Chris Campbell Watercolors

CHRISTMAS CARDS

2012-01-22T08:51:00.000-08:00

I have never posted these two Christmas cards. The first is the one I was going to send out this year, but never got to do it. Don't know what happened. The second one is done on yupo in a sort of monoprint style.

ON INSPECTION

2012-01-22T08:48:00.000-08:00

Before they moved to St. Louis, my grandkids would take turns coming over for Sundays. It was Iris's turn. She had on her pink fuzzy hat and was intent on inspecting a small plastic dog with a magnifying glass. I don't know why.

Mine is not to question it...just to paint the moment.

FOR THE BIRDS

2012-01-22T08:37:00.000-08:00

I was reminded that I've never posted my paintings from the trip to Parrot Island, a bird sanctuary in Tennessee that we visited on our last reunion.

The first is a sun conure, done in watercolor pencils. I really enjoyed teaching myself more about watercolor pencils and doing an entire painting in them. Until this time, I'd only used the pencils for touch ups or details that were hard for me to do with just a brush. (I don't have steady hands with tiny brushes.)

The second of the blue parrots was one I considered a total flop. The original background was just too muddy. But I cropped away until it was this skinny, used it as a bookmark, and I like it way better. (Backgrounds are my weakest area)

This bird was also in the sanctuary. I believe it eventually landed on my sister Judy's hair. We were able to get into the large cage and photograph these birds.
This little guy is done on regular 140 lb Arches cp, doing the background wash before anything else was painted.

My Grandma Dorothy

2012-01-22T08:31:00.000-08:00

This is my father's mother, Dorothy Mae Mackey Dearing. I painted this from one of Dad's favorite pictures of his mom. The greatest difficulty was that it was one of those old fashioned studio portraits that hand painted over the lips and cheeks. So it was difficult to see where the true lip line and cheek structure was. It gave me a lot of pleasure to see how much Dad liked his surprise Christmas gift.

I printed it in two ways: the original color version, and the black and white on brown paper. I liked the way they both turned out.

TILE MOSAIC PROJECTS

2012-01-22T08:18:00.000-08:00

Since Katy gave us a set of coasters she'd made from tiles for Christmas, I keep getting ideas for things to do with plain white tiles. I printed out some of my paintings, put them on tiles with mat medium, and sprayed them with acrylic to seal them. The second picture is an example of some I've done. You might recognize some of the paintings.

The first painting I printed out as a 5 x 7 picture, cut into small squares, and with mat medium, I applied the squares to a piece of watercolor paper that had an ugly painting underneath. I wanted to see what would happen if I printed out a large painting, cut into 3 5/8 inch squares, and applied those to white 4" tiles. I am seriously thinking of trying that, now that I see how it might look.

Problems: When I print on plain paper, sometimes the ink smears when I put a layer of mat medium over it. (It doesn't smear on the layer that I use to glue it to the tile.) This is fine for soft edged things, like the birds. But on some paintings, especially those with white backgrounds, it is too obviously a smear. This smear problem doesn't exist with, say, magazine pages. Just those I've printed on plain paper in my printer.

Problem #2: How can I put the overcoat of mat medium on without the paintbrush strokes showing? I have tried buffing them out when they are dry with a piece of steel wool....too much work, and not too effective. I haven't tried rolling with a breyer yet because I am afraid of smearing the ink more.

Wiley--Ready for Roundup

2012-01-01T12:11:00.000-08:00

Lisa Snell, who teaches in our school, took a photo of her cat that I just loved, and
I finally got some free time in November to start painting it. (I was working on the Pontiac for several months before that.) I finished it in December. It's one of the few
paintings that I have done just for myself, not for a show or anything else. I think it is actually the only one I did in 2011 that wasn't a gift or a commission.

There were a lot of issues to work out. The texture of the saddle is something I am most pleased with. First I miskited out the white threading and metallic areas. I laid down about four or five colors (quin gold, some pinks, cerulean blue, and burnt sienna) in a wet wash, and then lay wrinkled saran wrap over it until it was completely dry. Then I copied the saddle pattern onto that and negative painted all the darks. It was a bit tedious, but it was fun to see the pattern emerging.

In the photo the saddle is set on a 2nd story railing. Here I wanted it to look more like it is on a fence. I added the saddle blanket to pull some interest down and to give more texture.

Backgrounds are always an issue for me. I get so excited about diving into a painting, that the background often remains unresolved. In the photo the background is neutral brown with some light coming in from some source. But I wanted the cat's face and eyes to really be a focal point, so I wanted the background to have some cool blue to contrast with all the warms in the picture. I had to resort to some fluid acrylic to get the pop I was after.

Toby: Good Therapy

2012-01-01T12:06:00.000-08:00

Right before Christmas a good friend asked if I would do a portrait of their therapy
dog, Toby, part Lab/part shih tsu. I didn't know if I could pull it off on time. I usually
like to spend a lot of time thinking about a painting and getting a critique and advice
from artist friends who do a lot of this kind of thing. It is done from a photo, but I also
know Toby, so that helps. So, since it too was a present, I couldn't post it until now.

