Daisies, Blue Jars and Geraniums oil paintings

This was the fourth lesson.Again a challenge but I am loving this techniques. Thin blocking in and then thicker paint on top. I am so excited about this that I am going to sign up for her online course, Painting in Province. I have been doing my art journal. It was difficult during the holidays to keep up and the regular journaling has not been done regularly but hope to get back to that as the holidays are mostly over. Will be putting away Christmas Decorations as I want to get back to painting. This painting was given to my good friend Danae. The Sunflowers were given to my three granddaughters.

This was the Fifth Lesson and I love how it turned out. This is a gift for my son and daughter-in-law. I will tell you about the 6th lesson next week and the extra painting. I still have two bonus paintings to do and want to get them done before the France Workshop.

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Sunflowers!

 The top Sunflower painting was Dreama's painting for the third lesson. It was hard to follow but I am happy with the painting. All three are 8x8 oils. I have really enjoyed this process. I bought some sunflowers after the first painting and did the next two.. The wet background with the transparent paint really works on the Gessoboard, not so much on canvas board. I am anxious to do more flower paintings withthe Ball or Mason Jars.

I have worked on another painting as a gift and cannot show it yet.

This process is exciting and much different than I am used to painting. So much more impressionistic.

Hope you have your holiday shopping almost done. Mine is done. I only have to get some fruit for our Christmas Brunch compote next week. My tree and decorations are up.  I did buy Garth Brooks Christmas Together Album and have been listening to that...of course my CD exchanger on my music system died so had to get a small boombox and that works great.
I have one more Sunday to work at Kingwood Center Gardens and then I am done until April when they open for the season so hope to get lots of painting done..
Will try to get the next blog finished for next week. #sunfloweroilpaintings.
My websites:
 http://judyfischerwaltonfineart.weebly.com
http://judy-fischer-walton.artistwebsites.com

New Process in my Paintings

This was the first painting of the my new class from Dreama Tolle Perry. It has been a wonderful class full of joy, and inspiration. So......since I seem to have trouble getting to painting, I decided to put this saying on a panel for inspiration.  I used an oil/Gamsol mix as a medium and put juicy colors down over the permanent magic marker, then I added thicker paint on top of the wet painting. Then I did another one.This helped me learn the process of thin transparent wet underpainting and then thick opaque brushwork.

 Then I was ready to do the cupcake. I literally fell in love with this process. It made me crave a cupcake but resisted running to the bakery. So then I practiced another one., my own colors and design. I am so excited about these paintings. I had fully intended to post every week of the six week course but life intervened, plus a computer crash didn't help. I did keep painting each week and will make my posts weekly through the course. Dreama's course is more than a painting course. She encourages meditating, journaling, gives lots of painting tips, and you get continual positive uplifting encouragement. I am really hoping to do her Painting Paris, her next workshop. I will work on each week's post this week and schedule them. I am very behind in posting in my websites and doing my newsletter so am hoping to get those up to date while I am off work from Kingwood Center Gardens. I have two Sundays left to work and then I am off for January, February and March. Of course I will keep painting. I have some beautiful poinsettias to paint and some lovely flower photos that I took before the weather set in. I will also show you some of my art journal pages next time. 32 degrees here in Ohio the past few days. So enjoy until next week.
 My websites:
http://judy-fischer-walton.artistswebsites.com
,http://judyfischerwaltonfineart.com
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First of 30 paintings in 30 days

Took me a while to get going today. I have been doing some pen and ink and watercolor studies in my art journal so decided when I am short on time will do the pen and ink studies. That is better than no painting at all. I thought I would attempt the 30 paintings in 30 days and that would get me working. 

I did finish a 16x20 oil commission for a retiring Board Member as a gift .

I was happy with this painting and I believe everyone else was also. It did take me a while and I have done no other paintings except watercolor sketches in my art journal.

I did get two paintings juried into the Springfield Museum's Ohio Plein Air Society Show PARKS IN PLEIN AIR. We are guaranteed one painting but I got two in so I am thrilled.

