A Song Written Just for Her - Part 3

I trimmed our big dog, Hazel, today. I'd like to think that being an artist lends itself to my dog trimming skills. Perhaps that's why she looks like a character out of a Dr. Seuss book...down the the truffula tree that her tail now is, and the UGG boots she appears to be sporting. Can't wait to see the looks I get when we go walking tomorrow.


And I continued working on this piece. Before I started painting several years ago I had absolutely no idea that there were layer upon layer upon layer in most paintings. What fun it is to work on all of these delightful layers that will become a part of the whole image.

I added little yellow speck here and there.

I added big white flowers.

I gave each white flower a yellow center
and painted smaller white flowers here and there.

I added coral colored flowers. 

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A Song Written Just for Her - Part 2

Four of our five chickens are currently molting. This means that while they're producing copious amounts of feathers that are all over our yard, they are producing no eggs. Zero...zip...nada. Our one holdout is Barry. She's the head mistress lording over all of the other chickens. Luckily she's a benevolent leader and never has to show she's boss, the other girls simply know this to be true. And she happily shares all resources and cozy spots. But all bets are off if there's a big bug involved. Then she shows her fierce speedy super powers and the others just watch in awe.

We need to figure out how to get her to use her super powers to get the other chickens laying again.


I continued working on this painting.

I added additional elements to the background.

I added even more and I darkened the blue
ones I'd added before.

I started doing some patterning of marks
in the upper half. I loved how this reminded
me of Vincent Van Gogh.

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A Song Written Just for Her - Part 1

I brought home a pocketed apron I'd received over the summer during some professional development I was co-teaching. The apron was a gift for everyone who attended and of course I snagged one for myself. You understand...aprons rock! Well, as I received it a teaching thing I have had it hanging in my classroom because I assumed that that was the right home for it. But the thing is, I already have an apron I use in my classroom and that apron is deliciously covered with tons of tempera paint. I've got big plans for this little apron I took home today. Cannot wait to get it deliciously covered as well.


And I started working on getting it covered this evening when I began a new painting. I'm studying a new artist in the class I've been taking. Her name is Mary Blair and I'm super excited. I love her palette and style. It's so bright and whimsical! It will be quite a change from Max Beckmann's, whose style and palette I also loved.

I haven't gotten much done this evening as I've been watching instructional videos and then waiting for paint to dry. I wish I'd thought to go ahead and cover this canvas a few days ago. My mom had given me an already painted on canvas that she'd picked up at a thrift store or something like that. Ah, well...instant gratification is way overrated.

I painted over a canvas that my
mom had given me.

I did a rough painting of the background.

I decided that I wanted the gray to
be a lighter shade.

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Solemn - Part 4

I've been remembering my dreams a lot lately. One, in particular, has really stuck out. I was dreaming about cockroaches. Ugh...I'm no fan of cockroaches. I actually catch them and then release them in the backyard where our chickens gobble them up right away.

Anyway, in my cockroach dream the cockroaches had fuzzy little tails and actually kind of resembled puppies. My waking thought was, "Cockroaches are so darn cute!" (Interpret that, dream analyzers!)

That feeling did not last long.


I completed this painting. I really enjoyed working on it. Particularly when I stopped thinking of it as a self portrait, that is. I've loved using this palette of dark colors but now I think I'm ready for some brightly colored flowers or butterflies!

"Solemn"

Just when it seems like I'm getting near to
completion I go and decide I want to make
big changes. I decided that I didn't like the
shape of her lips. I also decided that I
wasn't really liking the totally dark background.

I got the lips pretty much right and then the
nose stopped looking right.

I redrew the nose.

Then I decided I didn't like her hair or the
way the necklace chain fell on one side. I
also added a bit of green to her eyes.

I went over her hair with a yellowish tint and
redid some of her neck. I also changed the shape
of the right side of her face. I added some pink
to her face as well. Then a number of changes
happened and I neglected to document them.
I was too busy working on the painting...bliss!

