Friday, September 14, 2007 - Sandy Maudlin in International Artist + Peaches Done

Would you like to see some eye candy? If you can before the deadline September 19th, go to https://www.international-artist.com/competition/index.aspx?location=us and select 'see other entries.' You will see 4 paintings from my watercolor teacher, Sandy Maudlin, there in a row. Click on them to enlarge them at the top of the page. (Best of Times, Friends from Oxford, Forever, and Forever Free are her paintings). Feast your eyes on some delicious work!! Yay, Sandy!!! Good luck on the competition.
(For some reason IA cycles through the paintings, putting the latest entries at the top and moving the others down and out - so if you didn't get a chance to see Sandy's paintings before, I think you'll have to wait until she's in the magazine later this year.)

Finished the peaches for the WatercolorWorkshop group project.

Thursday, September 13, 2007 - Bloom! Cropped

The dark center of Bloom! was dead center - so did a bit of cropping and if I mat and frame it, I will do it this way so that center isn't right in the middle (a definite no-no). Done with this now and on to two projects for the WatercolorWorkshop online group.
Project 1 = Wind Chimes: Photo taken by Sandy Maudlin for my use. I've always loved that blue glass wind chime she has outside her studio and she took a few photos for me to choose. I dropped misket (Pebeo Drawing Gum) over the thing and then sprayed it with water outward to make it run and move around the paper. That's as far as I've gotten with that.

Project 2 = Peaches: Photo taken by Gina Hall for the group use for the project. We all will be painting from this photo and it's always interesting to see what the different artists come up with. This one is on hotpress paper with some oxgall liquid in the water to help it run and blend. About 3/4 done on this one.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007 - Bloom! and Morning Glories

I worked on Bloom! a bit more. I think it's done now and I think I should crop out the right side just a bit more so the dark center isn't dead center and to get rid of some of that warm orange that takes our eye there. My wc teacher, Sandy, said the same thing so we're thinking the same way.

And while letting that rest, I began painting the little morning glory/trellis painting I haven't been able to do well - doesn't look like this is going to turn out either but I'll keep trying to figure it out. This really puzzles me...but I see how dark the background is behind the flowers and leaves and I see how warm those leaves are (I need more warms to bring that forward!). Will take the misket off, darken some more, and see what happens. I'm not having much hope for this one. Why is is so hard to do this little painting?

Well, when in doubt just crop it out!! This little painting just got smaller - I cropped off the top, some of the bottom and some of both sides - it's getting to be postcard sized! And it looks better online than in real life :( One more time on this and just misket the whites and nothing else - then go in loose and paint and try it that way.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007 - Tuesday Morning Class

I started another piece of watercolor paper with gesso. I wanted to have some cools in this one so washed over the whole sheet with these colors. This is a half sheet and I didn't roll the gesso or stamp, just brushed it on with a large house-painting brush (cheap ones you get at Lowes).

Next, I took one one of Jerry's photos. I think it is a dahlia but I'm flower challenged so it may be something else.

Then I did a value study (by tracing over the photo with tracing paper and putting in the dark shapes and the midtones). I then rubbed graphite on the back of that tracing paper and traced the value study onto the paper (which, after I got started, was obviously turned around from my original photo so I had to flip the photo to be able to see the shapes right!)

Next I started "carving" out the shapes and colors I saw, spraying water where I needed to refresh the color and texture. I intend to leave the edges very open and blossomed out without any detail but still get the detail in the focal area without having too much.

Here's where I am so far...

At first I was calling it "Delicate Blossom" but now that I have the shapes in there and see the explosion of color and shapes, I'm renaming it - it is now titled "Bloom!"

Monday, September 10, 2007 - Ideals

"Ideals are very important in one's life. Without ideals you cannot move -- whether you achieve them or not is immaterial. But one must try and approximate them." --- His Holiness the Dalai Lama


What is your ideal? What do you want people to say about you when they are talking about you while you are out of the room? I want people to know I am honest. I want them to know I tell the truth. Sometimes people can't hear the truth - they don't want to hear it. But it doesn't mean you shouldn't tell the truth because you are afraid people will misunderstand or not hear you. Tell the truth. Even if it "rocks the boat" or even if other choose to believe an untruth. Don't tell a lie or a half-truth or insinuate something that isn't true just to cover your ego building. Telling the truth creates good karma.

Sunday, September 9, 2007 - Sketching

I recently purchased Strokes of Genius: The Best of Drawing, from NorthLight Books. Inside, it has this charcoal drawing by Neilson Carlin (http://www.neilsoncarlin.com/). The first time I saw it, it really touched me, but also made me feel sad - or maybe I already was sad and it just came to the forefront when I saw this. Anyway, it was a piece of art that brought forth a strong emotion in me.

Here is the work - it's 14" x 20" in charcoal. It's called Expulsion. I don't understand the stones in the left side but the figure itself seems to be lonely, defeated, and yes, expelled from something (or perhaps the stones have been expelled from the body). Whether she's been expelled from a group or a relationship, or is expelling something stone-like from inside her, I definitely feel this work.

