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....

Pears can be pretty

Pears can be pretty. I did this in class and it was fun. A red pear on a white plate and I got to be as painterly as I pleased. Although it felt very wasteful to use those great juicy bits of paint.  Preparing canvas as alwayswith a underpainting of siena and then applying pure color. From there it was a matter of just adding those bits of paint that add dimension and depth to my pear.

I have done so much!

I have done so much this semester in painting. Love learning all the bag of tricks that will give my painting interest. Have started a still life that I am in love with already. Purple witches hat and drape with brass goblet and crystal ball and candle. I am having a lovely time.

She is Becoming MoreHuman

As the colors become more like one would expect for people, my painting is more and more 'real'. Although like the velveteen rabbit, I ask, what is 'real'?

 I have learned how to paint veils and it was a revelation. Less is more in this instance and I spent several hours painting little bits of nothing. Using cad orange and cerulean blue I lightly brushed on with one brush and smoothed with another.

Yesterday was magical

Having a siena undercoat, we began applying color and to do this we USED NO MINERAL SPIRITS. It was hard not to.  for the flesh we used alizarin crimson, ochre, cerulean blue, touch of cad red, cad orange and  just touch of white. When we applied it looked PURPLE. It was odd.
Then we used a lighter version of the original and applied it to the in between tones. From there we worked on the eyes and lips. For the lips i used a bit more red and cad orange with white. Her eyes are blue so i used a dark greyed blue with lighter at the edges. We worked on the hair only as it was close to the face. It was so fun to see her become a flesh and blood person. I can't wait to see what magic Margee

 pull out of her hat on Tuesday.