White flower experiments

I came across a description of a new (to me) method using a palette knife to paint. The method is designed to encourage one to avoid overpainting and stroking into paints... both besetting sins of mine. After making a very quick drawing, fresh from the tube paint is applied using a small palette knife. I picked up multiple colors each time and applied them to the centres and undersides of the flowers, then mashed the leftovers onto the background. Then I applied water using my squirrel hair brush (so I didn't muddy things up) before sitting back to watch the show. There were several nice surprises. Once dry, I tried a new (to me) lifting method. I applied packing tape over the area I wanted to lift, used an olfa knife to cut around the lift area, pulled off the tape (sliding the blade under and lifting with that helped). Then I lifted with a damp sponge and blotted with a kleenex until I had defined the flowers.
I could see using this method occassionally because it does help with looseness... anyway, it was fun!

tulips another way

This version of tulips began in class yesterday and I finished it at home. I find it challenging to get the color and value that I need in the first loose layer. Then the challenge is to STOP adding paint and stirring things up. More practice will help will this and I saw some lovely orange tulips just down the street today that would be fun to practice on. The looseness and color surprises are fun to watch.

Painting of Hannah

This painting was done over a couple of days and is the third portrait format watercolor I have done. I'm really pretty happy with the result... although I think Hannah looks older than 7 in the painting - I have no idea why, other than it could be in the colors used. I took the reference photo when we visited them in Edmonton back in 2006 - it seems like ages ago now.

Tomorrow I have my last painting class of the year. It is unbelievable how fast this year has gone!

I hope you are all enjoying the warm spring weather!

as promised... flops included

ah, lillies... very inspiring! I promise I'll try again - this one is just not making me smile. I "took it to a train wreck" including conte and titanium white to get the lights back.

Here's a great quote from Seneca:

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.

Based on that quote I believe I will have another go at the lillies tomorrow....

this week in my art world

Welcome to what I hope will be my daily art blog. Here I will focus almost entirely on my art as well as what motivates a particular piece. Sharon Williams (see http://sharonlynnwilliams.blogspot.com/) challenged us to attempt 5-7 paintings per week and share them. I hope to be able to accomplish that goal. So, I am posting paintings as I finish them. My photography skills are lacking and I hope to get some hints from Sharon to improve the quality of the images as I go.

You won't see only my best here. I plan to post all paintings because they are all a part of my journey. If you haven't taken up brushes or pencils yet because you don't think you can do it perhaps looking at these attempts will be encouraging. Art is more a matter of practice and perseverance than it is talent. All of us have creative potential... put into us by our creator. We are made in His image and he is the ultimate creator.

Our class is currently working on a floral unit and the following 4 paintings are my most recent efforts (May 20-23). Enjoy!