San Jose Mission---Yupo

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

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

What I Wish I'd Done

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

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

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

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

Still Life with M&M's

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

Sorry about the glare on these pictures.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.