30/30 January Challenge #27

We are coming down to the wire with only 3 days left after today. In the past these challenges have been a chore for me but this one has been a breeze. I was able to find plenty of things to paint and each painting seemed to be easy to do - talk about lucky!

#1004 - Gnarled Stump - 6 x 8 pen & ink with watercolour

"Gnarled Stump" is another piece based on a tutorial by Claudia Nice - I really like her work!  A stump like this would probably be more grey, but I wanted the painting to match the mat so I made it in browns. I enjoy doing pen & ink art and really should do it more often but, somehow, I never seem to.

I am going to post this on Leslie's 30/30 page , then I am heading to my studio to plan a few more paintings. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

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 - Post #2

I enjoyed doing today's painting!

#979 - Weathered - 5 x 7 watercolour

I have had the reference photo for this for a few years; don't know where I got it but, as I didn't 'copy', it doesn't matter. I started with a piece of watercolour paper that had a grey paint streak and did the whole thing free-hand. I have painted wood lots of times but never peeling paint and am quite pleased with how this turned out.

Now that I am in the mood, I might just go and work on a painting for tomorrow.

Don't forget to check out some of the other paintings at Leslie's 30/30 Challenge

2016 Day 20

I still have some of that strange plastic canvas paper left, so I figured I would try it again for today's painting.

Wild Columbine

This is a reprise of a painting I did a number of years ago; a mixed media with a watercolor and pen & ink background with the flowers done in acrylic (below). I have always liked painting on watercolor paper with acrylics and I must say that I like it so much better than this strange plastic stuff.

By the Old Log (SOLD)

"Wild Columbine" is an unframed 5.5 x 8.5 acrylic on plastic canvas paper.

Only 10 more days to go before the end of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge and I am looking forward to the finish, although I will be sad not to see the paintings that are being shared daily.
 

2016 Day 12

Today's painting was suggested to me by a Google + friend, Diane Rushton. She asked if I would paint a bluebird because of their beautiful wings. I didn't like any of the reference material I have in my files, so I searched for photos of the birds on the internet. I am afraid that I didn't pick something that showcased the wings because the picture I used really caught my eye.

#924 Eastern Bluebird

I think the contrast of the blue against the grey and black is wonderful, and it has wood grain which is always a bonus for me. We don't have this bird in our area (southern BC, Canada) and I have not seen any of the type of bluebirds we do have, so I need to rely on photos that are in free domain. Thank heaven for the internet!

"Eastern Bluebird" is a 5 x 8.5 acrylic on plastic type canvas paper. This paper must have different finishes on each side because when I painted the onions it was really easy to use but today's painting was much harder. Now for a coat of sealer and I will be done!

Don't forget to have a look at what the other artists in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge are doing - http://30paintingsin30days.weebly.com/blog

2016 Day 5

I really didn't think I was going to get this done or that it would turn out as well as it did.

Sunflower

"Sunflower" is on another homemade canvas board, 5 x 7 x 3/4"; painted with acrylics even on the edges so no frame is needed. I used one of the cards I did during the September challenge as a reference for the flower and sort of made up the old barn.

Now I have to put my mind to figuring out a subject for tomorrow!

September Challlenge Day 25

It is hard to believe there are only five days left in the Challenge. For the most part I have stayed true to my plan to work on pen & ink pieces for the whole month.

Today's drawing/painting combines a free style flower drawing and a precise rendition of a wall and window - the contrasts were fun!

Sunflower

The other day a friend mentioned that she was surprised that none of my pen & ink cards sold at the recent Art Club Fall Show. I have found over the years that most people seem to prefer color in the art they buy, which is one of the reasons I don't do black & white often. However, my friend's comment got me to thinking. These original pieces are are not just cards! They can easily be turned into wall art just by adding a mat and a frame.

This is today's piece in an 8 x 10 mat:  a group of these cards would make a wonderful and inexpensive display.  I guess I have to make a sign stating "Frame-able Cards" to help people see beyond the obvious.

Thanks for stopping by - please leave a comment! 

 

September Challenge Day 16

I am happy to say I am feeling much better today! I had to spend some time catching up on a number of things that slid will I was under the weather so it is lucky I have a few cards already done. I hope to have some time tonight to do a bit of drawing but who knows.