Rutherford B. Hayes Center , Summer Blooms, 10x8 oil and Malabar Farm State Park 8x10 oil

My process is to make a small black and white sketch about 2x4 inches. You can see the design easily that way. Then I block in the big masses with  color similar to the final color. Many times I may prepare my canvas with a transparent red oxide or alizarin crimson , especially if there is a lot of green in the painting.  If the painting is very detailed I will put a pencil drawing before the prep color. Otherwise I will put the drawing on with a pastel pencil. Once the masses are filled in with thin paint it is time to start building the color, dark to light. It is very tempting to put the details in but they must wait to be able to stand out. After the painting is dry I will spray with retouch varnish. I usually try to  photograph the painting before the spray to eliminate glare. I photo on a sunny day in the shade of my porch. You can always use a white sheet over a chair with the painting on the seat and you get under the sheet and photograph. Then I frame and add my business card and information about the painting on the back of the painting. Any questions, you can email me at jwalton15@neo.rr.com.

http://judyfischerwaltonfineart.weebly.com

http://judy-fischer-walton.artistwebsites.com

The latest Plein Air paintings, new colors, new challenges

I am still working three days a week and it is so difficult to find time to paint, let alone time to write my blog. I have been trying to sketch with a Sharpie ultra fine marker everyday. On Saturday the ninth I did an 12x16 pastel with Johannes in a paintalong. I do wish I would have done it in oils but I learned a lot. I did use the PanPastels to start the block in. It is very challenging to paint a forest of pine trees and make each one different. Each side different on each tree, each tree a different color, Each tree on a different plane, no triangular trees. My poor deer....I could not get his face bright enough. If I was going to paint pastels much I would buy some sticks for making finer lines. The pastel pencils just don't do it. I used sanded paper. This is a painting that will never get framed.

Then Thursday I got to paint with my artist friends at Kingwood. The summer blooms are just starting and I chose the fountain view. I painted to the left of the Terrace so the large pot sits off to the side to make a better composition. I used a toned canvas and was happy that some of that showed through the painting and I wiped out the lights.It was very humid and my canvas was still moist with the Gamsol. I then put in my darks with Greenish Umber (my favorite dark) It is great for trees, especially evergreens.Black with variations of yellow make wonderful greens. The light changes so fast. I took a photo and made a black and white sketch where I saw the light in the beginning. I have learned to do that to keep my light consistent. The scene is completely changed by the time I finished.

Then the next Thursday we all went to the Bellville Park and I painted the little waterfall. It was a spillway . I am experimenting with some new colors, inspired by Dreama Tolle Perry. I love her paintings and colors. Depending on the price, I would like to take her online course in the Fall. So this was the first time I brightened up my work with her palette. This was also a challenge as it had rained and it was cloudy so I had to imagine the sun. I really had to work on my rocks to make them believable , so make them recede, and then to do the water so it did not fall evenly. It actually ran down a flat slab but that was boring and made straight lines, so had to change the way it fell.

Saturday we artists drove to Fremont to the Rutherford B Hayes Center for a paintout with the Ohio Plein Air Society for the Hayes 100th Anniversary. It was a three day event but we could only go for one. It was a beautiful day at a  beautiful place. There was lots of shade and most everyone was painting the house. I wanted to use my new bright palette so I found a spot with a vase of flowers. Again the light was there in the beginning and at the end but I did my black and white sketch and took photos.The painting looked too dark probably from painting in the shade and looking at the light. The eyes change things so I did brighted things up.  I have been toning my canvas with either Transparent Red Oxide or Transparent Brown Oxide or Transparent Orange Oxide. Again I wiped out the lights and used the Greenish Umber for the darks, blocked in all the puzzle pieces and left the flowers for last. I varigated the steps broke up the lines with sunlight ar skylight, broke up the stone lines with bush branches, enlarged the flower area and exxagerated the colors. I did have to glaze the further post to set it back. So I broke up straight lines, varigated colors, created depth, made the four corners different, eliminated clones, kept the no fly zone around the edges soft and muted and varied my edges. Rules! Thanks to Johannes Vloothaus. I feel good about my new palette, lots of colors right now and will probably eliminate some after experimenting.

I can see my paintings are starting to look like I want, more exciting color, more impressionistic brushwork.

