"Come on Over" or "Green with Envy"

I received a phone call and was told to bring fruits or veggies to class for a still life painting. I had been at the grocery store the previous day and had spotted some beautiful peppers. I picked out three - a yellow, an orange and a green.

Others had brought a pomegranate and a pineapple. Each of us brought what we wanted to paint, so instead of combining everything for a joint still life, we just individually arranged what we had.

My idea had been to paint the orange and yellow peppers on one side of the paper and the green one by itself.  I was thinking "Come on Over" or "Green with Envy."

The first day I completed the sketch. The following week, it was time to paint. I really wanted to paint loosely, so I purposely held the paint brush a different way and voila, I had the peppers done in no time.

The class loved it and asked, "What else are you going to do?" There were suggestions of adding a dishtowel, or some sort of tiles. That didn't seem quite right. Maybe a window...

I sketched in a window and then worked hard at getting the panes the same size. I used blue painter's tape - which comes off easily ...and arranged and rearranged the panes. My eye gets fooled so easily - they still don't look even, but they are!

Then I pulled off the tape so I could see how it might look.

Last step was painting in the window panes. In keeping with the looseness of the peppers I purposely did not do lots of detail in the window frames. I like the simple look in this one.

So, what you do you think - "Come on Over" or "Green with Envy"...or something else?

BFFs

The process - part 2...the October exhibit at the St Michaels Library was hung last week. I need to get by there and see what the other artists did in describing their processes. Creative people = imaginative ways of doing this 'assignment.'

Today's post is about the pastel that I painted for this exhibit. I haven't done a portrait for awhile so I started looking through old photos. I came across a picture of one of my grandchildren hugging her dog.  She was about 2 at the time. (She's now 16 - don't know how that happened!)

Here's the pencil sketch on 500 grit sanded paper. (FYI - this really is just like sandpaper, but it's archival - not the stuff from my woodworking days)

I love the look of watercolor washes before I begin using my pastels. I try to add just enough color to describe the painting. It helps me find the darks and lights.

After it dried, I began with my soft pastels. Again, I was working on darks and lights and beginning to work on some expression in her face - because I couldn't wait. Normally, that would come later. but i was anxious to try.

I started experimenting with background color. In the photo, they were in the grass.

I finished up the background and kept doodling with her mouth - she has a funny little expression that is peculiar to small children. I think it has something to do with 'baby' cheeks...

The title of this painting is "BFFs" - it seems they were Best Friends Forever.

Creating Art - the Process

The art league will have a new exhibit at the St Michaels Library in October. It's called 'Creating Art - the Process.' I have found it a lot of fun - and good learning  - to document my process in creating a painting. . .now I will get to see how other artists take on this challenge.

So, here is one of the paintings I will be entering in this exhibit. After I painted 'THE Arrangement' (see post of September 10) I thought it would be fun to try taping another piece of watercolor paper. The first painting was horizontal - this one would be vertical.

My idea for this painting was to just use blue and yellow and see what would happen. This first application of color was very wet. I love to see what the colors will do! When watercolor paint dries, the colors are more muted.

I added more color - with less water this time - and let it dry again. Then I removed the tape. (forgot to take a picture before the next step)

I wanted to bring the sections together so I dabbed a sponge in the blue-yellow-green puddles on my palette and crossed over some of the white lines.

It's looking very much like a lattice. I know I am sort of color crazy - I had a teacher once who said "Every painting needs a spot of red." At this point I hear his voice in my head and can't shake it. . . but, I also don't want to ruin what I have done already. 

It's time for the acetate - clear plastic that I can experiment with on top of my painting. I can paint on it and get an idea of what might work. I try a few different ideas. 

Still not right. Then I decided to stop and take this painting to class for suggestions. 

 "Make the flower look like a real flower." "Add a vine. Make it look like it really belongs there."

After googling 'flowering vines and morning glories' (which are NOT always blue/white as I had thought - yea, I can use red),  I made several more acetate tries and came up with this final product.

"The Lattice" - 16x20 framed watercolor $175

The exhibit will be hung on October first and run through the month. Drop by, see this painting and find out how other artists create, too!

