Frank

11" x 15" Watercolor

Today in my watercolor class, we had fun with latex house paint - outlining the image, letting it dry, and then painting! I decided to do a simple one, so I could show the technique. I also have a companion piece in progress, of a hen. They will be Frank and Martha!

In other news - the church where I teach my class, gave us a Student's Art Gallery Wall! Some of my students are members of the church, so they get a lot of pats on the back!

And, speaking of my students, here they are! In the back row, left to right, are Jeanne, Judi and Gloria. And in front are Loree and Maureen. Great job today, ladies!

Paint Around

Last week in Pat's class, we had a Paint Around! Each of us brought in a drawing on paper, as well as our inspiration photo. This was mine (I masked out the bird):

Then, we gave our painting to the person on our right, who painted whatever they wanted to for 20 minutes. The timer went off and it went to the next person on the right for 20 minutes. It went to one more person, and then we were left to finish it! This is how mine came back to me (after I took the masking off).

So in today's class, we finished our own paintings. Here is mine! I felt so lucky - I didn't have to do much to it, except finish the bird. What fun it was!

More Practice

So, while I was waiting for my Robert Burridge DVD's to come, I practiced on a couple more flowers and pear. Then, the video came yesterday - and I had a whole new bunch of practice pieces to do! They started like this:

Paint splattered all over a little sheet of gessoed watercolor paper - throw in some drops of alcohol and let it dry.

Then, go in and paint everything that isn't a floral bouquet! Granted, these could use more work, but the whole idea behind this is to start your creative juices flowing. Work fast, using only a few colors. Below is the first one I did with this technique - so it's a little off kilter, and not a very pleasing shape. But, hey, it sure was fun!

Wildflowers

Another little ditty a la Robert Burridge! I'm so in love with this way of painting! This was another 10 minute warm-up, so it's kinda rough, but I love it! I can't wait to get his DVD. Until then, I'm going to keep on painting pears and flowers. I promise not to post each one (I don't want to bore you!), but maybe at the end of the week, I'll show you what I've been doing.


I have to change gears on Tuesday, though. In Pat's class, we're going to be doing a watercolor paint-around. That should be challenging!

Single Pear Warm-Up

I received my new Cheap Joe's catalog the other day - and as I was looking at all the cool workshops that I will never be able to afford to attend, I found Robert Burridge. Oh man! I ended up ordering 2 of his DVD's (and had to pay a fortune for shipping). But, it's still cheaper than a workshop! Anyway, looking around at his site and Cheap Joe's, I got to preview some of his teachings. I watched him do 3 pears in a row for a warm-up - and loved the way he just slaps the paint on.

He recommends that you do this every time you start to paint, and I can see why! It took me less than 10 minutes to do this exercise. He shows how you start with a little sheet of gessoed watercolor paper, paint a circle and a triangle on top of that with white, then add the red and yellow and blue, and BAM! you have a pear! Next, I want to try his Circus Birds!

Bird Watching

After watching a PBS painting show recently, I was moved to try my hand at painting some birds! Neither one turned out exactly as I wanted them to, but I really like painting birds!



I had purchased this little book on bird watching (that was published in 1955) from the library book store for 50 cents. It's such a sweet little book, with little paintings of all the different birds for people to look for. The previous owners of the book, had labeled all the birds that they had found, and where they saw them. So, I used a few of the birds in the book as inspiration. What fun!

Happiness

12" x 16" Acrylic with Collage

I'm sure having a lot of fun playing with these acrylic collages! I'm still not where I want to go yet, but I'm enjoying the process. I think I'm going to try an abstract without collage next. I want to learn to play with color and structure. Stay tuned..........

Peace

12" x 12" Acrylic with Collage

Here is my latest attempt at fluid acrylic with collage. I received an intructional DVD from Ann Baldwin last week. She makes it look so easy! I'm discovering that abstracts often take on a life of their own. This one started out in my mind as simple, pale blue and silver, and ethereal. Well, what happened!? I think it became a much stronger statement - becoming bolder and more activist-like. Those darned fluid acrylics! They're so much fun to play with, I just couldn't stop adding color! Oh well, it is what it is - and, I learned a lot from this piece.

Fire!

When we moved to Florida almost 9 years ago, the house we bought has a very nice fireplace in it. The owners told us that they never used it, and had closed it up so birds and squirrels wouldn't get in it. That was fine with me, cause I couldn't imagine having a fire in Florida. So, I turned that room into a dining room.


Fast forward - and we had the coldest winter ever last year, and this year started out the same way, so I decided to rearrange and turn the dining room into a cozy den - and have the fireplace inspected and any repairs done. So, yesterday, the guy came out and did all that - and so, today, I made fire! Did I mention that it's balmy and warm today? Oh, who cares! I needed to make a fire!

So, after many tries, I finally got some wood to burn! And, it was beautiful for awhile. Meanwhile, we had all the doors and windows open! LOL It's ok - I just know that it will be cold again!

Chaos

12" x 12" Acrylic with Collage

I had such fun today - experimenting with all my new fluid acrylics and trying out a technique by Ann Baldwin, that encompasses collage and stamping. It's always been a struggle, trying to figure out how to come up with an idea for an abstract. In her book, she talks about finding ideas - and when I was at Michaels the other day, I came across this sheet of paper, and bought it because it was cool. Now, I'm thinking it could be the catalyst for a new series!

There's also one for Peace, which will probably be the next attempt!