Oranges and lemons and limes

I have just learned something else about blogging. Fruits are a non threatening subject but I love painting them. Even the late Georgia O'Keeffe liked them and returned to the idea again and again. Today we have begun our painting class and the process was as engrossing as ever. We toned our canvas and blocked in our shapes. Then colored 'by number' and loosely painted in the shapes withe the basic color of that shape. Then there were the decisions of are the shadows more violet or blue? Do we want to have the horizon line higher or lower? I left class feeling refreshed and relaxed.

Challenges

    So many things have happened in a very short time. I find myself breathing purposefully and acting deliberately. In a very short time all my children are now in their own lives and spaces. I have a daughter-in-law. My father had a major heart attack and decided it was time for the 'talk', thus moving me even further from being the child to being the adult caregiver.  In all of these changes there has been one constant, and that is my sketch book and my exploration into how my creativity works and why I approach things the way I do. This semester I am taking Oil Painting II from Margee Aycock. I want to go further and build on what I have already learned. As I have learned in life I want to learn in my art. To act deliberately, and not react to stimulus but approach each thing as an opportunity to learn more. To not rely on  fortuitous accidents in my painting but to have my creativity answer me. AND to not seek validation from others but to find it within myself.

Thought for today

The best thing about a painting is the beginning and the saddest is the ending.

I know but this is a really good tipi

I had the most fun ever. I felt so Charles Russell doing this painting. And I felt that I really got the whole color wheel thing right. I was actually getting the answers right when I would ask Margee if this color was going to work and she would say YES. Yeah! I really feel I have learned alot. I  gessoed and toned my canvas then I sort of indicated where the objects were going to be. Then I mixed viridian and cad orange and cerulean and ultramarine which went everywhere I wanted to have green.I put bluish shadows on the side of the tipi.  I purposely put no light  color on the tipi because I wanted it as white as possible.The background trees were more of the green mixture above with more ultramarine and cad red and orange. I roughly blocked in the trees so as to have a loose feel.I used this where ever I thought a dark would be. The blue toned foliage was cerulean blue, green, ochre and white. Again I tried to be loose and painterly. I pushed here and pulled there and worked to get the lights in the right place. Never did decide how to handle the top of the painting. Margee suggested really warm cad oranges and red and yellow to make the tops of the trees glow. It was great. I brushed a little ochre and yellow on the tipi then wiped the excess off. I liked it as it was. All in all I like what I did and feel I came close to that early morning late afternoon light that I love so much.

My last blog

This is my last blog for art class. But I think I will continue to blog it is rather addicting. This painting is one that Margee let my use one of hers for an example. Mine is not nearly as pretty as hers but I was pleased at how it turned out. She really turned my world upside down when she instructed me to start with the trees and placement of land and stuff. Using viridian green and cad orange we blocked in the darks of the trees and  foliage.  The grey grass in the fore ground is ochre, cerulean blue cad orange and white.  The road had all sorts of colors in it cad orange, red, white and ochre with just a touch tiny touch of blue. The red bluffs in the back were red and orange and I kept the colors as pure as possible. My yellows were brushed in and the idea is to suggest and let the eye fill in the details. The grass i kept on the brown side of green since it is Oklahoma. In Virginia it would be more green. Viridian, yellow, and red. I let the underpainting show through a little and  I was amazed at the effect.. Lesson learned. Let the underneath add interst and mystery; The sky was blue and white with cad orange and the closer to the horizen the lighter it gets. The higher up it goes the darker it gets. The clouds were swatched in and they were mostly white with grey.

Apples and Pears Oh My

This is was a learning experience par excellence. The colors are bright and I learned to make the most of brush strokes. My shadow color is cerulean blue and cad orange with white. The shadow strikes at first were too blue and had to go back and lighten them. It was very patriotic at first. Then the bright part of the stripes were ochre and white. It is a creamy glowing color. The red stripes were alizarin and cad orange and cad red in the shadows and then just cad orange and cad red in the light areas. The apples got a treatment of alizarin and cad red in the shadows with orange and ochre and yellow in the lighter areas. The green was cerulean blue and lemon yellow and white and Margee showed us a fun thing in how to paint reflections. Making a soft blue ish grey we painted those in the for the white stripes on the apples and a alizarin and ultramarine blue for the red stripe reflections. I over thought it and thought my eyes were tricking me but maanged to get them in. My pear hasn't got much attention yet.

My dwarf and my crystal ball

Yesterday was a good day. My crystal ball in my still life was fun although still at this point unfinished and needing a little pop. I have gotten the background to the leave it alone point and I hope to get the brass pedestal to the same point.  My little dwarf is coming along but slowly since I have been focusing on the fine points of still life work. Tonight I get to do something  I have never done before. Painting as worship....