LADY BUG = LADYBIRD BEETLE

Painted, using gouache, on the 3rd vintage postcard sent to me for the Val Webb online class.  After the computer crash, I was wary about going on with the online videos so am just using the postcards and what I learned in the class so far.  This little ladybug seemed like a good thing to add to the postcard :)  All using gouache only to paint her there.

No hearts and flowers for Valentine's Day but she's red :)



Do you have any old postcards lying around - or ones you've collected but not used or sent?  Just "age" them with watercolor or tea or coffee staining - and paint something...and then mail them off to a friend!

ICE, ICE, BABY

Had enough ice cover everything the other day/night and cold enough for it to stay on most things for a couple of days.  It is very pretty in the sunlight.  Not so nice when you have to scrape it off your car windows and you're stuck in the driveway because ice has melted and refrozen under your tires :(

FLYING

OK, my laptop died - now my Keurig coffee maker (after just receiving a new box of K-cups).  What next?

Time to fly away.  Perhaps a cabin in the woods.  Or a cottage on the beach.  Or...


Another crow, using only Lunar Black by Daniel Smith.  A great pigment.

Found this beautiful male cardinal on the ground the other day :(  
We still have 3 males and 3 or 4 females coming to the feeders.  I wonder, if they were all mated up, what happens to the lone female?

POSTERIZED AND PAINTED = SPOOKY

When I was on Anna Maria Island last month, I saw a notice for a member's show at the Manatee Art Center in Bradenton.  I didn't go, but liked the image that won first place (and I had seen it in real life in December during a gallery tour in Holmes Beach on the island).  I am 99% sure that the artist took her photo into PhotoShop (or a similar photo program), unsaturated the photo and then used the Posterize tool in the program to get the shapes she painted in after transferring the photo to her watercolor paper.  

I thought I'd try it on one of my Savannah, GA photos of an old building.  It was a bit tedious, since I didn't enlarge the photo much (just an 8 x 11 inch size paper). 

Now, some people will tell you they don't posterize their work to get this look - but they do.  And I learned this technique years ago in a Nick Simmons workshop as one way to "manipulate" your original photo using the PhotoShop tools, and make it more interesting.  Nick spent a day on how to use PhotoShop in this way.  

So this is not new.  It's just that some artists are now saying they've discovered this new technique.  It's interesting that this technique seems to be a big thing right now in some of the juried art shows, so look for some of the posterized and painted watercolors - I bet you see some.  

PUFFIN VINTAGE POSTCARD

Using a photo from Val Webb's online reference photos, I chose one I didn't have - a puffin.  On one of her postcards...I have one more left of the small postcards she sent and will probably put a crow on it!  We'll see.

All of the postcards are painted using gouache first and colored pencil on top of that layer.  A fun technique, but I still love my watercolor the best.

COMPUTER DIED BUT BUTTERFLIES SURVIVED

Well, my sister spent hours and hours and frustrating hours working on my laptop.  She did get my photos and documents off it onto a clean external hard drive, but I think it's dead.  Last resort is to call McAfee and ask them to remote look at it and help me - but I think it's a goner :(  Oh, well.  It was purchased in May 2010 so I guess it was time to start looking for a new one.  

And I want to thank my sister for all her technical help and the hours she put in, and apologize for the stress of it all.  I don't know how she can do this kind of stuff for a living!  

I'll use Sweetie's desktop (sporadically) with posts until I get something new.  But that means learning his photo program to resize and crop photos (which I have to learn slowly and it's a tedious process.  It works, it just takes 5 extra steps so...).  Learning curves....grrrrrr!

But here is a photo I took of my new Prismacolor pencils and the 2 butterfly postcards I made, using the Val Webb info she shared online before I crashed.  I won't be going back to her videos (just in case) to watch the bird ones so...I can take what I learned in the 3 buttefly videos I saw and try them out with the birds - or maybe even little cute ladybugs or something?


I won't be getting a new computer until I do some research so bear with me for another week (hopefully, not more than that).

While I've been gone, I've had another birthday (those things just keep cropping up!), my computer got deadly gremlins, my mother got pneumonia, and it's been a strange few days of warm & sunny and then cold & snowy and back down to 0F weather - and it seems like weeks since I've posted anything or given the blogs more than a glance (sorry).    

