Saturday, January 15, 2011

Stage Two of 'Bicycle' painting

This is the first overall painting layer done in one sitting.
Probably around 2 hours of work. I am mainly working on
the tones of the ladies at the tables, and getting all of them
right in relation to each other before attention to details or
specific colors.
This painting is 23" x 29". It is a 'custom' size for a
particular frame I have for it.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Beginning a new piece


I don't generally use a ruler. But if there are really long
lines in the painting, or a lot of perspective that needs to
be really right, it saves me a lot of trouble if I find something
needs changing after I get into applying paint!
The thing is, doing this before I start painting gives me the
control I need to get it down right. Then I follow those drawn
lines with careful application of paint (but no ruler), and it
doesn't look mechanical because of the aliveness of my hand
and body movement, however slight. Doing it this way gives
life to those lines.

This is the beginning of a cafe scene at night. I love the bike
which has its own perspective challenges!

In order for this painting to have the composition I wanted
I added pieces of paper to the edges of the photo.
If you go to my teaching blog, you can find out more.
The link is on the right side of this page....Teacher Tips.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Flowering into the New Year

So what are you nuturing so that it flowers for
you this year? This is a collage I made from
bits and pieces of my watercolor paintings
along with some photographs I took. Soon
I will be showing you my latest work in
progress, but I am still in the 'get it together
for the new year' mode!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

What will the new year hold?

What lies ahead? Lucy is looking
down the road to see. She tells me
there is expansion of happiness
for all my friends and family.
And for her too, of course!
Happy New Year!