The raven

The raven is a canny clever bird. he is beautiful with black feathers that give a blue sheen in the sun. I began this painting with a siena wash and blocked in the raven and where I wanted the grassy shadows to go. Viridian and alizarin and blue made the shadows warmly intense.  I merely sketched in the raven with Fr.Ultramarine and a touch of cerulean and orange. I fell in love with ravens many years ago on a trip to Wyoming at Yellowstone. A park ranger there told us a story of two ravens who helped themselves to someone else's lunch. A motorcycle left unattended with flip top saddlebags aroused the curiosity of two ravens in the park. They opened the saddlebags and found baggged sandwiches. Working together these two bandits took turns carying off one of the sandwiches and when they deemed they had gone far enough they broke open the baggie and had lunch. I have loved ravens ever since.

Here is the beginning study of clouds. A wash of siena and the house and foliage with the clouds above give that feeling of limitless space I only feel in Texas.

The next step cleared up some mysteries for me. We firmed up our compostions and then with viridian and blue and touch of yellow and orange the greenery became green. Alizarin warmed up the shadows and our skies were warm with cerulean blue and cad orange and white. The clouds became clouds as then the paint was pulled and pushed into our vision of what clouds were to be. I left a lot of the siena showing in my painting because.... I like siena. I love the warmth of it and how it can make a painting glow. 

Well this is the finished product.  I learned even more this time, than the last time I painted a fruit study. The process has not changed. It is still gesso, tone, abstract, shadows, medium tones and lights. Thick over thin and always start dark and go toward the light. But this time I really got the idea of thick paint being a modeling tool. The strokes that comprise the fore ground were few but thick. Titanium white and yellow ochre are mixed to make a glowing white that is then stroked on thickly and in a painterly fashion. The flow of thick paint moving smoothly over a cansvas is a satisfying action and once done it felt that something wonderful has been accomplished.

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.