ArtByCrain

Stalled Out

2012-01-25T14:54:00.000-08:00

This past month has not been productive for me at all. I have ideas but seem to lack the motivation to carry them out. This is different than artist's block. It's something else. What, I don't know. Sometimes I never know what is getting in my way until after it passes. Then I look back and wonder why I didn't see the problem before.

Yesterday I did finally pick up a brush and do a quick floral in hopes it would get my artistic juices flowing again. Maybe I should consider doing a painting a day. Just something simple to jump start myself. Maybe I will continue to paint foxgloves until I feel I have mastered them or until I get tired of painting foxgloves.

Idea for a Series ~ Fish Outta Water

2012-01-07T13:22:00.000-08:00

I mentioned a few years back I'd like to try painting fish but never followed through. I couldn't find the right fish, I guess. Recently the idea for a series titled, 'Fish Outta Water' has been rolling around in my head and this is a rough sketch of the first possible installment. I doubt it needs explaining but just in case, it's a large school of fish acting as the leaves of a tree. I scribbled(and I do mean scribbled) the cat in last minute. The comp seemed to need another element and cats do love their fish. My current plan is to have fish show up in various out of water and hopefully unexpected places though not literally, of course. :D

HAPPY 2012!

2011-12-31T17:44:00.000-08:00

Another year has come and gone and my(!) how fast it flew by. It seems the older I get, the quicker time goes. We now have another brand new year to make of it what we will. This past year has been a mixed bag for me as I'm sure it has for everyone. Good times, bad times. That's life, I guess. In terms of my art life it has been the best year yet with more sales at the gallery than I've ever had and I've enjoyed trying new painting techniques and products. I'm also thrilled to see I have more followers on my blog. It's you, my followers, my visitors and those that take the time to comment that help keep me going. Thank you for a wonderful 2011 and I wish you all the very best for 2012.

Christmas Doodles

2011-12-19T14:14:00.000-08:00

I am in such a funk this holiday season it's ridiculous. I realized I'd produced nothing of creative value in weeks so I got out a drawing pad and an array of pencils and have kept them next to me on the sofa. When I get in these moods I tend to spend way too much time in front of the TV so I figured why not keep some art supplies handy and doodle while staring at the idiot box. It worked. Santa cat and his sleigh pulled by a team of house mice was the result. I'm not sure I will develop this any further. I don't plan to create Xmas cards again this year and it's really too late anyway. Maybe next year. Something that I've noticed...people will buy Xmas cards at the gallery during the summer months so I may put paint to this idea and offer cards later in the year.

Scanner Art

2011-12-02T18:52:00.000-08:00

In this image I applied the red eye filter, adjusting the level until I liked the results.

For this effect I moved the poppy while the scanner was running. I think it looks like little red tetras swimming in the black water of a Peruvian lake.

Here I've applied the 'twirl' filter to the image below.

The same silk flower/bud with decorative paper as a backdrop.

My silk flower simply scanned on the scanning bed w/o editing.

While watching a DIY show today I saw the host create some very cool scanner art as decorative wall art. Scanner art aka scanography isn't anything new but the creative possibilities are practically limitless. I will assume most people that own a computer also have a flatbed scanner so why not experiment with it? For the record, I used my Epson Artisan 725.

I used a silk poppy with an attached bud and some art paper I had on hand to see if I could come up with anything worth posting. I did several scans of the poppy and bud sandwiched between the top of the scanner and the bed, with the art paper as a backdrop and even did a few scans while moving my poppy across the scanner as it was running. For some of my scans I played with the resulting images in my photo editor to get further effects. I did not bother to use a black cloth to cut off all incoming room light but that is a common method used by many scanographers.

Some interesting links regarding scanography:

Tim Fleming~What is scanner art?

Tim Fleming blog

Scanography

Ladies on a Park Bench #I

2011-12-01T14:59:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone of my visitors that celebrate Thanksgiving had a great holiday. Mine was kind of weird this year and Christmas looks like it's stacking up to be the same. I did finally get one version of my 'Ladies on a Park Bench' finished, though.

After tranferring my drawing onto 90# Fabriano CP w/c paper and saving the areas I wanted left white with Pebeo drawing gum (love that stuff) I applied a thin wash of walnut ink over all. I then added more ink at the ladies' feet, base of the bench and dog to ground the whole scene a bit. I used subsequent washes of ink on the bench and was very happy to see the darker tones and richness of color my homemade walnut ink produced. I had some real fun painting the hair, jewelry, etc. with my Jacquard Lumiere metallic acrylics. When all the painting was completed I went over all my lines with an 05 Micron pen. The ladies needed some blush on their cheeks and lips so I mixed up a concoction of red and orange soft pastel and applied that with a Q-tip. Voila!

Playing with Lines ~ Ladies on a Park Bench

2011-11-22T10:16:00.000-08:00

The line portion of my Ladies on a Park Bench(my working title) is complete. I drew and re-drew these ladies so many times I hope I haven't lost that wonderful sense of spontaneity the original ball point pen sketches possessed. I went over the entire drawing with a 05 Micron pen and the finished drawing is approx. 14" x 9". There's a few glitches in some of the perspective( one of my weaker points)but overall I'm happy with the results. I now have my master drawing which I can enlarge, reduce, add background (or not) and tweak however I wish. I plan to try a few variations with different mediums, styles, etc. using my drawing to see what works and what doesn't.

Playing with Lines ~ continued

2011-11-19T09:54:00.000-08:00

After umpteen tries I think I've hit the mark with my center subject. I created a little panorama to see how well they relate to each other. It works for me!

When rendering human facial expressions I'm certainly in unfamiliar waters. In fact anything gestural human-wise is new to me when translating it to paper. Fortunately being a human myself I have a handy model that works for cheap...me. For some reason I have had a devil of a time producing a satisfactory lady for the center of this comp. I think I've finally found her, though. I've also set a challenge for myself. I will not look at any reference photos while I put this one together. I want to see if I can complete this strictly from my own imagination, common sense and whatever else I can muster.

Playing with Lines

2011-11-18T12:52:00.000-08:00

Don't you love the friend that enjoys talking in your ear while you are engrossed in a good book? I know...me too!

Here one gal is reading her paperback book and is in the habit of rolling half of the book while reading the pages on the other half. I'm not sure who I've seen do this but as I was drawing it popped into my head so I went with it.

I confess...I don't do much sketching. I don't even own a sketch book. However I realized how much I enjoyed doing the nude in my previous post. All done very impromptu and without a reference I somehow managed to keep her in proportion and her position make sense. I kinda surprised myself actually. I began doodling today with a ballpoint pen all the while trying to recall three older ladies I saw sharing a park bench this past summer. They looked like they could've been sisters and at the time I so wished I'd had my camera with me. I did try to recreate them in a line drawing but the middle sister turned out looking a bit like Marilyn Manson so I cut her out of the picture. Can't win em all, I guess and two outta three ain't bad. Seriously, I do plan to pursue this type of line drawing with my walnut ink and see where it leads me.

Black Walnut Nude

2011-11-15T17:22:00.000-08:00

I've never done figure work, especially a nude but tonight I was in the mood to break out and see what I could create. This is my result and I like it! Done from imagination, the majority of the painting is walnut ink, the black outline is Inktense pencil and the color is SMi soft pastel.

Homemade Black Walnut Ink ~ Completed

2011-11-11T11:15:00.000-08:00

To give an idea of the color I've used my ink on a scrap of 140# watercolor paper to achieve an aged effect by toning the paper and applying a heavier wash around the deckle edge. I'm very happy with the results and find this ink very easy to work with. I did a small still life of an acorn and oak leaf last night but it was too rushed so I plan to re-do it before posting.

The finished ink waiting for a drop or two of clove oil to help preserve it. I will also have to cover the jars to block out any light or replace with tinted glass containers. Walnut ink should be protected from direct light.

I decided to go with coffee filters to strain my ink. I felt the filters would do the best job removing any unwanted sediment. Once the liquid was strained from the husks it still contained a lot of 'sludge' so I left it to drain all night to get every bit of useable ink possible.

Mold forming on the top of the ink. It didn't show up until 3 weeks into the steeping process and was easily removed.
***

My ink is finally ready for it's debut. I let it steep for a little over a month, scraping mold from only one jar twice. The second jar of ink did not produce any mold at all. I noticed no foul smell during the process from either jar. The ink has maintained it's original earthy aroma which is ok by me and the resulting ink is a beautiful warm shade of sepia.

After separating the husks from the liquid I wound up with barely two cups of finished ink. My steeping jars held slightly less than a quart each and the husks took up half the space in each jar to give a rough idea of what amount of ink can be expected. In hindsight I wish I had put the removed husks in cheesecloth and wrung out more liquid. Instead I arranged them on newspaper and paper towel to drain, then double bagged them in ziploc baggies and put them in the freezer for storage. I hope to thaw them at a later date and see if I can make more ink using these same husks.

Homemade Black Walnut Ink (continued)

2011-10-10T13:07:00.000-07:00

The waiting begins. My ink may be ready to strain by Halloween, possibly the week after.

Boiled husks with liquid.

Rusty old screws and washers to produce that iron tannate in the ink.

Clean jars waiting to be filled, rubber gloves handy.

A boiling pot of walnut husks. The aroma is a not unpleasant earthly scent. I'm sure my house will smell of hot walnut husks for days to come.

The task of boiling the walnut husks and pouring the resultant 'soup' into my jars wasn't nearly as messy as I had feared. I did have a small boil over so I cut the heat back and let the husks simmer for 30 minutes..an extra 10 mins. for good measure. I sacrificed an old teflon pot for the cause, also a wooden spoon which came in handy to prevent another boil over. I then used a small coffee cup as a ladle to get my soup from pot to jar. Paper towels are another thing I'd recommend having handy for splashes and spills.

