WORKING ON THE "DRIZZLY" CROWS

I applied miskit over the birds and some other areas and then did more drizzling and dripping of the paint.







It's making me think of marshes and Spanish moss and...still not sure where it's going but it's going..perhaps with the beach and all, it should be called Carolina Crows?


When I removed the miskit, it took a lot of the color off the birds - so I'll need to reintroduce the darks there and work on the branch and beach.




















I'm also working on a project from WatercolorWorkshop (the Yahoo group), which is a monotone (in sepia) painting of a crystal bowl. The photo is by Vicki Greene and Susan Roper did a pdf file of the demo so we all could try it.


I got started and drew a lot more than I normally do (actually, just traced over the photo so I knew I'd get it right).


Then did the first wash...





And when I went back to look at it after it dried, I couldn't see any of the lines!!! Frickin-frazzen-fuddle-ump!!!

This photo is the drawing - see how detailed I made it and I took such time and my back was killing me when I straightened up from the drawing board :( poor me - at this point I was testing colors to see if I wanted to use the sepia (far left), or burnt umber (that would work, too, but I decided it was too brown), or hematite (no way - too granulating and ugly for something so beautiful as the crystal bowl).

So now - what would you do? Start all over and make sure my lines are DARK - or try to fudge it and just do a contour drawing over this and be patient with lifting the lights (which is what this project is about)? Or maybe have some cheese with this whine??!?

BOTANICAL PRINT

I did this small (11" x 14" Arches cold press 140#) painting for a group that has a project to do a botanical painting. I did mine the old-fashioned way - white background, trying to keep the colors very pure, no surroundings to the plant/flower. But I've since seen paintings from the American Society of Botanical Painters that paint these in a lot of different ways and they are still botanical - and some artists call any plant/flower painting a botanical.

So what makes a painting a botanical painting? According to the book I have,

According to the book by Wunderlich, botanical watercolors began to be seen in the 16th century, resulting from Europe's growing passion for flowering garden plants. People wanted picture books showing the flowers they might want to grow in their gardens to replace the vegetables and herbs they were used to growing. Hence, the botanical illustration, shared in books and prints throughout Europe. Botanical illustrations are usually painted as close to life size as possible of the plant/flower being portrayed but you can do them in "octavo size" which is about 8" x 5" with the plants painted in miniature. You're going to need small brushes if you paint small.

So what does one draw and paint? Well, not just flowers. You can paint wildflowers, trees, ferns, mushrooms and fungi, dried leaves, bark, nuts, and all fruits. African violets, paperwhite narcissus, amaryllis, hyacinth, Boston fern and philodendron are among the household plants that will provide you with suitable subjects during the winter months. Or how about small cacti in pots or just regular fuits and vegetables if you have nothing growing around your home right now? Bulbs are good subjects and you can include their root systems - which often add a decorative part of the picture.

The main thing is, you must know the scientific name of the plant/flower/ fruit you are portraying so you can label your painting accurately. And you must try to draw your subject as accurately as possible. And drawing is done on tracing paper with hard leads (from 2H to 8H) because you want delicate lines and the softer leads will smudge. The pale silver color of the hard leads work especially well when working with a white petal or subject - you allow those lines to show and become part of the painting.

White gouache (also called body color) is perfectly acceptable to highlight areas of your subject and to depict hairs, thorns, stamens and leaf veining. You can tint the gouache with colors of watercolor to suit your subject.

It never mentions leaving a white background but most of the traditional botanicals I've seen have no color in the background at all. The newer ones often do have a light or splattered background.

Anyone having more info on this type of painting, please share.

AMERICAN EASEL WOOD PAINTING PANELS

I just got a little box of goodies from Dick Blick:

1. Two American Easel wood painting panels

- one is 11 x 14 and one is 12 x 16

(for future paper paintings/collage a la Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson - and check it out = she has a new hardback book of her technique that shares all the info on how to do this - I'm going to buy one (it takes 10-15 days to do the print-on-demand from Lulu) since I have the panels and now can go for it!

