Thursday, July 25, 2019

#WorldWatercolorMonth! Day 25 Shades of Pink

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So, Today's theme is Shades of Pink, which of course made me drag out one of my dolls. Since I didn't have a computer---I thought painting from a doll was better than making it up...


I worked on sketchbook paper---because I haven't done any watercolor portraits, and I look at my watercolors as a 
LEARNING EXPERIENCE!


You can't grow, unless you give yourself permission to learn!

I hope you can see my faint sketch---I wanted the subject to look like a real person, 
so I thickened her arms and neck, Barbie tends to be 8 foot tall and skinny!


She is one of my vintage (OLD) favorites. 
Her gown is white, but I figured I could go pink without any big issues.

Palette: 
Thalo Purple
Prussian Blue
VanDyke Brown
Burnt Sienna
Lemon Yellow
Winsor Red
Alizarian Crimson

I worked mostly with synthetic 1/4", 5/8", 3/4" flats  and a very small round at the end for detail. Most of my brushes are so old, I can't see the brand names on them. Basically I use good quality synthetics originally designed for acrylics and craft painting. I like a brush that doesn't go limp, so the stiffer acrylic brushes are fine.



I did the background (Prussian Blue, VanDyke Brown and a touch of crimson) lightly first ---I tried to use Alizarian crimson in all my color mixtures---to go with the shades theme. At this point, I knew the white hair wasn't going to look real,
so I planned on blonde. 


This is basically after the first layers of color. And here is where my memories started to take over. 
I was 15 again, at my first formal---awkward, ( I was never a girly girl) so dressing up was a challenge.) I loved clothes, but more from a design point, rather than wearing them.

This dress is far more sumptuous than anything I ever had...I tried to do the lace on the bodice. Then, the face became an issue---she wasn't happy---probably because of feeling awkward. 
This photo was of wet paint.

I later added some yellow/pink in the dress to go with the hair. Thalo purple, VanDyke Brown, and the Alizarion Crimson were mixed for the darker shadows. 

I finally had to walk away---wait until the saturated and muddy paper dried. Sketchbook paper does have an end point!  I eventually dry-brushed in some of the details
 and then walked away.

IF I do a portrait again---I will use some fabulous paper---that I can rework, when I get into trouble. 
I did manage to rework her mouth. 
I still love the memories represented here: the rustle of the fabrics, the heavy colognes everyone wore, the sticky hair, the heat of the room mixed with teen angst---all rolled up into one portrait. 

Do you remember your first formal event? 

Disclaimer: Any products I am using are not a recommendation, but only for reference for the reader's use. I am in no way affiliated with any of the companies or products, or have I received compensation or products. 

My painting projects will be posted on Pinterest, Flickr and Facebook with the hashtag 


Don't forget the above supports art materials for children...
take a peek.







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#WorldWatercolorMonth Day 24 Sweet Treats

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Well, here's another one! Thank you for staying with me---today's theme is Sweet Treats---which is great. I chose to do three mini pics---to use as artwork eventually for the cafe in my Barbie Hotel. Which I hope to be working on soon. Barbie scale painting!



Again, I'm using sketchbook paper---these are going to be quick, hoping not to get too complicated and overworked.


Here you can see my faint sketches---and some yellow/resist, 
that I will peel off after painting for highlights. I wanted a polkadot cupcake paper--and figured this was easy way-out for white dots.

Palette:
Cobalt Blue
Prussian Blue
VanDyke Brown
Burnt Sienna
Alizarian Crimson
Cadmium Yellow Pale
Lemon Yellow
wax resist 
I'm painting with a couple of synthetic 1/4"- 1/2" flat and a small round, background a very old hair wash 1" brush.


I really kept these simple as they will be shrunk down to about 1/4 or less the size. You can see the resist---yellow dots and some strokes in the pink icing, highlights on the cappuccino cup.


This is a closeup, the plaid cloth is just a few strokes on wet paper and then dry brush enhanced.

This lemon blueberry cupcake has a candied lemon slice on top--had this once-to die for.

Capacinno cup---is fun---the yellow is still the resist--I removed it in the final shot, after a bit of detail, the TREATS are done!


The paper is a bit curved, distorting the cup.
I think I have to iron all my sketchbook paper paintings. 
Next, I peeled off the resist, 
and used the white areas to make my highlights.
I added darker blue to the blueberries, the raspberry frosting is eh---but I bet it tastes better than it looks. 
I imagined the cupcake to be a nice mocha chocolate, with raspberry icing! 
Hmmm, I think it needs a raspberry on top, and a leaf.

