Torso WIP

Torso WIP

~ 2 feet

 water based clay

For Head and Figure Sculpture.  This is more of a lump of clay then a torso.  I ran out of clay and will need to buy more to bring this to more of a finish.  2 weeks left of school! I cant do it! 

Freesia

Freesia

14 x 11

watercolor on board

For Still Life 2.  Finished. Previous step.  I love the bright vibrant colors.  I also love the play of cool and warm colors.  I think it is beautiful. 

I brought this piece to Scotland but I was too busy exploring the beautiful country to have time to finish this there.  It is done now :)

Ubiquitous

 Ubiquitous

16 x 8

watercolor on illustration board

For Still Life 2.  Unusual format. 

I have gotten into this awful habit of turning in my work late for this class.  Week after week.  This was due last Monday.  I only have 2 weeks left so I really need to get my butt into gear. 

My reference photo was taken for this at a pub in Glasgow Scotland called the Ubiquitous Chip.  Very cool place.  Nice ambiance.  Looks like a greenhouse inside. I loved the warmth of the candle and the design of the holder.

Lovley Lady Lumps

Lovley Lady Lumps

~ 3 feet

clay, aluminum wire, & wood

For Head and Figure Sculpture.  Finished. Previously called Standing Figure WIP.  If you recall when I began this piece I could not get My Humps by the Black Eyed Peas out of my head.  Well, as I finished I still had that song stuck in my head so I decided that that should be the title for this piece. 

 

As for the sculpture, I hate the face.  Love everything else.  After this is graded I will probably get rid of the face just to make myself feel better.  I like it more ambiguous and less in your face.   Personal style.  For this assignment though I felt I needed to include a face.  Tiny details are not my favorite part of sculpture so creating the face was pretty miserable for me.   

i love you WIP

 i love you WIP

12 x 9

watercolor on illustration board

For Still Life 2.  Trompe d'oeil.  I had huge issues coming up with an idea for this assignment.  I was thinking too complicated.  I decided to go for more of a modern take instead of a traditional one.  After quite a bit of struggle I finally got over my artist block and came up with an idea.  I like the way this is coming along a lot.  I feel like there is nice potential with this.

Candle Light

 Candle Light 

12 x 9

watercolor on illustration board

For Still Life 2.

There is a ton more I could do to this.  Some paintings flow and some fight- this one fought.
1st I couldnt find a good surface.  After I put a wash on the first surface on a bunch of unavoidable dark areas appeared.  Then I tried a watercolor canvas that worked too much like gesso so I scrapped that one.  I ended up having to cut and prepare another surface.  It is supposed to cure for 24 hours and it only had ~5. Hopefully it wont effect the final look.
I didnt get the colors as dark as I wanted.  I will probably work back into this at some point. 

Standing Figure WIP- Block-In

Standing Figure WIP

~ 3 feet

clay, aluminum wire, & wood

For Head and Figure Sculpture. The very beginning stages of my block in.  Previous step.

Not at all as far along with this as I would like.  I thought I had enough clay for the block in.  Turns out I dont.  Lame I know but it is what it is.  I am trying to avoid buying a bunch of clay.  When I took the Foundations sculpture course I bought 50 lbs of clay and didnt know what do do with it when the class was done.  I ended up giving it to the local elementary school when we moved.

On a side note, I had this song stuck in my head as I was working on this piece-

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.

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 :)

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!

Pacific Coast WIP, Future Site of Another Camarillo High School

Pacific Coast  WIP

watercolor on paper

  22 x 24

For Landscape Painting. Final work in progress. Previous step.  Much better.  I worked a lot on the ocean and the mountains.  I still need to do a little bit more in the ocean, concentrate on the wave, and finish the sand.  Im really liking the way this is going :) 

Future Site of Another Camarillo High School

watercolor on paper

  9 x 12

For Landscape Painting.  Paint a location that is going to be developed.  This beautiful field is the future site of another high school. This was difficult to do as it was at sunset at the beautiful highlights that were on the mountains when I started were long gone by the time I finished.

Night Tree

watercolor on paper

  12 x 9

For Landscape Painting. Another nocturne. School is about learning and I have learned that I do not like painting at night. I think it is silly.  I painted this underneath a street lamp so the colors were very different when I brought it inside.  The image below is what it looks like under the streetlamp light.  

 

Sky on Fire, Ferris Wheel, Lamppost, Pacific Coast WIP

Sky on Fire

watercolor on paper

  9 x 12

For Landscape Painting. Free choice.  I was so horribly uninspired for this assignment.  Between school and work and finding out we have to move I have lost my creative drive.  I am soo stressed out it is hard to create art.  I had to make myself sit down and push through these assignments.  

I ended up using some of my personal reference for this instead of painting from life.  There is nothing from life I feel like painting right now.

Overall I like how this turned out.  Clouds are a hard subject.  I would like to practice them more.  

Ferris Wheel

watercolor on paper

  12 x 9

For Landscape Painting.  Free choice.  This didnt turn out as I imagined it but that is ok.  I wanted it to look a bit more abstract.  Also done from a reference.  I did this while working at the skatepark which was a challenge in itself. 

Lamppost

watercolor on paper

  12 x 9

For Landscape Painting. Nocturne- painting at night.  Not my favorite way to paint.  All the values looked good outside, I brought it inside and they all looked wrong.  Im not very happy with this.  Probably the most difficult assignment this semester and I still have 1 more I need to do. 

Pacific Coast  WIP

watercolor on paper

  22 x 24

For Landscape Painting. Final work in progress.  Just cover the paper with paint.  Im not nearly as far along with this as I would like to be.  I have a day off on Friday so hopefully I will be able to dedicate a good amount of time to this.

