Check out "Art After Hours"

Busy today - but I wanted to tell you about this art show that's coming up TOMORROW evening at the Cold Spring branch of the Campbell County Library. Photography, sculpture/metalwork and painting plus music and munchies. Come on over! I'm not in it and neither is Jerry but several good photographers and artists from the Campbell County area are and it will be a nice evening. I may see you there. They're even going to have a Brazilian band :)

Finished "Fem" in Class Yesterday :)

Well, I had some comments when I was working on this earlier and took that into consideration and went back to my original sketch when painting this - I had gotten away from the sketch and I was told in class that the sketch was good and should be followed.

After doing that and some other minor changes after a final critique in class, "Fem" is done.

The painting is 15 1/2" x 21" on transluscent yupo.

I've enjoyed taking half finished sketches from my open figure session and creating something that I can turn into a finished painting. And I also enjoyed getting back to painting and I made it the whole day 10 am - 2:30 pm without any pain or problem (stopping and resting/sitting/changing positions each time I felt a bit of stiffness or pain).

Thanks, Sandy (quite possibly the best watercolor teacher ever!), for raising my table and making my space easier to work on without much bending (I even had a little child's chair for my foot to brace on to take the weight off my back)!

Back to Sandy's Watercolor Class!

I'm trying to get back in the groove by going back to watercolor class today 10 am - 2:30 pm. Don't know how long I'll be able to stay but I know Sandy can raise my table so I can stand without bending - or I can sit if I get tired. I'll take the "FEM" painting and work on that a bit and maybe some photos so I can start something new, too.

Plus, I got my Da Vinci fluid acrylics from Cheap Joe's yesterday and I want to try them out after watching Nick Simmons' DVD one more time :)

Bees and Teasels

I'm not going to complain about my back anymore. If you don't see any new paintings, you'll know I'm still out of commission

BUT

I can share some photos by Jerry...
something pretty and well done and interesting...



Jerry volunteers at a raptor rehab place locally and in the field he often wanders off after taking care of the hawk (1) and owls (2) to shoot some nature scenes.





















Bees and teasels



and


a Hawk Moth

just out in the fields, doing what they do.

Good Morning, Morning Glory...

Good morning, morning glory
Good morning, what's your story?
Good morning, where'd you spend the night?

Where did your night dreams take you?
Sorry but I had to wake you.
Oh, I just had to make you shed your special morning light on me...

(From an old song I remember written and sung by Bobbie Gentry - if you remember her, you are probably as old as I am.)

Open Figure Session

I think I was so thrilled to be going back to the open figure session this morning from 9 am - 11 am, I woke up at 6:30 am!! That's early for me! Anyway, it felt great to stop at Starbucks and get my caramel macchiato, and drive into Cincinnati for the session. Although the group is still tiny (only 4 of us signed up for this session), we had visitors from the next class and the teacher from that class - guess it was an assignment to come and draw from a live model. So...it took some time to get the model posed just so and he got right into the pose we'd work on. I tried but didn't make it the whole 2 hours :( so not much to share - just the beginnings of the sketch.





Oh, well, I'm just taking it a little bit at a time - baby steps until I'm able to do the whole session...



Remember those baby steps recommended by the psychiatrist (Richard Dreyfuss) to Bob (Bill Murray) in What About Bob? Remember the goldfish Bob had in a little fishbowl around his neck? That was a silly movie but fun.



It's hot and humid already today and it's not even noon!!! A still, sticky, steamy day. Maybe I'll do some more drawing later but for now....




How about some morning glories (it's about the only thing we can grow around our house so we have them in the back up a trellis, around the lightpost in front and around the mailbox in front - I imagine the mailman hates them because they get so thick and climb around and around and over the mailbox).

The Last Lecture and a Couple of Sketches

You may have heard of Randy Pausch, seen him on 60 Minutes, or heard his lecture online. He said he was not unique, but I think he was wrong about that.

