Painting #249 - Sept 30 - A still life tonight

Again, I didn't leave myself much time to paint this, I've had some phone issues, mostly DA attacks, you can't carry your phone under your arm with a bunch of other things and a glass of water in the same hand and then try to open your car door, something about that, well, luckily I had an older phone for a backup, so I spent a couple hours going through my phone numbers to make sure I didn't leave anyone out, so, finally done, then hubby came home, and then dinner, so I was late getting started again, I know, it's a bad habit, I will try to work on it, I do really need to get to the studio tomorrow, a painting must be finished for the Park Club competition, I really am trying to get out in this art world, and the only way I'm going to do that is get out there and do as much as I can, if it doesn't kill me. I did get the call put in the Pierce Cedar Creek Institute, I did get registered for the 3 day PAAWM Plain Air Retreat, I can hardly wait, I spent a good amount of time trying to get a call put through, the number I had was for Barb at Pierce Cedar Creek, and she was out of the office today, I called Richard, and he steered me in the right direction, so I got it all done, and we are going (Susan and I, that is). I will check to see if they have WiFi, if they don't I may have to do the blog when I get back, so we will see.

I got these fruits at Meijer a couple days ago, they are really strange looking, they are called Apple Pears, they had really brown speckled skin when I got them, in the refrigerator drawer, they did turn a bit yellow, but they still were very speckled. I attempted to eat the skins the first time, and that was not good, the skin is really tough and unappealing, so I was pealing this apple pear and it looked good enough to paint (to me), so I took some photo's, in several different directions, and different groupings, and this is the one that I chose for today. I may do some other ones, but for now I'll just concentrate on this one.

I started by drawing on the claybord, I laid in the position of the plate and the knife, then I drew the circles (and partial circles), for the apple-pears, then I just laid in the colors of the fruit, then, the brown for the plate, I tossed around weather I would use the design of the table cloth or not, then decided to use it, I liked the fall colors with it, so, that was how I started it. I pretty much filled in all the areas with the local colors, then I let that dry, I splattered the fruit, of course I did that way too early and had to do it again, but I did like the effect. Then I just worked around fine tuning it until it was as good as I could make it, I like this little painting, and I hope you do too.

Painting #248 - Sept 29 - another water and rocks painting

I don't know, there is just something about those rocks, they really come together for me, at least lately. This photo was taken in North Carolina (I'm almost positive that's where these rock pictures came from), there were a lot of rivers and falls with rocks there, if you've never been there, it's a beautiful place to visit.

I've got a couple of other paintings that I need to work on, a portrait and another painting of King's Mill, I sold the one I did for this blog, so since I can, I'm going to paint a similar one, not the same, I can't do that, but it's a similar view, and that's ok, I also have a painting to finish that I've been working on with my class in Sturgis, I don't have a lot to do to finish it, so I could have several for tomorrow, hopefully. I've decided to do a paint-out at Pierce Cedar Creek in a couple weeks, that is if they have room for me, I've talked to Susan, who is also doing this paint out, it's for 3 days, and it should be a lot of fun, I can hardly wait, I don't know if they have WiFi there, so if I can't post my paintings for 3 days, you'll have to get them when I get back (again, that's if they let me sign on).

Well, there is no sky again (love those close ups), so I started by laying in the rocks the the shape of the shadow on top, while that was wet, I put some green in for leaves. I then put the water color in, this happens to be a bit more of a fall than the original painting, I like the action of the water, so I had it run down hill a bit which puts in a small fall. The rocks have multiple layers, that light gray (coastal fog, and purple), then some neutral tint added in, and some burnt sienna with some other dark brown. The water is neutral tint and green with some purple added, and that's put in in the water movement way (kind of snake like shapes), and the falls are the periwinkle blue with white and some purple added and white on top, the neutral tint was great for the background under the leaves too, all in all, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #247 - Sept. 28 - Water scene for today

The photo for this painting was taken on Central Road at one of the small bridge overpasses, the exact same place that one of my other paintings was done, this just happens to be the other side of the dam. Obviously, I liked this one because of the scum and lily pads, that log that's submerged in the water, wasn't too bad either, love that stuff. I had originally started this last Friday, it was going to be my blog painting, remember, this was the day that I went to Columbia City, Indiana, to my friend's to paint, well, I started this one first, but the rocks and the small falls really got me that day, so this finally got done today, I had Gallery day today, then classes this evening for the Sturgis group, so I had time to finish this while I was working, I also worked on a couple of others but I will finish them later.

I really don't have sky in this one, so the green and blue were my main colors, I did lay in the log in a light brown, so I didn't loose track of it. Today, I just started at the top, and laid in some lily pads and some blue for the water, and just worked my way forward, the water was first, then I laid in the lily pads over the top of the water to clean up the edges (I am using the opaques again, or should I say still), once I got the water pretty close (I did do a bit of fine tuning at the end), I started working on the log, I used some purple with the gray, then some darker gold for the the log under the water, then I was trying to get the effect of the sunshine, I think this works, like I said, I did fine tune the lily psds and the dragon's tongue, that pretty much did it for me, I like this little painting, & I hope you do too.

Painting #246 - Sept 27 - A very good day

Although I'm tired (didn't get to bed last night early enough), I made a little money today, my old student that bought 4 paintings last week, bought 3 more today, wow, I'd like to find about 30 or so more, just like her. Of course, they are the small blog paintings, but that's ok, it's something, and that's a whole lot better than nothing, and it's been like that pretty much the last year, so it's good. I barely got those finished though, I would have liked to look at them for a little longer, oh well.

I was going to work on one that was a bit more complicated, but when June came in this morning, she brought the frames, and was having difficulty getting them in, so, guess what? I helped her frame those paintings so my class time was a bit shorter than I intended, so the time was short, but, on second thought, this one turned out really nice, I like the subtle changes in color on the moon flower (that's what I was told it was, Pat is going to bring me some seeds so I can grow my own, she said that they are invasive, so put them somewhere that they can climb and not hurt anything else, I already have morning glory's that are doing the same thing, and this last summer I found some wild potato vine that was taking over the other end of the fence, so, that's my kind of flower, I don't have to mess with them, I'm not a gardener, love flowers, but, not good at growing things, don't really have the energy to do it.