2. A new Winsor Newton Sceptre Gold Flat - 1"

- I needed a new, nice flat that will hold a razor point so going to try this on recommendations from other artists

3. A box of fun decorative papers - may not use them in the collages on panels but I may use them for other fun things

I'm just getting around to using the gift card my Mom got me for my birthday in January - sometimes I can be frugal and conservative with free money - but then I just have to have something new and interesting.

And today is a cleaning day so probably no more work on the last crows painting although I did miskit over them for more drizzly work to come...

PLAYING WITH WET-IN-WET TECHNIQUE

I pre-wet the paper (1/2 sheet Killimanjaro/Cheap Joe's Brand 140# watercolor paper) after I put some miskit on the crows in places. Then drizzled the color down from the top to the bottom using a big, juicy brush full of wet color. Put the crows in last.






I like the start of this but not sure where I'm going with it...sometimes the painting just leads you so I'm waiting for it to do that. I may miskit over the birds, as they are, and then go a bit crazy with the drizzles to make them more distinct?


As I was posting this, I heard a crow cawing outside my window - does that mean he agrees with that option or not?

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

I'm in a restless mood: don't want to read, don't want to paint, don't want to go out for a walk or even sit in the sunroom and enjoy...the SUN!

Okay, maybe it's because I've injured my back again. This is something that will always come and go with me because it's a degenerative condition. Right now it's in the recuperation stage but still twinging enough to let me know not to overdo it.

How can I get anything done when feeling this way? Well, maybe I am getting things done and not giving myself credit...

Found this on another blog and had to share the quote, too.

“…There are always some aspects of the goal that got accomplished, but the [artist] was discounting them because it wasn’t all of the goal. I have come to believe that even if it’s one out of three, it’s still one more than zero. Small gestures matter — and it’s high time we start recognizing what we do instead of what we don’t do. We do a disservice to ourselves by not acknowledging even the smallest things we do accomplish…” –Summer Pierre, The Artist In The Office.

Sure sounds like something we all need to remember, yes?

JEALOUSY - CHANGES MADE

This one underwent some reworking and I think it's a better painting now. I enjoyed doing the crosshatching of the color in the sky. And yes, that crow's eye is green - I've never seen a crow with a green eye and probably will never see one but I liked the idea of greens and jealousy mingling.

THEY'RE BACK: JEALOUSY

Did you think I had finished with crows? Not yet!

This one is on 1/2 sheet size yupo "paper" and is watercolor only - so far. It's just a beginning idea, more than anything else.

I'm calling it "Jealousy"

and I want to get more greens in there

and my main idea is the real crow jealous of the sculptured/fake crow -

or maybe the other way around?

I'll be letting this one stew for a while so I can work out what I want, where, etc. I know the rule of having only 2 subjects - but sometimes you want that tension of just 2, yes? I'm going to work that "pedestal" for the sculptured crow, too.

NOT A CROW

Something created long ago.

Not a crow.

A COUPLE OF 20-MINUTE CHALLENGE SKETCHES

Katharine has asked that all submissions to the Twenty Minute Challenge blog (see sidebar for link) be in color now - so I did a couple of watercolor sketches instead of drawings. I did an underdrawing - just a bit of a sketch to get the lines where I wanted them.

These are both in my Exacompta sketchbook (5 1/2" x 8 1/2"). I love the texture of this book and how it holds up when water is used with it - not much buckling or warping at all.

Now off to begin another crow painting...

why?

be - caws!!!

GESSOED CROW = DARK MESSENGER

This painting that began with white gesso on white watercolor paper has become

Dark Messenger.

I'm liking it but that doesn't mean it's finished.

It's 1/2 sheet Fabriano Artistico 140# paper, gesso and watercolor with some Inktense pencil marks here and there.

CAW-ING ELIZABETH!!!

Well, now I know you can overwork a collage!

I'm going to send this to Elizabeth at Paper Paintings to see what she says about it and what suggestions she has for making a better one next time.






So....what did I learn?