From an article by RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI Associated Press Writer:

Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist whose "last lecture" about facing terminal cancer became an Internet sensation and a best-selling book, died Friday at his home in Virginia. He was 47.

Pausch was diagnosed with incurable pancreatic cancer in September 2006. His popular last lecture at Carnegie Mellon in September 2007 garnered international attention and was viewed by millions on the Internet. In it, Pausch celebrated living the life he had always dreamed of instead of concentrating on impending death.
"The lecture was for my kids, but if others are finding value in it, that is wonderful," Pausch wrote on his Web site. "But rest assured; I'm hardly unique."

The book "The Last Lecture," written with Jeffrey Zaslow, leaped to the top of the nonfiction best-seller lists after its publication in April and remains there this week. Pausch said he dictated the book to Zaslow, a Wall Street Journal writer, by cell phone. The book deal was reported to be worth more than $6 million.

The speech last fall was part of a series Carnegie Mellon called "The Last Lecture," where professors were asked to think about what matters to them most and give a hypothetical final talk. The name of the lecture series was changed to "Journeys" before Pausch spoke, something he joked about in his lecture.
"I thought, damn, I finally nailed the venue and they renamed it," he said.

He told the packed auditorium he fulfilled almost all his childhood dreams — being in zero gravity, writing an article in the World Book Encyclopedia and working with the Walt Disney Co.
The one that eluded him? Playing in the National Football League.
"If I don't seem as depressed or morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you," Pausch said.
He joked about how his mother introduced him to people to keep him humble: "This is my son, he's a doctor, but not the kind that helps people."

Pausch said he was embarrassed and flattered by the popularity of his message. Millions viewed the complete or abridged version of the lecture, titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," online.
Pausch lobbied Congress for more federal funding for pancreatic cancer research and appeared on several TV shows.

Pausch gave one more lecture after his Carnegie Mellon appearance — in November at the University of Virginia, where he had taught from 1988 to 1997.

Pausch often emphasized the need to have fun.
"I mean I don't know how to not have fun. I'm dying and I'm having fun. And I'm going to keep having fun every day I have left. Because there's no other way to play it," he said in his Carnegie Mellon lecture. "You just have to decide if you're a Tigger or an Eeyore. I think I'm clear where I stand on the great Tigger/Eeyore debate. Never lose the childlike wonder. It's just too important. It's what drives us."

Born in 1960, Pausch received his bachelor's degree in computer science from Brown University and his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon. He co-founded Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center, a master's program for bringing artists and engineers together. He also created an animation-based teaching program for high school and college students to have fun while learning computer programming.

He and his wife, Jai, had three children, Dylan, Logan and Chloe.

Pausch's lecture: www.cmu.edu/randyslecture/

And here are a couple of sketches I did in my sketchbook today while sitting watching the news (wasn't paying attention to the news but a photo I had of the sweetpeas and just trying to draw a crow). Going back to Open Figure Session tomorrow!!!!

Wedding Photo

I did get a few good photos of the bride (my niece) and groom at the wedding Friday, July 18th. I was worried that I didn't get anything decent for them since it was a Catholic wedding and all the sitting, standing, sitting, standing was very hard on my already painful back. I don't know why this is my favorite - maybe because she looks so happy. They are going to have a good life and she's picked a good man.

And after some minor manipulations in Picasa (a free Google photo program) of the best ones, I came up with over 30 photos! Much better than I expected and that should be enough to put into a nice album for them.






Now today is the first day I am off all meds for my back. And I walked for 15 minutes yesterday evening with no bad results. Truly on the mend!!! I may just go down to my art room and paint for a while - timing myself in 1/2 hour increments so I don't get carried away. If I get anything to share, I will do that later today...

I so appreciate all the positive comments and concerns about my back and the problem I had - when you make friends like this over the internet, you know it's a good thing when used in the right way :)

Read Any Good Mysteries Lately?

I recently discovered a new author I really enjoy = Jim Kelly. He writes really entertaining and interesting British mysteries.

The last book of his I read is The Coldest Blood.


