Green Man - WIP Forever??

Green Man, had a fun time "Starting" this painting in August, OMG, it's been that long, and it's been a long time since I've had time to paint. See it all began.... when I went to WORK, I received a offer to go back to work as project manager and it is wonderful, but now I have no real time to paint. :-( bummer.
It's still a wip, since I have more leaves to define and the top leaves need to be soften but hey! I wanted to post something. :-) The fun part of this painting was I basically threw the paint wet/wet on it and with a small sea sponge started pulling out the color for the eyes, nose, mouth and then let dry. Then I went in and started doing the negative/positive painting. It's got a bit to go before I'm done but so far I'm good about it.

Thanks for looking.
Have a Wonderful Christmas!

Rookie painter June Challenge

Summer Cherries
9x12 Watercolor

For a fun monthly watercolor challenge try out Rookie Painter.
This was a fun painting to do and a good learning experience. I was having a hard time getting a really dark cherry red. I finally just dipped into my black and mixed it with Perylene Maroon and it worked. Yay!

Painting in the dark....

Pastel
12x18

Pastel
12x18

Hello! well I've been busy with all sorts of art stuff, but not a lot of watercolor. I've been exploring pastels, zentangles, photoshop and drawing. Since they weren't watercolor I wasn't planning to post, but what the heck, I decided to just go ahead and share what I've been up to.
:-)

Ok, I've never done pastels, and decided to give it a try. I did these two paintings in a Friday night pastel class at the Triton Museum with Jeff Bramschreiber. He's a great teacher and fantastic artist. He taught us different ways of using pastels like using watercolor, alcohol, etc, but my favorite class was painting a still life that he called "Painting pastels in the dark".

The first part of the class would be with the lights on and we would draw out the still life and block in some color, then he would dim the lights pretty low and we would get a totally new perspective and value scheme. It was crazy trying to see your colors in that lighting! but it makes you look at color value differently. When he turned up the lights, it's surprising to see what color choices went on the paper. The last part of the class we would be able to fine tune our paintings and add different colors. Fun!

The crow was painted in the "dark" and the gorilla was done using a photo that Jeff took at some zoo.

I'll post more on the Zentangles, when I get some pictures of my tangles.
Have a Great Day!

Brave Warrior

Brave Warrior
5x7
Watercolor

Another small painting of a Brave Warrior, I gave this to my husband for Father's Day, he's a Great Father and a Warrior in my eyes.
Happy Father's Day's to all the men out there!

Inspired Masa Paper

Great fun playing around with Masa paper. My artist sister Noreen, saw SrishtiArt's blog posting of working with Masa paper. This inspired her to order it and prepare some for us to try out.
I was surprise how vibrant the watercolor shows up on this, I only did 2 layers and got some very vibrant colors. It also stayed wet longer after applying paint and not much water is needed. I'm excited about doing some more stuff with this paper.

It's been awhile! and small paintings

Hello! I know it's been awhile since I last posted, but glad to say that I've been able to paint in between all the on-goings. Most of these are small paintings which have been fun to do.

The Virtual pARTy - Derby Week challenge

8x10
Watercolor

Another fun painting challenge site to try out "The Virtual pARTy".

Paint and Draw Together - Challenge 3 Tulip

8x10
Watercolor

Paint and Draw Together has some nice photo's to paint for each month's challenge. This month's was a Tulip. Check them out and join in on the fun. :-)

Fioli House Magnolia

8x10

Watercolor

The gardens at Fioli house are Blooming! I went a few weeks ago and took a ton of photo's and planning to again to get more pictures of the flowers that weren't in bloom yet.
If you've never heard of Fioli house and garden's check out their link. It's a Beautiful site and a great way to spend part of your day if you live around here.

Fioli House and Gardens
"Located 30 miles south of San Francisco, Filoli is an historic site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and one of the finest remaining country estates of the early 20th century."

Paint my Photo!

Great idea! and Great site!

This is a great idea where photographer's and artist come together and art can happen.

read on...