1. Collage can be very meditative and calming, and you can do as much or as little as you want at a time.

2. You can fall in love with a color and go overboard with it.

3. Planning (values and colors and composition) is important from beginning to end.

4. Gathering your papers before starting is a good idea, and laying them over the painting before gluing them is also a good idea.

5. If you don't have the shape you want when you tear your paper, don't just use that piece - tear it correctly to get the shape you want.

6. Incorporate words from the beginning if you want words in your college - don't just tack them on at the end because you forgot you wanted them.

7. I should study how Elizabeth does her animal eyes and rounds her paper pieces at times to give her shapes a fuller look.

8. I need industrial strength hand cleaner to get the acrylic medium off - must ask Elizabeth what she uses.

9. Next time, leave more of the canvas/board and underpainting showing and try for a 75-25 mix to see how that works.

COLLAGE CROW - MORE WORK

Changing the colors a bit in the green/yellow hills. I can see a big "whoops" just by his tail - that bright yellow strip isn't going to remain like that (putting this on the computer monitor does show those mistakes you didn't see while working on it). When I work on the crow, I'll be able to overlap and cover up the hard-edged look around his tail, too.


So...I varied the colors in the hills. I added a bit of white rice paper to the sky where some of the canvas/board was showing through just to keep the textured effect. I did the post and I think it's done. And I began gathering dark papers for the crow - reds and greens and blacks and...have to get in some dark blues, too and purples...

Still more work to do and maybe some more layering of the green hills - that single green color needs more breaking up with bits of something else - blue-greens, darker greens toward the bottom, etc. Maybe I'll do that while gathering the darks for the crow.

Again, this is very enjoyable - my only nitpick is all the "glue" I end up with on my fingertips from holding the pieces while gluing the backs of them. But that's a small thing and it won't deter me from doing it (putting on Gloves in a Bottle hand cream before starting seemed to help - I didn't have as much sticky dried glue on my fingers as last time).

FROM WHITE GESSO TO BLACK CROW

Here's a bit more of the crow I began using white gesso on watercolor paper. Put the colors in the bird. He looks a bit scary, not having an eye yet.

I like the "texture" that shows hints of feathers and shapes and I can lift back to white or pale colors on the gessoed part. I haven't begun the background yet but I have some ideas about that (thinking of using some irridescent copper I bought from Daniel Smith and have never used).

The crow, being shaped with the gesso, stands out from the background.

I'm still working on my collage, too. The hardest part may be finding papers that are dark enough to use in the crow body.

COLLAGED CROW IN PROCESS

I began this collaged crow after watching Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelsons' DVD "Paper Paintings" for a second time to get the details right. (See her blog for more info on getting this DVD from Elizabeth).

I didn't have the birch wood panels Elizabeth uses, so I used an 11" x 14" piece of Fredrix Watercolor Canvas Board - it has a hardboard core so it's rigid enough to push the "glue" into the paper to get it to stick.

So I started with that, drew my image, then used Da Vinci fluid acrylics to paint the scene - I should have painted it looser but it's fine (going to be almost completely covered when I finish, anyway).


I didn't want the background "sky" to be too busy so used this single sheet of artisan paper I've had a long time. It has inclusions of little green weeds and rose/violet flowers that I think work well. Looks like spring to me.

I've collaged the sky and most of the background hills/grass. Elizabeth says to start collaging the background, then finish with your foreground subject. I tore each strip/piece of the paper so no hard edges but I see a few that need to be covered over to soften them.