Each book (there are 5 in the series so far) are written about the same characters: a journalist, Philip Dryden, who works in a small village for a small paper in the English Fens (The Crow). What brought him from London and a good job and large readership to his small village where he was raised is a tragedy that affected his life in a large way (I'm not giving away anything in case you want to read them). Dryden travels around (he doesn't drive) with a cabbie who never leaves his taxi if he can help it and is always listening to languages tapes in the car because he goes away on holiday once a year to a new country and likes to learn the local language. Dryden gets involved in solving some mystery each time and finding out more than the police investigators because of his knowledge of the local people and his contacts in London. Two very eccentric characters make this more than your standard Brit Mystery. Since I only have one more to read, I hope Jim Kelly is working on another because once you get involved in these, you want the characters to have a good ending.

The books in order are:

The Water Clock
The Fire Baby
The Moon Tunnel
The Coldest Blood
and the latest one which I haven't read yet:
The Skeleton Man

Now it's off to the chiropractor's for another session...reminds me of Eddie Izzard's comedy sketch about going to a chiropractor and how they love to "crack your back!" because they love the sound! ha-ha

No Class - Too Heavy

I'm restricted to picking up/carrying 10 pounds. No more.

The bag I carry to and from watercolor class looks like this:

The description is:

Roomy 14x18x11” Pittman palette and field bag with zippered interior section that holds a tremendous assortment of gear and supplies and a separated bottom compartment with built in stiffener that securely holds a combination of any covered watercolor palette, drawing pad, canvas or watercolor block up to 14x16” in size! Features 7, 2-1/2” wide x 5-1/2” high outside pockets on one side for holding brushes, pencils, pens and other gear and a 18” wide x 4-1/2” high zippered compartment on the other side. Special dual use handles may be used as shoulder straps as well.

Well, as much as I stuff into this bag, it better be ok to use the straps as shoulder straps! It weighs a ton at times, depending on how much extra I put in there for special projects - like misket fluid and a whole roll of paper towels and scissors and tracing paper and graphite paper and...well, you get the idea! Plus I seem to need to take lots of paint tubes with me that I don't need because I have my John Pike palette in the bottom of the thing.

So...time to consolidate and think about weight.

I have to minimize what I can take with me so I can go next Tuesday. To tell the truth, I really didn't feel up to going today but maybe by next week I'll be ready to go - and will have a smaller bag and less stuff then.

Here's the bag I'm taking after putting in a smaller travel palette and sorting through the paint tubes and leaving half out.

The description is:

The DANIEL SMITH Natural Canvas Artist's Tote with leather trim and a detachable, adjustable shoulder strap puts the pockets on the outside, where you really need them. There are 3 large and 6 small pockets on either side, 1 large and 2 small pockets on either end. The interior is completely open to accommodate bulkier supplies. It’s made of heavy-duty cotton canvas with suede-reinforced handles and a top flap that secures with Velcro. The boxy shape stands up even when empty. Measures 9"h (plus handles) x 14"w x 8"d.

Much more compact and lighter in weight (now that I minimized the stuff I carry back and forth). I used this system to travel to Florida to take a Janet Rogers workshop and it worked fine - I also took one butcher tray for mixing larger amounts (Janet likes you to make big juicy puddles).

And now I want to paint!!! Wah wah wah....but I know not to overdo it today just because I'm feeling better. So I think I'll go play Scrabble with George. He's pretty good but he doesn't have a really big vocabulary...

Back to the Chiropractor and...

Another visit to the chiropractor this morning. Jerry went with me and asked lots of questions and Dr. C. told him the same things he told me the day I was there in such pain that I couldn't remember some of it!



Friday I called a spine specialist clinic here, answered a lot of questions and the person taking the info said the doctor would contact me early in the week for an appointment and she also said he would probably order new x-rays and an MRI before he even saw me. I like that idea. I think it's time to get to the root of the problem visually. But I got the call today that the doctor recommended 6 weeks of physical therapy before seeing him so no x-rays or MRI.


