Happy Halloween!, Datsun at Willow, Unusual Lighting Quick Studies

Datsun at Willow

  16 x 20

  acrylic on canvas

  For Quick Studies.  Creating a larger finished painting. Done from my sketch.

Previous step. 

 I think it looks good.  I miss the loose quality of the sketch.  Getting the correct proportions on the car was difficult but I think I eventually got it.  I have not done a realistic painting in acrylic in over 3 years so this was a bit of a challenge.  

  Unusual Lighting 

  12 x 9

  acrylic on board

  For Quick Studies.  Figures with unusual lighting.  First three done in 25 minutes last two done in 40 minutes. The lighting was an interesting challenge.  My biggest struggle this week was proportions. 

 

Happy Halloween!!!

Taken with my iPhone. Processed with Instagram.

Quick Studies- Flowers and Fruit

  Flowers and Fruit 

  12 x 9

  acrylic on board

  For Quick Studies.  Interesting compositions/ still lifes.  These were a huge struggle.  I am not really liking any of the work I am producing right now.  It is really frustrating.  I know these arnt that bad but I feel like I could really do much better.  Annoyed.

Dancing Skeleton

  Dancing Skeleton WIP

   48 x 36

  acrylic on wood

Finished.  For my my "day job".  We have a Halloween Event every year with candy and prizes and fun.  This is for the trick or treat area for the little kids. Previous step.  I have named him Skelly.  Working on this has been a nice break from my school work.  Reminds me why I love painting. 

 

Today I added the stars, finished the pumpkins, shaded the bones, added the spider web, and the glow in the dark time.  I also redid the outline around the skeleton.  Unfortunatly I was not able to get a photo in the dark as I have no rooms in my house that are dark enough and I had to drop it off today.  

The weird light circle area is going to be cut out so someone can stick their hand through it to pass out candy. 

Dancing Skeleton (Skelly) WIP

  Dancing Skeleton WIP

   48 x 36

  acrylic on wood

For my my "day job".  We have a Halloween Event every year with candy and prizes and fun.  This is for the trick or treat area for the little kids. Previous step.  I have named him Skelly.  Working on this has been a nice break from my school work.  Reminds me why I love painting.  I mostly spent time today putting in the background.  I need to finish the pumpkins, add some stars, a spider web, shading on the bones, and glow in the dark paint.  A few hours tomorrow and this baby will be done!

Armature- Standing Figure

Standing Figure Armature

~ 3 feet

aluminum wire & wood

For Head and Figure Sculpture.  Oh boy! This was exciting and not easy.  I did as much as I could with the materials I had. I am missing some wedges so I wasnt able to get the wires tight enough.  

I have a ton of extra wire around the feet that I think I may need to cut off. This is quite huge and goofy looking currently.  I hope it looks better when I get clay on it :)

Orchid 4 Ways

So I have hit my mid semester rut.  I dont know if any of you ever feel this way but about half way through the school semester I get burnt out and become uninspired.  These pieces were quite a struggle for me and I think you can tell.  I need to remember to KISS- keep it simple stupid. 

I did find a very inspiring interactive tour of some of Monet's paintings:

www.monet2010.com

I highly recommend you check it out.  It take awhile to load so be patient.  

Now onto the art-

9x12

watercolor on illustration board

From below.  This started out ok.  Things started to get difficult when I began playing with the background and creating soft edges.  I like the way the leaves look. 

9x12

watercolor on illustration board

Close up. Probably my best from this series.  I like some of the really deep colors I achieved. I think I got a little bit too fussy with the details and the background needs to be resolved a bit more. 

9x12

watercolor & pastel on illustration board

Eye level.  And this is where I got really frustrated.  This started in watercolor and I didnt like how it was coming along soo I decided to pull out my pastels and see what I could do with those.  Its not my favorite piece.  

9x12

pastel on illustration board

From above.  At this point I was tired of painting and wanted to try something different.  I really like the cool broken up impressionistic textured look these have.  A different look then what I usually do. May favorite piece? no.  Was it nice to do something different? yes. 

After struggling through these I was done.  I have 5 more paintings due for Quick Studies but I give up.  Stressed out, uninspired, exhausted.  

I did channel this negative energy into a positive and ended up cleaning my studio. Which is HUGE for me.  We moved right before this semester began so I didnt know where anything was.  As I looked for supplies I would just pull things out and not put things away or just pile stuff all over the place. I also had one box left over from the move that need to be unpacked.  Now that is all done :)  

 I love having a clean studio :)

Dancing Skeleton WIP

  Dancing Skeleton WIP

   48 x 36

  acrylic on wood

For my my "day job".  We have a Halloween Event every year with candy and prizes and fun.  This is for the trick or treat area for the little kids.  I think he looks fun.  I still want to add a spider web, haunted house, bats, and a full moon.  I bought some glow in the dark paint that I am excited to use on the skeleton, the windows on the house, the spider web and the moon.  

Revisions- Them Apples, Orchid, Lantana, Tea and Posies

I had to send some of my paintings to my instructor but before I sent them I worked back into a few keeping in mind my instructors critiques.  

