Three white pumpkins...???

Three White Pumpkins - Aprox. 6" x 6"

Although white pumpkins are not really white, but a little creamy looking, here is my attempt at rendering white pumpkin's. Once again I used this weeks Karin Jurick image as my reference.

I must admit it was a little more of a challenge than I had expected. I started out with many layers of a mix of Raw Sienna and Burnt Sienna, then on the opposite corner using a dark mixture of Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna. Once I was happy with the amount of layers to convey my light and dark I used the same mixtures to give shape to the pumpkins.

Karin Jurick's newest blog:

Who doesn't love the work of the very talented Karin Jurick. Karin recently started a new blog titled different strokes from different folks. Every Wednesday she posts a new picture for folks to try their hand at. I hope to participate on a weekly basis and post my attempt at painting from her photo here each week. Click on the link to check out all the entries.

7 1/4" x 8 1/4" Watercolor and ink

This is amazing ...

Geranium watercolor sketch

Aprox. 6" x 4"

Noooo, not that this little watercolor sketch is amazing ... it's not. Although I did enjoy myself sitting outside in the fall sunshine sketching this poor sad geranium (ok, I took creative license and added a 3rd bloom). Again, I used the back of an old watercolor painting I had cut into smaller pieces. (I'm finding it very freeing to paint on used paper.... go figure).

What is amazing is this beautiful flag painting done by Deb Ward .

It is approximately 11" x 8" and it arrived yesterday in the mail. On September the 1st, she wrote "I will put up some photos of my class demo paintings with a short description of them. And they will go on a first come, first served basis". So, I wrote her with my name and address and next thing you know I received this great painting in the mail. It truely is a beautiful work and it will serve me well to strive to become better. Thank you SO much Deb. I love it.

Watercolor sketch - inspiration, the last of the pansy's

watercolor sketch 4" x 6"

300 lb. cold press arches

Today I was in the mood to do a little watercolor sketching. Since I'm always intimidated by a clean sheet of paper I used the back of a painting (way beyond any way of salvaging) that I had cut up to test colors on the back side. I had cut the painting into small 4"x4" and a little larger size. I thought by using this 4" x 6" size today I might add a large mailing address label on the other side (the badly painted side) to write a few words and a smaller label with an address. There you go, a post card ready to mail.

The last few days have simply been beautiful, and the weather is only expected to become warmer the next few days. Yippee a beautiful fall after all. Today after my daily two mile walk I took my new camera to the beach and was able to take a few photo's of areas that I thought make great paintings. Lately I've been thinking about a lot of different scenes I want to paint. I only hope this motivation lasts.

Mt Rainier

Mt. Rainier

5" x 5" on Arches Watercolor paper

I painted this from a photograph that my husband took last year while on one of our daily walks. Frequently we are able to see this majestic mountain in all it's splendor, but occasionally clouds cover it from view.

My camera has arrived and I've been trying to learn as much about it as I can so that when I find that perfect shot I'll be ready. Last week we were walking along our normal route and we saw a small seal sun bathing on a dock. That would have been a great shot!

Sandpiper on a Log

Sandpiper on Log

5" x 5" original watercolor

Today I finished this small watercolor painting of a sandpiper. Painted on 140 lb. Arches cold press paper using my usual limited palette of artists grade watercolor pigments.

When I tried to identify this Sandpiper in my bird book I found so many varieties of Sandpipers all looking similar that I am going to take an uneducated guess that this is a Western Sandpiper because of the bill length and shape. If these birds are standing still they are so well camouflaged, blending in with the sandy pebbles on the beach, that you can easily miss seeing them unless they are scurrying along the waters edge. Their little legs moving as fast as they can carry them.

I love walking on the beach here in South Puget Sound where I can usually see 4-5 different birds at any given time. But, it seems that I constantly forget my camera or decide not to carry it with me because it's too bulky. It's not that its particularly large, but, still I can't just put it in my pocket and be off for my walk. So this week I decided to purchase a new camera that I will be able to carry with me at all times. Its 3.8" wide x 2.3" high x 0.8" deep. I'm thinking I'll be able to capture some great shots of all the sights I am blessed to have around me each day.

Clean Studio - update

Photo #1 shows the "before" area - messy and cluttered. (as posted on January '07.

Photo #2 shows the after, the less cluttered and more organized area.

Having a studio in a small space has it's challenges, but over the last 12 months I've come up with some space saving ideas that have helped keep my studio less cluttered. A lot of the accumulation has been removed and donated to charities or thrown away. The rest now have a place in see-through storage containers.