Right now, I'm so tired that I can't think how I proceeded with this painting, I know that I put in the center and then found the edges, then I put in the green background, when that was dry I started to put in the shadows and switching out some different colors (I could see so many colors in that white flower, pinks, purples blues and greens just to list a few, so this one is a subtle mixture of all those colors, I really piled on the dark green, love the contrast, I really like this little painting, and I hope you do too.

Painting #245 - Another Alaska scene

I guess I really love to paint mountains, when I'm in a hurry (I cut matts all day again today), so after supper, I got to painting, but, you understand, I didn't leave the studio until after 8:00 p.m., which doesn't leave much time to paint. Well, I should have been painting a portrait, but, I got so far behind with the matt cutting, I just had to do it, I still have several to cut, but it is better than it was. I'm starting to get nervous about getting my stuff ready for the show at the Carnegie Center for the Arts next summer, I can see that trying to single out the ones I think should go up in the show is going to be tough. Now, since I started this project, I've just been using left over matts, well, now that I have a show coming up, I want them all to be matted with the best, so I'm considering changing the matts on the ones that will go up, and soon, I have to start thinking about putting the frames on them too, that means that I'm going to have to order more frames soon, I have 20 but that's not going to get it, besides the fact that I only ordered 10" x 10" frames, and some of my paintings (some of the very best ones), are in 12" x 12" and 16" x 16" matts, that means I must order frames, ugh! The only good thing about it is that I have a place that is making my frames, and they will probably be pretty much all the same, to make a consistent statement, I do have some larger ones that I'm considering putting in the show, but they aren't in the same kind of frame, should I change the frame to match? Well, that is a thought, I will have to think about it, I usually don't change the frames, once they are framed, but I do want it to be special, we'll see.

This scene is another one of the Alaska scenes that my friend and student gave me permission to paint, this is actually their yard, I did eliminate the swing that was in setting in around the stones in the back there, I just didn't want it there, I almost considered putting water in on the rocks, but I thought it might look un-natural, and I didn't want to take the time to look up how water would look running around the rocks, so I just left the water out.

I started with the sky, sky blue and laid it in around the mountain then put the white for the clouds right in while it was wet, it really makes unique cloud shapes and I'm quite happy with how these ones look. Then the Mountain, well, I got too close to the wet sky and I had to alter the mountains and re-do the sky, but I did get it right, then the trees, and the grass, once that was in, I laid in some light gray (coastal fog) and put some darker shadows in the trees, after that it was fine tune it all, a bit at a time, you know the drill, I like this little painting, and I hope you do too.

Painting #244 - Alaska again, someday I might go there

Alaska, someplace I've always wanted to visit, haven't had the time to make it yet, but I'm still ambulatory, my husband has been there, he was a trucker for a while and made it up there when they were building the pipeline, it was almost finished so he was only there for a short while, but I'd love to get up there, at this point, we can't afford it, he has a job and can't take the time off when it would be passable, I'm sure winter wouldn't be a good time, and at this point, that would be the only time he could go, oh well, someday (if I'm lucky).

These are some flowers that grow up there, I don't know what they are, and my color is off, I probably should have used regular paper and transparent watercolor, I might have been able to get closer to the right color, but this looks pretty anyway. This is a combination of a couple different scenes, all put together, the pink flowers were all by themselves, but I liked the contrast of the other purple flowers, and, in my photo of the pink flowers, that's all you see, so I took another photo and put the sky and mountain range in, there was some turquoise in there, I don't know if it's water or not, but, I made it water, behind the flowers, I don't think I'll try explaining how I approached this except that I put the sky, and mountains in first, then laid in the flowers, then lots of negative painting, I like this little painting, and I hope you do too.

Painting #243 - A step back in time

This painting is of Big Sable Point Light house, my husband and I went there on our honeymoon, I really didn't get good pictures, but this one appeals to me because of the composition. I don't know why, but I was always so obsessed with the details, that I took all close up pictures, I thought I was overlapping them but, NOT. I appreciate some of those close up pictures, but I wish I'd taken some of the whole view, instead of trying to get all the details, it would have been nice, however, I am progressing with what I have.

Since there is a small space between the house and the light that has trees behind, and you do see some sky, I painted that part first with with sky color, then I dipped into the green to lay some green in to indicate the leaves of the trees. I had sketched out the outline of the space with water, then laid in the sky and the green, so, then I painted the roof of the walkway between the keepers quarters and the light, I did put a wash of some Jaune Brilliant, mixed with a bit of white, on the brickwork of the walk way and the house, the paint is white but with age it had yellowed a bit, and I like the warmth of the off white, also, by putting some paint on the claybord, you give it a tooth, then the successive layers of paint lay more smoothly. I then concentrated on the doorway and steps, once they were positioned, I painted the side of the light and put some indication of the windows on the keepers house, I really like it that you don't really see the whole part, it's fun only putting part of the building in. There was some adjustments that I had to make, I was painting along, then held it up and the painting was off kilter, so I adjusted the angle of the roof on the walkway and the side of the buildings which put it back in line. I worked back and forth until the buildings looked good to me, then I finished off the trees, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #242 - A very good painting day

Well, I went to my friends house and painted today, my friend in Indiana, that is, I have several friends in Coldwater, Battle Creek and Union City, but today was Indiana. I should have taken the laptop with me, because I had the blog painting done about 4:00 p.m., then I borrowed some photo's from her to paint a doorway, I don't have any, except barn doors, and I wanted a fancier doorway than that. I am unsure if I will get this done in time to enter it in a show, or not, I painted it, then re-painted it, because, it didn't work the right way the first time, it should have, if I'd used the good masking fluid (Pebeo), instead of the junk I had in my transparent traveling studio (my old class painting kit), but, NOOOOOOOOO! I had to use the incredible white mask and it didn't work well, it looked like it covered, but, when I pulled the mask off, it had bled through, not to speak of it, but, the stuff was gummy coming off (not good), so I threw it away! I started it again, this time I drew it on and painted it directly, it's working better, but I may still have to use some opaques, I've become addicted to them. I decided to do the transparent paints because I'm thinking of entering a show, only if I get it done, unfortunately, when I do get it done, I can't show it to you, she asked me not to blog it, that's ok, you will just have to go to the show, that is if I get in,otherwise, I might put it in my show that will go up in 2012 (only if it turns out), ok?