I also purchased some new books on Amazon... Daily Painting by Carol Marine about painting small and often to become a more creative, productive and successful Artist, Art Before Breakfast, a zillion ways to be more creative no matter how busy you are, and Shut Your Monkey, how to control your Inner Critic and Get More done. I am slowly working my way through these. So more sketching daily, more small paintings. I did buy some 6x6 canvas boards. I also painted a birthday painting for my Great Granddaughter. So now, I need to paint daily and start a commission .

I have started the commission but the daily painting just is not getting done. I have taken a lot of photos from Kingwood and my flowers at home. My  grandson put in about 10 feet of Hostas he dug from his home , and I brought some free plants and put in half of them last night. Worked today and it was terribly hot. 92 in that ticket booth and then I went to my great granddaughter's for the end of her 1st birthday party.

#waterfall,#oilpainting,#Pastels,#Kingwoodcentergardens,#RutherfordBHayescenter,
#Ohiopleinairsociety

My websites. You can sign up for my quarterly Newsletter at the Weebly site.
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Grand Canyon and Peonies

I had a staff meeting on Thursday so was only able to do a quick sketch with My plein air painters. Friday was spent on errands and cleaning and laundry. The Grand Canyon painting was done as a paintalong with Johannes. I really enjoyed this painting as it really popped with the background being done. I did have trouble with the rocks. Everytime I do a paintalong I learn so much. How to create depth, how to look for clones, varigating my colors, making abstract shapes.It is an 11x14 oil. I had a hard time keeping up and did photo the progress with my phone but unable to upload to my laptop. I will have to take my camera for photos.

The rain knocked my peonies to the ground and they had just bloomed! I brought them in and painted them. I loved painting these and working with the brushstrokes.It is a 8x8 oil. I am getting better at getting depth in the petals. I painted the flowers first then I decided to do the background with green umber and then put other colors into it.It was really wet so did not photo well.
My iris are gone already. I really wanted to paint them.

I had really hoped to have more days off to paint and thought that was scheduled but due to vacations, etc, I have to work more again. I will paint Thursday through Saturday. Oh shoot, have a doctors appointment in Columbus on Friday but maybe can get something done that afternoon.

I have been doing little sketches everyday so I am happy with that.

Oil and Watercolor paintings and Plein Air for the week

This painting was done after a workshop with Johannes Vloothaus on Landscape symbols. I used a photograph from Kingwood and completely designed the tree, made an entry path and and varigated the foilage. I changed the sky to a more atmospheric element and created depth.
Photographing the painting was very difficult. No matter where I put it, outside in the shade, inside with blue light, warm light, I just could not get the color right. I am not proficient enough in Photoshop to get the changes. I think I may download "Gimp" and see if it is easier. I do use Photoshop for cropping if it has not been done on my camera or phone.
This was my first week to work only 3 days so I should be more productive. I did paint at Kingwood Center Gardens this morning but need to photograph it. I will get my camera and see if I can get better color on this painting and the new one.
I have finished the yard, and garden, potted some herbs and flowers.

Well, The tree did not photo any better, in fact it is worse. The color in the foreground is definitely purple and I cannot get it to photograph that color. Frustrating.
The second painting, the path was done plein air at Kingwood Center Gardens. I do like my trees and think I am better at trees since the Johannes workshop on Landscape Symbols.
Yesterday I pulled the watercolor I had started and finished it. Very overworked. Not what I want in a watercolor. I want transparent washes, bright colors and somewhat abstract so need to practice, practice, practice!

This was my first plein air painting done about a month ago. I loved the view and I had to work quickly as I had to leave to go to work. I now don't have to work Thursdays so I can paint with my plein air group every week.

Thanks for reading and I appreciate any comments and sign ups for my blog.

#paintingtrees,#plein air,# KingwoodCenterGardens,#landscape painting.

No painting this week

Just unable to find time to paint this week. Just working too many days. Drove to Columbus to see my chiropractor to get a tune-up. Any extra time was spend in the yard, mulching and weedeating, doing laundry and all those mundane things that one has to do to keep up the house. Hoping soon to paint, but working tomorrow, Saturday through Tuesday then Thursday. Work or quit and paint, that is the question. Frustrating.

