Painting Variations

I'll be the first to admit that digital painting is not to be compared to the visual experience of paint on canvas but I am intrigued.  Having a large compilation of photos that I've taken to be used for more traditional media I sometimes get lost in the experimentation of all the wonderful apps and programs that are available.  Being able to create my own brushes and switch between them on a whim is too good to ignore.

I have been spending my time doing more design work meant for textiles lately so this is how I've satisfied my painting urge.  Tomorrow I'm picking up my order of wood cradled panels and I'll be painting my heart out once again.

Digital Playtime

Funny,the busier I am, the more likely I am to turn around and do something completely different.  Photoshop is so much fun!  And a good way to practice

color theory.  These are sketches I did in pencil and layered with photoshop brushes.   These will be printed on fabric (after I've played around some more).  : > )

Deliciously Pink (finished)

Oil on wood cradled panel

6" x 6" x 1.5"

$80

Pink tulips finished.  Looking forward to starting the next.  

From sketch to fabric....

I've had a lot of fun practicing my sketching over the past year and uploading them to fabric printing companies (there are several).  A local restaurant

commissioned me to create a fabric to use on their benches and it was just

completed last week.  So nice to see it come together.

Deliciously Pink

All's quiet on the blogger homefront but not for long.  I just returned from a

wonderful nine day trip to Paris.  My daughter (a wedding photographer) and I

took many photos.  She visited Versailles and I took the train to Giverny.  We

shopped, took more photos and enjoyed picking and choosing from numerous

boulangeries, charcuteries, patisseries (especially patisseries), fromageries and of course, wine shops to cap off our days.

But...it's nice to be home too.  Timing was perfect as the lilacs and wisteria in Paris were just peaking and now they are just in the midst of blooming here.

I missed starting my day painting though and am just about to finish this one.

The leaves have to be finished, the background needs some work and then it will be just about done.  Lilacs should be next but I have to figure out how to

paint all those little florets without overworking.  We'll see!

Seeing Red

6 x 6 inches

Oil on Wood Panel

Love the vibrancy of red tulips.   It's been a long winter and we're probably a good two weeks behind schedule with patches of snow still lingering.  How lucky are we artists to be able to immerse ourselves in color on even the dreariest of days.  

The part I like best about this painting is the lower left corner (funny enough)

simply because in the pursuit of training myself to loosen up, I return to bad habits so easily like puttering with small brushes.  The very qualities I admire in other paintings are the loose, energetic brush strokes.  Simply changing to a much larger brush gave me that energy I was looking for.

Me on Pinterest

It is so neat to find myself on Pinterest!  Every so often, I check to see who has pinned one of my paintings and I came across this.  It's for one of my fabric designs of Lillies of the Valley, one of my favorite flowers, and it makes
me feel all warm and fuzzy to know it is on someone's wish list.

Another View

6" x 6"

Oil on wood panel

Brass Scissors on Patchwork II

Here is the other version of the brass scissors painted in oils completed about ten days ago.  I was encouraged by the gray version and decided to paint them again.  

When not to listen to myself...

Scissors on Patchwork

Watercolor on

8" x 8" Clayboard

Repeating this one in watercolor so soon after painting it in oils left me unimpressed.  It's hard to compete with the richness of color of the oils.  But I did have this sample of Clayboard by Ampersand that I wanted to try and do find it interesting.  For example it is easy to wipe back to pick out highlights that were lost.  But that does make it a bit tricky to keep it from getting muddy.  But all the while my conscious brain is saying I'm not enthralled my

subconscious is saying "I wonder if I have more of these boards to keep playing?".

I haven't priced this one simply because I'm not sure what my framing options will be.  For example, I've read about varnished watercolors but I haven't explored this possibility and now would be the time to try it since it's on clayboard.  This means framing without glass which is another benefit.  If anyone has experience with varnishing watercolors, I'd love to hear about it.

Happy Easter!

This was painted last Spring of 2012.  Not wanting to miss out on this year's

early Spring flowers, I've been photographing all the lovely Easter flowers that are around.  Happy Spring and Happy Easter to all of you.

Brass Scissors on Gray Fabric

Brass Scissors on Gray Fabric

6" x 6" Oil on wood

My favorite hand crafted scissors.  I posted a photo of a painting completed last month on a more colorful background but this time the gray background

enhances the brass.  Fun to paint but I really should do a grouping soon.

