Painting #1 - Jan 31 - A lot more to do yet

As you can see, there is a lot more to do, I really worked hard on the trees yesterday, I'm not sure if they are done yet or not, it will depend on how they look when the water progresses, I was so enamored with the water the other day, that the trees got left behind, so that was my intention when I got to the painting yesterday. The water does pull me though, I have class today, so I probably won't work on this one there, it's so large, I may work on it when I get home though. The trees were a challenge to me, I don't want them to get too detailed, but the problem is that I've worked so small this last year, that my brain hasn't totally made the disconnection with the detail, obviously, if I try to put too much detail in, it will fall flat. Besides, the intent here is to eliminate the detail, well, not totally, but to try to loosen up, I am trying, stay tuned for more upgrades, and, hopefully, the painting should be done this coming week-end, that is if all goes well. Thanks for watching.

A new plan - here is the new plan for this coming years blog

I hope you all didn't give up on me, it took me a while to figure out my new direction, I probably will not blog daily, maybe I will and maybe I won't, you will just have to check since I don't know yet weather you really need to see everything I'm working on, I will show you when I complete one, and when I start a new or major painting (like yesterday's painting). I went to my friends house (she used to be my china painting instructor many years ago, but since then we've become best friends).

I started a 22" x 30" painting, the surface is Aquabord (I don't plan on working on this surface always), I had purchased one a while ago, it was wrapped in the plastic but I had some water damage in my studio a while ago and I didn't notice that it had gotten wet, well, the water had stained the bottom edge of the board, so I decided, since that surface is fairly expensive for that size, that I would see if I could repair it. Scrubbing it didn't work, so I gessoed it, it took several layers but it finally got so I couldn't see it, I realized that the place that the gesso was was smooth and the Aquabord is textured like watercolor paper, so I tried a couple of different things to acquire the texture necessary to get close to the texture on the board, finally I had a piece of paper towel and after I painted the gesso on, I laid the paper towel down and it really worked, you can't see the difference now that it's painted, it works for me, with the gesso on it, it should be sealed and good to go, I will monitor this to make sure that it doesn't re-appear and I will keep you apprised.

Now, this was painted all in one day I have about 7 or more hours working on this one, and I will not always have that many hours to work on one painting everyday, what I'm proposing is that I show you the progress I'm making and hopefully I will complete at least 30 paintings this year, I will say that my intent is half sheet or larger paintings, but not to just limit myself, I will tell you that I may work smaller, it will depend on lots of things, first of all, if I start a painting in a class, I may have to work smaller because of space, on the Thursday class we are a bit more limited than the Tuesday class, I don't intend to blog this daily, I think I mentioned that, but I will be on here 2 or 3 times a week to up date my progress, today's painting has a lot more photo's since I worked hard on it all day, most days, I will have 2 or 3 hours at most so it won't be necessary to show so many different views, also, when I'm working in class, I will be working on finishing paintings that are already started (from last year and before, I'm fond of starting paintings, and sometimes I have to look at them for a while before I figure out what needs to be done, probably one of the reasons that a painting a day was a bit difficult for me), but I do want to paint all the days, even the ones that I'm not teaching, I will say that I probably won't be painting on Sundays, since that is my day to spend with the family.

This first photo is the last photo I took, I will then show you the progress from start to last, I just know that if I post this on facebook, that the first photo is the one that shows up and I didn't think that would look very impressive, so here goes.

The following photo's are the first followed by the next progression, now remember, the first one is the last one for now, I'm still working on this one.

As you can see, this painting isn't done, but that's my plan, you will see the progress until it's completed, if I finish one in my class, I will post that separately, thanks for viewing my blog last year and hopefully, you will follow this part.

Painting #365 - Last, but not least

This is the final painting for this blog obligation, I said I'd do it and I did, I made it! Whew! Wasn't sure that I would, or could. I started getting at the paintings late, most nights, and I dragged my feet, at that, but, I did do what I said I'd do. I really don't know how those daily painters do it, how do you paint one a day on a continuous basis, I think if I had done this when I was in my 30's I might have been better equipped to deal with it, now, don't get me wrong, I did enjoy doing this, I especially like chatting, I really feel that part helps you know the real me, I do have my struggles, one being that in order for me to get anything done, I have to give myself deadlines, and pressure myself into doing it, once I get started, I really don't have trouble, it's the starting that's hard, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one that struggles with that, I am hoping that this experience has helped me be aware of how short our lives are (especially since it doesn't seem possible that this year is over already), and that if I'm going to make this art my career, I must work at it like a job, I do work at it like a job 3 days of the week, but those on those days that I don't teach, I can find all kinds of reasons not to get to the studio. In order for me to do this blog painting, I had to bring a small studio over here (at the house), and set it up at my dining room table, if I'd had to go to the studio, I would have felt that I was neglecting my husband, and even as it was, I did do that a bit, he is very happy that this blog is over, little does he know that I intend to keep blogging, about my paintings, and I'm hoping that I can figure out what I really want to do, I know if I don't tell you what I'm going to do, I'll probably not do it, because I know me, well, enough of that.