I wanted to understand the part rust plays in the ink making process so I began another online search. Rusted iron combines with the tannins in the husks to produce iron tannate which is black. As walnut ink is a sepia color I understood this to mean it will create more depth of color. I also found more recipes for walnut ink, some producing faster results than the instructions I've posted but requiring more cook time. Some recipes called for an all day(or longer) boil. Some called for skipping the shelling process and boiling the whole nut, husk and all. I'll post links to a few walnut ink making instructions I found interesting:

Walnut Ink Instructions 2

Walnut Ink Instructions 3

Homemade Black Walnut Ink ~ Instructions

2011-10-09T14:05:00.001-07:00

When one of the members of my garden forum posted a photo of his black walnut harvest in progress I thought it would be fun to try making my own walnut ink and instructions online are not difficult to find. At my request this member kindly sent me a gallon size ziploc full of black walnut husks. He had already completed the really hard and messy job of removing the nuts from their husks(walnut husks are terribly staining). When the husks arrived some were still green so I set them out on my deck in the sun on newspaper to thoroughly dry and finish turning black. If you're interested in trying this squirrels can do the husking for you! As I understand it, squirrels will husk the nuts and store only the nutmeats in their shells leaving those precious husks under the tree, free for the taking.

Ingredients:

1.) Black walnut husks

2.) Gloves!

3.) Two glass jars

4.) Some rusty nails or other rusty material that will fit in your jars.

5.) Fine mesh cheesecloth or muslin.

6.) A cookpot to boil the husks.

7.) Clove oil (can be purchased from a pharmacy).

__________________________________________

Instructions:

Step 1) Procure your husks. You need only the outer husks, not the shells or the nuts themselves. If you are doing your own shelling wear gloves...please!

Step 2) You will need a few rusty nails or other rusty material that will fit in your jar. This will help cause a chemical reaction in the ink making process.

Step 3) Crunch the husks as best as you can. I plan to do this step by putting the husks in a clean ziploc and tapping the bag gently with a hammer or meat mallet. Put them in a pan with an equal amount of water (a good guess here is fine) and boil them for about 20 minutes, just long enough for them to start to break down. Let them cool a bit.

Step 4) Put your 'yummy stuff' in a glass jar with a couple of rusty pieces of iron and seal it up. Glass is inert and wont add anything to your mix, unlike some plastics and other metals. Now the waiting begins. This lovely stuff needs to ferment. Open it in a week (oh, you should do that outside. It’s stinky.) and scrape off the mold. Close it back up again and let it sit. Do this for another 4 weeks.

Step 5) Now you strain it. A piece of fine meshed cheese cloth(or several layers of regular cheesecloth), or muslin works great for this. Cut a piece off and with a rubber band put it over the top of another jar (recycled mayonnaise or pickle jars work great for this. I'll be using spaghetti sauce jars.) Push it in a bit with your finger to make a little depression or bowl. Slowly pour in your mix, scraping off the husks and depositing them in another bowl. You can use them twice, so go ahead and keep them!

Step 6) The best storage for your ink is something that doesn’t let in light. Ceramic or naturally tinted glass is great. UV light will break down the plant material in your ink. As a preservative, add some clove oil, just a couple of drops, and your ink will last for over a year. It should be a shade of brown. Let it sit out in the air to evaporate the water to get a darker shade, or add water to get a lighter shade. It makes a fairly permanent stain on paper, and is great for drawing or calligraphy. The same stuff can be used to dye fabric.

I just got my supplies together today so my results won't be ready for another 1 1/2 -2 months. I will be posting updates on my progress.

Source: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/237375_how-to-make-walnut-ink

Daisytown Peepers ~ WIP 2

2011-10-07T11:30:00.000-07:00

Since last post I completed the fourth frog and the centers of the flowers. When I started painting the petals I ran into a snag. Arches hotpress paper ain't what it used to be and I knew this when I began the painting. Foolishly I thought I could work around it and I still can but it will take longer than expected. The surface of this paper roughs up very easily when removing frisket film or masking fluid and no matter how careful I am I'm left with trouble. All the other elements of the painting were easily handled but the petals must be as smooth and pristine as possible and that's not going to happen with any water based or 'juicy' medium. I'll have to resort to heavy body acrylic and probably more than one coat to get the job done right. I will be working on this one here and there as my patience dictates but for now I'm moving on to something that hopefully will go much faster. I will post the final painting when it's complete.

Daisytown Peepers

2011-10-02T13:45:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd post a quick update to keep things moving and to plug a product. Today I took a couple of closeups of my Daisytown frogs. I'm using a new(new to me)product, Lumiere by Jacquard. Lumiere is a light body acrylic paint similar to fluid acrylics although this paint offers more application options. Here I've used it as watercolor, applying it undiluted over a damp glaze of DS green gold and DR Vivid green. The color I chose was Halo Blue Gold, a mixture of pearlescent blue, green and metallic gold. I love metallics but I know how easy it is to over-do them. In this case they worked perfectly to make these frogs stand out. The gold shimmer makes these peepers look wet and sun kissed.

Daisytown Peeper Quartet ~ WIP 1

2011-09-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

Apologies to all my visitors for the gap in updates. I've had some health problems this month and haven't felt like picking up a brush. I finally decided I needed to get off my duff and get to work so I started with this project.

I first protected the subjects with frisket film, then poured the background paint which consisted of DS Pyrrol red, DR Quin. gold and WN Quin. red. This painting is a full sheet so the pouring was done in my bathtub over a period of two days. Note: It was kind of disconcerting to see dried splashes and smears of red in the tub. I'm sure if someone had been visiting and saw that they would've feared the worst. LOL

I removed the frisket from the stems and the leaf, then started with a glaze of DS green gold followed by DS Perylene green. The current plan is to complete the frogs next, then the centers of the blooms and finally the petals. I have some cleanup work to do on those petals as I had some leaking under the frisket film during the pours. I will most likely use some white gouache to correct that.

Donny ~ Complete

2011-09-09T15:23:00.000-07:00

SOLD

Better photo, colors/values more true to life. Donny has also been slightly revised. Marcia told me the dark area on the left side of his face by his whiskers was more than likely a tear stain, common in Persians because of their tear duct issues and particularly apparent on the white haired of the breed.

I just completed Donny. I added a little soft pastel to his body fur and white gouache to his tail to give it that feathery fur look. I used primarily DS Moonglow, DS Indigo and warm sepia throughout the painting. The only exceptions were a bit of cerulean blue and FUB for his eyes and permanent rose for his tongue and one ear. I'm very pleased I went with the pedestal. Donny has a habit of perching on top of hampers, trash bins, etc. The Greek pedestal will bring him up in the world in other ways.

I created a panorama of Marcia's three furbabies so I could see what they will look like hanging together. Umm...not bad. Donny does stand out, though!

Donny ~ WIP 1

2011-09-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

Quick update. Apologies for the weird angle. I took the shot while the painting was still on the easel. I really love the Greek pedestal. Donny is lookin' pretty darn regal sitting there. Maybe Marcia will have to change his name from Donny to Adonis? Sorry..I couldn't resist.

Donny ~ Sketch

2011-08-31T16:44:00.001-07:00

Donny is one of three cats belonging to Marcia Van Osten who is another crazy cat lover like myself. He's a beautiful all white Persian with incredible blue eyes but like many white haired, blue-eyed cats Donny is deaf. It's an unfortunate but not uncommon genetic issue that many of these cats share. He lost his litter mate and best buddy, Marie to illness a few years ago and has since become Marcia's constant ankle hugger, bedmate, etc.

Marcia has been kind enough to let me use one of her many photos of Donny as reference. I chose a great shot of him perched atop his cat condo. He looks for all the world like he's sitting on a pedestal so I thought I would give Donny a proper pedestal. The detail work is patterned after the Greek Ionic style and I think it suits him purrfectly.

Daisytown Peeper Quartet ~ sketch

2011-08-23T14:54:00.000-07:00

I kinda like this palette so far. It's a smidgeon of Pyrrol red(poured) with Quin. red, Quin. gold and streaks of a green I mixed up applied with a brush. I glazed over the green with Quin. red to tone it down. I drew a little daisy with soft pastel on my trial sample to see how well the palette worked with my subject.

This is my current working title until something better comes to mind. I finally completed the sketch after adjusting the tall daisy on the right three times. At first it looked too imposing so I reduced the size of the flower. Too small.:( Then I enlarged it slightly and still too small. Wrong, wrong, wrong.}:( Spent all afternoon tweaking this flower until I felt it meshed with the rest of the composition only to find I had returned it to the original size! Apparently it just needed some refining. Oh well...I don't ordinarily work this large (full sheet) plus this is a compilation of five+ photos so I'm discovering all kinds of challenges I've never faced before.

At the moment the plan is to use Arches HP w/c paper for this project. I'll be saving the white daisies and frogs with frisket film and will probably be doing some pouring of paint unless I can find a really big brush. Hotpress can be so tricky to work with but frisket film works best on this surface. Even though the setting is in a garden I want to avoid using a lot of green this time so I've been experimenting with various reds. With the green frogs I want to be careful not to let it become Christmas-y looking, though.

Subconscious Painting

2011-08-15T14:01:00.000-07:00

Last night I felt compelled to work on something creative but nothing I had in the works interested me. I picked up a piece of scrap w/c paper, a cheap brush and some ink and simply began doodling. I added color with leftover watercolor paint on my palette. I vaguely remember thinking the results looked like some of Myrna Wacknov's work. It was then left to dry and forgotten about. A few hours later I looked again at my doodle and realized I had painted a self portrait of sorts. The pose I rendered was the exact position I was in while doodling...head cocked at an angle, side of chin propped on back of bent hand, expression the same. Oddly, I've always felt that my ears stick out but not to the degree that I had painted them...thank God. Wish I had those voluptuous lips, though.