Cluttered and unorganized in this first photo. Now organized with frames and shipping material out of the way, tucked neatly behind some shipping boxes of mat board.

I've done some serious clutter busting lately, can you tell? Things had seemed to accumulate and get placed somewhere never to be looked at again. I work best in a clean environment where I can focus on my painting and not get side tracked by unrelated "stuff". I think this tidier work area will help.

Canoes at Rest, am I done yet?

When I work on a larger painting (I think anything 15" x 22" and up is large for me) I need to set the painting aside for a few days and analyze whats working and whats not.

In the first photograph you see my painting with a white mat around it, my black and white photo reference and my value strip to the side. At this point I decided to leave it alone and not touch it again for awhile.

Today after giving it some more thought I decided to add some more value to the middle front area... showing more shadow of the trees overhead. I also worked on the grass between the breakwater and the water. I'm still not sure its complete, but then again, when do you know it's time to leave it alone?

Lavender Fest a success

The Lavender Festival that I participated in on July 26th and 27th was a success.

The first day, Saturday, it started out a little cool and we had some rain the first few minutes after I arrived, but before long the sun came out from behind the clouds and warmed us up. On Sunday we had some wind. I had my card rack sitting out at the corner of my tent and pretty soon I saw the card rack revolving ever so slowly, then pick up speed and next thing I knew off flew most of my card inventory. It really was funny to watch and fortunately none of my cards were hurt and I had a lot of help picking up the card inventory as the other vendors came running to assist. Good thing my tent was staked down.

The foot traffic was pretty constant both days. Besides there being a lot of plants, there were about 20 vendors, food, and a band that played most of both Saturday and Sunday. I loved meeting the people and having converstion's about everything from art to plants. Now I know why this lavender festival is such a success.

These two photo's are of the vendors arriving and setting up our tent space. Thats me in my red top with my back to you. Oops... sorry about that.

Art Show a success

The art show yesterday was a great success. We had customers coming through most of the day with only a few brief minutes of slack time. All of us who were part of this first time event are hoping that it will be an annual event. I was fortunate to sell two of my larger paintings and numerous card packs and single cards. Having framed my paintings last week and printing and packaging so many cards, I feel I'm pretty close to being ready for the lavender festival in two weeks.

Art at the Pointe

Lately I've managed to keep busy with numerous activities, most recently I've been busy preparing for a few summer shows coming up.

Both events are here on Harstine Island. On July 12th I'll be showing work at "Art at the Pointe". I'm really looking forward to seeing the work the local artists have and share in this first time event. On Saturday and Sunday, the 26th and 27th of July I'll have work at the local Lavender Festival. I wasn't able to attend the lavender festival last year and I am so pleased I was asked once again to participate.

I'll have framed originals as well as some note cards for sale at both events.

Remembering a friend

"Phae" 5"x 7"

Recently a friend lost her cat, her beloved friend of over twenty years, and asked if I would paint her cats picture from a photo of when she was younger and in good health. She was pleased with this painting. "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened" Anatole France

Good news to share with you

"Foggy Island Bridge", watercolor, won 3rd place in the Peninsula Art Association's Annual Spring Show.

I've neglected to share with you this good news. I was so surprised and excited to find I had won 3rd place in the watercolor division of the Spring Show. This year the show was located in a larger building and had great lighting. It was well attended and I think this new location will be one that the organizers of the show try to use for next years show.

A few more One Hour Oil paintings

I think most of these are pretty self explanatory. The first is #14 of my one hour paintings, a white carnation, #15- is tulips from Easter, #16- a pencil, #17- a pink rose, #18- a film canister, and last #19 is scissor handles. Although I am calling these One Hour works, some I didn't work that long on.

I have looked over my goals I sat for myself at the beginning of the year and see that I bit off more than I can chew. I have yet to go out and do any paintings "en plein air". My goal was one a month, on my own, without a group. I still think that I may be ale to get a few in, but not the way I had originally planned, one a month.

Also, my one hour paintings are still coming, but not as often as I had wanted. I let other things become more important. I had forgotten I had three other obligation's with shows and auction's, and I am not good at multi-tasking.

My last goal of researching, using and accumulating 100 addresses for my mailing lists is on track. I have done research on how others deal with mailing lists. I have the software program- Microsoft Access, and I will integrate my Outlook address book and have them set up in groups accordingly. I have more to learn with Access, but am feeling confident about this one goal.

All in all, I have not made painting my priority. I have been too easily side-tracked.

