Grisaille Pears update .....

Here's the latest on the pears!  I still have to scumble darks into the reflection area as well as work at the highlights on the pears and in the reflections, and more in the direct shadows.  Also, the lower stem.  But ..... it's coming along!  I think when it's done, I'm going to crop a bit off the bottom.

I almost hate to finish it because then I have to start another and I just don't know what to start next.  Though, I *did* take some good shots of Ornamental Cabbages on Saturday.  Or perhaps, jellyfish ......

I'm liking these pears ......

This morning, I got up early, cooked *another* turkey - but this time, not to eat as a turkey dinner.  This time, the entire turkey went into 7 large turkey pot pies!  With homemade crust.  That was tiring!  I kept coming into my painting room to paint and rest from it.  ;-)

I hope you're painting and enjoying life ...

ps - I don't think I mentioned previously that this is on a 1/4 sheet of Arches 300 lb CP.  Watercolour, of course.  :-)

Grisaille Pears update and Happy Thanksgiving Canada

If you're a Canadian, like me, Happy Thanksgiving!

I started this grisaille painting about two years ago.  (Two years!  I really AM a slow painter, aren't I?)  Here's the last posting I did on it. 

To get back into some painting, I decided to work on it.  So, here's a few shots of what I did tonight on it as well as a few of the older shots.  Mostly, I added more colour to the pears, then put in the background.  The black background was tricky and had to be done fast.  It's three coats of WN Blue Black, a gorgeous black that has been discontinued I think.  The fourth pic shows the background still very wet.  After the three coats, I painted on a coat of just clear water to even out some darker areas.  Worked well.  Then, as shown in the fifth pic, I added some colour to the bottom section of the background.  More to follow..... 

 

It's been a very sad week for me.  On Tuesday, our cat, Moose, suffered from a blood clot (from underlying heart disease the vet said).  Poor Moosie was in such incredible pain and almost instantly paralysed in his two back legs.  We rushed him to the Animal Hospital and the very nice veterinarian there gave us the incredibly distressing news that there was no other choice than to euthanize him.   Moosie was twelve. 

I've often called him a cranky old cat but I guess he just had a very strong personality.  I sure miss him.  He would shadow me all around the house and I'd always be talking to him.  He'd sleep with me every night.  He'd meet us all at the door.  As soon as I sat down on the couch, he'd be there - patiently waiting with his head tilted to one side - until I'd 'settled in', so that he could hop up onto my lap / stomach and 'settle in' himself.  If I didn't immediately start stroking the top of his head and the sides of his face, he'd just wiggle his head under my hand until I did.  Moosie had his own way of getting exactly what he wanted.  He ruled the house for twelve years. 

If there is one positive, it would be that thankfully, it happened before I went to work.  I would hate to think of him suffering alone all day long until I got home from work.

It's hard learning to live without him.

Wordpress, bougainvillia and killing or curing a cold by swimming ...

I've been playing around with a wordpress blog and I think I like it (except for the 3 gig uploading space feature).  Wordpress is a lot more complicated to set up and get used to than blogger but I like that you have several different pages right there.  Kind of like another website!  So, I've been playing around with it.  If you visit it, please keep in mind that it's still in the creation stages.  And I've been sick and haven't felt much like doing much. 

But on the up side, I sat outside late this am and painted this.  I was actually drying off after a swim and was reading the latest Watercolor Magazine, then thought, "why am I wasting time reading when I could be painting?" 

So, I did this fast one.  Took about an hour.  It's a bougainvillia tree that is planted in a very large pot.  The total height of tree and pot is about six feet. 

**Some people** think this pot will be brought inside for the winter (it'll never survive outside) but ..... I don't think so.  It'll have to have ALL the soil knocked off the roots first, then potting soil put in.  Know why?  'Cause TOADS burrow into the ground of any of my plantpots and if a toad unearthed himself and hopped around in my house, I'd have to leave.  I seem to attract toads.  They seem to love my pots.  No one I know around here gets toads in their flowerpots but I sure do.  No matter WHERE I live.  There are many things that inspire me.  There are many things that do not.  Toads / frogs fall into the do not section of life.

So, back to this painting.  No drawing - I 'drew' it out with the paintbrush as I went.  1/8 sheet Arches, schmenke paints (that was the paintbox I grabbed on the way out).  I was going to crop out the tiles behind it but I kind of liked the pattern. 

I'm off to put together a Black Forest Trifle then more swimming.  Then .... maybe another painting.  (Don't faint, Teresa!)  Fast ones like this.  Fun - no pressure. 

Hope your day is going good.

Castle Windows

I don't have any progress shots to post today so I thought I'd post a shot from my trip back in April.  My niece spent her first year of Queen's University at Herstmonceux Castle in southern England.  It's closed to the public for tours when school is in session but because she's a student, we were able to walk about mostly at free will.  Needless to say, I took a few hundred photos of the place!  This shot is from a window looking outside into the centre courtyard. 

Even though I'd cleaned up my painting table, the studio room itself was getting messy and cramped so I've been really sorting things out well.  Especially the wall unit that contains a lot of supplies!  That is making it so much nicer to come in here. 

I've also been doing some research on jellyfish.  I'm ready to draw out the painting but was wondering if jellyfish live in an area with sea plants such as kelp.  So I checked it out online, found out they do and will now go ahead with what I'd planned.  I didn't want to put a background of kelp and other plants and then find out it didn't look real because jelly fish didn't live in areas like that.  ;-)  Now, I know.

That's my weekend.  How was your's? 

It's Done and Not Going Anywhere .....

Several awesome artists have told me to not expect every painting to turn out.  This one didn't.  But it DID fill it's purpose of getting me back into painting mode so that makes it a good thing.  ;-)  This is not a good pic - it was extremely difficult to photograph because of reflections.  (I'm not used to photographing acrylics!)  So I finally stuck it in front of this old one so I could adjust colours better.  You can't see the pads too well here but you can see the final outcome. 

I was going to start working on some paintings from my trip to Scotland and England but I might just work on another jellyfish, like the doomed one behind the lilypads.  Then onto the Cheviot Hills or Edinburgh Castle......

Have a nice day - it's raining cats and dogs here!

11" x 14", acrylic with some rice paper collaged on. 

Surprise! Surprise!

I'm back from that deep, dark place that artists fall into when they get stuck in self-doubt, questions about their work, their thoughts, their processes and the art world in general.   That quick-sand-like place of dark depths that holds you as its prisoner, refusing to allow you any type of self-expression, swimming in black molasses.

I think I've finally surfaced. 

To wash all the sticky molasses from my limbs and to rinse away the same heavy goo from my thoughts, I've picked up a painting I started last year. 

It's acrylic.  11" x 14".  Last year, I'd applied heavy modelling paste for texture, then black gesso over that.  From then on, I'd fingerpainted in the background, the pads and the shadows under the pads.  (My earliest memories of making any kind of art are of fingerpainting!  I adored fingerpainting as a child.)  Then it was set aside. 

A few days ago, I brought it back up onto my painting table and started playing in it.  Rather than get discouraged with this type of fingerpainting, I finally picked up some brushes and used brushes for the highlights, more shadows, etc. 

Since this is more of a tribute to Monet than my own work, I'm thinking of collaging some large letters of M-O-N-E-T in the bottom right area.  Perhaps about two inches high....

I wasn't going to post this until it was finished but am tired of looking at my OLD blogger wall.  So, here it is ...............

PS - A few years ago, I was at an online demo by Allen Montague for fingerpainting!  Watch the fast demo below to get a hint of his work....