In reviewing this event today it made me think of free association. Free association is a psychiatric tool that is attributed to Sigmund Freud and is commonly used by therapists to help their patients figure out what's happening on a subconscious level. The basic premise as put forth by Ludwig Börne, who(according to Wiki) influenced Freud's conclusions...'write down, without any falsification or hypocrisy, everything that comes into your head'. I've used this technique with my journaling to figure out what's bugging me when the cause was not obvious and have had great success with it. The premise as Freud worded it(according to Wiki)...'where there is a creative mind, Reason - so it seems to me - relaxes its watch upon the gates, and the ideas rush in pell-mell'. My next thought... so why not use it as a tool for artistic creativity? A way to break artist's block or to become a more personally expressive artist?

A further search turned up this site:

Theory of Subconscious Painting by Louise von Wrangell

"At a subconscious level we already know everything. Knowledge from the subconscious comes through the medium into the painting. The subconscious image interacts with the subconscious of the observer which enables each viewer to see his/her own painting in your painting." (an interesting theory to say the least)

In classical painting:

The act of creation begins with the object.
The observed object is transposed into the painting.
The artist is bound to reality by line and color.

In subconscious painting:

The act of creation begins randomly. The artist is free of reality.
The work is observed by the creator, and from that observation comes forth the subject of the painting.
The act of creation ends with the object.

***

Conclusion: Whether I agree with Ms. Von Wrangell's theories or not, I believe the use of free association can be an extremely useful tool to artists and their creative process.

Wildflowers ~ Complete

2011-08-09T14:58:00.000-07:00

I just completed this painting and I'm pretty happy with the results. I held myself in check for fear I would add too much or try to go for unneeded detail. After removing the drawing gum it was exciting to see the white Queen Anne's Lace come to life.

Thanks to one of the members on my garden forum I now know this plant is called Bladder campion. It's a very common wildflower in my area and I remember enjoying popping the bladders when I was a kid. They make a satisfying little *snap* when pinched, rather like bubble wrap.

Weeds or Wildflowers?

2011-08-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

My main subjects are the three Queen Anne's Lace blooms which I masked prior to painting with Pebeo drawing gum. I've yet to ID the little flowers also masked in the lower right corner. The two objects that look like large Q-tips are some field grasses I added to the bouquet for a vertical element. I want to keep the background loose and juicy to contrast with the tighter style of the main subjects.

It's the August blooming lull in my gardens so I went 'weed' picking. The weeds are blooming just fine through all the dry days and overly hot temps we've been experiencing this year while their more gentrified and hybridized cousins (that have received special treatment all summer long, I might add) are done for the season. What I came home with was a lovely bouquet more than suitable for a painting.

Even though everything I picked was very familiar to me by sight I did not know the proper names of most so I did an online search..'native weeds of Michigan', then 'native wildflowers of Michigan'. The same plants came up in both searches which begs the question...what distinguishes a weed from a wildflower?

I recall a quote I read somewhere in the past that stated, "A weed is a plant out of place." I discovered this quote didn't come from a gardener but from the lead character in a book by Jim Thompson titled, 'The Killer Inside Me'. The lead character is Lou Ford, a laid back, rather slow small town sheriff in Texas who is also a psychotic killer in his off hours. Haven't read the book but I did see the movie and it was chilling...but I digress.

On a happier note I also discovered a book written by Aliki, (author of 50 children's books) titled, 'A Weed is a Flower, The Life of George Washington Carver'.

Conclusion: Whether a plant is a weed or a flower lies in it's nature and in the eyes and mind of the beholder.

Sizing Up A Comp ~ Part 3

2011-08-05T13:21:00.000-07:00

The past few days I've been slooowly adding things to this composition. I compare prepping a comp for a full sheet painting to giving birth. Committing to a full sheet is a huge deal to me as all my supplies are precious. Wish that wasn't the case but it is. I want to take the utmost care in planning with the hope that the outcome will be a success and I will be rewarded with something of which I can be proud.

Taking my time and looking at each addition to see if it works in the overall scheme of things is crucial. The tall daisy on the right needed some tweaking. That long straight stem was too harsh and looked like the mast on a sailboat listing in the wind...with a flower on top. I softened the angle by curving it slightly. I also added another large daisy bloom in the lower left corner in hopes that would create depth. Surprisingly both large daisies look about the same size in the image even though one is over three inches wider than the other. Camera distortion maybe?

It has become obvious to me this will be a WIP for awhile so I'll probably start working on some other, smaller projects just to keep my brushes wet.

Sizing Up a Comp ~ part 2

2011-08-03T13:37:00.001-07:00

I've added another frog to the picture and put a blossom on the end of that big stem on the right. I took numerous photos of my own shasta daisies and will continue to refer to them when adding additional daisies. The way it's going this will turn out to be a full sheet when completed.

Conclusion: This project was taking too long, using up too much tracing paper and looks like a crazy quilt. I finally broke down and called our local print shop. Kwikie Print has become Village Graphics(not sure when that happened..I need to pay more attention when I'm in town) and they now offer more services including enlargement of drawings. My tracing paper quilting days are over!

Sizing Up A Composition

2011-07-31T14:13:00.000-07:00

I've got a new piece brewing already. One of the members of my Michigan garden forum posted photos of tiny tree frogs sitting on her shasta daisies and generously agreed to share them with me for a painting. I'd like to make this at least a half sheet, maybe larger. I'm trying to determine how large I want each frog in relationship to the others within the composition I have in mind. This is a compilation of two separate images so I will need to do some adjusting.

I used edge detection in Irfanview and traced my line drawing onto tracing paper. BTW, I use my PC monitor as my lightbox. I then taped the tracing paper to a scrap piece of foamcore and am posting a photo so I can size things up(pun intended). Pretty rough at this point. PSP is outside my budget and I've about given up on my Elements 6. I think it's been corrupted. Whatever it's malfunction, it's just too darn frustrating to try and put together a comp with it. I'll have to use some ingenuity or just do it the old fashioned way and make umpteen drawings until I'm satisfied. I'll also need to take some photos of my own daisies to complete the scene.

Garlic Braid ~ Complete

2011-07-30T14:55:00.000-07:00

I just finished this a moment ago and wanted to post it so I could check for problem areas and make tweaks if necessary.

The braid and the loose stem tops were painted with DS Undersea green, burnt umber, raw umber, a little violet I mixed up with Crimson lake and mauve and various greys I made from palette muck. I removed the drawing gum and finished off the roots with a mix of mauve and burnt umber. The twine is also palette muck grey. I'm not going to do a background. I like this as just a simple vignette. I even left the Fabriano mfg. mark clearly visible which I've never done before. It seemed to work with this painting as part of the composition.

P.S. This is my first painting done entirely from life. Working from life has it's challenges but I enjoyed it much more than anticipated.

Garlic Braid ~ WIP 2

2011-07-29T14:32:00.000-07:00

Quick update: I'm happy with the garlic bulbs at this point and am getting ready to start on the braided stems. I used a mixture of blues as my under painting, then glazed over that with a mix of mauve and burnt umber. I want to bring in some DS Undersea green where ever it will work. This needs some green, IMO.

I don't usually paint still life and rarely from life. I normally work from photos. This is certainly a new experience for me. I'm anxious to see if painting from life really makes that much difference in the final result.

Garlic Braid ~ WIP

2011-07-28T14:14:00.000-07:00

Just starting to add color. So far my palette consists of cerulean blue, phthalo blue, raw umber, mauve & a tiny bit of crimson lake. I used a little Pebeo drawing gum to mask the roots of the garlic beforehand.

My sketch

Braided softneck garlic hanging on my studio door knob over my painting smock

mid-July 2011~almost ready to harvest

I've been the moderator of a garden forum devoted entirely to Michigan gardeners for the past several years. In recent years the forum has seen more and more experienced vegetable gardeners join and I've learned so much from them. Being primarily a flower gardener I didn't know much about veggie gardening but these members got me fired up.

One member is a connoisseur of garlic and an expert at growing his own. He graciously offered to share a few bulbs from his private stock with me for planting. Since I had already planned to convert one of my flower beds into an edible garden I started with his garlic. It's easy to grow...peel and break apart the bulb, plant the largest cloves in the Fall and by the following July you have a lovely crop of the pungent bulbs. There's a bit more involved but not much.

After the bulbs were harvested and cured I made my first garlic braid and decided it was a worthy subject for a painting.

Photos From the Moon Garden ~ 2011

2011-07-26T12:51:00.000-07:00

Last year I began refurbishing my Moon garden as it has been in need of some extra TLC for a few years. For those who have never heard of a Moon garden it's a type of theme garden devoted primarily to white flowering and/or night blooming plants, vines, etc. The aglaya daisies are especially beautiful this year and I've added a new variety of Asiatic lily called Eyeliner. Today I snapped a few photos I'd like to share with my followers and visitors.

Time to Loosen Up...again

2011-07-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

My creative juices haven't been flowing in great abundance this year and I've noticed that I'm falling backwards in terms of painting style. I'm painting tighter and tighter and enjoying it less and less. I've never striven to achieve photorealism with watercolor because I simply don't have the patience it requires or the desire to try and tame this medium. I chose watercolor because of it's unpredictability but old habits die hard it seems.

Yesterday I cut a little bunch of Houttuynia cordata, 'Chameleon' (nicknamed 'Hot Tuna' by some gardeners) out of one of my flower beds and brought it in to pose for me. This plant is a great little ground cover if kept under control and serves to brighten up my flower beds when nothing is blooming. Apparently it's grown as an edible in China and Vietnam(according to Wiki) and has a slightly fishy taste so it's aka 'fish mint'. I just tasted a leaf and it reminds me of the white fish with citrus beurre blanc I had for lunch this past Saturday. (BTW, that's not a compliment to the taste of houttuynia)

Fraise Des Boise ~ Complete

2011-07-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

Done! I decided the red of the berries was enough to break up all the green. I was afraid adding burnt sienna would 'muddy up the waters'.