...the week after

Last week I posted about 'THE arrangement." The week after I did that painting, I returned to class. There in the arrangement container were four dead sunflowers and some sort of trailing vine. It was difficult to lift - I guess the oasis was still wet and the container was some sort of heavy metal. Barbara asked us if we would take the whole thing and throw it out for her.

WAIT! The dead flowers had their own beauty - I wanted to paint them. Actually, I thought they were much more interesting than the gorgeous arrangement. Needless to say, I was delighted to have found something to paint that I was excited about. (I don't know what that says about ME that I thought the dead stuff more interesting . . .as they say, "I'm not going there.")

So, here is my offering today. I really like the loose, free look.

'The Day After' 8x10 watercolor  $55

It is framed and hanging on the wall at The News Center in Easton. Drop by there to see it in person and take a look at the other small paintings hanging there. That show is up until the end of September.

THE Arrangement

There was a wedding at my church a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday afternoon. When we arrived for our regular service the following day, we were overwhelmed by the beauty and the abundance of flowers. They were everywhere and they were magnificent! At the end of the service, parishioners were invited to take the flowers home, to give them to shut-ins, to share their beauty.

The next day, I received an email that said "Barbara brought some flowers home from church. Bring a BIG piece of paper to class. We'll be painting an enormous arrangement." I groaned . . .all the arrangements that I had seen were of white flowers . . .and there were so many! I was not looking forward to class that Tuesday.

I am NOT an easy flower painter. I get lost in so many petals.

So, imagine my surprise, when I arrived at class a day later to find, yes, an enormous arrangement - BUT they were NOT the white flowers. It was an amazing display of sunflowers and all sorts of color!

OK, still, I am NOT an easy flower painter (I said that before)  - what was I going to do with the overwhelming mass of color?

I decided to get out of my rut and experiment a bit.  A week or so before (when I had not been there) the class had taped sort of a grid on their paintings. Later they removed the tape and connected the squares to form a whole painting. It sounded like fun.

I started to tape and decided not to just do a rectangular grid. Sorry, I don't have a before picture here. I began to paint the flower display, purposefully leaving out a lot of the various flowers. It was just too much!

When the painting dried, I removed the tape and began connecting the arrangement. I added stems and greenery and voila! Not too bad after all.

"The Arrangement"   11x14 watercolor & ink    $125

To be continued . . .

Art Show & Sale this weekend!

Labor Day weekend is coming up - that means it is time for the SMAL annual Art Show and Sale in St MIchaels, MD. I have been a member of the art league for a number of years and have attended the show, but this year I decided to be one of the exhibitors!  Hmmm, what do I hang?

Since I have been 'playing' with different things this summer, I am going to take a leap and put some of the experimental paintings in the show. I really have enjoyed the crinkled paper paintings, so they will go in. I also scanned some old favorites and have printed them on watercolor paper  - they are matted 8x10 and will be sold as unframed prints.

Now for my newest crinkle . . .when we were in Vermont this summer, I was intrigued with the blueberry bushes at our rental house. The berries were in different stages of 'ripeness' and the colors were wonderful. So, my latest crinkle painting is called 'Blueberries.'

'Blueberries'   framed 11x14 watercolor  $175

The show is on Saturday, September 5 from 10-5 and on Sunday, September 6 from 12:30-5:00 under the tent on the lawn of St Luke's United Methodist Church - right in the center of town. Hope you will stop buy. You will find many very talented artists there to greet you.

Vacation = Grandchildren = Creativity

We have just returned from a trip to Vermont where we visited with two of our grandchildren. Twelve year old Kieran and I spent lots of time with his Kindle Fire and my iPad.

After patiently explaining some of the games that he and his friends play, he showed me a picture that he 'painted' on his kindle. I asked if I could post it - he said 'yes.'

I was impressed with what he had done and showed him a drawing app on my iPad. I had not done too much with it  . . . but he figured it out and taught me a few things. 

He wanted to do a self portrait. First he took a picture of himself and used it as the first layer. He then used the paint brush on the drawing app and voila! There he is.

He really had fun with it and worked with his sister Maizie to capture her, too.

As they say, "A fun time was had by all!" It's wonderful to learn new things from a different generation!