This painting was started last Tuesday, remember, I said that I got it started and was excited about it, well, I tried to paint on it some yesterday, but didn't have enough time, or energy to work at it more than a bit. Today, however, I meant to complete it and I worked at it very diligently at class, and then I have about 2 hours in it after dinner. I tried not to make it too detailed, but detailed enough, sometimes tricky for me. I left the figure of the fisherman until last, and I really enjoyed painting him, this photo was taken on a short vacation that my husband and I took a few years ago, now don't ask me where it is, for sure, it's probably in the U.P., possibly along the black river, there is a State Park and there are about 5 different falls that are on a couple of mile hike, I'm not sure that I would be able to do it anymore, but it was great getting these photo's when we did. I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

I will get back to you in the next week to decide what the next blog will be, I want to continue painting, but I want to work on some that are much larger, I'm really counting on getting some larger new stuff done for my up coming shows, toodles for now. Vivian

Painting #364 - A quiet day, not much happening

Everyone needs those days once in a while, I should have really jumped in and painted a bit more, I did paint, but not as much as I should have, tomorrow is the last blog, I hope you can keep me in mind, I plan on doing something, just not totally sure what yet, I'm hoping that I'll be able to figure out what it is I want to do. I've tossed around a couple of different ideas, I have lots to do, I'm scheduled to have a show of some of these blogs at the Carnegie Center for the Arts in Three Rivers, that's scheduled for August, Sept. and Oct., I have lots to do to get ready for that, among those things is a lot of matting and framing along with some painting, since I don't want the show to be just the small paintings that I've been painting, I'm tossing around figuring out the best ones and possibly having one of those books made up, wow, wouldn't that be neat, so, I'm still thinking and I will be painting, so maybe I'll keep you apprised of how those things are coming along, I also thought about a weekly painting, but then I'm still thinking about that one, since some paintings, especially the large ones, take longer than a week, and I don't want to get myself in the same situation where I'm pressured to produce a painting, that should be a natural thing, my intention was to get a new habit to paint everyday, I would like to see if that has happened, and go from there for now.

This painting is another of the 4" x 6" postcard size, on 300 lb. watercolor paper. I started it out with a wet-in-wet technique with acrylic, then I let that dry and got out the gouache and watercolors, did I mention that my palette is kind of a mixture of both, some of the paints are American Journey paints (Cheap Joe's), and they say transparent, but quite a few of those have white in them, and that makes them opaque.

In my original composition, I had left the birch tree, that crosses the river there in the foreground, out, well, I thought that spot looked so un interesting, that I put it in, so I got the gesso out and wiped out the watercolor paint, then laid in the gesso, when that was dry, I got out the palette knife and tried the palette knife technique again, I was quite happy with the result. The remainder of this painting was to just fill in the leaves of the trees hanging down and put the branches in, then fine tune the rocks and the water and, TA DA! Its a painting, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #363 - Jan 22 - Going to be busy today, so I got this done early

The Opening reception for the Carnegie Center for The Arts in Three Rivers is today, so I jumped right on that painting that I was trying to get done yesterday to finish it. I am sure that the afternoon is going to be very busy, since we have not done any major shopping lately in addition to the show, and I'm certain that we will be dinning out too, so just in case that I get to exhausted from all that activity (I'm getting so I don't have the same stamina anymore, I used to be able to go and go and go, but something happens when you turn 55, I do believe that's the magic number when things really go downhill, and since I passed that almost 11 years ago, you guessed it, I'm much less able to do that, gaining weight will have something to do with that too, or maybe it's the other way around, the weight is from doing less, I really think it's both).

this little painting, again, is on 300 lb. watercolor paper (it's 4" x 6" again, I have to use up those pieces I cut for the postcards), I've been experimenting with ways to start things, so I used the acrylics to lay in the beginning washes, when that was dry, I switched to the gouache, I feel much more comfortable with the gouache, maybe it has to do with the acrylics drying so fast, I have enjoyed the acrylics, but the gouache is much easier to manipulate. At any rate, I then started to build up the background trees, since the sky is sort of a pinkish color, I used magenta added to the green, well, that was too dark, so I just thinned it down and added more magenta, that worked, then I moved to the water, and worked that up, the foreground weeds were put in last, and finally I added a skim of white to add the effect of the water, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #362 - Jan 21 - a bit of a slow day

I surely didn't get as much done as I thought I would, I did finish the painting that I worked on yesterday, you will see my deviated composition, what I mean by that is that I never start with the foreground, but this time I did, you remember, I said that I tried the technique of painting the birch trees with a palette knife, well, that's what I did, all the trees went in first, then, I sorted through some photo's that might fit this tree composition, I think this works very well, so, I painted around the trees with the landscape, a bit more difficult that I like, but I suppose I could have masked the trees, but I didn't. I did work on another one, I was trying to get that one done too, and my plan was to get another one done for tomorrow, well, tomorrow's painting will have to be done in the morning, I will attempt to finish it in the morning. I just couldn't do it tonight, I didn't go to bed until almost 3:00 a.m. and then I read for an hour, my dear friend, Sue called this morning and got me up, so far I haven't napped, but I am not up to painting more tonight, I know these are small, but I never said how big I was going to paint, although, when I started this blog my intention was to keep them all 6" x 6", well, I got tired of the 6" size and decided to work in a few other sizes, now it just depends on how tired I am or if I am really inspired, the larger pieces, the more inspiration, although, that's not totally true since sometimes, I just choose the size and then work.