This is fairly small...10" x 7". To complete the berries I did an underpainting using indigo mixed with a little crimson lake to indicate the shadows and create volume, then finished with a few washes of crimson lake to get that strawberry red color. There's probably more I could do to this but it's time to set it aside. I'll get it back out in a few weeks or months and if I still like the way it looks it'll be 'officially done'.

Fraise Des Boise ~ WIP 2

2011-07-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

Quick update: I just removed the frisket film and am wondering if there's way too much green going on here. I'm not sure the few red berries left to paint will pull this one out of a dive. I'm posting this as much for myself as for my visitors to better spot any problem areas before continuing. I may add some burnt sienna to some of the leaves just to break the green up further.

Fraise Des Boise ~ WIP 1

2011-07-19T15:32:00.000-07:00

Still today I had no idea how I wanted to go about painting this or what palette I wanted to use so I started by covering the blossoms and berries with frisket film to protect them. Then I began with a light overall wash of D/R Vivid green. I've added various greens I mixed up using indigo, Indian yellow, and perm. yellow to define the leaves. I also started working on some areas of the background and dropped in some WN Quin. gold while the paper was still wet to add interest and break up all that green.

Note: I prefer Windsor Newton's Quin. gold to Da Vinci's because it's not so orange.

I scattered some salt in the viewer's upper left corner for effect but fear I may have over-done it. I plan to darken that corner later so I can tone it down then. Forgot to mention....I'm using #140 Fabriano Uno w/c paper.

Fraise Des Boise ~ Study

2011-07-17T14:27:00.000-07:00

After adjustments to composition. I added an extra berry toward the center and got rid of unnecessary detail.

After applying edge detection

Original photo

I've grown fraise des boise aka wild French strawberries aka alpine strawberries in my flower beds for years. I grow both a red and a white variety. Originally I planted them simply for ornamental purposes but discovered the tiny berries these plants produce (no bigger than an average person's thumbnail) all summer long have the most amazingly intense strawberry flavor.

This Spring I took a few photos when they were starting to set flower and a few baby strawberries were beginning to appear. Yesterday I decided to use the fraise des boise as a subject for a painting. I selected one of those photos and to save time applied edge detection to it in my photo editor, converted the altered image to negative and printed out a copy. Then I used pencil to make adjustments to the composition. I'm not sure how detailed I want to go with this one yet but better to have too much information than not enough.

New Look For ArtByCrain Blog

2011-07-16T14:31:00.000-07:00

My blog needed a facelift so I'm experimenting with Bloggers new templates, colors, etc. Warning: Be prepared to see some changes over the next few days.

Bearded Iris ~ Complete

2011-07-12T17:04:00.000-07:00

This is one of those paintings that I could fiddle away at for days and days but I think it's time to call it done. It's already slightly overworked for my taste. Iris 'Chasing Rainbows' lived up to it's name. I think I used almost every color on my palette save for red.

Bearded Iris ~ Update

2011-07-09T14:58:00.000-07:00

After adding the background which defines the outer shape of the flower.

Here I've gone as far as I could before adding a background.

I finally knuckled down and got back to work on this one. I seem to have no self discipline this summer and it's not like I'm crazy busy either.

I worked some more on the standards (upper petals) of the flower, painted the bud and then wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with the background. I settled on a mixture of Indathrene blue and Indigo with a dash of Indian yellow. I dropped in some extra Indian yellow and perm. yellow while the paint was still wet to break up all that dark green. I also spritzed the background with plain water to add a little more interest. Since the flower is so busy I wanted to avoid creating a busy background. More work to be done on the flower but I'm in the home stretch now.

Bearded Iris ~ WIP 1

2011-07-04T13:59:00.000-07:00

The Iris Farm

5385 E. Traverse Hwy

Traverse City , MI 49684

After attempting to paint another landscape and failing miserably (several times) I lost my momentum. It happens. I hate when it happens but it happens. I always feel better when I have something on my easel and after just so long I was ready to paint anything just to get my brushes wet again. I found some photos from 2006 I had taken at the Iris Farm, six acres of prime farm land devoted entirely to just about any variety of bearded iris one can imagine. The farm belongs to William Alpers of Traverse City, Michigan and when the irises are blooming it's a sight to behold.

I chose a photo of bearded iris, 'Chasing Rainbows' as my subject. I love all the colors in the falls(side petals) and the deep ruffling. I hope I can do it justice.

Landscape #2 ~ Complete

2011-06-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

Here I attempted to highlight the shapes I saw when looking at the reference photo. The obvious focal point in this painting is the area of paper left white in the small rectangle, center of image.

I just finished this one. It's loosey, juicy and kinda messy but I wasn't planning on offering it for sale so it doesn't matter. I think this has potential as a do-over. I like the composition and the colors. I switched to the quill of a feather for some of the fine branches, did the rest with the squirrel quill brush. Bit of a sloppy job but I'm not concerned in this case. Colors and color placement are so important to a landscape but composition even more so. Where the various values are placed is critical, too. At completion it's all got to make some sort of sense no matter how creative I wish to be. I operate primarily on instinct being self taught so if it looks 'right' I just go with it.

Landscape #2 ~ WIP 1

2011-06-16T18:25:00.000-07:00

Marilyn Campbell posted this photo of a beautiful wooded scene with a stream flowing through on Paint My Photo and I thought it looked like a perfect reference for my next landscape. I liked the composition, the range of values and the colors grabbed my eye. I'm posting my first update so I have a record of my progress. I'm working on a quarter sheet of Arches #140 CP paper with various brands of transparent watercolor and only a #2 squirrel quill. The purpose of using just the quill is to prevent me from adding unnecessary details. I want to keep this as loose and spontaneous as possible.

Learning to Paint a Landscape (skyscape?)

2011-06-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

Original image

Tweak #1 (I ramped up the contrast)

Tweak #2 (Looks like a dust storm)

Tweak# 3 (Tornado skies. I can almost hear the warning sirens when I look at this)

I have never produced a landscape painting to my satisfaction...ever. Why this subject seems so difficult for me is a mystery but I've made it my goal this summer to tackle the beast. My interest in the genre was recently rekindled when I received the latest issue of Watercolor Artist and was pleased to see one of Z. L. Feng's landscapes featured on the cover. I absolutely love his landscape paintings, especially how he handles foliage and his use of color. I have a link to his website on my link list if anyone is interested. I suggest you take the time to check out his work. You won't be sorry.

I also received an email notice for the June challenge on Paint My Photo website. This month the subject is skies. The rules...any medium may be used but the sky must take up 3/4 of the total painting. Landscapes that are mostly sky can be very dramatic and exciting so I threw together a little sketch and gave it a whirl. I did spend time online looking at cloud formations prior to starting which helped but I couldn't find a reference photo I liked so this attempt is from imagination. I worked wet into wet with a leftover mixture of indigo, Quin. violet and Payne's grey, then floated in some white gouache and a little raw umber to create a stormy sky. I'm fairly happy with my cloud work. It's the stuff on the ground where I seem to stumble. Overall though, not bad for a start. I did play in my photo editor with the original image to see what other effects I could produce.

Dragonflies on Canvas~Complete

2011-06-05T12:01:00.000-07:00

I've sure had fun with this one. I finished up the dragonflies yesterday but today thought it needed a little something else. I've had a 'thing' for metallics lately so I got out my gold Zig Painty and went to town.

Dragonflies on Canvas~WIP

2011-06-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

This project seems to defy photographing. Everywhere light strikes an area of high texture it shows up as a white spot and the colors are nowhere near as garish as they appear but I did my best.

Jerry's Artarama ran a sale not long ago on pre-stretched, pre-primed canvases so I bought six 9" x 12" canvases with the intention of mounting and varnishing some of my watercolor paintings on them. There they sat, in the box they came in because I have no supplies to complete the job. A few days ago I decided to try my hand at coating one of these canvases with gesso and painting something with fluid acrylics. I protected my main subjects (the dragonflies) with masking fluid and just started painting...mostly amorphous, vaguely leaf and grass-like shapes and applying color with no thought of realism or 'sense' to placement of color. I'm ready now to remove the masking and complete the 'flies.

Cherry Blossom Time~Complete ?

2011-05-29T14:34:00.000-07:00

I wanted to keep the background fairly simple but wasn't sure how dark I wanted to go so I compromised by doing a little half and half. I used DS perylene green and Vivid green. I'm wondering if I should bring a little of the green into the flowers, possibly on the sepals to make them mesh better with the overall painting.

It's Cherry Blossom Time~WIP

2011-05-27T16:26:00.001-07:00

...for my weeping cherry tree. It's been in bloom for over a week now and is still loaded with blossoms despite some recent windy weather. The blossoms make me think of those old time swing skirts with crinoline petticoats underneath. When the pendulous flowers sway in the breeze they look as if they are ladies dancing.

I decided to skip the sketch, go right for the paint & brushes and hope for the best. I'm using only DV cobalt blue deep, DV perm. rose and D/R Vivid green. Vivid green contains so much yellow I might as well be working with three primaries and they all combine to create enough variations in color for this project. I really do love working with a limited palette.

Pink Lady Slippers~experiment continues

2011-05-24T15:46:00.000-07:00

Closeup 1

Closeup 2

I've been playing around with this painting, trying to see what effects would make this pop more. I toned down the red-violet in the background with some DS Iridescent blue, then added metallic gold ink. I used an oil based gold Zig Painty pen to outline areas of the flowers, leaves and stems, then applied some metallic gold ink from a stamp pad by tapping it through nylon window screening with an old brush trimmed flat to use as a stencil brush. I think it looks kinda cool!

