Facial Features Study

Today I tried painting facial features with watercolor, following Kelly Eddington's Part 3 workshop on Strathmore Artist Workshops.

First we created our own toned paper using a pinkish blend of paint.  I am working in my Strathmore Watercolor Visual Journal.

After drawing from some reference photos, we chose one dark color, and began painting.  I used Payne's Gray, which I rarely use, but wanted to try for this exercise.

In this workshop, there are written instructions to go along with a fast-paced video.  I had to stop the video again and again, and wished it could progressed more slowly.  

This is what my page looked like before the final step, which was to add highlights with white acrylic paint.  I also darkened some of the areas with more Payne's Gray.

Facial Features, work in progress

This was a great lesson on painting eyes, noses, and mouths.  I think I will continue practicing!

The other lesson from this workshop was painting shiny gumballs.  We used masking fluid to preserve some of the shiny highlights on the balls.

Gumball Study

Last weekend we went to Asheville, North Carolina, to celebrate Charlie's birthday and visit with friends and family.  Asheville was in full bloom, unlike our more northern mountains. 

 We visited several of the area breweries and also the Biltmore House.  The costumes from the movie Titanic are on display in the rooms of the mansion.  The exhibit is well done, with manikins, great signage, and gorgeous flower arrangements.  It was a good weekend.

Transparency Studies

The Doodlewash watercolor prompt for today is "Transparent."  That was a great topic for me, as I have struggled with portraying clear glass.  I purchased a poster called "Painting the Illusion of Glass Vessels"  from Robert Burridge studios,  and spent the afternoon trying to follow his suggestions.

Transparency studies, Robert Burridge lessons

                                    
I was not wild about any of these studies, but one of my favorites was the martini glass.

Martini

 Here is a clear vase of bright flowers.

Flowers in clear vase

 And a clear glass of something clear.

Clear Glass

Clear Vase of Flowers 

I think I should practice doing a transparency study every day until I get the hang of it.  Great prompt!

We ended up with seven inches of snow yesterday, and the power off for seven hours.  Thankfully, it was restored before dark.  We had a nice Gator ride across the mountain in the snow.

This is our dog Kasey and my sister's dog Daisy enjoying the snow in their fur coats.

Our neighbor across the road has a couple of horses who came down to visit.

It is supposed to snow again tonight.  I am done with it...don't want any more!

Pears, anyone?

Pear Studies, Jeanne Turner McBrayer

I recently joined an online watercolor forum called Doodlewash.  One of the features is a prompt for a daily painting exercise.  Yesterday's was "saturated."  

I decided to use saturated color to do some pear studies a la Bob Burridge.  He offers a weekly online tutorial every Monday he calls "Bob Blasts," and he has often featured pears as his quick warm-up study subject.

Bob uses acrylic paint on most of his Bob Blast paintings, but I tried to use his technique with watercolor.  He does a lot of negative painting around his bright subject matter.  That is a little harder to do in watercolor, but I am pretty happy with these three pears.  I used his color wheel to make the colors pop.

Edited note:  Bob Blast 193 on March 12, 20012 is about painting pears!  And thank you to Bonnie Preslar for the lovely comment on this post.  I did not have your e-mail to send you a reply.

Painting Blossoming Trees on a Snowy Day

Strathmore Art Papers has just begun the first of its free online workshops for 2018.  The first is Realistic Watercolor for Beginners, with instructor Kelly Eddington.  I like to participate in these, and pick up whatever new tips I can glean.  You can register on the web page.  There is a video, materials list with instructions, student galleries, and forums for questions or discussion.

The first lesson is on using masking fluid to make apple blossoms on a tree.  I must admit that I do not like to take the time to apply mask and let it dry before painting, and I have never been very good at making the shapes I want with masking fluid.  Kelly suggested using a masking pen, so I have ordered one (Molotow GRAFX Masking Fluid Pump Marker).  Here is my first painting. It is actually on a Strathmore watercolor note card.

The brush I used to apply the masking fluid was small, but too soft, and the blossoms spread out more than I liked.

I did a second painting, putting apple trees into the scene that is outside my studio window here in the North Carolina mountains.  We have a Christmas tree farm across the street. I used masking fluid in the creek and on the rocks, as well, 

And to practice one more blossoming tree, I painted one in my interleaved journaling Bible.