Well, now on with the blog painting, I've been thinking about doing this one for a few days, I've been carrying it around in my painting kit, thinking that I might get to it, then Pat gave me those photo's and I just had to paint those, so now it is painted. This is a photo taken about the same time as one I did a couple of weeks ago, the photo's are the same size and the same colors, and look like they were taken the same day and time, so that's why I think that.

There is no sky, so I started out with a gray/purple for the rocks, then I jumped in with some lighter gray to indicate where the rocks were, once that was done, I went for the middle ground rocks and then the ones on the left that come down to the foreground, after the rocks were in, I mixed up a blue/purple/green mixture for the water (it was very dark looking except for the falls and the foam), then I laid in a light blue for the shadows on the falls, then I started back at the top and started to fine tune the rocks at the top, I splattered, then went in and put some shadows on the rocks, oh yes, the splatters were a light gray, then a darker gray/purple and finally a brown/purple, then I skipped around and put some shadows in and then a bit of a highlight, that done, I moved on to the larger rock on the right then the ones on the left, doing exactly the same, I did warm up the rocks a bit by putting a purply/pink color on some of them, because, no rocks are all the same color, there are lots of different colors of rocks. then I put the dark water in at the top and bottom, I moved it around like waves so it's believable, then went back on it with a light blue to give the lights some other dimension. Then the falls, I tend to do them at the end, now, mind you, the rocks beneath the falls have to be put in, then the white goes over that in the direction the water falls, and then more blue for shadows, and ta da! I'ts a painting, I really like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #241 - The last of the Monday Demo starts

This is the third painting that was started Monday at the Branch County Art Guild, I finally got it finished, although, I think I should get some pictures of goats to figure out how the legs would go, the goat in front was behind another goat, but I didn't have room to put all three goats in and I liked the way the 2 goats were posed next to each other. I think it's looks OK but I am sure it could use a bit of tweaking.

First of all, I started with the goats, I got the shapes set down so I then painted the sky and mountains and grasses and trees in behind them, I wasn't sure about the roofing that they were laying on, but then decided to lay it in loosely. That was the first layer, then it sat for a couple days while I finished the others, today, I re-did the sky and mountains, I still wasn't totally happy with those so when I got home (it was class day in Marshall), I started by re-painting the sky and mountains, the green was ok, but I had to darken up the distant trees behind the goats. Once I got the background the way I wanted it, I started to work up the goats, first the one behind, he's not quite as detailed as the front one is, but that's OK. I didn't have much time in class today to work on this, I was helping the girls quite a bit, but I did finish it at the studio when my other class came in, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #240 - I did accomplish something today

It was matt cutting day, I spent the afternoon cutting, didn't get many in the matts but I did get quite a few cut and then all I have to do is insert the claybord in the foam core and it's ready, I still have a bunch that I have to number, I've been bad, now its telling on me, I have to keep on top of this, one way or another, I'm hoping now that the summer is over, things will settle down and I can get back in the groove, so-to-speak, I know I can.

It was Blue Moon tonight (art group), I finished my painting there, I did have it started before I went, but not by much. I'm using one of the photo's my friend Pat let me use, this was so bright and such intense color, I just couldn't resist it, I still have one left from Monday to finish, maybe I can get it done tomorrow in watercolor class.

This beautiful fall landscape looked almost purple where the trees were, so I just amplified it, this does look a bit more purple than the original, but, I like how this one turned out, the sun was really blinding, and it really knocked out all the color in the area around it, I hope I pulled this off, it looks fairly close to the original, I also decided to use my new Yarka paint palettes (I just got 2, there are 3 different ones but I thought these two were the ones that would work best for me), we watched a demo a week ago Monday (SWMWS meeting), and the girl that demonstrated (Susie Blyvies, I think I spelled that correctly), was all into these Yarka watercolors because they were so intense, well, as you can see, they are intense, I'm not sure I will paint with them all the time, but it was fun to try this one, of course, they are the transparent sort, not the opaques that I've become used to, so I had to approach it a bit differently than normal, well, I did add some white to the colors, so I guess you could say they are still the opaques, just white added to them.

I put in the sky, then I put in the water line by painting the far bank of the water with a pale purple, and the sun was rimed with yellow so I could work up the sun glow shining through the trees, I really worked hard to get that effect (not easy), back and forth with the yellow, yellow orange, orange and some red, then floated the white on, then I had to adjust it several times to get it the way I wanted it, then I worked on the trees by floating the leaf color in, yellow and some raw sienna, and some brown, then some really brilliant red. The ground was laid in, then I went back in with some violet, and just kept working it until it got close, I put light blue/gray for the trees and then some darker brown for the branches, the green brush (or weeds) in the foreground was last, of course, and then I signed it, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #239 - a very nice painting day

I enjoyed my painting operation today, some days I do more than others, of course part of the reason is some new photo's. These photo's are from my friend Pat's collection, she graciously loaned me these and I do have a couple more that I'm going to try painting here directly. Yesterday's painting was of the Kalamazoo river at Battle Creek, the photo was taken from the Emmett street location, this particular place I'm very familiar with, I grew up in Battle Creek, less than mile from this particular location, I've taken some pictures of this same location, but it was years ago and they were taken in the fall, that one was taken in the spring or early summer. Today's painting is from a location in North Carolina (I think, maybe not), so I'm presuming that's where it was taken, and I'm sure these are some of Pat's family (well, who knows except her, maybe she will tell me).

So, I started this painting yesterday, this is one of the tree that I started at the Demonstration, I still have one more of those to finish and then I can work on something else, I will be trying to get some of the matting done tomorrow, I'm so far behind, I knew if I let it get ahead of me, that I'd be in trouble, and that's where I am. I have been selling my blog paintings, I decided, at the beginning, to keep them all until the end and then I would choose which paintings I wanted to put in the show, not considering the amount of space that 365 paintings would take up, I'm changing that concept, I've already picked out the ones that I think may (and that is still debatable whether I will use them for my show or not), so, now I'm trying to sell the others, I know that I have several people that have mentioned they would like some, so, I'm going to sell them if I can.

