Spring Roll "class" 101

A week ago, we had friends over for a Thai dinner. Along with Massaman curry we also made spring rolls. Here are pics of the process!











Ok, now I'm hungry...

The Visitor

This week we had a visitor to our back yard. 

She was collecting fluff from the leftover centers of our Japanese Anemones. 

I think spring is on it's way! 

Latest paintings

After experimenting with watercolor on small prepared canvases, I've decided to take the leap and move from 4x4" & smaller to 12x12" & 16x20" with my 2 latest paintings. Yesterday I took a couple of drawings I made several years ago and then with the use of an opaque projector, blew them up then drew them onto the 2 larger canvases. Finishing that, I headed upstairs to my watercolor studio where I refined the pencil drawing & started in painting the backgrounds.

Here they are, first coat of paint on the background areas:



My studio buddy is helping to show the size of the canvases (& totally ignoring me):


For those studio junkies out there (like me) here's a close up of my watercolor palette, and a shot of my dormer watercolor studio at the top of our stairs.



And lastly, a shot of my preliminary drawings on the canvases.




After playing with pastels for years, it's fun to switch it up and bring out the paints & brushes once more. Stay tuned for more updates - hopefully sooner than later!!

Happy New Year!

Just a quick post to wish everyone a terrific, loving, happy 2010! Here are some pics from the wonder-filled New Years Eve party we were so happy to be invited to! Sweet, sweet friends, live music, beautiful surroundings, warm light, dancing = Magic!




Cheers!!

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.