BABY PROJECTS GALORE

2012-01-01T12:00:00.001-08:00

Most of what I have done in 2011 was for family and friends, and I realized I never posted any of it, except for the dendrobiums that I did for Bo's wedding invitations.
So here are two playful things I did for the Katy's twins, Lucy and Violet. I made quilts with appliqued centers based on this pattern, and some decoupage blocks along with the same theme.

'49 Pontiac/Doug's First Car

2012-01-01T05:51:00.001-08:00

I have been waiting for a few months to be able to post this painting I did of Doug's first car, a '49 Pontiac. Craig wanted to give it to him as a surprise, and it wouldn't have been much of a surprise had he seen it on here first! It was a challenge for me, since I am not a mechanical person.

2011-11-07T15:49:00.000-08:00

I visited Mom in Tennessee at the end of October, and I showed her how to do batik. Usually it would involve six or more value changes, but I went for just four, for simplicity's sake.

We just traced some fall leaves on kinwashi paper, then waxed out the whites, and proceded as usual for a batik. At the end you are supposed to crinkle the wax and add ink. I did that to mine, and was only so-so about the result. Mom decided not to ink hers, and she kept a beautiful clean glow about hers. I like them both, but am especially proud of Mom's. She should be too!

Dendrobiums

2011-03-05T08:01:00.001-08:00

This is a painting I finished this morning, about 9 by 7, framed to 10 x 13 format. I was asked to paint some dendrobiums for a wedding announcement.

At first I thought I was using hot press paper because it had a very smooth texture. Then I realized it was Lanaquerelle, which I don't usually use. But for smooth flower petals, I liked it a lot.

Jody, Maribelle, and Baby Jonas

2010-11-27T08:58:00.001-08:00

This painting has a history.

I had just finished most of the painting of Jody and Maribelle, and had set it aside until I could work on it again. Glenn was home from knee surgery, and had taken it off the desk for some reason. When I came home from work, I found it on the floor, and it had two rips in it and some creases.

I guess all artists have times when they struggle between their relationships and their artwork....this was one of them.

I took it to class, where we had a "can this marriage/artwork be saved" session. Sandy came up with the idea of disguising parts with rice paper. We looked through her very interesting stash, and found this one. I decided to do the entire background in rice paper, cutting carefully around the figures and applying it with mat medium. I also pulled some of the threads of the paper into their hair.

After seeing the finished product, Ginger suggested I thank my husband for ripping my painting, since it forced me to find an alternative solution, which ended up better than my original plan. I'm not planning to thank him, but I didn't kill him either.

Barn Wax Batik

2010-11-27T08:53:00.000-08:00

I took a wax batik class from Sandy Maudlin Nov 13 and 14. I'd had this picture in mind to do for a long time. It is my sister, Judy's, barn that you can see from Mom and Dad's back door.

I've done batiks several other times (I counted about 8 or 9), but I forget a lot of stuff in the process, and Sandy has added some things to make it better. I am pretty happy with the way this turned out.

One thing I do differently, is that I don't use ink for the last part, but a very dark mixture of watercolor paint. And I am more careful about applying it between the cracks, so I don't overdo the black crackling look. If I don't get enough on, after all the wax has been ironed off, I crinkle parts in my hand, and just put black over the tops of the crinkles until I have the effect I want.

Patrick

2010-09-24T14:52:00.000-07:00

Here is a recent painting of a friend's
German Shepherd. It's only the third time
I've tried to do a dog. It's about 11 x 12 unmatted. It's a Christmas gift for June.

I was having some problems with spotting in the background. Since I'm not the neatest painter in the world, I end up that way sometimes. I found that going over the background with white gouache helped blend in the background with the more noticeable spots and gave it a mistier look.
I don't usually like to use gouache with it because it can make it look chalky if you're not careful, but I like the effect this time.

2010-09-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a batik I did of one of Katy's photos. It doesn't really look like her, but I thought the style was pretty cool. This one is a cropped version of the first one. I have to study it a bit before I decide how much to crop. Maybe the title should be "Star Gazer" or something like that. The finished painting uncropped and unmatted is about 12" by 13".

Rose of Sharon/yupo and masa

2010-08-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

I did the same rose of sharon picture two different methods. First I did it in yupo, and then masa paper. The masa one is around 11 x 12; the yupo is around 11 x 14. The masa paper flower is the one on top, the yupo on the bottom.

Baby Portrait of Ayanna

2010-07-16T14:42:00.000-07:00

Ayanna was born this past winter, and I finally got to see her so I could make a painting for her parents.
She's really so cute, it's hard to do her justice, but this comes pretty close.

Done on Arches CP 140 lb. The original is 10 x 12.

