Julie's Morels~Complete

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Contemplation~WIP 1

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

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

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

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

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!

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!

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!

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

Making Christmas Cards

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

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'

Bandit & 8 Ball~update

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

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

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

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

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

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

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'.