Plein Air- Mugu Lagoon Morning & Night

Morning at Mugu Lagoon 

watercolor on paper

  9 x 12

For Landscape Painting. Same scene different time of day.  Back at the Mugu Estuary.  This is become my fave place to paint.  This was done in the late morning.  I was really attracted to the way the light hit the mountains and the pattern of the water. 

 

Night at Mugu Lagoon 

watercolor on paper

  9 x 12

For Landscape Painting. Same scene different time of day. My first attempt at painting at twilight.  I started this around 8pm hoping to catch the last light of the day.  I didnt get to spend as much time as I would have liked since the sun quickly went down.  The nice colors I saw when I got there started to blend into each other. What also made this interesting is there wasnt much light on my paper or my palette sooo I had to sort of guess what colors I was mixing.  I am really glad I tend to set up my palette the same way every time :)

Plein Air- Verona Trattoria, 2145

Verona Trattoria

watercolor on paper

  9 x 12

For Landscape Painting. Urban Landscape.  I had almost no inspiration for this assignment.  I went out once late in the day to find a place to paint and ended up just driving around for an hour.  Today I decided I needed to get these done so I went to old town and tried to find some compositions I liked.  

I was drawn to this restaurant because of the awesome cadmium red umbrellas. 

2145

watercolor on paper

  9 x 12

For Landscape Painting.  Urban Landscape.  I liked this composition because of the white umbrella.  As I was drawing in my composition someone came out and took the umbrella away so I had to paint it from memory.  About half way though I wanted to scrap it and go home, but I didnt and I am glad that I stuck with it. 

Catalina Vacation Plein Air Painting- Catalina Hills, Catalina Palms

Catalina Hills 

 watercolor on paper

 9 x 12

 For Landscape Painting. 2 paintings from the same location. 

For me vacation and painting do not mix.  My husband and I took a trip to Catalina to celebrate 5 years of marriage and doing these were very difficult.  You would think beautiful island, lots of inspiration, but it just wasnt working. 

Of the two I think this one is stronger, but I also think I have done better.
The weather here is a bit nutty.  It will be beautiful all day then out of no where the clouds will roll in and it will get cloudy and overcast. I technically did three paintings but the first one was really not working so 1/2 way through I scrapped it.
I really wish I could have captured the beauty of Catalina/ Avalon better but it doesnt seem that that was in the cards.
This remind me of some prehistoric landscape. 

Catalina Palms

watercolor on paper

  12 x 9

For Landscape Painting.  2 paintings from the same location.  This was done when it was cloudy and overcast.  I tried to capture that in the clouds.  Originally when I was inspired to do this painting the sky was a beautiful bright blue but by the time I grabed my gear and got back to the location the weather had changed.  These arnt totally horrible but like the other one I could have done better.

Days 34-67

Day 67
Title: Peacock- Pavao (Work in Progress)
Medium: Oils on stretched Canvas
Size: 19.5x23.5
Inspiration: Peacock on a farm that Ali and I went horseback riding at. There was another step between this one and the last one that I forgot to take a picture of.

Days 34-66
I was in a bit of a funk. Ali was out here so I was having too much fun with her to paint. Then she left and I was a bit sad so I didnt feel like doing anything. Then it was 4th of July and I was quite busy and then a really good friend of mine moved away so I feel into my funk again. I have had no motivation or inspiration to paint. It felt like my creative juices dried up. I just got back to this painting 2 days ago. I didnt post because I didnt feel like it at the time. I was/ am a bit ashamed at my lack of painting. Hopefully things will get better as I recover from my funk and complete this painting. I have 13 days to complete 2 comissions.
This should be intresting. :/

Days 32& 33- No painting and Beginging Peacock

Day 33
Title: Peacock- Pavao (Work in Progress)
Medium: Oils on stretched Canvas
Size: 19.5x23.5
Inspiration: Peacock on a farm that Ali and I went horseback riding at.

Day 32
Went Horseback riding with Ali and I was too exhausted afterwards to do anything.

Days 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

Day 31

Title: Touro
Medium: Watercolor on Yupo
Size: 9x12
Inspiration: Bullfight season here on the island. We watched a bullfight on the beach and in the bar we were sitting at there was a painting done in warm colors with a cool looking outline of a bull over it. This is my attempt at that.

Days 28-30
Nothing. My friend Ali is visiting so I am spending lots of time with her.

Day 27
Title: Red Orange Flowers
Medium: Watercolor on Yupo
Size: 9x12
Inspiration: Ali bought a really pretty vase and I wanted to do a still life of some flowers in the vase. I found these flowers in my side yard. I have no idea what they are but they are quite pretty.

Day 26 &27

Day 26
No Painting.

Day 27
I did a painting today but 1) it is not dry (stinking Yupo paper) and 2) I would like to take a picture but I am afraid my computer will die again if I try to plug in my camera so I will upload the painting tomorrow when it is dry and I can scan it.

Days 20, 21, &22

Day 22
Title: Purple Hydrangea WIP
Medium: Oils on stretched Canvas
Size: 19.5x23.5
Inspiration: I finally got over my fear and got to working on this painting. The bottom 1/2 is about done while the top 1/2 still needs work. I will finish this tomorrow.

Day 21
Woke up late. Didnt feel like painting. BBQed at a friends house and didnt get to bed until 2:30 AM

Day 20
Subbed for 1st grade. Came home, relaxed and then went to a bachlorette party. I didnt get home until after 1 AM.