I wanted to compare what it would look like with white background to blue background. I had originally thought white would show her skin color better, but now I think the blue does.

The Last Iris

2010-06-19T20:13:00.000-07:00

I just finished this painting of an iris. Made the big mistake of not doing a value study first. I just started in on the iris, and really liked the way it turned out. I did a lot of glazing to make the petals look velvety.

Then I started doing leaves and background and thought I'd ruined it forever. My teacher and friends in class suggested I darken the background so I like it BETTER, but I'm still not in love with it.

The main thing I like about this is that it is a step in achieving one of my goals, which is to rely more on my own sketches for paintings and less on photos. I sketched this out first in the book Sandy bound and gave me a few years ago. I did take a picture because I can't paint faster than the flowers fade and die. Next time....value study.

Quilt block paintng

2010-05-08T14:26:00.001-07:00

Sharon Roeder taught a class for DHAC today. We took 6" canvas squares and painted a basic shape on with acrylic paints., just to undercoat the canvas and give a guideline. We painted watercolor on tissue and used texturizing techniques to create a "fabric" for our quilts. We layered tissue paper over our shapes. When I was finished, I had to repaint some of the outlines in acrylic for mine, because they'd gotten lost. I think they will look nice hanging together.
Thanks Sharon.

abstract pastel

2010-04-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

Went to a DHAC class on abstract taught by Donna Ashley today that was a lot of fun. We started with a blind contour drawing of a portrait, outlined the most important lines in dark, then filled in with pastel.

This is one I did of Vale. Yes, I do know it is out of proportion...it's an abstract. Someone said it looked like he was an Avatar. When Vale saw it, he knew it was him... but he said, "My hair is brown." Didn't say a word about the blue-green skin, just the hair.

Bethany's wedding bouquet

2010-04-10T19:42:00.000-07:00

I must have weddings on the brain lately. This is a very large painting of my niece's wedding bouquet in October. The painting is about 30 x 22 unmatted, unframed. It was so large, I had trouble stitching it and shrinking it in my elements program.

daffodil card

2010-04-10T19:23:00.000-07:00

I just painted this as a wedding shower card for a friend's wedding. It is on Strathmore aquarius 80 lb, which is very nice for cards. It is the right weight, it doesn't buckle, so it's smooth. These came from the garden courtyard at our school.

Yellow Roses

2010-03-07T15:25:00.000-08:00

These are some roses Candy gave me for a special occasion. The finished painting is 22 x 27. I left all the little imperfections in the flowers to remind me that our gifts to God may not always be "perfect" but they are always cherished.

Tif and Austin

2010-02-07T10:38:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I forget to put on my blog whatever I've been working on. I did this as a lesson for someone who wanted to do a portrait of her daughter. So now, what do I do with it? Anyway, I finished it today, and can't decide if I want to crop it down or not.

Not cropped....?

Cropped....?

more kids abstracts

2010-02-05T09:49:00.000-08:00

Abstracts from Taylor and Rowan.

2010-02-05T09:43:00.000-08:00

Here are abstracts from Emily, Felicity and Aimee.

Kids class--abstract

2010-02-05T09:10:00.000-08:00

Our kids class did a small and simple abstract idea that was a simplified version of what Sandy taught us about the "good white shape." I'd give credit to the artist who teaches this, I think his name is John Salminen, but I'm terrible with names.

We started with four items...a Coke glass, a kids curly straw, an egg beater, and a clothespin. We drew each on a 7 x 9 piece of paper, filling the whole space. Then we redrew each one onto a piece of watercolor paper, rearranging the shapes to our own design.

Next, we miskited out shapes we wanted to keep white and spattered with miskit. We tried to find a "path a mouse could take" that could begin or end on three sides of the paper; as if the mouse could walk a maze from one side of the paper to the other. After the miskit dried we applied a layer of light to midvalue colors that we liked.

After the first layer dried, we put in areas of darkest dark of different sizes, using our drawn shapes as guides. We don't want to overwhelm the picture with too much dark. Make sure some of the darkest darks are right next to the white areas. Then we painted in some of our shapes with more of a middle value.

We removed the miskit and made adjustments for the way we wanted our painting to look. See some of the kids' work in next post.

20 minute challenge week 3

2010-02-05T08:49:00.000-08:00

Here are images of a 20-minute challenge that our class has taken. Sandy Maudlin challenged us to paint 3 20-minute paintings a week. (But she promises to up the ante later on) She got this from another artist that you can find on Sandy's blog. The rules are simple: set your timer for 20 minutes and paint FROM A 3-D OBJECT IN FRONT OF YOU , not a picture. Drawing is an option, but that has to be part of the 20-minutes. So most of these are not drawn first--the only one I drew a little on first is the candle and sconce. These are in the same order I did them. Note the basket is a bit torn...Katy's dog truly ate my homework!

