Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Fall arrangement

Final of Fall Arrangement

This is the finished painting. The masque has been removed and color filled in where the white lights were too bright and too large. The only thing I would change is I would have darkened the background around the upper right sunflower but hesitate to do so now.

Next image


This next image was of taking off the masque , adding more color and reapplying masque to the tiny light spots on the berries and tiny seeds. Then darker color was applied to pop the flowers in some areas.

Next image

This is the next phase of this Fall arrangement watercolor.Color was added to the flowers and planning for complementary color around the flowers.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Time to get back to work

Christmas is over and I plan to work on the Fall arrangement today. It is cold and dry here so will bundle up and walk the dogs and then get busy. Hope to have a finished painting by tomorrow morning. All the painting gifts were well received.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Happy Holidays

I have done only framing, taking pictures down from a show and today will remove paintings from a restaurant that is closing permanently. Our local painting group has used this restaurant for more than a year for monthly shows, but the economy has struck them hard. We lose our GM plant the end of January so the economy in this town will just get worse. People don't buy paintings when they are struggling to put food on the table. Hope all have a Happy Holiday and a more prosperous New Year. I do want to work on the latest watercolor and will post any new work as soon as it is available.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Lake Erie Docks


It is finished. Due to the picture being so dark I had to improvise the dock and the rocky ground and lightenup the land masses. The sky isn't exact but it got so wet and thick with paint I was afraid it would blend too much. I had difficulty getting the hot pink color of the sunset. Emile Gruppe says that titanium white swallows up color and that zinc is more transparent. My white is Gamblin's mix of titanium and zinc. I will pick up a small tube of zinc for the future.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Sunset at Lake Erie Beginning



The photo I am working from and the blowup which loses color when blown up. And the painting so far. The photo taken by my granddaughter already has good composition. The colors aren't too difficult but the hot pink of the sun and reflections is difficult. It was so thick with paint I had to let it dry and will work more on it today. The Spark+ My granddaughters favorite photo of the dock at Lake Erie,and my desire to present her with this gift for Christmas.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Next watecolor



The photos are rather dark. The first one is of just the masque on the drawing. The second shows a light wash on the painting and was left to dry throughly.I used blue and violet so that it will contrast with the yellow flowers. I attempted to sprinkle the whites throughout. This will be worked on later as I have another granddaughters painting to complete.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Coffee paintings sold


I was thrilled when I was notified that two prints of my coffee painting of the Longhorn sold. Tonight I must work on the watercolor. But I had a nice luncheon with the critique group...sure wish they would show up for group. It is even held in a coffee shop so they have no excuses! Finished shopping for my Mom so will paint tonight. First, supper!

Good Morning

Today's post will come later in the day. I have put three drawings on canvas and applied masque to a watercolor drawing. I have Tai Chi class this morning , a Critique group luncheon, and I must do some shopping!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Looking for the Spark

I am looking for that art spark. I put two drawings of the neighbors houses across the street on my canvas. I had sketched them early one morning when there was a scattering of snow and the sun was making great shadows. Of course, the snow was gone quickly and it hasn't snowed since. Now I am uninspired! Must look through some photos that I saved for future projects.I have a Fall arrangement in a basket that is drawn on watercolor paper. I could do that, then put a Christmas arrangement in the basket. Guess that will be the project as Christmas will be here and gone, soon, and the snow will come eventually and inspire me again.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Hearts in the Snow


I completed the painting of the hearts made in the snow by the UPS driver for my grandaughter. She requested it. I am pretty happy with it considering the photo was in gray tones from a phone.I feel the composition works. Your eye seems to go to the wood pile first then to the tracks in the snow and then to the objects to the right. The road helps the swing of the eye and the trees give stability. I feel there was depth to the woods and the Naples yellow in the snow area lends warms to the painting along with the brush and leaves on the trees in the background.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Longhorn in coffee


Gosh, got interrupted with a phone call and forgot to publish this. It is a layering process using real coffee.

