Sherrybella's Art Journal

Francisco de Zurbaran Study

2011-04-13T09:16:00.003-05:00

My value study is at stage 2 now, I have softened the values placed side by side on the first photo. Ron thought I could finish this in a class, but I am here to tell you, I don't think that happened. Oh my gosh, when I left his studio 6 hours after having walked in, my brain was literally buzzing. I could not bear to listen to the radio, it was hard to enter back into the left brain that i guess we all live in. Ron told us that if we kept talking to ourselves that we should listen to audiobooks to quiten our inner voice, that may lead to better painting experiences. I am not sure I was doing that but maybe I'll take my iPhone ear buds next time and listen to a spoken word book to see what happens. There was a lot of people in different throes of pain, including me, that were talking. I have found, when I start getting frustrated with painting, when I probably am beginning to learn a technique, I want to go home! Man, I wanted to go home a bunch yesterday. It was PAIN! Why is it so hard to paint? Why is it sometimes so hard to learn? I know it requires discipline, that is something I am in short supply, so I'm at it again trying to learn. So, this is a study originally painted by Francisco de Zurbaran titled St. Francis, of course, this is the St. Francis of Assissi fame. He painted this in 1660. Now, he painted in color but I am doing a study of values so Ron has me painting in value tones. To see the original, go here: http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artist.php?artistid=693

My picture is the second one and the first one was painted by de Zurbaran. Hopefully I will get the pictures in order this time...ha ha, i didn't. Perhaps after posting for a while, I will figure it out! Mine has a bit of a shine from the camera phone flash, gotta figure out how to stop that from happening or edit it out? Notice his nose...there is a pretty big difference in the 2 pics there and there are several other differences that I will have to struggle with over the next class to fix, but I'm on my way. I just need to figure out what to do to practice every day now. I asked Ron but if he told me, I swear I forgot. I thought of downloading another image of St Francis and painting it in black and white painted by de Zurbaran. He is one of my favorite saints, in fact I have a statue of him in my garden outside and my doggie wears a St Francis medal.

oh my gosh

2011-04-07T20:09:00.005-05:00

its been so long since i posted that i could not figure out how to edit the previous post...so here are the pics, first the value strip and the 3 pics of value paintings i have done. the last one is going to get three treatments before it is finished, more to come on tuesday as i delve deeper in my class with Ron...Oh, I am taking these classes at Ronald Bayens Art School in Auburn Al. I think he does not call it an Art School, those are my words, I am unsure of the name, let you know next week. I will be working with him for 5 hrs each week as of this coming tuesday. okay, i uploaded them out of order. promise i will be better next time...the first should be 4th, the second should be 3rd, the 3rd should be 2nd and the 4th should be 1st...confusing? ha ha, me too. oh and if you are wondering about the monks white eye! i could not finish and i can not take images home with me, so since i could not think to take a pic on my cell phone, im gonna finish it up on tues...hairbrain!

Values!

2011-04-07T19:03:00.003-05:00

Painting is all about value...dark against light and light against dark. We study value to learn how to show the volume of an object, to show the space that is occupied by this object. We need to show where on a two dimensional plane a three dimensional object lies. I'm starting my studies again by studying the value scale. Like learning to play the piano, artists use a numerical value system to describe value. My first day I made a value strip of nine mixtures between black to white. What was most difficult was trying to match the greys. Mix black whic equals 9 and white which equals 1 together to get a value of 5. Mix the 5 with white to get a 3, mix the 5 with black to get a 7. Then take the 3 and mix with white to get a 2 and mix the 3 with 5 to get a 4. Then you mix the 7 with black to get an 8 and mix the 7 with the 5 to get a 6. Sound easy? Oh no, first you discover you did not mix enough 5 for all the mixes needed to get the other mixtures AND have enough for a decent size puddle to paint with. Then what you think looks right in your puddles don't really have enough contrast with their neighbors when painted side by side to make a strip of values from 1-9.

After that painful experience, paint three pictures using only 5 values of paint, the first study was very simple images. But you need to show differences in value to just make forms recognizable for what they are. Hard again to see differences in value. We have a trick, cut a hole In White paper and squint down and compare to your value strip. Assign values and paint.

I will have to send my image to email, save to computer and upload cause I did not try to see how to upload from phone!

