Rooster, #11

                                                               Rooster
                      Watercolor on patterned acrylic background, 8 X 10

I'm enjoying painting on the patterned backgrounds. The gesso allows for the watercolor to absorb a little but still be removable. The background is gesso tinted with some acrylic paint, the patterns are made with stamps that I have made with craft foam sheets and mat board. I think my rooster needs another leg to stand on, or maybe he has it tucked up under himself.

Beautiful Florida Sunset, #10

                                                    Beautiful Florida Sunset
                                         Watercolor on paper 7 X 10

Sometimes the sunsets are just spectacular, it must be the moisture in the air  from the Gulf of Mexico lingering in the sky so that the sun can do it's magic. I take pictures often and this time I painted one. Usually the palms appear dark, almost black in photos but in life they are really not that dark. So, dig out some of those photos you've taken of sunsets, get out your paints and have a little fun mingling the yellows, pinks and blues into a beautiful sunset. The variety is never ending.

Sara, #9

                                                             Sara
                      Watercolor on paper textured with acrylic, 7.5 X 5.5

This challenge has really gotten me out of my comfort zone and into trying some things that I don't ordinarily paint. I haven't painted many animals except for birds. I thought I try this little dachshund named Sara who belongs to my son's family. She has an unusual coat for a dachshund since it's white with tan markings. This turned out to be more of a cartoon or caricature, but still has a freshness that I like.

Whatchamacallit #8

                                                       Whatchamacallit,
                                     Acrylic, collage on paper, 9X12

We all have them, they're whatchamacallits, just crazy  ideas, paintings, do-dads. We're not sure what they are or what to do with them but there they are and sometime they just make us smile. This little painting has lots of layers that have been  rubbed, scribbled, stamped painted over and around. Even a little collage was added  for good measure. Sometimes it's just fun

to do something that's a little bit out of my comfort zone and put it out there for the world to see. How crazy is that?

Hammock on the Beach, #7

                                      Hammock on the Beach, 
                                    Acrylic on textured paper, 15 X 11

I feel like I've really accomplished something! 7 paintings in 7 days. It's so much fun to be painting regularly, it makes me wonder why I haven't kept up with it before. I guess life just gets in the way sometimes, and once I get away from painting every day it's harder to get back to it. 
This painting was from a photo I took at a resort in the Florida Keys. I think I've seen this scene pop up more than once. I've eliminated some palms that were in the original picture but left in the little island of mangroves off shore. It was certainly an inviting and idyllic spot, probably photographed hundreds of times. But each artist has their own interpretation and style of painting it. No two are alike. 

Challenge painting #6

                                                Ap"pear"antly, 
                                  Acrylic on textured background. 11X11

OK, I'll stop making any more puns about pears, at least for now. You can't see it on this photo but there is a lot of iridescence on the surface of this painting. I just thought it would be fun to add a little gold on the pears and a blue sheen to the background. This is very freeing to paint everyday and not be too concerned about whether it's perfect or not. Just get out the paper and the brushes and do it. I think pears are easier to paint in watercolor than in acrylic. Acrylic looks flat to me, and it's difficult not to get hard edges. I prefer the ability to soften some edges in watercolor.

Challenge paintings # 4 and 5

                                        New Year Angel 
                   Watercolor on gesso background, 7X15

I decided that the backgrounds I made of thinned gesso over old watercolor paintings would be a good canvas for my challenge paintings. It eliminates the need for a background and makes me stretch my imagination for subjects to be compatible with them. This New Year Angel is done in watercolor over the gesso. She is holding a basket of fruit to symbolize prosperity in the New Year. 

   Suddenly Ap"pears"   
       Acrylic and collage on gesso textured paper

Number 5 is another one done on gesso-textured paper. I love painting pears and this one seemed to fit right in that spot. The moon face in the upper right is a collage piece, the other areas were scraped and stamped into the gesso when it was wet. A friend looked at it after I painted it and said, "A pear suddenly appeared in the city". I guess the grid shapes do look like buildings. 

