Summer Time

8"x8" oil Not For Sale

This is from a photo taken by Dreama Tolle Perry.  She gave those of us who were in her online class, Dream Love Paint, permission to paint from it.  Her painting passion is lovely vingettes with window boxes, flowers, shutters or her cat, Eddie.  She encourages others to paint their passion.  I can be pretty much all over the place in my interests, but mostly I like to paint little people.  I like figurative work in general, but especially children and most specifically my grandkids or children of friends.  I love the work of Karin Jurick who is able to capture people in the most relaxed postures imaginable.  Her work is inspiring, and I am hoping to continue developing my style and subject matter to a level that is different than where I am at today.  Doing daily paintings and studying, learning from others, and from past masters is a good way to grow.

Monarch #11

11"x14" watermedia NFS

Monarch #10

4"x8" watercolor NFS

This is my favorite of this series, so far. I am 1/3 of the way through my goal of 30 watercolor paintings of monarchs in Sept. I have learned from experience that this is a very arbitrary goal, and it can actually be counter productive. The idea is to be a little better each day and to do that requires working hard to do your best. Therefore, setting a number of paintings as a goal only serves to get an artist to the studio to work. That is worthwhile, of course, but it isn't worth sacrificing quality for quantity. But I really like this one!

This is Monarch #9 out of 30 I plan to do. If you have a great Monarch photo you would like to see in paint, please send it to me. I do not have 30 of my own! These paintings are for a project I am working on and are NFS, but I hope you are enjoying my little foray into watercolor.

This second image is Monarch #7 revised.  After studying it for a couple of days I decided to add some fun and darker value to the background.  Although this doesn't really "read" as sky, like it previously did, I think it is much more interesting and artistic, which is after all what I am attempting to do.  I heard a good quote today from some TV production about being an artist is about facing a new mystery every day and having the opportunity to learn a new lesson.  It is a long job description, but that is how I feel about what I do.

Monarch #8

8"x11" watercolor NFS

Monarch#8 This one was really fun to paint. I loved going dramatic with the purple and it worked so well with the pink buds/flowers and the green leaves. I liked the composition as well.

Monarch#7

8"x11" watercolor NFS

This monarch is freshly emerging from its chrysalis.  I am not sure what I would do differently if I repainted this one, so I might ask my art group what they think.  It clearly tells the story, but it is a tad bit boring I think.  I may go back in and darken the sky behind it and see if that makes a difference.  Watercolor is so different than oil and I am hungry to learn its secrets!

Monarch#6

I may have to have something in fabric printed up with this design.  I am still figuring out how watercolor works, what I can do with it, and when it is appropriate to use techniques like sponges or sprayers to get affects.  Peter Huntoon is a watercolor artist that uses all kinds of splishes and splashes in his work to great affect without it looking trite at all.  I am not there yet.

Monarch#5

8"x11" watercolor NFS

I like looking at paintings with lots of patterns, but unlike my friend Heather Shay, I do not like painting them.  I think the repetition gets to me and I am a little impatient.  That being said, I got myself in deep with this one.  I wanted it to have an abstract feel, but have some realistic elements as well, and I think I am pretty happy with the results.

Monarch#4 Cocoon

I really played around with this one and thought since the cocoon was such a simple subject, I would abstract the background.  I dripped and sprayed and layered and flicked and taped and rubbed and just had a good old time.  Not sure it is a great painting, but it sure was fun to do!

Monarch#3

8"x11" watercolor

I like putting on layers with watercolor but don't always know what to expect.  I am trying out different approaches so that I can learn some things.  The colors of the painting are so much more vibrant in real life.  I am not sure how to rectify this.

Monarch#2

8"x11 watercolor NFS

This one came a little easier.  It is painted from an image by photographer Steven Niewoehner.  The problem with painting from such an amazing photograph is that it is already a piece of artwork so you have to approach it with different intentions.  I had a hard time photographing this because the colors just don't pop the way they do in person, especially the thistle.  I have figured out a few things about watercolor like: 1) the brushes make all the difference  2) the paper makes all the difference too (this is on 400lb. cold pressed Arches) 3) figuring out the quantity of a mixed color and the ratio of water to paint are both important 4) if you don't have a process you are up the creek without a paddle

Monarch#1

8"x11" watercolor

I have a project this month and I chose to do watercolor.  WHAT WAS I THINKING????  I am not a watercolorist, I am an oil painter.  I can't tell you the amount of terror I experienced doing this.  So, what did I learn?  1) Maybe by the end of this project I will know how to paint monarchs 2) Do not get Phalo Blue paint (even watercolor) under your fingernails  3) They say watercolor is a challenging medium for good reason! 4)  If you don't challenge yourself you won't grow (at least I think that is true)

30-30 Challenge #26

2"x4.5"  acrylic SOLD

 

This little miniature was purchased a couple of weeks before I painted it or even knew what I was going to paint. That's fun!  My childhood friend, the friend that goes back in time to pre-school, the daughter of my mom's best friend, and my buddy for all those years in school, purchased it.  Neither of us are butterflies...but the world is lovely to both of us.  We are both optimists and love to laugh.  We have spent some of the best moments of our lives together.  I hope this painting reflects that emotion.

30-30 Challenge #24

2"x4.5" acrylic

This is #24 in the 30 day painting challenge.  I am so glad I decided to do miniatures as I have learned a lot including the importance of composition.  I missed that a bit with this one as the top bird is not quite positioned at the most advantageous place.  But my main concern with this one is that it looks like the wings are moving and I think I got that.  Value is so important in painting and I continue to see that when something isn't working, frequently it has something to do with the values (light and dark) against each other.

True Story

7"x7" oil

Really it is a "True Story."  I was cleaning out my studio and had the doors open (I have garage doors on my studio so that I can work "outside" when the weather is warm enough).  A hummingbird flew in, got confused and couldn't figure out how to exit.  I anxiously watched as it first flitted to the flower paintings hanging then banged into the lights.  I didn't want to startle it more so I went inside and made some "nectar," put it in a feeder and hung it in the studio, to no avail.  I was worried about the poor little thing who needs to constantly eat, and talking to it gently didn't seem to help.  Finally it landed on my table.  I picked it up gingerly and it didn't move, except that it looked at me.  I carried it out and put it next to a red flower and it didn't move.  I even tried to coax it to take nectar, but it just laid there.  Then it perked up and flew away.   In the meantime, I was able to study it pretty well.  I wanted to do this like I do my "Gallery Viewers" series so I did a fancy frame, but I am wondering if I should just do the plain black frame that I use on my paintings.  BTW, I signed both the flower painting and the hummingbird looking at the flower painting. One thing about hummingbirds is that they are more about movement than color and shape.  Artist Brande Arno is amazing at capturing this movement.  I have included an image of one of her paintings, below.

"Laureen and Lois"  by Brande Arno 6"x6" oil

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Roots III oil 4"x4" #224

This is the third piece in my Roots tryptic. I really like this series and am glad I did it. It is kind of abstract yet is based on an idea that makes sense to me. The photo is horrible but I tried numerous times to get a good one and was unsuccessful.

Roots II oil 4"x4" #222 and FemSumo ink #223

This is my second rendition of roots with moss and pine needles, my homage to an early spring. I am going to do a tryptic of them. The second image is from my life painting group. I haven't been since mid Dec. and I could really tell. I was out of sync. I wasn't happy with the materials so I went to find a crayola marker and a kid's paint brush and this drawing turned out pretty good. I called it FemSumo because she reminded me of Sumo wrestlers. I looked it up online and there is a whole sport of female Sumos but I couldn't find a specific term for them.