30/30 January Challenge #26

I have something completely different for you today!

I have moved from some almost abstract watercolours to detailed pen & ink with watercolour pieces. Once again I wanted to make use of stored mats with oval openings - these ones in a dark brown.

#1003 - Gnarled Pine - 6 x 8 pen & ink with watercolour

I used some of my Claudia Nice books as reference for this piece and am very pleased with the result. It has been a while since I did any work in this style of P&I and it took a bit to get the rhythm back.  I hope you will enlarge the photo if you can so see the detail up close.

Check out the rest of the art in the challenge at Leslie's 30/30 page.

Btw. The friend I got these mats from switched from framing to something more creative - making foam stamps. Check out her blog to see some of the neat things she does: Emmie's ArtFoamies

See you all tomorrow!

30/30 January Challenge #15

Hooray! We are halfway through the challenge! I have seen some wonderful art posted and have started following a few more blogs - all a bonus of the challenge. Check them out here - Leslie's 30/30 page

It has been interesting how many times this month one painting has triggered an idea for another. Yesterday, when I was coming up with a background for my quilled bird, I got a super idea for today's painting.

#992 - Mountain Chickadee - 5 x 9 watercolour

I wasn't going to paint the Mountain Chickadee as I thought he was a little boring but, sitting up there in the fir tree he just begged to be portrayed. There is a bit of paint pouring in this piece, some pen and ink work and some detailed brush work - a real mix of styles. I even lucked out and found a precut mat the perfect colour and size.

Unfortunately, nothing has come to mind for tomorrow's painting so it is back to the files for another idea.

Thanks for stopping by.

September Challenge Day 27

I mentioned to a friend that I was running out of ideas for the last few days of the challenge: not everything works well in pen & ink. I have been looking through my photo records to see what strikes my fancy.  Today's card is based on a watercolor painting I did a number of years ago.

Pine Perch

I believe the bird is a Pine Siskin but I can not remember what I used for a reference. A number of these little birds spent a lot of time here this summer devouring the sunflower seeds we provide. As they are messy eaters, the squirrels and turkeys were able to feast on the ground under the feeders.

I am happy that I finally have a bit of time to check out all the wonderful art and artists that are participating in this 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. I have found a number of artists to follow through blogs and Facebook pages. I hope you will take some time and check some out too.

http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.ca/2015/09/thirty-paintings-in-30-days-day-twenty_27.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+blogspot/PzFQn+%28Slices+of+Life%29

One of these days I will figure out how to share the link to Leslie's page without using the URL - I promise, Sheila!

Day 15 - Half-way there!

It is so strange! Yesterday I really enjoyed painting and was very happy with the finished product. I had a good night's sleep and should have been raring to go today. BUT, I had to force myself to sit down and paint. I chose my subject, got the paper and paints ready, and then just sat there. I got up and went into the kitchen looking for something that had to be done, cursed, went back to the studio and started painting.

Waterfall & Pine Trees

I tried to use the various strokes suggested in "Chinese Landscape Painting for Beginners" - bent-ribbon veins, axe-cut veins, moss dots, bone strokes to name a few. In some cases using the proper stroke was very difficult because my hand wanted to paint in my normal style and I had to keep correcting myself. I used color again instead of black and gray and am reasonably happy with today's painting but it was an effort.

Check out the art submitted to the challenge at - http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.ca/ and then go and vote at http://paintamasterpiece.blogspot.ca/. Remember, you can vote for 3 paintings and you can go back and vote on the days you might have missed too.