Gifts

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Working on a little birthday gift for my husband’s aunt. She is turning 80 in May. Hard to think about what kind of subject matter would be best…settled on Lily of the Valley as this is the official flower of May. Difficult little buggers to get right! Fun to work on though.

Also messing around with oil bar paint on found beach wood. Thinking of moving on to shells, or back to the birds. Vacation week is coming to a close.

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Bird Week

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Somehow I got focused on the water birds this week. Feels like the right subject matter while at the beach. Someone pointed out to me that I keep cutting the poor birds beaks off! It happens a lot! For the next one I will try to keep the beak within the frame. I am really enjoying the paint transfer technique with the oil paint…and I have discovered how to make this work on canvas as well. The line is more difficult to control on the canvas, but still offers up a quality that I appreciate.

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Dreaming of the beach

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Taking a break for packing up my art supplies and I must be dreaming of my vacation coming up in the #outerbanks of NC. I took the resource photo for this painting soooo many years ago…I have been looking at it for a long time. Going through my supplies I found this blue paper and the old photo, and well, there you have it. I like the way the casein worked against the blue color of the paper, a little dry brush technique in areas created a nice effect. I will try some more of these. I think that the background needs more consideration, but a fun experiment (and break from packing!)

Looking forward to several days in a row of painting and drawing at the beach.

Back to the ballpoint

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I am finally getting back to a little #sketchbookskool mini assignment. Quick drawings of dogs. I have a bunch of reference photos sent by friends that I am using to do some “quick” drawings. The Boston Terrier was under 15 minutes–the other one was closer to 30 minutes. I love starting these with no guidelines, just the pen. Forces you to really look and to commit! Super fun to draw dogs! Especially your friends dogs!

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