GoVenture

An interesting challenge is going on between 2 different artists/bloggers (Kal & Elise) this week where they both create something new each day depending on a theme or word/s they have chosen. Other people have been invited to join along, so with yesterday's theme being Green + Dizzy, I submitted a photograph on Flickr I played around with a little in photoshop, bumping up the greens.

Today's theme is Not My Type, which made me think of this painting I did a couple of years ago:



Though they share similar coloring, I believe they both agree they're not each other's type...

Tomorrow? The word is Pocket---the wheels are turning already...

Different Perspective

So, I hinted at something different in the below post, and this is what I painted for a show at New Morning Bakery. One of my favorite things they serve is their chocolate cream cheese cupcakes. They threw out a call for artwork to help celebrate their being in business over 25 years, so one afternoon in January, I took a stroll downtown, purchased a cupcake to go, then seeing an open booth, sat for a few minutes organizing some gallery paperwork. While there, I stealthily pulled out my new little olympus camera and shot 2 photos of my cupcake, snug in its to go bag.

Back home, I pulled out a canvas that I'd painted a mediocre landscaped on, sprayed it with an air compressor to blow off any loose pastel, then gave it a quick wash with water. (nice test to see how tough pva spray is on pastel, on canvas!) Then I sketched on my painting. Below is that initial drawing, turned sideways so you can see the previous landscape as it's still portrayed on that washed canvas.

It's a bit hard to see the blue pastel drawing lines on the canvas, but if you right click on the photo you can enlarge it in another window or tab, and see them better.

This next photo shows the painting with the first layer of soft pastel---this time you can kind of see what I'm painting, but a lot of the background is still showing through.
After spraying with pva, I painted another layer with soft pastel, and again sprayed the surface with diluted pva size. Here's a shot of the 2nd layer.

After more layers, time studying it, more painting, more time staring at it, more fiddling, I finished! (It's often a major accomplishment to decide one is truly finished...fiddling with a painting can be an on-going process!)

Close-up of the cupcake.

I enjoyed working on this painting a lot---playing with the colors, trying to stay loose, and letting the pastels create the texture I was hoping for. All in all, I was pretty happy with this one! What do you think? Any suggestions?

Oh, it's painted on 1 1/2" thick 16x20" primed canvas with a black acrylic painted edge. It's for sale, and if you'd like more information, please leave a comment or email me!

Paint out day!

This was the site of our plein air paint out today---a private home with an abundance of flowers, vistas overlooking the valley, and fun garden art tucked here and there to surprise us!


The variety of poppies was pretty stunning---these especially, each one about the size of a dinner plate---or larger! There were red poppies, frilly orange & lavender ones, and these amazing giant white beauties.



I loved the painted floor in the bathroom...how cool is this?!


This poppy was unique with its crackle-like white veins shooting out from the centers.


Here's what I finally settled on painting. At first it was in the shade---like I was, but then as we approached noon, the poppy was flooded with sunshine, making bright highlights and subtle shadows I tried to throw in at the last minute.


This was the first layer of pastel on my 12x12" canvas.


And here is the pastel painting at its almost finished state. I need to study it for a bit now, see if there's anything I don't like, or want to change. Any suggestions? Constructive criticism? Ideas?

Illustration Friday---Heavy

Heavy enough to crack nuts.
Watercolor this week, pastel last week, what shall it be next week?