New Paintings...

I've been painting twice a week for a month and as usual, I've been wondering why I sometimes stop.  I really, really love painting--it makes me happy.  And, I love it when I can see that I'm making progress in learning the medium and in painting in a looser style.  I still have a long way to go, but at least I'm more optimistic about being able to accomplish it.  :)

 This was painted from a picture I took of the apartment where we stayed when we were in Pienza, Italy.  It's one of our favorite memories of that trip.

 This was painted from a photo given to us in my Tuesday night painting class.  

 This is from a photo I took a few years ago at the now defunct Clear Creek Nursery during a Mother's Day photo safari with the family.

 A rose from my garden.

My first attempt at a portrait.  This was from a cover of a knitting magazine.  I want to try painting a few portraits but have been too scared to try it, so I just decided to go for it.  I'm happy with how it came out and now am excited to try more.

At Long Last...New Paintings

It's been way too long since I posted anything here.  I've had some major health issues the last 6 months and that coupled with the current state of my memory (lamentably bad)  has put blogging right out of my mind.  Hopefully, the long dry spell is over.  :)

Here are some of the latest paintings I've done...I didn't put all of them in this time.  Just the ones I am happy with.  Enjoy!

It's Really Good to Be Painting Again...

The weekly watercolor class I was taking last fall with my mom started up again a few weeks ago so even though this time of year is pretty busy for me, I decided I should start going to force myself to pick up my paintbrushes again and get painting.  I'm really glad I did because I'm really enjoying it.  :)  I have to laugh at myself sometimes.  I find it way too easy to let myself put the stuff I don't like doing high on my priority list while the stuff that I love and that brings me such joy gets put at the bottom of the list.  Maybe this year I'll actually be able to change that for good.  :)  Hope springs eternal...

Anyway, here is the painting I did from the first week of class.  I was pretty sure that after 3 months of not painting, I was gonna have something that I didn't like but I surprised myself.  I like this a lot and I think I'm gonna even frame it and find a place in the house to hang it.  :)

These next paintings are from last week's class.  They are all on one sheet of paper that I divided into different size frames.  They are quick studies taken from the same photo.  The goal was to get us to see the range of possibilities for paintings in one photo or one plein air location.  The paintings aren't really great, but it was a really good exercise to do and  I'm excited to pull out some of my old photos and explore this a bit more.

 

I've also been doing a little work with my acrylics.  I wanted to make some paintings for my guest bathroom so I bought some canvases and painted these apples. 

I have quite a few projects on my mental list that I want to start so (cross my fingers) hopefully I will be a little more regular in writing blog posts.  No guarantees though.  :)  Time has been slipping  by so fast lately that I can't even keep up with the necessities.