Crocus Collage

I just put the finishing touches on my latest collage and managed to take some decent photos even though it's so gloomy here. This one was an experiment. I got an idea in my head and decided to give it a whirl. I wanted the crocus to look delicate so I made some crystalline paper without color. This time I coated both sides of the tissue paper with gloss medium and it made it much sturdier. When the paper was completely dry I used a couple of stencils to add the poke-a-dots. I had started out by rolling on black acrylic paint over the entire surface of my paper aka substrate. Then I created my background with torn paper collage. For the blooms I painted each petal with white acrylic paint and gave them all a coat of gloss medium so I could add color with alcohol ink. I wanted the color layer underneath the surface. The crystalline paper was added after color was applied petal by petal and when that was dry I used sepia fluid acrylic to outline everything. I will say it looks great at a distance but appears kind of dirty up close due to the addition of the sepia acrylic. I do love the outlined look, though.

Frame Cards

My latest acrylic painting. No title yet but I was in the mood for tulips. Wait! There's the title!

I'm trying something new at the moment. Paintings don't seem to be moving this summer at the gallery but card sales are up. The trouble is there is not as much profit to be had so I need to get creative in more ways than one. I recently ordered a box of frame cards w/envelopes from Clearbags  and I'm working on more 5" x 7" paintings to frame in these little cards. They look quite nice when completed. Now we'll see if folks are willing to pay $20 for a card with an original piece of artwork  included. I have some customized stickers I ordered from Zazzle last year that I will apply to the back of the cards to personalize them even more. 

Revisions

I've spent the last couple of weekends tweaking some older paintings and completely redoing one. I rarely do this(read never) so something has shifted in my brain. I do believe I've learned a few things (finally!!)so I actually had solutions to problems these paintings presented at the time of their completion(?). I redid the trilliums but truthfully I may like the first version better. I did think the first painting looked a bit sloppy but now it's looking more painterly. Anyhoo, one painting I was extremely happy to rescue was the Great Dane. Loved the dog, hated the background. At the time I was totally stumped as how to handle it so the outcome was pretty bad. This past weekend the solution was obvious. Another painting just needed more warmth. Yet another needed deeper shadows. I'm on a roll.

Miss Willmott's Ghost...again

I can't get enough of this plant, it seems. I took more photos, this time closer to sunset to capture different lighting. The Aglaya daisies are blooming now and they look wonderful alongside Miss Willmott. This afternoon I did another painting, this time more loose. I painted the entire piece with a #2 squirrel quill. All very wet into wet.

Miss Willmott ~ WIP 2-3 & completed

Complete

WIP 3

WIP 2

Rather than keep posting updates I skipped ahead, taking photos as I progressed. I just finished the painting this afternoon and managed to get a pretty decent image for once. I think I've found the perfect spot for photographing my watercolors, weather permitting.

As I went along I wound up tweaking my palette a little although no new tube colors were added. I also wanted this to have a loose look but not go overboard. I did employ a spray bottle in several areas and let the paint run where it may. Then I went back in with a darker shade, carving out the shapes lost that were important. I didn't worry about color accuracy or capturing details. My intention was to give this a morning kinda 'vibe'...soft light and muted colors. I think I accomplished my mission. 

Note: Sorry for the blurry images if you choose to enlarge them. I don't know why that's happening. Man, it's always something.

Miss Willmott ~ WIP 1

Yesterday I managed to transfer my drawing to working paper, in this case Arches 140# CP paper. I laid in some background color and today I started work on the flowers. It's difficult to get certain colors to appear correctly because they are so neutral. In fact, when I tried to scan my color study the scanner read it as a black & white photo so I had to photograph it. When completed, this painting will be approx. 21" x 9". Sorry the painting is photographed in pieces. I was too lazy to set up my easel and do a proper job of it.  

Miss Willmott ~ color study

The final

First layer

This is the palette I have in mind. Very neutral colors with a decent range of values. I'm questioning my choice of a 'pop' color, which is Quin. violet, but it looks better IRL. I'm also using some negative painting on this sample. It's a much softer look. I am reminding myself along the way that white doesn't have to be truly white to appear that way. So far my main color choices are cerulean blue, permanent yellow and perylene green...all neutralized with either DS Moonglow or neutral tint.