Basically, this is what everyone is saying - it's just going to take time and adjustments (like raising my table to paint while standing and NOT bending over my work - or sitting and painting).


I do feel like I'm finally on the mend. I'm off the muscle relaxers and just taking the anti-inflammatory now and I'll try to be careful and not rush and start up the pain again. That constant pain is NOT fun and I feel for anyone with chronic pain. Now it only hurts with I move more than I should but not constant.

I'm beginning to sound like an episode of House. I even lost my sense of taste. Do you have any idea how yucky things are when you can't taste anything, but just get a sense of the texture??? EWWWWWWW!!!! This is why I stopped taking the muscle relaxers - a side effect was "unpleasant taste" and I figured no taste was pretty unpleasant, right? After a day off the muscle relaxers, my sense of taste came back.

Now I think I'll go watch....

Brokeback Mountain

(got 'cha!) ha ha

(And sure glad y'all ain't quit me yet.)

While the movie is set in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming, it was filmed almost entirely in the Canadian Rockies in southern Alberta.

The "Brokeback Mountain" in the movie, named such because the mountain has the same swayback curve as a brokeback horse or mule, which is swaybacked or sagging in the spine, is actually a composite of Mount Lougheed south of the town of Canmore to Fortress and Moose Mountain in Kananaskis Country. The campsites were filmed at Goat Creek, Upper Kananaskis Lake, Elbow Falls, and Canyon Creek, also in Alberta.

http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/152343/mount-lougheed.html

Sunday Sunday - Wildflowers

I saw a movie a long time ago (called Follow) that starred Mia Farrow as a wife of some British man who thought she was cheating on him. He hired a private investigator to watch her - the PI was Chaim Topol, an Israeli actor. He wore a long raincoat all the time and was always taking out boiled eggs from the pockets of his big raincoat. As he followed her around, he found out she wasn't cheating, just exploring and enjoying herself alone. He was already a little bit in love with her by the time he reported to the husband, who didn't believe him. I remember Topol was always saying, in this deep, mellifluous voice, "I am agonized!"

Well today, I am NOT agonized! For the first time since July 10th when this back problem arose. But just in case, I think I'll go find my raincoat and boil some eggs.

Until I'm back painting again, here's another pretty picture for you to see (and another reason to visit - I don't want to lose all my visitors while I'm unable to share new works).

Two photos by Jerry: Sweetpeas in a field

and a Jewelweed (also called a Touch-me-not) with a little bee buzzing around.

Sunday we would have been heading out on our Vancouver Island adventure. Instead we had to cancel all the arrangements we'd made. It is soooo disappointing. But like I told Susan M., "It's a postponement, not a cancellation." We are working on still doing it in late August and surely by then I will be back to 100% - I hope I hope I hope.

Smudge is the only one who's happy about this delay - he says, "Don't leave me here alone, Mom. Who's gonna feed me?" Even though my sister comes and stays and rubs his belly and gives him food and talks to him and treats him like "just the cutest thing," he still hates to see those suitcases come out. I think he was trying to sneak in this one last time we took a trip!

Some More Pretties...

Looking up into the sky from the base of a big tree. (Photo by me this time - Jerry would see no reason to take a photo like this.)

And speaking of skies - here's a Big Sky photo I took when Mother Nature was practicing her clouds.

My niece is getting married this evening. I don't usually attend weddings but I have to go - I'm taking the photos for them at the church! So...do I skip the muscle relaxers today - or take twice as many? I could get really creative with the photos if I take 2 each time!

Backs that Don't Hurt...

Obviously this belly dancer's back doesn't hurt - or she couldn't shimmy, could she?

And jellyfish don't even have backbones - so they are painfree when it comes to backaches.

She can't possibly have a bad back and be able to do this position - or maybe it's because she has a backache and this position helps ease the pain!

And her back doesn't hurt - she's limber and I can see her vertebra are healthy.