This painting was a demo (I mentioned that before), what I mean is, that my friend Jean was having trouble figuring out how to make the color flow on this claybord surface, so I simply took a blank one and floated the color of the sky on so she could see how I would attempt it. I really didn't want the sky as dark as she had hers, so I've altered that sky, to this much lighter one, by taking a brush load of water over the sky, when it was wet, I dropped some of the lighter blue at the top, so it looks like a mass of clouds, that worked for me. Then I floated in the farthest background trees and worked my way forward to the water and then the close bank, I let that dry, once I had that in, I pulled up a bit more information in the background across the water, and the bank on the far side, then I worked on the water a bit, once I got the water fairly good, I worked on the trees in the foreground and then the figures sitting on the bank, I had originally put a thin wash of light brown for the bank and then at the end, I put some grass shapes in, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #238 - Sept 19 - It was a Demo night

The Demo was for the Branch County Art Guild, we had a mini workshop and it was very successful, the demo was this painting, I also started 2 others, but I didn't complete any of them at the demonstration, I did show them how I worked, and hopefully they will be able to figure it out, the surface I demonstrated was the Ampersand Claybord, I was pretty sure that non of them had tried it before, so that was what I did. It was also a successful night for a sale, one of my previous students bought 4 of my small blog paintings, so I am very happy about that.

I started showing them how I did the sky, I usually do that in the first wash, sometimes I don't have to do anything else to it, once in a while though, I have to fix it a bit, like this one tonight, the right top corner was too dark so I took some water and smoothed it out and it melted into the clouds. This is a very early spring picture so I was trying to give it that airy kind of mostly branches look, I think it works. I warmed it up a bit and when I got home finished it, it took another 2 hours to finish this one. I will have to work on one of the other two tomorrow and see how that goes, I sure like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #237 - Sept 18 - Late again

Sometimes these Sunday paintings get painted in rather a hurry, but, at least it gets painted, I was bad today, didn't diet and didn't exercise, but I did paint. I'm planning on a new plan of action tomorrow morning, maybe this will work (maybe not, who knows), I'm going to trick myself into getting into the studio and painting early, I think this will work, and if it does, you will be the first to know, I'm just going to tell myself that I can paint for just one hour and then do what ever I want, I'm thinking that I will get in the studio and won't be able to get out in an hour, because, I really want to be there and I really don't know what the stigma is that keeps me from going there every day, as soon as I get up, I just don't understand psyche, I think I just keep telling myself it's too hard and that it's too complicated, well, that's not true at all, look at all the paintings that I did and I did them in one day, I'll bet that I can work in that studio and produce a much larger painting than I've been doing by just making myself do it first thing, plus I would be using brain power and that really uses up calories, that should help me with the weight loss thing, so, tomorrow I'm going to make the coffee, and put it in my thermos and ride the bike for 15 min and then head to the studio, we'll see how that works.

This painting was started in August in a Tuesday class, I didn't get it done and part of the reason is it's so monochromatic, I don't think this color combination is it for me, and the other thing is that it's a bit complicated, well, I decided to just bite the bullet and finish it today. I really can't tell you much of what I did, I laid in the milkweed pods and the stems, then laid in the background around, then I went in with some middle tone orange and some middle tone blue to create the shadows, then I went for the Jaune Brilliant #1 and put in some highlights, then finished it off with some white highlights, that's about it, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #236 - Sept 17, not much of a day for painting

Should have gotten right at it this morning when I got up, but I didn't, I played on the computer, and knitted, but I did ride the stationary bicycle today, I'm going to try to ride it every day, if I can make myself, I will try. I want to start walking again, and I did really well there a year and a half ago, but it takes so long, I can't do it everyday, but I might be able to do it 3 times a week, at least, we'll see.

I didn't leave myself much time to paint again, so after supper I got the paints out and started this one, I do have a couple that I could work on, but, I haven't been enthusiastic about painting on those, I do have to want to paint the subject in order to pull it off, I chose this photo today, I've painted it a couple of times and I sold one, the other one isn't quite as good as I'd like but it's ok, this one went quickly, I didn't take a lot of time with the detail, since it's small, that works. These small paintings go quickly and some days that's all I have to give, today was one, it would be good to paint something a little more interesting, but, there you go, I've painted most of the ones that I really like, I will have to go through my photo's again and see what I can come up with that stimulates my creativity a bit more, one thing though, I'm thinking I need to be supervised, I need someone to paint with, I really can get into that then, I may call my friend in Indiana and see what she's doing this next week and see if I can schedule a day to paint, I won't say that it always works, but most of the time it does, I'll call her soon and see if she can, if not, I need to concentrate on getting some entries ready for a couple shows that are coming up, that means I really need to get focused on my art, I have some very large paintings in progress, maybe I'll see if I can spare a few hours to work on those, again, we'll see.

This paintings was started my regular way, the sky first, this time I grayed down the blue a bit and added some white for the clouds, then i put in the distant tree line, and the middle ground tree line, I saved the trees on the right side for about last, although I did do the foreground a bit first, I like the simplicity of this painting and I hope you do too.

Painting 235 - Sept 16 - Another small art show today

It was the annual Goldwing bike club event in Coldwater tonight, so the Arts Alive group set up some art at Air Way Oxygen, there was also a bike poster for everyone to paint on, and everyone was encouraged to paint part of it, it was kind of fun seeing all the different people crowding around picking up colorful markers and putting their mark on the Goldwing bike poster, all in all, it was a good night, not much sales, but that's ok, people were watching me paint, maybe someday they will buy some, one can only hope.

I decided to paint a floral, this one was a photo that my friend and student, Pat gave me, I think this snowball bush is in her yard, not totally sure though. This one was so green, I decided that it would be a good thing to put some other color accent in, so I put some ladybugs in, I didn't want them to jump out at you, so I put them on the green leaves instead of on the flower, they aren't the focus, just a small accent.

I started this one by putting in a pale green wash where the snowballs were, then some darker green for the area around them, when that was dry, I wiped out some petals in the pale green wash, I thought that might be enough highlight, but I re-evaluated that and decided to add white, so I made the petals then went in with with lighter green to accent that, there is about 3 or 4 layers of green on the flowers, I really didn't focus on the leaves, they were really in a much darker green so I just focused on the flower, I like this little painting, and I hope you do too.

Painting #234 - Sept 15 - Another waterfall

You probably are getting tired again of the falls, but I haven't gotten tired of painting them, I had a couple of choices today, but this one is the one I chose. It was class day in Marshall, so, I wasn't sure how much time or energy I'd have to paint, I used a 5" x 7" Aquabord today, I've really enjoyed painting on that surface. This fall is, quite obviously, up north, either in the Upper Peninsula or along the North Shore of Lake Superior on the Minnesota side, I'm not totally sure, but I think this was either on the way in to see Devil's Hole at the Canadian/U.S. boundry, or somewhere close, along that drive or along the lake, some of these falls come right out so you can see them from the road, while others you have to hike back into. This was a spectacular fall, very tricky to get the whole thing in, we had to hike in a ways, and there was so much other stuff in the way, just tricky getting the full picture.

