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 "















The Word 24

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Psalm 51:10-12

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"



My Favorites - Evening Glow

This picture was taken in Deland, Florida on the grounds of Stetson University one evening while Gary and I were there for a flute recital by our good friend and choir director Susan, who was a professor of flute at the time.

My Favorites - Evening Glow

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

The Word 23

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

My Favorites - Atlantis Shuttle

Living in Florida has given Gary and I the rare opportunity to experience the Space Shuttles up close and personal at the Kennedy Space Center.  This picture was taken of Atlantis during the transportation from the Vertical Assembly Building out to Launch Pad 39A, a 3.4 mile journey that typically takes 6 hours.  This was the last mission of any shuttle into space after 30 years and we had the privilege to witness the transport.  Taking place at night made perfectly beautiful pictures.

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"

In Living Color 43 - Oleander

In my last posting I mentioned that I need to start doing more of my own work rather then reproducing an other's work and little did I realize that my next painting in line would be one of my own.

This picture started with a photo I took while taking classes at the beach house studio.  There is a beautiful Oleander bush just to the side of the entry door and it was showing flowers in rare form that day.  I took several shots and decided this one would make a great painting.

Oleander - Photo

At the time I started this painting I still didn't have the layering affect for leaves down but just kept working layer by layer until a satisfactory result was achieved.

Oleander - Leaves

In order to paint the flowers without having to work around the areas that would remain white I placed Miskit masque fluid where needed which saves a lot of time and headache. 

Oleander - Masking

 

 

I started adding the color in a couple of stages starting with the smaller flower first to get the hang of it then onto the larger one.

 

Oleander - Flowers

 

 

 

After removing the Miskit I filled in all the details of the center and layered a little more color overall to complete the painting.

 

Oleander Morning

Watercolor

11" X 15"

The Word 22

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

II Corinthians 1:3-4

My Favorites - At Dusk

This picture was taken at a pond in the neighborhood of our close friends Tom & Olga.  Gary and Tom spent a little time there trying to catch a few fish but unfortunately they weren't biting.

My Favorites - At Dusk

In Living Color 42 - Matilija Poppy

Painting a white flower on white watercolor paper is somewhat of a challenge and I thought it was time to give it another try so once again I am relying on the teaching of Birgit O'Conner through one of her books that also contained a DVD instructional.    I love her work and it's always fun to see how close I can get my work to look like hers.  I like learning different techniques from different sources but know that one of these days I need to work strictly from my own resources. 

Matilija Poppy from Lesson Book

This painting is one she calls 'Matilija Poppy'.  In the first step I used a grayish wash mixed from neutral tint and layered until I reached what I thought was just right even though it wasn't much to get to excited about.

Step One



It was now time to add some color to see if things would improve and sure enough they did.

Step Two



Okay now for the last step of completing the details and signing.  I think I did a pretty good job but I will honestly admit I like her painting better.

Matilija Poppy - Study

Watercolor

15"X 22"

The Word 21

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.  He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.  He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, thought I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 23: 1-6

In Living Color 41 - Wisteria

The idea for this next painting came from a trip I made to the Morse Museum of American Art located in Winter Park, Florida see here, showing the works of Louis Comfort Tiffany.  The idea didn't come right away but some time later when I came across the ticket stub that I had saved from my trip there.  

The ticket was 4.5"X 2" so I started out by scanning it so I could print a larger picture to make the cartoon from. I have started using a different method to create my cartoons than the one I explained in the post from June 4, 2011, Just Black & White 11, which I find more efficient.  I start with a black and white 8X10 photo of the subject I want to paint.  I then use a sharpie pen to out line the areas that will result in the cartoon.  From there I place a sheet of tracing paper over the above piece and trace in pencil the areas I have outlined.  Once this is done I check my work to see that everything is in order then once again go over the pencil outline with a fine tip sharpie making this the final step.  Using this drawing it can be enlarged to any size I want to paint, full sheet, half sheet or quarter sheet, by taking it to our local Staples and letting them do the rest.  I usually take the watercolor paper that I will paint on so we can get the correct measurement and check the enlargement against it.  So far I have only used quarter sheets but the dimensions should work for the others as well.

Stain Glass Cartoon

This was a very tedious cartoon to make but once again I really like doing detail work so even though it took awhile I enjoyed the process.  By the way when I scanned the ticket I hadn't punched the hole in it so I didn't have to guess how to fill in the missing area.

Picture of Ticket

Once the watercolor paper was ready to go I started what I thought would be an easy painting....WRONG....it was much harder than anticipated.  First there is a lot of blending of colors to get the right effect.  Then as I would look at the picture to see what color to add I'd lose my place on the painting and spent a lot of time going back and forth to get the right color in the right place.

Stain Glass - In The Process

Once I finished filling in all the blanks it was time to add the leaded effect which consisted of outlining all the previous work with a thin semi-black color and adding a signature.  Below is the picture of the completed work but I have to add that I didn't do a very good job of taking the picture and I no longer have the painting in order to retake it.  You will notice a shadowing over the bottom left of the painting that shouldn't have been there and the colors in the original are much brighter as you can see in the photo above.