Something Pretty

Jerry took this photo of pitcher plants hanging from a shelf in pots - in an outdoor garden area in an area in Florida. They were having a sale and were selling these things in pots. I wonder how they would grow around here?

I intend to paint them someday soon.

Chiropractic vs Traditional Medicine

Today's only Tuesday? I feel like it's been days since I last painted. Maybe it has...

Got my first real treatment from the chiropractor (previously it was just what I like to affectionately call "the pincher" - the thing with 4 pads stuck to your back that is ratcheted up to where it pinches you over and over, apparently "stimulating" the muscles that are frozen in your back).

After being told the results of the x-rays I had done back in March '07 (not just arthritis, nope, not as simple) and shown a dummy spine and vertebrae, I think I understand what's happening. But then again I was in so much pain this morning and had a mostly restless night, that I couldn't pay that much attention. At one point when the doctor was telling me what they would/could do in the next few days, I was thinking, "Well, at least it's not an episode of House so I don't have to have major seizures before I get better."

Anyway, onto the table - you stand in front of it, lean in and it lowers you - afterall, you are in no shape to lie down on your own, especially face down (why didn't I know this last night when I was tossing and turning and gritting my teeth each time I moved?). A minor adjustment and more of The Pincher.

But what I really need are pain pills - major pain pills. So off to the GP this afternoon who gave me a prescription for anti-inflammatory meds and muscle relaxants (don't drive while taking these pills, he said). I can understand why, having taken my first one this evening with dinner.

Time is extended - slow and stretched out like molasses. I look over at my cup of coffee - looks good - but my hand doesn't want to reach out to pick it up to take a sip...

Modern medicine! My GP, after watching me move delicately around the room, move stiffly up and down the table and hear me explain that on a scale of 0-10 with 10 being the worst ever pain you can imagine that my pain last night and this morning was an 8 - also gave me a photocopy of some exercises he thought I might want to try to help my back. He especially liked the one starred - which is just the Cobra Pose in yoga - which is extremely hard on a back that is frozen.

But what the heck, maybe if I take one more muscle relaxant, I could try??

I am taking them to my chiropractor (he of the "don't twist your torso, don't bend, don't carry anything over 10 pounds) to give him a good laugh.

Painting? No way. So I'll get some old stuff together so you have something to look at tomorrow...

They're Off! - Sunday at the Races

The daughters and sons-in-law treated Jerry to an early birthday present - Sunday afternoon at the races. There were not a lot of people there so plenty of space to have a nice picnic lunch and spend time together - and they gave him money to bet with so the day was free for him. Plus he even won 1 race and you couldn't have asked for a better day - a light breeze and cooler weather and no rain. Jerry will actually have his birthday on August 2nd but everyone's lives are so busy, we have to schedule sometimes earlier, sometimes later.

No painting today - seeing the chiropractor this morning...hope he can adjust my back or at least tell me what I've done.

Sunday SALE: Little Seas No. 1 and No. 2

Two small watercolors of the sea painted on Arches 140# rough paper. All Daniel Smith paints. Both paintings are 5" x 8 1/4" but framed together in a nice white mat sized up to 11" x 14" so will fit into a standard frame.

Price: $95.00 total - no shipping or postage added.

Click on either to see larger version and detail.







































If you are interested in purchasing, just email me at RHCarpenter@gmail.com or click on the BUY NOW button at the bottom of this page where you will be taken to PayPal for further instructions.

Photo by Jerry from Newport Aquarium Trip

Here's a pretty cool photo of a trigger fish - not sure what kind - Jerry took at the Newport Aquarium Saturday morning. Since I don't have a painting to show, thought you'd like to see something pretty... (Mother Nature sure does a good job paintings/designing critters at times.)














Also, I put one of my recent paintings in The Artist's Forum (from The Artist's Magazine) online competition for Summer - check it out at

http://forum.artistsnetwork.com/

and scroll down to the All Media Paint Out and then go to the Summer 08 competition.

