Painting #305 - Nov 25 - I did not shop on Black Friday

This is the best day to stay home, I never shop on Black Friday, the shopping was done yesterday, and it wasn't too busy, of course, it was right at the time for dinner, and most people were having theirs, and we were late to my daughters, but, all's well that ends well, the dinner was great and went really well, we stayed until 5:00 and I'm sure she was whipped, but I really do think she's a glutton for punishment, she let my other grandson, Derek, stay for the night, and those two boys were wound up like eight day clocks, and full of pie, I can think of a lot of things I'd rather do than keep 2 hyper 11 and 13 year old boys (Ryan is her only child and he's the 11 year old). She must have survived, she came over about 11:00 a.m. today, I gave her a perm, it took about 3-1/2 hours, she has long hair, the major part is rolling it up on the rollers.

Well, then I tried to paint and couldn't get into it. I took a break, took a short nap, cooked supper, washed dishes, watched some TV and then painted. I have about an hour and a half in this one, I took this photo over 25 years ago, and this barn is no longer there, of course, you can see it must have fallen down, you can see right through it. The sky was really light against the darkness of the barn, it was dusk, and the sky was slightly pink, well, it was pretty boring the way it really was, so I ramped up the colors, and lightened the barn a bit, then it was fairly quick, I really like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #304 - Nov 24 - Thanksgiving - wonderful day

Well, I had a lovely Thanksgiving, I didn't have to cook, my daughter invited us over for dinner and cooked enough food for an army, plus, I got a wonderful new buffet crockpot that cooks three different things, I've wanted one for over a year and we just got one today, I'm planning on using it for Saturday, another family gathering and the last of the Thanksgiving meals, then we are good until Christmas, then I can use it again.

Well, today's painting is that winter scene that I started on Tuesday, and worked on yesterday at the Gallery, I really didn't get much time to work on this, only about an hour and a half, I really had to finish the trees and the road, and fine tune the snow and bridge area, I think this painting works now, so I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #303 - Nov 23 - another floral

Today's painting is the demo painting I was working on for my last Months Sturgis class, we worked on it in class and I was showing them how to work it up to a finished painting, I probably had about 2-1/2 or so hours in it before I started working on it today. I was going to finish the landscape that I had started yesterday, but, the floral was what caught my eye and the brush wouldn't let me change venue's, so, I finished this one first, I did work on the landscape but it's not finished yet, I will try to get it finished tomorrow.

Of course, tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I have to bake some pies tonight, I will be heading to the store as soon as this is finished, I had the request for pumpkin and I evidently forgot to pick up a can. I have all kinds of other pies, and I will probably fix one but, the pumpkin is a Thanksgiving staple, and I can't believe that I forgot to pick it up.

I really re-did the background, it was too flat, so I gave it another layer of paint then I splattered, I splattered with the blue and then I splattered with water, then it was too picky, so I smoothed out one section, the section at the top, now it makes me happier. I really put the detail in the flowers, they were flat when I started and the leaves were flat, and dull, so I darkened them up and since I had laid in the green before, I didn't want it that dark, so I added some opaque to the tips of a couple of the leaves and the sides of the stems. I really like this painting (I would say little but, it's a 1/4 sheet of watercolor paper, this is painted translucently, with the exception of the tips of the leaves and the stems), and I hope you like it too.

Painting #302 - Nov 22 - very tired today, back to my old habits

Well, my cousins left and I got home from work and didn't get right after my painting, now, here it is late again, and I'm exhausted, so this will be a short one, I originally started a snow scene but I wasn't up to finishing it tonight, maybe tomorrow, so I went with the old stand by, flowers. I added the blue flowers to accent the yellow and orange of the yellow flowers, then I put in some foliage and did some negative painting. I like this little painting, and I hope you do too.

