Wiley--Ready for Roundup

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.