I found some advantages. For one thing, anyone can commit to 20 minutes. Once you've done that 20 minutes, you're "in the zone" and want to paint more. Another is that you're freer to experiment with papers and paint--it's just a 20-minute investment. So some of these are on regular paper, some on yupo. (The ones that look really shiny are yupo). Some are watercolor, two are watercolor pencil.

So...if you're up to the challenge...Try it! (these are posted in the order that I painted them.)

Sister Cahoon & Sister Ferrin

2010-01-18T19:16:00.001-08:00

This was Sister Ferrin's first time to paint, and she did a great job.

Some day I'll actually remember what this is called, but it's a great technique for a first-time painter. You can paint wet into dry or wet-on-wet. You just start with three primaries; paint small amount of one color, then let another color bleed into it. It's a good way to teach about charging color, learn to control the amount of water you use, and decide which you like best. Sister Cahoon went for the bold look, and Sister Ferrin opted for a more subtle look, but they both looked great. Recognize the Young Women's symbol? It's a nice project for the YW program.

Missionary Christmas Cards

2010-01-02T08:32:00.000-08:00

Here are some of our favorite missionaries, Sister Holbrook (now a civilian), and Sister Cahoon right before Sister H. left to go home. They wanted to have a last art fling. Sister H. did one of a sister missionary preaching to the birds; Sis.C's was of a snowman teacher, because both her parents are teachers.

It's great fun to paint with the missionaries, something I've done off and on for about two years.

A Christmas Card

2009-11-20T18:58:00.000-08:00

Emily wanted to do a poinsettia and had a general layout in mind: a poinsettia in the corner and a star over a snowy hill in the background. So we came up with this.

I think anyone would be happy to get this card!

Bubble Painting

2009-10-26T19:26:00.001-07:00

I followed the recipe given by Sandy Maudlin to do bubble painting in my young student class. It was 2 oz acrylic paint, 3 oz dish soap, and 6 oz water. Mix thoroughly. I had thought you’d need a big bowl to blow bubbles, but we had to use smaller ones, like Cool Whip containers, and they worked fine. Blow bubbles through a straw, and when they get over the top of the container, gently lay the watercolor paper over them. Use several colors.

Here are two projects our class did with the bubble paints. First we did a painting of a bear in a bathtub and bubbled over it. In the other painting, we bubbled the paper first, then decided on a painting to put over it. This one was of a butterfly.

PS: I DID warn them not to suck in…but one of them did. YUCK.

“Stained Glass” Fish

2009-10-26T19:15:00.001-07:00

Our class did a simple but effective way to learn what colors will do when mixed together.

Supplies needed are simple: a spray bottle, coffee filters, paper plates, magic markers, frames for “stained glass” objects (we used fish purchased from Dick Blick, but you can cut your own), and some iridescent medium for watercolor.

First put the coffee filter on the plate. Using regular magic markers, scribble patches of color, using several colors.

Put a little (about a tsp. ) of iridescent medium into about 4 oz. of water in a spray bottle. Saturate the coffee filter until the colors run together. (The iridescent medium will leave a sparkle when it dries.)

Dry completely. It only takes about a minute with a hairdryer.

Carefully pop the “stained glass” forms apart. Apply glue to the inside of one side. (These came from Dick Blick) Then gently lay the dried coffee filter on top of the glue.

Trim the excess filter away from the form.

Apply liquid glue to the inside over the filter. Make sure to apply glue to all the lines. Then carefully lay the second part of the stained glass pattern over the first.

Thread some fishing line through the hold in the top. Hang near a light for a fun sun catcher.

Ludlow Hill Park

2009-10-19T19:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a very bad image of the painting of Ludlow Hill Park I put in the Sharon Woods Art Show. I framed it before I had a chance to scan it.

My class of girls from the summer has started up again and I'm very excited about it. They are so fun! We've done some bubble painting and some light catchers. I'll try to get some photos of their projects, but I usually get so caught up in doing them, I forget to take photos.

2009-10-19T19:24:00.000-07:00

The show at Sharon Woods was a lot of fun. I really enjoy seeing all the different artistic styles and meeting the artists. One of the five paintings I put in was this yupo version of Lawrenceburg's Ludlow Hill park early morning.

Matting artwork

2009-07-17T05:51:00.000-07:00

In this class the kids learned to mat their own artwork. We talked about the math of how to figure out how big your mat board needs to be. We discussed how large a mat is needed to best enhance the painting, and what colors would make the painting look best.

Rowan is holding an almost-finished painting done on masa paper. (Done in the last two classes) She just has to finish the brushes.

T.B. is holding a mat that she is embellishing with designs in colored pencil.

Emily is holding her white with black core mat for the Steve-Blackburn style painting she did of butterflies. (Done in the last two weeks of class, along with a masa paper painting). This is going to be part of her 4-H exhibit in the Butler County 4-H Fair. Good luck, Emily!

