Another Step Closer!

I think by doing a few changes to the lines and getting some background in the book is not so much a problem anymore...Thanks Kim for writing...I was sorry I had not posted this so you could see it is progressing...I think I shall never do a book again! Ha! Anyway, here is where I am at now and hopefully before the week is out I might even be done!
Merry Christmas to all!

Prism Update!

I am showing you where this is at but am not happy with where it is. I was doing well until I saw the perspective on the left side of the book did not work...had to was it off with a toothbrush which I hate because from now on it will not paint the same. Hopefully it will work out ok. Then for some strange and unknown reason, I painted that stupid lace as I did...it was simply because the other had turned out I think...I was not following my plan and just did it...now I hope that I can make it work. I did the very thing I tell my students not to do...keep with the plan that you know will work! Ha! Well, I am the worst when it comes to following anything, orders, plans, maps etc...so I hope that it will still be ok but I know it will not be what it could have been. Nevertheless, here it is at this moment before I begin moving into the background. I am still not done with all the prisms but that had become too tedious and I needed to move on for awhile. If I can get some first coats of the background in, then I might feel up to finishing off the glass.

Step Three for Prisms!

I thought I better take a picture while the sun was still shining as one never knows up here when we will go into a long stretch of no sun. It is coming along but I have not devoted as much time to this like I had hoped! I am putting up the tree and decorating outside today and tomorrow to get that project done and have mailed the presents except for one! So I am getting things completed. Most of the Christmas cards have also been sent...at least to family...we will see how far I get with the rest. Sometimes we just can't do it all and be artists too!
I am trying Daniel Smith's Quinacridone Gold Deep which is a limited time only paint and I am really liking it. It makes the reds and browns and even the greens more lively! I hope they start to make this one all the time!
As I progress with this piece, I am seeing that it is actually Christmas colors! I was not inspired by the season but rather just using complementary colors but if this one works out I think it might make an interesting Christmas card for next year. I hope this week helps me get closer to filling in all the local color as I like to cover more of the white to help me with values but in this case, the dark background might bleed into a prism so I really want those done before I ever do the background. I suspect once that goes in there will alot of value adjustments but that part will be much easier...I have found all those shapes and that was the hardest part for me.

Step Two With the Prisms!

I am sorry about the delay in the next picture but we have had no sun so it just would have been too gray a picture. Today it is sunny but it is -20 degrees so freezing out there. I took a quick picture and hopefully will not have to redo it. I did crop it some because of a shadow falling over part but I think the part where I have been painting is showing up well enough to help you see what I am doing. Finding the shapes within each prism is really taking alot of time, more than I anticipated. But if I do it right the results will be worth it. I worry at some point I will become impatient and hurry something so it is not right...so I am trying to just do each part the best I can and take breathers. I am using Daniel Smith paints on 300# ARches. Mostly I am using Indanthrone Blue, Qinachridone Sienna, Transparent Brown Oxide, Sap Green and New Gamboge. The reds are Perylene Scarlet and Perylene Red. OVer glazing with Transparent Pyrrol Orange is helping to give areas some nice sparkle so far. I am enjoying that new color. I think it might just become the final glaze for some of the reds too as it really enlivens the colors.

Moving Right Along!

I have been painting on the prisms of the drawing below and it is coming along but I have not been able to get a good picture so far. That is because we have been having snow storms and it stays so gray outside it overcasts everything! I do hope to get a picture in the next couple of days however. So far I am very very excited! Now I just have to be patient and not rush from this excitment and ruin what I have begun! Ha!
I had an email from Jmancol from the Philippines this morning and he says that the purple waterlily below is called Midnight! Wow! This is so great to think you can put a question out into cyberspace and an answer comes back from the other side of the world! Thank you so much! I tried to email back to you but it bounces back to me saying something about the prefix of the email address. So I will thank you here and hope you get this! I believe it shall be called "Midnight Waters" and all thanks to you Jmancol!
Asnow storm is moving in right now again to drop a possible 10 inches of snow on us. The day before yesterday we got at least that much as well but it makes it so beautiful around here...who can complain!? I will try to get some nice pictures of the snow too if the sun would try to peek out! Have a good day!