Seaside

I actually started this painting at the same time as my "Happy Little Houses" but for some reason I got stuck with this one unlike the other  which came about so easily.  I just wasn't sure what I wanted out of it.  I knew I wanted colorful little houses along the water, but I initially was stuck on them being along a canal of sorts, but I couldn't make it work.  I finally decided on how I wanted the houses and just as I was about to glue them down, I realized they looked like they were floating out at sea and I knew that wouldn't work and that they needed to be grounded!  The little sailboats were not in the original plan, but  I think they really add to the overall painting .

Wouldn't you like to visit this cheerful little place?  

Spring like

A couple of days ago the weather was actually nice enough that I could run outside instead of on the treadmill.  While running, I spotted my first robin!  Finally!  Even though there is still a lot of snow on the ground, it is starting to feel like spring outside.  The sun is higher and stronger in the sky, the days are longer and the birds are singing away.  That afternoon after my run, I had the strong urge to do a very spring like painting.
I thought I would share with you how I did it.  I knew I wanted to do a bird painting,  I initially thought pussy willows and gold finch, but as the painting evolved, my painting changed.



Going into the painting I knew what my color palette was going to be:  pastel colors:  pink, green, yellow, aqua and bits of orange.  I started with the pink first, different shades of pink mixed with white.
 


I then painted different shades of aqua over the pink, making sure to let some pink peek through.(I forgot to take a picture of just the pink and blue)  I then used a brayer for the lime green and white, again allowing the other colors to come through.



 My next color I wanted was yellow, so I used an old credit card to apply it in various areas.



I then collaged all sorts of bits of paper onto it trying to keep the elements in the palette I wanted, bits of tea bags, old paper doilies, old text, old wrapping paper and books.  This is where I added a little bit of orange here and there. This is when I felt it was really starting to come together. 



My bird changed from a gold finch to a blue bird!  I collaged the little guy out of painted coffee filters.  I initially drew him out in my sketchbook and then transferred the drawing onto the painting.  With the change of the bird I decided to go with cherry blossoms instead of pussy willows.  I thought it brought out the bits of pink from the background.  Again these were collaged from painted coffee filters.



Almost done here, the flowers are in place and the branches were cut from tea bags.  Very close to being finished, it just needs a few finishing touches to make it "pop".



Ta da!  Very spring isn't it! 

Mandarin Orange Toss

All finished.  This one was a lot of fun to paint.  It's amazing how much more paint, tea bags, coffee filters and gel medium I went through painting larger.    If I painted this big all the time I would definitely be ordering from Dick Blick more than once or twice a year!  Both pictures are photos.  The colors are off.  The blues are more aqua and turquoise like the bottom picture.  The painting is too big for my scanner! 
I haven't come up with a name for it yet, but in the upper left corner is an old recipe I ripped out of a cookbook and the recipe is called Mandarin Orange Toss Salad, so I just might name this Mandarin Orange Toss.  I kind of like the randomness of it.

Going big (at least for me)

I was at the library the other day checking out and spotted behind the counter where they display their new books,  "Daring Adventures in Paint" by Mati Rose McDonough and snatched it up immediately.  It's a beautiful book with gorgeous photography and well laid out techniques with matching photos, the techniques themselves are pretty basic and seem more geared toward a beginner, such as using a brayer, squeegee, and transfer paper.   I always like to see how other artists approach their work and find inspiration in this.  So while the techniques weren't anything new, the eye popping color, her art work and her words were still inspirational.
My paintings are usually either 8 x 10 or 11 x 14 on watercolor paper.  After reading Mati Rose's book, I was inspired to try something different.  The only empty canvas I had was a 24 x 30 canvas, much bigger than what I'm used to.   I did the background with many of the techniques described in the book, building up layers of paint, brayering, using a squeegee, dry brush and then collage.  I'm not even sure what I'm going to paint on it, but it was a lot of fun just doing the background.  Very relaxing and freeing to paint bigger and more loose.

Bursting with color!

I really love  how this painting turned out.  I feel happy whenever I look at it.   I hope it brightens your day too!