Creating textures

2009-07-17T05:34:00.001-07:00

Here Avery and Rowan show their exploration in ways of creating textures. The kids made six spaces on their papers. On the first they lay down yellow, blue, and red, then salted with three different salts to see how each reacted in each color. Another space was used to lay down color, then when dry, lift off color over a stencil with a sponge. In a third space they used masking tape to tape off a picture, then painted around it. In a fourth space, they wet the middle, then spattered the whole thing. Then they spritzed the bottom part with water. This let them see three separate textures they can create just with spattering. In the fifth space they lay down color, then put crumpled saran wrap over it while wet, creating this very wrinkled, icy look. In the last - and I think they had the most fun with this - they put a drop of very wet color on the paper and blew it with a straw, repeating over and over again.

Student Trees

2009-06-18T14:49:00.000-07:00

Here is some student work for this beginner lesson on trees.

We began by learning to sketch a tree "skeleton" on graph paper. They learned to compare the dimensions of the height with the width and other important parts of the tree. I like to use graph paper when they are first learning to draw so they can make quick size comparisons.

They transferred the pictures onto wc paper. Then they sponged yellow all over the outline of the leaf portion. Next came a sponging of orange for TB, green for Emily and Felicity, then a final sponge of a darker color. Feicity used salt on her leaves to create some texture.

After drying the leaves they painted the trunk and limbs. I had them wet the paper first, add some burnt sienna, and darken around the edges with blue to give the trunk a rounded appearance.

I encouraged the students to choose some item that would tell the viewer the size of their trees. TB drew in a squirrel, park bench, and lamppost and road. FL drew in a park bench and a sign and grass in the foreground. Emily opted not to add anything.

Here are some web sites that might help in learning about sketching trees.

sibleyfineart.com
squidoo.com/draw-a-tree
dianewrightfineart.com/drawing-trees-1.htm

Beginning Portrait class

2009-06-09T08:59:00.000-07:00

Here is F.L.'s student work for today. First we learned about how to proportion a face, using a gridded paper as a guideline. Who knew there was so much math in art?

After drawing their own face, the students took a pre-drawn face and began "sculpting" it with one color of paint. We began blocking in all the light colors first, then the darkest, then the medium shades. Keeping it monochrome helped focus on values instead of getting the right skin tones.

A good web site to look into portrait basics is www.portrait-artist.org

TRADING CARDS

2009-06-06T16:08:00.000-07:00

There's a new fad in artists circles - trading cards. They are 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches. You paint/draw/whatever one for each of your friends, and they do the same, then you trade. Voila - you have lots of interesting original mini paintings to remember your friends by.

We did this in class about three weeks ago, right around Mothers Day. I did a portrait of each person in our class for my trading cards. (Yes, it is hard to paint a likeness so small.) The portraits are, in order: Mary, Paul, Kathy, Ginger, June, Joane, Joan, Maryanne, and Sandy M.

The seven other cards are by others in the class. I really loved getting them! Thank you Kathy, Joan, Sandy, June, Joane, Ginger, and Maryanne.
(Given in order of the cards)

New Classes

2009-06-05T07:30:00.000-07:00

I just started my first regular class for younger students. I've tutored individual kids and adults, and I've taught adults classes. I've taught large community driven classes for kids, but I prefer the smaller classes where they can get more personal attention. They also have opportunities to express what they are interested in learning, and we can steer the class in that direction. Interest equals learning in my book.

I am really impressed with the kids so far. I will try to post some of their work on-line now and then. Also some brief lessons in case they miss a class.

I also discovered some good on-line sites for portrait drawing, which is what our next class will be on. (Man, they want the hard stuff first!) A good basic one is portrait-artist.org. They use some of the principles from The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards.

Tulip Batik

2009-06-05T07:11:00.001-07:00

Candy gave me some beautiful red tulips for Easter. I photographed their progress as they blossomed, and loved how interesting the shapes were, when I normally associate tulips with kind of a boring same-same shape. We were doing batik in class, and I decided to take two blossoms and reverse the images in a quilt-like pattern.

The unmatted painting is about 15 x 16 inches.

Also, Sandy had some cool new "toys" to play with. As usual, my non-technical mind can't remember the names, but they are like copper stamps that you heat in the hot wax and stamp shapes, like the star, or leaf patterns on the side. I used a rice paper (again, name challenged) that had the checkered background. I like the result. The only draw-back was how fragile that rice paper is compared to kinwashe or thai unru.
I originally intended to mount these on a canvas. Sandy M. had done one, and boy, I loved the look!!!! I didn't though. Just mounted it on regular Canson, which gives a nice white undertone. Also Maryanne W. finished one last night, and it looks gorgeous!!! Maryanne, get a blog so we can see some of your beautiful work!!!

Dogwoods

2009-06-05T07:02:00.000-07:00

While on a walk at Ludlow Hill Park I saw this dogwood tree in bloom and liked the odd ways some of the petals curled. Three weeks later I ended up with this. I really like the S-curve overall design and got some good advice from the class.