Side note:  I literally cringed when I posted this title but I figure it would take me forever to come up with something clever so I decided to just get on with it!

Working in a Series

6" x 6" oil on wood

$80

Scissors and Thread

I wanted to call this one "Needle Pulling Thread" but I hadn't painted a needle.  I am tortured by coming up with titles!  I painted a smaller version of this one last year (5" x 5") but wanted to do a series of three that had to do with sewing, so I'm using this one again.  Inspired by my hand made brass scissors, (will post that one later this week), I prepared three panels for this 

theme.  I'll likely do more for this series as one thing leads to another and I have ideas that I'd like to follow through on.

Waiting for Spring

Waiting for Spring

6" x 6" on wood panel

I think that expression says it all.  I thought painting a tabby with the distinctive marking would be harder than a long hair cat where you can let

the paint flow off the brush.  But this one came together fairly quickly.  I may

still tweak this one a bit more (my insecurity is showing). 

Pink Dahlias

Maybe it's that we changed our time this weekend (losing an hour...sigh) but I am thinking Spring, gardening, flowers, etc. and came across this painting that I did in June of 2011.  I had my fill of painting them then but I'm so ready to
paint anything floral again.  I hear that we're going to have a significant snowfall this coming week so maybe I'll start prepping canvases and go to my happy place : > ).

Revisiting

Generally there are so many photos to be inspired by, that I don't often do repeats but this painting was one of the first few I did when I started these small formats.  I was curious to see how it would compare to the first one done about a year and a half ago.  I didn't strive to make it different from the first.  This is simply how I painted it now within my comfort zone.  And lo and behold, it is significantly different.  I have adopted this more painterly approach after almost 100 small format paintings and am pleased to have evolved.  This was the point after all.

An Artist's Cat

This is Zoe.  She came to us last July through a local rescue organization and although she seemed to adjust quite quickly, I can truly say she is ours now.  We know her well after these eight months and she is quite comfortable being around us.  The photo I used for the painting may not have been the best to use as her eyes (which is what drew me to her in the first place) seem unnaturally wide.  But I know this won't be the only portrait I will ever do of her so I'll just move on. 

Channelling Spring

Pink Tulips

6" x 8" Oil on Canvas Board

$90 (framed)

I painted tulips while it looked like this outside.... 

I have a cheery yellow frame with linen liner to go with this painting and is included in the price.  Can't wait to do more.  I'm not sure if tulips suit my painting style or vice versa but they are a joy to paint.

Color combinations...

As I'm writing this, a chickadee just landed on the feeder outside my window,
re-inforcing the Spring theme for me this morning.  I love pinks and oranges so this painting was more about the color combination than the tulips themselves.  In the background is a painting started yesterday of one of our
newer cats (Zoe).  She has the widest, roundest, clearest eyes of any cat we've ever owned.   I'll post these as they're finished.

Re-arranging the studio space....

and found these in a drawer, looking up at me as if to say, "where have you been?"  At the moment I've been working mostly in oils but these two faces were done in acrylic on watercolor paper.  Somehow I'm going to make time to do more.  I had fun working with a mixed media approach, creating interesting backgrounds and working in layers.  These early months of a new year are great for experimenting and playing and if I'm really enjoying myself, some of the discoveries become part of my body of work for the rest of the year

My new interest.....

Enamel on Copper

5" x 5" 

I was going to say passion but it may be a tad early to say it with that much conviction.  Having familiarized myself with glass work and using a torch and kiln to create glass beads, put me in a good position to try my hand at enamelling.  I have experimented with small pieces to use in creating jewelry but this is the first time I have created this size (5" x 5").  I am intrigued and have plans for more.  I love this stage of learning something new.  A sketchpad is always close at hand to plan out ideas (although I seem to come up with great ideas in the shower)   .

Funny anecdote about this piece.  Because I create jewelry out of copper, I needed a small bit to make a clasp and sawed off a piece in the upper right corner.  This was before I decided to try my hand at an art piece.  When the
time came to look through my stash of copper sheets, I chastised myself for
hastily using a perfect 5" square sheet when I could have easily found something in my discard pile.  And that's when the idea came to me to add an embellishment and interest to the piece.  At first it was going to be a little copper bird but I decided on making a leaf. It is not yet fired in place but soon will be and I am now planning to do this to others as soon as I purchase my new kiln.  It does look like this could become a new "passion".........  .