Well, this is a small landscape with birch trees, the landscape itself didn't have any trees in the foreground, but I felt I could pull it off because the river turned right at the foreground, which made it possible for the trees, of course, I've seen other river scenes that when you are up high, the trees are in the foreground when the water comes clear to the bottom, for instance, the Taquamenon Falls pictures I have, lots of those have trees that stretch from top to bottom. I really had a lot of fun with this painting, and I really like it, I sure hope you like it too.

Painting #361 - Jan 20 - Snow again, didn't get as much done as I wanted.

Watched a short video clip this afternoon, Sterling Edwards, I took a workshop with him about 6 years ago, doesn't seem possible that it's been that long ago, well, the video was really a short clip about a palette knife technique, so I ran over to the studio to get mine so I could practice, I've been using acrylics, but in a watercolor manner, so I tried it on one of the 4" x 6" pieces of paper that I cut up for the postcards, and I made birch trees, wow, it really worked, I've never painted with a palette knife with the watermedia, I have with oils, but not a lot, even then. I got so excited, it really did work, so, when it was dry I decided to try to filling in with a small landscape behind, well, I'd show you that, but it got late and I didn't get that one finished. I already had my painting done for today, so that's the one that you get today, I did try to paint the trees with the acrylic, but it didn't work very well, but the trees in this small barn painting were painted in with the knife, I don't know if it was how I was holding the knife, but they got wider than I relly wanted, oh well, they look pretty good, anyway, this painting is one of 4 that I started today, I will be working on the others this week-end, this is my last week-end for painting, and I have an art show to attend on Sunday, so I'm going to paint at least one for Sunday so I don't have to stress out how to get that one done, I have a plan, and I have 3 paintings to finish tomorrow, so I can use one or two for Sunday, Monday, I plan on finishing the painting I started on Tuesday, wish me luck, I like this little painting, and I hope you do too.

Painting #360 - Jan 19 - So tired today, maybe worked too hard yesterday.

Yesterday was a great day of accomplishment, but today was a dud, I painted, but I meant to have two instead of one, oh well, one is all I said I'd do, I was trying to get those postcards done, but I've since decided that I wasn't sure I wanted to send them off just now, there are a few that I really like and I didn't know if I was ready to sell them yet. I like to look at them for a while, see if they inspire me to paint larger ones of the same scene, I have thought of that, there are several that I've done that I wish they were larger paintings, they carry so nicely. I have painted these small ones all year, am I going to be able to translate the scenes into larger watercolors? I guess I'll find out here directly.

Ok, now here is the painting for day, this is the Taquamenon Falls painting I was partially working on yesterday, I've finished it, it also is acrylic, I did have one more started, but not finished yet, maybe I'll see about finishing it tonight yet, we'll see. I've painted this painting a couple of times before, believe it or not, this is the large one, imagine that, the others are smaller, one is only about 1-1/2" x 2", really small. I have about 2-1/2 hours in this one, as with yesterday's painting, this was early Fall, and there was a skim of ice on the water, no snow, but there was ice, this, if you didn't know it, is a famous falls in Michigan's Upper Penninsula, this is the lower falls, the upper falls are much larger, and, in my opinion, much less interesting. I like this little painting, and I hope you do too.

Painting #359 - Wow, a really great painting day

Since we had our Blue Moon meeting on Monday, I decided to try to paint some of those 4" x 6" postcards today, I started my painting, then decided that I might be able to rescue a couple of small postcard paintings I painted a couple of years ago, and make them better, so I went over and to the studio to retrieve them, they were originally watercolors, but they left me a bit flat (I mean that I didn't feel that they were that great), so while I waited on my blog painting to dry a bit, I decided to amplify them with some acrylics, that really made them pop, I think they are both better now. I really painted all day, except for the time between the painting that I knitted, cooked dinner, did laundry, and washed dishes, wow, like I said it was a good day, I also have half of my tomorrow's blog painting done, I was on a roll.

