52 Weeks of Happy 2/52

I missed a couple weeks but here I am.  
Something that makes me happy is sunsets. I love to see them and I love to take photos of them.

Here is a sunset in Highland.  I only walked to the corner where I wouldn't have a house in my way.  Nature is the frame.  What I mean is the dark area above are the black clouds. The trees frame the sides and the hills frame the bottom.  It was an amazing night.
This is a December 2012 sunset.


Here is a sunset from January 2012.  We were on our way to church. This is in Highland looking towards Redlands.


Here is a sunset that I painted.


Here is an almost sunset at Redondo Beach. I am saying:
PRAISE THE LORD!!!


Again here I am at Redondo Beach in April 2010. This is why I have on a sweatshirt.

Red Rugosa Rose-hips with long Sepals

This is week #2 of my online class with the theme Autumn.
I love this weeks assignment. As soon as I saw the big red hips with the long skirt-like sepals I knew this was the picture I wanted to paint.


I did some color swatching. I also tested my inks for bleeding:


Then I drew in ink for 30 min.  This is how far I got. It was fun using the ink.
I used my TWSBI 540 pen and my free Noodlers pen. The ink is Noodler's The Heart of Darkness.


I worked on my center of interest first. I tend to paint the thing that catches my eye. Those rose hips really caught my eye. I have learned that if I am interested the painting will be interesting. If I am bored the painting will be boring to look at.  So that is why I will paint the thing that gets the juices flowing. I just love the long sepals on these hips too.


I wanted to get that glow that I saw in the photo and my watercolor paints didn't have that for me. So I took out my little glass yogurt jars that I got in France and put some ink, since this was an ink project after all, and diluted it with some water. I had one little jar that I let it be watery mud.


I continued to work from the center out. I did more ink work in black and then added some white ink. I would work a while and then set this painting on my mantel for the evening. Then I would just look over to it now and then. It is helpful to me to do this because I can see what my marching orders are for the next day when I will paint. I have to back up and view my work from a distance to really see what it needs.


So in the end I took the painting outside and took her photo. I tried different places in the yard, sometimes with the painting laying flat on the lawn, and sometimes sitting up on a table. It's strange how the colors change depending on the lighting of the yard. I can see it when I upload the photos.


I painted a black ink border around the painting too.
This was a fun assignment. I really enjoyed it.

Painting Autumn Leaves

I decided to use a photo that I had taken of leaves from my tree. I took this years ago.  These are maple leaves of green, red and yellow.


In the first 30 min. I sketched out the leaves and started to paint.


Here is my painting set up:


I didn't want to paint the main leaf as red as the photo since we were working on Gold. Yet I wanted to keep the contrasts of the 3 leaves.  I have to say, the camera doesn't pick up the lights and darks of the red colors. In person one can see more values in the colors.
I spent the afternoon painting. I was enjoying getting back into painting again. It was so peaceful and relaxing.


The actual painting size is 6.75" X 5" on cold press watercolor paper.
This photo came out much brighter (neon) than the paint is in real life.



Then I took a black and white photo of my painting to see the values.

This is the time to PAINT

What am I working on?  Well I am painting on a large oil painting.  A few years back I painted a watercolor of a lady dancing which I really loved. I don't have this painting right now. It was given to a friend in Mexico.  I wish I had the original but I do have a photo of it. I love the bright colors.



So from this photo I decided to paint this again but larger and in oils.  Oil on canvas 36" X 36"

CLOSE UP

ON THE EASEL


I'm also painting an abstract.  This is fun to paint. I can paint for an hour and then leave the work for a month and still be able to come back to it. The size is 14" X 10.5" This is in progress......


Above the whole painting, below a close up of the picky work I love to do.


Speaking of picky work. Below is a drawing in pencil and ink that I have been working on for a couple years. I love doing the small detail drawing. I'm the same with my knitting, cross stitch and even as a dental technician. I like picky work. 

This drawing is 14" X 11"

So that is what I am currently working on.
Today I begin some new watercolor painting. I will share this soon.
Happy Painting!!!

Butterflies Watercolor Painting of Pyrgus olieus

I painted these in May of 2011.  This was part of the Imaginary Visit to the Garden.
I deviated from the lesson and did a watery background trying out a new technique that I had read about.  I like it.

''Keep your hands open, and all the sands of the desert
can pass through them.  Close them,
and all you can feel is a bit of grit.''

