Merry Christmas

We are leaving for Pittsburgh tomorrow and won't be back home til next Monday. So I thought I would leave all my friends and followers  a little Christmas painting I did last week.  I guess everyone can guess what I've been eating too many of.   I hope everyone enjoys the Holidays as much as I plan too.   Be Happy and Be Safe. 

Something To Feel Good About.

The other day I was experiencing sore throat and cough and not feeling very well at all.  Their is one thing that I do that always makes me feel a little better. And that thing is painting roses. I found this photo on a forum I belong to and decided to paint it. I hope this makes everyone feels a little better. Thanks for  veiwing.   Arches 140cp with assorted waterpaint colors.                                                                                            

Katie #2

Here is my second painting of my granddaughter Katie. I'm very seldom paint portraits so very happy with how this turned out.  I would like to learn next how to put more color into my skin tones. So I think I'll be working on this next.  Thank you all for veiwing.

A Sunflower

This is the latest watercolor that I have painted.   This was done for our forum's Monthly Mindbender Challenge.  This is a section of a photo provided by one of our friends that we have all month to paint from. Done on 140 Arches cp with various water colors.  Thank you for looking.  

Katie

Since I did Kelcey I knew I had to find a photo of Katie. This was from a photo taken last Christmas. She has a strand of fake hair thus the red. I loved this because of the way she has her hands placed. I'm happy with both my colored pencil portraits that I have done.  I really like the idea of leaving some of the paper in the piece. I also like trying to find shades that go with the color of the paper for the different tones in the face.  Thanks again for viewing.

kelcey

   I have been trying to paint Kelcey in watercolors for the last couple of days. I was not getting anywhere and beginning to become frustrated. Yesterday I decided to try doing her in Colored Pencil. I am pleased with how this came out.  I used the paper as part of the picture so not all covered by CP.  This was done on Canson Pastel paper and I used the wrong side as it was not as rough.   I hope you enjoy viewing this and comments are always welcome.  I just started my other grandchild so will be posting it as soon as finished.

A Winter's Day

This is a painting I did from a poem provided by a wonderful lady in another forum that I belong to.   Thanks Cathy for reminding me of the beauty of snow.   

20 Minute Challenge Birds Nest

Trough a painting friend of mine I became aware of a wonderful blog dealing with 20 minute challenges. Thi blog is named the Twenty Minute Challenge started by Katharine Cartwright, thank you Katharine. It is taking a lot of discipline to do these every day.  But once I have completed one I feel good. I am learning every day how to manage and do a small little painting or drawing in 20 minutes. I am also learning to draw from real life or what I see since no photos are allowed.  Yesterday on our daily walk I spotted this bird's nest in a tree.  Using only 4 colors  and a quick sketch  I completed this in 18 minutes.   As always I hope you enjoy my work and please comment.  Thanks for viewing.  

A Pear With Bowl And Glass.

 Here is my  latest little painting in water color.  I am still using more water and dropping the colors in.  I am enjoying painting this way.  I now need to start pushing more color into these paintings.  I hope you enjoy viewing this. 

Shells

Hi everyone, have finally got back to painting in watercolors.  Taken a little break and doing oils for a change.  This was taken from a photo used for our forum's  monthly mindbender.  To do this one I found one very small section and painted that.   I had a lot of fun doing this one as I let the water control the action of the paint. This is very different for me but I like the results, with it being looser and the whites brighter.  Thanks everyone for looking I really appreciate all those who comment also.

White Squirrel

Hi everyone. I thought I would show a photo of the baby white squirrel who lives and plays in my back yard.  She (he ) is not an albino but a type of squirrel we have here in Pawleys Island.  Happy with this photo since she scurries with the slightest sound. She was pawing at the screen on porch to get in, not good idea since Lily (my white cat) was waiting for her.  I hope you enjoy her as much as I do.

Sunshine and Bowl of Fruit

  Here is another painting for our Friday Foto Challenge. This photo was provided by Desiree. Thanks Desiree, I enjoyed doing this one. I think it is one of the more ambitious water colors I have done. Actually doing a whole bg and foreground. My favorite parts of this painting is the apple and glass bowl. I had to laugh as I think the stem got away from me  with a life of it owns.  Thanks for looking.

Playing in oil

 Hi everyone, sorry I haven't posted lately. I have been doing little still lifes the last couple of days.  I have only recently started using water soluble oils and are still getting use to them.  One of the things  new to me besides the oils is the smallness of the canvases, both of these are 6"by 6", I have always used larger canvases.  On both of these I painted the canvas very dark from a mixture of  UB, Aliz. Cr, Sap Green, Cad Red and then worked out from this when it was dry.  I wish I could take better photos but camera won't cooperate. It  was sunny today so took both of them outside to photograph.  Still shows too strong whites.   Thanks everyone for looking.

