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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

A little bit of Christmas

More holiday flowers. A time to reflect and count your blessings. Family,friends, and health.
I am planning on adding some yellow highlights to the leaves on this mixed media painting.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Holiday wishes


Holiday wishes with all my painting misses.Working on a more transparent new year.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Amaryllis


What I learned... glazing is a tricky thing and I need to work on it! I need to develop some reference sheets of favorite glazes.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Tis the season to plant bulbs!

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.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

This and That

A few paintings that I have been working 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.

Lastly,the paper weight is a possible gift, maybe Christmas. I bought a few of these last year thinking I would do this and never got around to it. Inspired by John Derian http://http//www.johnderian.com/index_decoupage_new.html












Saturday, November 7, 2009

The last flowers from the garden

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.

I guess I am developing or working on a style.

As I was painting this I thought the title should be- Don't forget the fuchsia and momma loves lime green.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

WHO ME ???? yipee

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.



First things first
1.I love to paint and will often find one teeny tiny part of a painting that i love.
2. I collect antiques and all sorts of found objects
3. I love football
4. I love to sing when my son plays guitar
5. Gardening is my hobby
6. I enjoy a good book
7. I am a magazine addict
Now to pick 7 blog sites to give the award to.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Magnolias...




Magnolias or big happy flowers. The yellows need a little more lift and some of the pinks are over worked I will try to work on them without over doing it,or maybe try again:)

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Magnolia




I saw my sister at the Ann Arbor Antique Fair last week and she reminded me that our mom loved Magnolias. So in honor of my sister and my mom I attempted a closeup of a Magnolia.


My sister also mentioned that she was running out of my watercolor cards, that I give out as gifts,and as the conversation continued she mentioned that she would love to have one of my paintings. Now here's the deal,my brother-in-law is a REAL artist, with degrees etc. Sooo If I can frame this to my liking it will be a gift to my sister. I just hope I'm not embarrassed by it when I see it in her home.
That would be Magnolias not Dogwoods, although mom loved those too.
This summer I planted 3 Jane Magnolia bushes.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

chandelier completed



I decided to add more definition to the chandelier so I used gouache and ink. The colors are quite intense,but I still like them.
After a drive in the country I know I need to concentrate on a fall palette.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

chandelier wip

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?

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Glads



Well the few paintings I have completed lately have been scary bad. It seems I have lost my ability to do detailed paintings of chosen subjects. Instead I find myself considering color over everything. In this painting of Glads, Iwas sickend by the orange I used as and accent color.

I decided to try to salvage the painting by cropping it and adding pastel and wc pencils. So the result is ... not sure yet need to take a break and look at it later.

Meanwhile I just needed to post something.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Calla



The Calla's are from a wedding I attended this weekend.I placed them in depression glass sugar shaker. A send off into fall and back to work for me.I also attended the Detroit Jazz Festival this weekend,just terrific,great music for free. As for the watercolor,the flower spike in the middle of the flower needs a bit more yellow.Such a substantial flower,really lovely.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

This mornings parctice

So I couldn't help myself,using cut up mats I decided I would like the painting more if I cut it in half.
So I did. Then I added watercolor pencil and pastel. At first I only liked the top without any additional adjustments,but after I worked on the bottom half the top looked dull,so I added just a bit of watercolor pencil and pastel. Now the colors are vibrant which makes up for the poor drawing on the yellow flower.





I need to walk away from this and then decide what comes next,if anything.



Thursday, August 13, 2009

Mini




I really,really,really cropped this painting down. It now fits in a 3x2 fun frame bought at Michael's for fifty cents. Unfortunately I lost many of the lighter colors. Interesting though,in real life, it sort of looks like an oil. I may just add some lights with pastel or maybe I could try acrylic?

Friday, August 7, 2009

Dark colors





Added some dark colors now I think I'm done.

Coneflowers & Petunias in a mason jar.

Hammer time

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.

Still looking at this I see areas that need to be addressed hopefully I'll be able to stop.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

A morning in the garden



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.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

abstract flowers



Worked on this a bit added more watercolor and some pastel. Framed it in a basic 5x7 frame. I need to paint the coneflowers in my garden.

Friday, July 31, 2009

Around the house #2



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.


More around the house paintings of my bedroom. The armoire was a great find as was the chair.The armorie was purchased at an antique show, the chair was bought second hand and slip covered.


The abstract started out as violets,also in my bedroom. The painting wasn't going that great so i cropped it scrubbed it,painted it and now feel the need to add some hard lines. Maybe look for the violets,that will be the difficult part.


Thursday, July 30, 2009

Around the house

Practice on scraps of paper. Something different,gluing shells on antique bottles. The second time around using 300lb. seemed a little less stressful.




Sunday, July 26, 2009

300 lb. paper

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.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Lilys

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.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Colors

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.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Sunflowers


I had specific goals when working on this painting,of course most my paintings are to explore and learn,anyway the goal was to use vertical & horizontal divisions in the painting and to try to develop a better feel for negative painting. As I continued to work I filled in areas of white, that in retrospect, looked better left white.(top right hand corner and top left. ) Painting this I realized that there was a lot going on and the eye really didn't have a place to rest. My brush wouldn't let me stop.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Morning patio painting

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.


Sunday, June 14, 2009

WIP



As I Work on this 5x7 watercolor I have been thinking about mixing paint on the paper instead of on the palette. The colors seem more vibrant when mixed on the paper as long as you know they mix well. I have also been using a lot of palette color just swishing my brush here and there.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Fathers day roses





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.

first day of vacation

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.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

WIP


There is absolutely nothing about watercolor that is easy.There are a million different things running through my head as I paint. How can I possibly remember everything? Color mixing, lights darks,focal point, composition, style, emotion, the list goes on and on. At times the frustration can be overwhelming. What have I learned, how come I can't Get this. What is it I want. The process is never ending ..... as it should be I suppose.



I am still working on this painting it is a painting of Turks Cap Lily.Wish I had this in my garden.I need to add some dots and darken the end of the stamens and play around a bit more.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009







This is a sketch of Walt Whitman. I just loved Ruth's post Whitman's Lilacs, at synch-ro-ni-zing beautiful photos and a wonderful poem. Her posts are so insightful,beautiful and enjoyable. I couldn't resist that photo of Whitman and just had to give it a try.Later,I decided to paint a watercolor wash over the sketch and the colors are just so wrong. And while they are faded and old looking they are just ... YUK. So ever onward add more try it again.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Dogwoods


After adding more darks,my fingers began to,"itch".I just had to grab some additional color, some zing. So I added yellow pastel then blue a finally periwinkle. I am still thinking that I may do something more? After all it's just paper.





Saturday, May 23, 2009

WIP

Spring marches on with the ever amazing parade of flowers. What a season. The Dogwoods are just finishing up in Michigan.

I'm going to leave this painting for now and do some gardening. Hopefully when I return to it I will be able to continue to keep the color transparent and fluid. I need to add more darks and the flowers and background need to be developed .

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Summer Vacation

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.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Mothers Day Wishes

Flowers inspired from a magazine photo. 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.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

April virtual sketch date




This is my first attempt at the vsd photo of a rhododendron. I begin a painting class this week and am planning on working more on this painting or doing another version.
I am going to give this another try tonight and will post tomorrow... if everything works out!

kitchen table



A painting of flowers on my kitchen table. Watercolor,pastel and watercolor pencil.Oops need to fix the table on the left.

Daniel Smith's sale catalog just arrived and the watercolor crayons look inviting. Also, I'm curious about brushes, what are your preferences? My sable brush paints much different from the blends?