Here is painting No. 10. Rockhopper Penguin done in casein and graphite on watercolor tile. 6 x 6. I am hopeful to get a couple more done today, because I know Monday this will probably all come to a halt!
Off to paint.
Category Archives: art
Day Seven
I missed a couple of days. I had these hopes that I could do more than one a day, it’s just not working out. And, there is too much going on at my day job to take a long enough lunch to do any painting and drawing. I started this one at 4:30am and finished it up after work. It’s done, but not what I wanted. Sometimes it just has to be okay that you worked on some art…not that it really turned out.
I might miss tomorrow, but the weekend is almost here, so at least I will do two paintings this weekend. More if I can manage it!
Day 4
Challenges are in fact a challenge! Day 4 is done, but I can’t say I am super pleased with it. Working small in order to accomplish the work, this is 3″ x 5″ on a watercolor board. I do love the image, and I am grateful for the resource from USFWS. Drawn in graphite over casein resourced from the USFWS Mountain Prairie Flickr website–photo taken by Tom Koerner. #30paintingsin30days!
Tomorrow Day 5! Hoping for a quick early morning painting.
Spirograph Fun!
Pineapple Conure. 5″ x 5″
Well, it’s day 3 of the painting challenge. So far I am doing good. Still time in the day for maybe one more painting (this way I can post that tomorrow, because tomorrow it’s back to the day job!). I bought a spirograph set just after Christmas and I have been eager to try it. They are mesmerizing and truly as the advertising states…endless hours of fun. They do however take some time to perfect.
I decided to pair up my painting and the fun with the spirograph. I think I might do some more of these. This is casein, ballpoint pen and graphite. The casein ground went down first, then the spirograph designs in green ballpoint pen and then a casein wash followed by casein to block in the bird. Graphite over top. I had forgotten how nice graphite works over the casein…it has just the right amount of “give”. #30paintingsin30days!
Challenge Day 2!
I started off with the ambitious proposal to myself of 3 paintings today. I did 2. One was not worthy of posting, the other I am happy with. Maybe tomorrow I will get 3 that work well. I am fearful that in order to keep up with this challenge I will have to stockpile!
This piece is resourced from my Animals: 1419 Copyright-free illustrations of Mammals, Birds, Fish, Insects etc as well as images that I found on google. It is a cross between an American and European Avocet (which may be the same, I don’t know). Regardless, I think that they are elegant!
Medium is watercolor ground with salt and graphite over top.
Watercolor & Graphite
The days are flying by! I am working on some oil paint studies, some are working, some not so much. But, I am learning and gaining experience. This is such a busy time of year with the holidays…I find that setting up for oil painting is a little harder to manage.
The great thing about watercolor pencils and graphite is they easily go anywhere. I have been doing the water color grounds first and then drawing on top. Sitting in the living room in a cozy chair with my journal and pencil allows me to visit with folks coming in and out of the house.
After tomorrow I have a few days off, hope to get back to oil painting.
Style Departure
The goal for this painting was just to try out the oil bar paint on paper, but with a gesso ground. When I use just the paper, of course some oil seeps through over time. While the feel is different on the gesso ground I think it is a better choice for longevity of the work. For the drawing and subject I just wanted to do something simple…so I chose the pelican in a very graphic depiction. And, I had a lot of fun doing it!
It’s a total style departure. Fun to do something totally different.
Studies
small study: oil bar, 5″ x 6″
It’s so interesting to me that sometimes the studies that I do to warm up for a “finished” painting turn out better than the final. Maybe it is the carefree attitude. I suppose I could try to trick myself into doing larger “studies”! No doubt the more I do, the better I will get at being less worried when faced with canvas or large substrates. It’s all a process.
The last few days have been spent working with the oil bars and some ink and water color projects. Ink is a lot of fun. I like going back and forth between these two mediums…they are so different. I think switching over to a different medium helps my easily distracted brain!
Trigger Fish: Ink & Watercolor, 5″ x 7″
Cloudscape
Oil Paint Sticks on Paper
Maybe I am on to a subject/theme with the oil paint sticks. I have never really been drawn to using clouds as a subject matter for painting…I think because I see a lot of them by other painters. However, it might be a good learning subject for me. They are difficult! But, they are also fun, open to interpretation and I have lots of photo resources in my personal library!
Not only will I learn a lot with the medium, I will have a bunch of pieces that look like they work together! I still don’t know how important that is, but the subject matter will make it happen anyway. I wonder how many of these I will actually do before I get distracted.
Great tip from my friend Susan Renee Lammers for adding color into the clouds…I am not sure I didn’t overdue it, but I feel good about the direction it took me!
Beach Clouds
Oil Paint Sticks on paper: 10″ x 8″
Back to the oil paint sticks on paper. I was thinking that the simple shapes of a beach scene would be a good way to practice with the oil paint sticks. And, it is, but it’s not easy by any stretch! Beaches are difficult in their simplicity! Clouds are much harder than they seem! But, I do think that this is a good approach for me, scenes that are not too complex, and I can concentrate a bit more on how to lay down the paint…mixing on the paper and layering to achieve what I want. An artist friend gave a great suggestion that I will employ next, bring some sand color up into the clouds.
I found my friends blog post as a good resource to go back to: Edward Seago Inspiration
Art Projects 