I painted on Canson (which I don't normally like because I like to lift, and Canson seems to destroy the paper when I lift.) Oddly enough, another painting that I really like I did on Canson - the '49 Hudson. (see previous blogs) I also tried putting lifting preparation under the petals to see if it helped any. I think it kept the Canson from losing its sizing completely. I'll have to try it on something I am more familiar with before I can make a judgment on lifting prep.

This original painting is 10 x 20 inches.

Stargazers

2009-03-20T15:32:00.001-07:00

Here are the stargazer lilies I was working on. These are adapted from some of Kim's photos she sent me.
They are done on Arches 140 lb.
The finished painting is about 12 X 16,
and I plan to mat it to about a 16 X 20.

Contented Cat in a Bird Sanctuary

2009-02-15T19:10:00.000-08:00

I've painted lately, but haven't done much I really like...or I've liked it at first, then messed it up.

I kind of like this little guy, though. In Sept. we were at Parrot Mountain in Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge. On the way out there was this very contented cat. I thought he has the life-a cat in a bird sanctuary!

San Jose Mission---Yupo

2008-10-30T19:21:00.001-07:00

I attempted the same picture of the San Jose Mission on a piece of 14 x 20 yupo. I like all the textures you can achieve, but I had to be careful to keep some quiet areas.

Fun with Cropping

2008-10-24T08:50:00.001-07:00

Here are some potential crops from the painting below. Opinion?

What I Wish I'd Done

2008-10-24T08:41:00.001-07:00

This painting on the bottom started out to be a demo on painting old wood, such as a barn side or old cabin. It was also a bit of a demo on flower stems. But I felt like I messed up on the flower and didn't leave enough white, didn't make it fresh and loose enough. The picture of the flower on the top is much better. I miskited off some whites, including the yellow center. Then I painted cerulean in the darks of the flower. After that I put a yellow band across the center, pulling light warm reds from the top and darker, cooler reds on the bottom. The stems were then brushed with quin gold, some more cerulean, and some dabs of red. I like the one on the left better.

Also, I added the man in the window after I decided this picture was a lost cause anyway. I felt that it added some purpose to the painting. In my mind he is painting the same thing I am, only from the inside of the house.

Fall Pictures/pumpkins and begonias

2008-10-24T08:37:00.001-07:00

Here are two recent masa paper paintings. Both are rather small, around 8 x 10 unmatted.

I thought the paper lent itself well to the subject of the begonias, with the wrinkled leaves.

San Jose Mission

2008-10-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

This is my first attempt at a painting of the San Jose Mission in San Antonio. I had made several postcard sized color studies first, trying out different color schemes, and liked the feeling of this one the best.

This painting is about 11 x 15 unmatted on Arches cold press 140 lb. paper. I am going to try it on yupo also.

2nd try

2008-08-31T07:22:00.001-07:00

Better cropped? Not better cropped? Add an M&M in the foreground to the left?

Still Life with M&M's

2008-08-30T17:28:00.001-07:00

This started out to be a simple still life to demonstrate painting round objects and glass bottles. I decided to use the "great white shape" idea, even though it was just a simple little picture. I need the practice.

Comments from my very picky husband include the idea that no one will know what that odd white shape in the background is. If you paint you'll figure it out--it's the back side of my pallette. His other comment was that I didn't put all the detail from the labels, and the bottle cap wasn't perfect.

You do have to be careful painting bottles--if they aren't perfectly symmetrical, it shows.

The M & M's were an afterthought to cover up a spot on the paper, but they were fun to paint.

Can't think of what to name it--maybe "Life's Little Pleasures."

Gambles Window, Aurora

2008-08-23T19:08:00.001-07:00

Some of my students asked how to paint brick, so here is an example. This is a window in the old Gamble's building in downtown Aurora.

I don't usually paint in all the bricks. I prefer to "suggest" them. But I wanted the brick to be "boring" so that the interest is on the window.

First I painted in a base wash of burnt sienna/some reds/some quin gold. Before it dried I sprayed a fine mist over it to get some texture.

I used a ruler and different colors of watercolor pencil to get the bricks done. I darkened the shadows. Later I painted over many of those lines with paint, but I needed to see my lines.

For the top window I dulled it with blues and oranges so it would put the attention on the lower window.

The hardest part for me was the arch of bricks, getting them right so they won't look weird.

Daytona Beach, July 2008

2008-08-23T13:07:00.000-07:00

This top picture is the painting I began in Carol Carter's workshop. It is of Jody's two kids and me on Daytona Beach.

The second picture I played with on Elements, to see, if I did it over again, what I might change. I like having more white space for drama. It's an idea for my next attempt.

Carol Carter workshop

2008-08-09T19:49:00.000-07:00

I've been enjoying Carol Carter's workshop so much! This first pic of an exercise in painting with two colors. She taught us to put in a wash background first, using just prussian blue and burnt sienna, working light to dark, warm to cool.

