The Fourth Day of Christmas,

Candy Cane Watercolor 6X8

Half way to New Years Eve, and half way through Christmas Week.  This watercolor is in my sketch book, one of the ones that goes everywhere with me. It needs some cropping. It needs some crunching!
There is all this candy around, fortunately the hard candy doesn't need to be eaten right away, it can go on next years tree.
The See's must be eaten within a reasonable time frame, right? I'm trying to make it last until New Years.
Again a Merry Christmas Week and have a Happy New Year!
With much Love to you all, and to all a Good Night!

The Third Day of Christmas...

A wintery scene.

I haven't tried this sort of scene very often. It's going to take some practice. Brrr, I got cold working on this one. It will have to be something warmer tomorrow or I'll have to turn up the thermostat. This is turning into a painting a day, let's see if I can get it each one finished (enough) each day for the twelve.
Merry Christmas Week to all!

The Second Day of Christmas:

Redberry Wreath 6X8 watercolor

Boxing day in some areas. A day to reflect. Or ...whatever. I'm just not in that solemn a mood! So I painted! This is using a little plein air pocket sized set of half pans and a block I can carry in my bag. This, however, was done inside.
Christmas was a lovely day for all the family and most of us were together. Today we are all "resting" after the preparations. Especially my sister-in-law, she decorated their house beautifully and together they fixed a scrumptious meal, plus lots of snacks of every kind, cookies and candy to raw veggies and dip. Yum!

 This all means heavenly leftovers of course. I got to bring some home, so I don't have to cook to night. I think I am showing rather a lot of unsuspected self control in not eating all the candy, I also brought home, in one sitting. Do you people have any idea what it is like to have an OPEN box of See's in the house? Time for some carrot sticks!

It's Christmas 'eve, Merry Christmas

To all who drop by, and to those who don't find their way here, I wish a Merry Christmas, and all the promises fulfilled that this occasion represents. The Christ came to all the world and brought healing.

Peace be unto you, (Luke 24:36)

"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; (John 13:16)
"God bless us, every one!" (Charles Dickens)

Almost Christmas!

I can't believe I haven't posted all month! I've been drawing a lot and exploring the pen and ink thing, also I've been finishing some UFO's (UnFinished Objects) a Needle Arts term. It's satisfying to work with lace and even to make lace, and to embroider a sheer and delicate fabric with silk thread.

But last night when I got home from church there was this leaf on the back steps. It caught my fancy. So, here it is in my first watercolor attempt in weeks:

So, now it's time to do something seasonal. The Christmas cards are almost finished, time to paint one more. Merry Christmas!

Here's what I've been up to... (a rather colorless post)

Still enjoying pen and ink work. Here is another ball to keep in the air, you really have to keep practicing to get better and maintain what you've gained. At this rate I may just lose weight for lack of time to eat, not that I need to or anything. Hmm how long does it take to get rid of X pounds. (Ahm not tell'in) OK, here they are:

Yes, sketching at the table again. This is some crusty shepherd's bread. Sorry, it's all gone now, but it was preserved for posterity on this paper. Shadows were confusing because it was under a 6-lite chandelier.
And a few other things sitting around:

This is a copper vessel of some kind, it followed me home from a thrift store. It is reprousse with a brass plinth, bail, and handle. Did I capture that softening quality of all the dust on it?


This was an idea from Virtual Paint Out, which I haven't done in a long time. This was in Sardenia on highway SS125. It's a beautiful drive and the road is beautifully maintained. I was also trying some of my new Pitt artist pens, this one was Medium, and quite wide. It does make you simplify:

And last, but not least, the tools of the trade. One of these is a semi functioning quill. Well, it was until I used it. It takes a really sharp pen knife and a practiced hand to sharpen these things. The smallest feather is one I found somewhere, and the other large one is courtesy of Ike, my friend Peg's gander.

The ink well is from Old Sturbridge Village, the potter there makes them and a lot of other useful period items. I found the cork in with a bunch of corks I got I don't know where. Honest, nobody stole it out of my lunch! It keeps the ink from drying out or spilling to readily.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

With apologies to Target and the un-named photographer who took this picture. I couldn't resist trying to sketch it:

Angry Bee

The little model in the picture did a wonderful job of portraying the whole thought, no caption needed actually. She actually looked more like steam was rising from her in the photo. It was a challenge to try and capture the "child," the sweet innocence and the temper being expressed. It's easier when their faces are screwed up into a furious scream, nothing held back, but this burning dagger look, wow, this is going to take some practice and observation.

Recently I got some Faber-Castell pens, closer to markers, but with a lot of different tips. Also one Medium point in "warm grey" to play with. More toys! That said, now it's time to learn to use them to good effect. Practice! Observation! Application!
Yes, Mother. Don't let anyone tell you Life is not eternal, I can hear her saying "I told you so" from here!


This is what it's like to be raised by a violinist. Lesson learned. Since most of my study is self-directed (because I'm always broke) Blogging has been a gift, at least to me. How about y'all out there? It makes you less afraid, or let's rephrase that, it's helped overcome false pride, and helped get it out there, even the bad and mediocre, to get some feedback.