Kitten

Yesterday I did a little painting of a kitten from a photo provided from a reference post in one of the forums I belong to.  I am happy with her (him). For the fur I used W/N Cer Bl  and  Daniel Smith Quin Burnt Orange, also used was   Hol  UB, W/N Raw Sienna and Grumbacher Indigo.
   We are going to St Simons Island in Georgia for a few days on vacation. So I may not be in here until the end of the week.  I hope to take some great photos and even get a chance to paint.   I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Macaw

This painting is from a photo provided by Cindi, one of our members in Painting Friends. The painting was done for our Friday Foto Challenge, where one member posts a photo he or she would like to paint. Then we have the option to paint it also. I have recently began using Daniel Smith's watercolors and like the brightness in the paints. This was done looser than I usally paint but like the effect it has with the whites being left to show the light coming in. Thanks Cindi for sharing this photo with us.

Spikey

 I asked the photographer of this cat's photo if I could paint it  and she happily gave me permission.  Thanks Stephie for taking such a beautiful photo of your cat.  I painted this using only Grumbacher's Indigo on Arches 140cp.  Using this color brought back memories of how much we used India Ink and my dark fingers. I very seldom paint animals and am very proud of how well this came out.

An Autumn Card

On the one forum I belong to, we have been exchanging Christmas and Easter Cards. This year we also included a card for the Autumn Season.  I sometimes struggle with a subject to paint. But once I thought of this, I really enjoyed painting it. My recipient received her card yesterday so I'm able to post this here. The person receiving my card this year was Desiree

(My Clothesline and Other Laundry Lists.)  I was happy to hear that my card made her Thursday less stressful and that she liked it.
This is a Strathmore Card size 5"by 6 7/8".

  I want to thank michelle at following the master blog...(http://followingthemasters.blogspot.com/). I decided to join in on this challenge. For my portrait I picked one of my favorite artists.  I found a self portrait of Mary Stevenson Cassatt (May 22, 1844 – June 14, 1926)
I started with her hat and worked down.













This second painting is from a photo of her when she was older.  I used a very limited palette and used a small squirrel mop with no drawing.

I really enjoyed doing both of these since I really love all her work.

Flight

There is so many good thing about living close to the ocean.  One of them is all the different birds that are here, from the beautiful blue herons to the little ones who run in and out with the waves.  I think my favorite though is the pelican. When I am on the beach nothing gives me more pleasure than watching a flock of them fly over.  I was lucky once to have my camera and was able to take this shot.  For this painting I used two Daniel Smith Watercolors. Phthalo Blue ( green shade) and Quinacridone Rose.

Orange

 This little painting was done for a challenge in our Painting Friends forum. The challenge is to do some type of  art for each letter of  the alphabet.   This was done for the letter O.  I'm  really happy how the orange interacted with the greens I chose. To give depth in the painting I did negative painting and added a second Chinese Lantern peeking out.   On to P 

Lighthouse

 Here is a painting I did for our Painting Friends Forum.  A photo was provided and we were all to paint it in our own style. We then emailed them to a person who posted all of  them without any names.  The goal was to see how many we could recognize by just the style. I knew a wopping 4, it was harder than I ever imagined.  But it was also a lot of fun too. 

Haley At The Beach

       
Good Morning everyone and hope y'all are having a wonderful Friday. I have only been practicing  painting people , so nothing brand new to show here. I  hope this changes soon.  I though I would show a painting I did a couple of weeks ago.  This is my youngest Granddaughter Haley.  For the painting I used a photo of her on the beach. She is looking into the sun thus the squinting and just out of the water.  I am very happy with this portrait because I  feel everything clicked  in here. From the skin tone, how the hair looks, her eyes and how expressive this is.  
   I am going to start a Painting Friends challenge soon in oil and hope to be able to have it in here by the weekend.  That is if it is any good, I have tried to do it in colored pencil and watercolor, neither turned out well.

My cupcake in the DSDF's Challenge

I have now began to participate in The Different Strokes for Different Folks challenge.  I have wanted to do this for a while, now that I have a blog, I went for it.  I really enjoyed doing this painting  and happy it turned out so well.  I had to laugh though the cupcakes in the photo are the same I bought for Cindi's  and I desert wishy washy challenge. I may in a different post show that cupcake I painted.

September 3 2009

The weather here has turned cooler for the week.  So this morning my DH and I decided to ride bikes.   As we were riding I was thinking of all the beautiful things that I see on the way, but decided on this painting instead.  This little painting I did today showing Jim as he rides ahead of me.  Used Ulta Blue, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna and Vermilion. I also have spent the day doing little sketches for Cindi and I 's next Wishy Washy project.  I think I'm ready now to paint this photo that we picked.  Well at least it will be the first attempt anyway.   

 

September 2,2009 My very first post.

   Well Cindi and I challlegned each other to paint dark colors in this last wishy washy exercise. For our painting we picked this very lovely Namibian girl.provided by Patrick Hedges. Thankyou Patrick.  It took me three tries to finally say this is the one I'm showing. I used  Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Sienna and  Cadnium Scarlet for the colors. I think I did her justice and am pleased with her personality coming through.