New Lesson

2010-05-23T12:50:00.003-05:00

Ever wonder why the things you try don't turn out so well the first time around? Ever notice that the more you work with something, the easier it gets? Ever notice that the more you study the something you are working on the better you get at what it is you are doing? Life seems to work the same way that art works as well. You struggle, struggle; work; work...bad outcomes. You keep on struggling and working for more bad outcomes. Finally, instead of giving up when it is painful, you try to do it because of sheer frustration and stubborness.
This happened to me at Calloway Gardens this past Friday while I was painting with my friend Brenda. She wanted to paint the Pioneer Log Cabin. I was just along for the ride, so I sat down and started to draw. OH MY GOSH! We started at 10am and at 2:30pm, I left without a painting but with a drawing.
I became so uncomfortable with the prospect of drawing the log cabin that every thing I tried, seemed to look whacky. Perspective is a horrible concept to wrap your mind and hand around when out in the field. I have had enough lessons, thank you Cindy Mask and others to at least know what I should be doing and that is MEASURING, establishing a base unit and going from there. But, do you think that I did that at first? NO! It was after 2 or 3 failed attempts that I decided to do it the way I was taught that I finally found myself with a drawing that was coming together! I could not believe what I was doing.
Well, I liked what I was doing so much, I abandoned the idea of painting and dragged out my Rapidograph pen and filled in pencil lines with beautiful opaque, waterproof india ink! I had the best time. I was cheering myself on, talking to myself and having a good but tiring time.
My picture is submitted to the world to see. Okay, don't get excited, it is primitive, but it is a start and a new lesson for me. I keep hearing in my head, work at drawing, work at drawing, you will paint much better if you do. That is the constant mantra of all painting instructors. There is no shortcut in art and boys and girls, it works that way in life as well.
There is a reason for discomfort in your life. It tells you there is a lesson attached. Running away from the discomfort takes you away from the pain, but you will constantly have to confront it again and again until you start to work on the lesson. Don't fear the lesson...start to work.
Here is my drawing and a louzy cell phone image of the pioneer cabin.

Cades Cove

2009-08-13T11:01:00.003-05:00

This is a painting that I just finished with in my weekly art class. We work from photos and sometimes non-copywrited material. I get some photos from Wet Canvas, they have a huge reference library of free photos to work with. This took roughly 6 lessons to do. I learned a new technique on this one, we used a sponge to paint in the trees and splattered some of the small close flowerbuds in the foreground. When the picture was finished, I felt like something else was needed, so we added from imagination a little structure.

Plein Air Auburn

2009-08-12T13:14:00.003-05:00

Today we went to Town Creek Park. It was overcast, so the sun only came out a couple of times, long enough to find the deep shadows to put into the painting. I struggled with the weeping willow. By the time I was finished, I felt like weeping, but I realize that without the struggle, I won't ever learn anything. This was my first plein air with oils. I forgot to take a pallet with me and had to use a garbage bag to squeeze out my paints on. Thankfully that worked. For the first time I realize, that each of these times I work on something new, I learn. So, I may get off on my own some as well. I hope you enjoy.

Still Life for painting class

2009-08-11T17:13:00.002-05:00

Today I took some stuff to do a still life for my painting class. I decided that I would start painting more from life and get Cheeko's help during class to that end. I started setting up the objects I brought, and learned a lot about placement. I shot many set ups and decided to paint this arrangement. I realized after getting into the painting that I could not accurately convey that I had a vase, pitcher and apple. I think you would agree that I accurately painted the pitcher and the apple but the vase looks like a book? A purple brick? A what??? I suppose if I had chosen a view that looked down on the image more, that vase would look more vase like, but since it was tall, all I could see at eye level was the top and not inside the vase. Should I have cheated and drawn and painted the inside of the squared vase?? I don't know...it is just practice. But it was fun cause I got it done with help from Cheeko in 2 hrs.

Tomorrow I will be painting en plein air at Town Creek Park with the Plein air Auburn group. Hope I can show you what I did.