Taisen Deshimaru

Another Painting

Well I finished the 4th painting for the online class: Imaginary Visit to the Garden.
This week we were doing Garden Tools.  I took a couple old tools from my garage and set up a pose.  I found an old shovel with rust which I use all the time. And I found an old rusty scythe. I think this one is more of a grass and weed cutter. I floated the rose in the water bowl. The rose is from my David Austin English rose bush named Belle Story.
Here is my photo:


Here is my sketch after 30 minutes:



And here is my finished painting:



In the class blog everyone was very nice and gave good compliments.  But there was something that I kept reading.  They said this is not a journal entry kind of painting.
I guess I am confused because the class is a Visit to the Garden class like when I took a Visit to the Beach. There are classes called Journal classes. This one wasn't a journal class.  I do know that in most of the lessons it is common to write on the painting a note about our visit to the garden and what we saw, how the weather was, a poem, etc.

So when I am inspired to do a painting and not write a journal entry, well I guess I am a rebel and I just do it.  Call me Rebel Carol.  I think I have always had some of that in my blood.

Happy painting and let that rebel out of you!!!

Sample of Past Watercolor Paintings

Hello.  Today is beautiful and it puts me in a good mood. I love Spring.

I want to share a few of the watercolor paintings I have done in the past. Some of the older paintings are done on really cheap paper and with cheap watercolor paints. This is before I learned about quality supplies.  The cheaper supplies really do make the job of painting more difficult.  Just saying in case your starting out.  Please be kind to yourself and buy the best that you can afford.  Compare the price of paper or paint to a nice dinner out or a tank of gas.

So I want to begin with a painting I did of my sweet daughter Sierra.  She was just a girl in this painting.  She is holding our cat named George. He was a sweetheart.  I think that Sierra was about 11 years old.  I can't remember.  I painted from a photo that I took of her.
Estimate paint date 1994.


This painting, probably painted around 1993 is of my late husband. Not late in the terms that he was late for dinner. But Richard died in 2000 of cancer. I sure miss him.  This painting is when we took a camping trip to June Lake, Ca.  That is in the High Sierra's which is where we came up with the name for our daughter.  BTW she died in 2007 tragically at the age of 23. I sure do miss her.
You can see the poor quality of this paper and paint. I was just beginning to learn to paint people. Painted from a photo I took.


While we were in June Lake we took a trip up Hwy. 395 to the ghost town of Bodie.  It is amazing.  People just up and left. They left behind so much of their belongings.
Painted from my own photo.


A few years later I was playing with Clay Board.  I came up with this with my watercolors.  Painted from my imagination.


I like nature and will paint it when it stirs up my passion for color or form.  This flower reminds me of my Grandpa "chickens" Moore.  He had a chicken ranch and he use to have this big cactus plant. He was so proud when it would bloom.  Painted from a photo in an old field guide to flowers.


This painting is a photo I took. I was looking out my kitchen window on a very cold rainy day. The clouds were hovering over.  Then to the west the clouds parted a few yards and the sun shone through. It made the field of hay glow.  It was so inspiring.


I loved the moment so much that I painted it again in oils.


Back when I began to paint I tried to paint this house. I am assuming it is a beach house because of the colors.  I had found a tiny ad in the paper.  I cut out the photo and it was only 2" x 2".  I changed some colors and some of the house to suit me.  I would love to give credit to the real house but I just don't know. It was probably a real estate ad back 25 years ago.


This painting is my doodling.  It is from my imagination.  It is pencil, ink and watercolor.


After my husband died in August of 2000, I began painting my feelings. I just wanted an outlet.  I painted this painting and then I took it to my old college professor to critic.  He told me to paint a series. So I did. This is called Death Series I


Death Series II .  Unfortunately it is in Mexico.  I gave it to a friend and now I am not sure if it is on a wall or in a storage box. Boo Hoo   I really love this watercolor.


This is Death Series III on 300 LB watercolor paper, size is 30" x 24".  I like it but I am not finished with it.


Death Series IV


Death Series V.  This is the most recent. I started this after my daughter died a few years ago.  She died so suddenly and so young.   This painting is done on 300 LB paper.
30" x 24" .  I am not done with this.  I am sort of stuck.  I don't like how heavy the white fog looks.  So I am pondering on what to do.


This painting I did when I was in a Bible study in the book of Ezekiel.  We were learning about his dream and I wanted to paint it.  I made a mistake in the wheels with eyes.  After I read the verses again I realized that the wheels should be horizontal, not vertical.
But the painting was fun.  It is watercolor and ink.


That is just a few of my paintings from the past.  I will post some oil paintings soon.

