Tuesday, June 28, 2005

July 4th - Almost done



I have some of the darkest darks to add, and maybe a few highlights, a little smoothing out here and there and this will be done. I switched to a mixed dark from the payne's gray..it was looking flat. At least one more layer in the red, yellow, blue areas..maybe several in the red to get nice deep colors.


Something fun to play with:
http://metaatem.net/words/

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Fourth of July - finally another step :)



Here's another layer...deepening the reflections and adding shadows.

In the craft class yesterday we did shaving cream paper marbling. It was so much fun. The ladies got such a kick out of it, and said it was cheap therapy! Tonight in the watercolor class we practiced "pulling" the color in a wash to create a gradiation.

Still haven't heard anything from any of the competitions, but not holding my breath either.

Someone emailed and wanted to know what my palette is. It's mainly transparent, and I work in glazes to build up deeper colors:
New Gomboge, Aureolin, Permanent Rose, Quinacridone Red, Cobalt Blue, Prussian Blue, Hooker’s Green, Sap Green, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Payne’s Gray, Quinacridone Gold, Green Gold, Transparent Orange, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Violet, Cerulean Blue, Viridian, Antwerp Blue
(okay okay.. I added commas :) )
Today's quote:

"Painting is easy for those that do not know how, but very difficult for
those that do!" ~ Edgar Degas

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Fourth of July - Next Step



Sorry it have been so long between up dates! Next step..another layer all around, and the shadows.



Another of my favorite art quotes:


"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. "
Scott Adams

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Fourth of July - Day 2



First layer on most of it done. The reflections of reflections are going to be interesting paint and it's nice to be away from the prussian blue / burnt sienna combination of the last two paintings.

I finally got to do some painting today. I hid out in the studio and listened to a book on tape. Funny how no one will interrupt you if you have head phones on :) The book I am listening to is called Diary. It's by the same person who wrote fight club. It's about an artist...and after that it gets a little surreal. It's fun to listen to the parts about the artist painting watercolor and want to correct the author. I imagine that scientists feel that way about science fiction all the time.

The beginning watercolor class started tonight. I have three students this time, and I think it will be a great group. We talked about paint (how to read a tube, and what brands are good, etc. ) and washes. They did little paintings of a sunset and palm trees to practice. Next week we will be doing snow scenes and using salt to create the snow.

Friday, June 03, 2005

The Fouth of July - Day 1


(As always with the drawings, I increased the contrast so that you can see the drawing lines.)
Starting a new painting today. This one is of pinwheels and a flag. I've been wanting to do a Fourth of July painting, but didn't want to do the standard eagles or other symbols. I think the colors and reflections in the one will make for an interesting painting puzzle to solve.

This one might be slow to progress. Dev has his rock show next weekend, so I will be volunteered to help with that...pricing rocks, packing rocks, moving rocks. I am in for a rocky weekend. (I know, I know *groan* )

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Pears and Crystal Day 9 & and a no good, terrible, very bad day.



I think I like it vertical better than the horizontal.





I'm pretty sure this is done. We'll see in the morning. It's been a long day.

This is from an email I sent a group of friends, just cutting and pasting so I don't have to retype it all. We artists do live the glamorous life!

Don't read this is you have a weak stomach!

I had a real coke today to help me drown my sorrows.

I woke up this morning and stepped in dog throw up. Not just any dog throw up mind you... he had eaten about a pound of grass the day before. It was slimy and it was still warm. *gag* *ugh*

I should have gone back to bed then.

I got up and did my daily stuff and realized it's the 1st, and I forgot to give the landlord a check for the studio. He's a sweetie and probably wouldn't have minded it being a day late, but I mind. So I head out to the studio, and it's pouring rain. I get there and get soaked to the bone walking from the car. I get to the rental office with my check, and he's not there. Won't be there for several days... so I run by the studio and pick up three tubes of watercolor paint I need for a painting I'm working on at home and stuff them in my pocket.

Get home and notice the bad smell in the garage has gotten worse, and start investigating. Happen to look at the plug in the wall and realize that the button has tripped. My eyes follow the yellow extension cord plugged into that outlet...down the wall.. along the floor.. behind the work bench to.... the outside freezer. I shut my eye hoping I will jump to an alternate reality when I open them again. Nope.. still in the same garage.

I slowly go over to the innocent looking freezer and open the lid. It's one of those little top-loading freezers. In it we keep frozen pizza, seafood, chicken, bread, cheese.. what ever is on sale and doesn't fit in the freezer in the kitchen.

The smell literally about knocked me over. I don't normally retch from smells...but I did this time. I slammed the lid shut and stared at it for a while. The odor had already escaped and was hanging like a cloud over me. Pushing the button on the garage door opener, I ran for the driveway and stood in the rain for a while. Then I gathered my strength and got the tools I would need: rubber gloves, paper medical mask (I have no idea why we had these..but I'm glad we did), old towels, and lots of plastic trash bags.

I opened the freezer again, and even through the mask, I almost passed out. The pizza had exploded out of the box and the plastic that was sealed around it had blown up like a pizza balloon. I won't describe the shrimp or the chicken or the wilted bread. Just remember that I am short and this is a top loading freezer. I had to stick my head in everytime I pulled something out. And there was about 4" of "liquid" in the bottom. I had to use old towels to sop it up.

I rinsed the whole thing out with pinesol, and left the bucket sitting in the freezer. All the windows are open.

Then I realize how bad I smell. So I step into the laundry room (which is connected to the garage) and strip off my clothes and immediately put them in to wash. I run upstairs and get in the shower and scrub. I can't get that smell off my hands.. I feel like Lady MacBeth.

I then have my real coke.. consider adding some rum for medicinal purposes, but decide against it. Good thing, since I haven't had that much sugar or caffeine in a while. That was probably all my body could handle.

And you see.. while I am sitting here typing this.. there is another adventure waiting for me. Remember those tubes of watercolor I stuffed in my pocket at the studio...and remember how I stripped down in the laundry room and immediately washed the clothes? That's right.. I washed three tubes of watercolor. Burnt umber...raw umber... yellow ochre.

I'm afraid to go downstairs and look in the washing machine.

I told Dev we were going out for Chinese tonight.

Pears and Crystal - Day 8



Put in some of the darks in the crystal, and shadows. Working on the shadow on the pear. Next will be a layer of refracted (?) color in the crystal.. touches blues, reds, purples. Then pulling out some of highlights and smoothing some of the edges a bit.

Meanwhile.. my husband sent me the link to this little java game The goal is to see how many of the little squares you can get connected. It's addictive!

I'm going through the w3schools html certification program in hopes of understanding html better so that I can then move on to bigger and better things. I know a mishmash of it just from doing webpages, but there a lot of little things I never learned. Who knows.. maybe someday I will be a computer geek!