Old Fence Post

This card is another quick pen & ink sketch with added watercolor. I enjoy doing wood grain in pen & ink although in this piece it doesn't show very much.

By the Old Log

Here is a painting I did a few years ago that shows wood grain better. "By the Old Log" is a mixed media piece with  pen & ink, watercolor and acrylic.

September Challenge Day 11

Today was the first day of the Creston Art Club's Annual Fall Show & Sale and I missed it because I got sick - bummer! Fortunately, my husband, Bob, was kind enough to take my art in and a few of my friends set up the display for him (and me). Good friends (and husband too) are wonderful!

It was good that I had done a few cards in advance as I certainly didn't feel like doing art today.

Falling Apart card

Now back to bed for me!

September Challenge Day 6

After my last post where the photo of my card was grey instead of white, a Google+ friend, Sheila Delgado, offered to help me by removing the grey for me. (see Sheila's blog here - http://www.sheiladelgado.com/2015/09/day-6-30-in-30/

When I take photos and look at them on the computer, except for cropping, fixing perspective and maybe increasing the size, I pretty much leave them alone. If the color is off I just shrug because I really don't understand how to do anything else. My husband bought me "the Book of Gimp" to go with the computer program but 95% of the book is gibberish to me.

However, I decided to try to fix my card photos myself - figuring I can always call on Sheila if it doesn't work.

Here is today's card - ta da! no grey!

The Lantern card

Unfortunately, I seem to have deleted most of the edges of the card. I am finding it difficult to take a photo that doesn't have any shadows and getting rid of the shadows requires too much brightening. Oh well, maybe the next photo will work better.

Here is yesterday's card with the grey removed:

Okay, it is still a bit grey but making it white removed all the edges and it no longer looked like a card - what a conundrum.

I guess I need to work on this a bit more.

September Challenge Day 2

To help me get back in the groove of doing Pen & Ink, I have been using some books by Claudia Nice for ideas and reference. A number of my cards are based on her drawings.

Aged Cedar card

I find that it takes some time to get back the flow of a different medium when you have not done it for a while. Also, 'seeing' colored things in black and white can be difficult.

Practice, practice, practice!

Painting Day #2

Last week my friend Linda came over again so we could paint together. When we painted in March, Linda supplied the subject; this time I did. I found a tutorial in an old Watercolor Magic magazine - 'The Elegance of Untouched Paper' by Tony van Hasselt and we both were keen to try the vignette idea.

It doesn't seem to matter that we work from the same instructions when we follow a tutorial -  we always end up with very different paintings.

Linda's Painting

Linda chose to loosely copy the subject from the tutorial while I chose a different building.

My Painting - The Old Red Barn

  Most of the elements are the same in both paintings; a barn type building, a silo, a crooked fence, a few trees and bushes and, of course, the same palette of colors. But, our approaches are quite different. Linda often uses a layering effect with blended washes on top of dried washes while I mostly use wet-in-wet techniques. We did try to follow the guidelines in the tutorial but I am not sure how good a job we did.

Here is a synopsis of the vignette guidelines:
-Between 30 and 40 % of the paper should be untouched
-The painted area should touch the edge in 3 or 4 places but not in a sustained way.
 -The untouched areas should have and interesting, interlocking shape - not proportional or equal
-Hard edges should dominate ( I think Linda was more successful with this aspect than I)

We had just started thinking about doing a second painting when I realized that I needed to start dinner so Linda went ahead and painted a second piece.

Linda's Tree Silhouettes

I think our total painting time that day was about 2 1/2 hours. Between eating lunch, visiting, checking out new home improvements, doing dinner and just talking about our lives we don't have a lot of time before Linda is on the road back home.

It doesn't matter how short or how long the time is, painting with a friend is great and well worthwhile.

DAY 20 - Rush, Rush, Rush!

I spent most of the day helping my husband, Bob, replace the florescent lights in my studio with some LEDs. The new lights are wonderful but the chore kept me from painting until late in the day. So, with the thought in my mind that I had to get the painting done so I could write this blog before dinner I felt a little rushed.

Chickadee & Ivy

Fortunately, the subject I chose to paint was, except for the bird, pretty loose and rushing doesn't appear to have been detrimental. Chickadee & Ivy is a 6 x 7 watercolor on Masa rice paper.

Don't forget to check out the art at - http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.ca/ and then go and vote at - http://paintamasterpiece.blogspot.ca/