Happy painting and have a great day.
Carol

Converting my Palette Challenge

I'm a sucker for color. Over time I had ended up with 2- thirty-two well watercolor palettes.  I had to hunt down a 32 well palette because usually you find palettes with 8-20 wells. I was lucky when I found the 32 wells. BUT after time I needed more wells.
I had seen how some artist use plastic and glue to divide palette wells. But I am a Dental Technician experienced with WAX. And I have a supply of wax.  So I thought why not use wax that I already have and my dental waxing tools that I have? Yes, I said and it's free. Well at one time I had to buy the wax but if I went the glue and plastic route I would have to make a shopping trip.  I am so in the mode lately to recycle and use what is in my home.
I was also tired of trying to position 2 large palettes by my side when I would paint. It was awkward and didn't leave much room for my water and brushes.
So here is how I began.


I had to clear out the paint in my current palette.  I picked my newest palette to be the converted palette. So I popped out the paint with a table knife, put them in lunch bags and wrote their names on the bag. Some of the lighter color paints I wrote on the bottom side of the paint itself.  I left paint in my old palette. No reason to pop it out till ready to put them in the new palette.


Here is the set up for the project.  I laid out my supplies. On the far right you can see my waxer. It is a tool like a pen with a very hot tip. (more later). Then you see I have the palette. I did use finger nail polish remover to get the old paint names off the outside edges of the palette. I have here also a cutting board and the pink wax is denture wax. It is rather brittle. The little tins are filled with carving wax. I will use that in place of glue.


I cut the wax to shape


I began to wax the divider into place with the green carving wax. At this point I am not sure about this pink denture wax.


Here is the waxing pen. It is amazing. I love it.  It has several tips. I had set the temperature to 400 but eventually went to 418 F.  If you have it too cool the wax won't flow, if it is too hot then it drips off the pen too fast in unwanted places and it starts to melt the pink denture wax. This waxer unit is more than $400. Love it.


Close up of waxing pen.
After a good nights sleep I decided that I didn't like the pink denture wax dividers. So I pulled out my red boxing wax.


Here I am finished waxing all of the dividers.  Some of the wells have 2 dividers to make 3 spaces. Some have 1 divider to make 2 spaces.


Ok, yes the green wax looks messy. I did clean that up. It was from the first attempt with the pink wax.


Here is a Bird's Eye View of the waxing part finished. I really am pleased with this.  This idea had swam in my head for months. I was slow in doing it because I knew it was a big project. But it is so worth it. Now I can carry just one palette to class with most of my colors.


Here we have the colors in their places.  I wanted to group the colors in families, like greens, reds, browns. Years ago they were placed as I bought the watercolor.  99% of these colors are Daniel Smith Fine Watercolors.  I did have to trim down the side of the paint I had popped out of the old palette because they were too big to fit in their new wells.  I put the remainder back in their ziplock bag to save.  After I put the colors in their new homes I wet them down.  I let that soak for a few hours and then went back with a toothpick and smoothed out the paint into the length of the new well.  Some paint is soft and rubbery and some is grainy.




Here I have labeled the names of the paints.  I think it is important to know the names. After using this palette I will memorize what position each color is but I do like to know their official names.  It is so easy to forget and if you have a teacher who says to try Quinacridone Coral, then I want to know which one that is.


Another view of the labels. Yes I did eliminate quite a few colors because they were just old and a cheap brand.



And there you have the finished palette of new wells for watercolor.  Can you guess how many wells I have now?  hmmm?
I have a total of 75, yes 75 wells.  And one is empty.  I thought just in case I buy a new color. Hahahahahahahaa

I did use the new palette in class on Monday 3/28  My Birthday,(yeah) but I don't like the painting.  It is not my style.  I have an issue with my class. ugh.
Here is the unfinished painting.


 I can't tell you how much I hate this painting. I hate the colors, the composition and I would like to go start the fire in the fireplace with it. I thought if I ink in the daises I would like it more but I did a few and I still hate the painting.

I want to do some paintings of magnified views of rocks or flowers or cut glass vases.
The teacher is older and I think she is stuck in old fashioned ideas. The other students eat this stuff up. But then again they are older.  The one thing I just can't stand is that she has us painting from her painting.  I want to paint from something real, real flowers, a real animal, real rocks or a photo of them.  Then it is my interpretation.  I have a different eye and will pick out colors that maybe someone else doesn't see. But how can you do that when you are told to paint from her painting?
Any thoughts?

Well have a great April Fools Day.
Happy Painting.
Carol