The same but different

I did this first  painting back at the beginning of January.  I wasn't entirely happy with it, actually it really bothered me because I didn't feel like it was doing what I really wanted it to do.  I wanted the bird to "pop" out more from the background.  I really liked the gloomy, dark background which was done with a coffee wash for the clouds and then tea bags  layered over the top, but I wanted it to have the feeling that the bird was "catching its color" from the colorful raindrops that were falling from the dark sky.  Brightness emerging from the dark. But I kept wondering if the background was too dark, and what would it look like if the background were lighter?

This question kept bothering me, so I decided to do another one.  I started it right away, but then it sat on my desk for weeks, I finally decided to finish it.  I'm sad to say that I'm not entirely happy with this one either!

Oh well, t least I have it out of my system now and I won't be wondering "what if" anymore. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Little bird houses

This painting gave me a bit more trouble than planned.  I knew right away I wanted to do a painting with bird houses in a similar style as my "Our Town" painting.  It was going along well and then things weren't looking or feeling right.  Last night I started ripping the little roofs off, and then ripping off some of the houses, and trying out different colors and different scrapbook papers for the roofs, but nothing was working, so I went to bed, afraid that I might continue to destroy it.  I knew that tomorrow was a new day and things might look completely different.  I was right.

As soon as I looked at it this morning, I knew what was wrong.  My bird houses and their roof tops were mostly autumn colors, I needed spring colors.  The autumn colors just didn't seem to go well with the little blue birds whom seemed to be busy building their little nests.  As soon as I realized this, everything started to come together.  I ditched the scrapbook roofs for old paper doilies glued on top of tea bags which were then glued onto painted coffee filters, changed the color of a few of the houses,  and added a few little flowers to make it look even happier.

Flowers a flutter

I finally finished the piece I've been working on for the past week or so.  It has a very summery kind of feel to it.  The color palate is very similar to my last painting  with the orioles in it.   I think they would go well together.

The part that took me the longest with this painting are the leaves.  It's probably hard to tell on the monitor, but each leaf segment is a separate piece of paper.  There are a couple segments per leaf in which it is watercolor right on the paper, but otherwise they are cut from either painted tea bags or coffee filters and then glued to the paper with gel medium.  It took me a full day to complete all of them. The flowers were created with painted tea bags and then I dipped the edges in a darker paint. The flower center is coffee filter and the stamens are with black ink.  The little butterflies made from tea bags and then painted with acrylic and black ink.

I'm starting to feel the call of spring.  The days are starting to get longer, I've noticed the birds are singing a little bit more and my chickens are much more active and they walk around with a happy little cluck.

Have a Happy Weekend!

O' Oh Oriole

I'm kind of happy with this little guy.  I really love how the oranges turned out.  I feel happy when I look at them.  It makes me want to do more oranges, maybe oranges and limes are in the future. 

Making the oranges was a little time consuming.  I drew my images on the paper first, and then I cut all the segments and the outside of the orange separately and then glued them into place.  The outside of the orange is painted coffee filter and the inside is painted tea bags.  The tea bags have a nice sheerness to them, allowing little bits of the background to peak through.  The oriole is ripped pieces of painted coffee filter.  At first I was going to put leaves or flowers in there with the oranges, but I decided to keep it simple and not distract from the beautiful bird and his yummy snack.

A push start

I'm finally getting back into my studio.   I've been having a hard time finding even the smallest little urge to paint or draw.  All of the ups and downs of life this month have made it difficult to find any creativity or inspiration, so one afternoon I made myself sit down and just draw.  I spent a good hour  doodling in my journal to try and loosen up my tight brain.  My first attempt at a painting ended up getting partially cut up, but there might be hope for it yet.
This painting was my second attempt which thankfully came about pretty quick and easy which is something that I really needed. 

 "Sunset Flight"

As much as I love to paint, once in awhile it is so hard to get started.  Why is that?  All I really needed was a good little push, like a push start for my creativity.  

And a New Year begins

Hello and Happy New Year!

 

I woke up on New Years Day and decided that I would spend most of the day painting and drawing,  totally guilt free, not worrying about all the Christmas messiness that surrounded me.  I thought this would be the perfect way to spend the first day of the year, doing what I love and also knowing that this was what I wanted for the rest of the year too.

And what a productive little day I had.  I need to do this more often.  I tend to paint a little bit here and there, whenever I can sneak it in, never quite getting into the flow.  So maybe my New Year's Resolution needs to be to commit to one day a week of nothing but painting and drawing.  A day where I can work without worrying about vacuuming or dirty bathrooms or laundry.  I think it might be a fun resolution to try and work on.

