Now that Thanksgiving is over I can concentrate a bit more on painting. Watercolor and pastel ,Christmas Amaryllis.I am going to paint another Amaryllis with a stronger focus on the flower.
ng on this weekend. The fall leaves journal entry was more about therapy than anything else. I am grieving over my dearest friends struggle for life. The pears are a WIP. I'm not sure where to go with these,so instead of rushing impulsively along I am waiting and thinking.The painting is inspired by a Harry and David Catalog.
This started out as a much larger painting than it is now. As I was working on this I decided to use a 5x7 mat and work inside of it. It was an interesting process. As I continued to look at the painting I just couldn't resist adding pastel and watercolor crayon and pencil.
Angela was generous enough to present me with the Kreative Blogger award which is amazing. I have such a difficult time negotiating the blog site that this is really a gift. Anyway as part of the award I must share 7 things about myself and bestow the gift on 7 other bloggers.
If you look closely you can see the chandelier. I have yet to decide where to go with this painting I know I need a few more dark colors and a little more definition in the chandelier itself. I do like the movement created by the vertical lines. Maybe i will use aliz.. crimson as a dark?
So I couldn't help myself,using cut up mats I decided I would like the painting more if I cut it in half.
Isn't it true that each painting has it's own rhythm and that when you begin ,at least for me, it isn't until near the end that you find it. I guess that's when you need to as Rhonda athttp://rhcarpenter.blogspot.com/ says we need to pay someone to sit behind with a hammer to make us stop.
A morning in the garden. I am going to continue to work on this. Maybe put some darks 0n the top right hand side.
I was chuckling the entire time I painted this,the birds were singing so loudly and flying about,it made me so glad to have the trees,flowers and bird baths that they so enjoy.
More practice,actually that's all I really do, is practice. Well it's a beautiful day in Michigan and silly me sat inside and painted. Tomorrow, or this evening ,I will have to go outside and paint some of the flowers in the garden.
Practice on scraps of paper. Something different,gluing shells on antique bottles. The second time around using 300lb. seemed a little less stressful.
More Lily's,this time I tried them on 300 lb. paper.Wow what a difference. The paper absorbs so well but when you think it's dry it isn't and tiny bits of paint seep into the the seemingly dry area. So there is definitely a learning curve here. Also the paint seems to look different,not sure yet. Honestly when you cut it,it's like cardboard. I think I could take a scrub brush to it.... maybe I will.
More Lily's different approach.hmmm,
I began painting the background first and sort of lost the sketch. My brain kept calling out, yellow pastel, and well once that happens I just can't stop. There are areas of color in this painting that I really enjoy a jumble of colors. The shapes and composition are a little less pleasing. More Lily's this week for sure.
My classroom is such that at any given time I could have numerous therapists in my room. The children in my classroom are very young and often multiply impaired and the earlier we intervene the better the outcome. The occupational therapist is great fun and always has wonderful interesting toys one of which is Changeables. Changeables are markers that change colors when a neutral marker is placed on top of a color and presto chang-o a new wonderful color appears. Well, that is exactly how DS color Nickel Azo Yellow reacts with Phthalo Green Yellow Shade. It's such a pleasure to see the dark green change to a beautiful yellow green before your eyes. Delicious.
This is a painting of my backyard patio. It really became more of a pastel and watercolor. I found that it is quite a bit of fun to do flowers is pastel. I'm not crazy about the flower colors something with the orange. This is just a 5x7 practice painting I think I will paint it again on a bigger sheet of paper and work on changing the flower colors.
More roses inspired by my fathers wild rose bush that I inherited. The roses on my father's bush are red but I wanted to continue to pursue a similar color scheme as the previous painting. This time I pulled out my Daniel Smith colors. DS paints are really something. I usually use WN but I just love Daniel Smith colors. I was thinking of color more than shape when I painted this.
Off to my son's birthday party. Lucky him he lives on a lake, but the weather today is to cold to enjoy it. My younger son and I recently purchased a boat and we have really been enjoying ourselves. Boating is just as wonderful as I always imagined it to be.
This painting began as a traditional looking watercolor that for me lacked any punch. The composition was off so I decided to cut it up into this funny little size. Then the fun began. I played with some of my favorite colors,turquoise,orange,pink lime green. I really enjoyed how Turquoise washed over perm.rose. I always seem to want to add lines as a design element. Not sure why it's just the way my brain works at the time. I am so looking forward to having time to paint and experiment with watercolor and then see where it takes me.
Spring marches on with the ever amazing parade of flowers. What a season. The Dogwoods are just finishing up in Michigan.
I rescued some of the old Dick and Jane readers from the trash and now have about 10 of these old classics. My painting is actually of Sally the youngest of the family. The pre-primer consists of about 17 words and beautiful crisp pictures of a the gang playing outdoors,chasing dogs and cats and even watching t.v.. The print date is 1962.
Sort of random and unplanned,pastel and watercolor. Not sure what I think of it. One thing for sure is that it is spontaneous. I definitely need to plan more and work on composition. There is always something to strive for,that's what makes watercolors so inviting.