Fixing up finished paintings, Redbuds and boats

I pulled out an old painting of redbuds in Kingwood and spruced it up. I didn't have a lot of time this week. Lesson I learned...make dark background and then the pink stands out. I would do that if I painted it again.
Then I took my teacher's critique and worked on Peggy's Cove. Very difficult to make lights in the fog, to make fog. I do like my rusty blue whaler? Lesson? Hmmmm. Need to work on boat shapes and foggy scenes.
I had good intentions for more painting but still working many days and took Tosca to her last agility trial. We will still practice but for now she does not like the teetertotter at Wadsworth and flys off the end. We did finish level 2 of Canine Performance Events and that was the goal for Saturday. Sunday worked in the yard mulching and making a garden around the two Butterfly Bushes and the two hydrangeas that survived the winter. They all died to the ground but are coming back. It is always a choice between painting, gardening, Tosca and her agility and house cleaning. Guess which is last? I am really hoping to spend more time painting soon.
#Redbuds, #PeggysCoveinthefog#oil paintings

Painting at Malabar Farm

Finally the weather broke and I had a morning to go paint at Malabar Farm. A few of my Ohio Plein Air Society artists were there also. I went early because I had to be to work at 2pm and darn that is going to happen this week also.
I didn't want to walk around too much because of the time so chose a spot near the parking lot. I was fascinated by the shadows of the spires on the smaller shed.

First I did a small 1x2 notan (black and white) sketch to see the pattern. I had already toned the painting with transparent red oxide. I did a quick drawing with a light blue pastel pencil and blocked in the dark areas with some viridian. Then I did the shadow sides of the buildings with a cobalt blue and white, mixing some other colors,(very small amounts) to get varigations. Then I mixed some Cadmium Yellow Pale with a touch of Cadmium red and some white for a warm sky, varying the colors across the sky. I wish I had used some more yellow/white in the left corner as that is where the light is coming from. I added some light green to the background to give a touch of Spring to the landscape. I then worked on the warm sides of the barns and silos with some of the sky color and was pleased with the varigations in the silo. It was getting close to time to leave so this is what I had when I stopped.
I

was off on Friday so I worked more on the painting and found that the painting didn't want to have the focal point the shadows on the shed so I put them in lightly and the focal point ended up being the crib and the doors and the light hitting them. I did do some work on the perspective. There were lots of angles to that painting. After working for a couple hours I feel I can no longer call it a plein air painting as I have put in the same time at home as I did at Malabar Farm.
I did not like the angle of the crib, felt it should be more horizontal, had a tangent at the top of the silo where the background hit right at the top of the silo.

Worked on it on Saturday afternoon after work and finished some smaller details, fixed the tangent and the angle of the crib. Unless I see something glaring it may be finished. Although the left sky corner and the right sky corner look very similar so will fix that and do the final photo with my camera rather than my phone so I get a stable picture.

I have not worked on the Peggy's Cove painting nor done the watercolor from Saturday. I did watch Johannes Vloothaus workshop and hope to try that on a day off.
Thursday is painting at Malabar again.But the weather looks like some showers. I really like sunny paintings so not excited.
Saturday I am off work but am taking Tosca to an agility trial. She will love it. I get nervous! I know we are doing it for fun and not to get to the top. I have to keep telling myself that!
#MalabarFarmpainting,#MalabarFarm,#oilpainting,#landscapepainting,#farmpainting
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Painting in Panpastels

I have not been able to work on the Peggy's Cove painting but will tomorrow when I am off work. I will fix the lights, darken the water and possibly do the fog better.

The Monet's Garden was pure joy to do. I love the PanPastels. I bought the basic set from a friend who didn't care for them. I am happy with the painting but feel like working on it tomorrow also as it is so soft but has some hard dark places. This was so much fun. I want to find some other colors that are basically landscape colors.

I have been working on my newsletter so will be sending that out soon. My working is getting in the way of my art! I know I am a day late with the blog.

