Early Halloween

Is it too early for Halloween? Yes, probably, but...

 We went to Disneyland last week and it was so much visual fun. 

You know what I mean... everywhere, the details, so fun to look at.

So I planned to do some plein air this week,

 but instead I just had fun painting this little fantasy house out of my head.

It will be a project for my watercolor students this fall. 

Update--Go to this link to see their work

Teen class link 

 And here is the demonstration I did for the teen class.

Lisa's Darn Yarn

  

I met Lisa at Darn Yarn, Needles & Threads in Harmony, PA.  Her shop specializes in American made yarn and supplies for knitting, crocheting, spinning... needs. It is a friendly place where Lisa also offers classes, tips and knowledge of the craft and local community. 

I spent some time photographing Lisa and the shop and found I was distracted by all the great conversation. We easily moved from subject to subject covering family, gardening, uni/bicycles, and ideas for future projects. I felt I made a new friend.

Last time I visited, Lisa showed me a new aluminum spinning wheel that is a work of art in itself. It is so beautifully balanced and so lovely to look at. A new "spin" on an old design. 

 You can follow Lisa on facebook here for shop info and because it is just fun.

https://www.facebook.com/darnyarnneedlesandthread

"Lisa's Darn Yarn" is number two of my "Buy Local, Paint Local" series.

Watercolor 14x14

It will be part of the AABC Invitational Art Exhibit at the Cranberry Township Municipal Building from July 9th - 18th and at the AABC Art Center from July 23 - August 2nd.

Small Acrylic Break

I painted this small pear with acrylic on a 4x6 inch stretched canvas. It was a  nice break from the larger watercolor and pastels that I have been working on. I like to look for hints of warms and cools in the shadows and play with them till I think it works. I used a bright orange/red as an underpainting. I like how it gives the image a glow. I will post the other paintings soon. I felt like I was neglecting my blog so I did this quick pear.

Also a qucik travel note. Went to New York to the Moma to see the Tim Burton Exhibit and thought it was great. It's a nice insight to how he works, from highschool on with examples of sketches, paintings, storyboards, films, notes, models, armature, props... all really fun and a nice inspiration for the boys. Can't wait to see what they come up with now!

Wildbird Recovery Donation

I  painted these birds as demos for some classes and decided to donate them as a part of "Art for Animals"  to the Wildbird Recovery Center.  I did a project last year for the Butler County Humane Society and this year I chose the Wildbird Recovery, Songbird Rehabilitation Center in Valencia, PA.

Last spring I found a little robin that was neglected by it's parents... not being fed... I watched the others being fed... so I called the recovery center and they said to bring it in. While I was there another woman brought in a crow that was hit by a car. I never really thought there was such a place for birds... funded by donations... and getting the birds rehabbed and back out.

They were happy to recieve the paintings and I hope will sell through their giftshop to get needed supplies.

Volant Mill

I did this small 7x10 inch watercolor today for a show at the Blue Heron Gallery in Volant, PA. I had a show there this summer and was invited back for a reunion show this February. I will have three pieces in the show. I did some local images, one of the summer kitchen behind the gallery, one of a PA road, and this one of the mill. Volant is a great little town with shops and a fly fishing creek for the guys.

Dog Portrait

another 7x10 inch watercolor dog portrait... this little guy looks like a handful. What fun!

Almost Done

I bought myself some new pastels (terry ludwigs) and started this painting for a show at the Butler Art Center. The theme is art and music. I originally started a watercolor based on the Kokoon Club (an old Cleveland art club) Bal Masque but I couldn't wait to try the pastels. Wow, it is so nice to use these pastels. (I also like windsor newtons.) I will finish this today and get it to drop off tomorrow if I can make it out the driveway... snow, snow, snow...

Update- Here is the finished image. I cropped it to 14x18 inches. It will be matted and put into a 20x24 inch frame. I titled it "Preparing for Class".

Another Update- It won second place in the pastels.

How about two more

Two more 2.5 x 3.5 watercolor, face cards.

I am doing some research on the Kokoon Club, an artist club from Cleveland, Ohio that had it's heyday in the 1920's and 1930's. They used to have fundraising "Bal Masques" that were costumed, decorated, skandalous?... and the hottest ticket in town.

DSFDF Portrait Challenge

I started my blog last year with the DSFDF portrait challenge and had so much fun with it. I jumped right in with this years challenge and hope the unknown artist that was given to me to paint (I am pretty sure I know) is happy with the results. Watercolor 7x10 inches

For those of you not familiar with the Different Strokes from Different Folks, it is worth checking out.