Haven't touched the post or the crow yet - that's just fluid acrylic paint so far. So I have work to do to finish it and I want to include some words, perhaps in his legs or feathers. I'm liking the way it looks so far...and there is something meditative about this process. I thought I would get impatient and restless with the process, tearing the paper and gluing each bit here and there, overlapping, etc. - but it calmed me down and took me into a nice place where I enjoyed it very much. (And to think I kept putting this off, making excuses because I didn't have the exact acrylic gloss medium to use as glue, didn't have the birch panels, etc.!) Thanks, Elizabeth, for being so open and sharing with your technique!! I'm already thinking about painting some of my own papers for next time :)

GOING FOR THE GOLD (SUNSHINE) AWARD

The wonderful, talented, lovely Christiane Kingsley sent me this:

And before I could get around to sending it to some of my favorite and most interesting and creative bloggers, I got it again from Barb Sailor - one of my favorite watercolor painters and teachers! And then my dear friend and artist buddy, Ann Buckner, also "sort of" awarded this to me - I was in the top 12 sidebar blogs for the day so I'm claiming it! ha ha

Now - that's 3! I'm in an Olympic spirit and I'm going to try to get as many as I can of this award. So if you get it, pass it on to me! haha We'll see how many I can accumulate - without having to ski downhill or do a triple lutz!!

And I will pass it on to 12 of my all time favorite, sharing, creative, wonderful blogger artist friends. Anyone whose work touches me - makes me smile, makes me laugh, makes me weep at the beauty of their work, I'm going to send it to you so...please go to these blogs and check out their work - you will NOT be disappointed and you might just fall in love with their work, their words, their wisdom and their open, sharing minds:



Of course, I'm paying it back to:



1.Christiane
2.Barb
3.Ann


so 9 more...


Easy as pie - hard to just choose 12!
Sending it on to:




4.Mary Beth of The Common Denominator
5.Katharine of Katherine A. Cartwright Studio (and creator of The Twenty Minute Challenge blog)
6.Elizabeth of Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson's Paper Paintings
7.Deb of Deb Ward Art
8.Teresa of Lost in Wonder
9. Deb Leger
10.Dawn of Vulture Cafe
11. Jeanette of Illustrated Life
12. Gillian of The Fading Rose

13. Myrna of Creativity Journey

Originally, each recipient was supposed to send this to 12 more bloggers deserving the sunshine (we can all use it, right - well, my friend in Brazil says she's had enough sun and heat for now but everyone else could use a bit), but I bent the rules a bit, sending it to a lucky 13 (or a baker's dozen, however you want to look at it). It was hard to stop at 13 - any artist on my sidebar is a gold winner to me.

Some of these bloggers are friends, some I've known for years, some I've just become acquainted with through their blogs and have come to look forward to seeing what they post every day or so. Some are so sharing of their talent and skill and knowledge, it's amazing. Some paint or photograph beautifully but find themselves doubting their talent at times - we've all been there! So take a moment to visit these wonderful artists. Drop them a comment if something they have created and shared moves you. Every one of us could use a sunshine award - something to tuck away for those dreary, cold, winter days that keep hanging on. And remember, I'm collecting them - so if you get one, send me one in my race for the most gold! ha ha I'm going for at least 5...or maybe 7...how many medals did Apolo Ono get? At least that many - but I'm not wearing that racing suit and helmet - I'd look like a dork (how come he looks so good in it? - oh, yeah, he's young and cute!)

THEIR COMMITMENT TO BLACK + 1

I finished Their Commitment to Black and began two more (of course, I am crow-crazy!!).
I cropped this one in a bit so that post wasn't just hanging in the air. Touched some colors into the black and left some lights. Done.

And for my next trick....

I took some white gesso and painted a crow on white paper with it and waited for it to dry. Can you see it? You will...

And the other crow painting is actually a Paper Painting, done like Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson does her paper paintings. I finally got myself in gear and started one. I've been thinking about it for a while - ever since I received her DVD showing her technique - just didn't get started until today. How hard was that? Just starting was the hardest thing and it's flowing well so I'm pleased.
Won't share it yet...have to give you something to look forward to...

OR are you SICK TO DEATH of crows??

CROW 2 CROW + THEIR COMMITMENT TO BLACK

I did a bit more painting on Crow 2 Crow. It's as done as it's going to get without going too much and overworking it.

Then I worked a bit more on Their Commitment to Black.

I still have to remove the misket from the crows and see where this one takes me from here.

All of the crow paintings (so far) are 1/2 sheet size.