Well, as you probably know, this is acrylic, again, I really painted with the acrylic's all day today, I went through the photo's yesterday and picked out enough photo's to complete the 6 postcards, but, the problem is, they should have been in the mail today, unless I drive to Muskegon on Friday, well, I don't know if I'll do that or not, but, looking on the bright side, I have my blog painting done early, I am feeling really good about that. I am making this short, I have knitting to do for a bit before bed, tomorrow morning I will paint before leaving for class and try to get the blog painting done before I leave for class, mostly so that I can work on the painting that I started yesterday in class, I didn't have an opportunity to work on it today, what with all the stuff I did, such a busy day, I'm still in shock that I got so much done. I like this little painting (actually the blog painting is the winter scene, the two flower paintings are just thrown in for a lark. I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

This is the blog painting, the following floral's are the repaired paintings I worked on today.

Painting #358 - Jan 17 - class day, but didn't get one done in class

I worked on 2, but I'm thinking of wiping the paint off the first one, I had it started over a month ago, but I'm having a real hard time working on it, it's not making me happy, so, when it doesn't make you happy, move on, and make it something else, that's how I'm feeling. So I started a different one, and I really like that one, but again, it's an 8" x 10" and I couldn't get that one done. It was an Arts Alive meeting tonight, and I didn't get home until 7:35 or so, after the meeting I had to stop at the store, so when I got home there was supper to make, well, that doesn't leave much time to paint, so I cut up some 300 lb watercolor paper to 6" x 4" (my friend Sue is trying to talk me into painting these small paintings to send off to Muskegon for a special sale they are having for postcard paintings), well, I thought, if I can manage to get some done tomorrow, I may, but I did paint one tonight, just in case.

This painting, as I told you above, is on 300 lb watercolor paper, but it's acrylic and not watercolor, the acrylic paint on the smooth surface of the claybord much easier than on the paper, but since this could be one of those postcards, I wanted it to be permanent, so I used the acrylic's. I sorted through the pictures to find something that I thought I could get done in an hour or so, and this one took me about 2 hours, it's painted like transparent watercolor for the sky and the far trees, and part of the water, then I used the acrylics like I use my gouache, and that really works for me, but I did have difficulty with making the paint move on this paper, it just wanted to be dry, of course part of that is that the paint practically drys on the brush before you get it to the paper, well, I did manage to get this painted and I do really like this little painting, so I'm hoping that you like it too.

Painting #357 - Jan 16 - Great painting day

It was a very inspirational day, we had our Blue Moon meeting today instead of Wednesday (our usual), so since Sue didn't have school today, we met early (which means no beer, boo hoo, just kidding), don't need beer to paint, but we did have the chocolate (dark of course), and the pretzels, so we were all working on some project or other, no general project for all, which we sometimes do. Sue was working on some 4" x 6" paintings for something going on in Muskegon, Carol was working on a small landscape, Bev was working on our next Tibbits show, which is Black & White, and I was working on my blog painting, I brought out the Mill painting that I had started the other day in acrylics, I almost got it done at Sue's, but I did have a lot to do, and still needed a couple hours to complete it when I got home, all total, I probably have about 11 hours in this one, it was a major project for me, I am not used to working with the acrylics, so I struggled a bit, but I do believe I have it down pretty good, I really did enjoy working on this painting, as as I said before when I was working on the acrylics, I just painted with them like I paint with the gouache, that really works for me, I'm not much into the texture of the paint showing, I like the smoothness of this, so I'm pretty sure that is my style for the time being.

This painting is quite complicated, I worked on the right hand corner first, I said before, I start these paintings out with a thin overall middle tone in the local color to get the placement, now then, I have made adjustments to this one, I had to adjust the width of the front on the mill (I had it too wide), and I made adjustments to the roof too, but the rest if pretty close to how I first laid it in. Like I said, I started with the right hand corner first and got that to a fairly close finish, then, I did change the color of the sky too, almost forgot to mention that, I had it blue at first, but the photo looks fairly white, well, white isn't very interesting, so I made it yellow, I really like the change, the photo did have the blue reflections in the water though, so I think this really works. I meant to mention where this lovely mill is, for those of you who do not know, this is in Bellevue, MI, I went there to take these pictures so many years ago with my Mother, so this painting makes me think of my Mom, miss her. Now, today I really got into finishing this, and I absolutely love the water reflections of the mill, and the green scum, love it.

I really meant to explain how I worked on this, I do get carried away, well, I always work from the farthest to the closest, which also works for me, then the stuff that's closest, is on top of the behind stuff, I think it gives it more depth, oh yes, did I say that one of the reasons that it took so long to paint was that it was an 8" x 10" on claybord, I do think I mentioned it the other day when I started it, but just to make sure, I said it again. I really like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #356 - Jan 15 - the knitting is driving me crazy

I know, this blog is about painting, but, I'm knitting as a favor for my sister and the yarn she picked is horrid. It is that hairy stuff, you know, they call it fun fur or eye lash yarn, well, this yarn has such long eye lashes that it's tangling and causing me a lot of trouble, I've ripped it out over 5 times, I have to make this one scarf wider and longer for a special gift and I've about had it, I almost had 2 skeins done, and today I had to rip it out back to the first skein, I've had to take my time, picking out the lashes and counting each row to make sure that the stitches don't get dropped or increased, such a pain. Oh well, I'll get it, because I'm determined, but sure am not looking forward to the next one, there will be 2 scarves this color, the next colors are much better, I have one of those half done, while I was taking a break from the long lash stuff, well, better get on to the painting.