So what's your favorite treat---!

Disclaimer: Any products I am using are not a recommendation, but only for reference for the reader's use. I am in no way affiliated with any of the companies or products, or have I received compensation or products. 

My painting projects will be posted on Pinterest, Flickr and Facebook with the hashtag 


Don't forget the above supports art materials for children...
take a peek.




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Tuesday, July 23, 2019

#WorldWatercolorMonth! Day 22-23

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 Working out of the same palette as the previous post---

 Day 22  was Rainforest.

 Trying to loosen up, I started with heavy washes and floating colors on select areas of sketchbook paper.

I was working with a long 3/4 flat brush---and just sort of lobbing the color on, the fronds are painted on a dry area.

I painted this whole painting with the large brush...it has a sharp edge one direction and then pulled the other way it widens out. I dabbed out some extra color and reapplied it with a sponge.

Colors look different here---I did some water spritzing to unsharpened some edges.

I floated some red for suggestions of flowers...and did some more water...this was  an interesting experiment. Tried melding some red into the greens for shading? Successful in some areas and not in others. 
I've never been to a rainforest, and probably never will, so this is reminiscent of the Chicago Botanical Garden greenhouses. We love visiting in winter when the orchids are in full bloom, but it is gorgeous all year round.

Day 23...Beach  Hometown shoreline, painted from memories

 Worked on sketchbook paper, lots of water to give the misty feel of the lakefront.


I grew up in a city on the west side of Lake Michigan. Not all beaches are broad and smooth. North of town we had sand and gravel bluffs thirty to forty feet high  covered in waist high grasses. Beaches were stony, full of driftwood, glass and debris.  The stone jetties by the zoo are gone now---and were falling apart in the 1960's. I remember these three south of the lighthouse which I believe are still there some distance south to stop lake erosion. 

The point and the lighthouse is named Wind Point...there has been a working lighthouse here since 1880. It's one of the taller and older light houses on Lake Michigan and still used for navigation.
I painted this from memory as my computer was down. I'm remembering what would have been somewhere along the coast probably from the golf course south of the lighthouse, 
or a combination of sites. 

My memories are rich, I can remember the seagrass, gritty sand, acres of rounded rocks, thrashing waves when the tide(yes, the great lakes have a tide), the scent of the lake water...and a long walk up the bank hanging onto thick grass to pull you up. 

Disclaimer: Any products I am using are not a recommendation, but only for reference for the reader's use. I am in no way affiliated with any of the companies or products, or have I received compensation or products. 

My painting projects will be posted on Pinterest, Flickr and Facebook with the hashtag 


Don't forget the above supports art materials for children...
take a peek.










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#WorldWatercolorMonth Day 21 Pattern

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Hello, My computer was down, so I had to paint from memory or from something around the house. It's working now, but we are still going to back it up and run a 'fix it' on it, and probably take it to Apple, anyway. Back to painting...

Day 21, Pattern is the theme, and my house is full of patterns everywhere you look. In the kitchen on the Grand's chair, I hastily had applied a piece of (kid's) orange stickyfoam to the seat, so our 3 year old wouldn't slip off at Thanksgiving a few years back. Who knew I wouldn't be able to get it off, so I use this sweet handwoven Danish apron circa 1955 or so...as a chair cover! 
(PS the foam is a great non-slip surface..it just won't come off!)




The apron handwoven cottons and is very colorful and full of texture. I used my unknown sketchbook paper for the painting, taped down.


I had purchased a new plastic palette and took the time to fill the holes with some different colors, as I still have the old one mostly full.

Palette:

Top Row:WN Prussian Blue,WN Cobalt blue,Grumbacher(GB) Magnesium Green, (GB)Thalo Yellow Green,WN Alizarian Crimson,WN Winsor Red,WN Lemon Yellow,GB Cadmium Yellow Pale
Bottom Row:WN Lamp Black,WN Burnt Sienna, GB VanDyke Brown,GB Thalo Purple,GB Hooker Green

New colors are Cadmium Yellow Pale-they are getting away from the Cadmiums(harmful), this is softer than the Cad/Yellow/Deep, but these are 25 year old paints or so--and I'm going to use them up. The WN Alizarian is nice and strong, and the Winsor Red has a tomato red cast---which is also stronger than the Carmine I was using or the Thalo Red.