At some point, you will be able to vote for the best painting - you may vote for me if you register (it's free) and I may win (but only vote for me if you want to and you believe my painting is the best, please.) I think the voting begins July 28th.

Watch Your Back

While Jerry took a group of Tri-State Photography folks to the Newport Aquarium to snap critters, I got ready to go to the 2nd Open Figure Session today - 9 am - 11 am (we had the 5th of July off for the holiday weekend).

Unfortunately, by the time I got ready, I knew I couldn't go and either stand and draw or sit on those hard "horses" and draw - so I stayed home :( If I could find a spot where I could sit and be comfortable, I'd stay there - but so far I haven't found one - grrrrrr...

Watercolor Women - phase 2

Tinted gouache in colors to get this far. It still doesn't work and I'm unsure where I'm going with this. What made me want to paint this in the first place - the shoes!! ha-ha

I was thinking I could use this for the Red, White or Blue project at WatercolorWorkshop - but I hope it comes together better than this for that to happen.

Oh, well, I'll work on it more tomorrow maybe - right now my back is OUT and it is not fun - unable to sit, stand, move, lie down without pain. I tell you, exercise is BAD for ME!!! (Jerry says I'd be fine if I didn't try to go at it like I'm training for an Olympic event each time I work out - but I figure the harder I work, the faster I'll get in shape, right?)

Well, I stand when painting and I'm fine when bending over my table but when I try to straighten back up - ouch! I hope I'm better (well, it's been 2 days already, so I should be healed, right???) by tomorrow's drawing session.

Watercolor Women

After receiving such a wonderful award from Nava, I should be ashamed to show this one - but I'm still working on it so I'll share this bad start.

It's watercolor on All Media Art Board (which has created a mottled look to everything so I should have used the other side).

So how to fix it? Save it? I'm going to tint some gouache and paint with it in the colors I have instead, which should smooth everything out. I mean, really, these 2 ladies don't want mottled legs like that!! And that bg has to go! What was I thinking? (The dark area that runs through the painting isn't solid but has nice texture in it that isn't showing in this photo - maybe if you click it to enlarge it...)

Don't you just love the kitten heels on the lady in the white skirt? That's what made me snap a quick (and very bad) photo during the last watercolor society meeting. And now I want a pair of those shoes!

An Award from Nava: Arte y Pico

Nava Attia-Benoit has awarded me the Arte y Pico award.

Arte y Pico is a blog from Uruguay created by Ana, who also created this wonderful award. It features this elegant angel with a beautiful dress that matches her silvery-grey wings. She is delicately balanced on this golden arch/spray.

So what does Art y Pico mean? I'll take my definition from Nava, who contacted Ana, the award originator: "Basically, ironically, it translates into a wonderful phrase in Mexico, 'lo maximo'. It will never find its counterpart in English, but if it HAD to, it would be something like, Wow. The Best Art. Over the top."

Thank you so much, Nava, for this recognition! Go to Nava's blog here:

http://navausa.blogspot.com/

or here: http://navartpact.blogspot.com/

Now, the rules:

Pick 5 blogs you think are deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.
Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award which is here: Arte y Pico.

So...I will have to put my thinking cap on for the 5 blogs because Nava has chosen some of my favorites which definitely fit the bill - so I will have to find 5 more! What fun!

Check back later for my fave 5's who will receive the Arte y Pico award.

And the Arte y Pico Award goes to...

As I said, Nava A-B had chosen some of the most awesome blogs out there so I had to find 5 others - which wasn't hard at all. Because these 5 are also rocking and rolling and creating some outstanding artwork, whether it's watercolor, acrylic, or photography. So go over and check out:

Carol Carter at http://watercolorcarol.blogspot.com/. Carol is my all time favorite creator of art and I am soooo lucky to be having a workshop with her in August!!!! YAY!!! This woman knocks my socks off every time.

David Burge, an Aussie wonder, at http://davidkburge.blogspot.com/. David's designs and unusual creations are one-of-a-kind and you will leave with a new appreciation of watercolor and what you can do with it.