Pink Lady Slippers~WIP 2

2011-05-22T13:48:00.000-07:00

Cropped

I'm still considering this a work in progress even though it looks completed albeit kinda sloppy. I want to experiment further with it to see what effects I can continue to create. I tried various mixtures of greens (both cool and warm), making different marks with the brush, working wet into wet, wet into dry, spraying, etc. I'm wondering if acrylic inks would give me more vibrant colors, possibly using a mixture of both watercolor and ink to achieve the look I'm after. I'd also love to get some metallics into picture.

Pink Lady Slippers~WIP 1

2011-05-20T19:28:00.001-07:00

I had a drawing all set to go, then decided after seeing a dyed silk piece that inspired me to such a degree as to send me in a whole new direction. I have no idea if this will turn out well nor do I care at the moment. I loved the effect of the dyed silk painting so much I'd like to try and create roughly the same effect with watercolor on paper. I know it's going to take some experimenting and I also know I'm going to have some failures. I'm currently working on Arches #140 CP w/c paper but I may switch over to hotpress paper if I don't like the outcome. I did do a quickie sketch to get things started but I want to keep this fairly loose and spontaneous for the first go.

Lucy & Ethel Revisited

2011-05-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

I felt Lucy & Ethel looked a bit drab so I got to work with some magenta, Quin. gold and gouache. I created this panorama for comparison. The 'after' is on the left.

It's been ages since I've failed to update my blog for over a month so apologies to my followers and visitors. April shot by like a comet it seems and other things got in the way of painting. I did manage to ready some pieces for the gallery and get them delivered. I also took time to pull some older paintings and look them over. I thought Lucy & Ethel needed a facelift but fear I may have tweaked them to death, always a danger when revisiting a painting. At this point I'm just plain tired of looking at them so I've begun another drawing for a new piece. I hope to spend more time painting in May. I just have to get the momentum going again.

Moo.com Greeting Cards~Product Review

2011-04-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

I was saddened to discover Imagekind no longer offers greeting cards so I decided to try Moo.com . I received my first order today and am pleased to report the quality is excellent. All pertinent information regarding the paper quality, dimensions of the cards, etc. is readily available on the site however I'd like to add my own list of pros and cons:

Pros

Quality of the images on the cards is excellent, colors true to life.

Each card comes with a standard white envelope or you can chose from an alternative assortment at extra cost.

Images are easily uploaded to the site, extra large files are not required.

Moo offers an image editing and preview feature so the customer has more control over any cropping that may occur.

Regular cost is very reasonable. Moo.com is currently running a 25% off sale on all printed products which unfortunately ends today.

Moo requires a minimum order of 25 cards but the customer can include more than one image in the 25 cards.

Moo allows the customer to remove their logo from the back of the cards and replace it with their own or any text or image they chose.

Customer service is great. I emailed Moo twice with questions and they got back to me in a very timely manner.

_________________________Cons________________________

The cards are an odd size, smaller than a standard 5" x 7" greeting card and slightly larger than a notecard. I like to present my cards in an acetate sleeve and was unable to find a sleeve that would fit these cards correctly. I had to order 5" x 7" sleeves from another source and will have to make some adjustments with tape.

When creating your cards using multiple images per batch of 25 it's not possible to edit the back of each card so including separate titles for each image is not possible.

Julie's Morels~Complete

2011-04-10T15:20:00.000-07:00

SOLD

I just completed this and I'm pretty happy with the outcome. I stayed with my original palette and continued to play until I was satisfied. It's fairly easy to adjust color on gesso as the surface isn't terribly absorbent so lifting is easy. I'll probably wind up float mounting this in a black frame.

Julie's Morels~WIP 1

2011-04-09T15:10:00.000-07:00

Two things came together to inspire this piece..morel hunting season(soon to arrive here in northern Michigan) and an idea I recently hatched to embed leaves and grass in gesso to create texture. I love working on gesso with watercolor and I love lots of texture.

Julie Christianson is a fabulous local photographer and I've known her for many years. She had posted an image on Facebook of a morel she snapped, probably last hunting season. Since I can no longer traipse through the woods to hunt them myself I asked her if I could use some of her images as references and she generously obliged. For my visitors that have never heard of a morel mushroom I found this on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morchella

I'm working on matboard, the size is small...roughly 5" x 7". I applied a light coat of Liquitex acrylic gesso to the board and used a palette knife to create some background texture. Then I coated dry leaves in gesso and applied them to the board while it was still wet. Today I added a second coat of gesso thinned with a little water and let that dry. Afterward I penciled in my mushrooms and protected them with masking fluid. My palette so far consists of DS Undersea green, DV raw umber, DS Quin gold deep and a little Prussian blue.

Peacock Orchids~Complete

2011-04-08T13:59:00.000-07:00

SOLD

Finally(!)I'm calling this one done. I did manage to get a better photo of it today but I'm still not entirely happy with the shot. I seem to have problems photographing larger paintings. Not sure why either. Maybe 8 mega pixels isn't enough to capture small details at a greater distance or I need to experiment with the settings. Subtle shading on the white petals was also lost. I'll try to get some closeups to post after my camera batteries recharge.

Spring Crocus

2011-04-07T09:52:00.000-07:00

The first signs of life in the garden after a looong Michigan winter are the early Spring crocuses. Of course I'm always inspired to rush out and photograph them. Usually they tend to form clusters but today I was struck by one crocus that stood alone. I could see another just breaking ground at it's base but that one lone crocus was already standing straight and proud, petals open wide to the sun. I half expected to hear it shouting "Ta DA!".

Peacock Orchids~WIP 3

2011-04-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

The actual painting isn't as blue as it appears here but I could not adjust the color accurately in my photo editor. The next bright overcast day we have I'll try to get a better image to post.

I started this painting back in October of last year. It's the one and only full sheet painting I've attempted. I had set it aside for reasons I can't recall at the moment and it's time to complete it. I detest leaving things unfinished and thought it would haunt me but it didn't. Now I know why...all those tiddly little leaves in the foreground. Patience is not one of my virtues however once I started working on them it became a Zhen exercise of sorts and not as laborious as expected.

I'm working primarily in DV fluid acrylics. The green is a mixture of Hookers green and Indigo. Once I'm satisfied with the foliage I'll apply a watercolor wash of DS Vivid green over the entire area to blend it with the background. The little spiky flowers still need attention and I'm sure I'll be tweaking other areas before calling it complete.

Rudy~Complete

2011-03-31T18:30:00.000-07:00

SOLD

I think Rudy is finally done. I may do some minor tweaking but I'm pretty happy with the results at this point. I kept to my original palette with the addition of some Crimson Lake for the mouse's ear and nose. I may give him some whiskers, too. Not sure yet. I did wind up softening the edges of the cat's fur and tail with a little white soft pastel.

Note: Tweaks have been completed and the first image has been replaced by the final. I decided not to add whiskers to the mouse. Rudy had enough for both and I felt they would be distracting.

Rudy~WIP 2

2011-03-28T20:26:00.000-07:00

Quick update on my progress. Rendering Rudy's fur has been a challenge and I'm not satisfied with my results yet. Phoebe practically painted herself (love when that happens) but Rudy's coloration is far trickier. I haven't even started on his tail or touched the mouse tucked within it. I will continue to work away and may even add some soft pastel at some point to achieve the look of his soft fur. I will say this looks better IRL than on screen. For some unknown reason poor Rudy looks like he's been shot out of a cannon in the above image but no matter how I photographed this painting it always came out looking the same way.

Rudy~WIP

2011-03-26T14:40:00.000-07:00

I've just started painting Rudy, a Himalayan cat owned by Marcia Van Osten. Rudy is the litter mate of Phoebe , the subject of my painting titled 'Contemplation'. Marcia has given me permission to use her photos of Rudy for reference plus I'm also working from a description she sent me via Facebook regarding his coloring. Himalayan cats have coloring remarkably similar to Siamese cats, IMO. Incredible blue eyes and that deep coffee brown on their faces and ears. I'm hoping against hope I'm close to the real deal as far as eye and fur coloration. Time and Marcia will tell. My palette for the eyes is Cobalt blue deep and Cerulean, the fur is a mixture of Indigo, Raw Umber with a bit of DS Moonglow thrown in. I gave Rudy a mouse, too. Phoebe has one so I thought it only fair.;)

Epson 725 All-In-One Printer

2011-03-20T15:09:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased a new Epson 725 All-In-One (click-able link) from a vendor on Amazon (click-able link). My poor old Dell 922 All-In-One had seen better days and was no longer producing acceptable results so it was time to replace it. The Epson 725 All-In-One should be called a 3-In-One (print, copy and scan) as it has no fax capabilities which I don't need anyway. I read the reviews on Amazon and it sounded like what I was looking for and the price was unbeatable. At the time I placed my order the printer was $129 w/free shipping. It was easy to setup and install and I don't miss the vertical paper feed of my old Dell. The prints from the Epson look very nice. Today I ran some 110# cardstock through it with no problem. I've yet to try running 140# watercolor paper but I'll keep you posted. It's a bit noisy when it's getting ready to run. Some whirs, clicks and humming I'm not used to but nothing I can't live with.

7/23/2011-Follow-up with my new Epson printer: Since purchasing the Epson 725 I will still say I made the right choice however this printer does not like dust. My room is dusty and after about a month or so I began seeing horizontal stripes or gaps in color across my prints. The booklet that came with has a very good chapter on troubleshooting and the printer comes with built in features that will auto clean the print head and print head nozzles. The instructions are easy to follow and simple to carry out. The problem may require cleaning multiple times to correct the issue and I'd recommend providing some sort of cover over the unit to keep the dust down.