I started laying in the rocks on either side of it with a purple/gray mixture, then, the green for the trees in the background and along the right side of the falls (I didn't put the green in for the branches that were hanging down on the left until it was almost finished), then I put some blue in for the shadow for the falls, once that was in, I really got down to business with the rocks, and then the pool at the bottom, once they were pretty good, I went in with white and pulled some dry brush down to look like the water was splashing on the rocks. Then, I worked up the trees in the background, since they were not very detailed, that was very easy, then I moved on to the trees on the right and finally the trees hanging down. I really like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #233 - My first day working the gallery on my class day

Today I worked the Gallery (the Open Door Gallery in Sturgis, our Co-Op), I've been doing the classes on Wednesday and then working my "work day" on Saturday, that made 3 trips per month, so, I decided to start working the afternoon before my classes, that will eliminate my Saturday work day and that means one trip less to Sturgis per month, I may also see about teaching an afternoon class while I'm working, we haven't had much traffic (guests coming in), and that would be good for me, and good for the Gallery, I'm seriously considering it.

Well, this afternoon I finished my blog painting while I was working at the Gallery so I didn't have to finish one that I started in class, when I got home, that works for the girls in class, since that means that I will still have the painting to work on next week, so I won't have mine done already, and they can finish theirs while I finish mine, that way they can see how I will do it. It's good, and I feel good about getting my little painting done before midnight.

I have been wanting to paint crows for a while, I took a workshop a few years ago, and the teacher had done some crows, so I've been thinking about it for a while. I also saw some, that another artist had done, at a gallery last January, when we were coming out of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, my friend Susan had also done a small crow painting (she used it for a business card), so I just decided to give it a try, I used a couple of reference pictures and then drew a sketch of the crows in different poses, then I just got out the paper and started painting crows, I used a blueish purple and just painted crow shapes (I used claybord this time, that's the really smooth surface), once I got the crows in, I played around with a shape that I thought was going to be a moon, well, it does kind of look like a moon, but it is very stylized, then I painted in some arc's and they are sort of like grasses or wheat, that became a design eliment that I liked, I just kept playing with that until I liked the design, then I chose the blueish purple for the background, but it kind of moved into a pinkish purple at the bottom. I got into the burnt sienna and warmed up some of the wheat or grass shapes and I liked that color with the purple and the crows. Next, I brought up the detail on the crows with some black and made some feather definitions. Once they looked like crows to me, I then wiped out the eye so it was down to the clay, I was just going to use burnt sienna, but, it really didn't do much, so I got into the orange for a bit of the eye and once that was dry, I got into the turquoise and added a bit of white for the highlight on the eye, I really liked that and I didn't want that to be the only place that the turquoise was, so I added a bit of that on the moon shape, here and there, I really like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #232 - Sept 13 - Classes today

Very nice day, my friend and student, JoAnn, brought in a small set up, I mean, she brought in a small vase and some flowers out of her garden to paint on the spot, kind of like painting en plein air. So, I got out the 4" square claybord and did a small one in about 1/2 hour, now, mind you, this isn't detailed, but I like it. then, I did my serious blog painting, and it's the landscape, I'm very fond of painting falls and water so I chose this small close up of a little fall, I'm really not sure where it is, it could be in many places, but, I'm leaning toward North Carolina, mostly because it is a photo on regular photo paper done at a photo shop, not on my computer, so it was taken before I got into using a digital camera, and that means it was taken more than 15 years ago. Well, I did tell you that I've been taking photo's for a long time and I'm still using them, I do admit though, I've run through the ones that are my favorites, so that my choices are much smaller lately, I have to be inspired by the scene or object, in order to feel good about painting it, so I am going to have to take some pictures soon, I believe that after my blog obligation is finished, that I might use some of the photo's to paint some larger paintings, that would be fun, I'm going to try to continue painting everyday, but I may not finish one everyday, we'll see, I've been thinking what else I could do that would keep me painting.

The small floral was really done spontaneously, I just started with the flowers and dropped the colors in and then the small vase, and the green last, I really didn't think it was necessary to fine tune the flowers, I like them just the way they are.

The landscape was started with some purple/gray for the rocks at the top and the major rocks in the stream, I also laid in the green a bit, but no detail at this point. I then floated in the water with a gray/purple/green, kind of all mixed together to give a darker water color, and I avoided the white, then I just started at the top with the rocks up there, and started laying a lighter gray/purple, then went back in with darker color to give the rocks dimension, once I got those the way I wanted, I started to work on the water, the water has about 3 or 4 layers of different colors, lighter on top of dark and dark on top of that until I got to the light blue bits, and then the white, once the water was like I wanted it, I laid in the green in the shape of leaves and then went in with some darker green to help bring the leaf shapes out, then I put in a few branches, I like these little paintings and I hope you do too.

Painting #231 - Sept 12 - SWMWS meeting tonight

SWMWS, that stands for South West Michigan Watercolor Society, of which I'm the secretary, well, of course I was late, by at least 7 or 8 min. and so I missed the very first part of the meeting, I don't know why, I decided to fix myself a bit of something to eat before I left, I've decided to start a diet and I'm trying to get myself in the habit of eating regular meals, plus snacks, so I'm thinking I need to get up in the morning earlier, so that's going to mean get to bed earlier at night, it's going to be tough, since I am not a morning person, I can stay up almost all night, but I pay for it in the morning. One of the important things about this diet is that you must keep your metabolism working, and that means eat something frequently, small somethings I might add. We'll see how this works, with this particular diet, it's similar to weight watchers because they give you recipe's and a log to keep track of your food, plus I have to start an exercise plan, I'm going to start that slow, and I'm not sure I want to take the pills they sent, I'm not sure about that, but it says they are basically vitamins and green tea with some gaurauna, what ever that is. I'm thinking I may contact the Dr. office before I start that, but I do want to loose the weight, and the inches, I had quit walking, it's been over a year now, just about a year and a half, and since then I've really gained about 15-20 lbs, not good, and I really don't like the way I look in my clothes, so you can ask how it's going, if I don't like it, I have 6 weeks to get a full refund, we'll see.