Stained Glass Wisteria- Study
Watercolor
11"X15"

In Living Color 40 - Zinnias

This painting was exciting to do.  I tried several new techniques in achieving the final results.  First was cropping of the original photo to a close up view of the flowers and eliminating unwanted clutter.  Then while in the photo shop program I started playing with the picture to see what it might look like with the various effects that were offered.  I started out using the watercolor effect to see what it could look like once painted then moved onto another effect that gave it the pen & ink look.  Unfortunately I can't remember which effect I used for the second step and should have written it down at the time.  I rather liked the look and decided I would attempt to paint it that way.  I made a print of those results and began from there. 

Original Photo

Cropped and Altered Photos

Watercolor Effect

 

After painting the photo to look like the watercolor effect photo I then moved onto the Pen & Ink effect to finish the painting.

 

Pen & Ink Effect

 



Working the Pen & Ink was the most time consuming part of this painting due to using a small tipped ink pen and achieving the effect with dots and scribbles.  Strange as it may seem this is the most relaxing part for me and I didn't mind doing it at all but was somewhat excited to come to an end and call it finished.

Zinnias
Watercolor
11"X15"

The Word 20

The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17

My Favorites - Lilacs

On our last vacation to Utah Gary and I spent a lot of time in the mountains so I could get my fix of fresh mountain air before going back to flat Florida.  I was surprised to find this lilac bush growing there since I'd not seen one in that area in the past.  I love lilac's and they have the most wonderful aroma.

My Favorites - Lilacs

In Living Color 39 - Moonlight Lily

It might seem strange that I would list this painting under In Living Color but it actually is a watercolor where I just use one color, Payne's Gray.  Ever since I painted the monochromatic chicken posted earlier, while working under my first teacher Louise, I have wanted to try doing another painting using that technique.  This painting was a lot more challenging than the chicken, was a great exercise in color value, and I really like the results.  The original color photo, if I recall correctly, was one I found in a Birds & Blooms magazine.

Midnight Lilly
Watercolor
11"X15"

In Living Color 38 - Nemo's Friends

My next painting was the inspiration of Karen.  We were sitting at the kitchen table one day going through magazines and I was looking at a copy of my husbands Scientific American.  I found a picture of Nemo's friends and when Karen noticed it she asked if I would paint it for her.  The next thing I know I'm making an enlargement from a 1 1/2"X2" photo.  I started the painting while Karen was still in Florida but due to the slowness of my work I didn't finish it until after she left for Utah.  But eventually it was completed, framed and shipped to her as one of her Christmas gifts.


Nemo's Friends
Watercolor
11"X15"

In Living Color 37

One summer before I left the beach house classes we had our daughter Karen, who lives in Utah, spend a few weeks with us which gives her mother a little vacation and some time to herself.  I would always take Karen to class when I went and she loved the opportunity to do art along with the rest of us and get a lot of attention in the process.  Here is a picture of Karen enjoying class and a couple of art pieces she completed while there.

Karen

 

Karen's Art - Drawing

 

 

Karen's Art - Watercolor

 



 We had a good time!

In Living Color 36 - Butterfly

After going out on my own I started this painting and I was very pleased with the outcome even if it took me forever to figure out the process and to complete it.  I remember spending a long time just deciding how to do the back ground and at least that much longer getting the nerve to paint it.  I knew that once I started the background I needed to complete it in one sitting so it would be cohesive.  This will not be a new picture on the blog as I've used it on the sidebar for some time now but felt it needed to be included in the body of the blog as it fell into place among the others.

Butterfly
Watercolor
11"X15"

In Living Color 35

It was several years that I spent taking lessons to learn the finer art of drawing, pen & ink and watercolor but as with all good things a time comes when you feel that a new direction is needed.  I was very fortunate to have two great teachers but also felt that, at the time of this decision, I was not moving forward any longer.  In fact I found myself doing to much comparison to the teacher and other students and felt my work was not living up to my expectations.  It was then that I decided I needed to go out on my own and discover what I could do using my own choice of subjects and the knowledge that I had obtained to that point.  It was a slow process moving forward but I was determined to do it. 

Regarding this subject I want to leave you with a parting thought about my teacher Therese Ferguson, here.  She is an amazing artist and can paint just about anything with complete ease.  She has been in many competitions and has brought home the prize probably more often than not.  She and several other ladies run an art studio, Art & Antique Studio, located in Melbourne where they give lessons in many different media.  Here is a picture of Therese giving a lesson in one of the classes I attended at the beach house.

My Teacher - Therese Ferguson

And here she is with an award winning ribbon at one of the shows.

Thanks for sharing all your knowledge with us Therese!

In Living Color 34 - Succulent

It seems that every now and again I find an artist that I really like and want to see if I can duplicate their style.  I found such an artist in a book at the library.  Library's are really great places!  This time the book also included a step-by-step video to watch.  What a bargain!  The artist is Birgit O'Connor here and she likes to do really BIG paintings.  I have tried a few of her works and here is one that I feel I didn't do my best and actually have not completed yet but maybe when I finish it I will feel a little better about it.  I will post the other paintings I've done of hers at a later date.

Succulent
Watercolor
11"X15"

My Favorites - My Little Buddy Solomon

I am dedicating this posting of My Favorites to my little buddy Solomon who has truly been the light of my life.  We met 18 years ago and have spent those years in a relationship unlike any other I've had with my pets.  He had the most lovable, adorable and beautiful spirit ever.  We just had to look into each others eyes and know that there was a love only the two of us could share.  He will truly be missed but will always have a place in my heart.  Love you little buddy!

My Favorites - My Little Buddy Solomon