Georgia O'Keeffe Study

2009-08-09T10:04:00.002-05:00

Another study, this time it is from a painting done by Georgia O'Keeffe. Georgia lived from 1887-1986. Georgia O'Keeffe, known for her bold and colorful still-life compositions, was inspired by nature. We see the elements all throughout her work, flowers, driftwood, animal skulls and the infinite views of the desert. Her flower prints, especially, used bright colors as seen in "Black Iris" and "Red Poppy". Her oversized flowers are what Georgia is most well known for. She often painted huge canvases of flowers, sometimes showing the entire flower and others times she would focus on just a portion and paint a close up image of it. Flowers, though, were not the only subjects she used for her giant prints. She also painted many oversized scenes of "the faraway", the affectionate name she had for the northern New Mexico desert.

Here is my study of Oriental Poppies painted in 1928. I am submitting to the blog Following the Masters:

http://followingthemasters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Elizabeth Pruitt Workshop

2009-08-05T18:15:00.003-05:00

I went over the weekend to a workshop with Elizabeth Pruitt this weekend and had a wonderful time painting. She is a great teacher and I learned many things. Her florals are so pretty and she makes painting look so easy. I was overcome as I watched her demo because I had never gotten so close to see the brush work she did. I was amazed at how I was able to do this myself. I know I have been painting for a while but this was where I found my confidence. I am finding myself wanting to paint more now.
We did the small crabapples first and that was such a good warmup for the more complicated peonies. We stayed at Sarah Cary's retreat in Royston, GA. As usual, Sarah provided a wonderful experience with a bed and meals each day. I want to go more. And I will. I will go to a Kathie George workshop in Sept.
Here is Elizabeth's link: http://www.elizabethpruitt.com/

Vincent van Gogh Study

2009-07-03T11:01:00.004-05:00

As part of my art education, Cheeko had me do a study of a master painting. I had to research and find out what paints were available to that artist at the time of the painting. I had to decide on who I wanted to study and chose Vincent van Gogh. His story appealed to me on many levels, he struggled with art for many years and always thought he was not ever good enough. Added to the fact that he had mental problems made this worse for him as well. He failed in love, he barely was able to make ends meet, of course, Theo, his brother contributed to Vincent so he could buy his pigments. He spent years trying to get by only to end up in a mental institution a couple of times. Poor Vincent, if he only knew how many people would come to love his work. Mine is the one at the bottom. I hope you enjoy.

I chose The Seated Zouave to do my study. Vincent first did a study in 1888 which was different from The Seated Zouave which I chose. Read what Vincent said in a letter to his brother: "I have a model at last.. a Zouave.. a boy with a small face, a bull neck, and the eye of a tiger, and I began with one portrait, and began again with another; the half-length I did of him was horribly harsh, in a blue uniform, the blue of enamel saucepans, with braids of a faded reddish-orange, and two yellow stars on his breast, an ordinary blue, and very hard to do. That bronzed, feline head of his with a red cap, I placed it against a green door and the orange bricks of a wall. So it's a savage combination of incongruous tones, not easy to manage. The study I made of it seems to me very harsh, but all the same I'd like always to be working on vulgar, even loud portraits like this. It teaches me something, and above all that is what I want of my work. The second portrait will be full length, sitting against a white wall."

Workshop Painting

2009-06-14T12:05:00.005-05:00

As I promised, I will share the critique with you. Here is the finished painting, but I cannot determine one of the typos offered in the critique:

I think you could be a little more varied with the edges, and a little closer with the drawing, but you did a really nice job on this. It looks completely convincing and has a nice style to it too. The pitcher is fantastic! You really did a great job jumping the values and getting a feeling of noth (what the heck is that???) volume and reflection in there. My only criticism is really just keep an eye on the drawing, check it over and over, and trust your edges to go a little softer from time to time - it really will aid in the overall feelings of roundness that you want.

Well, this workshop was a lot harder than the first one I did with her but I learned a lot more. Painting glass and ceramic, sliver and wood, transparent olive oil and solid garlic...then to add to it a foreshortened knife. So you can see she packed a lot into the workshop. I really like doing this.

So, I am off to create my Plein Air Auburn blog. I could not find any outdoor painters already painting in Auburn so with the help of a watercolor instructor I met, we started a group. Details to come...

Lisa Gloria Workshop

2009-05-31T09:02:00.005-05:00

This is day one on the still life workshop. Most of the time spent was to do the drawing, paint mixing and underpainting from the hi-res photo emailed after paying the modest $45 fee for a 2 day workshop over the internet. I am a pretty fast painter but had a harder time with the color mixing stage. I think that I got my colors too dark because I was trying to keep up.

