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.