Painting #301 - Nov 21 - Well, I did accomplish something today

I certainly got a lot done today, but not as much as I thought I would, but do you ever get all the things done that you plan? Never, I say, well, at lease I did get my blog painting done before midnight again today. I have classes tomorrow so I'd like to get to bed at a semi descent hour, my cousins are still here, and that I got the paintings done and the cooking and all, is amazing, well, usually I do better when someone is watching me, I think its because I can't procrastinate as much, I am the worlds best procrastinator, this week is going to be tough to get anything done, Thanksgiving Thursday, and we have grandchildren all week, starting tomorrow, sometimes that puts me off, then my Sandy (daughter), wants a perm on Friday, she has long hair and that really takes a long time, and we have Hubby's family Thanksgiving on Saturday, and Sunday is my Husbands day, so it won't be much of an extra painting day, I'd really like to get after that portrait of my nephew and neice that my Sister-in-law wants me to paint, we are planning on going to Minnesota again the week after Christmas, and I'd like to take it with me, so I really need to get painting on that.

Today's painting was a challenge, the back lighting was kind of tricky and the sun shinning through the trees, but now that it's done, I'm happy with the way it looks. I painted it while my cousin Sandy was watching (well, she was reading part time too), so, I guess I'm going to make this short tonight, can't get my fingers around this machine today, so I think you already know how I produce these paintings, so I'm just going to close this for now, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #300 - Nov 20 - Whew! made 300 - and we even had company for dinner today.

Here it is only 8:00 p.m. and my painting is finished, I can't believe that I actually got it done already. I started it this morning while I was waiting for other stuff to get cooked, I had it about 3/4 done before anyone even got here, so I'm very happy about that, I'd like to keep this practice up, I'm going to try.

This is the autumn landscape that I thought about doing last Tuesday, well, I think it's been enough time now that I could do it. I really liked the colors of this one, so that's the one I chose.

The sky is very small here so it went quickly, then I charged in with the yellow and orange, I mixed a bit of red in and then added a bit of Jauan Brilliant to knock it down to a dull pink, then the green, then the water reflection, once the reflection was right (now remember this is just the underpainting), I put in the blue, green and so on for the lower water area. then the banks. That had to dry before I started the leaf detail, then it's pretty much just adding more leaves of different values and the tree trunks, then I really brought up the water detail since I had to overlap the leaves, then I put the rocks in, and fine tuned it with more leaves, and ta da! It's a painting, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.

Painting #299 - Nov 19 - Almost there, only 66 more to go

I'm short timing it, I've been thinking of what I'll do when the year is over, I doubt that I will obligate myself to painting one a day, I'm feeling the strain of this obligation, not that I'm unhappy with the painting, I'm just feeling the pressure of having to do it, sometimes I'm lazy (and that's why I decided to do this), I've really neglected my other things I do, like knitting, and the jewelry, I haven't made any jewelry for almost a year, and my supplies at the Gallery are really getting low. But, aside from that, I want to do something, I'm thinking that I'll (maybe), paint everyday, but not to finish one, but maybe just show you the progress each day, then show you the completed piece, hopefully one a week, that way I can work on larger pieces and enter some competitions, I don't think these small paintings would make a very big impact on a competition, so, that's the game plan at this point, I have so many paintings that need finished, so, I think I might start with those, I do have a show coming up in August of 2012, so I must work toward that, and I'll be thinking about the one that I have scheduled for 2013 at Pierce Cedar Creek, I will be doing a big bunch of Michigan Landscapes and flowers, so, I do have my work cut out for me, I must paint, so paint I will.

This painting is from the Rawson's King Mill, it was taken during the paint out we did a few weeks ago. We were packing the car up and noticed this little lane and this row of trees, I really liked the main one there in the foreground, so this was my choice today, I cleaned all morning and half the afternoon (my cousin and I are chatting just now), kind of whipped, but I made it, I did get this started just about the time they got here, so I finished it about quarter to ll:00 and I'm going to make this short, we are having a dinner tomorrow for our Thanksgiving with my cousin and my family, maybe we'll have Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving too, who knows who will be here, any way, I'm tired and I think I'll head to bed, I like this little painting and I hope you do too.