Now, I had my watercolor meeting tonight, so, I didn't get the painting done, let alone started, before I left, so I had to find something to paint when I got home, I have painted this scene several times, and I just don't seem to get tired of it. This place is special in my memories, we (my husband and I), took our mothers to the Keewenau Peninsula (that's in Michigan's U.P.), this is the Sturgeon River, and in the photo, my husband and I were standing on that little patch of ground in front of the yellow bush on the left, but the figures were so small, there was no way that I could get them in there successfully.

I started with the sky, this time I mixed some white with some costal fog and added periwinkle blue and some violet, to get the lavender/gray color in the sky. Then the middle tone green and so on. I decided to drop in the green shadows for the trees in the water, then I started to get some detail in the tree line and I just worked my way forward, I put in about 3 layers of greens and some yellow with purple added, then I finished the trees in the foreground and put in some tree trunks, I defined the bank with some brown and worked up the water by laying some dry brush white over the top at the small fall level, then I switched it to a turquoise and did the same thing in the green reflections, I then added the rocks and put some white on the back ground water, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting 230 - Sept 11 - my day of rest

We had a family reunion today, I really didn't do much, slept in a bit, but it really didn't feel like enough, drank my pot of coffee, then went to the reunion, when I got home, all I could think of was a nap, well, it's a lazy day and I had a dish cloth to finish (I knit them), then once that was done, I got out the painting stuff, I really didn't feel like painting the flower painting that I started yesterday, so I decided to do this little landscape, it went very well, and since it's only a 4" x 4" painting, it went very quickly. I struggled a bit with the corn, I wasn't sure it looked like corn, but, my husband assured me that it did.

I started with the sky, sky blue and then charged in with white and let the clouds make themselves. While it was still wet, I put in the green at the top of the field and the trees in the background, bringing the green down the right side and the green in the corn, then I put in the roof line and the small bits of white for the building at the right, then the little dirt drive going along the side of the corn. I let that dry and then proceeded to put some layers of different values of greens for the trees and the corn, then I laid in the golden tone for the corn tops and once that was dry, I worked on the drive, I spattered some light and dark spots for the stones (I used Jaune Brilliant #1 for the light, and the darker color was a bit of purple mixed with Costal Fog), I love spattering for the gravel. Then I put some darker green to make stripes to indicate that the corn field went on and on, and then some golden ochre mixed with the Jaune Brilliant for the tops of the corn, I put some darkness in the corn for depth and then layered some lighter color of green for the corn leaves (these are very small), once that was done I put in a few tree branches and then layered more light green on top to finish, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting # 229 - Sept 10 - Didn't look like a good day for a Festival at first

It was raining pretty good when I was loading the stuff in my car this morning, but, by the time we got there (after we stopped at the Goodie Shoppe for breakfast, I really wasn't planning on doing that), it had cleared up, it was cloudy off and on all day, but it didn't get too bad until about 4:00, it started to rain, I sure am getting tired of the rain on my art fair operations, we just moved the stuff under the tent, but, when the rain was dripping off the tent onto the back of the paintings, we decided that it was time to wrap it up, so, it was 45 min. early (it was stated on the application that we were not to tear down until 5:00), we just had to, to save the art work, if they don't like it, I guess they just won't invite me back again, even though I wasn't the first one to wrap it up. It wasn't a really big show, but I did make more on this one than I did on the White Pigeon one, so it wasn't too bad, sold more than the booth fee, so it's all good, plus, I got my painting done for the day, I had a lot of lookers, especially the kids, they were amazed that I could paint like that.

So, all in all it was a good day.

My painting for today (as I told you yesterday), was another of those Alaska photo's, given to me by my student, for my reference material. I was short of time yesterday, or I might have done this one yesterday, so today I had all afternoon to work it up, I even got another one started, but I'm very tired now, and I will have to work on it tomorrow. I may, or may not, do another one besides that one, since I did take a couple of reference photo's (it's petunia's).

Today, my subject is a waterfall, my reference photo was fabulous, all except for the fact that a very large rock outcropping, didn't show how the falls looked as they cascaded, so, i eliminated it, and added a much smaller one, right in the middle of the falls, they had a tendency, in the photo, to look all one level and so I took artistic licence to change it for a better composition. I started with the sky, I did it the same way as yesterday, sky blue and then charged in with the white for the cloud shapes. Then the trees over lapping the sky and then the rock shapes and finally the water. I think you know the drill by now, I then went in with some darker stuff and made the trees more detailed, I don't know if you can tell it, but the trees in the photo had a red/violet tinge to them, so I put some of that in, then I go back into the trees and add lighter greens on top of the dark, it's all in the layers. Once the trees looked good, then I started on the rocks, they also get layers, mid tone, then darker, then lighter, and this one has another layer of blue, these rocks were purple and blue so I did it the way the photo looked, well, as close as I could get, at any rate. The water was last, but, since it's basically white, I just used a little bit of a cooler color to indicate some movement, I like this little painting, and I hope you do too.

Painting #228 - Sept 9 - Another Alaska painting

I ran short of time again today, getting ready to go to Constantine tomorrow for an art fair, had to get the oil in my car changed and the car washed (really looked bad), and my hubby had to take the seats out of my van and put the tent in and the tables and painting racks, so, now in the morning I will load the painting and everything else I need and, hopefully, make a little more money, I really have lots of paintings now, for sure.

I decided to do the sister to the one that I did yesterday, I think it's the same river, just from a different standing point. I enjoyed the simplicity of yesterday's so much, that I decided to do the other one today, I have another Alaska photo for tomorrow, if it works out that I get to paint, I'm going to try while we are there, hopefully it won't rain like it did at the White Pigeon art fair three weeks ago, my paintings got wet that day, I know she wasn't happy that I took my stuff down early, but I'm not going to let my stuff get rained on and ruined.

