In Living Color 56 - Stained Glass Peacock

Wanting to try another Tiffany style painting I found this one and just fell in love with it.  So the journey begins.

Tiffany Peacock Image

Here is the first stage of the painting and it always amazes me how much it doesn't look anything like the original.

Finally I got all of the feathers finished after spending weeks of mindless blending.  By the time I reached this point I thought I might need therapy.  It was very much like the last Tiffany I painted trying to keep your place from one area to the next working off a small version of the original.

At this point I have completed all of the area that will require the leading and have begun the process of painting the black lines that surround each and every patch of color.  I really will need therapy before this is over.

At last in spite of the mind numbing repetition and completion of the body the peacock is finished.  What a glorious day and I just love it.

Stained Glass Peacock
Watercolor
11" X 15"

In Living Color 55 - Moonlight Rose

My newest adventure finds me back in the gardens where I find beauty that only God can create.  This picture was taken during one of our many trips to Winter Park, Florida a town not far from where we live.  It is a quaint little town that we love to visit, as any artist would, when they have the annual Art Festival.  This rose was so beautiful that I just had to try painting it.

With the cartoon made and placed on my paper (Arches 140# cold press) I wasn't sure where to begin but thought outlining the petals would help me get the vision a little easier.  I found that once I did that I just needed to continue working inward as you can see in this series of photos.

At this point I felt like the rose was complete and if not I could adjust it as the remaining portion starts to filled in.  What would a rose be without leaves? Unfinished.... so leaves was the next step to tackle, which is not my favorite project but it needed to be done.  Below are the steps taken to complete this part.  You might notice that in this set of photos it looks like a different rose in each picture but this is due to taking the shots after each session and not following the same process to take each picture.

With the rose and leaves complete it was time to fill in the background.  I wasn't interested in using the background from the photo and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do so it was time to put this painting aside until I could figure it out.  I often come to this point while doing a painting and have learned that patience is the best way to keep a good painting from going bad.  After weeks of pondering I finally came up with a solution I felt would be perfect.  The solution came from a painting I saw in a magazine that would complement the rose and  allow it to stand out.  This stage was done by applying many layers and letting the color build up with each layer.  I wanted the effect of having other flowers and leaves in the background by using complementary colors but forcing them back using smaller clusters and a deeper value to achieve this.  Once this was complete I checked the values of the entire painting and made adjustments as needed.



Moonlight Rose
Watercolor
11" X 15"

In Living Color 52 - Pastor Larry

Out of all the paintings I have done so far I think this is the one I spent the most time on deciding whether I wanted to paint it or not.  One of the ladies in the art group I meet with each week decided it would be fun if each of us painted the same photo using our own style and medium.  Now usually I am up to trying something new but this photo was a portrait of our Pastor and we were going to present them to him as a Christmas gift.  No pressure there!  Well four of the ladies got started and had worked on them for a few weeks while I was still deciding what I wanted to do.  At last I decided why not give it a try, if I didn't like the finished painting I just would not present it.

Here is the photo that we started with.

Pastor Larry

Of the four that had begun Margaret decided to do a graphite drawing, Marge was working in acrylics after the Brito style, Bonnie was also using acrylics in what I dubbed as 'dabbelism' and Trish was doing acrylics in two-tone.  Everyone was working on a 8" X 10" canvas which also gave me reason for pause since I hadn't done much with acrylics on canvas and didn't want to begin with a portrait. But it was fun watching each week to see what was produced by each lady.

Below is a recent picture of the group of ladies I meet with.  Since this painting was done we have added a couple and lost one to other commitments. 
Top row left to right:  Janet, Bonnie, Billie, Marge and Paulette
Bottom row left to right:  Angie and Margaret















Once I completed the cartoon I decided I had to do watercolor on watercolor paper and would then mount it to a canvas so that all the paintings would be unison. 

I started with the shirt even though it is wise to leave blacks until the end of the painting so you don't accidentally cause it to bleed into the lighter colors if you drip water by accident.  I then moved to the first layers of skin tone and with just this much done I was really nervous about the end result.

