Daydreamer... Completed!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was a good day for my mom and she slept most of the morning.  Her sleeping allowed me time to paint... I keep a monitor in my studio so I can hear her and know if she needs me.  It felt so good to paint for several uninterrupted hours.  Painting has been my "Saving Grace".

Some things to keep in mind when painting ... from Stephen Quiller:

1. See the stroke before you paint it.
2. Variation: light against dark, transparent against opaque, warm against cool, etc.
3. Rhythm in brush strokes
4. Create both negative and positive shapes
5. Create depth with overlapping forms
6. Decisions on paintings come up again and again, so push through the painting... MAKE THOSE DECISIONS!

Be Still My Art,

Kay

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

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