A WEEK CAN SEEM LIKE A LONG TIME

It's been just over a week since my last post.  I did not disappear or get lost in vintage postcards.  Instead I started having computer gremlins that, finally, caused me to give up and call my best IT person - my sister - to help me out.  Seems like, from all indications, my Malware program was fighting for control of the computer with my McAfee program and making my computer nonworkable.  So...my laptop (which I normally use for blogging, etc.) has been out for scanning, cleaning, getting back up to speed, etc.  It is almost 8 years old and probably will need to be replaced soon.  The iPad I bought Jerry for his birthday several year's ago, is also becoming slow and stubborn.  Looks like new computers are in the works for 2018.

Until then, I have 2 butterfly postcards done and will share when I can.  (I did think that my laptop problems were caused by the online class, but my sister says that is not the case so I can watch the rest of the videos when I get the computer back).  

It sometimes seems like a week flies by but it's been a week since I was last able to post and it seems like a looooong time!!

Hope you are having a good January.  Did you see the Super Blue Blood Moon???  I saw a fuzzy misty white thing in the lower part of the sky around 6:45 this morning and then it was gone.  Didn't get much of a look of the eclipse from here.  

ONLINE COURSE + PEARS IN MY STILLMAN & BIRN

Before I left for 2 weeks away in AMI, I sent in my money for Val Webb's online course.  This is the second online course I've taken from her and she gives you lots of info.  This time, it's about painting butterflies and birds on vintage postcards, using gouache and colored pencil.  When we picked up the mail today, there were 4 old timey postcards waiting for me from Val (2 blank to test drive and 2 actually used through the mail back in 1966).  So now I have some videos to watch and some materials to gather together.  I'll share what I do when I get things done.  I have a feeling this is going to be fun and educational.

So I may not have my Royal Terns finished right away, but I will get back to them.

I did paint in my Stillman & Birn sketchbook/journal while I was in AMI.  A lady working at a shop I visited every day (for the best cafe con leche on the island) was interested in coming by and having me teach her a few things.  She had the paper, watercolors, and brushes, but turns out she didn't have the time so...the pears I bought became my models and I used them.

And I took a few good photo references of the landscaping plants around in the sun - so more paintings to come.  

But right now:  Butterflies and Birds on Vintage Postcards

MONEY FOR NOTHIN'

I just returned from a 2-week vacation at one of my favorite places:  Anna Maria Island, FL.  Escaped the cold here and the snow.  

While I'm gone, I don't often check all my gmail emails.  So now I have 103 emails in my inbox from nice people wanting to give me a lot of money...so I think 2018 is going to be a very good year!  

Will be catching up soon.  Hope you all are warm, wherever you are!

ROYAL TERNS FOR PHYLLIS - STEP 2

Almost finished - think I need to work on the eyes a bit and then it's done.

This is the smaller version I'll mail to Phyllis when it's finished.

Now to finish the larger version...

ROYAL TERNS FOR PHYLLIS

I started a smaller version of the Royal Terns, using the photo from Phyllis Chandler Grey's book about Anna Maria Island.  This one is on Fabriano Artistico 140# paper (11 x 14 inches).


Need to finish both versions before beginning something else but feeling scattered...

ROYAL TERNS = ELVIS BIRDS

I began this painting - on a half sheet (15 x 22 inches) of Twinrocker 140# coldpress watercolor paper.


This is from a photo by Phyllis Chandler Grey in her book about AMI.  If it turns out well, I'll make her a copy or maybe paint her a smaller one (easy to mail to her).  As she says in her book, during courtship, the male offers a small fish to the female.  If she takes it gently, they then mate.  If she's too aggressive, he goes away and tries another more submissive female.  This couple seems to be working out and the photo was one I really wanted to try first from the book.  So...we'll see how it turns out!

TOO COLD TO PAINT?

This weather is getting to be too much!!  Cold cold cold.  I thought "they" predicted a mild winter, and it looks like no one is having a truly mild winter with snow where there shouldn't be snow and ice and coldly, bitterly awful temperatures for days and days in places where it should be warmer.  OK, that's my rant.  

But it has been too cold to do much beside curl up and read some of the new books I got for Christmas, so that's what I've been doing. 

