Merry Christmas

Yeah, it's a little late to say "Merry Christmas", but it is still the Christmas season. We are well within the 12 days of Christmas.

Since my last post was in the beginning of November, it may be obvious that it's been a busy time for me. Life intrudes on my painting time. Actually, I let it in - it's still difficult for me to think of myself as mostly an artist when the rest of my life is so full of other meaningful things.

So, here is our Christmas card for 2014. I think it says a bit about being tangled up in life on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Not to fear, the Christmas lights did get untangled, the tree put up, presents wrapped and delivered. Our lives did settle down. It has been a lovely holiday celebration with family and friends.

Hope yours was wonderful, too!

And on to 2015 - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Seachlights

I am still in searching mode - that in-between period of not being particularly inspired and eager to paint. My husband calls it "walking in circles." I know it's partly because my life is so full of other things, like the workman/painters who are all over my house and in and out of my studio cleaning up their brushes...and some other projects that are calling to me.

But, yesterday I had a free afternoon and got into the studio by myself. (it was raining, no workmen) I decided to revisit some paintings that I had been playing with. The last time I painted I was just playing with color and had done a very wet study of the 'rainbow' - sort of. I remember thinking it would be fun to make the viewer look at a particular spot so placed color around a small white circle.

It was certainly not an inspiring painting, but was fun watching the colors blend and change. As I have been scolded by some of you, I left it to dry - did not wash it off. So here it is as an 'underpainting.'

So, yesterday I picked it up again to fiddle with it. Unfortunately, I did not take pictures along the way, but I can tell you what happened. I began playing with color again - lots of red, yellow and blue squiggles all over the paper. I put the paint on fairly thick and then sprayed it...and watched the colors mingle and run. Actually, it did that two or three times - doing different lines, shapes and values each time. After a couple of hours, I did a final spray, watched it run and then wiped it off. 

Thinking I was done - and the paper was very saturated with water and color - I turned off the lights and got ready to leave. As I turned for one last look, I had an idea to lift some color - what the heck, "it's only paper!"

With the lights out, I got a damp brush and began to run it in straight lines across the mess I had made. Another line here and there and it was really fun! As I removed color, the water that was still on the brush pushed the surrounding color away for some interesting effects. 

Can you see the original painting and find the tiny white circle? Hint - turn it around a bit.

I have not been back yet today to see what it looks like, but who knows what it will become by the end of the afternoon...

Which way is up?

A couple weeks ago I attended a five day portrait workshop with Janet Rogers. Actually, I attended about 5 half-days of the workshop because of some volunteer conflicts, but it was an amazing week. Janet paints in this wonderfully loose style and makes it look so easy.

She encouraged us to make puddles of color and play with them. Mix a little of this and a little of that...oops, flood in another color, throw in something else, use big brushes, set a timer and make yourself paint fast, don't get too detailed... Challenging and fun.

Today I tried to use all these painting 'skills' in a new way. To really get myself out of the need to 'paint a picture' I thought I would just play... I'm going abstract ... and, remembering what many of you said the last time I ventured in this direction, I'm posting what happened this afternoon. Hmmm, which way is up? How to crop?

Here goes... Which way is up?                           #1

#2

                                                                                #3

#4

Now there are so many other choices.  Do I crop it? What shape?

#5 - Horizontal rectangle? Remember it could also go in any direction...

#6 - Another horizonal...cropped a little differently.

#7 - A square? Which way up?

#8 - Vertical rectangle? Which way up?

#9 - Another vertical rectangle?

What a fun afternoon it has been. It really doesn't make any difference which direction or what shape it is...I had a great time.  (but I'd love to hear from you - what do you think?)

Autumn Color

Currently there is an exhibit at the St Michaels Library called "Autumn Color." I haven't seen it hanging as yet - it's been a busy week - but I am told that it is beautiful.

The painting I entered was the one I mentioned in my last post. This cute little girl has recently turned 13 - now a beautiful teenager! Way back then she had visited a pumpkin farm and was so excited to have found just the right one for her. It's fun to see the little kids pick out their pumpkin and then try to carry it back. This child was a bit more realistic than some others who struggle with the biggest ones they can find!

I began with a watercolor underpainting on sanded paper.

I wanted to colors soft and at the same time bold. Hmmm, is that possible?

Here is what I did in the first hour or so. I debated whether to change the color of her sweatshirt to accommodate the 'autumn color' theme and decided to just go with the purple.

A few more refinements on the face, hands, pumpkins, background...just kept tweaking...

Getting a little closer to what I wanted - playing with the shadows and background...

"I Found One"  9x12 pastel  $125

Time's up...stop fiddling...sign it and frame it.

A little left of center...

I interrupted my painting this morning to bake some brownies for a dinner that we are going to tomorrow night. (I'll probably be blogging about the painting at a later time.)

I guess I was in a very strange 'creative' mood, but this is what happened... I added the oil, then the water and lastly the two eggs... VOILA!  It was looking at me and smiling.

Cheers, everyone...

Who knew I would be making art in the kitchen?

Learning that lesson

Okay, okay, I heard some comments after my last post about things not working out. What I thought was just a throw-away, some of you liked! Thank you...

So, here is another one of those 'play day' paintings. This one was painted while the other one was drying. I was doing basically the same thing, using fall colors and only a big brush. The paper was not quite as wet with this one.

This is as much as I accomplished in class. It has that 'leaf/branch' look about it. My teacher and classmates liked this one better and suggested that I connect the areas of color with some thicker, dark branches. So I brought it home to play some more. Remember, it's only paper...

That dark bluish blob in the upper left corner was a bit overwhelming. I tried to make it more branchlike and then cropped some of it off. Well, it is autumn color...and I'll keep looking at it for awhile. I have not signed it, but at least I haven't washed it off...yet!

It doesn't always work out...

Last week I subbed again in the watercolor class. I was in between projects - didn't have anything that I was working on. I had thought that I might begin something for an exhibit that is coming up in October called "Autumn Colors." Then I found out that watercolor was excluded from that show. (I had forgotten that.)

I decided just to have a 'play day'...to play with autumn colors and see what might happen. It's fun when I let myself experiment - really let go of the need to create 'the' masterpiece.

I was thinking of autumn leaves...what else when you think of autumn colors? So, here's my process. I got out a sheet of watercolor paper and a pencil. I began drawing some oak leaves. I love their shapes. When I thought I had enough leaves, I wet the paper and began brushing around some reds, golds, greens and even threw in a bit of blue (thinking sky...) I wanted to use only one big brush for the entire painting.

Interestingly to me, the pencil marks were there and completely ignored as I applied color. I was so involved in play that I did not use them at all. The paper was very wet at this point so I set it aside to dry a bit. My instructor saw it at this point and said, "You're not afraid to try anything." I think that was a nice way of saying, "That's pretty awful, but good for you for trying something new."

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of it at this stage. When I went back to it later, I needed a way to draw all the areas of color together. I randomly put in some arcs of color using the tip of same big brush I had used earlier. The freedom was really fun.

The end product is a little 'muddy' in places and I am not sure exactly how it goes...I painted it with the blue at the top. I think I like it better at the bottom...hmmm, not sure. It's not something that I would sign and frame, but it was freeing and fun.

When I got home I experimented with it some more - really messed it up and ended up washing it all off! The freedom comes from one of my teacher's voices in my head that says..."It's only paper!" 

It's very OK, it doesn't always work out...