Paint my Photo
http://paintmyphoto.ning.com/
What's the Idea?
"Very Simple, there are lots of great Photographers out there in internet land, and there are lots of Artists of all abilities who would like to paint from photographs. The problem is that Copyright law prevents this, although many photographers would love to inspire other Artists (Yes I do agree photography is an Art, I chose the terms 'Artists' and 'Photographers' for clarity). So-If you have posted photographs here, it is because you are happy to allow derivative works to be created. You still own the copyright of your photos of course. The Artist can, if the photographer has selected that option on joining, contact the Photographer to enable them to see the work. The Artist can sell their work as normal, if the photographer wants 'first refusal' on the Artwork, that should be by private arrangement and has nothing to do with 'Paint My Photo'. Artists can place links to where there work can be purchased. Photographers can place links to where other work and prints can be purchased. Anyone spamming and not following the spirit of the site will be warned and advised before any action taken.
****IMPORTANT!**** We are a site for natural media only, no digital artwork, thanks for sticking to this rule.
I hope this site proves useful, have Fun everyone!"

Angelic Beauty

Angelic Beauty
22 x 30
Watercolor

Well, I finally got this one completed, about 98% done a few more tweaks and it'll be done. (I'm such a impatient person, I cant wait to post before it's completed) :-)

I drew this months ago, and wanted to have a stain glass window in the background but I didn't like what I came up with so I decide to go with a star background. There's still a few more things like the star's I want to go in and lighten and clean up and a couple more feathers to darken.

It was a very enjoyable piece for me. Enjoy!

Beloved Buddha

Finally finished this larger watercolor of Beloved Buddha 16x20. I had started the drawing last year, got started painting it early this year and then I've been working on it on and off for the past couple of weeks, tweaking it, now that I've got a digital shot of it I notice some dark spots on the right hand side, that I dont see on the original, so I'll go back and see what's that all about.
Enjoy!

German Shepherd

Wanted to try a quick and loose German Shepard painting in watercolor and this is what came out!

Acrylic fun

Well I finally broke out the Acrylic's and materials that I had ordered last year and had sitting around in my closet. My sister in law Noreen, got me in the mood to try them out, talk about a crash course in Acrylics! we had a couple of Acrylic books Acrylic Revolution by Nancy Reyner and Rethinking Acrylic by Patti Brady that we bounced back and forth from till we got the jist of what to do first.
The prep time took the longest in because we prepped the canvas with 2 coats of GAC100 and then two coats of white gesso. I was using Fluid Acrylics and they are GREAT! they are very concentrated from the bottle, but you can dilute them with water or gesso. Towards the end I just squirted them on my canvas and painted the area I wanted with them.
We also had fun using Light Molding paste, very cool stuff for textures.
It was really fun using Acrylics and gave me a new perspective of using them.

Me-OM.... whimsical Cat Buddha

Me-Ommmm....

Just something fun I came up with and had fun painting. Enjoy!

34/100 "Penny Experiment Art" - Feed the Hungry

# 34/100 "Penny Experiment Art"

"This is my journey as I try to see if I’m correct by turning that “worthless” penny into $1,000,000 of food for local food banks." Jeffrey Strain
http://www.pennyexperiment.com/

A great project was sent to my attention called the "Penny Experiment" created by Jeffrey Strain. He found a penny on the ground and felt called to turn a "worthless" penny into a $1 million dollars for food for local food banks. One of his projects to create money is to ask Artists to create little works of art 3x5 to 6x8 to be sold , the profits would be used to buy food for food banks.
Check out the Penny Art Gallery and there might be still openings for Artist to participate, email Jeffrey and check the website for more information and Facebook "Penny Experiment"

I completed my artwork and have sent this statement with it. It's my hope that more people will join his facebook fan page to give "power" to Jeffrey as he completes this life giving project.

Inspiration/About Art:
My inspiration of this piece was that I wanted to give “Power” to the project because I believe in it and see great service in feeding the hungry. If all of us stepped into our “Power” and did something for Humanity, what would life be like today?

When thinking of ideas of what to do I saw an ad that showed a powerful gladiator who was ready to do battle, the energy he projected was intense and I liked the idea of using him as a symbol of power for the success of the project in reaching its goal.


Significance of the Number: 34

I received # 34 randomly but the Universe happily sends messages to our soul. This number describes where I’m at on my path and it’s a confirmation that things aren’t as random as we tend to believe.

Looking up the # 34 on the internet, it says “The number 34 bestows spiritual wisdom through careful observation of people and things, and worldly success by learning through experience.