Remember Andy Warhol

Remember Andy Warhol's paintings of Marily Monroe? This is a web-site, I found on American Genius's , blog site. What a hoot.

Red Tomatoes Framed

Framed "Red Tomatoes" with gold leaf

watercolor (10" x 11" Unframed)

Just a little veggie painting to get us all in the mood for fresh juicy tomatoes from the garden. Yes, I know some say tomatoes are a fruit ... ok, so you go ahead and have a nice sliced tomato on your cheerio's.

After painting the tomatoes I felt the background would look best with some Gold Metal Leaf to set them off in a rustic yet elegant way. The gold foil added sparkle to an otherwise dark painting when the background was left a darker green that is seen at the edges of the foil.

Completed - Foggy Island Bridge

SOLD Foggy Island Bridge 22" x 30" watercolor

Finally .... after thinking about this scene for such a long time, I've completed this full sheet watercolor.

Scenes such as this, with the fog and the green trees, are pretty typical of the Pacific Northwest. When I'm out and about seeing these types of landscapes, they almost take my breath away. I wouldn't want to live any where else.

Foggy Island Bridge

Below are three progress photo's of a painting I introduced you to back in October 2007. I think I have shown you the first two at that time. In the first photo, I have the drawing and a few washes of indigo with some ultramarine blue that have very little pigment in the water. In the second photo I have more washes of the indigo mixture and I'm beginning to shape some of the trees and the bridge. Today I worked more on this painting and it's beginning to take on some substance. I've begun to shape the large rocks started working on the trees and shrubs on this side of the bridge on ramp. I've added some definition to the boat ramp and the dock area.

progress photo's of "Foggy Island Bridge" #1

progress photo's of "Foggy Island Bridge" #2

progress photo's of "Foggy Island Bridge" #3

In thinking about this painting I realize that I enjoy painting in watercolor by getting the first washes down and then putting the painting away for awhile. Although this is far from finished I do think the next steps will come easier now that it has sat untouched for a while. I do keep these paintings out in the open where I can see them, so they are not really forgotten. I like thinking about what area I should work on next and how I should accomplish the look I want when I work on it again. If I put it away for awhile I can see where I need value, where I need color etc. that I can't see when I originally start out painting.

If you work in watercolor, how do you prefer to work? Do you usually like to finish your painting in the first (and only) setting or do you like to take your time and to work on the painting for days before you complete it?

Lovely spring tulips to view

Easter Flowers - Fresh Tulips, Oil Painting and Watercolor sketch

The first of these three photo's is the original fresh tulips our daughter and family brought when they came on Easter to spend the day with us . I always feel so artistic / creative when I'm around fresh flowers. The next day with my oil paints (and timer) I painted this (the second photo) oil painting, hoping to capture the beautiful colors of the flowers in one hour. The canvas was some that I had left over from a previous painting project so it is an odd size at 8 5/8" x 3 5/8". Then yesterday I saw the petals were drooping a little more and realized that soon they would be just a memory, so I grabbed my sketchbook and watercolors for one last try at capturing the beauty of them , photo #3.

Recently I've been reading and seeing all the vibrant watercolors Schmincke has to offer. I think next time I'm at the art supply store I'll pick up a couple of tubes to try out. The watercolors I use (Winsor & Newton, Da Vinci, and American Journey)are so dull compared to the Schmincke watercolors I've seen ... although if used alone, with out doing any mixing, my watercolors do have some sparkle to them. Do any of you have a favorite brand of watercolors that you prefer to use or recommend?

Belle

Belle, 6" x 6" oil

After working on Belle a little more, I've finally decided this painting is as finished as she will ever be. The painting isn't perfect, yet I see the resemblance in her face. I think I've learned a lot by attempting to paint an animal in oil, but I'm ready to move on.

The Belle of the ball ....

I ran upon a photo of my daughters dog Belle the other day while looking through some photo's for something to paint. Belle looked like a perfect subject, laying so calmly in front of the carpeted stairs. I decided to use a square format so I taped off a 6" x 6" on my canvas. The reference photo is on the left and you can see I must have decided to take some artistic license here with the eyes looking a little strange and the head at more of a tilt than I had intended ... *wink. I didn't use a timer with this painting. At this point I've worked on Belle about 3 hours and I still need to do a little more work, but, I'm not discouraged. I'll do a few more touch ups then I'll go back to my 1 hour paintings.

Toni who has the the most wonderful blog, "A Spattering" ,where she shares so much, has tagged me to tell 5 things that others may not know about me. 

One thing that you may not know is that I love the Northwest. The cold rainy climate like that of the west coast of British Columbia is my kind of place.

