Drawing

I thought since I am sick I would write a little bit here about the drawing stage for my work. That is really the most important part for me. If my drawing is accurate and full of the details I feel I have finished half the painting because I am now familiar with what I am about to do and I have a really good map to get me there! I am a very studious person...I like to know that when I am done it will look like a white dahlia and not some strange daisy! That is just me. I loved biology and got a minor in that in college because I love to know how things work and look in detail. Knowing that about myself helps me understand why I paint the way I do! I have worked in abstract and in loose manners in the past but never was happy until I began to work in greater detail. So I needed to draw that detail so it was not lost in the actual painting process.
The part below took me over a day to draw and then I decided to paint it to a mid value because I did not want the lines to smear. Yesterday I drew in another dahlia...a partial one and will paint that today hopefully if I feel well enough. Then I hope to draw and paint aother one over the weekend which leaves one left! Yipee! I will try to get some pictures as I go but we have snowstorms here and expect it to be gray for a few days. Plus I have a new computer and cannot find the program to upload my images! I am working on that as well. I would love to get a small video camera and try to do some short segments for You Tube and that might help explain some of what I do! I am working on that as well! Trouble is I am no spring chicken and have to learn alot of stuff to do this! HHA! So hang in there with me.

Dahlia Beginnings

This is a full sheet painting but I just took a close up of the one flower I have started. I have been sick so this is going very slow but at least it is moving forward! I am using Indigo from Daniel Smith which is transparent and non-staining. I usually mix my own grays but being I feel tough I thought why not. It is a wonderful color as it can be completely lifted! So I am not a fan. This painting has 3 more dahlias and several buds and two fledgling sparrows. I think at the pace I am moving this will not be done until April! Ha! Hope I am wrong...I do like the composition but did spill some pomegranate juice on it...just one drip and boy that stains! It was in the sky too where I was going to do a flat wash...now there may have to be a leaf or something happening there...perhaps a bud...I nearly had a heart attack! Maybe that is why we should not paint when we are sick!
Since I have been sick all week I have played with Photoshop a little to try get the coloring more true...and this is where it is at..it is a little light in some of the grays but more true to the picture I hope.

Mailing List

I have been curious to see if this blog would work well enough to also be used as a Newletter. Those of you who subcribed above are now numbering near 140 people and so I would think this would work. I would be interested to hear from those of you who watch often to see if you think this is a good idea or do you use a different method for your newsletters? I surely am open to any suggestions! Thanks ever so much!
On a different not, I am beginning a large full sheet painting but since it is white dahlias, the drawing is so light there would be no way for you to see it. I will begin posting it's progress once you can see it better.

Painted Door

This is what I have been working on and I am calling it done. I am not at all comfortable with acrylics so it seemed to take me forever but I am sure if I do it a few more times I will get the hang of it better! This is a section of hollow door from a bifold door. It is cut also as the knob had to be cut so cut the piece in half making it about 3 feet by 18 inches. I primed it and then used a roller to put on the background. Actually two rollers as I put on the dark and light and then with a clean roller blended them. Then I thought, well if this works...why not draw it the actual size and transfer it on in case I ever want to do this again and figure out a way to make it all go quickly...well the transfer paper worked but it moved on this surface and it is impossible to get out...by using a damp cloth the other paint wanted to lift! Ha! So I say it has an antiqued look! Ha! I think this has possibilities as I can see florals hanging on the garden fence...this will go on my garage I think or at the back door. I still have to polyurathane it I think as I want it impervious to the elements. Anyway, this is what I have been up to off and on and it was a nice diversion!

Sweetpeas

This painting is full sheet Arches 300# coldpress. I wanted a different perspective and also an abstract quality so by using the stems of the Sweetpea plant as the focal point ratheer than the flowers I think I achieved some of what I set out to do. I think the fun part is setting up challenges for oneself and seeing if you can solve it. These are Daniel Smith watercolors again, the only watercolors I use.