December Rose, Negative Space Quick Studies

December Rose

10 x 10

watercolor onpaper

For Still Life 2. A square composition. I like what I have done with this but I feel there is much more I can do.  I hope to go back into it and refine it a bit more. 

12 x 9

acrylic on board

For Quick Studies. 25 minutes.  Exploring negative space.  

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 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. 

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-

Posies and Peaches

  Posies and Peaches

 11 x 14

  watercolor on illustration board

  For Still Life 2.  Finished.  Previous step. I love the peaches.  The rose got a bit difficult.  I tried really hard not to get caught up in the details.  I think need to find some more flowers to use :)  Im thinking orchids. 

This is watercolor on illustration board.  Instead of using gesso this time like I did for Tea and Posies I used Daniel Smith Watercolor Ground. It has a different feel then the gesso more like watercolor paper but smoother.  I much prefer painting on the Daniel Smith Watercolor Ground over the gesso.  It layers nicely and I can still pull up lights if I need to. 

Still Life Quick Studies, Marry Me?

  Still Life Quick Studies-

  Melon and Nanners, Wine and Posies, 

Marry Me?,

  Afternoon Tea, Rose',

 Rosie Posie

   9 x 12

  acrylic on board

For Quick Studies.  All done in under an hour. All of these were done today.  Crazy I know.  It was quite a task to get all of these finished.  Im still doing these in acrylic in a limited palette and enjoying it very much. 

  Marry Me?

 11 x 14

  watercolor on gessoed illustration board

  For Still Life 2.  This was done from an old reference photo.  These are the roses my husband gave me when he asked me to marry him.  In this image they are dried and sitting on the bathroom counter.  I did a quick study using the same reference image above.

I dont really like working on the gesso as I cant really layer my colors very easily.  I find if I use too much water it pulls up the color from underneath.  The surface seems to respond best to thick applications of color.   

 

Tea and Posies, More Quick Figure Studies

Tea and Posies 

9x12

watercolor on gessoed illustration board

For Still Life Painting 2. Working on the illustration board was interesting.  It was nice because it was easy to lift out my whites but that also made it difficult to layer my colors.  Getting the background dark and even was very difficult.  I think the texture I ended up creating is nice though.   

 9 x 12

 oil on gessoed board

 For Quick Studies. 25 minute figure studies.  Still feeling rusty. I toned these in a horrible bright green that made it really hard to see the correct colors.  Lesson learned- tone in a neutral color. 

 9 x 12

 oil on gessoed board

Also for Quick Studies.  These are 40 minute studies.

Viva Tequila, Figure Quick Studies, Mugz

Viva Tequila 

watercolor on paper

 12 x 9

For Still Life Painting.  Low-key subject. A tequila bottle and some money. I guess you could say it is a statement about alcohol. 

Here is the underpainting-

 oil on canvas

 For Quick Studies. 25 minute figure studies. I am a bit out of practice with oil but I still think these turned out well. 

 Also for Quick Studies.  These are 40 minute studies. 

 

Mugz

water based clay

For Head and Figure Sculpture. Our first assignment was to create a 1:1 mug.  Once with our own technique and one taught by the instructor. This is much harder then it looks. I redid my technique twice.  First I tried to create a coil and that didnt work.  I ended up making a cylinder and then hollowing out the center.  The instructor taught technique was much much easier. 

Mug 1 & Asparagus Avacado Soup

 Mug 1

clay

 ~ 4 inches

 For Head and Figure Sculpture. Our first assignment it to create 2 mugs- one of our own technique and one taught to us.  I did my own technique first so I would have have the influence of the other one.  This was much harder then it looks.  When you are creating additive sculpture you are usually adding clay to a mass.  With this there was a hollow area inside making it difficult to add clay.  I ended up creating a solid cylinder and the carving the center out.  Much easier then my first try (which I scrapped) that I tried to create using a coil method.  Hopefully the next one will go smoother.  

 

On a different note, I made the most delicious soup tonight.  While reading Prevention Magazine at work today I stumbled across a recipe for Asparagus Avocado Soup.  Soo soo yummy.  I used fresh locally grown produce and it turned out so well.  If you are interested here is the recipe-

 

Asparagus Avocado Soup
Cook 8oz asparagus. 

Add to blender with 1 chopped avocado, 1 1/4 cups cold water, 1/4 cup reduced fat sour cream, and 2 Tbsp each chopped cilantro and fresh lime juice. 

Puree until smooth. 

Season to taste. 

Ladel into 4 bowls and top each with 1 Tbsp sour cream. 

Makes 3 1/4 cups

I had a bunch of asparagus so I doubled the recipe. I also didnt have any sour cream so I subed cream cheese and milk. To season I used salt, garlic powder, a little bit of pepper and extra fresh lime.

Enjoy :)