of making me go beyond what I would do on my own, there is an almost electric, creative atmosphere when you are with a group of other artists.

Birthday Bouquet

I love to paint original birthday cards for close friends. Sometimes there just isn't time to get it done and get it in the mail on time. On those times I have to settle for a print of a painting. That seems to work OK, too. People are happy to receive a "real card" in their mailbox instead of an e mail card. So this one was done earlier this summer of some flowers I had from the farmers' market. It got painted on time but also copied so that I can use the bouquet again and again. I like to tell friends and family members that I am glad they were born. Whenever your birthday, I hope it is a happy one.

Pomme and Wine with Chocolate

I'm continuing my backwards journey through the workshop and I'm now ready to post pictures of the little warm-ups that were started the first day. I was very unsatisfied with that first days work so, on the second day I painted over and put collage on them. They are only 6X6 inches. I still used the same technique of allowing the under painting to come through by using a thin glaze and dabbing it with tissue while it was still wet. Perhaps if I had played with it a bit more I would have glazed again over some of the collage but I think I will leave it alone for now and do that the next time.

I Love Paris

The second day of last week's workshop the assignment was to plan something with words in the painting. I had a paper with the Eiffel Tower on it that I thought I would like to incorporate into my painting so I decided that my word would be Paris. The first step was to choose an abstract design for the "bones" of the painting. Once the design was chosen and painted, making interesting textures and layers in the paint along the way; we could then place our collage pieces into our painting. Finally, the letters were stenciled and the painting embellished with a little gold paint. After a week of looking at the painting I've decided that it doesn't need another thing. What do you think?

Orchids in acrylic

I took an acrylic workshop with an artist friend of mine, Karen Knutson. I don't ususally do paintings in acrylic but I thought it would be fun to learn something new. I'm always up for a challenge. The most frustrating thing for me was mixing the colors to get the color I wanted. Usually I ended up with a big pile of too much paint, but that should improve with practice. It was quite a process of building up successive layers of colors and removing by using water of alcohol to reveal the color underneath. There were also layers of collage to add interest and texture. I'm posting my last painting first because it is the most completed. I hope to have time in the coming week to finish my other attempts.

Osprey Nest

This osprey nest has been on this pole for many years. It seems like the osprey nest is always active. It's situated on Matlacha in the public park near the Pine Island Art League building. Since Matlacha is an island, it is an ideal place for osprey; surrounded by water, the birds have an abundant supply of fish. Osprey are also known as "fish hawks". They are wonderful flyers, fishers and nest builders. Every year they add more sticks to their nests. I wonder if it's a bird version of "keeping up with the Jones".

The Fishingest Bridge

This bridge in Matlacha Florida is called by locals "The fishingest bridge". On many days you can see the whole bridge lined by people fishing, depending on what's in season. It's a draw bridge, as you can see by the picture, it is open allowing a sailboat to go through the pass. The bridge also services a very busy road and the traffic backs up until the bridge is closed again. This gave me an opportunity to hop out of my car and shoot a picture so that I could paint it. The building with the red roof is a motel that is built out over the water so that the guests can walk out of their doors and fish anytime they want to. Matlacha (Mat-la-SHAY) is a unique little place that mixes fishing with art galleries.

Something New

I found a new product to try while looking around my local art store. They are like watercolor pencils but when you wet them and they dry, they are permanent. They are called Inktense by Derwent. You can work over them and add to them and the color underneath will not move. I did my intitial drawing with them and when the first layer dried I went in with watercolor to get the depth of dark that I wanted in the wave and water areas. I think I'm going to enjoy doing watercolor sketches with them; so far I have a tin of 12, enough to have some fun for now.

The Pits

There was an old book title that read, "If Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries, Why Am I In the Pits?" I thought I'd finish my Cherries and Spoon series with the pits. I did, at last, succumb to their delicious juiciness and ate them. I often wonder how the old master painters could stand there and paint the obviously delectable food in their still life paintings, and not eat their subject. They didn't have the advantage of taking a digital photo as we do so that we can use the reference well beyond the "expiration date".