This beach pic was from the second day. We again put in the background first. Then using just three primaries, worked on the shapes. One shape is using yellow in the center, blue on the left, red on the right. The next shape uses blue in the center, red on the left, yellow on the right. The last shape uses red in the center, blue on the left, yellow on the right. I had so much fun with this. It is obviously not my normal way of doing things.

Most everyone painted cantaloupe, but I was in a beach mood.

The tulips was from the first day, using a wash in the background and again a limited palette of two colors. Carol purposely forms "blossoms" but I was not very successful with creating them. Probably would be easy if I weren't trying.

Project #7

2008-08-02T14:28:00.000-07:00

I've been having trouble posting to this blog today. Hope this one keeps.

This is a continuation of the project of using one photo reference, changine the composition type and the design element. This is using a bridge design, texture is the element. It is on yupo.

2008-05-05T19:32:00.000-07:00

These next seven posts are of my daughter's senior art project. She just graduated from Southern Virginia Univ. She wrote and illustrated an original child's book and displayed it as if it were formatted to be a book. They are in watercolor and ink. Each set is to have the perspective as an adult would see things juxtaposed with the vision a child might have of the same scene. Two different realities. I wish you could also see the text of the book.

I am very proud of Sandy for pushing herself outside her comfort zone in this project. Hope you all enjoy seeing some of her work.

2008-05-05T19:31:00.000-07:00

This second painting is one of my favorites. The mother sees only an ocean; the child sees mermaids waving good-bye to her.

2008-05-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

This third image in Sandy's senior show is how the mother sees only a desert, but the child sees cowboys and Indians.

2008-05-05T19:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the glare on these pictures.

Here Sandy shows how the mother sees mountains, but the child sees a dragon flying over them.

2008-05-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

This is the second to last image in Sandy's story. The child sees unicorns in the distance, but the mother sees only a golden plain.

2008-05-05T19:17:00.000-07:00

Here is the last image in Sandy's book. It's about how they finally arrive at their destination, a small run down shack, but the mother and the daughter have the same vision of it--a castle of their own. She chose to make it after an oriental pagoda instead of the traditional "castle."

Portrait of Glenn

2008-02-22T10:04:00.000-08:00

This painting is of Glenn overlooking Lake Michigan when we celebrated our anniversary. I call it "Admiring the View". I kept it simpler than most of my paintings.

Sharon Woods Show

2008-02-22T09:55:00.001-08:00

In case you didn't have a chance to see Sandy Maudlin's student show at Sharon Woods, click onto her blog site on the side bar. She's posted some pictures from the show. It really was a great one!

Painting Challenge #5

2008-02-15T15:58:00.001-08:00

I kind of like this. Same photo reference. Challenge was shape and S composition. It still has all the miskit because it is just a 2-hour painting, and I'm not fast. But I think it has potential.

Painting Challenge #4

2008-02-15T15:55:00.001-08:00

I picked "line" this time, and I used the paper that I'd put under my batik to use as a background, and just penned in the flowers and shapes. Needs a little work, but I kind of like it. Maybe need to have some thicker lines. Can't do much to it since it's just the back of some butcher paper, not exactly archival paper.

Painting Challenge effort #3

2008-02-15T15:50:00.001-08:00

I did say this is a "warts and all" experiment. I didn't say I actually like all of the pictures.

"Value" was the design element that came out of the hat this time. "Cruciform" was the composition. I tried batik, since that is usually a good way to play with value, but I wasn't happy with the result. I tried putting in some more whites to see if it helps. I finally got stronger value changes, and you can actually find the cruciform.

It has a different look from the other two, though.

Painting Challenge effort #2

2008-02-15T15:47:00.001-08:00

This is my second effort, which I took a little more seriously.

I picked "size" out of the hat as my design element. Can you guess the composition? It's radial.

I actually liked this one, so I worked a bit more on it to see if it was a keeper.

Please excuse the poor photo quality. These are just photos (and I hadn't flattened the pictures yet), not scans.

Painting Challenge #1

2008-02-15T15:43:00.001-08:00

This was effort #1 with the Painting Challenge.
I pretty much kept the composition in the picture, not very imaginative, but I wanted to be a good girl and get my homework done. I chose "color" as my design element, using visual complements for the background (blue and yellow) and also for the foreground (pink and green).

I wanted to keep this to a 2-hour painting, so it's not really finished. After all, this is a "warts and all" experiment, right?

Painting Challenge

2008-02-15T15:30:00.001-08:00

I decided to take Sandy Maudlin's painting challenge (that she got from another artist whose name is on her web site) - to take one photo reference, and each week do a different painting choosing (from a hat) ONE design element (like color, shape, line, value, texture, direction, or size) and ONCE composition (like cruciform, T, scattered, S or Z shape....)

Here is my photo reference. I THOUGHT it would be an easy one.

