PRETTY COLORS

 A piece using pretty colors :) 

Needed to be just a bit darker and, for some reason, sap green is calling me to put some limbs on...but I’ll wait and see about that.  

IT DIDN’T START OUT TO BE AN OCTOPUS

 

But it seemed an octopus showed up in this small painting.  

JANUARY ABSTRACTIONS

 Abstracted pieces.

Working with color and shapes.

COLD AND SNOWY

 

This first one is my own.

The second one is a copy of a demo/lesson given during my recent Angela Fehr watercolor (online) course.  

Both are just small eighth sheet size paintings/warm-ups.

GOT A NEW ART BOOK FOR CHRISTMAS

 After starting on the new art book, The Artist’s Journey (by Nancy Hillis, M.D.), I did one of her exercises.  There are some exercises in the book worth trying, in my opinion, and others...not so much.  

A  goal every year is to delve into my art practice again and try to find new gems - and sometimes books written by others about the art journey or process helps lead me.    

Anyway, one thing she wrote about is defining what “ugly” means to us and why.  I came up with greens.  What I think are ugly greens.  This is just my opinion.  Someone else may love all greens.

I pulled out a bunch of green pigments and began putting down color, trying to vary the shapes and values as I moved along.  This is about a fourth sheet watercolor paper.  I didn’t have much faith that it would turn out to be anything but using greens.

And yet...I don’t totally hate it.  It does have some interest (not sure why the top painting looks so much lighter but I did darken some areas in the second version and add some more marks).

What do you think?  Want to try to paint an ugly painting and see where it takes you?

The book has some useful information, but if you’ve read a lot of art books, there is nothing really new in here - just a reminder to put the miles on your brush and other tried-and-true “rules” of working.  I did like the instruction to paint a lot of starts = so they are less precious and you can return to them later to work more and make more of them, if you choose.  Painting starts (unfinished, not even half-way-there paintings) gives you a bit more freedom to play and not get too caught up in what to do next.  But her suggestion that you paint 5-20 starts each day seems a bit much even if they are just small thumbnail sketches.  

At 123 pages and $20 for the book, I’d say it might be worth it.  I’m about half-way through right now and going slowly.  When you purchase the book, you get access to 4 free, short videos (I’ve watched them twice now just to get the most out of them).  They are about process and composition in her own painting (acrylic on canvas or large paper), and they are in short bites.  

Did you get any art books for the holidays?  

A FEW SMALL ABSTRACTED PIECES

 

 Just playing with color and shapes and coming up with some abstracted pieces - about postcard sized paper or slightly bigger.

UNDERLYING STRUCTURES

 

No planning, just painting and came up with this.  I kinda like it.  

RED BERRIES

 Loose and juicy red winter berries.  

A BIT OF PLAY AND REWORKING

 

A revised painting - some of the reds and yellows and greens are because the back side colors (watercolor inks) bled through and created interesting shapes and colors.  So I lifted and shaped a bit more of the berries and cropped it down some and called it done.  

HAKE BRUSHES - TOOLS OF THE TRADE

 

A few hake brushes I have, but rarely use.  One was sent to me from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, by a dear painting friend years ago.  He made magic with the small hake brush in the middle and a small palette and homemade pochade box he took out to the beach for his plein air paintings.  The magic wasn’t in the brush, but in him, I found, when I tried to use the same brush he used :). RIP, Mohan.  

BROWN THRASHER

 A brown thrasher comes through in fall, then moves on.  Sure does have a sharp beak and a long tail.

BIRDS FOR THE NEW YEAR 2021

 

 This bluejays seemed a bit fat so I made her do some Pilates and that toned up her tummy quite a bit.  I need to follow her lead and stop living on chocolates and pastry and/or do more Pilates!

She’s a bit trimmer in this version.

I cannot tell a male bluejay from a female bluejay so I’m calling this one “her” because, well, because.  

Happy 2021 - here’s hoping for good news throughout the year.

 

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.  

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.

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.  

CARDINAL - PAPA RED

 

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

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?

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.  

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. 

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).

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). 

SMALL PAINTINGS - COLOR ON PAPER

 

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

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?  

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.

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.

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.  

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.

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

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.  

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!