Saturday, September 8, 2007 - Figure Drawing from Tuesday Night

I only did one small figure drawing with the model Tuesday night. This one in graphite on my 9" x 12" sketchbook. This was about a 45-minute sketch. I may add a watercolor wash later to show off her red hair or put in some conte.

Emil Robinson posed the model (he is having a show in Loveland, Ohio at the William Schickel Gallery - artist reception is today from 6-9 pm). The gallery site is http://www.williamschickelgallery.com/

While watching the US Open Men's match today, put some pastel colors on the figure drawing.

Friday, September 7, 2007 - Rusty Finished

Rusty done ----- >

Now hear the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, starting her song in the background...

Chain chain chainnnnnnnn

Chain chain chain.

Although you can't see it on this painting, I gessod the paper and then stamped to emboss the gesso, creating even more texture. I read about this technique of stamping into gesso in the latest Watercolor Magic magazine - an artist named Myrna Wacknov did this with portraits. She also works on something called Tygerag paper which creates great textures. Check out her site at http://www.myrnawacknov.com/ to see her work. I might have to suggest working on Tygerag paper in class sometime :)

And while this one was drying, I misketed the whites and pale colors in the morning glories painting (a small one - about 1/8 sheet) so I can go in with lush darks without worrying about losing the whites. Will start painting it next.

Thursday, September 6, 2007 - More Gessoed Work

Just a bit more tweaking and this one will be done (that large splotch of yellow in the lower middle is still wet and I'll tone that down. Need darker darks in the bottom part, too. Almost done...




Also finished the yupo painting of George (just 2 little changes you probably can't even tell I did but Sandy suggested) and spray sealed it with Acrylic spray so no more working on this one - done and ready to sign.

After the Rusted painting is done, I'll start carving out the shapes on this 1/2 sheet gessoed paper. Nothing but the first washes of color on this one and did this one in cools. The photo is by my husband, Jerry Carpenter.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007 - Painting on Gesso

In class Tuesday morning we worked on gessoed paper to create a watercolor painting with some great texture effects. Here's how it's done:

1. Prepare a piece (or 2) of watercolor paper by slathering white acrylic gesso on it

2. Let the paper dry completely

3. Choose your colors (warm or cool dominant) and paint an all-over medium value

4. Let that dry

5. Sketch what you are going to paint over the painted paper - with a graphite pencil

6. Begin putting in all your darkest values, cutting out the shapes

7. Lift the whites from the paper - gessoed paper lifts back to white easily IF you don't use staining colors

Voila! After you gesso you paper, you can stamp into it to get more texture using little rubber stamps - I used a small leaf stamp for mine and then rolled the gesso out a bit to smooth it so it felt very leathery when I was working on it. You don't have to know what you're going to paint before you gesso, but if you do, you can choose colors accordingly and even texture by brushstrokes, etc. Here's the painting and the photo I was using as reference (taken by my husband, Jerry Carpenter).

"Genuine compassion involves analyzing the situation regardless of whether the person is close or not." --- H.H. the Dalai Lama

Monday, September 3 - Morning Glories Again

I really ruined the morning glories painting I was working on. The background was too dark and I made it without any spaces in the darkness. So after working on it for about 1/2 hour and it getting worse and worse, I just tore it up and threw it away. I started again with a value study to see the darks - the thing about this photo is the darks so have to get them right. Maybe this one will work out...

This is a tracing over the photo and then I'll transfer this to the wc paper tomorrow in class and start.

Sunday, September 2, 2007 - George Finished

Added his eyes and a touch here and there to clean up the background. Done! The bottom is a bit dark (that's from the lighting, not the actual look of the painting). Such a handsome little froggie, eh?

Time to move on to something else now - ruined the morning glory painting or will have to do something major to make it work...so maybe a redo on that, too. I was trying to get the dark background a bit mottled and let some areas dry too much before spraying them with water (for the mottling). I could do a small one again and try to keep it high key next time...

Saturday, September 1, 2007 - George Do-Over + Morning Glories

Got around to starting George the Red-eyed tree frog again today. Changed the background so I can work with it more. I think this looks better. Just need to add the eyes and maybe a bit of something behind the leaves - but not sure.Also started this small painting of morning glories while waiting for bits of George to dry enough to go back into them. It's from a photo I took on the deck this morning. It's just in the first stages, as you can see...

Friday, August, 31, 2007 - No Frog Today

Intended to do George over again yesterday but other things got in the way.

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend and stay safe.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - Do Over: Red-Eyed Tree Frog

I put the painting of George under the tap in the bathtub and washed it off completely with a sponge. Yupo is a plastic "paper" and you can just wash the paint off so it was easy. If you want the paint to stay on the paper permanently without fear of rewetting it or smearing it, you have to spray it with an acrylic sealer at the end.

So...this is how it looks (left) when it's back to the paper. You can see the painting faintly but that's good because that helps me redraw it on the paper.

