Practice Day

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Clematis in progress

Clematis in progress

Today was truly frustrating. I felt really good about the work that I had started, but nothing is working out the way that I planned. I have decided to sketch prior to painting in order to “warm up” and make good decisions in the final piece. Today I worked on three small pieces, one of which I just threw away and the other that I will keep to learn from. The last one is in progress and I think will work out okay. Even if this last one doesn’t work out, I really like the composition and the color, so I will try it again.

sketch

sketch

I am trying to not to get too tightened up about things and that usually works, but today it has all been a struggle. What I hate about that is the time devoted! I know it has to be done, and some days will just not result in work that is successful on any level. There is always tomorrow!

Flower from Kauai

Flower from Kauai

My plan for tomorrow is to return to graphite only. I will do some sketches and then a finished piece or two…but restrict myself to just the graphite.

flower sketch

flower sketch

Small Studies

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finished

finished

These pieces are really small. Just 4″ x 4 1/4″, both are so far just casein. I started with a dark blue stock, crinkled ups tissue paper and then painted over the tissue with casein. When it was almost dry I lifted put the tissue paper. These were taken from photos, but I didn’t do an under sketch, I just boldly put down the paint! Yikes! For me, that is a little scary, but also liberating! I am thinking of keeping the daisy in all casein, the sea urchin I am going to work on top of with colored pencil and maybe graphite…or maybe just graphite!

I may force myself into working without sketching ahead by only working on the darker grounds.

unfinished

unfinished

Snow Shadows Two

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snowshadow2final

Casein and colored pencil on dark green paper: 4 1/2″ x 3 1/2″

Here is one more with the shadows. I think that this is good practice for adding color and depth in sections that really seem like they are only one color. I made an attempt of one started on light/white paper, but it just didn’t have the depth. Working on a dark colored paper forces me to put the guide of the drawing down n white and then block in white casein. I think that this really helps me loosen up, and the colored pencil works really nice on top of the casein. I think I will try a watercolor base and casein next.

Snow Shadows

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snowshadowssketch

Casein and colored pencil on blue paper stock: 5″ x 7″

Breaking out of my shell in terms of subject matter. I love the long shadows in the snow. I am going to work on a little series of these. I tried pastel…again! I want to like it, but I end up unhappy with the result. The casein is a great medium for throwing down a lot of a light color and then drawing on top of. I will try a couple of more of these scenes. I think it will help me understand working with the medium. I need to add in some bold and unexpected color to these.

Sea Turtle

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Casein, colored pencil & graphite: 5″ x 7″ in progress

seaturtle1b

Back to casein! This ground was done by painting the casein over crumpled tissue paper–I waited until it was almost dry and then pulled it up. The effects are really nice and of course random. I did the ground way before I even thought to put this piece together. When I saw the photo and decided to draw the turtle I knew right away I would use this ground. I think I will do a couple of these…turtles are hard! I would like to get a little closer in I think. Also, I think that encaustic with some white encaustic over top would really add to the water feel, I will do a couple with that intention for the summer.

Big Island Oleander

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oleander

Watercolor, colored pencil & graphite: 4″ x 3″

This flower was on a very large hedge shrub in the backyard of our house in Puako. I finally got a book on the Hawaiian flowers so I could start identifying everything! This is Oleander. The flower is quite beautiful and really different…it was sitting pretty high up on the shrub. I am starting to get a feel for how much watercolor to leave and how much pencil to work in, I was pretty happy with the combination here.

Gecko from Puako

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Geckofinal

Watercolor, colored pencil and graphite: 5″ x 7″

I have been painting on the Big Island of Hawaii. A great place for inspiration. I am going to do a series of the Gecko’s, they are so awesome! Such wonderful personalities and so colorful. Great painting subjects. Here is my first one.

Yellow Hibiscus

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Watercolor, colored pencil & graphite: 4″ x 4″

Kauai hibiscus

Kauai hibiscus

This is similar in style to the trumpet vine, but instead of using the watercolor for the “background” I layered colored pencil in the same technique. I like it both ways. I think I will try and stick with the art nouveau style for a little while. I like the way it breaks down shapes more simply.

Trumpet Vine

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I can’t decide whether this is finished or not. I will study it for a little while before I decide. I am thinking of smoothing out some of the dark to light sections in the background…right hand side in particular.

trumpetvinefinished1

Work in progress: 5″ x 7″

in progress

in progress

This is watercolor, colored pencil and graphite. I am looking a lot at old art nouveau drawings for inspiration. I stared this piece for a friend who likes that kind of work–so I am trying to add that art nouveau quality. I might do a series of these as I really love the shapes and color.

Big Yellow Fish

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bigyellowfish1

5″ x 7″ casein and graphite

This is similar in a way to the hummingbird, and I think that I like the casein layering for this. I like the movement of the fins and the composition here. This is just the underpainting, but I think that I will enjoy working on this one. I love this fish! He was in the aquarium at the vets office when we took our Big dog for surgery in May. They told us that he was something like 20 years old! The fish was very interested in people and seemed to come right up to you when you approached the tank. I did get several really nice photos of him.