James 1:17.  Every good gift and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the  father of Light, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Some good news this week:  Charlie and I went to Charlotte on Monday for a follow-up visit with my orthopedic surgeon.  I had a total ankle replacement on January 9.  Dr. Davis was very pleased, and released me to start physical therapy and DITCH the Star Wars boot!  Hooray!  I went to physical therapy, and was told I had the prettiest post-surgery ankle she had ever seen!  Okay, then! Not that I have a pretty foot, but there was very little swelling, bruising, or scarring, and good range of motion.  That was very encouraging!  Now I have a small brace that is little more than a wrap.  She also wants me to walk with a cane to improve my gait.

I have almost two months before I need to be able to walk all over the hilly campus at the Merlefest music festival, so that is a good motivational goal.  

Surprise! I'm Back!

Hello out there to any of my followers who might still remember me after a three-month absence from my blog.  We're still here...Charlie is doing a little better with his blood counts following his last radiation.  I had a total ankle replacement in Charlotte on January 9, which has left me in non-weight-bearing status since then.  We go back to Charlotte on January 26, and hopefully will get rid of the giant heavy cast and switch to a walking boot.

On Monday, January 29, we go back to Sarasota for Charlie's six-month check-up at Dattoli Cancer Center.  We are looking forward to the warmer weather and visiting with family who live down there.  We have had an exceptionally cold winter so far here in the North Carolina mountains, so it has been a good month to hibernate inside.  Even though I stay on the couch all day, I can see outside through our glass door and big windows.  Here are some visitors that I spied on one of the snow days.

I was really getting motivated to finish organizing my basement studio when deer season arrived, then  Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Had to add air beds downstairs for company and a table for a gift-wrapping station.  The painting side is in pretty good shape, but not the fabric/quilting area.  Maybe when we get back from Florida.

I did paint some winter scenes and a Christmas card before  I got laid up.

Snowy Woods

Snowy Woods was this year's Christmas card.

Light in the Forest

I started Light in the Forest four years ago.  One of my former workshop instructors, Karlyn Holman, wrote a step-by-step tutorial in Watercolor Artist magazine about creating a snowy woodland scene.  I did not like mine at all and put it aside.  Four years later I got some new ideas and am very happy with this luminous scene.  In fact, it is sold!

I have done a little art journaling, as well.  My brother Chris sent me a photo of a very angry screech owl he encountered while mowing his grass, and I tried to paint him.

Here are my last three journal pages for the Monthly Art Journal Challenge Group on Facebook.  The moderator always suggests a theme for the month.

November:  Glitter


























It's a little-known fact that when my husband and I ride the Gator through a dark piny section of our mountain, he often quotes lines from this beloved Robert Frost poem to me.


December:  Poinsettias


















Inspired by a watercolor painting on Pinterest

January:  the year 2018

I painted this luminous angel some time ago, but never finished the page.  I used a white Sharpie paint pen (extra fine point) to add the journaling, halo, and flower.

I have done quite a bit of Bible journaling while recuperating, and will post some of those pages next time.

Thank you to my sister-in-law Alice Turner for requesting that I start blogging again!  I needed a nudge!

Autumn Paintings

We continue to have sunny and beautiful autumn weather here in the North Carolina mountains.  I have been doing some quick little fall scenes in watercolor.

The first three are 5" x 7" watercolors.

This one is 10" x 10".

This next one just sold at the art and craft fair at the Jefferson United Methodist Church.

And here is a seasonal journal entry.  I just felt like painting some pumpkins!

A Few New Things

It has been a little crazy for the last month.  Many doctor appointments and trips to the hospital.  Charlie's blood counts got so low that he had a blood transfusion a couple of weeks ago.  That is probably due to all the radiation and the drug Xofigo which is radioactive.  After getting two units of packed red cells, he was a new man.  Amazing how bad you can feel when you are anemic.

                                                    

We are continuing to enjoy our new life in the mountains, and trying to get our house organized.  It has taken awhile because of all the furnishings we brought from Raleigh, and because the new basement was just a big room that I am trying to make into a usable studio/laundry room/office.

I managed to make an Auburn Angel for my daughter-in-law Melissa's birthday.

My brother Jeff and his family from Florida came up for a week in August.  We had multiple family gatherings.  They are the ones we stayed with in Ft. Myers for three months when Charlie first had radiation at the Dattoli Cancer Center.  We love them bunches!