#2. For about 8 years I never wanted to learn another medium other than watercolor. Recently I've developed an interest in oil painting.

#3. The majority of the blogs in my favorites has always been oil painting blogs.

#4. I love reading about the impressionists. Their struggles fascinate me.

#5. I have a very hard time throwing out anything, because I always think I'll find some creative way to use it. I usually find some way, but seldom get to the part where I actually do the project.

I think, since I've been tagged before, I won't tag anyone this time. But, if you are reading this, and have not been tagged before, please take the initiative and tell us a few things about yourself.

#11 & 12 1-hour paintings

I started the shell painting, #11 of my 1-hour painting's, using a

shadow box made out of an ordinary cardboad box and used a little desk lamp to shine onto my sea shell. My thought was that this will help show 1/2 of it in light and half in shadow. It may have done just that but as I started painting I once again forgot the steps I promised myself I would take with this painting. #1 draw the shell onto my canvas. #2 Fill in the lightest lights, #3 fill in the darkest darks, #4 establish the major shadows ... Oops, forgot this step! I just kept on painting and couldn't figure out why it wasn't turning out as I expected. I forgot to block in my major shadow shapes.

On #12, although it may not look like much to anyone else, it is a success to me. All I really have been wanting to do with these 1-hour painting is to make sure and BLOCK in the major shapes. Today I think I finally did that. It was a struggle the whole way. I had to remind myself with each brush stroke that all I had to do was block it in ... no added values or colors, just block it in. Success finally came. I blocked everything in. I can't say it was easy, it wasn't. I took me 50 minutes to achieve this. But I did it!

#8, #9 and #10 One-hour paintings

I am learning that I have a lot to learn about oil painting.


Each of these paintings are 5" x 7".
I thought my red Lamy Safari fountain pen would be a simple subject to paint, only to realize that I was concentrating on detail way too early, then when I photographed the pen I realized how important the brush strokes are in oil painting, all I see is glare because of the direction the stroke went. Anyway, I'm assuming that is the reason, because I see it when I look at the painting also.

#9 is a small wooden bird that I usually have sitting in my kitchen window. In this painting I forgot about the shaded side of the bird and didn't allow for the light that hit the birds head and part of his back. Only one of the issues with this one ... whats with the pink back ground. It was sitting on a white counter.

I was starting to be happier with #10, a fresh pear. Yet I didn't block in the shaded side like I wish I would have. And again with the brush strokes .... I eventually hope to paint in a painterly style, which has so much to do with brush storkes, yet when I'm painting I find I'm still thinking detail and color. Color mixing is not coming easy for me.

The last day of the month and I've completed 10 1-hour paintings. I think so far I'm content with working at the goals I've set out to accomplish.

I am working on my mailing list even though I've had major computer problems and had to completely start over with my address list because most were lost when the computer crashed. (I may have learned the hard way to back up everything) I should have it pretty well set up in an Outlook program before long.

#7 One hour painting

Oils are proving to be a bigger challenge for me than I thought they would. With each new painting, I have more question's, yet I know that the more painting I do the question's will probably answer themselves.

I thought this would be a relatively simple scene to paint, especially since I had painted it in watercolor some time ago.

Because I limit myself to painting each painting one hour only, (for at least 50 paintings) I may feel rushed and am not taking the time to make good decision's. I found that I didn't follow my own cheat sheets. Also, I didn't mix enough color for certain areas, then when I attempt to mix more, I end up making the wrong color choices. Tell me this will become easier with experience please...

The first photo is the oil painting. The second was my reference photo of a local scene and the last is a watercolor painted some time ago.

The oil is approximately 5" x 7". As you can tell I painted green trees 'cause I know trees are green. The trees were in silhouette and were just a dark image ... not green. I also find I'm concerned with my brush work. Should I be blocking in only, then covering with the more painterly thick oil paint? Now my oil paint hardly covers the canvas, when in reality I want a more thick paint in a finished painting (I realize that my time restraints are more than likely the problem there) .

Time to find another scene to paint.

2 more 1 - hour paintings

I decided to do an oil and a watercolor today, both using a photograph I had taken last year on the beach. It was a warm day, but on the gray side, with the wind blowing a little. This is the kind of day we see often. It is a rather unemotional landscape I think.

The first painting is a one hour oil. I was way off on my values of the tree's and bushes... well, the beach also.

I have decided I need to do my color charts if I'm going to continue to try oils. I can figure out my colors pretty well with watercolors, but the oils are a tough medium for me to use accurately and not "waste" the oil paint. Geesh, I'm wondering if they even make enough white paint, the way I seem to use so much of it.

