Daily Paintworks Happy Birthday Carol!

"Texture Crow 1"  5x7 watercolor on yupo paper

This is my contribution to DPW's "Happy Birthday Carol!" challenge.  Some people say crows bring them fortune.  I just like the drama that I feel inside me sometimes because they're black and they remind me of Hitchcock's movie of course.

I just want to let you know I'm pretty busy these days.  My husband and I downsizing  and hoping to sell our house and move.  So please think positive and happy thoughts and send them to Northwest Arkansas :)  Hope you're having a nice summer!  Thanks so much for visiting my blog :D  

Ok I'll also post my other new painting of strawberries.  I love painting on yupo!  Sometimes my current life events keep me from painting full sheet ones though :P 

"Fresh Strawberries"  5x7 watercolor on yupo paper

DPW flower and reflection challenges

Since I all my plans didn't quite work today, I was determined to at least get some painting done finally.  So I braved the 98°.  This challenge put forth by James Coulter on Daily Paintworks, instructed outdoor painting for an hour only.  It was almost 10AM when I finally stepped out the door to paint my blackeyed Susans which were planted by my neighbor Shirley for me by the gazebo.  They looked tired so I watered around first to give them a chance to perk up a little bit.  After I carried everything I needed outside I realized I was using a different tripod/easel which was not compatible with my artbox.  So I ended up just holding my artbox on my lap and proceeded to paint after I set my mobile phone timer to 60 minutes. 

 "Blackeyed Susan in 98° Heat" 12x9 oil on canvas

This next photo was the beginning and after that, 30 minutes later I had what I thought was gonna be the finished painting within an hour.  But I actually feel pretty good about the painting after 50 minutes of working in the heat and the ants that made their way to under my sundress.  I now realize one doesn't wear sundress plein air painting.  But I enjoyed being outside, hearing soft movements among trees and ground from birds and other moving things.  Butterflies visited the flowers but I didn't bother to paint them in.  Of course I actually could have painted them since they were so wiped out by heat and were very thirsty.  But my brushes wouldn't have done them justice.  I still have 10 minutes I didn't use, I wonder if I should tweak a bit more?  I finally got in the house after hauling everything back in at 1PM.  Suffering for the love of painting outdoors is fun as long as I have air-conditioned house to come home to ;)

 

^^First stage of the painting^^

 "Cherries and Cream Reflections"  2.5"x3.5" watercolor on paper

I painted this last week for the DPW Reflections challenge.

I am brave enough to report that I've failed my 30-day painting challenge.  I had to forfeit because my dear artist neighbor Shirley sold their house and were moving to another state.  I helped her for two weekends at her garage sale.  She had given me artist furniture and other supplies and I had to make room for them in my art room.  And since my art room was already busting at the seams, I had to move most things out so I could rearrange and sort through things.  When I decide to organize, I try very hard not to just pile everything back in.  I really sort. 

Above is the new development.  I moved my desk at the corner where I am now surrounded by windows on two sides.  These pics are actually from last week.

This the artist furniture Shirley gave me.  I had been DREAMING of having something like this!  What a wonderful gift! :)

One view of the old pile.  It doesn't look half this bad anymore.  But my rotator cuff problem has flared up again.  As I was painting today it reminded me of watching Serena Williams play tennis with a lot of grunting.  But all I was trying to do was raise my hand up to my eye level.  Hey, the painting looks pretty good though :)

DPW Old Mill and Tools challenges, etc.

"Neglected, but not Forgotten" 3.5x2.5 watercolor on paper

I'm surprised this painting fell together in an hour.  I had an hour to produce something before I had to fix dinner but I still went ahead and grabbed a blank ACEO watercolor paper (btw a gift from a dear friend Barbara Ann Spencer Jump).  She was kind enough to gift me a variety of watercolor papers in 2.5x3.5 format! This is equivalent to winning the raffle ticket for me because I can only cut trapezoids for some reason!  Check out the submissions "Paint What You Paint With Challenge"

I felt SOOOO challenged by the DPW Old Mill challenge!  It's not so much that the reference photo was low resolution and dreary.  But I admit, I'm not a landscape artist and I'm especially not used to painting with a with a make-believe prettier picture in my head HAHAHA  So I submitted anyway, such as it was....

