In Living Color 6 - Apples

Louise was an amazing teacher and one of her attributes and rules for herself and others was to never put your hand to an other's work.  Rarely did she show you how it was done but instead talked you through it.  In doing this it forced the student to think it through and learn by trial and error.  As we moved forward it was time to work on still life subjects.  Louise made a suggestion then each student was responsible to bring to the class and set up a still life to paint.  Apples was the first subject and we could choose any way to pose and paint them.  For my first try at a still life I was pleased with the apples but less than happy with the shadow I placed under them.

Still Life - Apples

Next came the pepper, I decided not to add the shadow.

Still Life - Pepper

On to onions and garlic which was a challenge making it appear transparent.  I did do somewhat better in adding a shadow.

Still Life - Onion & Garlic

We learned a new technique with our next subject.  After putting the first wash of color on the orange we lightly rubbed a wax candle over the area where light would be reflected on the orange.  The watercolor paper had a slight texture to it and would only grab the wax on the upper layers.  As the remaining layers of paint were applied the paint would repel from the waxed area leaving only the first layer of color showing through.

Still Life - Orange

After working on the various pieces above I tried another still life at home using a few vegies.  Unfortunately I still had trouble with the shadow.

Still Life - Vegies

The Word 8

I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.


Psalm 121:1-2

My Favorites - Oregon Coast

It' so fun to look through pictures taken in the past.  As I was looking I found a picture taken on our honeymoon of the Oregon Coast.


Oregon Coast

In Living Color 5

Today I was spending some time going through old photographs and discovered a few I'd taken of a piece of ceramic I painted back in 1985.  At the time I painted it I was single and dating a guy named Rick.  He is what I would refer to as a Mountain Man not only in looks but also in his way of life.  One of the activities he liked doing was panning for gold so he took me to a stream up in Idaho and let me try it first hand.  With this experience in mind I found this piece of ceramic and painted it for him as a gift.


Mountain Man Ceramic Painting

Rick was know as Hard Rock Rick and so on the bottle at his left I labeled the contents as Hard Rock.

Mountain Man Ceramic Painting

My Favorites - Water Lilies

As I was driving home one day from my art class I noticed a pond covered with water lilies so stopped to take a few shots.  Luckily the yards in Florida are large so I could walk around the pond without intruding on the owners.


Water Lilies

The Word 7

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.


Psalms 19:141

In Living Color 4 - Color Value Charts

After spending a fair amount of time working in pencil and pen & ink several students, including myself, talked Louise into teaching us the art of watercolor.
Our first assignment was to get to know our paints and there values in a way similar to that of the graphite pencils which meant making a color chart.  The first step was to paint a short strip using full color then dip our brush tip into water and paint another strip after the first one.  By dipping the brush in the water it would slightly dilute the color giving us a new value.  We continued this across the paper until the original color was very pale using each color we had on our pallet.


 Color Value Charts

Our homework for that week was to do a VALUE painting.  We could chose any subject to paint but were allowed to use only one color.  I chose Paynes Gray to give it a black and white affect.  This is known as a monochromatic painting.  I was a bit skeptical as to how it would work but went for it and here is the result.

Monochromatic Painting - Chicken

The following week we continued down the same path only this week we were allowed to use three colors.  I used the Paynes Gray along with Yellow Ocher and Alizarin Crimson.  In using these colors we were allowed to mix them in order to come up with various shades.  Here is the result.

Tri-colored Painting - Chicken

Last but not least we were allowed to use as many paints as our heart desired to complete the last of the series.  Here is the result.

Multi-colored Painting - Chicken