We did have a break at which time I got a call from my husband who was playing table tennis. He was in the emergency room after getting hit with a ball flying at him over 100mph! His playing partner took him and he thought the injury was not so severe. I worried about him for the rest of the workshop, which made me want to hurry through to get finished. We did go to an Opthamologist after he got home to have him checked out. He will be ok but he has a severe subconjunctival hemmorhage which makes him look pretty spooky. Today he does not feel too good but he went to the University to make up an exam for his students.

The good thing about Lisa Gloria's workshops is that you can go back to them to catch up, remix paints, etc. because the workshops are recorded and you can go back. I think she said they were also downloadable to your computer. Not sure about that though. Here is her website: http://artstudiosecrets.com/blog/

Here is the first days work and the photo we are working on. She also offers a critique, here is mine:

Looks good! Drawing is spot on. Transitions are a little harsh but they will be painted over so you can work on it next time. I see what you mean about the edges - Well... if you went softer like I did, went for that out of focus look, you'd see a differnet kind of paint emerge at the end. You'd get to pick and choose what parts were in focus or not, how detailed something was. It would look a little more "real" than something that was uniformly detailed because our regular experience, unlike photographs, picks out only a few things to really look at.
This is a great first day, looks like day 2 is going to be really good!

Gloria Perkins Workshop

2009-04-14T09:50:00.004-05:00

I enjoyed very much painting again with Gloria, she has such a loosey-goosey style that is hard to match stroke for stroke because she goes fast to leave us with less chance to muddle around after we lay the paint in. We worked 3 days and came home with 3 framed paintings. I especially love the way she brings frames so we can frame our little jewels. Here they are, I am going to post all three of them instead of doing it a day at a time.

There was a woman sitting next to me that taught painting to students in an art league in her home town. She helped me a lot of times when I did not understand how to do something. Sometimes you think you know how to do something and realize that huh? Why won't mine do that? Lucky me, I had someone right next to me that could show me how to do it...not that Gloria would not show me, but it was nice to have someone right next to you that could show you.

The Valley Farm

2009-04-08T16:24:00.003-05:00

We did a study of the Valley Farm by John Constable. This one is 22x28 inches and took us 2 days to paint. Bill Bayer did the instruction on this. It was fun to do. I had to chop off some of it to make it straight and not show the frame, but most of it is there. I want to paint this one again and see if i can do it by myself.

We got a booklet to do this with all the paints, mixes, underpaintings at different stages and the final picture. Because of copyright laws Bill could not show the original, so in essense, we had a study of a study?

Trip to Nashville

2009-04-07T18:42:00.002-05:00

I went to Nashville, TN to paint for six days and had a lot of fun. I came home with 5 paintings all of which I will post. I went to paint with the group of painter (teachers) that Johnnie Lilliedahl gets together for an annual national atelier. We work in the old masters method of limited palette, transparent underpainting and an opaque overpainting at the end.

I loved doing the landscapes the best they were a lot of fun and easier for me to do. They were taught by Bill Bayer from St. Louis, MI. Bill is quite funny and hauntingly honest about his life. If you have a chance to lookI am including his link http://www.billbayerart.com/

We worked with John Constables images and did studies of his techniques. Here is my painting.

Lisa Gloria Workshop Day 2

2009-04-06T13:36:00.003-05:00

I finished my painting but since taking the photo, discovered an error in painting the spoon which I will fix. Sometimes you are concentrating so hard on painting, you literally cannot see the forest for the trees! But, I am gonna post the finished painting after correcting the spoon. I will probably have some corrections to make when Lisa gives me feedback as well.

She gave me feedback on the first day which told me to soften my edges and darken the apple flesh. I am not sure I accomplished these items. She did say that I did a good job with the color underpainting and keeping the layers thin enough. The size is a 6x8 in canvas on a panel. I love painting on panels. You have that board that is stiff behind your canvan and for me it is easier to control the paint.