I was supposed to get this done early, but, I didn't get at it until 8:15 or so, I have about 4 hours invested in this one, I meant to make it a short one, but the photo that I decided to work from, required a bit more work, I didn't think it would, but it did. So, I really got into this one, I haven't done a waterfall scene in a while, I must have missed it, this really didn't come hard, it was fairly easy for me, just took a while, I enjoyed it though.

I jumped right in positioning the rocks and the dark areas, the waterfall just found itself then. I used that purple/gray/neutral tint mixture that I like for rocks, using more purple in some areas and more gray in others and more neutral tint for the dark areas, I also used some of the Jauane Brilliant on them too. I laid in the middle values and mixed it all up and then laid in the dark areas then put the lights on top, I did that pretty much all over, you can do that when you use gouache. I'm going to make this short since I said I'd get it done early, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #355 - only 10 more days to go

I'm looking forward to taking a bit of a break from this blog, I have lots of knitting I obligated myself to do for my sister and I also have a pair of socks to knit, I'd really like to finish several knitting projects that I have started, when I manage to get the scarves finished and the socks finished, I also need to devote some time to figuring out my taxes, I don't generally do my own taxes, but I do have to prepare the paperwork and make my profit and loss sheets, so I have plenty to do here directly. I really got the knitting going today, so my painting today is small, I was going to work on the acrylic I started yesterday, but, it really was too much to get done, I had dinner to fix for the family, my 2 oldest grandchildren were here, so I wanted to make something special, we had fried potatoes and salmon patties with creamed pea's, so I spend about an hour and a half fixing supper, and I always get tired after I eat, but I did try to get to the painting before it got too late, it is just after 11:00 p.m., which for me is pretty good.

Today's painting is also an acrylic, I got out another 4" x 4" claybord, the acrylic's seem to paint just beautifully on this surface. I guess I really decided to do the painting I started yesterday, so I got the acrylics out for that, then I looked at how much was left to paint on that one and decided to get a small board out, I will try to finish it either tomorrow or Monday, ok? I am making this short, again tonight, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #354 - Jan 13 - Kind of stuck in the house today

We got snow, and the forecast was a winter storm watch, so, since it could get crappy out, I was unable to go to my friend's house today, we usually get together, any where from 2 to 4 times a year. I used to live in Ft. Wayne and she also lived there, obviously, that's where we met, she was my china painting teacher over 32 years ago, I moved to Michigan, and she moved to another city in Indiana, we've been best friends since we met, and distance didn't change that, it's unfortunate that we don't get to spend more time together, but we manage. In the mean time, I also have lots of best friends here to help fill the void, I do appreciate all my friends, I feel totally blessed.

I should have used that time that I would have been painting at my friends to paint here, but, alas, I'm bad, the knitting still has me, I didn't start the painting until 9:00 p.m., and then I decided to use the acrylics, I salvaged an 8" x 10" claybord that my friend Sue tried to destroy, just kidding Sue, since it was slightly damaged, I decided to paint on it with the acrylics, I figured it wouldn't be as noticeable with the acrylics, this photo of the painting looks a bit lighter on the left side, the light was shining on it and you know how acrylics are, anyway, the 8" x 10" one was coming along nicely, but as I started late, I know I couldn't finish it, so I switched to a 4" x 4" claybord, still with the acrylics though, I picked this farm scene instead of the mill I was painting, so, this is the painting for today, another barn painting, can't have too many of those, huh? I think since it's late that I will cut this a bit short, the acrylics are a basic thin wash to start, then layers on top of each other, until it suits me, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #353 - Jan 12 - Too tired to paint today

I did paint, but I sure didn't complete the one I worked on in class today, it was an 8" x 10" and I didn't have the energy to finish it. So, when I got home, I took a nap, a 2 hour nap, then I fixed supper, and I finally got to paint at about 9:30, I scoured through my photo's to find one that I felt I could finish in an hour or so, I found the 4" x 4" Claybord and so, that's the painting for today, I'm supposed to go to my friend's house in Indiana tomorrow, but the weather is looking bad, I hope it's not as bad as it could be, I'll have to check it out in the morning. If it is bad in the morning, I may not be able to go, since it is Friday the 13th, no sense in taking any chances, we'll see. In the meantime, I am going to make this short, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #352 - Jan 11 - What a nice day, got to watch a great video plus paint.

