Henna!

On Sunday, my daughter and I played with some more henna we purchased premixed and frozen in an application cone. Once it was thawed we snipped off the tiniest bit of the tip of the cone, after reinforcing the wrapped cone with more tape (our previous cone burst towards the end of its use...) and started drawing on each other! Here are the results:




The photos above, show the design I drew on my daughter's shoulder. Below is the design she drew on my hand.








Some close-up photos of her shoulder:




Here is my hand the morning after leaving the henna on overnight, shortly after I picked it off.





These last photos were taken today, showing how henna will continue darkening, up to 48 hours after being applied. Notice too how it darkens more on my fingers than the back of my hand. If you missed it, you can see the post I wrote earlier about henna here. Do I really need another new artistic distraction? Or maybe the question is, is it possible to have too many artistic distractions? My guess is they all work together, adding to an artists repertoire. Growth is good!

Miniature paintings

My latest paintings have been watercolors on canvas - mini canvas! Most have been on 4x4 inch canvases with 1 1/2 inch wide sides which I've painted, continuing the watercolor image around on the edges. I also have been painting tiny canvases, little 2x2 inch and 2x4 inch with a 3/8 inch painted edge. I'm experimenting with a finish that will be waterproof and tough. First one I ended up sanding back off, it was just too foggy and unacceptable (to me at least...). I'm in the process of repainting that one (also an experiment - can it be saved?!)

Here they are--I've included my hand holding them to show a size comparison:

This first one might look familiar.



This is my second home grown tomato painting---you can see the first here:



Some holly from the field next door:



And last, but not least, a satsuma - yes, it's satsuma season! A favorite!




Next up, sealing these gems without destroying the colors. More experimentation... wish me luck!

Art Show at Starbucks

Just a note to let any local folks know I have 4 paintings up at the Timberhill Starbucks - Woot! It's a terrific wall, although not very visible, considering it's as far back in the shop as a customer can go, but the rich yellow paint color compliments my paintings nicely. It's good to get the paintings into a new location. You can also always see my paintings at Art In The Valley Gallery downtown if you miss out on the Starbucks show. If you're like me though, you want any excuse to go out for a coffee treat, so stop by and check them out if you're in the area!

(no coffee purchase necessary, but don't tell Starbucks I said that!)

Pear & random face

I've been painting a pear lately, in watercolor on a small canvas again, and in the process this face appeared! I knew it had to go, or it would be all that I'd see, so before I made it disappear, I had to at least take a photo.

This first photo shows the pear I was painting and the first layer of watercolor with some of the pencil sketch showing through still.


Next we have the pear with the face---can you see it?


Here's a close-up of the face. It's not just a pear shadow anymore!



The face is now gone, and the pear is about finished (maybe it is, I'm still trying to figure that out). I'm painting even smaller canvases now---the pear is 4x4 inches. The 3 canvases I'm working on yesterday & today are 2 x2 inches & 2x4 inches.

I'll post some pics of those soon.

Playing with photoshop again

The other day, I opened a few photos of mine, then played around with them in photoshop, layering them with different textures to create the images you now see below. If you'd like to see more detail on a photo, right click & open in another tab or window. That should enlarge them for easier viewing.

Signed,
Jana, texture addict....

Painting on a cloudy day

About 2 weeks ago we painted at Takena Landing, on the west side of Albany, near the 2 bridges that cross the Willamette river. I was lucky to find a location that ended up under one of the bridges - lucky, because of the threat of rain. I don't think it actually rained while I was painting, but we ended up cutting our lunch - critique - time short when fat drops began to fall!

Here's the view I painted:


I was attracted by that yellow tree across the river. When the sun came out for a minute, the tree blazed and was reflected in the river slightly.

Here's the scene with my easel & painting close to finished:



And here's just the painting:


It's pastel on canvas - a fun 4"x12" size I've also painted a few horizontal paintings with. Almost finished...

Art Show and Reception

If you're able, it would be great to see you tonight at the reception. If you can't come tonight, please stop by sometime this month to see the show---there are a lot of great paintings, including 2 of mine!

Analogue

This drawing is my entry into a contest Michael Nobbs is holding over on his blog. You too can enter if you'd like! I enjoyed the challenge of thinking of something analog to draw---that we had around our house. Once I saw our electric coffee grinder, I knew just what to do! Thanks Michael for the drawing nudge! I used a pretty fat ink brush pen to do most of the drawing, then pulled out a thin Pigma Micron to add a bit of shading.

By the way, come visit my etsy shop!

Macro photos from Henna day

While waiting for the henna artist (see post before this one) to arrive, I played around with the close-up setting on my little olympus camera again. This little point and shoot is truly a little macro wonder! See for yourself:








If anyone knows what this little piece is above, please let me know... it puzzles me!

Fabulous Photo Session

Last Friday I was invited to photograph a friend getting her back henna tattooed. Henna is used for temporary tattoos and is applied in a paste form. Once the paste dries and after it's been on for several hours it is scraped off and the tattoo will appear brownish red. Here are some of the photos showing the process.




Once the henna paste has been drawn on, and after it's dry, a mix of lemon juice and sugar water is dabbed on with a cotton ball. This helps keep the paste on the skin longer so the henna will be better absorbed.



Of course, now I want to get some henna and play too!