I did this painting about the same way I did yesterday's, I painted in the sky, only this time, I used straight sky blue (an American Journey watercolor), and then swooped in with some white for clouds, love how they make the clouds all my itself, it's amazing to watch, I'm using the Ampersand Aquabord again today. Then, while it was still wet, went in with the middle tone green for the tree line, I then laid in the wet sand and the foreground rocks to create the shape of the water, then the water was floated in. When that was dry, I just started to do the fine tuning, which entails making the tree trunks, putting leaves on top of some, and out on the sky to make leaf shapes, and then the water was painted in using another American Journey color that is similar to the sky blue only darker, and in the dark parts, with Prussian blue, I went back and forth with lighter blue and darker blue to make the water movements. The rocks were laid in at the same time the sand was, but I went back with light gray, then white and darker on the sides away from the sun, then the last part, I went in with very dark to separate the rocks, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting # 227 - Sept 8 - A WOW day

I mean WOW too, I sold a painting for $500, so happy, I volunteered it cheaper, but, she said I should get the $500. I'm so glad, I have to find the money for propane for my heat at the studio, I ran out in the spring, and it's set there all summer empty, now I can get propane. That will only last for about 6 or 8 weeks, depending on how cold it gets but that's better than nothing, I should have money coming from the last show I did, when I sold the $330., they are supposed to take the taxes out and the commission, I should get about $280.00, when it's all said and done. The other thing I need money for is the donation of a tile for the Tibbits, Blue Moon Art Group is donating a tile for the Tibbits renovation, that's $1000, so my share is $250.00, now I can do it, thank goodness.

Well, on with the show. My painting today is another Alaska photo, the same set of pictures that I got from my student who's daughter lives up there, she went this summer for 3 weeks. I chose this one because I liked the river, the photo is much darker and doesn't really show much detail in the far bank, so I lightened it up a bit, of course I started with the sky, there is a small hill in the background, you really can't see it, it blends in with the trees, but I did try, I guess I don't really care if it shows up or not, I like the way it looks, I've pretty much decided that I'm really enamored with the landscape, more specifically, the river scenes and the falls, I have really enjoyed those. While the sky was wet, I went in with a bluish green and put the hill in, then the green for the trees. I put the bank in the foreground in so I could capture the shape of the water and then I put the blue in for the water, the rocks were fun and I just kept moving around fine tuning here and there until it was done, I did this in class today, only 3 students today, so I might be able to actually paint on china tonight for the china painting class, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #226 - Sept 7 - It's a blue Moon out tonight, well, just our group

I had the day off, I did get over to the studio to re-frame a couple of paintings (change the glass in one from regular glass to non-glare, and clean the glass in the other one, evidently I didn't see some streaks on the inside of the glass), so I did get a couple of other things done, I didn't get to paint my painting until I got to Blue Moon (Susan's), for our bi-monthly meeting. I decided to finish a painting that I started in my Sturgis class in August. The ceramic chicken was part of some things that one of my Marshall students gave me to photograph, I added the eggs and the cloth. I had a hard time making myself finish this painting, I think the egg basket was giving me second thoughts about doing it, once I got started, I did fine, my friends really enjoyed the chicken, they like that it's not totally defined in the face.

I did this one on Arches 140, this is 1/4 sheet, so it's much larger than the ones I've been painting lately, that may also been part of my problem making myself paint this one. I started by sketching the chicken and eggs and the table (well, it's actually my organ bench, or piano bench if you please), I started with some purple/brown mixture for the background, I wasn't sure exactly how dark I was going to go, so I didn't get it totally black, it is dark but it has a purple cast to the dark, not black. Then I laid in the buff edge of the bench, or bench pad, and then started to work on the chicken, I kept it fairly light at first, then a thin wash of a mixture of yellow ochre and burnt sienna for the eggs, I also put a wet in wet wash for the cloth (a flour sack dish cloth, if you must know), and that was all I got done on the first day that I worked on it. Today I changed the background to a much darker purple brown, and at the bottom edge. Then I worked on some darker shadows for the chicken and the shadows for the cloth under the chicken and the eggs, I really painted over the basket shape, and laid in the cloth without regard to the basket, if I had tried to paint around it, the colors wouldn't have flowed correctly, then, I painted in the basket shape with cerulean blue as a base color, I darkened the eggs to give them volume, and then worked up the basket, this basket is very opaque over the top of the eggs and the cloth, I like this painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #225 - Sept 6 - Class day in Coldwater and more computer problems

I was very tired when I got home from classes, but, had to deal with this dumb computer again, I'm OK now, the Iyogi program I got, when I was having so many problems before, came through and got it all straightened out, but, they should consider a problem, they have too many buttons to fool with, they had one that was marked PC maintenance, well, in my ignorance I pushed it, and it wanted to scan something so I said yes, well, the thing is, I wasn't supposed to be in that program with out the technician guiding me, well, I didn't understand that when I got it, well, the thing that happened is that it wanted access code, and I didn't have one, then it locked the Iyogi program out, it said I needed an access code, and you know the rest, when that program doesn't work right, the other programs didn't work right, and so I had trouble, but all is well now. Pheew! Glad that's over, now, on with the painting.

I started this in class today, this was a photo I took of the farm that my friend Carol and I tried to get permission to sketch last week. Now, this is from the road and you couldn't really see the cuteness of barn (it had really neat steps on the other side that I couldn't get close enough to get pictures of, and no one was home to ask, well we don't know if anyone was home, they wouldn't answer the door, really weird, the door was open and really looked like someone was there, oh well, maybe we'll catch them another time, anyway, this shot across the field wasn't too bad so I decided to paint it today.

I laid in some sky color, a mixture of sky blue and periwinkle blue and purple with white added, then the barn shape and the trees finally I got the close up trees and the foreground laid in. Once that was dry, I attempted to fine tune the barn, only I had put so much water on it that it all blurred, so I had to take the hair dryer to it. Anyway, I did manage to get the barn sharpened up, and some leaf shapes in the middle ground trees, and then the bushes in front of the barn, finally, I put in the weeds in the foreground, of course, I spattered it with a couple of different colors, the last thing I did was the pine tree on the right, and the branches for the overhanging stuff on the left, I like this little painting, and I hope you do too.

Painting #224 - Spent the day with my Husband

Well, we went shopping (groceries), and then we drove to Albion to look at a truck (just looking, then we drove trough Albion, to see the park and look for suitable painting reference, we didn't find anything, but it was a nice drive and I was spending quality time with Jim (Hubby), we haven't had much quality time lately, he's a mechanic (semi's and farm equipment), and he's working long hours lately, last week he didn't get home until after 8:30 or 9:00 every night, so we needed that time together, even though it wasn't much it was very nice.