Reduced to a single entity 7, (3+4=7) this vibrates to the planet Neptune. It represents spirituality, sensitivity, sympathy and mystery. 7 is the number of illusion and delusion, sometimes deception but also the number of healing and miracles, faith and dreams that do come true.

If you are influenced by the number 34, 25, or 7, you tend to have remarkable dreams. Secretly, you have an intense interest in esoteric mysteries, mythology, the unknown etc. Often, your mere presence has a soothing effect on a troubled person. The 7 vibration is associated with peculiar ideas about religion, a dislike of following the beaten path and a tendency to adopt political beliefs which are unique and somewhat non-orthodox.


Materials: Watercolor and Pencil on Watercolor paper


Size: 4x6

Kathleen Alexander Flower workshop

Picture of our workshop space

Reference photo for painting

My painting in progress

Finish painting!

Such a wonderful time I had at Kathleen Alexander's flower watercolor workshop. She amazes me every time I see her work. Her keen eye for color and details blows me away she'll point out colors in a simple photograph and I'd have to look real hard, but I'd start to see what she's seeing and wow! I never saw that, so the biggest thing I take away each time from her workshops is to pay more attention and really look, look for the subtle colors and color mixtures and hues.

In this flower painting we did, she had us start out with a underpainting of colbalt blue and a little sap green for the shadows in the flower petals, then with a bright rose pink on top of that. The background we used Holbein shadow green to get that rich dark background, the leaves we used green gold and sap green. She showed us to soften the highlights in the background to give that fuzzy look and where hard and soft edges were. It was a great workshop and I highly recommend her as a teacher.

A place of my own - New Art Studio

New paint job outside is next but it's comfy inside

Painting area, new Buddha that's a WIP and that ugly box on my desk, works great as a incline for painting. It was a box that some watercolor paper came in.

Office work area

New artwork, the large one is a Angel with a stained glass behind her, I'm still working on the stained glass portion because I don't like what I've drawn. I'm itching to start on to the Angel but "patience" I keep telling myself... the other painting is a flower painting I did at a recent workshop I took with Kathleen Alexander, it was a great workshop. I'll be posting more info on that workshop next.

Well I finally did it, I moved out to our "Shed" out back, it's actually a custom shed that we bought long ago for additional storage from The Shed Shop . (Check them out if your in need for additional living space or storage. )
The "shed" is now " My Art Studio" Yay! After getting it cleaned out, the paint touched up and moving my art desk out there, I can say I now have a place of my own. It's amazing how quiet it is out there and no distractions from the family. I can "zone" out for hours and just paint, what a amazing experience.

Fresh Start! Art show

FRESH START!!

SCVWS Members' Spring Watermedia Show

March 1-28, 2010

Perfect Title for this posting, I'm off to a fresh start and no looking back!

I participated in the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor "Fresh Start!" spring show. My first ever! Here's a picture of my painting hanging on the gallery wall.
Yippee! the first of many milestones to come. :-)

And a Big Thank You to everyone for your supportive words and comments on my last blog posting. I've decided not to return to the class and move forward and keep a positive attitude. " A Fresh Start! " :-)

Still Life #6

Still Life #6

Well, it took me a while to post this, because I got kinda "scolded" for not following the lesson plan, (not having my still life as the center of focus) and then used as the example of what you're not suppose to do! oh gosh was I embarrassed and felt shot down in flames. Fortunately I was not the only one who did this! there were other students who showed up with paintings that their still life was either implied or not the center of focus as well. So I felt better that I was not the only one confused about what the teacher wanted. Too bad I had to be the first one up to show my paintings! because I got the brunt of it, oh well, what doesn't kill me (or humilates me) will make me stronger.

Dragonfly WBO #5

Hi There! Here's number five of my still life,..... huh?! where's the still life, I know, and it's "implied" there, really it is! see the blue angled line on the left, that's the small green vase and the burnt sienna line next to it, represents the red vase.

This piece was interesting while painting, it didn't turn out the way it was drawn out, I had alot more lines that was on the painting that didn't get painted once I got started. Good thing too, because it would have been to busy and cluttered.