Fun to participate and fun to follow!

Update- Yes, I guessed right. It is Dean and you can click on his name to visit his site and see the painting he did of me. (note how we both used warm colors against cools-totally unplanned by us)

Backyard Pond

My last commission for this season. I learned alot with this painting. It is watercolor with pastel on top. I had a hard time with the reference photos and creating a focal point that didn't look like a black hole in the center on top of fairly flat colored greens. So I pushed the colors and shadows and am happy with the results. It ended up to be fun. 8x26inches

A Good Friend

This is a dog portrait I just finished for a commission. The story behind this dog is wonderful and is all about friendship, patience, loyalty and always ready with a smile. Kind of like my "Buddy." Which reminds me that I need to do a painting of my dog too. Stay tuned....

8x10 inches, watercolor

Field Trip

Every December I take my class on a "field trip" to a local garden center (Quality Gardens) to paint pointsettias. It is so lovely in the green house, full of color, texture and warmth on a cold day. While I was painting this demonstration one of the employees told me the type of pointsettia I was painting was called "Monet." How appropriate!!!

8x10 inches, watercolor

pastel portrait

I have been working on a pastel portrait and thought I would share what I have already. It is pretty much done. I will go back and tweek here and there. Anyway I decided to use pastel for this portrait since the reference photo was alittle blurry. I had no access to another so we thought pastel would work out fine. This one is pretty straight forward, reference photo taken with a flash... tried to keep it soft. Oh and we had to keep it small 8x10 so that I didn't have to make up detail that I couldn't see.

Update---- The finished portrait after alittle tweaking...

Oh, and now I see one more thing to do....

Mr Personality!

I just finished this 8x10 in watercolor. This portrait just had to be done with a bold background to fit the big, bold, in your face personality of this pint sized dog.

Faces

So for my last tuesday class, we finished the vintage portrait lesson working on a portrait using the smaller studies and paintings we did. Remember to use the contour drawings, value studies and painted sketches to keep the lights and darks in the proper places. The rest is just coloring! The painting is about 8x11 inches on watercolor paper.

I also included a watercolor sketch I did of my son. He is working on his portfolio for school and left a photo reference of himself, lit from underneath, at my studio. He is pretty creative and it inspired a future class to do with my students... If you take away the familiar, you are forced to look at and draw what you see, not what you think you see. Kind of like drawing upside down... This is also about 8x10 inches.

Continuation of vintage images

My tuesday morning class has continued to explore painting people using vintage photographs as inspiration. We have been practicing with value, color and quick studies. The class is doing well and we have a few that have put together complete paintings... some alittle abstract, some very charming and all work to be proud of! Next week we will continue with more quick studies to warm up and then work on composition. These are my quick, small, simple, demos done on an 8x10 inch sheet of paper.

Vintage man

I had the class work from black and white, vintage photographs. I like the way that old photos fade. The students don't get all caught up in detail and can simplify their paintings to just shadow shapes. They also can choose their own colors and ended up using some fun, unexpected colors. All of them did a great job. This is my demonstration, about 8x10 inches done in watercolor.

acrylic demos

I have a student who enjoys working in acrylic and I try to do demonstrations for her as often as I can. We have been looking at how colors relate/reflect... warm, cool... light sources... It is so interesting if you take the time to do your value drawings, take color notes and study the image before you paint. We have been painting from life in the studio.

eggplant, 7x5 inches garlic, 4x4 inches

Student Refresher

It has been a great week having all my students back for a new year of fun! Last week the adult class did a still life watercolor of pears in a basket. This is my demo about 10x10 inches.

The student age class did some drawing refreshers. I wanted to make sure they could still see shapes, shading and highlights. They started with contour drawings and moved to shading & highlighting.

And today the adults did the

drawing refresher (contour, value, shading...) and a lemon painting (about 7x10 inches).

It is going to be a good year!

I'm Baaack!

Just got back from Breckenridge, Colorado and Iowa, Columbus and Cincinnatti... The Colorado trip was great and just beautiful. The colors seemed so much more vibrant at that altitude... Maybe it was just the lack of oxygen in my head... Anyway, frisbee golf in Frisco, Vail Pass biking, hiking, fly fishing... all so fun to do. I did a few paintings, plein air and have many photos to keep me busy painting in the future. The first image (9x12 inches) is coming down the road from the scenic outlook near Breckenridge and the second (7x10 inches) is the view coming up Four O'Clock road to our condo.

Getting my classes and studio set up for the coming school year. I will be back painting on the 8th of September. I can't wait!!