Miss Willmott ~ sketch completed

A little confusion in the center but you get the general idea

Part deux

I completed the second half of my sketch and put the two together in a panorama using Irfanview. I used scanned images and, without the aid of Photoshop, I did the best I could to merge the two drawings. Not an exact match but I did my best. I have a palette in mind but I want to do a few color studies before committing to a larger painting.

Miss Willmott's Ghost Blooms Again

This has become an annual event in my moon garden. Miss Willmott's Ghost(eryngium giganteum) aka Giant White Sea Holly is a biannual plant that, once she matures enough to bloom, dies afterward but she's a prolific self seeder. This has been a stellar year with not one but six plants reaching maturity. The tallest are almost 3' high with many flower bracts. I hope to get more photos of her before she kicks the proverbial bucket. One plant has popped up in the middle of my Golden Tiara hosta, another in my August Moon hosta, and there's no digging her out without causing major harm to the hostas. Miss Willmott has a very deep and tough taproot. I may have to take some cuttings. I just harvested about 20 garlic scapes and together, they might make an interesting a floral arrangement.   

Faux Batik Tulips ~ alcohol ink on waxed paper

Here's my latest 'batik' painting. This time I tried a floral. Just some simple pink tulips and their foliage. I'm working small...all are approx. 5" x 7". I haven't mounted this one yet but I may try adhering it to Yupo rather than w/c paper this time. The w/c paper had a tendency to buckle from the moisture in the Mod Podge. I plan to do a photo demo of this technique for my next post.

Ants on my plants

I got up earlier than usual today. I'm a night owl so I normally sleep late. It's a glorious summer morning. Perfect temp, humidity level and the sun is shining. I took my Canon S5 IS outside and took a few floral macros. I won't say what flower this is. I'll let you guess. It wasn't until I uploaded my photos that I noticed a surprise...two ants enjoying the summer flowers as well.

Watercolor on Gesso

Another small work, this time on acrylic gesso coated 90# Fabriano watercolor paper. I really love working with transparent watercolor on gesso. The paints reacts very different on this surface and if I add texture to the gesso while it's still moist, it creates the opportunity for some interesting effects later on. This is a fantasy floral, no reference used. I find, while texturing the gesso, if I don't have any plan in mind beforehand and simply allow the resulting texture to guide me, I can get more spontaneous results.

Bearded Iris ~ Complete

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

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

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.

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.

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!".

Pat's Sunflower~center reworked

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~WIP

My line drawing w/beginnings of a value study

After I had my way with this flower in Elements 6.0

The original image..a real beauty :)

One of my Facebook friends, Pat was kind enough to share some photos of her sunflowers with me. I chose one of the images and put it into Elements, played with different crops, applied various filters and adjusted the colors. I finally came up with an image I like. I've just started working on the line drawing and value study. I'll be starting out with watercolor but I'm pretty sure this will wind up as a mixed media piece before it's over.

Sun Kings~Complete

The completed painting. The Zig marker is very shiny gold but I'm not sure that's apparent in this image.

I've removed the old frisket and placed a fresh piece over the crow. I then cut around the shape of the crow with an Exacto knife, removed the cutout and went over the exposed paper with black marker. I peeled off the rest of the frisket when the marker was dry and Voila! A black crow.

....I think. I'm really not sure if this needs something more or not. I'll have to look at it for a few days before I decide. I completed the crows and I love them. I'm wondering if I need to add more. I wound up removing the Frisket film from the crows, laying on a fresh piece of Frisket, creating a stencil of sorts with my Exacto knife, then coloring in the shapes with a permanent Sharpie. I also used black marker to color in gaps in the wax on the flower centers. I used my gold metallic Zig Painty to embellish the flowers, one stem and to paint all the leaves. Zig Paintys will mark over just about anything because they are oil based and they went over the paraffin very well.