SHARON WOODS ART SHOW

2008-01-27T19:32:00.001-08:00

This seems like a great place to tell people about the Sharon Woods Art Show. Sandy Maudlin is having an art show for her students at Sharon Woods from Saturday, Feb. 16, to Sunday, Feb. 24. from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. every day except for Monday. Much of the art is for sale. Sandy is also exhibiting her work. There is no fee for the show, but I believe there is a cost of $2 for park entry, unless you have a yearly pass, which is $5. We are really excited about this.

I will have five paintings hanging: The Hudson; Blue Tulips; Morning Breaks; Bridging the Gap; and either a portrait or a batik of a tennis shoe. There will also be paintings framed but unmatted for sale.

There is a "Meet the Artist" reception on Sunday, February 17 from 1 - 4. Hope to see you there!

Chris

Maribelle, age 3

2008-01-25T14:26:00.000-08:00

I've had this done for a while, but couldn't post it because it was a Christmas present for Mark and Jody. It would be weird to see your Christmas present before you even opened it!

Maribelle and family were visiting, and she was buried under the quilt. She has a killer smile, one so big you think her face will break, and curls that won't quit. This was done on Strathmore 80 lb again, for a smooth quality in the skin.

I was trying the "great white shape" on this one, something I need practice at. Is it noticeable?The shape originally went on the sheet in front of her, included her hands, came up off the page at her hand on the left, over the quilt behind her arm, up her neck and curls, taking in part of her face, coming off at the top of her head, down the curls on the right, and skipping around the quilt off the right side of the page.

Reggie

2008-01-25T14:17:00.000-08:00

Reggie is Katy's Bichon Frise that Randy bought her for last Valentines Day. He's adorable, and obviously a Colts fan. Here he's shown on the beach in Daytona, ready for a touchdown. Reggie has a lot of personality, and I wanted it to show through in this painting.
This was fun to paint, but it was hard to get him to look as fluffy and marshmallowy as he really is. Painting something pure white, as Reggie is, was the biggest challenge here. It is done on regular Arches 140 lb cold press.

This was a Christmas present for Katy, so I couldn't put it on here before Christmas for obvious reason.

Blue Tulips

2007-10-13T18:56:00.001-07:00

These tulips are painted on masa paper.
It is about 10x14, and was a lot of fun to paint.

Tulips

2007-10-13T18:44:00.000-07:00

These tulips are done on masa paper, a very fun rice paper surface. I did them early this summer.

Katy's Sunglasses

2007-10-13T12:42:00.000-07:00

Katy has a thing for sunglasses. This was a present for Randy one Christmas.

Pink Lilies

2007-10-13T12:24:00.001-07:00

These lilies are painted on 80 lb Strathmore Aquarius, which I've come to appreciate for it's smooth qualities and ease of lifting. It also does not buckle like other watercolor surfaces. It is about
11x14 matted to a 13x18. There is something I really like about this one.

For sale. Cards & prints available.

Blue Bonnet Puppy

2007-10-13T12:19:00.001-07:00

I did this little guy for Cam when he was born. I used blue bonnets and a background from Texas because Cam was born just after Sandy and Ben got engaged. It is about 11 x 15 matted to 16 x 20.

This one belongs to my grandson Campbell, but one very similar, but with a beach scene, is for sale.

Celtic Goddess Boan

2007-10-12T19:49:00.001-07:00

I did this as a commission last summer. There are a lot of Celtic symbols in it. I used the work of another artist as the base for this, so it is not a completely original idea, and can't be put in a show. But the face is the face of a friend; the Irish wolfhound is like those that her parents raised. Boan is the goddess of the river and hunt, so a river is added.

The Old Mill

2007-10-12T19:36:00.001-07:00

This is the popular mill in Pigeon Forge, which I painted this summer. It was a labor of love. It is matted to a 22 x 28 frame. The picture itself is 15 x 22.

'49 Hudson

2007-10-12T19:32:00.001-07:00

This watercolor is one of my more recent. It is of Glenn's grandfather leaning over his 1949 Hudson. Notice the two children eating ice cream out the back window...Glenn's cousins, who'd been warned not to drip ice cream on the seats. It is from a photo taken around 1954. Glenn put his stamp of approval on this one.

Iris

2007-10-12T15:52:00.001-07:00

Iris was about 2. She always did this patty cake thing with her hands.

Red Hat

2007-10-12T15:41:00.000-07:00

It's not just old ladies who think red hats are the best!
This portrait is of Sandy as a senior in high school. It was done in as style a little looser than I normally paint, but I liked it. It measures 10 X 14 matted to a 13 X 18 frame.

Pink Iris

2007-10-12T15:36:00.001-07:00

This watercolor on masa paper is about 10 X 13 matted to a 13 x 18 frame. I think masa paper is beautiful and subtle. Some might recognize it...I printed it on vellum for Sandy and Ben's wedding announcements.

On Enterring the 21st Century

2007-10-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to do a web site for a long time to display some of my paintings to friends, family, etc. So here is my first effort.