I've been struggle with if I can get away with the implied part of it for the class and I think I can because I believe the purpose of the class is to unearth the artist you truly are and to help understand what type of art work you gravitate to creating. Also to unbound yourself and create your own designs and of course teach you design principals.
Well I hope it's ok, I'll let you know if I get dinged for it at class. :-) (I doubt it, since Mike is a really, really, nice teacher)

Mike Bailey's Watercolor Beyond the Obvious

WBO #4
22x30
watercolor

WBO #3
22x30
watercolor

WBO #2
22x30
watercolor

WBO #1 - Stressed out!
22x30
watercolor

Original still life

Hello There!
I've been busy with a new class I started a couple of weeks ago called "Watercolor beyond the Obvious" taught by Mike Bailey.

Wow, this is a super class and beyond what I anticipated in learning. What I mean by that, not only am I learning design principal's, I am learning about ME, and my thought process, and self imposed boundries, and on and on... Whoa, I didnt think I was going on a adventure trip through "Sheila's Overactive Brain" land or the "Worry Wart" ferry ride but it's been a enlightening experience and I'm loving it.

The class is structured that you will setup a still life at home and each week you will learn a new design principal and then go paint that for the following week. Overall you will paint "a" still life twenty times, the same still life that you can't move, or change the perspective. The purpose of the one still life is that you'll be challenged to do it differently every week and you will start to develop your design knowledge. Sounds fun right!? it is, and Mike is a really, really great teacher.

The first week, I was so stressed out trying to figure out what still life I would want to paint 20 times, so I didnt get to paint it till Sunday, the day before class! I had so much energy built up that my first painting was YUCK! but I had to keep going because I needed to have two paintings for the class the next day. My second painting I did much better and it was more realistic, which I'm use to painting, so I was happy with it.

Last week I had to come up with something and the lecture was on "Line". I was trying to figure out what I would do and going through my sketch book. Mike is big on sketching and carrying your sketch book with you everywhere to capture those great ideas you have in random places. So I was sketching and thinking, sleeping and dreaming, eating and thinking, ugh! non-stop.
I finally settled on doing these two, one is based on a Mandala and the other one has a southwestern feel to it.

Anyway, I will be posting onward my next 16 paintings!

FTM Challenge 10 - Robert Henri

Indian Girl
7x10
watercolor

I follow Michelle Burnett "Following the Masters" blog and this month's challenge is the works of Robert Henri. See his work here and if your inspired, join us at FTM blogsite. It's FUN!

Sax Player

I deepened up the pants and added more color to his skin.

Sax Player
10x14
Watercolor

Took this picture last summer at a craft fair. I've been wanting to do a painting with a musician and the funny thing is that my hubby is a guitarist! I've got some ideas about what I want to paint and what compositions but I've got to get him to model for me, which shouldn't be to difficult, he likes being in front of a camera :-) He also has a few guitars I want to take pictures of and do some paintings for.
Last year we went to a guitar show in Marin, California and I was surprise to find a artist there with some of his paintings of guitars and I thought what a great venue to sell, maybe I'll have to do that. ;-)

3 dudes and a big ol' fish

"3 dudes and a big ol fish"
5x7

I had fun painting this fishing picture for a birthday card for my bother-in-law Greg. He's a really great guy and I wanted to do something special for him.

Cuppa Joe x 2

Cuppa Joe 1
7x10

Cuppa Joe 2

9x12

Original

Took this picture at breakfast the other day and had fun creating the two paintings. I don't know if I should paint in the "half and half" writing on the lid of the creamer, what do you think?

Opera's Orchid

Opera's Orchid
9x12

I had a tube of Holbein Opera that I bought when I took Tom Lynch's workshop last year and I thought I'd give it a try on this orchid painting. At first I thought Yikes! this is very bright! but after it dried, I really liked it.
I wanted to get outside and shoot this in broad daylight, (but time got away from me) so it's shot in the late afternoon sunlight. I always wonder what the neighbors are thinking when I run out there with a painting and a camera and taking pictures.... they dont know I paint. Oh well, a little mystery is good!

DaVinci wash brush for free?

Happy New Year!

What a DaVinci wash brush for free?

Finally able to look at my artist magazines, now that the holidays are over, and on the third page of one of my favorite magazines "Watercolor Artist", was this ad and coupon.
If you purchase a 3/4 wash brush for $19.95 and tax, you get a 1.5" wash brush for free!
So I'm going to give it a try and order it and I thought I would let my blog buddies know too!
Here's the link: http://www.gregdaniels.com/wash