Sunday Afternoon in the Studio

I got Rainy to the airport around 11:30 this morning and have since been trying to focus on some artwork.  I have not been too successful yet as my mind is now wandering towards getting ready for Christmas!  I did finish Jack the Beagle yesterday.

There wasn't much lefy to be done.  I lightened Jack's eyes a bit and completed some detailing around the mouth.  Overall, I am very pleased with the the finished painting.  I enjoyed using the oil paint on top of the torn magazine pages.  The last few layers of paint were added with quite a bit of linseed oil mixed into the paint and this left a nice overall sheen to the painting.  I will be giving the painting to my sister Jenni and her husband, Jim for Christmas as it is a portrait of their beagle.

I also started and finished this cat portrait of Zoe in my collage book.  Her face started out pretty accurate, but I got off on her body proportions.  I chose orange for the background to accent her tabby coloration.  I am done now with the household pets.  Next on my schedule is a portrait of Adam, but I need to get a photo first.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have the turkey in the oven, so I managed to squeeze in a little time to finish a page in my collage book.

This is Cloe, one of Bryant's cats.  She actually turned out better than any of the previous cat portraits that I have completed in the book.  I think this happened because I started the portrait differently.  Instead of drawing the overall shape of Cloe's face and body, I began with her nose, shading it in and getting it to be the right shape.  Then I moved onto her eyes and then her mouth.  I simply worked out from there.  This is how I draw people, so why haven't I been doing this in the collage book?  Who knows!  I guess I just forgot what works best for me.  The center fold in the spread of the book had me working around it instead of working in a way that I know is successful for me.  Now that I have been reminded, I think the pages that are yet to come should get better and better.

It's Been a Busy Day!

This morning I weighed in at Weight Watchers; lost another .6 pounds.  It is slow progress but at least the scale is moving down.  I did my Thanksgiving grocery shopping.  It always amazes me how expensive it is when you buy special foods.  Plus I stocked up on beer because Rainy arrives tomorrow.  I can hardly wait.  After lunch I made a batch of Coc Full of Chip cookies for Christmas.  They took a few hours and I was ready to be finished baking by the time I took the last batch out of the oven!

I added another layer of paint on my Jack the Beagle painting.  I am definitely liking the way it is looking!  I think it is pretty much done at this point.  I just need to come back in and work the facial features a little bit more.  I am not sure when it will happen, maybe next weekend after Rainy goes home.
Now I am getting ready to work on my Rainy & Raven painting.

I am Making Progress

Yesterday afternoon I worked on my Jack the Beagle painting and really made good progress.  Again, typical of me, I was afraid to get started on the painting, afraid that I would "ruin" it.  My self-asteem is pitiful as I don't recognize what I do well until after the fact.

Instead of using a rag and paint thinned with turpentine, I used a paint brush and thinned the paint with linseed oil.  When the brush strokes seemed too obvious, I simply rubbed over the area with a bare finger to smooth it out.  In the smaller areas, I used a q-tip.  The painting is starting to come together and it really does look like Jack.  I was suprised this morning to find that the paint is already dry enough for the next layer.  I guess this occurred because I used a high ratio of linseed oil to pigment and the oil simply dries faster than the pure paint.....faster than I realized it would.  That means I will be able to continue working on Jack the Beagle today instead of waiting until next weekend!  How fun!

Late Start Saturday

I spent the morning baking a batch of Christmas cookies so I didn't get into my studio until after 1pm.  I haven't been working very long but I have big plans for the day.

I had been working on the portrait of Bryant in my collage book off and on for a few days.  I can't tell you how many times I used turpentine to erase his mouth and portions of his face!  At first his face wasn't long enough so I had to redo most of his face.  I added his sunglasses (cut out from a magazine page) but I had the 2 sides shaped differently so I had to tear them off and redo the glasses.  The second pair I cut out I traced from the first pair, flipping the right side over to make the left side match.  This worked out very well and now the sunglasses seem to work much better.  I also struggled with his nose because the photo I was working from showed his nose at a different angle than what I am accustomed to.  Honestly, I finally gave up trying to fix it and said "this will do".  In the end, the portrait isn't a replica of Bryant but it does capture the basic essence of his image and I am satisfied.

Now I am going to work on the collage painting of Jack the Beagle and then I will move on to the collage painting of Rainy and Raven.

A Productive Sunday

I accomplished quite a bit in my studio today.  I didn't get started until after 10:30 this morning because I went to Weight Watchers.  I was down .4 which is a good thing.  I had planned to hike Lookout Mountain this morning as well, but I was anxious to get started on some art projects.

