Glass and Shadow

Sketching a small glass jar- I bought it to paint, but hadn't actually used it for that purpose yet, so I gave it a shot in graphite and colored pencil. Lots of fun. Every different medium has it's quirks, and it's such fun reveling in those peculiarities.... and tomorrow is Friday, and August. Thigs move so quickly.

#214

Sixteen

Sixteen
8"x10" acrylic on hardboard panel
collection of Cassia Hall

Portrait of my little sister, all done, I do believe. Happy with it- brought up the colors a lot, rearranged the background, reshaped her nose, played up the sunglasses.... there's so much to think about in a portrait, isn't there? Still... it's a satisfying sort of thing, isn't it?

Number Three

NFS

And the ribbon one last time :) For the time being, at least. I love how I look at something differently after painting it a few times, all the little things that show up upon closer examination. Happy tonight. And tomorrow the week is half done, that's another good thing.

And again

NFS

And one more time tomorrow, I do believe- sometimes I have to do things a few times in a row, I just end up feeling captivated. Pretty colors, and trying to capture that feeling, the way the light shines on a surface that you can mostly see through...

Transparency

NFS

Oh bah, humbug, the internet signal isn't strong enough to upload this image onto eBay.... tomorrow night? Yes?

Other than that- very proud of myself here. The whole translucent ribbon thing was so much fun, and it's much easier on a colored background.... happy. Hope you're all having a wonderful night!

Here we go!

Virtual Sketch Date

Discovered something pretty cool- Virtual Sketch Date, where some artists come together every month and each work from the same reference photo, provided by one of the participants. First time I've done it, but it's looking like a lot of fun. Happy.

And this? Graphite and colored pencil on paper, 5"x7". Nice to do- it's been a while since I've done anything in colored pencil.

Ribbons and bows

Okay, this one is so not for sale, but I've discovered a new challenge and look forward to exploring it, so that much is good :)

All done!

White Roses
8"x10" acrylic on stretched canvas

A little more contrast, and making the colors more subtle- why do I seem to be moving so slowly lately? Oh, well, it was a challenging subject for me, and I'm happy with the way it turned out.

All the pretty colors

A little more work done on my white roses. Trying to find the colors in everything- thinking that eventually they'll become beautiful, subtle shadows and form.

Trapped in my car!

What happens when you leave me alone for more than about 18 seconds- something is going in the sketchbook. I didn't get enough time to paint anything presentable, so you're just going to have to be stuck with me :)

White Roses

A work in progress- I went and picked something so complicated! Silly Roses. But it's a good start, isn't it? Lots of pretty colors.

And one more time

White and Gold III
5"x7" acrylic on hardboard panel
private collection

I'm hoping that finding all of these colors in the whites of a teacup will make them easier to find in white flowers and the like... believe I'll try a flower tomorrow, just to test the theory :)

#203

Back to that teacup

White and Gold II
5"x7" acrylic on hardboard panel
private collection

Unsurprisingly. Loving the colors, the fascinating, distorted reflections and shadows... *smile*

#202

Up at the Show

Gardenia Shadow, all done and on display. Happy.

#201

Myself, again

White and Gold

8"x8" acrylic on panel

SOLD

Well, there's no accounting for mood swings, that's for sure, but I'm very pleased with where this one has deposited us. Aren't the colors just wonderful? White china is amazing! And my first attempt at that gold trim... tricky stuff, but so satisfying. Good piece for number 200- exciting, isn't it?

#200

Aargh!

White Orchids
NFS

Stuck in a moment where nothing is coming off my brush right, and it's infuriating- always happens right after I get a nice, "in the groove" doing paintings I'm in love with spell... thankfully they're generally short-lived cycles. Still, gr.

I think I'll go do a round on the elliptical machine and see if I feel any differently when I get back. You guys have a wonderful night!

#199

Daydreaming

Stuck in my sketchbook again- forgive me?

#198

A little different

Reflections

NFS

Trying something a bit uncharacteristic, but nice. Bringing back old faithful with the shell.... and then setting it on a gold candy wrapper to get that fascinating reflection. Really enjoyed painting it, trying to get my head around it.... always something new, huh?

#197

Red Roses

Three Red Roses
5"x7" acrylic on panel
SOLD

Don't you lovely how bright they are, how well they stand out from the background? I've always found red roses impossible, that rich, velvety texture they get sometimes.... well these roses weren't quite that type, with the sunlight shining through them, no, but they had that wonderful, intense color wrapped in with all of the intricacies and whorls and folds that make roses so wonderfully real. Happy with the result. Hope you're all having a good night!

And another one.