The second one is a one hour watercolor. I definitely felt more comfortable. The finished painting may not reflect it, so I think it was just because I was use to handling the medium.

This bottom photo is my reference photo.

So, tomorrow I'll tackle some color charts.

It's proving to be an exciting start for my New Year

Since I posted my goals for this New Year, I feel a new excitement with my art. Being very happy with my watercolor's, I have never wanted to experiment much with other mediums, but, over the last 6 months I've gained a new interest in oil painting. I've been reading a few books on oils and with my New Year's goal of 50 1-hour paintings I thought oils would be fun to learn and if I did some of my one hour paintings in oils, I just might learn faster.

Anyway, that's my hope. These are four 1-hour paintings I've painted so far. Each of these are small, only 5" x 7 ". So far, I have not felt limited by the timer being set for the one hour like I thought I would. Given more time, I know I would do more to finish these small paintings, but I think I've done ok with the given amount of time.

Although I really want to paint more landscapes this year, I had these limes that I thought would make a nice still life. I just knew with my experience with watercolor's oils would be easy. After all, you can go back in and correct your mistakes easily right?

I am finding that with each oil I paint, I attempt to overcome what I felt was a mistake of the previous oil. In the first I should have cropped the image, and corrected or focused more on the shadow side of the limes. In the second lime painting (oil still) I remembered to crop the image when I drew my sketch but didn't do well with my values.

I enjoyed painting two different paintings of the same subject, so I decided to do two 1-hour paintings of a clove of garlic. I found this subject very hard to capture the correct values and the shadow side. There was a shadow side, but being so light, I had a hard time putting down the correct values. And with this first garlic, what's with centering it so well?

When I started the second garlic painting I thought first of all I would correct the way I centered it on the first painting and maybe set it at a different angle. When I was done I couldn't believe what I saw. The values are still
off and it didn't change much in placement. Go figure.

These have been so enjoyable to paint. I love the idea of the timer. I find it freeing and I think it is because I know I have an excuse if it doesn't turn out "perfect". What a concept! Also, I am really enjoying painting from life. And, I only have 46 more painting's to go for my goal of 50 1-hour painting's....... *wink.

New Year - New Goals

As you may have guessed by now, coming up with some artistic goals for the New Year has not been easy for me. I would go to bed thinking about them and wake up thinking about them, and every time I come up with a list of what I thought was a list of goals I'd soon realize was nothing but a task list! What do I really want from my art? How can I achieve this? And, what will keep me from giving up before I reach this goal? All questions I felt needed to be answered before I put anything down on paper that was substantial yet obtainable.

To have a goal it needed to be SMART so that I could/would stick with it. It needed to be:

SPECIFIC,

MEASURABLE,

ACTION ORIENTED,

REALISTIC, AND

TIMELY

I want to become a better painter, paint more landscapes 'en plein air, and share my work with others. So, these are (after some considerable thought) the goals I will achieve (note the positive attitude here ;-)

1. I will paint 50 one-hour paintings by July 1st. If I do more than that, great. These will be small paintings and need not be elaborate. I will set a timer and when the hour is over I will put away my paints. These need not be finished paintings. The object is to collect as much information as possible for my support (canvas or paper etc.) to help me "see" better as an artist. Each painting will be dated and numbered consecutively. At the end of these 6 months or if I complete the 50 before the July deadline, I will establish another timed and numbered goal. (I realize that this may not seem like much to some of you daily painters, but I am not a prolific painter and this will take me way out of my comfort zone.)
2. I will paint 12 plein air paintings for the year on my own. I will paint 'en plein air at least once a month on my own. Right now I belong to a “Plein Air” group that usually meets twice a month. This group doesn't always paint outside because of the weather here in the Pacific Northwest. During those times we paint inside from a still life or portraiture setting. This could be a pretty tough goal for me. If it's too wet, cold, or snowy for the group, finding a day that will be better for me on my own, may be a huge challenge.
3. I will keep and maintain a mailing list by December 2008. I will research how others are doing this and find what will best suit me. I will break this list up into different categories, so that I can send specific information to those who are on the list.
So, these are the goals I’ve come up with that think I will definitely benefit from. The first two goals will help me become a better painter, the next will help me share my work with others. I feel comfortable with the deadlines I’ve given each of my goals and I also feel these goals will be tough work for me and I will be stretched and grow as an artist, yet each is realistic and obtainable.
Yes !... I can accomplish these!