The Usual Suspects~WIP & Finish

2011-03-11T16:52:00.001-08:00

Shortly after I posted the altered photos I created my drawing and transferred it onto Arches #140 CP. I had a devil of a time deciding how I wanted to go about painting these animals. They sat staring at me until finally it began to drive me nuts and I picked up a brush and just started working. I also gave them back their horns which I protected with frisket film. Bulls need horns, IMO. I've included work in progress photos and my palette consisted of DS Pyrrol red, Quin. gold deep, Indigo, Carbazole violet and DV Quin gold.

The Usual Suspects~my current working title

2011-02-28T14:12:00.001-08:00

I couldn't resist. I cropped and greyscaled the image. I then added the sepia tint & text.

Here I've altered the image in Elements. I used the cutout filter first, then replaced the existing colors in the original photo with purples and greens.

A friend recently approached me and asked if I would paint a Jersey cow for her. I said I would try but haven't heard back and been given the go-ahead yet. In the meantime I took the liberty of browsing the Wetcanvas image library for cow photos. When I came across the image of these young bulls submitted by Impshlady it grabbed my interest immediately. Normally I'm title challenged but this time the title came to me before picking up my brush. I don't believe these are Jersey bulls. I did a bit of research online and suspect they are Brown Swiss. Irregardless the breed, I was taken with their stance and expressions. Don't they look like a gang of young hoodlums? I can just imagine them in a police lineup or on an old Wild West wanted poster. I'm currently working on my drawing. The biggest challenge will be sorting out legs as there are other bovines in the background and there's a tangle of limbs to deal with.

Contemplation~Completed

2011-02-21T11:21:00.001-08:00

SOLD

I'm calling this one done. I applied a few more glazes to the background, finished the mouse, removed any masking, tweaked Phoebe(my model) and generally tidied things up.

Here's a little background on Phoebe from her loving Mom, Marcia Van Osten:

Phoebe is a "papered" full Persian. Her Persian name is "Sugar N' Spice Girl." Her "twin" sole litter mate is Rudy the Himalayan. ("Little Boy Blue") Their Mother was "Olivia", father "Noah". Olivia is 1/2 sister to Donny and his sister Marie.. She is actually 9 yrs old, but tiny- 5-6 lbs. She is a Cream Cameo Persian. VERY spunky, active and of course demanding.

Contemplation~WIP 3

2011-02-18T18:29:00.000-08:00

Quick update, poor photo. I still have lots more to do on this one. I've been applying many glazes to areas of the background to get the really dark values. Normally I'm not one to do a lot of glazing. I'll be using a stiff bristle brush to lift some of the paint on the side of the cat's face in deep shadow as it's become almost completely lost. It's barely visible IRL and the camera couldn't pick it up at all. I'm staying with my original palette with one exception...I added some DV raw umber.

Contemplation~WIP 2

2011-02-16T15:36:00.000-08:00

I started this yesterday but couldn't post an update until today. My camera batteries died.:( Today was in the mid 40's so it was just too nice to stay inside. This is where I am at the moment. Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy so good weather for painting. My palette is fairly limited...DS Indigo, DR cobalt blue deep & warm sepia, DV burnt sienna and MaimeriBlu crimson lake.

Comtemplation~WIP 1

2011-02-14T12:18:00.000-08:00

Marcia Van Osten has graciously given me permission to use a photo of one of her beautiful Persian cats as inspiration for a painting. This is Phoebe deep in contemplation. I've substituted a real mouse for the toy mouse in the photo and drew my sketch directly on watercolor paper, in this case Arches #140 coldpress. I've found sometimes the more often a drawing is transferred the less 'life' is carried over. By the time it finally arrives on the working paper it's lost it's vitality. I realize some subjects would be very difficult to freehand onto the final paper but in this case I think I can get away with it.

Cawcus~Completed

2011-02-09T09:40:00.000-08:00

Here I've taken the liberty to mat and frame the painting online...a simple pale gold metal frame with jet black mat.

I've included two closeup shots to try and show the blue iridescent paint and gold ink which doesn't want to show up well in photos. IRL the blue is less apparent and the gold is more apparent. I could not correct this in my photo editor.:(

To complete this piece I've added the eyes of the crows and embellished their feathers with DS Iridescent Electric Blue. I also added some metallic gold ink for highlights and to help tie the crows into the background so they don't look cut out and pasted on. I've been wanting to do a painting in a narrow horizontal format for a long time but couldn't decide on the subject. This gathering of crows turned out to be just the ticket. Final dimensions are approx. 25 1/2" x 11 1/2".

Cawcus~WIP Update

2011-02-02T13:22:00.000-08:00

I have been working, albeit slooowly, on this project. I decided on a Venetian plaster look for the background. I wanted something predominately warm so I started with a little perm. yellow, then switched to DS Quin. gold, Quin. gold deep and D-R Warm Sepia applied with a sweeping cross hatch motion using a damp 2" synthetic brush. Since I'm using black Speedball ink (which is opaque) for the crows I transferred my drawing first and brushed on the background paint right over the unpainted crows. I've found painting with Speedball ink works very well. It washes off/out with water so I was able to use my good watercolor brushes and it's wonderful for producing a deep, rich true black. Today I finished painting the crows. I'll be adding some iridescent paint to the feathers, possibly some colored pencil, finishing the eyes and after a suitable amount of 'look time' I may tweak a few areas before declaring this complete.

Cawcus~Developing composition

2011-01-22T11:40:00.000-08:00

3.)More size adjustments, more birds, more 'attitude'. I think this will be the final composition. I can individualize each bird more as I paint them.

2.)Here I've adjusted the sizes of a few birds, corrected the feet and played with attitude(posturing).

1.) I tightened the grouping so the birds relate more to one another.

I seem to be slow out of the starting gate this year artwise. Looking back over previous years I see this is a pattern for me. Maybe I tend to be more thoughtful and not as impulse and consequently less productive in midwinter. In the meantime, I've been staring at my storyboard and knew something was 'off'. I just couldn't put my finger on it so I decided to let things marinate for awhile.

I was watching the finale of The Housewives of Beverly Hills a few nights ago(inspiration can come from the darnest places) and the episode ended in a huge explosion of verbal dynamite. This particular group altercation took place at a large gathering, a birthday party actually. Long story short, it was interesting to observe how various individuals reacted to the con-flab. It gave me some added inspiration to apply to my composition. I've added more birds, grouped them more tightly and adjusted their sizes and attitudes. I decided I wasn't concerned about realistic size relationship(perspective), leaving larger birds behind smaller birds. I've also experimented, painting with a different medium...Speedball ink. DS Iridescent Electric blue watercolor paint applied over black Speedball ink makes a pretty convincing crow. Who knew?

Cawcus~Developing a Concept

2011-01-14T11:54:00.000-08:00

I've been observing a flock of crows that have been visiting the park this winter. Actually I think they may be ravens because they are huge. I keep a tripod in the front window and take photos whenever the opportunity presents itself. The title is a play on words, the word being caucus (link). Here I've gathered various sketches of crows, some from my own photos, some from imagination and others from images online and created a storyboard of sorts. The sizes of the birds in relationship to each other and within the composition are off and the placement is still a work in progress but my ultimate goal is to create the illusion of a town hall meeting or 'crow caucus'. Because these birds seem to always be communicating with each other in some fashion, seemingly having discussions, the idea just naturally evolved.

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T20:47:00.000-08:00

I want to wish all my visitors the very best for 2011. We will shortly be entering a brand new year. At this time many of you may set goals and make resolutions. Personally I like to roll with the punches. I learned long ago to make plans but not to plan outcomes. Goals are not outcomes but aims. May you all reach as many of your goals as possible. Resolutions are another thing entirely. I'll leave you with these quotes.

Many years ago I resolved never to bother with New Year's resolutions, and I've stuck with it ever since. ~Dave Beard

May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions. ~Joey Adams

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

2010-12-25T08:58:00.001-08:00

To all my visitors...thank you for visiting my blog and special thanks to those who took the time to leave comments and feedback. It means a great deal to me. The image above is the last Christmas card I painted which, as predicted, I finished just in time for the holidays.

Now Playing~Catitudes on Broadway!

2010-12-22T13:54:00.001-08:00

HA! I can pretend...right? Courtesy of Photofunia. Myrna Wacknov posted the URL on her blog: photofunia.com

Making Christmas Cards

2010-12-17T16:20:00.000-08:00

This year I decided not to do cards for printing. My printer is acting up again and I don't want to pay a print shop right now. Instead I'm painting individual cards for immediate family and I've worked all afternoon on just these two. What have I gotten myself into?! Of course this is a labor of love and I want them to be special for each person. These are the two 'guy' cards I've created for the men in my family. I used black, some muted colors, plaid, metallics...guy stuff. I'm not the least bit concerned about minor imperfections. They are homemade after all and come from the heart. I have to add that crafters impress me more and more. I'm not terribly crafty anymore. If I ever decide to make handmade cards full time I would definitely have to develop a better system.

Winter Scene on Matboard

2010-12-15T10:45:00.000-08:00

One surface I love to use for painting is matboard, not to be confused with mountboard. Whenever I mention matboard in a post I'm referring to the paper plyboard that is normally cut to frame a piece before the actual glazing and external frame is added. This time I decided to try working on the reverse side of the board. This side has a small amount of texture to it and it looks like it might be more absorbent. I wanted a soft muted appearance for my winter landscape so I coated the entire surface with white gouache and let it dry before beginning my painting. This worked to soften my colors as I painted and allowed for better lifting where needed.

When a painting is completed many artists clean their palettes and begin again with fresh paint. I like to dabble in 'palette muck', the leftover colors that have inadvertently run together. I've discovered some amazing greys this way and for certain applications the low chroma colors that the muck can produce are perfect. This scene was painted entirely with muck. I finished it off with white fluid acrylic 'snow', spattered on with an old toothbrush.