How Do You Like Them Apples?

  11 x 14

  watercolor on aquaboard

In this I softened some of the shadow edges on the apples and played with the colors in the leaves.  

Before. 

Orchid

  12 x 9

  watercolor on illustration board

I deepened all of the colors by adding a wash of cerulean blue. I also pulled out some more whites and darked the base.  

Before. 

Lantana

  12 x 9

  watercolor on paper

I used prisma colored pencils to darken the background and give it texture.  

Before. 

Tea and Posies 

9x12

watercolor on gessoed illustration board

All I did for this was adjust the angle on the white cloth.  

Before. 

How Do You Like Them Apples?

How Do You Like Them Apples?

  11 x 14

  watercolor on aquaboard

  For Still Life 2.  Apples on my Mom's apple tree.  Previously called An Apple A Day.  I dont think I chickened out with finishing this.  I think the colors are bright and bold and beautiful.  I feel like I really pushed myself with this. My best painting this semester.  The Aqua board made it easy to get nice rich deep colors.  I love how vibrant the apples are.  I will probably use the Ampersand Aquaboard again for big projects.  I think for exercises it is a bit too expensive. 

Female Portrait Sculpture

Female Portrait

 ~ 12 inches

 water-based clay

 For Head and Figure Sculpture. Completed.  

it doesnt look exactly like the model but it does look like a female face so I think it is a success! :)

Here is the previous step.

Orchid, Negative Space Figure Studies, Datsun at Willow WIP

Orchid

  12 x 9

  watercolor on illustration board

  For Still Life 2.  Point of View.  Seeing it on my computer I feel like there is soo much more I could do to this.  I will probably go back into it and do more. I feel like it is missing something and I just cant figure out what.  I think overall it is too red and not purple enough.  

 

  Negative Space Figure Studies

  12 x 9

  acrylic on board

  For Quick Studies.  Using the negative space around the figure to create the form.  The 1st 3 are 25 minute studies and the last two are 40 minute.  I find myself overworking the 40 minute studies.  I prefer the fresh feeling of my 25 minute studies.

Datsun at Willow WIP

  16 x 20

  acrylic on canvas

  For Quick Studies.  Creating a larger finished painting. Basic block in done from my sketch.

Pumpkin Carving

Spidey  

~ 6 inches

  pumpkin

  Halloween pumpkin sculpture.  This is art right?? :)  We invited friends over today and did some pumpkin carving.  It was pretty fun.  I love getting my hands all gushy and mushy.  Then I love baking the pumpkin seeds when I am done.  Soo yummy.  

Here are all of our pumpkins lined up-

Mine and my husband are on the left.  Can you tell we have done this before? :) Our friends hadnt craved pumpkins since they were kids so they were a bit out of practice. 

An Apple A Day WIP

An Apple A Day WIP

  11 x 14

  watercolor on aquaboard

  For Still Life 2.  Apple on my Mom's apple tree.  I was really having a hard time choosing between the apples and a fireplace mantel but in the end I really like the color in the apples.   I think I can get some really cool looking blends with this piece.   I am trying out another painting surface.  This one is Ampersand Aquaboard.  It is quite interesting with the watercolor.  It works a lot like the gessoed surface but a bit more forgiving.  I think (if I dont chicken out) I will be able to get some really vibrant colors.
Here is the sketch before I began painting-

Female Portrait Sculpture WIP

 Female Portrait WIP

 ~ 12 inches

 water-based clay

 For Head and Figure Sculpture.  There are a ton of imperfections in this.  It looks pretty good from this view though.

Here is the previous step-

I am taking a Leadership Class through my work and the assignment for the first week was to do a shortened version of the Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator.  I got ENTP, which means I am- " Quick, ingenious, stimulating, alert, and outspoken. Resourceful in solving new and challenging problems. Adept at generating conceptual possibilities and then analyzing them strategically. Good at reading other people. Bored by routine, will seldom do the same thing the same way, apt to turn to one new interest after another."  I think it fits me very well.  I also had my husband take it and we are almost total opposites.  Maybe that's why we work so well :) 

Comy Cozy & Quick Stuies

Comfy Cozy

  12 x 9

  watercolor on illustration board

  For Still Life 2.  An Interior.  I love the warm look of this.  This was so easy to do.  I just let it flow, didnt fight it and I am happy with the result.  

   Quick Studies

   9 x 12

  acrylic on board

For Quick Studies.  All done in under 40 minutes. I struggled through all of these.  It was not a good painting day for me.  I feel like I went on vacation and forgot how to paint.  

 Plein Air Landscape Studies

   9 x 12

  watercolor on paper 

acrylic on board

For Quick Studies.  I struggled through all of these also.  The first two were done while on vacation in Tennessee.  I found it very difficult to paint there as everything was soo green.  There was so much visual stimulation that it was hard for me to concentrate on the main areas.  The last two were done locally.  This was my first time paining plein air with acrylics.  Quite difficult to do.  Oils or watercolor would have been easier.  Oh well, live and learn!