I started my day just like usual, I made the coffee (a must), and decided to watch the video I received the other day, on slab building and texturing and making clay stamps, wow, what a great video, I really felt that I learned a lot, now, when I get my ceramic studio set up, I can do some of that, I have the kilns, I have the clay, I also have the potters wheels, now I just need some lights and some electric outlets so I can plug my wheels in, I'm ready to try this again, I did some throwing several years ago, at the Art Center of Battle Creek, since then I haven't had the energy, I had to work a 3rd shift factory job for over 5 years, that was because the window factory I worked at went bankrupt, it's crappy having to go out and find another job at 54, the only jobs available are 2nd and 3rd shifts, not my favorite after 22 years on first, what a come down! Plus, having to work with some of those 30 something women, who still thought they were in High School, not pleasant, it sure wasn't fun. So, when the factory closed and moved another hour plus away (I was already driving 40 min away), that made up my mind to not take the opportunity they offered to transfer, that's pretty much when I decided to make my art my job, so I started teaching watercolor, I'd been teaching china painting, and I had taught pastels before, so I wasn't new to teaching, I really love my job now, then last year, when I started this blog, I decided to try to make myself paint every day, that's worked, I am painting everyday, but now it's time for a little rest, just to catch up my relaxation a bit, I really wouldn't want to play with clay all day, and then try to paint a painting too, so I didn't play with the clay, but now I'm really getting the bug, I really need to make some jewelry too, and that also isn't painting, but it is art. Well, enough of that, now on with the painting.

This painting is one I started tonight at the watercolor class in Sturgis, I was demonstrating on paper, but the paper was much larger than I knew I could finish, besides, next class they will be working to finish their paintings, and I'll want the one I started to show them how to finish it. So, while they were painting theirs (after I had mine at a stage and was waiting for them to finish or catch up), I decided to get the Claybord out and see if I couldn't get a painting ready so I didn't have so much to work on at home, I think I did pretty well, I had about 1/2 or 3/4 of an hour in it at class, then I have about an hour and a half here at home, I actually completed it just a bit after 11:00 p.m. (since I don't get home until 9:10 or so, and I hadn't eaten dinner yet, I did eat before I started the painting), I think that's pretty good, I may actually get to bed before 12:00 a.m.(and that's very good).

Since this is on Claybord, it's very smooth, I usually try to lay on a coat of paint rather wet, to give the board some tooth, it helps the layers of paint that go on later. After that is dry, I then started to fine tune the buildings, I don't think the building is the focal point, now, I did at first, but this has become a tree painting. I really enjoyed painting the tree and this went fairly quickly, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #351 - Jan 10 - I'm starting the count down

I've been thinking on what I will do after this blog is finished. I think I will take a small break, the thought of obligating myself for another blog operation doesn't sit well with me right now, I need to just relax for a bit. I wish I had more energy, at this point in my life, which I'm just getting into, but it's obviously, on a down hill slide, I just can't think about it. If I did have more energy, I would continue this blog, I have enjoyed painting everyday, and I'm still going to try to paint everyday, after all, I do have two art shows to get ready for, one that starts in August this year, and one in March of 2013. I also wish that I had decided to do this earlier in my life, I look at all those daily painters, and I'm envious, I know that if I had my life to live over, that it would probably go the same way, I married early, raised my children, and worked to pay bills, I never made it to collage, something that I would have done differently, but I'm sure that I'd still be on this same track, I've been a procrastinator my whole life, I really do enjoy painting, but I also have so many other things I enjoy, so I'm going to work with some porcelain, maybe throw some pots, I really want to do some more oils, and I really need to get rid of some stuff in my house so that I have room to do some of those things. So, I may do a blog and show you the things I'm doing, I really do need to make some jewelry, and watercolor is my main love at this time, but so much to do that I need to take a break, I will do some posts, but not everyday, maybe a couple times a week.

Ok, now, the painting, this painting is on watercolor paper, approximately 1/4 sheet of Hot pressed 140 lb. paper. I started this last week, but couldn't get it finished until today, I made quite a bit of progress on it during class, and then spent about an hour and fifteen min. to finish it tonight. In the photo, the water was almost still, the reflections were like a mirror, so in my painting, I decided to make some changes to the water, I contemplated putting a duck or a goose or a swan in, and then decided to just leave it, maybe it would have been too cute, well, I am tired, and I have to get ready for my Sturgis class tomorrow, so I'm going to get to bed earlier tonight, hopefully. I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #350 - Jan 9 - It is a good painting day

I didn't get started with this until a little after 9:00 p.m., but, it went really well, I decided to paint on 8" x 10" Aquabord, like I said, it went fairly quickly for this size painting, only 3 hours invested, and that includes sorting through the pictures to figure out which one inspired me. I've painted this picture a couple of times before, and even though the scene is similar, they all look a bit differently. I'm going to be short with this one, I do believe after reading so many of my blogs, that you know how I progress, it's the same old way, pretty much top to bottom, or far to close, which ever way you think of it. I do work in some layers, and this one has them too, fine tuning is last which is the very close foreground, and the tree branches, I couldn't get the colors to show up correctly, so this is the closest that I could get, I'ts pretty colorful, and the picture I took with the flash, was all washed out, this one, however, isn't quite as colorful as the original, but better than washed out. I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #349 - Jan 8 - An inspired day

Today started out very busy, family coming for dinner, I didn't manage to get the dinner rolls made until this morning, well, I should have made them yesterday, I really got behind the eight ball with that one, the dinner didn't get eaten until well after 2:00 p.m., I usually try to get the dinner done by 1:00 but really was late today, plus, I must be getting senile, I forgot to put the eggs in the brownies, boy, do they get ugly when they don't have eggs, I'm hoping to never do that again, I can only claim exhaustion from lack of sleep, lol.