I've been thinking about taking Misty Mawn's  "Face to Face" with Mixed Media Art:  A study of portraits and beyond and I think that is how this painting came about.  This piece started with my usual coffee stained background and then I glued tea bags over the top of it  and it created a wonderful brown background with subtle tones and variations.   Her face was created with light colored tea bags, charcoal and acrylics.  Her hair from painted coffee filters.  Her dress is part coffee filters, tissue paper, gesso and charcoal.  

Fischer my son looked at her with a wrinkled up nose and said "she looks like she is from another country"  and I think he is right.  My niece left for Spain the day after Christmas to study for a semester, perhaps there was a Spanish influence? 

I'm imagining her partner with a big black mustache.

Finally!

I actually picked up my pencil and paintbrush today and started a painting!  Yeahh!  My goodness, it has been awhile, it feels good.

Hopping Along

"Hopping Along"


I've had this idea in my head for awhile now of a little grasshopper hopping along on a summery  day.  This little guy is much cuter than the ones in my garden and yard.  I'm not a huge fan of insects.  I don't mind them from a distance, but the thought of touching anything with 6 or more legs, just gives me the willies.  I will catch smaller insects such as grasshoppers, crickets, fireflies, ladybugs and of course caterpillars,  but there is no way I will touch a spider, earwig, centipede, tick, etc.   Of course Fischer loves to catch bugs, what boy doesn't?   Right now he has a pet grasshopper that he named "Target" and Amelia has a cricket named "Chirp", even though she will not touch it!  Amelia has a huge aversion to bugs of any type.  She will let out a high pitched screech when one comes near, even an ant!   I'm not that bad.  I don't want the kids to know that I get a little freaked out by bugs, so I try to stay as calm as possible when Fischer brings over spiders to show me.  
So even though bugs are not my favorite, they seem to be inspiring me at the moment.  I have 2 more bug paintings I'm working.   Hint, Hint, the next one I'm working on is the noisiest insect in the world.  Can you guess what it is?

 

Blooms

This little piece was a fun one to work on.  The paper had been used as practice  for stamping with  the plastic doily that I used in my last piece.  I didn't know what I wanted to do with it and had actually thought it might end up in the recycling bin, but then I just started to draw, doodle and paint on it with no worries of what will happen and this is what came about.  My garden is filled with little seed heads from my poppies and were the inspiration for these little flowers.  
I used coffee again for the background in this painting.  I'm really loving the feel that this gives. I used little bits of painted tea bags for the bottom and also used some little scraps that Amelia painted.  (they just happened to be laying on the table and seemed perfect for the piece, the purple and the brighter blue pieces are hers.) The piece is mostly painted with watercolor, but I did use acrylics in a few areas. 
This piece made me realize that I need to doodle more and loosen up, and that I don't always need to have a plan.  Just go with it, if it works, great, if not, oh well, nothing lost, but always experience gained.

around here

yesterday i woke up to the most beautiful winter sky.  the sun was just coming up and the sky was glowing pink,  everything appeared so still and cold, and indeed it was, the thermometer read -10!  these last few days have seen a lot of indoor activity, mostly of the Christmas kind. 
everyday this week amelia has been asking,  "mama are you going to paint?"  she has been enjoying her watercolors and has figured out how to use them and not make the colors all muddy. 




it always amazes me at  how much they are always watching and learning from us.  i guess i put my paint brush in my mouth sometimes, especially if i'm doing a collage, because amelia will put her brush in her mouth when she is painting and then say, "you do like this mommy?"  and i say "yes honey, i do like that!"



i made the most wonderfully delicious  peppermint bark yesterday, which the recipe came  from Amanda Blake Soule of  Soule Mama.  it's three layers of chocolate with crushed peppermint in between.   i started with just one batch in the morning and it turned out so beautiful and yummy that i went back to the store for more chocolate and did two more batches in the afternoon.  this stuff is soo good, it just melts in your mouth  and is going to make fabulous gifts for neighbors and friends.  my family has already eaten up all the little nibblets and are hoping for more.  it just looks so pretty in their little jars!



i finally got my Christmas cards out today!  yeah!  in between all this Christmas activity i've still been able to sneak a little painting time in here and there.  hopefully i'll be able to finish this one tomorrow.