We celebrated Jeff's birthday while they were here.  I gave him a little remembrance of the North Carolina mountains to take back to Florida with him.

My sewing stuff was fairly organized in bins even when we lived in Wake Forest, two houses ago.  It has been easy to find stash fabrics.  Everything else, not so much.  I recently tried actually sewing an eight-inch Sister's Choice block for a quilt for a friend, and it took me eight hours by the time I found the power cord to the sewing machine, some rulers, cutting mats, etc.

Here is a little watercolor sketch I did in my art journal.  It is the Sarasota skyline as seen from across the bay at Longboat Key in the last afternoon sunlight.  The city looked golden in the last rays of the sun.

My littlest granddaughter, Layla Grace, turned one on Saturday.  She had a rubber ducky birthday party.  I made painted a yellow duckling for her birthday card, and a little one with blue and green highlights framed in a floating frame.  Both paintings were inspired by photos on Pinterest.

And here is my little Ducky!

Playing with Watercolors on Yupo

I have not been feeling very creative for the past couple of months.  I brought a huge box of art supplies, my sewing machine, several quilt projects and a bag of fabrics.  Since we have been in Florida, I have only made one altered print birthday card and a few Bible journal pages.  No sewing.

But yesterday I dragged the big Rubbermaid box of supplies to our dining room table, and pulled out a small pad of Yupo paper and my Quiller watercolor palette.  I have had the Yupo pad and also some larger Yupo sheets for months, but never experimented with it before.

Yupo has a smooth, shiny finish that reminds me of photo printing paper, freezer paper, and finger-painting paper.  Most watercolor paper has some texture that absorbs the paint.  Not Yupo.  The paint slips and slides all over.  This automatically adds an element of abstraction and looseness to your painting.

Here is the description of the product:

Yupo Synthetic Paper is 100% recyclable, waterproof and tree-free. It is incredibly durable and stain-resistant. This extraordinary surface also resists tearing and buckling and it remains perfectly flat.

Yupo provides visual artists with an amazingly beautiful canvas offering smooth, bright white opaques and wonderful translucents.

Yupo gives a unique alternative to traditional watercolor papers. Because it's waterproof, using watercolors on Yupo gives a watercolorist the opportunity to lay down and pick up color, creating layers of interest for the viewer. Generally speaking use more color and less water.

When finished, spray fix your watercolor painting. Your painting may be framed without glass, making it lightweight, easy to ship and hang.

Pads are tape bound on the short side.

Here are my first efforts- (not necessarily completed yet!)

I brought along one of my Jean Haines painting books, since she uses a loose, atmospheric painting style, and tried my hand at some of her examples.

Pink Posies

Grape Hyacinths

The paint takes a long time to dry on this surface.  I'm talking hours for a big blob of paint like the green area on the hyacinths!

I tried just letting some colors run on the paper.   Then I thought I could see a big grasshopper, so I added some legs and antennae!  Kind of scary, but lots of fun to play.

Mutant Grasshopper 

I also tried a normal watercolor landscape of a beach scene, but don't like it.  It makes a difference when you do not paint on a regular basis.  I think I'll keep the box of art supplies under the dining room table and try to do a little something every day.

Family Fun

Lily's Birthday card...one of my watercolor prints with a few additions!

Our family has been with us in Florida for almost a week now!  We have had so much fun.  Four extra adults and five extra kids, including nine-month-old Baby Layla.  Lily turned eleven on Tuesday.  We have had great meals, fun at the beach, and trips to the park.  The weather was rainy only one day...the rest of the time we have dodged the showers and even seen rainbows.

Our family...fighting cancer together!

Before they arrived, I ordered bracelets from a company called MudLove.com, with the word Together on each one.  I had bought one at the Mast Store in Boone that said Hope.  When I went to the MudLove website to order more, I found out that you could have the bracelets customized with the word of your choice.  Together has been our family codeword for fighting cancer for the last two years.  

Baby Layla has been delightful.  Baby Kasey is a little jealous.  She thought she was the baby.

Well, it is hard to blog when you have four extra adults, five kids and a dog in the house.  They have all gone back home today.  This house is very, very quiet.  

Happy Easter!

We had a very enjoyable Easter with our family this year.  After church and brunch with family on Sunday, we brought our two grandsons to the mountains with us for their Spring Break.  They have been enjoying a lot of fishing and Gator rides.


Here are some Bible journaling pages that I made for the Easter season.