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Solemn - Part 3

I wake up in the night pretty regularly. Mostly I can go right back to sleep, but sometimes I go on ahead and get up and move to the couch...where I fall asleep pretty quickly. Now, when I leave the bedroom our lovely critters always accompany me. Our eighty-five pound Hazel jumps off of the bed and our two cats follow right behind. They go about their business having a middle-of-the-night snack and whatnot while I grab a blanket, settle in, and doze off. When my alarm goes off I can hardly move because there's a HUGE dog at my feet holding the blanket firmly to the couch, and two cats are on top of me. I hit "snooze" because who wouldn't want to enjoy that for an additional blissful nine minutes?


I continued working on this painting for the class I'm taking.

I let my ego get involved with my work this
time. While this is only loosely based on the
photo of me I have to admit that I wasn't
really liking how darn sad/depressed I was
looking. So I went all wacky and upturned
the mouth and added some smile lines
around the eyes. I also added eyelashes.

Then I went and changed the color of the face
and neck entirely. But what I discovered very
quickly is that I did not, in fact, like it better.
Not at all!
Dave gave it the big thumbs down, too.
So, baby wipes to the rescue....

I removed pretty much all of the changes I'd
made. Only I kept a bit of the lighter color
of the complexion and I left the smile lines.
Those were on the photo I was using and, by
golly, I rather like them! Same with the
eyelashes. So it was a two steps forward, one step
back kind of day...I LOVE those kind of painting
days! I always ultimately move forward. 

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Solemn - Part 2

I like to think I'm a hopeful person who doesn't easily give up. Case in point.


Me: "Want to go to an art show with us?"

Little guy: "Clearly you don't know me at all."


Yup, I'll keep asking him. He might as well get used to it.



I continued working on this painting. And I decided to title it "Solemn".

I added some black shadows to her cheeks and neck.
I also added black to her hair, lips, and shirt.

I used a yellowish tint on much of her face and neck.

I used white to add highlights to parts of her
face and neck. I also added yellow to her hair.

I began adding some reddish tinting to her
cheeks and lips. I also added a sparkle to her eyes.

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Untitled at this Point - Part 1

I started on a new piece. This time I'm doing a very loosely based self portrait. My goal was to capture reality, to capture truth. So when I took a selfie, I didn't smile ear to ear as is my custom. Rather, I pulled my hair back, bowed my head a bit, and took on a decidedly expressionless look. It was actually hard for me to look at the photo at first as the passage of time clearly shows on my face. Parts of my cheeks have become jowls. I've got dark shadows under my eyes. And my normal look when I just try to remain expressionless is that of a corners of the mouth downward frowning look.

But while it was hard for me to look at at first, after looking at it over and over as I sketched some basic features, I've come to really appreciate the changes my face has undergone and the story it tells. And now I consider it to actually be a pretty good photo.

So with this painting I'm continuing in the Max Beckmann style I used a couple of paintings ago. The color palette will remain the same...in fact I intentionally left all of my paints out by my easel. My routine is to put away all of my supplies away between paintings. It gives me a fresh start and keeps my area tidy. But this time I got to save those few minutes of work.

Another thing about this painting. I started by painting over a canvas that my mom had given me. She'd purchased it with the intention of painting over the glittery painting that had been done by another artist. I'll include the original painting in my blog so you can see what I started with.

Here's the canvas I started with.
It's actually a two canvas painting.
I painted over the top canvas.
Hope it wasn't by some famous
painter because it's gone now!

I covered it with a white/yellow background.
Here it is about two hours after I painted it.
It's shining because it's still wet...after all that
time. It took till evening to dry. This is why I
ended up posting a different painting last night.

I did a quick sketch.

I did a messy black background.

I did some basic outlining with black paint.

And I'm being super brave here. I'm posting
the photo I'm loosely basing my painting on.
Yup, lines, bagginess, dark circles...and none
of it bothers me any more. It's just me.

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Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

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