HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY

Have I told you lately that when it comes to my artwork, I love experiments?

This one was definitely an experiment. Several years ago, I went to the wedding of a friend's daughter. Her wedding was at the Botanical Gardens in San Antonio. While I was there in that lovely garden, during the reception, I snapped some photo's. One that I couldn't resist was of this metal sculpture. When we were leaving the garden that evening, I couldn't help but notice the eerie atmosphere that was created around the sculpture by the darkness and soft moonlight. I wanted to try to capture that. I took my photo into Photoshop and played with some of the tools that you can use. I wanted to try a black background and so I didn't draw this out freehand. I will save that for later. It is probably not as easy to correct mistakes on black background. So I traced the preying mantis and the more important areas of the trees and shrubs. I used Conte pastel colored pencil and Gerneral's Charcoal White. I'm pleased with the outcome, and had a great time doing this.

Preying Mantis in Moonlight
on Somerset Velvet 250gsm, Black
from Legion Paper (purchased sample paper)

Just Had To Try This In Acrylics

For those of you who have followed my series San Antonio Japanese Garden Waterfall, I have one more painting that I did - this time in acrylics. I have kept this to the same setting in order to get an idea of what I can manage to capture in the different media and what I need to work on in each one. That seemed easier to figure out if I kept all the paintings basically the same. The first was more of a drawing, in Prismacolor markers; the second, watercolor; the third, oils; and the forth, acrylic. It was fun and at times exasperating - especially when I had to remind myself to work with the qualities of the particular medium I was using, rather than battle it and try to make it work like another medium. Someday, I hope to simplify it down to a simple pen and ink drawing. That may be awhile.

So here is the acrylic:

San Antonio Japanese Gardens Waterfall - acrylic

This Weekend

This weekend, I decided to work on a really quick illustration of a picture I had taken at the Japanese Gardens in San Antonio, TX. During the spring, this place is magnificent. So, I used some watercolor paper (140lb. Arches) and my Prismacolor markers. I was trying to decide if I want to make this into a full fledged painting. I think the answer is, yes.

By the way, on the Pfister faucet - I chose Lita.