The weave of the apron is really complex, I can't see that small, let alone paint that small. That much detail I really wouldn't want to paint in one session...so my intention was to get the 'spirit' of the material and the pattern/color placements.

This is after the initial washes! Trying to show the thickness was a challenge.

Here I worked over a few more layers and tried to get more detail! I think it catches the exuberance of the patterns!
I wore this apron to many Kringleville Festivals in my hometown.
Danish Kringle---is a horseshoe shaped pastry, and worthy of it's own festival!

Do you have an item from childhood, you use as decor in your home, because it makes you smile? Please Share!


Disclaimer: Any products I am using are not a recommendation, but only for reference for the reader's use. I am in no way affiliated with any of the companies or products, or have I received compensation or products. 

My painting projects will be posted on Pinterest, Flickr and Facebook with the hashtag 


Don't forget the above supports art materials for children...
take a peek.








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COMPUTER ISSUESQ hopefully see you all soon


HI All!

&My beloved laptop will not go out on the internet so I'm taking a forced disconnect from the blog. Hopefully see you all soon! I can get email via my phone. Ugh!



This post took 40 minutes to do.  
Life is too short!

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Sunday, July 21, 2019

#WorldWatercolorMonth Day 17 Music

It's no secret that I have been painting this month,...or that I collect antiques and vintage. Some antiques, I don't even display, have sold, or passed on to others. This painting is a culmination of things I have owned, still have, or Mom had. The Painting Theme today is "Music", and I thought of the Edison Phonograph with the Morning Glory horn that I have packed away with some 60 wax cylinders. It's huge, but then it took place of all kinds of things we now use for entertainment, in the late 1890's.


Paper 10 1/2" by 14 1/2"

In 1971, we bought a huge Victorian stone monstrosity in Northern Wisconsin that had been made into three apartments. We lived on the second floor and rented out the other two. It had a carriage house, which we cleaned out and I made into a studio on the second floor. I gave clay throwing classes. In 1976 for many reasons,---I drew a line from Madison, Wisconsin to Sheboygan and said, "We have to go South of this, back to sanity and civilization." 



With my hubby, kids, and Victorian antiques and we moved to the NW Chicago suburbs. It was a great move, my children grew up in great schools, with multi-racial families, and my husband had 5 fabulous jobs, each better than the last. I threw thousands of pots and did art shows, galleries and taught classes, worked retail, had a vintage/antque/crafts store...and a few other things.

The table above we had in every house we've owned or rented. It was in horrible shape, and we repaired it and I painted it moss green and antiqued it, I sold it in the shop. The matelasse cloth, Mom had, as did the framed mirror, which I sold when we left up north. The blue/white vase is one that Mom sold at an antique show, it had a nasty chip/crack, but was very old English pottery. 
The green walls are the color we currently have, which sets off Pecan colored woodwork, so well.


Again, I got so involved in the sketch and painting, I forgot to take photos---as I went along.

Paper today is Strathmore Gemini Mould Made 140# Cold Press 594-6
(I loved this paper--absorbent, didn't bleed, I could wick up extra color, didn't stretch or buckle) 
It's pretty pricey by the large sheet though, ugh!

Here are the 3 brushes I used.
Top" 16 round Artist Loft Necessities tm (talon -love this brush holds water and keeps the point) (probably bought in a set---very reasonable)
Middle: 5/8 flat Plaid Enterprise (nice taklon holds water, springy, and holds the edge and bounces back) again probably from a set-Acrylic/water color again, very reasonable
Bottom: 6 round  again a Plaid brush probably from a set. 
The foam brush is there for reference- it's a 1" brush.

All three of these maybe originally designed for craft painting or watercolor. In buying brushes, I usually go by feel, look, wetting them, and price. I don't think the most expensive brush is necessarily  the best, but do buy the best quality you can afford. Sets are a great way to find out what type of brushes you like to use.

Palette:

Burnt Sienna
Van Dyke Brown
Lamp Black
Cadmium Yellow Deep
Lemon Yellow
Yellow Ochre(new color I added to Palette).
Carmine
Hookers Green
Yellow Green
Cerulean Blue 
Prussian Blue
Cobalt Blue

Disclaimer: Any products I am using are not a recommendation, but only for reference for the reader's use. I am in no way affiliated with any of the companies or products, or have I received compensation or products. 

My painting projects will be posted on Pinterest, Flickr and Facebook with the hashtag






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