Lisa Gloria Workshop Online

2009-04-04T16:08:00.003-05:00

Today from 11-2pm I took an online workshop with Lisa Gloria. She used USTREAM with some sort of camera setup to do live streaming video...fabulous idea! She sent a color high resolution photo of the still life we would paint and a transparency of the contour drawing to check your own drawing, but alas, I drew mine on by tracing the transparency instead of using a good lesson in drawing...but, I can paint this again on my own. We also get a dvd of the painting sessions...I have been following her blog for a while and found her Art Studio Secrets to be very interesting as well as informative. http://artstudiosecrets.com/

Those of you interested in art will find many useful tips in her blog and she is an interesting source of art news, esoterica, facts, fiction, etc.

Today we did the underpainting with raw umber to pick out our darkest darks and lightest lights and those in between. We did the color underpainting and hopefully if things dry enough, we can do the color overpainting tomorrow. Here is what I did today.

Red Plums

2009-03-02T16:22:00.003-06:00

The red plums are my first subject of painting a still life, and can I see my drawing errors, yes, pics posted side by side, so I will refine and do a set up of the fruit and paint them on a 4x6 cotton panel. I will post my progress as I go along. My goodness, I thought I was seeing them better than that...

One problem I keep encountering with my drawings is that the tooth of the paper keeps filling up with graphite and clumping. It is hard to get my darks in without resorting to embossing and I am unsure if I should do that.

I have painting with Cheeko tomorrow and will take one plum to her to see if my idea of using Diox. purple, alizarin crimson and indian yellow for the fruit is on the right track...cannot wait to get started...

Those light lines you will see in most of my drawings are sight lines that I use on a viewfinder to help me get the drawing on the paper better...did it work?

Snowy day March 1

2009-03-01T09:39:00.003-06:00

We woke up to snow this morning and it is coming down heavily. Fortunately the snow does not stick to the streets as we have been warming up down in the south. I could not resist taking a picture.

Posting 2 drawings I did yesterday. One is a ceramic figure of a chihuahua. I hope to paint this one with watercolor. The other is a colored pencil drawing of a Hyacinth. It smells so good, I have been watching it grow. Thought it would be a good subject to draw but was overwhelmed with the flowering part, so I did the best I could to suggest the flower.

My photos of my drawings have to be the worst! I have to take them to the photoshop editing area and change the contrast because I have trouble with the lighting, the flash goes off and bleaches out the colors and contrasts or it has a fuzzy out of focus image. I need to work on this aspect, so any suggestions are welcome.

Drawing

2009-02-26T12:12:00.004-06:00

I have been taking drawing classes in the hope to improve my painting. My teacher is Cynthia Mask. She has been doing a great job with the class and has inspired me to do more drawing, so I have been practicing much more. I am finding inspiration in just about everything, learning to "see" as an artist is fun because once you start seeing differently, everything before you becomes a challenge.

My friends Millie Greene and Judith Gibson went drawing at the Auburn Cemetary yesterday. It was a quiet day and we sat for a couple of hrs drawing the monuments. I loved it, it was such fun to see how to make those lines behave. Of course, more practice is needed but I am off to a start.

My graffite jar is a new purchase, I found and it is the color of graffite, so I bought it so I could draw it. Hopefully I can paint it in the near future.

Gloria Perkins Workshop

2008-07-28T17:15:00.003-05:00

This was a fast paced workshop. Gloria is famous for her exquisite florals. I saw her work in Nashville and wanted to learn more, so I signed up for her class at her studio in Sharpsburg, Ga. I learned so much while there, mostly that I have a long way to go on technique. It was hard, she was working fast and the reason for it was to keep us from dabbling in the paint too much. The photos do not do these paintings justice. I do not know why my photos of my work turn out so fuzzy. Anyway, here they are. I will go to her workshop in Nashville in March, 2009. She is doing some more florals... oh me, what am I getting myself into?

First Oil Painting

2008-05-31T14:49:00.002-05:00

I decided today to clean up my studio/office because my mother is coming in a couple of weeks and I don't want her to see the mess. I ran across some old paintings of mine and thought I might start photographing them to try to get them in some kind of chronological order. I made a slide show of my watercolors in Adobe and it was a fun look, so I am going to try to do it with all the stuff I have done and see what happens.

No painting today, but this is the first one I did with Cheeko Douglas. She is such an inspiration. I don't believe anything could rival her passion for painting. She told me she paints 24 hrs a day, "I paint all day long and when I sleep, I dream of painting." I wish you could have seen the way her face lit up when she told me that. Anyway, she helps us a lot when we paint. She shows us how, then steps back and sets us free! Here is my effort.

