Thursday, December 31, 2020

MORE REWORKING

 



Added a bit more color and shaped the peppers a bit more to give them more dimension.  This is on watercolor board.  Takes a beating and still is okay.





Papaya for breakfast (from a friend who lives in Hawaii who sent a photo and I copped it and painted this).  Haven’t heard from him in a loooonng time - hope all is well in his part of the world.  

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

REWORKING OLD STUFF

 


Rosehips.  

A reworked painting from long ago I found in the pile.  


I’ve been pulling out okay paintings and trying to add a bit of color or more dimension to make them better.


Have a few to share and this is one.




And this is another.  Wanted the bird to be more like a shadow shape with just a bit of value and the bright color in the back.








Sunday, December 27, 2020

WINTER LANDSCAPES BUT NO SNOW YET

 


A winter’s evening sky.  

We had a little dusting of snow for Christmas Day, which is plenty.







A card - stormy and wet to wash the snow away.


We are having strange changeable weather - one day it’s 50 and sunny, then a cold front blows in and it’s 30 and snowing, then back to 50.  Guess it doesn’t matter as we’re all inside anyway.  


Wednesday, December 23, 2020

CARDINAL - PAPA RED

 


Just a papa red bird (cardinal) outside on the deck.  

Monday, December 21, 2020

LEAVES HANGING ON

 


Painted this one without drawing, just put the paint on while looking carefully at the photo reference.  Leaving it without a background because I started another with a drawing and the background...








Which do you like the best?


Saturday, December 19, 2020

TWO MORE WRAPPED PRESENTS FOR YOU


 


Just another couple of wrapped presents for you all to enjoy.  Wonder what’s inside?  Whatever you want!!







I hope your holidays are peaceful and that you are safe and healthy.  And I hope your loved ones are still near you, even if you might not be able to be close to them this holiday season.  



Thank you to all my blogger buddies who have stuck by me these years and still check in once in a while.  It seems I’ve lost some followers to FB but I think Blogger is better because you can take time with your posts, and I think more people will take time to read them here instead of look, like, and quickly move on like is done with FB.  Just my opinion, but I think FB has made us all ADHD.

New paintings to come soon.  

Thursday, December 17, 2020

TWO SURPRISE PRESENTS WRAPPED FOR YOU


These are not new paintings - but found them when sorting through paintings to trash or keep in a large folder.  


So, in case you don’t get any prettily wrapped presents this year, here are a couple for you today (more to come later).  










I am just about done with FB other than a quick peek now and then so may be more active here in the coming year. 

Friday, December 11, 2020

WHAT PLANT IS THIS?

 


Just needed some color.  From a photo reference taken in Florida of a plant growing in front of the rental house - not sure what the plant is but it was full of the red/yellow/orange leaves (no flowers).

Wednesday, December 9, 2020

PENGUINS IN LUNAR BLACK

 


Using Daniel Smith Lunar Black pigment for the penguins “fur” works really well.  Just a few colors in this small painting (smaller than fourth sheet when cropped down although it began as a fourth sheet of Arches paper). 

Monday, December 7, 2020

SMALL PAINTINGS - COLOR ON PAPER

 




A couple of small things, either card-size or smaller than a fourth sheet.  Just putting color on paper.


Thursday, December 3, 2020

ARE YOUR STORING ENOUGH FOR THE WINTER?

 


Just a little squirrel, getting ready for winter.  She’s taking a break from gathering and storing nuts to rest a bit in the crux of a tree.  

What are you doing to get ready for winter?  Does your weather change a little, a lot, or not at all where you live?  

Monday, November 30, 2020

THE LAST CARDS GOING OUT THIS WEEK

 

Painted this after covering a failed painting with white gesso.  Then painted over that - you can lift right back to white, if you don’t use staining colors.  

Then I cut it down to glue onto the front of a blank card = voile!  Holiday/Christmas Card!