Which means no painting right now but I'm still on my Year of the Bird challenge to myself to see how many birds I can paint this year.  Off to a pretty good start but stalled out right now (frozen out?).

This book was gifted to me by the author, Phyllis Chandler Grey, whom we met back in December in Anna Maria.  She has these books about AMI for sale around the island and online (Amazon).  They have some beautiful photos inside of birds, beaches, homes, etc. on the island - and she gave me permission to use any of the bird photos for potential paintings!  I will do that and send her a copy or a small painting of one of the photos.  Thanks, Phyllis!!  Hope to see you again soon.

For now, I've begun painting one of the Royal Tern photos she has in the book and I'll show that soon.  These are the birds I call Elvis birds because of their jet black "hair" on their heads.

RED

Even the females are ruddy red but never as bright as the males with their stop-sign red feathers and their cocky way of tilting their heads as if to say, "Yes, I know I'm beautiful!"

JAY

A quizzical bluejay for you.  In spite of the cold, we have 3 bluejays coming to the feeders, along with woodpeckers (red-bellied, hairy and downy ones), cardinals, tufted titmouses (or mice?), juncos, and the usual bunch of goldfinches.  

More birds to come...

AUDUBON POSTCARDS

In mid-2017, we stopped for a week in Savannah, GA.  One of our must-go places is the Dick Blick Art Supply store downtown, where I picked up a neat little postcard book of Audubon birds.  What better thing to get out and color and paint for THE YEAR OF THE BIRD?  

They are small so you can't do big washes of color - maybe colored pencil would be best or just light washes in places...here's a crow I did (it's all fill-in-the-spaces type of painting/coloring, but it still would make a nice postcard to send to someone).

I haven't finished all the greenery for this one yet.

A NEW CROW FOR THE NEW YEAR

Painted on Arches 140# hotpress paper (a block I am using right now).




What's better than a curious crow to start off the new year?

A NEW YEAR

Well, we have put another year behind us and, I hope, look forward to 2018.  I know the past year has not been easy for many folks, and we don't know what the new year will bring.  

But if the waves start getting too rough, just dip underneath and
Just Keep Swimming!



Another in my little Stillman & Birn watercolor sketchbook.  I've done several of these mermaid tails with the words, Just Keep Swimming, on the paper.  I will probably do more.  I may make some cards from these little mermaid tail paintings, too.  

Now back to birds:  the January 2018 National Geographic magazine was all about Why Birds Matter - and that NatGeo is proclaiming YEAR OF THE BIRD.  I forsee a lot of bird paintings and drawings to come in 2018 :)

STILLMAN & BIRN

While walking in a nature preserve in Manatee County, FL, I came upon some brush and this little pod stood out for me.  I clipped it and took it home to draw and paint.  I haven't a clue what it is.


Read 2 books worth mentioning while on vacation:

A Piece of the World
by Christina Baker Kline
(It's a fictionalized account of the life of Christina Olson, the woman made famous in the Andrew Wyeth painting, Christina's World.  Well done and interesting with enough research put into the book to make it seem like it could have been Christina's own words.)


Sea Creatures
by Susanna Daniel
(A story with some interesting characters - two main characters have insomnia to the extent that it changes their lives.  A lovely story set in the Biscayne Bay area of Florida, with houses on stilts, living on houseboats, water, and even a hurricane.  I never got bored with it and it made me want to read more of her work but she only has one other book.)

I got a LOT of books for Christmas!!

PAINTING IN MY STILLMAN & BIRN SKETCHBOOK

I almost always pack my Stillman & Birn watercolor sketchbooks with me and take it on trips.  Sometimes I open it and paint, sometimes I don't.  We had a couple of chilly, windy, wet days during our 2-week vacation this time so I got out the paints and painted a few little things.






It's mostly about playing with color with these two bright little ones.

This could make a good anniversary card, Valentine's Day card, etc.  I may make prints of this one.

HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE

Wishing all my blogger friends 

a wonderful holiday season, 

whether you celebrate Christmas, Kwanzaa, 

Hanukkah or Festivus.

Take care of yourselves and each other, spend good quality time with your families, and I hope to see you in the new year.

VACATION PICS - TWO

Just a few more vacation photos from Anna Maria Island...enjoy!