And then here it is (bottom) after I've redrawn it using watercolor pencils. I'm putting in some green fronds/leaves in the bg so it's not all one color or one texture and should be easier to work on when I start over. Since I'm going to do this all in one go, I'll start it tomorrow when I'm fresh and ready - at least, that's the plan.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - George

Well, I tried to work on the background but those of you who have worked on yupo know that it's hard to make changes without getting changes elsewhere due to the nature of the "paper" and how it runs a bit here and there. So the background isn't looking too good right now. It's wet (I went in and tried to fix the ugly places again and you can see where the paint is already running from the tree limb to the background) and I'll have to wait until it dries completely before I go back and see what I can salvage from it.

I may have to admit defeat and just wash it off and start over. I think it's easier to work on yupo from start to finish if you can, rather than go back in later and make changes.

Did you get up early this morning before sunrise to see the total eclipse of the moon? I did, watching it slowing being covered with a reddish brown shadow. Then it stayed that way from 5:55 - 6:25 am when I finally gave up and saw that it was going behind a lot of trees and the sun was rising, lightening the sky. I didn't get to see the end where the shadow uncovered it again. It was worth getting up at 5:45 this morning to see it, though.

Sunday, August 26, 2007 - Finished George?

I intended to finish the yupo painting of George, the red-eyed tree frog, yesterday but forgot Jerry's girls (my step-daughters) were taking him to River Downs as a birthday present. Spent the day there and the weather was kind - about 91F but a nice breeze blowing and we were shaded and we even got a bit of a tiny little sprinkle twice that helped cool us down.

Friday, August 24, 2007 - Finished Spoons + George

Finished the spoons I think. I'm pleased with the shiny look of the bowls - they look very good in person, too :) I'm not quite done with George but almost there.

Will finish George tomorrow - Jerry doesn't like the white abstracted places and wants me to make them green. May have to just play with that in photoshop or something to see if I want it. Is the grey-white too much?

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 - Spoons Next Version + Class Work Tuesday Morning

I didn't go to figure drawing session Tuesday night but did start a yupo painting in watercolor class Tuesday morning. This is George, a tree frog that belongs to one of Jerry's students but we get to babysit him every now and then.

I also worked a bit more on the spoons. The misket is off in this version and I need to shape and shadow the handles more and then they should be done.

Monday, August 20, 2007 - Spoons Again

Here is the next stage of the spoons painting. I am darkening everything, and slowly working on getting the felt the spoons are lying on a deeper color with some variety by using a variety of blues and purples and reds.

I also did a little pastel practice. It looks a bit strange because I don't have a lot of variety in the pastel colors - if I was going to do portraits, I'd have to get a portrait set of colors since I'm just working with a few basics that don't work well for skin tones. But I played with darks and lights on pastel paper. I need to work on the collar bones so it looks like she's facing toward us not away but this was more to play with the strokes and blending than anything worth saving.

Saturday, August 18, 2007 - A Bit More on Shell Spoons

I worked a bit more on the spoons painting - not much more but some. I may be away from the computer for a few days but check back later if you're interested...

Thursday, August 16, 2007 - SmokyMtStream, Spoons Redux and Card for Chris

I worked more on the Smoky Mt Stream painting. As you can see by the second photo, I need to darken some areas still to match up the photo better but not much more to do...does the water read water? Streaming water?

I also began what will be a more blue-purple version of the spoons. The handles will be warm against a cool mix of blues and purples.

And just so I wouldn't get bored, I also painted a small birthday card for Chris (our son-in-law = Jenny's husband). We will see him and the granddaughters Saturday for a family birthday get-together. This is on a small piece of Textured Clayboard.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - Figure Study Tuesday Night

Tuesday in watercolor class I started another SmokyMtStream painting. I tried to do the drybrush technique over the previous painting I did on hotpress paper but I just wasn't getting it to work for me. So just began another the usual way. Sandy liked this one better than the previous one because she said that first one was 1/2 and 1/2 in colors (green and rusty brown) and no predominance. I like the start of this one, too, but that water is going to be the test!

Our model Tuesday night didn't inspire the women very much (2 of us left early and 1 other expressed the same thing). I don't know what it was but I had an uneasy feeling while drawing him. Oh, well, they can't all be positive experiences, I guess.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - In Class This Morning

Since we didn't get to celebrate a class close to Sandy's birthday, I took cookies today and those present got to partake and sign the card (from a photo I took of her in a Janet Rogers workshop). It was fun. But I didn't start on the spoons at all, instead tried a drybrush technique (on the rocky stream painting) that drove me nuts and wasn't very successful so wet the paper and worked on it on top of the drybrush. I just didn't have the patience to layer and layer dry paint but it was worth trying. Will finish this up and post later.

In the meantime, Michelle said I should do the wave I posted yesterday on yupo and wanted to share it with her here - it was done back in April, I think. The photo was taken off Palm Coast, Florida - we walked the beach every day.

Monday, August 13, 2007 - It's Too Hot

Too hot to paint or draw. Too hot to do anything but veg on the sofa and read about being somewhere else.

Maybe somewhere cool.

Photo of poppy by Smudger at WetCanvas.

Photo of waves coming into shoreline, east coast of Florida, by Jerry.

The verdict is about 1/2 and 1/2 on keeping the red felt background on the spoons painting vs going for a blue/purple mix instead. I may have to do two of them! You'll find out my first choice after class tomorrow.