 

Knowing that I needed to eventually paint Pastors eyes and didn't want to practice on the original painting I did a small sample and then made notations as to what changes I would make on the painting itself.  Using this sample I was able to lay it on top of the original to see how it would come together....well sort of.

 

With that little exercise done I went for the real thing and got brave enough to work on the mouth as well.

 

It was now time to work on refining the details and adding more layers of paint to even out the skin tone.  Keep in mind as you view the photos that each one is taken at a different point in time under different lighting conditions so they won't be consistent as far as color goes.  With this sitting I worked on adding the brows, refining the eyes and ears and unfortunately adding some wrinkles, or should I call them life lines, along with completing the overall color of the skin.

 

 I now felt I was finished with his face and decided not to try to improve anything since I have found that when I do I end up with mud from overworking the colors.  From here I had two areas to complete and since I was dreading the thought of how to paint the various layers of the hair I went for the background.  Actually I really didn't know how I wanted to do the background either so I played around on another sheet of WC paper until I came up with a simple but colorful example.  For this effect I painted wet on wet blending various colors as I moved around the paper.  As I completed each section in the movement I added a sprinkling of salt to give it one more dimensional effect.

 

Okay, now I don't have a choice, I need to paint the hair.  So again back to the practice sheet to try various colors and methods.  I came up with my best efforts and started with the lighter colors and continued layering until I was done.  This photo will give you an example of what the Pastor might look like when he reaches his fill of wisdom many years down the road.

 

Pastor Larry Linkous

Watercolor

8" X 10"











A Pleasent Surprize!

So far in my art history I haven't taken the opportunity to enter any of my art into competition. Earlier this year I decided to put two floral watercolor paintings in the Space Coast Birding Exhibition art show.  I was a little nervous but excited to enter to see what might come of it and to walk through and see some of my art hanging with all the others.  I didn't win anything but enjoyed the experience and it gave me the confidence to try again.

Last month our local college, East Florida State College, presented an art show for the community to view and in which I could participate.  Several of the ladies in my art group entered their work and I decided to join them.  So, I packed up two watercolors and a graphite drawing to enter.  They would be on display at the library on campus for three weeks with the awards being presented on the 30th of April along with a small reception and the presentation of the grand prize winner.

 

 

Gary and I decided to wait until the night of the reception to go view the art and see if I might have placed in either of the two categories I entered.  Much to my delight I had a second place ribbon hanging below one of the watercolors here.  What a blessing to have the judges admire my work and consider it worthy of a ribbon.

 

 

 



In Living Color 51 - Stained Glass Iris 2

This painting is going to look familiar to those who have followed my blog for a while as you can see from entry In Living Color 30 here.  When I painted the first Iris I followed the instructions to a tee but always wanted to try it again in a warm color and here are the results.

Stained Glass Iris
Watercolor
11" X 15"

In Living Color 50 - Tulips

This painting is another study of one of the works of Birgit O'Conner who I've used as a teacher in the past.  I am drawn to her work and find I like to paint using her style which seems very much like Georgia O'keeffe.  The last two of her paintings I've studied and painted are In Living Color 34 here and 42 here. 

Tulips from Lesson Book

 

 

Tulips - Step by Step Process

 

The first step was to determine which colors to use from my palette then get started.  Here is the beginning stage, the first tulip.

 

 

Once I felt comfortable with the painting I moved onto the second tulip.

 

With the tulips complete it was time to do the stems.  The technique to achieve a rounded three dimensional look was tricky, especially the one on the curve, but I finally came up with something I was happy with.

 

 

The last step was to complete the background which took a bit of  time just to  determine how I wanted to do it.  I decided on an all dark look which is a little different than the original that I was working from but I really like the outcome.

 

Tulips

Watercolor

11" X 15"



 





In Living Color 48 - A Stitch In Time 1 & 2

Okay,  I was hoping that my last paintings would have been a little larger so I had to try another in my normal quarter size sheet.  This turned out to be a bit more technical and took a lot more time but again I was just having fun.  I started out with the same process as the smaller ones which meant I had to get real creative to fill a much larger canvas.  Here is a sample of the beginning stage which consisted of random shapes and colors.