Simon's Cat in 'Santa Claws'

2010-12-14T13:39:00.000-08:00

Bandit & 8 Ball~update

2010-12-13T10:10:00.000-08:00

Bandit~closeup

8 Ball~closeup

I made a few adjustments last night and called this done. Working without a reference photo certainly has it's challenges. I also added whiskers with colored pencil. They aren't as prominent IRL as they appear in my images. I wasn't able to tone them down in my photo editor unfortunately.

Bandit and 8 Ball w/ WIP

2010-12-12T13:52:00.000-08:00

Close to completion. Bandit's fur beneath his chin got a little heavy. It looks more like a goat's beard at the moment. I'll probably try to lighten it up a bit with white gouache and see how that works out.

The second series of washes. Bandit gets his mask.

The first washes

I wanted to pay homage to Bandit the lop ear which I mentioned in my previous post. I gave him a friend aptly named 8 Ball, a black rabbit with one white spot on his forehead. They turned out looking like a couple of rabbit desperadoes which I find amusing. My palette was very limited. Just Phthalo blue, burnt sienna and a little Quin gold deep.

Since we're experiencing an ongoing winter storm here I decided to pick up my brushes and finally get to work on the lop eared rabbits. I had been doing sketches of lop ears, working from online resources including Youtube videos. The videos definitely tested my sketching skills as I'm not used to drawing moving targets. Some of these videos were very entertaining. These rabbits are quite the little characters it seems. I also noticed a lot of variation in their facial features from rabbit to rabbit.

Cutie Pie

2010-12-07T10:32:00.000-08:00

I've had the urge to paint lop eared rabbits but I don't happen to know any at the moment. I do remember a boy in my childhood neighborhood that had a pet lop ear named Bandit. What a character that rabbit was. He acted a lot like a little dog and the bond between that boy and his rabbit was amazing. Bandit would fetch for him and they'd lay on a fold out chaise and just hang out afterward.

I wound up searching online for photos to reference and found dwarf lop ears. Talk about cute ! These rabbits look like a cross between a guinea pig and a basset hound. I plan to do several of these sketches to become familiar with how they look from different angles, study their markings and color variations, etc. I'd also love to find some videos so I can see them in motion. I have an idea for a painting but I want to be as familiar as possible with my subject first. Always a good idea.

The Young Equestrian~Completed

2010-11-28T09:18:00.001-08:00

Transparent watercolor on a half sheet of 140# Arches bright white CP paper.

I've been puttering away at this one for a couple of weeks now. I decided to veer from the more posterized reference I posted and instead play with unexpected colors. I probably should re-title this, A Horse's Tale (Tail?) I may darken the background more. I'm still unsure about that. As usual, I think it needs a few tweaks here and there but I'm considering this pretty much done.

The Young Equestrian~experiment with Elements 6

2010-11-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

After cropping, applying the cutout filter and greyscaling the image. Gotta love technology.:)

View to the east. The original photo.

The view to the west.

During the peak Fall color season I took my camera and tripod and drove to a lookout at the end of Maple Grove Road, not far from my home. From this particular vantage point one can see for many miles in all directions. On a clear day Beaver Island is visible out in Lake Michigan, a 2 hour boat trip from the mainland. I decided to create a panorama using Photostitch for the first time. As I was setting up my camera several young ladies drove up hauling horse trailers and proceeded to get their horses ready for a Sunday autumn ride. I asked if I could photograph them and the horses and they were happy to oblige.

One photo really appealed to me. The youngest rider was so proud of her palomino(which is obvious in the picture)and I love photographing animals of any kind at odd angles so this image has it all as far as I'm concerned. Tonight I was playing in Elements, working out an idea for a Christmas card and decided while I had the program open to pull up the image of the young equestrian and her horse and experiment. I have problems seeing shapes(my eye still searches for detail) so I used the cutout filter to break the image down into...well, shapes! I was impressed with the results and may give this a go with paint.

Lucy & Ethel~Update

2010-11-12T12:14:00.000-08:00

I decided to change the title of this piece. These two hens remind me of Lucy Ricardo and her friend Ethel Mertz of 'I Love Lucy' fame. I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with the background so I'm not ready to call this one complete yet. Cloudy day today so colors are not entirely accurate in the image but they're pretty close.

I'm also mulling over ideas for a new Christmas card for 2010. I'll probably wind up waiting until zero hour before pulling that project together like I did last year. If I'm really good at nothing else I AM a master of procrastination.

A Couple of Hot Chicks~WIP

2010-11-08T12:21:00.000-08:00

I was going through some photos I took this past summer of my friends' chickens and found a good candidate for a painting. Chickens can be incredibly funny sometimes. I was snapping shots of an Isa Brown hen when another hen decided she wanted to get into the picture, too. I still have the chicken wire to paint, the Isa Brown to finish and more work on the background in general. I didn't plan a background beforehand this time. Sometimes I let the main subject/subjects dictate that for me. I'd rather not make it too busy and draw attention away from these two 'hot chicks'.

Painting 'Jean Haines Style'

2010-10-31T12:44:00.000-07:00

I recently received my copy of Jean Haines's new book, How to Paint Colour & Light in Watercolour . I've admired Jean's style since I first saw her work on Wetcanvas.com. During my early days dabbling in watercolor I followed a class Jean was giving on the w/c learning forum and found her style was beyond me at that point. I had just left realistic drawing and was relatively new to this medium. My intent was to pursue a medium that would allow (ok...FORCE) me to be more free and expressive. I found Jean's 'beyond' loose watercolor paintings fascinating but I just could not let go of that much control at the time. I'm better now (I have been able to loosen up) but this is taking it to the extreme , IMO and it's exciting.

This is my first humble attempt (I'm not counting those horrible paintings I created in her class years ago) at watercolor 'Jean Haines style'. My subject is one of my own cats. I'll leave my visitors to figure out what the cat is doing. Please take time to post your answers or guesses. Thanks!

Daniel Smith's 66 Color Try It Sheet~product review

2010-10-29T14:38:00.001-07:00

FYI...Daniel Smith Art Supply offers a product called the 66 Try It Sheet (link), an 8.5" x 11" sheet of watercolor paper with 66 sample dots of their various extra fine watercolors, including many of their specialty colors such as interference shades and duochromes complete with all color information such as ASTM LR rating, degree of transparency, etc. I think it's a brilliant sales tactic on their part because it gives the artist a sampling of each of these colors for very little money. I ordered my sheet and today I wet most of the dots (some colors I have and am already familiar with) to see with my own eyes what they look like IRL and how they perform. I highly recommend this product to any artist if DS products are available in their country.

Berries & Birch~photo

2010-10-24T15:09:00.000-07:00

Because of the odd weather last summer there were no ash berries. This year the mountain ash that flanks the birch trees across my drive is loaded with berries and I snapped this shot which I wanted to share. I love the colors of the berries and mountain ash leaves, the white flash of the birch bark and the Fall colors of the birch leaves. The color combination is amazing and looks bright, even on a rainy day. This may be inspiration for a future painting or just give me ideas for color combinations.

Beach Babies & Gremlins

2010-10-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

The Beach Babies are done! This is one of those paintings that I could sit and tweak until the cows came home but I think it's time to stop. I don't want it to begin looking overworked, overwrought, over-thought, etc. I hope it shows up correctly on screen. I'm still fooling around with my new monitor, trying to calibrate the colors, contrast, etc. Umm...looks like the colors of the water & sand are off on my screen but the babies look pretty accurate. I just wish I could know what my visitors are seeing.

Note: I swear...I have a gremlin visiting. I have had more things go wrong in the last few weeks, all mechanical in nature. The most recent 'happenings'...my computer mouse died. No big deal, right? Then the new one malfunctioned a day after I bought it and also had to be replaced. Two days later my computer monitor gave up the ghost. Fortunately my oldest son came to my rescue and found a great deal on a 19" flat screen to take the place of my poor little 15". All this made me nervous enough to call a local plumbing & heating contractor to come inspect my furnace as it's getting old and with winter coming that's one thing I can not live without. He'll be here next week and hopefully the news won't be too bad. Last night I took the time to sketch what I imagine my gremlin looks like. Nothing terribly threatening, just up to no good, throwing his wrench into things.

Beach Babies~Sketch

2010-10-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

I've finally decided on a format for this commission. The current sketch is only 10" x 14". I'm going to go ahead and paint this but may wind up enlarging the sketch and redoing. I'm not sure I can work this small and include enough detail. I'll also be matting and framing this so I don't have to worry about keeping to any particular size. The hands will be the most difficult, especially since I changed a few things. I may have to borrow my neighbor's kids as models to sort things out.

I haven't been painting a lot these past two months but have been taking lots of photos for possible future references. Hopefully they will provide me with plenty of inspiration during the coming winter months. Fall in northern lower Michigan has been unusually pleasant weatherwise this year but I know it won't last much longer.

Peacock Orchids~WIP 2

2010-10-07T14:25:00.000-07:00

A quick update on my progress. Poor quality photo but it's the best I could manage today. At least the colors are more accurate than the image in my previous post. There's still hours of work ahead so I may wind up having to set this one aside (it will haunt me)so I can start my Beach Babies commission.

I love Doris Joa's work (link) and hope to capture some of her style for the Beach Babies. I checked to see if she had a book out on painting figures, particularly children but I found nothing available so I'll be winging it. Under these circumstances I'd better get a jump start as it may take more than one try to get it the way I want it.

Peacock Orchids~WIP 1

2010-10-03T10:05:00.000-07:00

I've done all my shadows with fluid acrylic, then started glazing over that with watercolor, in this case Daler/Rowney's Vivid Green. The actual blooms are still protected by frisket film. I'll be tackling those last.