Happiness on a Table

2008-05-30T11:13:00.002-05:00

I have I think, finished. I redrew the picture with the help of the photograph. That helped me see what I wanted and narrowed my focus and eliminate the entire world, which is what I tend to do. This satisfies me more than the first one, but; I wish I had done as good a job painting the agave. Something wrong happened with the paint mixes. Oh well, it is just paper.

Trip to Nashville

2008-05-29T10:52:00.003-05:00

My trip to Nashville in March was fun and a challenge. I worked in oils, watercolor and acrylics (I am now more intrigued). I worked in color theory in the oils and am facinated with the huge assignment of painting all the color combinations in a full spectrum pallette. I have been working on them for about 2 months now and am getting them completed. Will show some of them later.

In watercolor, I painted with Kathie George, a long time favorite teacher of mine with whom I have been taking yearly workshops with for about 9 years (we think). I am submitting my finished Koi, her design, on Ginwashi rice paper. We did a batik on that. I finished it off with a rubbing of a TJAP stamp (pronounced chop) that is used in Bali to stamp batiks using an irridescent gold oil pastel crayon. I brought the finished piece home and brightened the colors some.

To go back to the project of painting reflections on the table, I am going to redraw and repaint. I thought that what I was looking at was so different from what I was actually looking at, so I will do a redrawing and repainting. I am going to use the picture to help get a better contour drawing to get started with on paper, then trace my drawing onto watercolor paper. That should help with all the erasures. Meanwhile here is the image of what I saw (I added a few things to the setup).

2 point perspective drawing

2008-05-28T10:03:00.002-05:00

Ok, I knew that I would need to redraw the table. So I started on trying to get that right from the start. I did a 2 point perspective drawing so I could show the sides of the table which I wanted to paint the darks in. I first did a one point perspective where the table was wider at the front and narrower at the back but it still looked tipped south too much. Then I tried a 2 point and realized that I needed to make the angles at the back closer to the horizon to keep it from looking as if I were standing up looking down, so I raised it. Now I realize that my angles need to be narrower to get the table to stand up more. I will play around in my sketchbook till I get the right angle of view before I am satisfied. If I do get what I like, I will post. But for now, here is the more correct version. I am waiting to hear from Cindy to see if I can post her instructions. She has answered and told me next steps.

A small task

2008-05-27T10:57:00.003-05:00

Today while sitting on the porch with my husband, I decided to try to paint the reflections on the coffee table. I had just bought a new bowl that I was anxious to paint and it needed company, so I brought the agave to sit beside it.

I was trying to draw the table (as evidenced by the folk art rendering), when I finally got it! Drawing the negative spaces helped me to render some of the shapes. Now, I know you are thinking, HUH? Believe me, I am okay with showing my poor starts and stops, but the important thing is the learning part...I GOT IT!! Finally, but not in time to do a good enough drawing. That's ok, I will keep trying to draw these confound objects that I have trouble with.

I spoke to my art teacher (Cynthia Mask, Auburn University) today and she is going to help me paint the reflections on the table, so this is not finished, just at a point where I could take some help. She is going to help with words--via email. This is going to be fun to do. I am sending her my blog for her to get a good look at the progress so far and she will tell me what needs to happen next. Stay tuned for the next one.

Jacsha Heifetz performs

2008-05-23T12:06:00.002-05:00

I love to hear him playing his violin while I paint along. I learned to love him from my husband, who is a giant fan of his.

Knife Painting

2008-04-24T11:26:00.002-05:00

Been a long time. Had little time for painting lately but still taking lessons. I will post a picture that is going to a Cafe in Dadeville to be displayed along with all the other painters in Cheeko's art class. One of our class members decided to do a knife painting and before you knew it, all classes wanted to learn the method. As for me, I was just struggling with my landscape thinking surely she would not ask me to learn this, but lo and behold, she wanted me to learn it too while it was a "hot topic" and she was in the mood to teach it.

Cheeko has a wonderful array of reference material from which we can choose to paint. She encourages those of us who want to experiment and learn and grow in our paintings. She also helps out whenever we don't understand how to paint a passage, she is not shy about coming to our canvas and demonstrating.