A Stitch In Time - Step One

 

After filling in all the space and adding a few more details it looks like this.

 

A Stitch In Time - Step Two

 

At this point it is ready for the misting of water and a sprinkling of salt to add an additional effect.  You can see the mixing of colors this creates.

 

A Stitch In Time - Step Three

 

 Once the above step was dry I decided I didn't like the white space that was left and chose to fill every area with different colors that would contrast with the color next to it.  I also found that some of the areas became over mixed and muddy looking so I did some extra layering of color to correct it.

 

A Stitch In Time - Step Four

 

 Now that I was finished it somehow didn't seem complete so after much thought I decided it resembled a Crazy Quilt but didn't have the required stitching a real quilt would.  So out comes the trusty Pen & Ink tools.  Below is a close up of the result.

 

A Stitch In Time - Step Five

 

Doing hundreds of little dashes takes a bit of time but I think the final result was worth it.

 

A Stitch In Time - One

Watercolor

11" X 15 "

 

Now that it was finished I felt it was a little darker than I had hoped for so I thought the best cure for that was to do another painting and be more careful with the misting process.  So I began and completed the painting and got the results I originally had hoped for but found that in comparing the two I really did like the first one the best.  Just like one of Grandma's old quilts.

 

A Stitch In Time - Two

Watercolor

11" X 15 "















In Living Color 47 - Abstract 1-3

I had so much fun working on the last small painting that I decided to try a few more.  This time I went even smaller in size and did a free flow style of my own.
I also tried the technique of painting then misting it with water to let each color merge with the other.  I don't recall for sure but I believe I did a little salt sprinkle on at least two of them as well.  Here are three that I finished and had even more fun being creative with these than my last painting posted.  I only wish they were a little larger now that they are done.

Dark Moon Rising
Watercolor
3.75' X 5.5"

 



A Ray Of Hope
Watercolor
3.75' X 5.5"

 

Bleeding Heart

Watercolor

3.75' X 5.5"



In Living Color 46 - Countryside

After working on a large painting that might take me 3-4 months, since I don't work on them daily, I need to do a small painting in order to feel like I'm really accomplishing something.  This painting was taken from the August 2012 Watercolor Artist magazine and done by the the artist Don Tiller.  I loved the simplicity and vibrant colors he produced in this painting.  Although he uses acrylic paint I stuck with watercolors.  I have also added the black outlining to give it a little more pop and a stained glass effect.

Countryside - Study
Watercolor
5.5" X 7.5"

Countryside - Watercolor Artist Magazine

In Living Color 45 - Moonshine

The trouble with having a subscription to any Watercolor magazine is that I find myself wanting to try out so many of the paintings that I find in them.  This painting is one of them.  I loved the colors the artist Kathy Hegman chose and birds are one of my favorite subjects so it was a no brainer.  The article is from the August 2008 Watercolor Artist magazine.  This is the second painting I have done from this artist and you can see the first one on my October 4, 2012 blog of The Bird Feeders.

Moonshine - Watercolor Artist Magazine

It was such fun watching all the colors come together even though they are not quite the same as Kathy's I found it to be one of my Happy Paintings.  Oh my I'm starting to sound like Bob Ross.

Moonshine - Study
Watercolor
11" X 15"

In Living Color 44 - Dog Walking

One of the magazines I loved to browse through while living in Utah was Sunset Magazine.  It was filled with gardening, recipes, home design and crafts all of which I love.  It was a habit of mine to save each magazine in case I wanted to use some of the information in the future so when we moved to Florida I boxed them up for the trip.  After several years of having them around I thought it was time to recycle and decided to take another look for old time sake and see if there was anything I might want to tear out.  While going through one I came across an advertisement for a Centennial poster that had many of the old Sunset magazine covers on it.  I fell in love with two of them and knew they would both become paintings one day. 

Poster Advertisement

As you can see each picture was extremely small, around 1/2" X 1" in size, so out comes the trusty scanner in order to make a larger version to work from.  Here is the first painting I finished.  See if you can find it in the above photo.

Sunset - Dog Walking - Study
Watercolor
11" X 15"