Resolution

Finally my mother is safely in a nursing home and I can get back to this. I have been painting but not blogging. My resolution is to begin today to get back to it! I spent the summer doing plein air whenever I could and did a number of commissions. I will put the coffee painting of the Longhorn here as I am very proud of that commission.
Today I am going to paint from a photo my granddaughter loves. Where the UPS man made hearts in the driveway when he turned around. This will be her Christmas present. Hopefully you will see it tomorrow.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

To begin again

My inspiration was the far right corner of the field beyond the trees and that is what I initially used for my focal point in the rule of thirds. I loved the hay bales against the trees in the distance also. As I painted from top to bottom, I realized I would need more in the foreground so...since the cows were meandering, grazing,laying down, getting up...I got a few photos and worked the cows in using the camera for reference, although it is terribly hard to see in the sunlight. During an Ohio Plein Air Society critique I had been told by Jack Liberman twice that my backgrounds look pasted on so I remembered to blur the edges and gray the trees in the distance. I do have difficulty with my greens and had to repaint them as they ended up too dark for the sunny day. I do like a little drama and strong values in my paintings but that just doesn't work in most plein air paintings.I tried to design the shadows to point to the focal point even though the sun was above the trees but the light was still on the cows and I liked that they were peaceful looking.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Sneaking into the Meadow

This little painting was done from a photo of an area near Clearfork Reservoir near Lexinton Ohio. I seem to work best when I underpaint the darks with my violet. Then I put in the sky and bring those colors down into the water. I do like the contrast in this painting.

Sunspot Bench

This painting was done 2 weeks ago when I could leave my Mom for a couple hours. I am fascinated with benches so this was my second bench painting. This was also done at Kingwood Center as it is just a few miles from my home. Again I tried to look for contrast and composition. The sun was in and out that day and it was difficult to catch the light. I had to use imagination and innovation. Again I block in with my violet and worked from top to bottom. I would like to paint similar to BeckyJoy a daily painter. I just love her vibrant paintings.

The Garden Path

Last Monday I finally got to Plein Air paint. A group of us went to Kingwood Center. I chose the spot because of the dark trees beyond and the sharp contrast of the sun on plants and flowers at the back. I liked the composition of the path meandering to the point of interest. I began by blocking in the darks with my favorite violet as an underpainting. Then I mostly paint from top to bottom. I think I spent 2-2 1/2 hours on this. The only addition I made at home was add a longer sunspot in the lower left and my name. The only thing I would do different is to make more contrast in the light areas. I know what I want but have trouble achieving it.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Unable to post temporarily

Until I can get more help and get Mom into assisted living I will be unable to post, paint or participate. Overwhelmed!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Great watercolor class

We had a great class last night. Next week will take my camera and post the paintings. Today must get ready to take paintings to the weekend show and prepare for 26 artists to paint plein air at Kingwood Center Saturday in Mansfield, OH. Great Ohio painters painting out where you can watch.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Mohican Bird feeder

Now you can see what I have added. Some of the tree limbs point down to the bird feeder. The two red spots, the cardinal and the red head of the woodpecker also draw the eye to the feeder. The pines below anchor the feeder to the ground. Much planning went into which birds where for the design of the painting. Both Mohican paintings were uploaded to my FineArtAmerica site.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Mohican Bird feeder

This 8x10 is unfinished. I was unable to finish as my mother needed moved out of the sun (she is in a wheelchair) and to take her to dinner. The weather was perfect for painting, although a little warm for me. 80+degrees. The plan is to add some tree branches so that the feeder isn't floating in the sky. It was very hard to place something to show you are high up. It will be a challenge. I want to add some birds, although the squirrels dominated the scene. Also, I see the sides of the roof are unequal and my clouds look like alligators and need more cloud added. So more work on this little one.

Photo of Gazebo

As you can see there are no leaves yet on the trees, so I added them,and you can see how I changed the trees to make the composition work. I may look at the painting some more and see if it needs anything more.

