Leaning Rooster

I like everything about my rooster except that he looks like he may topple over backwards. There is a lesson here...always check your drawing from a distance BEFORE you start painting. I got so excited about getting the paint on that I forgot to do this. Never the less, I especially like the way the wet paint moved and made feather shapes in the rooster. He's a handsome fellow and he knows it. Now if he would just stand up straight! He's worth doing again.

A Virtual Paint Out

Prince Edward Island, Canada, 10X7, Watercolor Sticks and Intense Pencils

It's a new month and a new place to virtually go at Virtual Paint Out; http://virtualpaintout.blogspot

This month it is Prince Edward Island. When I started traveling around the island with google earth I was so surprised at how flat it was. I don't know why I expected it to be more hilly and verdant. But anyway, I found this nice little landscape with a meandering stream. I decided to paint it in my class on Tuesday and when I looked in my bag I found a 12 piece set of watercolor sticks and the same number of Inktense Pencils but no palette! What a way to force yourself to a limited palette! I used mostly the sticks and only did a little detail with the pencils. It's made me think that the sticks would be perfect travel companions, compact, not messy, and not a security problem. (I think I need more than 12, though).

Little Originals for Cards

Sometimes, for a warm up or just a quick painting session I'll paint some small flowers without using any reference. These are fun and rewarding and can be glued to card stock for an original card. They are about 4 1/2 X 3 1/2 inches depending on how much I crop them. I was cleaning out a nearly empty tube of paint and didn't want to waste all that paint on my brush so all my flowers were bright primary red which I allowed to explode on the wet paper. When that was dry I did negative painting around the flowers with the blues and greens and made the petal shapes.

Artichoke stalemate

Last week I started to put in geometric shapes as a background for my artichokes and now I'm at a stalemate with the painting. I think other painters experience this from time to time, I hope I'm not alone. Also, being limited in time with lots of family activities the past couple of weeks has made it difficult to even think of what to do next. Things should settle down so that I can study it and decide how I should proceed. In the meantime, I relaxed and painted some little flower paintings for birthday cards.Those I will post in the next couple of days.

Artichokes, part 3

I worked some more on my artichoke painting in class on Tuesday. It's coming along slowly. My plan is to work the back ground with some abstract linear elements so that the artichokes don't look like they're floating in space. After three posts on these artichokes it's going to be very frustrating if it doesn't turnout like I hope it does. I'm hopeful for something "enterable" but if it doesn't work out, I have enjoyed the journey so far and I will likely paint this subject more than once.

Poppies

Poppies, 9x9

This little painting was started awhile ago. First it was just a background needing a subject. I thought I would paint it as a diamond but I think it looks better straight, besides, I found it was impossible to photograph and crop a diamond shape. I sort of like the windswept feel of the blossoms. I worked on it in between working on the artichoke painting. So much of watercolor is waiting for paint to dry thoroughly before you go on to the next step. It's good to have another painting handy.

Fresh Tomatoes and Corn

First of the Summer 5x7

We all look forward to this fresh treat every summer; the fresh, home-grown corn and tomatoes. The ears of corn were small but oh so sweet, just out of the field. I think the tomatoes must have had a greenhouse start but they tasted like the real thing. I intended to time myself and do this as a 20 minute challenge but I couldn't resist adding the shadows after my 20 minutes was up. I will just have to try it again the next time we bring home these delicious treats from the market.

Artichokes, part 2

ARTICHOKES-2

After looking at the photo of my last post I decided I needed a few more artichoke shapes in my painting. So I added the one in the upper right corner and also two more in the left lower corner. The last one is barely visible as a negative shape right now. I wanted to establish what my darkest dark was going to be so now it's sticking out like a sore thumb but it will fit in as I add more dark areas to the painting. (It's good to have a positive attitude about these things even if I am suppressing the urge to go to the sink and wash it out.) I'm starting to get excited about this painting now, and I hope I have time to work on it this week. The house is empty this week except for my husband and me for a couple of days so I have no excuse.

A New Beginning-Artichokes

Purple Artichokes 15X22

I've been wanting to paint these fabulous purple artichokes since I took the picture of them at an Oregon farmers market last fall. This may be one of those paintings that I will work on over the summer, building the composition and the colors as I go along. Right now it's very low key, values not more than a five in a one to ten scale. I guess I'm playing it safe, as I usually do, sort of timid to let the values get out of control. On the other hand, I love to build the colors up and watch the painting emerge out of the pale washes.

Undersea Turtles

I'll bet you thought I'd never finish and post this painting. I think it's done, at least as much as I'm going to do. Until it's actually framed you never know. I've even been known to take things out of the frame and "adjust" something. What it really needed was to be darkened under the turtles so I went for it. I find it hard to get really dark in watercolor, it's easier to be wishy-washy and not bold. So, I'd really value what some of you followers think, if you have time to make a comment. Thanks.






Undersea Turtles 15X22

Lighthouse

This is the lighthouse at Diamond Head in Hawaii. That was the challenge for the Virtual Paint Out this month. I've been painting water scenes for the paint out so I needed to find another subject and came across the lighthouse. It was a nice change from the other kind of painting I've been doing today. The "roll the paint on the walls" kind of painting. It was for a friend that needed help so there we were, an all day paint out, just not the fun kind. After that it was refreshing to think about sunny Hawaii, especially since this was the 8th straight rainy day in Minnesota. Now I have a little 5X7 piece of Hawaiian paradise for those rainy days ahead.