Painting Large

                             Message In An Aquarium
                Watercolor and collage, 22X30

We were encouraged to paint larger paintings at the Florida Watercolor Society convention last September. I have balked at the idea in the past because of the lack of space in my studio and the expense of framing a full sheet painting. But, I decided I was tired of having my small paintings hung in the corner so many times. I took the plunge and painted a full sheet painting. Not my first but the  first in a long time. I started with the background with lots of textural materials, papers, gauze and stamps then added the fish shapes when it was dry. I like the path of light from top to bottom with the implied connections to each side. It was fun to do and now I must get to the framing. Then on to another full sheet painting.

Two Paintings for the Challenge

                                             Waiting Lady  acrylic on paper

                                      Two Spoonbills, acrylic on paper

These are the first two paintings I posted on the 30 day challenge. I found that I had to use Google Chrome in order to get the download feature to work.  Check my last blog for the address of the 30 day challenge if you want to know more or to participate. I have another painting "in my camera" to post later for today's painting. This really takes commitment. I hope I'm up to the challenge.

30 Day Challenge

I'm having trouble with blogspot. I'm unable to access my own picture files in order to post a picture of my painting. I've been able to post my paintings on a challenge called 30 Paintings in 30 days. I thought it would be a good way to jump start the new year and get into the swing of painting again after the holidays. I have been in a workshop for the last 3 days so that has also helped. I decided that I won't know if I can do it (do a painting a day for 30 days) unless I try. The blog for the 30 day challenge is http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.com
Check it out!

                            Bells of Siena, Italy, 7 1/2" X 5 1/2", watercolor

I wanted to save posting this until all my cards were sent out. Now I can put it up because that task is done. I found the stamp about the bells at a craft shop and remembered that I had pictures of this bell tower in Siena, Italy. I think they were part of a convent there. It's different for me because I usually paint something more traditional but this is what inspired me this year.
I wish everyone a very happy and blessed Christmas!

Magnolias on a silk scarf

                                                Left end 

Center

Right end

 

This scarf was done much the same way as the first scarf except that this is a smooth silk and the other was chiffon. The smooth silk allows the use of a fluid resist that allows the artist to keep the colors from running into each other. I used the resist around the petals of the flowers and leaves and also to make the branch shapes to break up the background. In the spots where I didn't get the resist applied you can see where the blue ran into some of the branch shapes. It's all part of the learning process.

 

 

Painting on Silk

Right end

Center

Left end

                                 Hand painted Silk Scarf, 8"x 54" 

I took a workshop on silk painting last week end. I found it to be quite similar to watercolor painting. Our teacher, Linda Lucas, was an accomplished watercolor artist as well. This Lily scarf is the first one that I painted. We used a special pen to sketch our design onto the scarf which had been ironed onto a piece of freezer paper. The ink from the pen disappears when it gets wet. Next we applied our colors. I wanted the colors in the lilies to blend so I didn't wait for each color to dry. After they dried I applied the colors for the leaves, then when they were dry I did the background. When the scarf is dry the colors are heat set with a steam iron, then the scarf is washed, dried and ironed again. I really enjoyed the class and the technique and plan to do more.

Painting at the Gallery

 

 

 

Two weeks ago I had another time of painting demonstrations at the WildChild Gallery in Matlacha Florida. As part of being a gallery artist we spend two week ends a year painting and meeting folks who come into the gallery. I try to demonstrate some aspect of my work either in watercolor or acrylic. This time I took my acrylic paints and some small, 6x6 gallery wrap canvases to paint on. They are just fun little pieces that I paint from my imagination with textures and colors. It keeps me open to possibilities, ideas and materials.

 

 Got Stuff, Acrylic and Found Objects, 6"X6"

 

Sunset, Acrylic, 6"x6"

 

 

                                        Light Chop, Acrylic, 6"x6"

One delightful thing that happened the last hour of the last day was that a visitor from France came by and started admiring some of the work that I had displayed around my table. He saw a painting that he absolutely loved and immediately bought. I was astonished! I've never seen anyone buy a painting so quickly and with so much enthusiasm. Something like that is so gratifying. It really made my day!