These two are my favorites due to a new technique and medium taught by Angela Fehr in her online workshop = dark dark dark colors, then shaping the trees, etc and then brushing or splattering a bit of Schminke Aqua Bronze pigment (it’s dry in the tiny bottle) to get the shiny snow look.  Pretty cool and I know I’ll use this technique again because I bought 2 bottles of the Aqua Bronze (one in silver, one in pale gold).  What fun for traditional holiday cards.

We are going to have our first snow the season here in Northern Kentucky.  Time to hibernate until spring.



Wednesday, November 25, 2020

ANOTHER WARM-UP


 


Just another small warm-up painting, trying to get the 3D look to this.  A simple bulb (onion or flower bulb, I don’t know).  It did not look right until I added the shadow shape behind it.



Monday, November 23, 2020

A FEW MORE CARDS + WARM-UP PAINTINGS



 Put some color in the fuzzy bear, and did a few more cards.  Most of these are for family but some will go out to friends - one is making it’s way to Australia right now!





In the Angela Fehr course online, she says try to get in the habit of doing warm-ups so that’s what this is.  

Using Daniel Smith walnut ink to draw the garlic cloves and ties, I then put some color on with watercolor - not too much - wanted to keep the whites in there for a lot of them.  



Tuesday, November 17, 2020

TIME TO MAKE HOLIDAY CARDS


Every year, I made a few holiday cards for family and close friends.  I’ve made a few this week and will be making a few more.  I have some left over each year, too.  These are on Strathmore watercolor blank cards for watercolor and work well for little projects.  






If you can’t be with your loved ones this year, send them a personal card.  I guarantee they will tuck them away after the holidays and keep them to be displayed next year - when you can all get together again.



Saturday, November 14, 2020

SERIES OF PAINTINGS AND VALUE STUDIES AND...

 Many years ago I heard of Mike Bailey and followed his blog.  He went into working in a series and that became his thing.  Now, not just 3-5 or 7-9 paintings, he challenged a student of his to do dozens of paintings using the same still-life set up and see where it took them.  She stopped at the required number (I think it was 25 paintings) but he kept going...and going...and going.  Now, he talks about that series and shares the paintings that came out of that experience.  I’m afraid I don’t have that determination, but, in the Angela Fehr online class (Watercolor Mastery), she talked about working in a series and what you can learn from it.  So...I got out a photo I liked and did a few...just a few.




A strong value study (Notan) followed by a value study with minimum color.












Then going in with lots of colors, then more muted colors (my favorite one).



I even abstracted a couple versions and might show them later.  


I think I did 7 in all and then had to move on to something else.  Maybe if I had started from a still-life, I would have had more enthusiasm for a long series...nah, probably not! ha ha









Thursday, November 5, 2020

WHAT HAS EIGHT ARMS AND PLAYS WITH LEGGOS?

Tried to give this old painting a bit more oomph by working to maintain the whites better.  Started by doing a black and white Notan of the photo, then this value study keeping out ONLY the whites.  That helped me with the painting.  Then I went into the old painting and just lifted out more white areas than it had before.  I like it better but will probably do this one again and really keep those whites clean and bright without any color.  I see I need to darken her eyes, too.

When Sweetie first began volunteering for the Newport Aquarium here close to home, he was in charge of feeding their new (and first) octopus, Olivia.  He would come home with sucker marks all up  and down his arms because she was “very affectionate and playful”, trying to hold on to him and pull him towards her in the tank as he fed her from above the tank.  Later, he didn’t get to feed the octopuses but just worked in water quality and I know he missed the interaction with the critters. 

Octopuses are smart and need mental stimulation so aquariums often give them toys to play with to keep them interested.  They don’t live long in captivity or in the wild - just a few years.  I’d rather see them in the wild, but haven’t gotten much chance of doing that since I don’t scuba.  







Monday, November 2, 2020

THOSE AUTUMN LEAVES...

 



Bringing in the last of the autumn leaves, wetting them and pressing them, then using them to make watercolor prints.  Simple the easy and you often don’t know what you’ll get, depending on the pigment you use and how thick it is on the leaf.  