It seems like ages since I updated my blog, probably because I was locked into what I call analysis paralysis ie. over thinking. I'm also not the type of artist to have several projects going at once. If I have a piece that's not completed pushed to the side it tends to haunt me to distraction. This is also my first full sheet piece. It may not be a big deal to some but it's huge to me. I'm loathe to waste anything, especially paper so the thought of ruining a full sheet was rather numbing and counterproductive soooo.....I've been 'pecking' away at this for a few weeks. I'm not crazy about Arches #140 HP paper either. I've had problems in the past removing masking fluid and frisket film from the surface which tends to rough up very easily and I'm having the same issues with this recent batch. I should've ordered Fabriano. :(

As my reference for this piece, I used one of the photos I took last month in my Moon garden. I used frisket film to protect the flowers and foliage, masking fluid to protect areas of smaller growth at the bottom. I chose to pour my background using Da Vinci fluid acrylics. I took the whole painting, board and all into the bath tub and did my pouring there. Worked like a charm..no muss, no fuss. I washed the excess paint down the drain with my detachable shower head. I may do all my pours in the tub from now on.

Beach Babies~commission

2010-09-13T09:49:00.000-07:00

I wanted these children to relate more to each other within the scene, possibly by connecting their shadows or their footprints in the sand. I drew a rough sketch of the background on a sketch pad, then each child separately on small bits of tracing paper so I could move them around and try different placements. It was a little like playing paper dolls. By bringing the boy closer to his sister and lowering his position his left hand 'fit' into her right hand perfectly. Issue solved.

The reference photo

I've received a commission to paint this adorable scene of two siblings, a sister(age 3) and her brother(age 14 months) enjoying a day at the beach. Even though I've only painted one child(a portrait) and I've never painted a beach scene, how could I resist this? I have until Christmas to complete this commission so I plan to take my time and hopefully do these babies justice.

New Easel!

2010-09-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

I just bought my very first easel! What(?!) you say? Truthfully, I probably would still be propping my work up against a wall or on boxes to work but after finishing my drawing of the peacock orchids I realized there was no way I could handle this large of a format without an easel. I found a great deal at Jerry's Artarama on a Renoir tabletop model (link). It cost about half what some of the tabletops I looked at were priced and Jerry's was even having a sale on the usual sale at the time. Got this for $39.99 US. I always miss sales so I was delighted to have caught this one. It just arrived this past Friday and I love it. It has a storage drawer with adjustable partitions, weighs practically nothing and will adjust to angles 0°-90°. Perfect for watercolor.

Plotting a Painting of Peacock Orchids

2010-08-31T12:16:00.001-07:00

I put the original photo into Irfanview, greyscaled it, then selected 'emboss'. Much to my delight(!) the nepeta in the foreground (which I plan to include and was dreading painting) looked just like textured acrylic gesso so the gesso will definitely play a part in this piece.

Art Nouveau? Needs a fancy graphic border.

I have a wonderful stone aggregate birdbath that didn't make it into the original photo. Ummm.....

I have not been updating my blog much lately but I have been working. Mostly I've been printing and packaging notecards for the Artists Market. Labor Day weekend is basically our last hoorah for tourist season, then art sales tend to drop off drastically during the winter and card sales have been really good this season. I also chose the photo I posted August 21st as a reference for a painting. I loved the comp, the lighting and I especially liked the silhouette of the grasshopper showing through one of the leaf blades. To me, it's little unexpected details like this that make a painting special. I've also played around with a couple of possible additions. See above.

Nick Simmons has mentioned several times that a painting will tell you what size it needs to be. In the case of the peacock orchids my usual working size of 16" x 20" wasn't going to cut it. Right now I estimate this painting will probably wind up taking roughly a full sheet....22" x 30". I've been itching to paint in a larger format lately but have been dragging my feet. I have nowhere to store this large of a painting, nothing to safely store it in and because my studio is so small, hardly any room to even paint it. Minor issues........

Gizmo the Cat

2010-08-25T12:39:00.001-07:00

I couldn't resist...I brought out her inner lion.

If there's anything harder than photographing a black cat it's photographing a pastel or colored pencil piece on a black background. }:( This pencil painting is of Gizmo, my youngest cat who I have tried many times to photograph without success. She's all black and her fur just 'eats' light. She hates the camera and usually scowls when I point it in her direction but I got lucky the other night and managed to snap a halfway decent pose that I felt I could work with. I posted earlier, then took it down because I noticed the perspective was off on the flooring in the background. After correcting the problem I can NOT get another acceptable photo of this piece so I'm posting what I have, warts and all. If I can get an acceptable photo later I will repost.

This is done on black Artagain with Prismacolor colored pencils.

Peacock Orchids~subject study

2010-08-23T11:34:00.000-07:00

Above is a more detailed life sketch, done yesterday when the weather was cooperating. I did it mostly to record the plant form but I think it has possibilities as a composition.

******************

Below is one of my life sketches with notes I took. Something I never noticed...the top most petal doesn't have the characteristic maroon markings of the other petals. If I had been given a pop quiz on this subject I would've failed. :(

Photo of the intricate 'braided' flowering stems. This year the peacock orchids have grown taller than usual...some topping 3 feet with as many as 10 blooms along the one main stem. With this many blooms on a stem the braided effect became very apparent and something I wanted to record for future reference.

A nice clear closeup of the anther and stamens...good to have.

The two images directly above...buds in various stages of opening.

As I was working out my drawing I realized I didn't know what my subject looked like from this angle. I didn't have a clear photo on hand at the time.

The other night I started making plans and doing sketches for a painting of peacock orchids. While sketching I realized I wasn't as familiar with these flowers as I originally thought. I've grown them for years but never really studied them. I was stumped as to how they looked from certain angles, how their stamens and anthers appeared, I had questions about the texture of the foliage, etc. so I decided to study my subject. I did several sketches from life, took notes and snapped multiple photos...long shots, closeups, super macros. I'm becoming so methodical lately. This is something I need to include in my process more often. If you work primarily from photos as I do you can't have too much information at hand. If at all possible take time to closely observe your subject/subjects, sketch, make notes and take lots photos from many different angles.

White

2010-08-21T15:48:00.000-07:00

A stand of peacock orchids among white nepeta in my Moongarden.

Peacock orchid~closeup

Hosta bloom

My gosh...has it been an entire week since I updated my blog?! Guess so!

I've decided I want to redo Pat's Sunflower in a larger format along with My Sunflowers but I've left these projects on the back burner for now for various reasons. I've been working with a lot of potent color lately so for a change I went into the garden this past week with my camera looking for something less colorful and what's the least colorful color but white. Actually white can be full of color, just not saturated color. Currently my Royal Standard green hostas are blooming. Normally I'm not crazy about hosta flowers. The stems are usually spindly and the flowers are an uninspiring shade of lavendar. The exception in my gardens are the Royal Standards. The stems are shorter and sturdier and the flowers are larger and more substantial plus they smell like lily-of-the-valley which I like. It's also bloomtime for the peacock orchids. I love these flowers and have painted them before. They make wonderful subjects. Now to decide which to paint.

Pat's Sunflower~center reworked

2010-08-15T11:55:00.001-07:00

This painting won't be going to market but I've sure had some fun with it. I used white acrylic gesso and dabbed it on the center of the flower with a small brush. My goal was to recover all the texture I lost in the first go-around. Today I went over the gesso with color. I didn't follow the reference too closely, instead putting various colors wherever I thought they looked good to me. I used a mixture of watercolor and fluid acrylic this time but stayed with the original palette. I truly like the results and would do this again, the next time a little wiser for my trouble.

Pat's Sunflower~Time to Start Over

2010-08-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

Well, sometimes things work out and sometimes they don't. In this case, they didn't but I will post my results anyway. I made a vow awhile back that I would share my failures as well as my successes.

I wound up using fluid acrylics for the entire painting. I had the brilliant idea that I would create texture for the center of the flower with white acrylic gesso, then lay in my foundation colors...the yellows, reds, etc. When those were dry I then planned to go over the same area with a very dark color and quickly wipe away this same dark color from the more raised areas of the texture leaving the deeper color in the crevices creating contrast and definition. It was a sound plan but could've been better executed. I didn't create enough texture for my idea to be successful. I've been using this painting to experiment on so it isn't going to waste.

There was a time if I produced a failed painting it used to throw me for a loop. I was only as good an artist as my last painting. Today I see it as nothing more than a learning experience. Happily I can say that now and really mean it. Rather than questioning my abilities, berating myself and quickly tossing the painting in the bin to hide the evidence I study the problem and figure out what went wrong and how I can do things differently next time. No failure is a waste. There's something to be learned every time I put brush and paint to paper, no matter what the outcome.

Pat's Sunflowers~WIP continued

2010-08-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

I transferred my drawing to Fabriano HP paper, then applied a layer of frisket film over top. I started cutting away areas of frisket and just kept going, basically deconstructing this sunflower. I have no idea if this will be a success or not but I had to try. I mixed up three containers of Da Vinci fluid acrylic...one with a mix of Phthalo blue/Hookers green, one with the same mixture plus Burnt Sienna added and the last with just Burnt Sienna, all diluted with water and I started pouring. I won't be able to update until Friday. My camera batteries died and they take 24 hours to fully recharge. In the meantime, I'll keep pouring and see what comes of it.

Pat's Sunflower~ WIP (quick update)

2010-08-10T13:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't made much progress on this to date. I spent the better part of an hour just sorting out the tangle of sepals by adding values. I don't dare go further before transferring this to my working paper or I'll lose my line drawing completely. I could easily simplify these complicated areas but the wonderful spiky looking sepals, all curled and twisted, are one of my favorite features on a sunflower.

I'm still not sure exactly how I want to tackle this project either. After my alterations in Elements parts of this flower now look very graphic while other areas retained their organic aesthetic. I'm trying to figure out how I can combine the two approaches and still make it work.