This work was done from a Walter Foster Still Life workbook. We change all sorts of stuff about the painting but get the ideas from the set up. These are fun to do. Some of the painters work from their own reference material, but since I am in the learning mode, I still use them to paint from.

White

2008-02-28T12:44:00.003-06:00

Representing white in a painting is a good exercise in values. White has to have color painted into it so that tonal value and volume can be described. Another beginner painting...OMG, the things that cause me problems: LEAVES and that nebulousness of the floated washes that are supposed to appear as leaves and negative painting of leaves that are not there!! This was hard, but I have to take it easy on myself, because I am trying to learn how to do these techniques. Working with an angled brush helps to diffuse the harder cast shadows, now I need to learn how to work in smaller places with that loaded to one side brush. This was fun. In the middle of painting all this, I guess my husbands frustration with the dinner table being filled with watercolor paper, paints, books, bottles, erasers, pencils, etc. got the best of him, so I moved all my stuff back to my studio...I will send a snapshot of my wall of unfinished paintings. I decided to hang them up so I would look at them often and see if I can get some of them finished.

Scratchboard

2008-02-27T08:15:00.003-06:00

This was a fun project. Mine is the pansies (I don't think anyone thought I did the buffaloes, LOL). I have done other Scratchboards using the small kits provided by Ampersand. It is messy because you scratch off the lights and leave the darks using tools such as broad and pointed scrapers, chisels, steel wool, etc. to achieve tonal qualities. Ever seen any of the professionals work in this area? It is so hard to believe that artists can use this media to achieve such fantastic work. I am including a sample by Sally Maxwell, she is a master scratchboard artist. Go look at her work at : http://www.sallymaxwellsart.com/

More from the paintbox

2008-02-24T18:02:00.003-06:00

This afternoon, I had a wonderful time doing my last painting from the paintbox book of exercises. I was thrilled to see that I had finished with the book and will move on to more exercises in another book. I am pretty pleased with this one. I got my camera on my tripod and set up in my small studio to take pictures with a fair degree of regularity now. This painting has come a little easier, I find that all this practice I have been doing, has begun to sink in and take root somewhat.

My colors are beginning to become stronger and I am working my brushes differently. I just love this process.

Sunflowers

2008-02-23T13:46:00.002-06:00

It has been a while since I last posted. I have been so busy trying to get my step-mother settled in assisted living that I have not painted a lot other than doing color wheels. I did however continue with my lessons and have painted a pretty embarassing mountain scene. My watercolor teacher said, put it away for a while and come back to it later. So, I started painting a sunflower still life from a book. Susan Schewee has a PBS program in which she demonstrates watercolor and I love watching, so I got a book of designs called Beginning Watercolor...I pay homage to anyone who can do this as a beginner. Here is mine. I am mostly happy with it except for the stupid leaves, they look pretty stiff. Still don't know how to paint leaves! But I keep plugging along. Also, I need some color in the background to make those flowers pop...now the big question? WHAT DO I DO NOW??? Paint some color that might ruin all the work I have done??? Oh well, it is just paper, right?

Lesson 1

2008-01-23T09:43:00.000-06:00

Last night was my first watercolor class, I was excited! I learned more in this 2 hrs than in a long time, I guess you cannot learn how to paint watercolor from books. But I did learn about paint consistency, thick as buttermilk or thin as skim milk. Never was able to put that together before. But that was after I painted my image. We also learned how to paint a prettier tree which will take some getting used to but the secret is that you turn your painting upside down and hold your wrist over the bottom of the tree and without moving your hand, pull in jerking motions toward you, this way you get a more natural look. We painted a very simple image with 3 colors. Learned how to fling paint, then spray with water to create foliage. Mine was done with too small a brush so it looks like the leaves are just emerging. Cynthia Mask is our teacher, she is getting her fine arts degree from Auburn University.

Snow in Auburn!

2008-01-19T11:04:00.000-06:00

Hooray for snow, it is beautiful; large fat snowflakes falling and quickly covering everything in its path. We are forcasted to get 3-6". Click on the image to see a close up image, you can see how heavy the snowfall is. I frequently take pictures of the lake across the street from the front of our house because I find such quiet beauty at the most unexpected times. I will take a snapshot and upload to the computer so I can remember. I finished another of the paintbox exercises, this one is really showing my lack of talent but, I am going to post because it is a visual record, so I can bring it back at a later date to see where I was and where I have come.

