Friday, March 23, 2012

Scissors and Thread 6"x 6"

I've had these sewing scissors since I was a young woman.  They are really wonderful--and ever so sharp.  Drawing them was a real challenge.  And then there was all that shiney stuff, reflections.  Kind of a nightmare.  I couldn't figure out which were islands and which were oceans.  Now that it's over, I think it would work well to paint the black parts of the reflections first--call them islands and then the lighter color parts for ocean.  Bling last, of course.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Tom Turkey 6"x 6"

We've had turkeys roaming the neighborhood for a few months.  A couple weeks ago there were 13!  Two toms and 11 hens.  We live just to the west of the downtown core so it seems pretty special.  The males were all puffed up.  It must have been mating season, I'm guessing.  This was fun.

Friday, March 16, 2012

It's All About You...And the Paint, Little Tomato 6"x 6"

I had fun doing this one which an unusual experience for me.  I tried a few different tactics, mostly because of conversations with women at Tues. night painting.  Sarah said she always mixes up a bunch of paint, which I haven't been doing lately.  That was really useful and cut down on time--just adjusting the color rather than mixing a new batch for every color change.  I also had cleaned some old tired brushes I used to like with Murphy's Oil and they work pretty well.  They are Princeton 6300 flats.  I liked them so much that I ordered some more.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Looking North at Checkmallow 6"x 8"

This is the first one I did Friday.  I had a hard time figuring out how to do a lot of foreground grass.  There was kind of a puddly area where the dark is.  When I came home I moved one of those dark low spots in front of the taller tree.  I sure have a habit of making evenly spaced dots.  I'll photograph it again after it's dry enough to remove the bug.  I am starting to like this one.

At Checkermallow 8"x 6"

Friday was pretty nice and the plein air group was at Checkermallow on Royal, one of my truly favorite places to paint.  I had gone the day before and done several thumbnail sketches and this is a scene that I thought might work for an abstract interpretation.  There were reflections that day so the water wasn't just one huge mass.  Actually I thought big masses might work but this was so awful.  I didn't know how to interpret all that green grass or all the choppy water.  This is the second one I did Friday.   It is gone now, scraped off, thank goodness.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Model at MK 16"x14"

Last night I had the head too small for the body so worked a little this morning to try to get body parts more in proportion.  The close arm still seems too long but I think I will try to live with it since I don't think I can or want to rework the hand area.  I'll see if I can manage to pull it together next week.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Model in a Yellow Robe 8"x 10"

This is from the Tuesday night painting session at Maude's.  I am really enjoying these sessions and will try a bigger one next time.