Landscape #2 ~ Complete

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

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?)

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

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

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 ?

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

...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

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

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

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

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

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

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.