The snow is melting....!!!! I can see parts of the ground. ☻

CROW 2 CROW NEEDS - A DIFFERENT PAINTER

Opening this Crow 2 Crow painting up today and I was disappointed. It looks - wrong. Somehow doesn't go together the way it should - I've lost some of the sparkle and shine of the crows and the piece just looks...um...piecey.

Maybe I can get some ideas from the Arts Graphica free online lessons in watercolor and drawing and acrylics and...

Do go over and see them - and all the free lessons you can print out and try.

I think to finish this painting, I need to loosen up...free whatever is trying to get out and stop shoving her into a box of lines and colors and shapes...okay, that doesn't make any sense, I'm sure, but I know exactly what I mean. Just can't seem to get there.

What does this painting need? Another painter! Perhaps I'll sit now and try to channel an artist who isn't afraid to take risks, who doesn't paint to be pretty, and who can slap that bold color on the paper without hesitation - someone like Nicholas Simmons or Carol Carter or...you get my idea!

Speaking of fearless painters who know what they are doing: Sandy Maudlin is giving a demo and talk on painting with fluid acrylics on yupo at our next watercolor society meeting - to be held Wednesday, March 3 at 10 am. If you are in the area, you might want to visit that day and see what she can do on yupo.

Why do we always want to paint
"like her/him!"
instead of
"like us, only better!"

MAKING MYSELF PAINT - CROWS, OF COURSE

I made myself get over these blahs this weekend, and go back to the Crow 2 Crow painting and finish it.

I think it's finished.

Comments always welcome.

Question: Is the top section just too light and airy compared to the rest? Does it work - or not?

I won't go darker in the crows - I like the colors, except, ooops, just saw that the crow at top has no legs!!! Well, I'll have to fix that...

I also started on the geometric shapes for the black crow painting - for now, I'm calling it Watching - but that's not a great title. I'm thinking of "Their Commitment to Black" from something Susan Roper said she liked about crows once in a post :)

It's a work in progress, of course, with more to be done. And the crows have misket on them so when that's lifted off, it will change things and I'll be placing more yellows in the broken circles, too.

STILL ON THE ROOF?

Can't stay on the roof. There's just too much snow that's melted down to ice and icicles hanging off - dangerously long and ferocious looking things! So I'd have slipped off anyway.

Looking through the window, the snowplow trying to clear off the road, pushing the snow to the front of our drives, up around our mailboxes, up the sides of the road. The joys of winter weather. More snow in the forecast? Don't want to hear it!

The sun did shine yesterday - hence the 4 ft long icicles hanging from the roof...when those babies crash down, look out! I can't reach them to knock them off - did a pretty good job on the ones right over the front door but the sides are too high up. It will be interesting to see how long they get before breaking away.

Smudge doesn't go out - he just sits at the windows/doors in the sunroom and looks out. Wonder what he thinks of all that white stuff?

FALLING IN SNOW

OK, I think we've had enough snow now. No more, please. And let's have a bit of warm up so some of this will melt.

Enough, already!

Is anyone listening to me?

Nope...

still snowing...

the cars look like big marshmallows in the driveway - the driveway I shoveled out twice yesterday and it looks the same as when I began shoveling yesterday morning.

This is getting old.

This is getting me down.

This is...

depressing.

I think I'm going to get up on the roof and jump off - see what kind of snow angel that makes.

DARK CROW REWORKED + CROW 2 CROW AGAIN

I thought the Dark Crow painting on Yupo didn't really use the qualities of Yupo very well since I put that black on really thick so I washed some off, added some other colors. I like it better now but it's still not a "good painting" - just something to get the brushes wet again after a long time.

And did a bit more on the Crow 2 Crow painting, working on the tree, the diagonals and a bit more on the bottom crow - just a bit, didn't overwork or ruin him.

Here's a close-up - and I almost like it cropped this way but maybe I'm just getting lazy with this one?

Hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day, a Happy New Year (Tibetan and Chinese), and are going to have a Happy Presidents' Day.

What we need

right now

is

a little more

fricking snow!!!

