Daydreamer... still in Progress

All of last week I spent at the hospital with my mom who has terminal cancer.  This is a particularly difficult time for me since I have cared for my mom for the past 16 years.  Letting go is never easy.

While at the hospital I used the time to go through old sketchbooks looking for usable hints I might have written down and to go back through some of the books I have that I hadn't looked at in a long time.  I think sometimes it is fun to realize how far you have come or in some cases where you are stuck!!!  One of the books I looked at was Watercolor Wisdom by Jo Taylor.  What a great book... so full of information and exercises to do.  It was in looking through her book that I realized I am sort of stuck  and need to do a little bit more exploring to really find what I have to say.  Time will tell if I really do that or not.  I am pretty big on staying in my comfort zone right now.


I didn't get to do much painting last week, but yesterday and today I have spent doing a little painting just to escape from what is going on with my mom.  Yesterday I spent putting details in the back ground... felt so good to be in control of something!  Then today I spent covering up those details using a technique I found in Alex Power's book Painting People in Watercolor-A Design Approach.

I really have a long way to go on this but am making some progress slowly but surely.  

Judy Morris believes there are five stages to a painting...

1. idea stage
2. drawing stage
3. just paint everything
4. go back and finish the painting
5. use magnifying glass or gray cardboard viewing card to look at the finished painting.

Be Still My Art,

Kay

Mr. and Mrs. McAdams and my WIP

I finally got to meet Mr. and Mrs. McAdams today.  They are the couple that I was doing a commission portrait of so their son could give it to them for their anniversary.  What a delightful couple.  Mr. McAdams is 90 years old and still plays racquetball.  Mrs. McAdams is 87 and such a delight to be around... you never know when she may break out into a song, and she has a very nice voice!

Mr. and Mrs. McAdams with their portrait

I began the painting of "Daydreamer" today and got several glazes on.  I am at a point now where I really need to concentrate and think about what I am doing so I had to stop until I can have some uninterrupted time for painting.  Just being able to put paint on the paper was pleasing to me today.

Daydreamer... a work in progress.

How about you?  Did you get a lot accomplished today?  I am looking forward to painting more tomorrow!!

Be Still My Art,


Kay

Two Woo Hoos and a New Product

Today was a two Woo Hoo day for me!!
First I got an email advising me that my painting, "The Prodigal", had been selected for the 48th Annual Membership Exhibit of the Southwestern Watercolor Society.  Woo Hoo!!!  Alex Powers juried this year's show.

The Second Woo Hoo is for completing (well, almost... still have a little tweaking to do yet) the commission portrait I have been working on.  I am close enough to give a shout out anyway!! Woo Hoo!!

Commission Portrait near completion

Have you had any Woo Hoo days lately?  If so, give a shout out yourself!!

Before I started work on this commission I had ordered a new product from Daniel Smith.  It is called Watercolor Ground.  It looks a lot like gesso and it brushes on like gesso.  It is supposed to make any surface paintable with watercolor.  I couldn't wait to try it out so periodically when I was on break from the commission portrait I worked on a canvas that I had brushed with the watercolor ground.

Painting in beginning stages

This is a 12 X 12 gallery wrapped canvas that I am in the process of painting with watercolor!  It has been a lot of fun because it is a different feel and the watercolor handles differently on it than it does regular paper.  To me it seems to be like a cross between gessoed paper and Aquabord.  It is very easy to rub out areas.  I noticed it can be difficult to get a hard line (see close-up of the eye) and also, you can see the texture from  brushing on the ground.  Sometimes it just makes a neat texture on its own. (see close up of hair)  

Notice how the brown of the iris ran at the top?

At the top of the hair you can see fine cracks created by the ground.

Have you tried any new products or colors lately?  If so, what and how did it work for you?  There is still lots of exploring to do with this new ground, but it promises to be much fun... and soon I will have more time to play.  I wonder if it can make my heart skip a beat or flutter with excitement just a little.  

Be Still My Art,

Kay

 

The Value of Value

I'm still working on the portrait and suspect I will be for several more days.  Right now it is not fun...grrr... paintings that just seem to paint themselves are so much more fun.  Don't you agree?  I have been struggling with the values in the ladies face all day.  If she were here and I could look at her I would probably have better luck seeing the values, but she isn't and I am working from a photo so I am struggling.  Not long ago I was working on a painting and I knew there was a problem... but for the longest time I couldn't put my finger on it.  Then the light came on... (that happens once in a while cause I think I have a short in my brain somewhere!!) I grabbed my camera and took a photo of the painting, put it in photoshop and turned it black and white and printed it out.  I wanted to compare it to the value study I had done earlier.  As luck will have it sometime, the problem stuck out like a sore thumb... all the values seemed to run together.  Oh that all problems would be so simple to fix...  today I came across a color value chart I made several years ago... you may have one like this...

Since it was made so long ago I couldn't remember if I ever checked the values in black and white to see how close I had gotten with the colors.  So, I checked it... like I do my paintings.

And, another light has come on... so I'm going to take a black and white of the portrait and see if I get a little better perspective on how it is really coming along.  It may be a heart thumping moment after all.

Be Still My Art,

Kay

Abstract Distraction

I am currently working on a commission portrait of an elderly couple.  This type of painting can become rather tense at times, at least for me.  I am so particular.  I paint and I think about the people I am painting... often I say a little prayer for them.  Somehow this makes me feel more in touch with who they are and not just what they look like physically.  But there are times when I just have to take a break from the commission and work on something totally unrelated.  Sometimes I work on another painting (I always have several at different stages somewhere in this room!... don't you?) sometimes I draw, sometimes I do exercises (NOT the kind where you perspire!!) to improve some aspect of my painting, and yes, often I play Angry Birds.  Today I decided to paint a small abstract since that is so far removed from what I normally do.  Several days ago I had taken a view finder and gone through a magazine looking for abstract ideas that I might want to paint.  I drew around the rectangular shape of the viewfinder and cut out the shapes.

I picked one out, not being very particular as to my choice.  I had some small scraps of paper and I used the grid method to get the proportionately correct size and draw the design on the paper.

Using the grid system makes drawing the design simple and fast.  All that is left is to paint the shapes.

I thought the large red shape on the right would balance the yellow shapes, but now that it is painted I think it needs a small yellow shape on the right that is on top of the red.  That would also give me an odd number of yellow shapes which would be much better.  What do you think?  It certainly is different from what I normally do and a "learning distraction".

Be Still My Art,

Kay

Be Still My Art

 There have been moments in my life when something or someone has been so beautiful that my heart has fluttered and my breath has been short. In my mind, if not aloud, I have muttered a little "be still my heart" and I knew that moment had to be shared.  Ever have one of those moments?  Like when a grandson is born and is crying and the only one who can console him is his great grandmother...

...or when your granddaughter is swimming her heart out determined to win the race...

...or when your grandson is that rock star that he is certain he will be someday...

...or maybe you have a couple of big leaguers in the making...

It may be a moment when the morning sun is shining on a flower that has just bloomed, or the sun is coming through the window creating gorgeous lights and shadows.  Wherever you are and whatever you are doing you stop, grab the camera so you have a photo to jog your memory and the seed for the next painting has been planted.  Ever have one of those art moments?

My blog will be about those art moments that take my breath away and how I capture that moment for others to experience also.  The teacher in me may even come out sometimes and who knows what might happen then... it is said the best way to learn something is to teach it.

 I hope you will join me and share your art moments as well.

Be Still My Art,
Kay