Figuratively Speaking - Umbrellas

8"x10" oil Not for Sale

It is so easy to forget that for the majority of my life I have not had immediate access to obscure information at my fingertips, literally.  In my father's lifetime, he went from flying a heavy tin can around to seeing a man land on the moon.  We can instantly talk face to face, "2001: A Space Odyssey" style, to friends across the globe.  It is amazing, but equally amazing that we can also take courses online for free or very little money.  This painting is a result of Leslie Saeta's online course of painting with a palette knife, which is something new for me.  I have been thirsty for a change in my artwork, and even though I don't think painting with a palette knife is it, it is a nice tool to add to my bag of tricks. There are tons of online classes available and the advantage of them is not just the low cost, but the opportunity to take your time or move quickly through them.  The drawback is the lack of interaction with other students or an instructor, however most of the art instructors I have become familiar with are willing to correspond via email.  I think it is a great way to mix things up a bit and step into new territory.  It gives those brain neurons new pathways and shakes things up a bit.  It will take making a bunch more of these paintings to feel comfortable with the palette knife, so it may take me while...but I am in no hurry.  Considering that I am well into the last quarter of my life, that may not be true about everything....Go Figure!

Laundry Day

8"x10" oil Not for Sale

I felt like painting laundry drying and found this photo I had been given at a Dreama Tolle Perry workshop, but had never painted.  I switched around some of the items in the photo and played with color.  Dreama has a direct approach, starting with transparent colors and then frosting them with opaques.  It gives her paintings a fresh look with very clean color.  I actually did this in two settings, focusing on the darks first and then adding the lights.  It is not my usual working method but I am trying out different things right now.  Since I used her photo for reference, I am not selling this.

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.

Exercise 7 Not For Sale

12"x12" oil Not For Sale

This was the final piece in the Dreama Tolle Perry online class.  It was a lot of fun to paint and I am happy with the results.  The five things I am taking away from this course are the following:  1)  Wipe the brush off after almost every brush stroke to keep it clean and not contaminating the clean colors 2) make sure to put my mind and painting environment in the right state to focus on the painting 3)  work steady but don't rush and don't let distractions creep in 4)  Make sure the first layer of paint is darker than you know the final painting will be  5)  set up my palette the same every time and keep it clean.  These are things I had been exposed to and inconsistently practiced, but they really sunk in with this class.  The great thing is that I will have access to the videos for the rest of the year to refresh my mind and also maybe pick up 5 more things.

Exercise 6 Not For Sale

8"x10"  oil Not For Sale

This was fun to paint.  Dreama's colors are so bright and joyful and she chooses images to paint that highlight those beautiful hues.  I really struggle making straight lines though.  I think I need to either avoid them or take a drafting class.  It is a good thing that I do a limited number of architectural subjects!

Exercise 5 Not For Sale

12"x12" oil Not For Sale

This was exercise 5 from the online course Dream Love Paint with Dreams Tolle Perry.  Whenever I go to a workshop I always intend to learn 5 new things.  I limit myself because I know that is all I can really focus on and put into practice consciously.  I don't feel like I need to write everything down because I will probably not look back at my notes even though I have every good intention to do just that.  I have taken several workshops with Dreama but I keep returning because it not only positively influences my work, but because it positively influences my life. I have taken some really wonderful workshops but if I didn't identify those 5 things I would put into practice, I didn't grow as much as I should.  I will tell you the 5 things in the next few posts.

Mia Loves Maizie

This is a watercolor sketch for an illustration for a children's book.

My art group went to Peter Huntoon's studio today for a demo.  It was so much fun to see how he loosely begins his work and turns a scene which may not be particularly exciting into an athletic and stunning work of art.  Peter has recently added oil painting to his repertoire of watermedia and he approaches it very similarly as he would a watercolor painting, with lots of drips and splashes and interesting tools.  He is one of the quintessential Vermont painters.

Laundry Day

This was just for fun. I made it for an online card about my high school reunion which is coming up.  Below is the card.  It is just kind of silly, but I am still counting it toward my 30 paintings in 30 days.

Monarch#15

 9"x11" watercolor

Monarch #12   11"x14" watercolor

I really like the concept with the first image, but am not completely happy with all my choices.  I may have to try another one and see how I can change it.  The second one I forgot to post, so here it is!

Monarch #14

9"x11" watercolor NFS

Still figuring out the best technique for me in using watercolors.  I eventually want to allow myself to paint in a looser style, but for this project, I need to stay a little tighter.  I really enjoy layering the colors which is interesting because I have to let them dry between layers to get the affect I want, and I am not a very patient painter which is why I like little alla prima (done all at once) oil painting.  I don't think watercolors are harder than oils; watercolor just takes a different approach.

Monarch #13

9"x10" watercolor

What a special moment my friend and photographer, Lowell Klock, captured when this Monarch and Swallowtail decided to nectar up on the same flower.  There are a lot of decisions to make when interpreting a photo into paint.  I chose to add ink lines in the end to tie the darks together.  I like how it gives it a very illustrative effect.  The brownish/purplish background was achieved with many layers of colors which dried in between applications.  I really like this approach to watercolor and hope I can master how to use it effectively.

Family Story Time 5"x7" oil

This is a value study.  It is painting in a light, a medium and a dark value.  This is a really important aspect of creating a good composition and painting it in grays is a good exercise for practice.  It makes you really see the shapes rather than the "things" or "people."  After all, painting is not about things, it is about chemicals arranged on a flat surface that give an illusion.  I will go back in and put chemicals over this that give the illusion of lovely color and hopefully it will turn out delightfully!
NFS