DARK CROWS AND SUNLIT SNOW

It felt like forever since I last painted anything at all so it felt good to get right into this. Started by putting a dark grey/black color over a half sheet of Yupo and then going from there. This is what came from just an idea of a black crow.














And here is a heart I carved in the snow for my sweetie - and then threw some pink paint at it.



A few more snow scenes with a bit of sun shining now. We have enough feeders out to keep all the birds - and squirrels - happy.

HAVE A HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Don't forget, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I got my sweetie this beautiful little white chocolate raspberry cake at the grocery the other day. He got to eat almost 1/2 of it :) hee hee (Don't worry, he wasn't suffering without - I made him a pan of chewy brownies.)






I hope you get something good from your sweetie - or that you treat yourself, if you see something you want.

I am going to get my brushes full of water and pigment this weekend, no matter what - that is my Valentine's gift to myself!

And if the sun shines, I may get out and take a few more snow photos - it's still pretty pristine around except for the roads and driveways.

"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love." --- Anonymous

CROW 2 CROW - IN PROGRESS STILL

No, I haven't had time to paint but I did have this at this stage (with misket on the bills and on the tree for future work on the background to come) before Jerry's surgery - and since I have nothing else to share, I'll share this.

Here's a close-up of the bottom crow, showing the eye and head a bit more.

And a snap of the snow - seems like everyone is putting their snowy photos on their blogs and this was early this morning (awake at 5 am again and felt great then...now, 8 hours later, not so great and feel a cold coming on - oh no!!!).

Anyone ready for a cold dip in the pool? No? Me, neither! And I've given up trying to get Jerry's car shoveled out - it can sit there until someone tells me I have to move it.

Are you going to watch the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics tonight?

ADMIRED PERSONALITY TRAITS TO ACQUIRE

Just read this post from Brett Blumenthal at Sheer Balance:

6 Personality traits to admire and acquire (Brett thinks these are also the rarest or most difficult to find):

1. Selflessness 2. Tolerance 3. Genuineness
4. Sensitivity 5. Integrity 6. Humility

Go to
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/life/6-personality-traits-to-admire-and-acquire-576756/
to read the whole post.
(I only wish she'd listed people who fit all these categories, not those who don't - or are they really so rare, it's hard to find someone for each category?) Do you know a person who fits a specific category? Or perhaps a rare person who fits all six?

I'm working on all but not feeling like I'm doing a very good job lately. Stress brings out the best or the worst in people - maybe I'm somewhere in between?

HEART CARD TO GET WELL

No painting or even doodling for almost a week. But I did create this card for my sweetie to give to him in the hospital. It's watercolor and collage bits and pieces.

The top lacey doily bit hangs over the paper on the top right edge.

We got another 4-5 inches of wet snow which I shoveled out of the driveway in front and behind my car twice already - just in case I need to get out. Then the snow plow shoveled me right back in at the top of the drive, as usual. I think it's time for chocolate...

I am enjoying stress relief by catching up on all my favorite blogs.

SUPER SUNDAY

Today is not only Super Bowl Sunday but, to me and my sweetie, it is a Super Sunday - because he came home from the hospital today :)

After a scheduled and planned total hip replacement on the 3rd, we thought he'd be home and fine by the 5th (he'd had the right replaced and did so well 6 year's ago). Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Some complications led to 2 more days and nights and lots of sleepless hours (for me - he couldn't stay awake or alert or even breathe well), he was discharged this afternoon and is doing well.

Thanks so much to those who sent emails and sent good wishes, thoughts and prayers!

Now for the real recuperation to begin. (I will catch up with comments soon, I promise.) And I saw crows every day but Friday and Saturday (his two worst days) so I'm still saying they bode well for me...and I'll get back to the painting of crows soon.

WATCHING - BEGINNING

While the second crow painting simmers, I've begun a third. Yep, it's official, I've got crows on the brain - even dreaming about them now.





Here's a start - going to use some neat shapes in this one, too, if you can see the pencil marks.




Close-up of the 2 on the left to show I've used some misket in these and gone really dark with the colors this time.