Flowers, Snow, Wheels

2008-01-16T13:15:00.000-06:00

I am going to oil painting tonight after a long break over the holidays. My watercolor class last night was delayed until next Tues due to the death of the instructor's family member. So, I painted another two from Frank Clark's Paintbox. This time daisies and snow. But, I have also been making color wheels by mixing paints using either a 3 color method or a 6 color method. I like the 6 color method the best. With the 6 color method, choose warm, cool reds, warm, cool yellows and warm, cool blues. The one I am posting is from KOI, it has a neat water cartridge paintbrush which I used to paint the colors.

Busy Holidays

2008-01-14T12:21:00.000-06:00

Now that the holidays are over, I can get my house back in order, just took the tree to the garage. I have been painting all along. I am taking another watercolor course at Auburn University starting tomorrow evening. I am so excited to finally get a structured course in the basics of watercolor. So, I have still been working on leaves. I have spread myself all around the house with leaves and watercolor. My husband has been putting up with the kitchen table covered in all sorts of an array of watercolor paints, brushes, paper, books, etc. You know the drill, when you paint, you loose all sense of time, space, others...Speaking of others, Bella, my dog has taken up the habit of carrying a rope around from room to room. She played with it some at Christmas and this morning, she looked so cute standing in the den with that thing in her mouth, I had to take a snapshot, and those of you who know me, know how special my dog is, so I am including her as well.

Back to leaves, I have been painting them too as well as trying out this book called "Frank Clarks Paintbox". I usually just read the book and don't do the exercises, this time I decided to do the exercises as well, so I thought I would post them too. I have also been busy making color wheels. That has been fun too. Let's see how many pics I can post at one time. Only 5 of them. I will save the rest for later.

Leaves of Autum

2007-12-22T14:16:00.001-06:00

I have been working down at the beach on 2 more leaves. I am learning a lot making these leaves. I am only using primary colors to obtain the colors I need for the image. I found these leaves while on a trip to Gatlinburg, Tenn. where I went with my granddaughter Loren (pronounced Lo-ran, don't forget to make a face like Humphrey Bogart) for a cheerleading competition.

Rambling around

2007-12-16T12:14:00.000-06:00

I have been so busy with the holiday season, shopping, decorating that I have had little time for artistic pursuits. But, here is a delightful spot I found after reading Robert Genn's Declining Sight email regarding Degas. So, I decided to try googling him and came up with thousands of images, one of which was at http://www.enchantedlearning.com/ , I found a coloring book and colored one of my favorites Van Gogh's Starry Night. Look over to the right under kids activities and find Art Coloring pages. Try it out, I had a good time. You can tile an image on your computer and see if you can follow it by filling in the colors...pretty amazing and a lot of fun.

Tulip Poplar

2007-11-28T11:01:00.000-06:00

I painted this one quickly yesterday. I committed a faux pas by copying the design of the leaf and adding everything that was there. Unfortunately, it was not a good thing to do since it added eyes to the leaf. I will have to do this one again and resist adding everything I see. I am the artist in charge of this painting and lesson learned...don't be a slave to the image!

I am working on an oak leaf and it is proving very hard...wonder how long this will take. I will show you the outline and you will see why I am having to start all over, but will work out all my mistakes on this copy before going ahead...

White Oak Leaf

2007-11-27T11:51:00.000-06:00

I am amazed at the loss of color when I take these snapshots of my watercolor paintings. The vibrant color is lost and there does not seem to be much I can do in Adobe Photoshop to enhance it. I am using my Canon G6 to take the picture. I will go and read more on the photography end and see if I can make things better. This leaf was found in Auburn, AL. I have a leaf press that I have put my collection in and got a book called Fallen Leaves by Louise Kollenbaum. It has sections where you can keep your leaves after pressing.

I finished the leaf today after working on it for hours at the beach during Thanksgiving.

Watercolor

2007-11-26T14:01:00.000-06:00

I painted a River Birch leaf while on vacation down at the beach. We had such cold weather, I felt it was time. I found the leaf while on a visit to my daughter, Michelle's new home in Chattanooga. I had been inspired to paint leaves by Brenda Stevens after taking a watercolor class in which we painted a leaf.