Our Thursday painting group has been unable to paint as the weather has been bad. Three inches of snow and l9 degreees! So much rain and cold. It looks like Thursday will be warmer and we are to paint at Malabar Farm. It will be a fast one as I have to work in the afternoon. My websites are http://www.judyfischerwaltonfineart.weebly.com, and http://judy-fischer-walton.artistwebsites.com #monetsgarden, #PeggysCove, #oilpainting,#Pastelpainting,#Panpastels.

Keep or toss?

I will attempt more of this painting but am highly dissatisfied with it. I used an old panel that was painted with housepaint making it very slick. I will not use that again as the paint does not stick. I will see if things change once it dries.I think if I cropped it making it an 8x8 taking two inches of the right side the composition would be better, also. I wanted to do a foggy scene. I watch Johannes Vloothaus do the painting on his workshop online Saturday. I have studied with him for four years and he is one of the best teachers I have found. Check out his site, http://www.Improvemypaintings.com. His workshops are inexpensive and they are scheduled from 1-5pm and sometimes last until 7pm as he has so much to teach. He has free videos occasionally.
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I did work on this painting to keep the large tree from being so round at the top. There is still a roundness! I should wipe out the left branch at the top. I did raise the yellow tree next to it so that the trees were not at the same height and set the other tall tree more in the background.
On Thursday I went to Malabar Farm to meet with the Ohio Plein Air Society painters from our area. It was raining but we talked about painting places we want to go to and four painters did stay and painted from the porch. We will meet again at Malabar next thursday as it qualifies as a park and we are all planning on entering a show requiring paintings of parks in Ohio.
I did start to work at Kingwood Center Gardens on Saturday and will be working 3 days a week so am hoping to stick to my schedule and paint as much as I can.
Happy Spring. Spring is trying to come in but Winter is pushing her out! Yesterday it rained, hailed, snowed and had terrible wind. The combination toppled a tree in Kingwood wiping out the fence around the duck pond. No birds were harmed.
To you artists out there keep painting...I have some projects in mind that are more inspirational than the boat scene!

Easter Sunday paintings

Hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend. The weather was sunny and warm in Ohio. It has been a busy week. I have been trying to follow a schedule. I continue to tweak the schedule to find time to paint. Life manages to get in the way frequently. Sweeper break and need fixed, the new weedeater needed put together and Tosca wants to go out more often because there is a rabbit that has been staying in the yard that she likes to chase. She does stop chasing before she catches it. I think she lives under the deck and I think I saw two last night so I expect baby bunnies might happen!
I did manage to work on two 11x14 canvas boards from Johannes Vloothaus last lessons. He did the trees scene in oils and the waterfall in pastel, mostly pan pastels. I am getting a set of 20 soon from an artist friend who doesn't care for them. I will probably use them on top of watercolor.
I need to change the round shape of the large tree as it is too round so will post the changes next week. It is supposed to storm and rain so that means inside work. I am trying to get things ready as I go back to work at Kingwood Center Gardens in the ticket booth on April 2nd. Hopefully my schedule will work so that I can get more painting done and I want to get my newsletter done this week also. I also have sold 16 prints of the Longhorn on Fine Art America!

The photo is not good. Fine Art America now does prints,pillows,duvets, shower curtains and cell phone covers of the paintins. I think I will give some pillows as gifts. Have a great week!
#oilpaintings,#landscapepaintings, JudyFischerWaltonpaintings

Promises!

I promise I will post weekly. I have set a schedule for myself, to paint, to post, to update! I have not done well at painting and all the rest and will do so in the future! So if you are coming here due to all my updating on my sites, just know within a day I will have a new post here. Thanks for coming and following me. I also have been doing agility with my Aussie, Tosca and will continue to work that into my schedule. Happy Spring! It flurried and was 29 degrees here in Ohio and is only 33 at 5pm. Tosca is trying to be patient waiting for her dinner so will go fix hers and mine!

#judyfischerwalton #artblog #landscapepainting

#2 of thirty, Sailor's Delight

This is a 5x7 oil Concentrating on skies. At least I am caught up so far. Thought I would use up the paint on the palette from #1 painting which is 11x14 oil named "Surveillance"

#1 of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge

This will get me started again! It is a commission and now is finished. My theme this month is going to be mainly skies. So now that #1 is done I need to go work on #2 since this is the second of January.