So, I didn't get to the painting until about 9:00, my choice today was based on the paper I decided to use, I had a piece of watercolor paper that I had collaged oriental papers on, this surface is really good for doing rocks, the rocks almost paint themselves. This photo is one of many that were taken on the North Carolina trip 21 years ago (when I was just beginning to date my husband), I went with my Sister and her husband for a week, we stayed on the Cherokee Indian Reservation and had a great time, that was also when we did the white water rafting, you saw one of those pictures over a month ago.

I started with the rocks, of course, much easier to place the rocks and then put the water in, and since this is just rocks and water, I spent a lot of time getting the rocks just so, then I laid in the darker part of the water, and the foam was put in last, of course I worked back and forth, shadows in the water and the white laid on top, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #223 - Busy day today

This day started out slow, but then when we got started, it really took off, we are canning tomatoes today, this is going to be short since we still have to put them in the jars and hot water bath them. I painted this off and on since about 4:00 this afternoon, most of it since about 8:30.

I did take a short nap after the tomatoes were in the pot, since I did stay up too late last night, and up at my regular time this morning. I thought that since I've taken the easy way out the last couple of days that I would do one that was a bit more complicated today. This is the St. Joe River at Litchfield, I took it when I went there, a couple years ago, to pick up a painting that was entered in the members show (Hillsdale County Art Guild). I really took most of the photos of the Litchfield Mill but this one was very nice, so this is it for today. I decided to use the Ampersand Aquabord for today's painting, and of course, the opaque watercolors.

I laid in the green and brown for the water and the trees in the background, then, when that was dry, I started to work on the water and trees in the foreground, but before I got into the leaves of those trees, I finished up the tree shapes and the background water reflections, then I worked on the foreground water until it met my criteria for reflections on the water and sunlight. Once that was done, I started on the foliage of the major tree on the right side, then I worked on the branches on the dead trees in the water and finally, the tree branches leaning over the water on the left side and the foreground weeds, I like this little painting, and I hope you do too.

Painting #222 - Sept 3 - kind of a lazy day

Sure didn't accomplish much today, got on the computer and that's where I spent most of the day, I was scanning my computer and while I was doing that, I got hooked on a game, Bejeweled 3, the quest, I had tried it before and didn't understand it, but now I do and once I made it through the first level, I was on a mission, I just couldn't stop playing, not a good thing, I didn't even stop to cook supper (we ate left overs), I did get some of the junk out of the garage though, my dear brother-in-law came over with the truck and a trailer, and we got rid of some of the stuff, I guess we really need my husband to be here so he can figure out what goes and what doesn't, well, I made a few decisions and we'll just live with it. So, I didn't get on the painting operation until 9:30, so I did it again, chose a lightweight scene that doesn't take much to finish, I hope I can get myself back in the groove of this pretty soon, just in a bit of a slump I guess.

this is a very misty scene, and if you couldn't tell, it's in the smokey mountains, we went to North Carolina back in 1990 and this is when this photo was taken (even though I'm sure this was taken in Tennessee), we went through there on the way back. I felt it needed something, so I added some cows, they aren't very big and not very detailed, but they kind of look like they might be cows, that's all I was looking for. Once the cows were in, I decided to spatter the foreground to make it look like flowers and, ta da! It's finished, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #221 - Sept 2 - busy again today

I think there is no rest for the wicked, and I must have been bad, since I don't seem to get any rest, seemed like I might have gotten more done, but I had to run to town to pick up a piece of glass. I have to switch a piece of glass, in a painting I've sold, to a non glare glass, the place it will hang has lots of windows and it glared so badly that they couldn't see the painting, if the painting weren't so large, I probably should have invested in museum glass, but that is more than I can afford, I will tell her that a piece of museum glass would probably be better, but for the price I sold it, she can invest in the museum glass, if she wants to. I really was busy framing and matting today, I do need to do a lot more, but I have not had the time or energy to do it lately, I am right up there with about another 30 to 40 pictures to put in mats, and while I was over there matting, I discovered some oil paintings that need to be finished, I sure do feel like oil painting now, I was over there moving things around and the oil paint just seems to call me, maybe I'll have to do some soon.

Well, today's painting is a small one, ran out of time again, so got a late start (again), I sorted my photo's the other day, and found these photo's of the black swan's that we had at the waterworks park in Coldwater, a few years ago, unfortunately, they are no longer there, some bad kids killed (stoned), the female, and then the male dissapeared, not sure if he just died of a broken heart or if he went someplace else, you know they mate for life and it's very likely that he died, so sad. Fortunately, I got a couple of photo's before that happened. I believe this is the male, you see the white feather sticking out, well, on the underside of the wings, they have white feathers, I've got a photo of him with his wings spread out, but it's not a very good photo so I used this one. I've tried to keep it simple so I used the small 4" x 4" Aquabord, the opaque watercolors were used again and I started with the swan with a light gray, this bird is really all black but I had to use the gray and white to indicate the highlights. Once the bird shape was in, I put the water in, then fine tuned the bird, the bill of this swan is red and on the end it's white, I like this little painting, and I hope you do too.

Painting #220 - Sept 1 - Thursday Class day again

Well, this painting is a bit out of my comfort zone, I think it turned out ok, I may even have to do a larger one in oil, I think the skull will lend it self to oil painting really well, my reason for that is that it would blend really well. This isn't too bad but I think the oil would be very classy.

I took this photo last night of my niece's dear skull, she wants me to paint a hunting scene on it or a scene with deer on it or something, it's awaiting her decision on what to put on it. I've had it up in my painting/computer room for over a year.

I decided to do this skull painting (kind of like Georgia O'Keefe), but my own composition, because of the show we hung at the Tibbits yesterday. The Theme of the show is "Bare bones and a Full Moon", when we decided on that, I had no idea in my head what I would paint, I had a painting I did for the paranormal show a couple years ago, and a barn with the moon, but I decided I should have 3 so I thought of that skull upstairs and decided to find something to put with it to make a composition, the turkey feather my husband brought me, seemed to fit and I thought the geode would suffice for the full moon, I kind of like it with the geode, so this is my 3rd painting for the show, I painted it on a 5" x 7" Aquabord (Ampersand surface), and it's painted with the opaque watercolors, I did have fun painting it. I decided on the purple/gray background since there were some warm shadows on the skull (which I really kind of amplified to give it a bit more color), and the gray brown color of the feathers, the geode was basically gray but I decided to put the aqua in for another added interest, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.