This one maybe even more interesting- the flower itself is submerged, you see? that's going to be interesting, trying to get it just right.... but something about those distortions and the play of light, it's just fascinating, you know? Pretty stuff.

Work In Progress.

Yep, 'nother one. Absolutely loving this gardenia thing.

Caught in my sketchbook again.

And happy to be there. So glad for the whole sketchbook thing- I don't know how other artists get by without them. A few people in my life actually refer to it as my portable brain- not that it's self functioning, but that I couldn't function without it. True enough.

The weather has been very summertime lately, somewhat hot but mostly just so humid that you feel like you're swimming every time you step outside, with a thunderstorm rolling through in the evening. (Dixon is totally traumatized by that, of course. he's afraid of the whole thunder and lightning thing) So somewhere in the midst of all that moisture, a bunch of mushrooms popped up in the apartment lawn. I got some very, very strange looks when I picked a couple and took them upstairs with me, but, well.... the sacrifices we make for art. Or for passing fancies :)

Doodling

Very, very nearly done with the gardenias.... sheesh, even I'm getting tired of hearing me say that... but no, fully intending to post it all done and happy in the next day or two. For now, well, I got a very pretty little thank you card in the mail, lovely pattern on it, and I've never really tried to show a pattern like that before so I thought I'd give it a nice, casual sort of preliminary try.

Water soluble graphite, charcoal, acrylic paint. Lots of fun, as always. Good night!

#193

Let there be color!

Gardenia Shadow
9"x12" acrylic on gallery-mounted hardboard panel
available through the Distinct Appointments Gallery

There's times, especially when I'm a little scared of losing the values on a piece, where I feel like I'd be perfectly content to do the whole thing in just white and payne's gray, or some other wonderfully neutral but pleasent combination. White, burnt sienna, and a nice light blue are fun too. But here.... I knew I had to take a deep breath and add some hints of color.

Green gold, a pale yellow, hints of quinacridone burnt orange in addition to what was already there, and it feels so much more alive now, so much more vibrant. Almost there.

#191

The next step

Moving along nicely.... tried a smaller piece as a daily, and just couldn't focus on it, so I went back to the fidgetties and details here. It's amazing how many petals need to be individually shaped on a piece like this, like you're sculpting each one of them or something. Wild. And isn't the watermarking in the background just fascinating?

I'm really looking forawrd to seeing it done- seems to be moving towards something really high contrast, but still graceful, you know? Balanced. That's what I'm hoping for, anyways.

#190

And another start

Always interesting, huh? At the moment it's too many starts and not enough finishes, but that'll be turned around as long as I keep moving forward on all fronts, yes? That's the theory, anyways. At least I love all of them. :)

#189

And half done.

Bit of a trend here, yes? I just started noticing that, but it's okay. this one- the beastly part of it will be getting the shine on the gold trim in the teacup. Looking forward to it. Tomorrow night, perhaps? Now, well- it's my bedtime. I was up too late last night, and so I'm going to head to bed and listen to the rain falling. *happy sigh*

Almost there

More finishing, more detail.... correcting my mess up on her forehead, and the mysterious-migrating-features thing that had happened on her nose, just a little bit. But the mouth is perfect, the hair actually looks soft and touchable, the glasses are so close to being right... I'm enjoying this process. Hope you are too :)

Sixteen

A not-yet-done portrait of my little sister- this is as far as it was last night, but I think I might be able to finish her today :) Her driving, yes, but you'll only be able to see the road in her most prized possession- those durned sunglasses. It's the first portrait I've done in forever, so I'm really excited. Happy Fourth, everyone!

Dark Chocolate

As shallow and stereotypically feminine as it may be, there is no day that can't be made better by chocolate- especially if it comes in the Lindt Lindor Extra Dark Truffles variety. This happy little member of a "just because I love you" bag of them from Mark is therefore immortalized for all the world :D

Seriously, though, it's a great challenge everyone should try- all the little crinkles in the overly reflective plastic surface were great, and the little highlights in the gold script, and figuring out how on earth to make the clear parts of the plastic not look totally and completely weird....

#185

Gardenia

Gardenia
8"x10" mixed media on hardboard panel
available through the Distinct Appointment Gallery

See, I told you! Isn't it beautiful? I might fidget with it some more- want to put some water droplets on the petals, I think, and maybe add some more personality to the stem, but right now.... *happy sigh* think I'll put some progress pics up over at Moment by Moment, too, pretty sure I've got some buried in this computer, probably even at the top of the piles....

#184

*I was quite wrong, I don't seem to have any progress pics of my beautiful new gardenia. however I did find a few of the river rocks and posted them- pleasent viewing :)