I went to Michael's the other day, when I was there I purchased some cradled MDF, so I decided to get the acrylics out. My first inclination was to paint a very loose woman in a red dress, but when I was sketching the woman, I kind of put it too far to the left, so, I decided to put another figure in, well, they started to look like oriental women, so, that's what they became, I probably have the clothing all wrong, oh well, this is just a lark anyway, I don't usually do things from my head, well, we have a RED show going up in the Tibbits Gallery tomorrow, and I had to come up with something red, well, I did red pears yesterday, so today I decided to try this one, I do have a poinsettia that I'm really thinking about framing tomorrow, I have until 1:00 p.m., so I need to get at it early tomorrow, I enjoyed painting this little painting, and I hope you enjoy it too.

Painting #348 - another late night

I am sure getting tired of staying up so late, I really don't know if the blog painting is the problem or it's just me, I didn't get started on this painting until 9:30 p.m., which doesn't leave me much time to paint it. This one didn't really take long, except I painted it on claybord, and to get it smooth enough to suit me, I had to lay a bunch of water all over the pears to smooth it out, which took a long time to dry, I'm going to make this short, got to get to bed, tomorrow is a family day, my husband's brother and sister and their families are coming over for a Christmas gathering, we went away the day after Christmas so this was the first that we could schedule it for everyone, or rather, most of them, not sure if they will all be able to make it, we'll see, I have to get up rather early in the morning to get the bread made, and a salad or some mac and cheese, or something to go with the ham I have cooking. So, I like this little painting, and I hope you like it too.

Painting #347-1-2 & 3 - Very enthusiastic painting operation today

Well, you probably want to know why 3 paintings today, especially of the same thing. Well, I went shopping today, take a wild guess where, you don't know? I went to Michael's in Battle Creek, you know, that's a danger spot for me, I made the mistake of taking my daughter, I probably would have been ok with my Sister Mel (she went too), but my daughter went looking for art stuff, well, I already bought jewelry stuff, it was on sale, and I had been in the yarn department, a bad place for me to go, but I really meant to stay out of the art department, I already have way too much stuff at home, well, they had some clearance stuff, some little sets of oils, acrylics and watercolor, each one was only $1.99 (originally 9.99), and each set had little easels and 2" panels for painting, each one had 2 easels, the watercolor one had 3 2" panels for each of the 2 easels (very tiny), and 6 tubes of paint and a small brush, well, the brush isn't much, and that will probably go in my discard pile, but the other stuff I'll use in my small travel kit, any way, I thought I would see how those little panels painted up, so I got out the paint and I found this photo that I took almost 30 years ago, and decided to just do a little one to see how this little panel painted, then I thought, I'll see how this looks on the paper, and see the difference, well, then I decided to paint on the 4" x 4" Aquabord, I really got into it, I really got tired and it did take me a bit, after all that shopping and after dinner, to get myself going on the painting. I started these at 10:00 p.m. and finished them at 1:00, I know it's tomorrow, oh well, it was my today. I like all these little paintings and I hope you do too.

This is the 2" painting and the first one I painted.

This is the second one, the 4" x 4-3/4" one on paper.

And, last but not least, the 4" x 4" painting on Aquabord.

Painting #346 - Jan 5 - Back to the grind, 3 classes today, and I'm tired

I worked on a watercolor today in class, but it still has about 1/2 of it left to do, I just wasn't up to finishing it tonight, I've been eyeing some oil pastels that I've had for quite some time, so tonight, I decided to try working with them, I have never finished a painting with these, I've used them as a resist in some watercolors, but to do a whole painting with them, I just wasn't enthused about that. Well, I tried them, not sure about them, but have so many that I felt that I should try, I will investigate them a bit more, but this is what I have for today, I laid in the colors, then took a q-tip with turpentine on it and smoothed it out, then went back in with the sticks of color and laid in a bit more detail, I took a blending stump to get into the fine corners and up to the edges of the flower and leaves to make it smooth, it's not my usual, but not too bad, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #345 - Jan 4 - A busy day