"Solo Mio" 7x5 watercolor on paper

Finally, I took a picture of myself....rather, I happen to like this one picture I took recently of myself so I thought I'd paint it for the DPW All About Me challenge.  I started painting it before Romel Delatorre workshop, but I think was a mistake not to finish what I had started before the workshop because I was simply dying to paint when I got back!  It would have behooved me more to paint something on a blank canvas.  My saturated brain was not ready to go backwards.  So I'm disappointed in this painting.  I'd like to start painting with more subtlety.  We'll chalk this one up to painting while I'm in transition but I am sharing it here as starting point (fingers crossed).  We'll see where I go from here :)

"Departure" oil on linen 6x6 inches

Umm here is the reference photo don't laugh!  I am the only one allowed to laugh!  Oh of course you can laugh! :D

Asleep by the window for DPW may 28 Challenge

 

"Afternoon Delight" 16x20 oil on canvas

When friends and relatives, especially my Mom, come to visit us, I somehow manage to involve them in my "projects".  Currently, Mom is visiting us for a few weeks and I thought it was great opportunity to paint from a live model!  Daily Paintworks has a current challenge for "outside your window". So I sort of incorporated the concept to a painting I've been wanting to do which is a room, a window, and sleeping person.  I love paintings of sleeping people probably because I seem to eternally lack sleep or rest.  Thanks Mom for being a good sport! We artists have to be super grateful to anybody who would subject themselves to keeping the same position for hours and days!

Drawing

blocking in colors

more coloring

By the way, the wall decorations came with the house lol  My husband and I prefer plain actually.

Tea and Peonies plus DPW May 21 Challenge

 

 "Tea with Nancee's Peonies"

12x16 oil on canvas

I don't know either.  I shake my head at myself often because of how I go about things!  I painted a dark ground on a 12x16 canvas about 2 years ago (an insane value 6,I think).  I prefer painting portraits emerging from a dark background and I seem to remember I meant to paint a self portrait on it...but things come up and that's when my art plans get set aside. 

Anyway, I got tired of looking at it where it might get punctured at some point so I just grabbed it and decided to set up a still life with peony cuttings from my neighbor's rich garden.  She was in China for two weeks and right before she left she told me I could have all the peonies I wanted!  Believe me, I've been indeed enjoying them!  They are a pleasure to look at, to touch and they have a light scent about them.  Heaven would have peonies!  I've also been trying to paint them but visually I get so challenged I think due to my double vision that I get overwhelmed so a freeze.

Side note...I recently saw a youtube video about an autistic young woman who learned to communicate by computer because communicating directly with people is very distracting to her.  She says she gets overstimulated visually and audibly so it makes her nuts.  This is how I feel about anyhing that seems too much.  I do have double vision but I also seem to get overstimulated by things that it's like looking through shattered glass.  This is why I have to be blasted with light to when I'm trying to see something.  I don't deal with email and bills well either - but that's not unusual is it?  But actually the shortcut to it all is taking Excedrin which seems to smooth my focus together.  However I don't let myself get dependent; it's been 3 months since I took one.  But when I desperately need to meet a deadline, I do give in.  Ooookay!

Anyway, looks like I succeeded (to my satisfaction) and I've actually utilized the faithful canvas that stayed in shape for me waiting to be painted on for two years!  I'm grateful :)

 

 The scary Dark Ages, I had to paint with Cadmium red light to see my markings.

 Beginning to take shape *whew*

 Ahh yes, I was definitely beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel!  You wonder how I see with that big floppy hat lol  The light puts glare on my glasses and I get headache from baseball cap so I like to use something I hardly feel is on my head.

 Self Portriat

6x6 oil on linen

This is the value challenge from DPW.  Sometimes I do underpaint with umber, white and ivory black but the challenge only allowed for umber.  It was VERY uncomfortable!!  But I will forge forward and finish this portrait in color (because my Mom, who will be visiting starting Sunday, especially requested).  And I will also make it look more like me promise!