We had about 20 Halloweenies come by from 6-7 Saturday, socially distanced (for us, not the Halloweenies, who were running around in groups with Moms and Dads - none of whom wore masks).  It was a beautiful day - warm and sunny and a gorgeous full moon coming up by 7:30 pm!


Sunday, October 25, 2020

A FEW OCTOBER BEAUTIES

 







A  few photos taken during a few walks this October.  The days are colder now.  Not cold, but you can feel a hint of winter coming in a few weeks...





Monday, October 19, 2020

OCTOBER LEAVES

 


Just a little card I made of October leaves.  So pretty this time of year, but almost have hit their peak and are browning or falling now.  

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

GOUACHE - A BIT BETTER

 


Worked a bit more on the middle yellow onion to give it more dimension.  Better now.

Sunday, October 11, 2020

PAINT PAINT PAINT UNTIL....

 


Sometimes you just need to play and enjoy the paint doing it’s thing.  October brings out the yellows, golds, oranges and reds and that’s what I played with here on a half sheet from my Strathmore Visual Journal (140# watercolor cold press).  


This little painting was made after watching the latest Strathmore online lessons (free) about watercolor and lettering.  My lettering is not beautiful or elegant, but it’s the way I do it.  The saying comes from Angela Fehr, who gives online lessons, too and I’m signed up for her Watercolor Mastery course right now - a 3 month course to try to break through into the next level!!  And lots of play and experimentation. So, I may be absent for a while unless I have little things to share.


Take care, enjoy your fall (or spring) weather and stay safe, wherever you are.  Keep painting, writing, creating, living!!

Wednesday, October 7, 2020

GOUACHE ON WATERCOLOR PAPER

 


Just a little something to keep me painting something while I’m waiting for something...

Gouache on watercolor paper.

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

BETTER


 Tried to make the photo match the real life painting more (the previous photo was too warm all over).  Added some darks here and there to make it better.  


Sunday, September 27, 2020

GOUACHE ON PAPER

 


A small painting using gouache (except for watercolor background) on Arches 140# cold press paper.  Just using a different medium to play for a while.  Other than a bit more darks in the leaves close to the pod, it’s done.  

Sunday, September 13, 2020

BETTER?

 



After the experimentation with the background, I chose this purple color and went with it.  Changed the top to a branch, too, to make it more natural.  Not done yet - I made sure I had a light hand with the green of the chrysalis itself and will go back in and glaze darker areas over and then put in the yellow/gold.

I like it better so far but think I could have gone even darker in the background.  This may be just one of those paintings you never like, no matter what?

Friday, September 11, 2020

WHEN IT TURNS OUT UGLY....?



I started this painting of a monarch butterfly’s chrysalis.  Ruined it.  Threw it away.  Started another.  This is what I ended up with.  Hated it.  Thought about why it wasn’t working for me = background color choice?  Maybe.  So...thought about purples and reds behind the chrysalis instead (darker, too).  


I experimented with a few colors I have.  Knew right away the dark purple on the left top was what I wanted.  Sometimes you just have to start over.




You can see that ANY of the darker background  colors makes this little green thing stand out more so...



Will the third time be the charm?


We shall see!  



Monday, September 7, 2020

FINISHED

 


Darkened the wooden slats and the background, then added some dark interest in the petals.  


Done.

Saturday, September 5, 2020

ANOTHER STEP OR TWO

 


Slowly, slowly.

Need to straighten the top wooden slat as that bothers me.  

Thursday, September 3, 2020

ORCHIDS - STEP 2 OR 3



Next steps in the painting of the orchids.  Nothing special, just trying to shape the blossoms after doing the wooden “scaffolding” and the dark stems.  

I am positive, now, that the pinks and the background colors are too sweet so will darken the background - maybe just glaze over it with cobalt blue or a mix of darker blues.  

Monday, August 31, 2020

SOMETHING WORKING ON NOW




Just a little painting from a photo reference taken year’s ago when we visited our friend in Vancouver Island, BC, Canada.  Orchids growing and lots of photos taken.  

I need to take care to not make it too sweet with the pinks and blues.