I have been doing spirographs in EVERYTHING! Time to maybe take a break. They don’t work everywhere. Now that I am getting the hang of them (the spirographs) I need to be more judicious with their use. I tried to do another Cala Lily, but it feel short of my expectations, so I moved on to Darwin’s Orchid. I love the shape of this orchid. Memories of Kauai and the botanical garden.
I was sitting at my dining room table, daydreaming, and out of the corner of my eye a flash of white went by. I stood up and looked down and the cutest little thing was looking up at me! All white with a little bit of sable round his or her head…looked like a miniature mink! And, then gone, quick under the porch! No more than about 5 feet away, so I was able to get a good look–I don’t think this little thing was more than 6″ long. Never have I seen such a creature in my backyard. After some googling I have decided this little cutie is a weasel. I have since learned from many friends that they are nasty little creatures. But, I still sticking with cute!
Fun to have a little visit in the morning inspire a drawing.
I wonder if I have another one of these in me! I am going to try and do two more…a series of 5. Then, I will step back and analyze them and maybe do a couple over. I like using the casein in combination of controlled dots and spatter. I think I will explore how to integrate those better. More controlled “dots”. This piece started with an ink color wash…gives it a different look and thinner ground. I haven’t decided whether to try that again or not.
This was inspired by my father-in-law. Flowers from the day that we celebrated his life. I wasn’t able to seriously draw during this time, but I knew that I would want to capture something to keep the memory of the day. The flowers that were brought back to the house from the church were so beautiful, so I took some photos to do some paintings from. The cala lily has such great curves, the colors seem to set the tone for me.
I liked adding the spirographs…somehow they add some mystical features to the piece. We will keep him with us in our memories.
Plumeria are not only beautiful, they smell delicious. The simple shapes are deceivingly difficult to capture. I love the smallest little veins in the petals that go in all directions defining the petal. The variation in these flowers is so nice. A simple shape that says Aloha.
I was going to do the hibiscus, but somehow the plumeria called me away.
I just realized that yesterdays painting was really a departure! I added color to the main image! Today I have returned to just graphite over my background. It’s whale watching season here in Hawaii. It’s wonderful to watch them breaching from the shore. I am hopeful that we will do a boat ride and get a little closer to them.
Botanical gardens are next.
It’s easy to get distracted when you are in Hawaii. Not as much drawing and painting going on, but lots of sight seeing and enjoying the weather. I have decided not to be too hard on myself and just take it easy…so we will see how many more of these little paintings I get done.
Morning walks have been great, there is beauty everywhere you look. The Bird of Paradise flowers and in full bloom, nice to see. Still working on my hibiscus!
Hawaiian Dove. These are the sweetest birds, and they make the sweetest sounds. No matter which island you are on in Hawaii these sounds greet you in the morning (and if you are in Kauai as I am, they compete somewhat with the Roosters).
Not really happy with the results, but I am trying not to be too hard on myself as I am still on east coast mainland time. It’s 6:40 pm in Kauai, but at home it would be 11:40pm!
Hibiscus for tomorrow!
Dreaming of Gecko’s! Packing for my trip to Kauai has me day dreaming about Gecko’s. I love these little guys. This one isn’t really well proportioned, but he was fun to draw. Day 17 done, onto some grounds to get me going for the next few days. #30paintingsin30days!
Sketchbook Skool #sbsexpressing is in session, good Klass on lettering this week. I don’t add a lot of lettering to my journal pages. I have never really liked my own handwriting, and even with a graphic design background I was never really into drawing type. But, this was a nice push into trying something new, I think I will consider adding more lettering in the future.
I think I might be too far behind to catch up at this point–4 days behind! Yikes. No matter, I am going to push on. I read an article that the bats in New England are in trouble. They are so good for catching bugs, sad to see them not doing well. I felt like I was drawing upside down! It’s a little wonky, but it was fun to draw a little baby bat. Casein & graphite on paper.
Along with the #30paintingsin30days! challenge I started a new #sketchbookskool Expressions Klass. The first one is all about lettering…looking forward to that project as well. Maybe I can use it for my next painting!
Art Projects 