New painting - Shimmering Falls finished 3/29/12

Well, even though I have been negligent posting, I have been painting, not as much as I should, since I'm really behind now, but I think I'm changing my approach, now, instead of putting my paintings out as I'm working on it, I've decided to post all levels of each painting when it's all finished, that way, when I link it to Facebook, those who view my work will see the finished piece and then can go to this blog to see the steps, I believe this will be a better approach for me. I still haven't finished the very first painting that I started, so much stuff came up that interrupted my train of thought, and now I'm at a stand still, I see it, it's sitting on the easel and staring at me, but I got diverted when I had the poster to work on, then I was sick, and I found a 16" x 20" Aquabord, and got excited about painting on that surface (that's the next finished painting, I only have a little bit more to do on that one.

Today's painting is is watercolor and gouache, the surface is High Plate Illustration board. I started this one yesterday about 1:30 in the afternoon (I worked the gallery), before I started painting, I took blue painters masking tape and taped all around the edges, the reason for this is to keep the water from separating the sheets of paper making up this surface. I did a rough sketch, then started with the sky, I wanted it to be fairly light so I had quite a bit of water with the blue, then I mixed some brown in the blue to make the light gray for the clouds, and to attempt to make the clouds show up a bit more, I put a bit of opaque white on the tope edge. I then started with the rocks at the left and moved across to the trees at the top, this surface is really absorbent, so it really didn't take long for the paint to sink in enough to keep it from moving together. then the rocks across the middle, I mixed blue, brown, yellow ochre and blue, painting and changing colors as I moved, toward the bottom of the rocks, I added some purple in to cool them down, as I worked the rocks, I kept changing the colors and adding some opaques to add texture, once I got the rocks laid in, I laid a wash of cerulean blue with some prussian blue added for a bit darker blue under the rocks, the first was was very simple.

Then, I started at the top and refined the tree area, I put some blue at the top edge of the trees to indicate farther away, and switched back and forth from green to yellow ochre and back to green, and some blues, I scratched into the tree color to indicate pine trees and some other tree trunks, I really worked up the rocks, adding some burnt sienna and some permanent magenta with the browns and blues and yellow ochre, when that was done, I worked on the foreground rock ledge where the water is cascading, I really laid in the darks, skipping spaces for the water to flow down. It's difficult to explain the layers, I really think you'd have to watch me to see how I work, I really work all over the rocks and the water at this last stage, I felt that the direction of the rocks and the movement of the water were the important part of this composition, I really enjoyed how the paint worked, and how I could really jump into the details fairly fast, of course, you realize that I am not a wimpy painter, I like strong contrast and I really love making the water move, this very last stage is when I jump into the opaques, I started with white, and added some blue in some areas and some green shade in some areas and that's the way it goes, I really like this painting, I think this piece is about the size of a 1/4 sheet, maybe slightly larger, I really enjoyed painting this, I'm unsure exactly where this is. but. I'm thinking it's one of the falls that is on the Black River in the U.P., I really enjoyed this painting and I hope you do too.

The above is the finished, below follow the first through the 4th stages, I just wanted you to see the finish first.

Poster is finished

This is the poster I did for Nympy Errant, a Tibbits show this summer, I got kind of wrapped up with that, and didn't get to finish the painting yet, then I got sick with such a terrible cold and am just now feeling like doing anything.    I did finish  another one, one you didn't get to see the start of since I was trying to finish the other one first, but since this one is finished, you now get a look.  I will be posting the finish on the other one soon.   So, I've started another painting on Aquabord, this one is much smaller than the other one, but still larger than the small ones I did for my blog last year, I hope you will keep looking, I really feel bad about not posting for so long, so I'm back, and will be doing a much better job of  keeping up with this now, I am a bit behind and will try to catch up, it might be a bit tricky since there is so much going on this spring and summer, but I will try.  Thanks for keeping an eye on this blog.

Part II - painting #1 - week 2 - almost there

I didn't have much opportunity to paint on this particular painting until today, I worked the Gallery today and managed to get about 3-1/2 hours of solid painting time. I really feel that the trees are done, I like the way they turned out. I wasn't sure how I was going to approach the pine trees, I really didn't want to paint all those needles, and my silly brain still wants to put all that information in, I don't know why, I just can't infer it, I must put those needles in, but I found a mini fan brush that really worked for me, I used the gouache again, I think I'm stuck on that, can't seem to make myself go back to the transparent watercolors completely, I did use them on this, but those opaques really call my name. Any way, I finished the trees, then I worked on the middle ground water a bit, and the rocks, I do need to work on the right hand corner more, and I do need to finish the drift wood that is piled up on the rocks,I think I can finish this one soon, I'm going to try to finish it on Friday, that is if they don't press me to work on that poster for Tibbits, I really thought that I'd hear from them my now, but, no, they haven't made an attempt to contact me yet, hopefully I'll find out something soon, well, I'm signing off, I hope you can see the difference on this, I think it's getting much better.

busy week

I don't have a picture for you, I still haven't been able to finish this painting I started, I haven't really been able to paint on it, I got a new student in class last Tuesday and I wasn't able to paint on a regular painting. I've been trying to get the knitting to a point, I did manage to get the scarfs done, now the socks, Wed Chris from the Tibbits called me and talked me into working up a design for a poster, I had to mull that around for a week before I could come up with something that I liked, now just waiting to see if they like one of the 6 that I designed, then I'll have to paint that, I'm going to try to finish the painting, if not tonight when I get home, then tomorrow at the Gallery, I am scheduled to work all day tomorrow, so I might be able to get it done before class. Sorry that I don't have anything to show, but keep looking, I will be finishing this soon and then on to the next. Hope you have a great day.

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