Painting on Masa Paper

                   Baby Elephant Walk Watercolor on Masa paper 10X14

I'm not sure what Masa paper is but it's fun to work with. I first tried this technique when painting in a workshop many years ago with Chen Kee Chee, a wonderful watercolor painter and teacher. While working in a class last week I was reminded of this paper again. First you crumple all of part of it into a ball. Then you soak it in clean water until it relaxes a little. You remove it from the water and carefully open it up and spread it out on a clean surface. You then prepare a sheet of watercolor paper the same size by spreading a thin layer of YES glue over it. The Masa paper is then laid on the glue and smoothed with your hands and finally rolled with a brayer. I did a little light under painting at this point and left it to dry. The crackly, wrinkly paper just made me want to paint an elephant in the foliage. I used hand made leaf stamps for the foliage. It was one of those paintings that came together easily and quickly. What a treat!

Eve's Garden

                                     Eve's Garden Watercolor 15X 22

I've been working on this painting for several weeks; it's one of those painting that is hard to stop, you want to keep on adding and subtracting. I was still putting in finishing touches on it today as I was framing it. Once I get it in the frame I have to say it's done. I started this as an experiment on the back of another painting on 300# paper. I laid tissues, rice paper, coffee filters and other papers on the top, wet it a little and then poured watercolor on the papers so that it would soak through to the watercolor paper. It got really wet so I soaked up the excess water by rolling a roll of paper towels over it. Then I let it dry. I took the papers off and then decided by the shapes that were on the painting what to paint next. I started with the flowers on the left, put the figure in next to that and surrounded her with fruit and vegetables. Notice, she's not working in her garden but basking in the bounty and not a weed in sight.

More Sketchbook pages

                                                                          Grid

                                                                   Morning Brew

                                                                 Combined Pages



I've done some more experimenting and playing with some stamps, stencils, and crayons. It's good to know what kinds of marks you can make, how effective a stencil will be. I want to know what the watercolor crayons do when they are wet once and then wet again. What does a half a stencil look like, can I use just a portion and still have an interesting design? Is it more interesting? What does it look like upside down? These are some of the questions I ask myself as I work in my sketchbook. I can go back and find what I've used and how it will look before I commit to it on a painting. I'm very enthused about keeping an experimental sketchbook.

I've Got Wet Brushes

                                Sketchbook Journal pages, continued..,

Now that classes and regular painting time are back in the routine I'm painting a lot more than in the summer. The larger pieces that I'm working on are still in process and not available for the blog, yet. In the meantime I'm continuing to explore some of my materials and stamps in my sketchbook journal. On the left page I collaged some butterflies and flowers, some from napkins, some from printed pages and some from stamping on thin rice paper. On the right side I tried to stamp the palm tree from a stamp I made out of a piece of foam tray that the local grocery store packs with veggies. The dots are made from a piece of non-slip drawer liner that I have painted on and then used a brayer to deposit the paint on the paper. The circles are from whatever round things are within reach and the red is collage of stamped tissue paper as are the diamond shapes and clock. It's good for me to know how these items work on the page. Do they wrinkle, smear, or disintegrate? If so, I don't want them in my "toy box".

Click on the image if you want a larger view.

Rembrandt

                                     My Art Journal Sept 24, 25

When I was visiting friends in Minneapolis this summer we went to the Minneapolis Institute of Art for their special show, Rembrandt in America. Paintings, sketches and lithographs done by Rembrandt had been gathered from around the US and displayed there. I happened upon the entry ticket and decided to do a couple of Rembrandt pages in my journal. The ticket is on the lower left page and I found some iconic Rembrandt images on line to add to my painting, stamping and stenciling. It's been great getting to experiment with some of my "toys" without fear of messing something up.

Journal Pages

Since I'm in between painting projects and I want to do more painting everyday, I've decided to start a daily painting journal. I can experiment with different paints and techniques. I can try out some stamps that I have in my collection and some that I have made. I've decided there will be no rules except to paint often and to have more fun. The fish stamps I made from a piece of foam egg carton. I will be making more of those, they are so easy to imprint with a pattern using a ball point pen and can be cut out with a scissors. I hope these pages will be a motivator to do larger paintings.
Last week end I was at the Florida Watercolor Society convention. I went to lots of demonstrations and especially enjoyed the one given by the show juror, Nicholas Simmons. He said we need to think and paint larger. It's the large paintings that grab the attention and we need to think of museum size not local  exhibition size. I may have to clean off some space on my painting table, it does tend to get cluttered. In the meantime, I'm off to do more journal pages.