Up and Running in Minnesota

I'm finally settled enough in our summer digs to paint and read and write blogs. Yay! I worked from a photo that I took of a tiny bouquet that was on an outdoor table. I loved the shape of the cast shadow of all the little leaves and flowers that were in with a single iris in a tiny pitcher. I was hoping that I could get it done in 20 minutes so that I could put it on Twenty Minute Challenge blog, but it took me 50 minutes to get all the shadows and ruffles done to my satisfaction. It surely is good to be painting again, I feel like I've been without a brush for too long. I did manage to paint one landscape while at a friend's house on our trip up north but that was it. Now if I can just keep it going, does it help to set a goal? I'll try at least four paintings/blogs a week.

Blue Iris

I have one more attempt at an iris. I find them to be difficult flowers to paint, but I'm getting the hang of it. This one I painted without drawing it first but I think it is better to do the drawing before painting. Sometimes I want to get out the paints and just do it and it's not always the best idea. On the other hand it does have the advantage of spontaneity. I love the way Janet Rogers just paints a flower with no drawing. I have a lovely rose painting she did as a demo at a workshop. I look at it an sigh. I wonder how many she had to do to get that good.

We will be in transition from south to north for the next week. I hope to be blogging again soon.

Ruffles

There was a ruffled iris among the blue iris in my daughter's garden. It wasn't quite pink or bronze, it had undertones of purple but also yellow. I guess if you mix a purple and yellow you get a brown color but this was a prettier color and very difficult to duplicate. The fuzzy things, whatever they're called were bright orange. I added watercolor to my pencil sketch, unfortunately I didn't have my watercolor Moleskine but a little sketchbook and the paper was pretty thin and crinkled from the water. It makes for a nice memory of my time at our daughter's house.

Spring

Ink Iris

I finally got a taste of a non-tropical spring while visiting our daughter in Portland, Oregon. She had beautiful iris in her garden that were begging to be sketched. I did this one with an Elegant Writer, a calligraphy pen that is not permanent. When you touch water to it you can get lovely shading and even some variation in color.

While we were there we went to the Portland Rose Garden and even though most of the roses were not quite ready to bloom, there were a few early ones that were stunning. With all the photos I took I'll have a lot of references to work with.

More Blue Herons

Back Water Heron

Blue Heron on the Beach

Acrylic on 5 x 7 Canvas Boards

I'm still in the heron painting mode. It seems these little canvas boards lend themselves to this type of painting. Sometimes people just want to take home a little momento of something from their trip to Florida. This is what I'm hoping, anyway. Now to find some simple frames to set them off and I'm good to go to the gallery with them.

Blackbird Has Spoken

Gallery Wrapped Canvas Acrylic 6"X 12"

I can't believe how long it's been since my last post. I must be busier than I think. Sometimes I have several works going at the same time and nothing is finished. This little acrylic had a layer of bead gel on it at first which I didn't care for so I covered it over with molding paste and made some designs on it. I didn't have a plan, I was just playing with it and trying to make it interesting. When the molding paste dried I started painting it and finally came up with a sunrise, moon set motif and the song "Morning Has Broken" came to mind. With that on my brain I had to have a blackbird. I found a blackbird picture and made a gel transfer. If you've ever made a gel transfer you know this takes lots of layers of gel medium on the picture and this can take several days for the layers to dry and get thick enough. Finally I rubbed the paper off and was able to cut my blackbird out and fasten him to the painting. I did have to darken him with black paint though, I didn't think the transfer turned out dark enough.

The Gallery with Happy Colors

The gallery owner, Peggy McTeague, wanted a picture of her gallery painted and printed on card stock. I painted the front of the WildChild Gallery from a picture that I took since to sit in the street and paint would be a very dangerous thing to do. I painted it on paper with acrylic paint. I wanted to try to paint with acrylics in a watercolor style. It was an interesting experiment and I think it worked out quite well. You may wonder at the bright exterior color. This is a common thing to do in this area; it's a Caribbean influence, I think. The brightness of the sun seems to beg for bright colors. Dark earth tones just wouldn't do. People show up in their blacks and tans from the North and before you know it, they are sporting colorful outfits, too.

Sea Shore Heron 2

This is the second in my series of a blue heron on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. These are mini paintings, 3X5, that are donated to our art league every year for fund raising. These will go on sale next February during our annual sale.

It's painted in acrylic on a canvas board.

Sea Shore Heron

I'm determined to get my mini paintings done for next year so that I don't have to scramble to get them handed in on time. I have some good photos that I took of a heron walking on the beach so he's my subject this year. People were asking for more bird pictures this year so I hope that's what they want in 2011. This is the first of four that I finished. It's done in acrylic on a 4X5 canvas board. It's pretty small by my standards but that's the size we are required to do. I find it easier to paint that small with acrylic as opposed to watercolor. I guess it's easier to correct mistakes by painting over them.