I'm still knitting, but not as fiendishly, just a bit, but in addition to that, I drove my paintings in to the Three Rivers Carnegie Center for the Arts, they are having their annual art competition, and this is the first year that Hillsdale as been included, of course it was because I asked them to consider including Hillsdale, we really don't have much going on in this county, Art wise, for competitions, so this will be a good thing. I also took my friend, Susan's work over, no need to have us both drive, I left my house at about 1:00 p.m. and didn't get home until 4:00 p.m., I really didn't sleep well last night and was hoping to get a small nap in, but that didn't happen, I also didn't manage to paint my blog painting before I went to Blue Moon tonight. So, this small little painting was a project that we all did, we were painting in the style of Modigliani, this is very strange for me, and not as easy as it looks like. I used my friend Carol as a model, she really doesn't have this long of a neck or face, nor does her nose look that long, this is just a hoot, we all had fun, she did me, and Sue did Bev and Bev did Sue, so, we are thinking that as much fun as we all had doing this, that we might do something similar again, like maybe pick a different artist to emulate, since we didn't copy his actual work, it is ok, I think, we just tried to get a similar effect. I think this was fun, and I was trying to do another one for the blog, but, since I'm on the short side of sleep today, and I have classes tomorrow, I believe this is the painting that you get, I'm going to matt this up and give it to my friend Carol, and I think she will do that too, Bev already gave Sue hers, which by the way, was awesome, I really should have taken pictures of all of them, except Sue can't make up her mind, she's still working on hers, and so is Carol (working on her picture of me, which is really looking awesome too), maybe we can get a picture of all of them when they are all done. I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #344 - Jan 3 - Nice painting day, even if it was cold out.

The day started out slow, only one student again (the afternoon class was a bit larger with 3), but JoAnn and I paint well together, she, doing something experimental and I, doing my usual, the landscape (at least this time).

I had started this one (along with another one that I started wet in wet, of the same scene), several weeks ago, I only had the first layer on, well, you do need to finish some of those starts sometime. I thought even if I mess it up, I still had another one that I could work on. This little painting is painted on some print paper, it's not quite as heavy as hot press, but it worked out ok, it's a bit larger than I've been painting lately, probably why I drug my feet getting it finished.

I didn't like the sky, it was too dark, so I lightened it up, that helped, then I worked on the background trees, after that, I worked on the grasses, I really saw purple in there, so why not. After that I finished the water, as the water looked almost brown, with some orange and green thrown in, I decided to skim it with a bit of blue just to interrupt the static quality of it. Then I worked up the foreground trees, I really like this little painting, and I hope you do too.

Painting #343 - Jan 2 - It's tomorrow again

I did start this a bit earlier, but was interrupted by fixing supper, then I always get tired after I eat, and I have a hard time getting back to work, even though I was really making good progress, but it took me an hour to get back to it, then I had some drying issues, all of which I knitted in between, that could be the reason that this is so late, I do get wrapped up in the knitting. Anyway, I only have about 2-1/2 hours in this one, the last hour was the swan dish, that, of course, was the major detail, but, I think it turned out pretty good. This is painted on 300 lb paper, it's about 5" x 7", not large but an ok size. I wet each item and then laid the color in, wet-in-wet, of course, they were done one at a time, until I put the details on, I like this little painting, and I hope you do too.

Painting #342 - Jan 1 2012 - Happy New Year everyone

Happy New Year, I'm so happy to be here and painting, still. When I started this project, it seemed like a long way away, now it's so close, 23 days, woo hoo! I'm still debating how much I plan on doing after the 365 days are up, I want to paint, that's been my main objective, but I don't believe I will complete one every day, I may be able to complete one in a day, but it will be for a different reason, I have lots that I want to do, but that also includes things that are not painting, but art related, I also have stuff that has to be sorted and gotten rid of, so that is another thing that I need to do, I still have almost all of the stuff in this house, upstairs and down, that we stored from my Mother's, after she passed away, I really need to get that stuff out of here, I'd like to clean out the basement so I can set up my ceramic studio, I have 2 potters wheels that I've never been able to use, I need to get the stuff out of the way and electrical outlets put in, and lighting, I also have a bead torch, and I do make jewelry, my hand made bead collection is so low, I've been using stuff from the store, not as interesting, and my jewelry supply is getting really low at the Gallery, that is my main money maker at the gallery.

I decided to use this photo, it's one that my Mother took, in Pennsylvania, obviously of the Amish, the photo was taken from the car, and the figures are so small, I really couldn't get much detail out of it, so this is the best I could do, I would like some of those Amish pictures, but I'm not brave enough to boldly take pictures of them when I know they don't like it, so I don't, I have taken pictures of their fields after the wheat has been stacked, and, as you will recall, the buggy's going up the hill, otherwise, I don't have the nerve.

This is on 4" x 4" Aquabord, I decided that since I couldn't see the detail, it was best to go small, the sky was laid in, sky blue at the top and cobalt violet at the horizon, then I went in and muddled some white in for a cloudy effect, there were no clouds but with the sky being that large I had to do something, then, while it was still wet, I laid in the very far away light horizon, then the trees and finally the field and foreground, I put the roofs of the barns in, so I'd know where to lay in the white for the buildings, I let that dry before I worked up the barns and background trees, then the field, I did the horses and figures on the equipment last, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.