Painting Flowers...

I've been trying to tackle painting things that I've avoided in the past because I thought the were too "hard".  One thing I've always struggled with is painting flowers.  Since it's spring and there are beautiful flowers blooming all over the place, I decided that I should stop thinking about it and just do it.  :)  Here are a few of better ones.

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.

New Watercolors...

I have a couple of new watercolors to share.  These were both painted last week.   I have some new paintings from last night's class I want to post too but I'm having problems with my camera's focus and want to try to fix it before I take any more photos.  We'll see how successful I am.  :) 

This was painted from a photo I took a few years ago.  I like that I was able to capture the strong light and shadows and the reflections that appealed to me in the photo.

This is the second in a series of daisy "portraits" I'm doing (I forgot to photograph the first one and it's hanging in a show right now so I can't take a photo until I get it back).  I'm experimenting with a few new techniques and trying for very loose, almost abstract images.  I think I got closer to the effect I want with this one.  Now to try even more experiments!

In more painting related news, I entered 3 watercolors in a juried show at the local gallery here in town.  It's the first time anything I've painted has been hung in a gallery so it was a step forward for me in that regard.  I got honorable mentions for two out of the three paintings so that made me happy too.  :)  The show goes through the end of October so if any of you are in the mood, head down to the Sidney Art Gallery and check out all the paintings the South Kitsap Artists have done.

 

Making a Plein Air Easel with a Camera Tripod Base

Last summer my mom, my sister and I went to Bend, Oregon for a watercolor workshop.  We spent most of our time doing plein air painting and one of the painters brought a really neat easel made to use a camera tripod as a base.  I really liked it and was able to remember enough to have my sweetie shamelessly copy it and make one for a birthday present for my mom.

 Here is the easel all set up.

 This is the piece of wood that holds the tripod shoe.  Al put an insert with a 1/4-20 thread (the same thread that the tripod shoe uses) in the piece of wood and screwed in the tripod shoe.

 

  

The board hooked into the tripod base.

 

On the other side of the board is industrial strength velcro.  We also put it on the back of a hard watercolor board.  That way you can attach the watercolor board to the piece of wood and your painting won't fly away in the wind. 

 

Here is the board for your palette and water.  The slots on the right side are designed so that they rest against two of the tripod legs and that holds the board in place and keeps everything level.

 

 Here it is all set up on the tripod. 

And finally, here is the bag that I made to hold the easel.  Mom's really excited to go out somewhere and use it.  Now I just have to get one made for me.  :)

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.

New Paintings...

And I'm only a few days later than I said I'd be.  :)  I was hoping to find time to finish the 2nd and 3rd paintings in a series that I'm doing in acrylic so I could post them too, but I haven't gotten to them yet...

Enjoy.  :)

I have another blog post all ready to go about quilt projects I've finally finished (yay!  right, Gayle?) and ones I'm about to start so if you're interested, check back tomorrow.  :)

Making Stuff...Or What to Do When Your Washing Machine Breaks

Actually, I started this project before the washer broke but it's been a good stress reliever and distraction when I've gotten sick of trying to research how to repair it or replace it.  Especially since the projects I had planned to work on were put on hold because of not having a washing machine.  :)

Last week when I went to my painting class, I noticed a couple of people who had these neat paint brush holders that stand up when you unfold them.  I really liked them but they're only available in black and black is way to boring for me so I decided to try to make one that's more colorful.  It took a  little while to figure out how to design and sew it but over the course of the week I came up with a good plan for it and I finished it in time to take it to painting class tonight.

Here is the holder all folded up and ready to go.

Here is a picure of the inside.

Here it is when the top is folded back so it stands up.

I also made a zippered bag out of the black and white fabric to hold other miscellaneous painting stuff so, along with my big red canvas bag that holds all my stuff, I'm quite the coordinated painter these days.  :) 

I should have another post by tomorrow night of some new paintings.  I'm too tired tonight to set up the camera and tripod.  :)

Some New Paintings...

I think I need some more exciting titles...THIS JUST IN!  AWESOME ARTWORK AHEAD!   Nah, maybe not.  :) 

 Anyway, I have a few paintings I did last week of various Autumn scenes.  Hope you enjoy them!

 This is a farm on the far side of Waitts Lake outside of Chewelah, WA.  

 A grain elevator somewhere in the Palouse.  I took some creative license and changed the tree foliage to fall foliage.

A gourd someone brought to painting class a week ago.

I'm starting on a new quilt project sometime this week or next (whenever I can get the last of the supplies I need) and since I'm designing it myself (loosely based on a quilt I saw online)  I'm planning on doing some blog posts about the process.  Stay tuned...

I'm Back! (Finally!!!!)

Wow, it feels good to finally be doing a new blog post!  It's been a long time, hasn't it?  I've made good progress on figuring out how to edit photos on my new computer using a new program so I'm crossing my fingers that everything goes the way I've planned.  :)

I'm still playing with watercolor but haven't had time to paint every day.  I have been going to a class once a week with my mom so I've been painting one or two paintings a week.  I figure it's better that nothing, huh?  Anyway here are some of the things I've done since July.  Hope you enjoy!

The Palouse

painted sometime in late July. 2011

Beach scene (class assignment from teacher's photo)

painted Aug. 2, 2011 in class

Beach scene (in class, from my photo)

Painted Aug. 9, 2011 in class

Black-eyed Susans (in class, from my fertile imagination)

Painted Aug. 16, 2011 in class

Pienza, Italy (in class, from my photo)

painted Aug. 23, 2011

Pienza, Italy (at home from my photo)

painted August 25, 2011

Lavendar fields (painted in class from reference photos and my imagination)

Painted Sept. 13 and Sept. 27, 2011

Pen and Ink scene (in class with my photos)

painted Sept. 27, 2011

Snow scene (in class, from teacher's photo)

painted Oct 4, 2011

Mushroom (in class, from teacher's photo)

painted Oct. 11, 2011