DPW Week May 7 Vegetable Challenge

 

"Tired Peony and its Vegetable Friends" 10x6 watercolors

This week's Daily Paintworks challenge is to paint vegetables from life.  I wasn't sure how I'd like the challenge, especially using watercolors.  I tend to think in oils when I consider painting still life.  But I think the rich color transitions made this project fun.

Lately I've been feeling like my stamina is being rationed.  I'd basically think about setting up a still life for painting and before I know it, I'm exhausted just running around gathering objects!  Sometimes I get tired just thinking about what objects I want to use!  Maybe it's because it's spring time.  I always suffer stimulation overload in the spring because of all the flowers I want to paint and the pressure of them fading soon if I don't save a block of time to paint them!  Then torment myself with the feeling I don't know how to paint flowers.  It's a laughable situation but a real torture sometimes!  So there you go, a tired peony and its vegetable friends!  I was tempted to paint a person for the peony's friend but I didn't.  So I hope I get humanitarian points for that ;)

Kokeshi Doll DPW 10-minute painting challenge!

"Kokeshi 10"

12"x9" oil on canvas sold

I couldn't help but admire the submissions to Carol Marine's DPW challenge to painting a small painting for 10 minutes and do it 8x.  I haven't been to the store due to inclement weather we've been having in Northwest Arkansas, but I wanted to paint something red.  So this is why I chose my nodding kokeshi (Japanese wooden doll) for my subject.  

 

Above was the first half.  I am left handed so I had to start at the bottom right.  The 2 hours I allotted for the process didn't work out because I had phones calls which I ignored, and a neighbor dropped in on me which I didn't ignore.  Then I had to run to an appointment!  So I finished the rest when I got back.  I found I was more effective when I wasn't so rushed and overwhelmed by time.  So I took a short break after each rectangle to finish the rest of the painting and told myself I was approaching the canvas for the first time :)  Cleaning the brush to dip into another color was the worst part of it because it took over a minute sometimes!  I was happy that some of my watercoloring habits did help me paint it :)

DPW Chicken and ACEO still life

"Puck Puck Puck" SOLD
9x12 watercolor on paper

This week's Daily Paintwork's challenge was brought to us by Carol Marine.  The challenge was simply to paint the photo of the chicken she provided or use our own reference.  I chose her photo because I felt like dealing with the challenge of painting something white.

These next ones are ACEO 

 "Simply Iris" 2.5x3.5 inches watercolor on paper

Usually after I paint my small format art like the ACEO, I like to press the painting between two pieces of wood overnight.  I painted the sunflowers the other night... just to seize the day and before the flowers was about to be offered to the birds. As I was supposed about to press it, I was surprised by the iris painting I had in between the woods.  I think it's been at least 2 years...probably more.

"Sunflowers" 2.5x3.5 inches watercolor on paper

I think I enjoyed painting this looser piece.  Painting tight was probably what made me stop painting them before!

I have been redesigning my blog.  I hope to get done with it soon because it sure eats up my art time!

MyArtTutor.com's Ann Templeton and DPW landscape!

"Green of Spring" 5"x7" oil on masonite

What an absolutely victorious painting session to be able to combine work and art play! I created this painting to fulfill an assignment in a landscape online workshop offered by the legend Ann Templeton through MyArtTutor.com. It also fulfills my challenge submission to this week's Daily Paintworks.

I am not a landscape artist, but Ann Templeton took the fear away and put fun and sense of victory in my painting session. Here is her website : ANNTEMPLETON.COM

For DPW, this is a challenge offered by Carol Marine who wanted us to see how we would paint from her photo taken in Germany. Thanks Carol that was fun! :)

I work for MyArtTutor.com as creative "film" editor so why not check out my latest creation which happens to be a trailer for Ann Templeton's class using the technology of VoiceThread.Com
Click here Ann Templeton "Aspens" :)