Real Fun

Back again. My husband and I took some time off to see a little of the west coast - as you can see from the last post (Checking Out the Coast). Among other things, we wanted to see the whales. So, we went to Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching to see the them. As you can see here, before we even got off the pier we saw a whale.

Then we decided that we wanted to have some real fun.

Reel Fun

We really saw this boat in the harbor on our way out to see the whales.

We saw sea gulls, and finally ...

One Of the Whales

We saw the whales!

We had a great time, got lots of sun and fresh air, and even got a chance to browse through the outdoor art fair.

Checking Out the Coast

Checking Out the Coast

More Left Over Paint And a Re-Primed Canvas

Hope you are not tired of looking at the San Antonio Japanese Garden waterfall. I had a portrait that I had painted and I really didn't like it, so I primed over it. Then I used up the left over paint from my last experiment (see: A Little More Information). Since it was a used canvas and left over paint, I wasn't overly concerned about the outcome. I wanted something simple for a composition, and so I used my Japanese Garden photo. As you can see, this composition has a tendency to morph a little each time I paint it. I tried to keep the painting fairly abstract, and enjoyed the freedom of just kind of throwing the paint on the canvas. It will probably morph some more before I am finished. I love experiments. You can't really ruin them.

Left Over Paint in the Key of Red Orange

A few minor changes that you may want to see Japanese Garden Waterfall San Antonio - key of red orange.

A Little More Information

The other day, I promised you that I would let you know more about the artwork that I have been working on. One of the projects that I worked on was the Clear Print Cross Country project with a drawing in one of their Clear Print Vellum books that they sent across the country. You may have to look through the photos in different books that were sent out (in order to find mine). They have been sending 10 books across the country and it was fun getting to join the effort.

Another project I have been working on is my color study with Barnstone Studios. I got both the drawing and the color downloadable DVD's for my own Christmas present. Yep, I gave myself a Christmas present! I am having great fun with it. It is a lot of work, and so well worth it as far as I am concerned. The following are photos of my work so far. Don't be too hard on these because I have only just begun. I won't be showing this to Mr. Barnstone at this point because I still have a long way to go on my work with exercises.

Key of Orange

 I made more than a few mistakes, and I had to substitute for the fact that I don't own any Burnt Umber in oil paint. Also, I normally do watercolor and didn't think about using masking tape around the edges on the first try - since this was oil paint. I also need to do a good deal of work on value studies, but I am having so much fun that even though these didn't turn out as "perfect" as I would like, I am really enjoying the exercises. I also did this exercise in the key of orange when he wanted it in the key of red-orange. I substituted Asphaltum for Burnt Umber.


This time (below) I tried the exercise in the red-orange key like it was supposed to be and I think maybe I got the values a little better than the 1st exercise. It obviously needs more work, but I was please with the progress. I didn't even try the little round color wheel this time. I will work on that again, later. I substituted Torrit Grey (not sure what year - it is different every year) for Burnt Umber.

One of the other things that I have worked on is part of the drawing exercise portion of the DVD's. I am working on that because I have such a hard time getting depth into my figure drawing. Spatial relationships of 3-D objects leave my brain jumbled. I probably never would have been able to design a bridge, or a building. At any rate, here is an example of what I have done. (See photos below)

 

Hopefully these drawings will help when I am trying to visualize the other side of a hipbone when trying to draw people.

Thanks for dropping by.

Still Working on My Art

I am still working on my art and will share more about that later. In the meantime, I am so excited! What about? My First Sale on Fine Art America

More Watercolor

I decided to try my Fluid EASY-BLOCK Watercolor Paper. I seem to have this incurable desire to play with my paints. I keep wondering if I should try to get over it.

Need to pull out my Escoda Brush next and try it.

Abstract Flow

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE

Update on Mother and Child Painting

I thought I would give everyone an update on my latest painting. Bold Brush Painting Competition has a fun way for people to pick their favorites. It has nothing to do with whether or not you win the competition. It does give the public a chance to show your favorites. Thank you for your support. If you click on the link below and you have Facebook, you can "like" my painting by clicking the Facebook "like" button.

Mother & Child

UPDATE!

Hmmm! I just discovered a small problem. In order for your "like" to count as "unique," you have to go to the FASO link through Facebook. You can find my Facebook page listed in the upper right hand sidebar on this page. If you click on it and go to my page, you should be able to find the link to FASO and my painting. Thank you.

OK. Talked to FASO and they are saying that you have to go directly to their page and hit the like button in order for the like to be unique. They didn't mention it, but I am fairly sure that your Facebook page has to be open, or they will ask you to log into your page.