I find that once I've posted something I thought was finished, it's like seeing it through someone else's eyes, you can see what's wrong or missing. You may not be able to figure out what to do about it, but you can tell. That's a big help. As soon as I posted the little Bee Girl above I could see I missed the shading under her folded arms. And sooo many other things.
It's Halloween, and going to be warm enough for Trick or Treating, so, finished or not, Have a Happy Halloween, and try not to fight the kids for the candy. Swipe it when they aren't lookin'!

Exploring the world of pen and ink...

Preliminary sketch

In searching for something else, I came upon a fountain pen with a fine point that was specifically for sketching. In a weak (one of many) moment I ordered it. I had not really played with pen and ink, since it is a bit unforgiving. However I found the deep black ink on white paper irresistible. In a hardbound sketch journal I sometimes carry I sketched this pavilion in our local Japanese Gardens. Thank heaven I also took a photo. A friend saw it in my book and asked for a larger version, so a journey began.
The results follow. Each time I do it some things get better, others get "flubbed." Here is the second attempt:

Second attempt

The pavilion is set on a pool with wonderful rocks and evergreens around it. Finally using a small straight edge to keep it from getting too sloppy I found my two main challenges were the inset part of the railings and how much vegetation to include. How much is enough and how much is too much? and it's so angular, and I'm not.
Then came this one:

Next attempt (3?)

 Is this too much background? Do you lose the pavilion in it? This time I find the reflections annoying. Maybe that can be fixed, or at least modified to be less odd?
And now there is this one:

Most recent attempt

OK, less background, reflections still not right. On this one I had just picked up some Faber-Castel Pitt pens with different points. The Medium and Brush ones were good for getting a deep black under the roof edges and shadows at the top of the pillars. The rail still comes out messy. Maybe I shouldn't have done this at noon?

HELP!

Where do I go from here? This is when I want a class. I've spent hours and hours drawing, modeling in classes and going home and doing the assignment the students were given. Still not enough. I do like the pen and ink, though, no more dragging my hand through it and smearing grey all over my hands and the picture. With a dip pen I am really messy, I get it all over me, but with the fountain pen and these Pitt pens it's a lot cleaner, well, I'M a lot cleaner. But they do not give you much of a second chance. Since that's inherent in the medium, it seems to matter less, it's a "do the best you can" medium. I hope. It takes a better draftsman I guess.

Any comments?

El Color Caliente...

The above is the theme of an upcoming show at a Gallery near me. Lately I've been thinking about this. The focus of the show is cultural, but I kept coming up with landscapes:

Arakis/Dune or Big Bend Desert Sand Storm 8X10

and

14X18 Acrylic, unfinished

the second one was not ready for the show. There are dried chilis to hang and rugs hung out to air, chimney pots to add, rungs, values to balance, oh the list goes on. I entered the first one and:

Chili's 8X10,acrylic, painted this morning.

When I took the picture the shadows all bleached out. This is without the flash, too.
After double checking the painting I found that they're there, somehow I didn't catch them with the camera. The submissions for the show were emailed in, and of course no one else will paint chili peppers, oh no.
Perhaps Photoshop could help me.

Maybe not. Best to use live submissions until I get the hang of this.

Lately I've been doing a lot of pen and ink sketching. Just got a fountain pen by Pen and Ink Sketch, a fine point. It's a delight! It has one of those adapter things so you can use bottled ink, or cartridges. So far I've used up three cartridges so I'll get a bottle of fountain pen ink to save a bit. Most ink at art stores seems to be for dip pens, so the search is on.

End of Summer in Wine Country

Napa Valley Wine Country, early Summer

Earlier this summer I did this little (6X8) watercolor by the roadside in the California Wine Country. There was still a little Spring green remaining in the leaves of both the vines and the surrounding trees. It really is one of the most beautiful places. As a very small child we lived in northern California, but moved to the Texas desert at about the time I entered school. So most of my child hood memories are the spectacular and rugged mountains upthrust from graben faulting (geology minor, sorry) as the mid-continent sea dried up. Mainly I have memories of hills without trees. Frequently when people first see the desert, that is one of the first remarks, "I've never seen a hill without a tree on it." This used to sound very odd to me, all they had to do was look up. Ah, childhood, things were so simple then.

Is it time for a trip back to the desert? I think I'm missing it's kind of beauty. Or is it the Sunshine in the mornings? Hmm, I hope this isn't a pattern, I've lived a lot of places and some are not easy to get to. I, and my non-existent travel budget could be in big doo-doo. Maybe if I could put it down as a business expense. Alas, first there has to be a budget before you can "budget" something. Well, that's what my mother taught me, and mothers tend to be right. Hmm. I should probably do some deep philosophical thinking about that. Nah, too many people with nothing better to do have already done that and just confused themselves. Besides, it takes away too much painting time. I had dear parents who did the very best they could to raise us right and with all the love in the world. "Now" is a gift to which they contributed much, and Now is when I am living! So I shall live Now. And, paint of course.

Where did all that come from? (shrug) Fagedaboudid.