Mohican Gazebo painting

I guess I am paranoid about posting that I will be gone for a few days. I spent two days in Mohican Park and got one and half painting done. This was done in the morning. I chose to put the gazebo top in the bottom third side and bottom of the 8x10 canvas. This photo will have to be straightened to post on Fine Art America. The Spring colors on the far side of the lake had to be adjusted for the painting as they were too brilliant. The water changed continually and the light was changing so I had to decide what would stay. I will post the photograph on the next blog so you can see I changed the trees to make the composition work better. I also worked on the details at home, darkening in places, putting shadows and lights on the trees, putting shadow and light on the floor of the gazebo. I heightened the colors of the sun on the leaves also.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Finally got to work on this little painting

Gosh, it took a while to get at this...constant interruptions. Life gets in the way of painting. I checked the values. I didn't want to go too strong as it is a Spring painting. I cut the tree way back as it overpowered the buildings. I had to change the colors in the building to get the effect of late afternoon light and shadow. I needed much more planning on this little piece and as I said before I had to go back in and blur out some things from previously white knuckling it (tight detailed painting) My hero is Marc Hanson. He just can make those small paintings sing with few brushstrokes.

Friday, April 17, 2009

No painting today

Too many things going on, Had to run errands, get my lawn mower going and took it to my son, also took him down a form holder to fix for a lightweight easel to be attached to a lightweight tripod. I got the idea from the Tom Brown blog that I get. I am hoping to paint out with less weight. Hope it works. Must get better organized.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

What's wrong with this painting?

I was in such a hurry to paint out since it was sunny and fairly warm. I wanted to see if I had what I needed for plein air and was trying to keep it to a minimum.You can tell by the painting that nothing really sparked me. I was attracted to the shapes and little bit of green. But again, no passion here! I started with a toned pink 5x7 canvas panel, figured my center of interests would be the bell tower with it being the darkest dark and the lightest light and put it in the upper third cross hair. I began putting in the sky making it lighter around the bell tower. Then with a light mauve for distant trees on the left and added some on the right to get the color on the other side of the building. I failed to make a value study or even look through my red film to see the values. So all the values are off. Actually instead of going to the bell tower with the eyes and moving around the painting you just jump back and forth to the tree. I think I can fix this. It has the colors of Spring but the building needs some deeper values and the tree and blossoms need toned down. I think the tree is some sort of crabapple. Deep red leaves or blossoms sprouting. I did find I had everything I needed and it fit on my cart. I don't like 5x7. Prefer 8x10. I have a tendency to white knuckle it and it is hard to be loose working that small but time was of the essence. Will work on it. And I also see that the one limb of the tree is a direct line to the roof. That will have to be changed. There just aren't many interesting shapes in this painting so I need to look at some rules!!

Experimenting

Here is the photo of the painting I worked on this afternoon after the car's oil change, a trip to Sam;s club and home.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

A coffee painting composition

I was invited to teach coffee painting this summer. First I had to look up coffee painting, then I had to try it. I designed it so the front sail would be the lightest light against the darkest dark land. If you follow your eye around the painting you go from the sail to the top of the island and around to the mast and down to the skipper who is also close to the other third cross hair on the lower left. Coffee painting is different. The coffee doesn't stay where you put it. It slides to the edge of a wet area and makes a dark line. It is much like watercolor and you have to either paint over it frequently to darken it or make your coffee stronger. If you plan a painting, the very first thing you say to yourself is, " Why do I want to paint this?" Is it the color, the mood, the way it makes me feel, a reminder of something? Then design the painting. Where is the focal point going to go? Remember divide the sides by three and mark the cross hairs. It doesn't hurt to have two focal point for design but you must make one of them stronger, more detailed with brighter color.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

What starts the spark?

This is one of my favorite plein air paintings.

This was done last September at Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie. It was early morning and the light was fantastic. I decided that the dock would be the center of interest and positioned it where the 1st third of the side panel and the first third of the top panel met. This point would be the darkest dark and the lightest light met. This is also where the most detail occurs. One can always add the brightest color in this spot. I began this painting by painting the sky first and making the clouds go toward the center of interest for a design element. The darks were then put in thinly a dark purple and let dry. Then the colors of the land and trees were added. The water was done with light and dark blues with a design to lead the eye into the picture.