Sweetie taking a closeup off this truly gnarly tree trunk.  It's a Silk Floss Tree and it has spines which could be dangerous, but it's beautiful.

Closeup of the trunk next - see how spikey it is?

These were taken at the Palma Sola Botanical Park, a lovely place for a nice walk and they have some interesting plants, tree, shrubs, lakes, etc.  


This is a pandanus with some spikey globes (fruit) - another gnarly tree!

Nothing spikey here, and even edible fruit = starfruit :)

Finish off with this gorgeous great white egret - such a beautiful bird, and so used to humans at this pier that it just posed for us.  Love Anna Maria Island!

VACATION PICS - ONE

How about a few wonderful beachy sunsets?



Just a few holiday/vacation photos from another wonderful two weeks away on Anna Maria Island in Florida.  Most of the time, it was warm, sunny, and great (we did have a bit of a cold spell for a couple of days but I'm not going to say much about that because while we were going down to 35F at night, it was 25F during the day at home in Kentucky!  It has warmed up here at home (we tell everyone we bring the warmth back home with us!).

We walked to the beach (North Point) almost every evening to see what the sky would give us, and once we saw this lovely grey-blue and pink blushed clouds over the canal behind the house so we didn't even have to walk to the beach on that cold and windy evening.

BLACKBIRD

Still working with the Arches 140# hotpress paper (10 x 14 inches).  Used just 3 colors.  The hotpress lifts well if you don't use staining pigments.




Red-winged Blackbird



Just returned from 2 weeks away at the beach.  Will share photos as I sort and edit some.  And I definitely will be using this black pigment again on, maybe...a crow or two?  :)

HOTPRESS PAPER - CROW

Of course, I'd have to return to a crow.  Using some blues and on Arches 140# hotpress paper, 10 x 14 inches.




A crow with the blues.

POEM

SLEEP

by Rita Banerjee

What does it mean to be so still?

to glide along the ocean floor

like some black-tongued electric eel,
to burn through marbled gold and green

of oceanic things like some
compact mass deforming space, time,

a void within voids, and then?
It is easier to imagine amphibian,

to know that blood, too, can change
its temperament as quickly as

salamanders change skin, as quickly as
eyes of newt and tongues of dog become

incantations, enchantments of art
and life just as an animal submerged

under water becomes unknown,
just as respirations become primitive

and breaths and motions cease
as a lone fish in a dark pond

arrives as an object of thought
and becomes stone.

Rita Banerjee is the author of Echo in Four Beats, 

forthcoming from Finishing Line Press in February 2018. 

She is the executive creative director of the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop 

and teaches on modernism, art house film, and South Asian aesthetics and literary theory at the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich in Germany, 

where she currently lives.

HOTPRESS ARCHES

Painted on Arched 140# hotpress paper (10 x 14 inches).  I am liking the hotpress (it makes some nice runs and lifts if you don't let it dry completely before you start playing with it).



Mr. Red

ARCHES ROUGH BLOCK

Another on the 140# Arches block of rough paper - 7 x 10.25 inches.




Bright, warm belly on a cold day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LI'L SISTER

☺  💖   😄   💓

MORE ROUGH

On a block of Arches 140# rough paper - 7 x 10.25 inches.



Open wide!

POEM

EVERYONE IN ME IS A BIRD

by Melissa Studdard


Mind was a prison, ruby lined
in its lipstick noir—everything woman
I was expected to be, trapped between
papered walls. What they said to do, I did not
but only levitated at the burning,

the body a water in which I drowned, the life
a windshield dirty with love. What they
said to think, I thought not but instead made
my mind into a birdcage with wings.


Title from a poem by Anne Sexton




Melissa Studdard is the author of I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast 
(Saint Julian Press, 2014). She is a professor at Lone Star College-Tomball 
and lives in Houston, Texas.

ROUGH

Painted on an Arches block of 140# rough paper (7 x 10.25 inches).




Hope your tail's not dragging!

WATERCOLOR BLOCKS - COLDPRESS, ROUGH AND HOTPRESS

I have purchased a few watercolor blocks in the past.  They are mostly Arches brand, but some Lanaquarelle, too.  I'm going to get them out and paint on them - what's the use of having things if you never use them?

What am I going to paint on them?  Mostly birds.

Happy December!