First I had to get a photo of Leila.  She was very cooperative, I suppose because I had just displaced her from a nap on my bed.  She chose to sit on the nightstand as I made my bed.  I still can't believe that I was so lucky as she doesn't usually sit around.  As soon as I was finished, she got right back on the bed and continued her nap.

I started out working at my easel and thought I had Leila's proportions layed out pretty well.  I was having a hard time pushing the pastels into the paper when it was upright, so I moved back over to my table to work.  I am not sure what happened to the proportions.....oh well.  Working in the coloring of Leila's hair was difficult.  I struggled keeping the colors from looking muddied, especially as I added the black, but in the end I felt as if I had captured the tortoise coloration pretty well.  Why are cat's eyes so hard?!?  They are very round and curve upward.  They have a very thin line of black around them which is hard to do with a pastel crayon!  You would have thought that by the third cat I moght have it figured out!  Nope.

I was anxious to work the skin tones on my painting of Rainy & Raven but decided instead that I should get my first layer of color in on their hair and clothing.  Using a rag wrapped around my finger, I rubbed in oil paint that was thinned with turpentine.  Now that the  first layers are there, I will switch over to using a brush.  I still need to think in terms of layers to get the overall luster and depth of the painting media.  This means that I can't be in a hurry.  I will have to stay focused, and patient!

I also continued my painting of Jack the Beagle.  I decided that the background was too blueish so I began by rubbing a layer of terra verde over the background.  This seemed to successfully tone down the blue though I may decide that it needs one more layer.  I also layed in the first layer of color on Jack.  Just like my painting of Rainy & Raven, I am ready to switch to painting with a brush when this layer dries.

Finally, I used oil pastels and finished the self-portrait on the cover of my IB sketchbook.  I had collaged torn magazine pieces on the cover weeks ago, but just hadn't gotten around to doing the self-portrait part of it.  I think I had somewhat lost interest because I just completed 2 self-portraits for examples to show my IB students.  This is not my best self-portrait, I struggled with the eyes and my glasses.  When I was finished with it, I applied a protectice layer of matte medium over the surface.  Now it is officially completed!

Getting Caught Up

Because it has been such a long time since I have written in my blog, I have been able to finish a couple of paintings that I mentioned in October.

I completed the mixed media painting of Dusty.  I titled it "Remembering Dusty".  The media is torn magazine pages and oil paint on canvas.  It is 20" x 24".
I hung it up in hallway where I see it every time I walk by, which is often.  I am very pleased with the way this piece turned out.  By layering and rubbing the colors, they have a definite sheen and depth to them.

I also finished this oil on canvas painting titled "Looking Back".  It is 18" x 36".  This will be the last of my series involving skeletons, at least for now, as I feel finished.
There are certain things I like about this paining such as the way the skin breaks away to reveal bone.  I also like the way I interpreted the human flesh and the skeletal structure.  I am not too thrilled with the plant.  I wanted it to have more of an ivy-like appearance, as if it was growing up the wall, actually clinging to it.  Instead, it looks like a tall plant growing upright out of a planter.  Oh well, I guess I kind of gave up on trying to fix the plant and will live with the painting the way it is.

It has been a month since my last blog!

Wow!  I hadn't realized how long it had been since my last blog.  I have a lot to catch up on as I have been busy in my studio.  For now, I am going for a hike around Lookout Mountain.  When I get back, I promise to update everyone on my studio work!

I am back from my hike, I have showered and mixed up a batch of Christmas cookies that are chilling in the frig.  Now about my art....

I have continued to work in my collage book and manage to complete about one image a week.  Since my last post I have finished one of Rainy, Raven, and our cat Toby.

The oil pastel painting of Rainy has managed to captured the essence of what she actually looks like.  I struggled a bit with her smile, which is bigger than I managed to make it.  I used some paper that I had on hand for Rainy's shirt, then added a bit of pastel to blend it into place.

I am not sure how I feel about the final painting of Raven.  It is basically her but not quite.  I think I am having trouble because I have to work around the binding at the center of the spread.

Poor Toby.....I made her beautiful eyes way to small plus they should be lower on her face.  I painted this picture of her relaxing in the bathroom sink  which is something she likes to do.  I used foil in the upper background to represent the mirror.

I just finished the spread of Alex.  I think his proportions turned out really well.  This is probably because I decided to work with the book upright at me easel.  I used bulldog clips and clipped the opened book to a drawing board.  It is so much easier to see what you are doing when the image is upright!  I don't know why I didn't think of that sooner!  I really want some Sennelier oil pastels as I think it would make the blending and layering of colors much easier.  They are on my Christmas list.