Susan Roper at http://wcbysusanroper.blogspot.com/. If Susan's homepage painting doesn't blow you away and show you what this woman can do, you need new glasses. She rocks! She works hard at her art and she is an extremely nice, wonderful lady :)

Check out Dawn's photography at http://vulturecafe.blogspot.com/. Don't let the title scare you away from some oustanding photos that sometimes take your breath away.

Another photo favorite of mine, go to Nina's work at http://natureremains.blogspot.com/. Nina watches and records nature, big and small. Right now she has a slide show of the hummingbird nest and fledglings at her doorstep. Awesome!!!

Is that 5? Gosh, I could have chosen so many more, but I'll stick to the rules (being "first born" we do need our rules! ha-ha).

Enjoy these - and for more treats, check out my sidebar to see more artists who will give you many hours of viewing pleasure.

Finished Fem?

Well, I think I'm finished - unless I see something that needs tweaking later. I'm going to let this one rest a while and look at it again later. (The blue outside the black pillars is part of the painting.)

What do you think? You can click on it to get a larger version so you can see the textures and patterns I put throughout.

No Class Today

No watercolor class today because Sandy Maudlin is teaching a watercolor batik workshop this week and is in Oxford, OH. Hope she has fun. I know the class will be "most excellent!"

So I should paint today like I'm in class. I should. Since I haven't touched Fem since I updated it last time. Too hot! When it gets above 80F and humid and sticky, I just don't feel inspired to do anything.

Okay, enough excuses. I'll post something later today on the painting - promise...and thanks to everyone for their comments on it - these get to a point where I just don't know where to go with them so all the comments help me figure that out. And since I don't have an update on the painting, I'll share this cool and refreshing photo taking at a garden spot in Ormond Beach, Florida. A lovely waterfall to cool me down...

Fem - More Refining

Adding color, trying to decide how I want the body to look - more or less realistic in color? Pale? Darker? Hmmmm... That's the good thing about painting on yupo - you can always change your mind. I did have to stop and let areas dry because I was getting too rushed and painting next to wet paint which ran and mingled - which wasn't what I wanted. So this is where it stands right now. I'll work more on her tomorrow. As I see it, I've gotten carried away with too many colors in the shapes around her - I need to integrate those better next go-round. That color under her head I like a lot - may make some changes to put more of that around her (it's a mix of Ultramarine Turquoise and Indanthrone Blue).

After the Fourth...

George stayed up too late, watching too many fireworks, and he is dragging a bit today.

He hopes your 4th of July celebrations were happy and that you didn't eat too much at the picnic or get a sore neck from looking up at the fireworks.

Watched Venus beat Serena at Wimbledon - you know as a big sister I was rooting for big sister Venus to win (even though Serena is more fun because she has more personality). Now time for a few errands and then back to painting...

Check later for an update on "Fem."

George Says...

Happy 4th of July!

George, our Red-eyed Tree Frog, wants to say have a happy and safe 4th of July. George enjoys watching the fireworks while sipping a cool umbrella drink.

(If you fall in love with this photo and want a print of your own, just email me at RHCarpenter@gmail.com). Jerry took the photo and George happily posed for it.

Fem

The second painting on Yupo started in class Tuesday. I'm not going to make her a mermaid - just a female figure (which means I need to take away that curve of her legs at the left side - doesn't look right). Skin tones in her body and feminine pastel colors around her - that's what I'm thinking.

We'll see what happens.

Minerva Finished

Watercolor class Tuesday 10-2: with another good critique on where this painting stood, I was able to finish it off. I was thinking about a strong border as part of the painting so was glad when it was suggested.
Finished!






The blue outside the strong border is part of the painting.

Watercolor on Yupo, 16" x 20"

I used an unfinished figure drawing as the basis for this painting. It worked so well and was so much fun, I picked out another unfinished figure drawing for a second one which will be on another sheet of Yupo (also about 16" x 20").

You'll have to check in tomorrow to see the start of the new one, which I'm calling "Fem."