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| Studio light |
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| Overcast daylight I have decided to keep the bright colors, to keep my impression of the bird as a brilliant, beautiful work of Nature. I see and hear them every day when I go out to the barn, and their presence brings me joy. Now on to the dreaded bridge ... As always, your comments are most welcome. |
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| I've deepened colors in the bird |
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| Removed the masking, and added the shadows, and am having a re-think about how dark I want to go with the bird. My gut feeling is to leave it bright, and just add some shadows and feather details. I'd like to keep the essence of my vision of the swallows as such a bright, beautiful little bird, swooping through the air. |
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| I posted this for some levity, to balance the posting. This is Fat Bastard with his feet propped up, leaning on his backside. I don't have a lot of experience with chinchillas other than mine, but I've never seen or heard of one doing this. As always, your comments are most welcome. |
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| In the above two photos, I have deepened some of the hues, using some odd combinations - like quin. violet and brown madder for the leg, and quin. siena on the belly. |
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| I am into the darks now. On the bird, I am using various combinations of quin. pink, quin. burnt orange and indanthrone. For the shadows, I will use my favorite - quin. burnt orange, quin. violet and indanthrone. But I think it's time for a break, and some play-time with Bruno. :) As always, your comments are so welcome. |
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| I found this tiny nestling on a sheet I had placed under the nest. For some reason, there is almost always one that falls or is pushed from the nest. I felt compelled to paint him, as a quiet eulogy to his brief life. |
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| I went very bright to start, as I would be getting quite dark, and wanted the brightness to shine through. |
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| Slowly intensifying colors. I've decided to use all completely transparent colors. |
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| I've started to get into the darks/shadows now. As always, your comments are most welcome. |
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| Here she is without a background. |
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| Studio light. I put in a very loose w/w wash with the colors I'd used for the shadows of her face and body. |
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| Indirect outdoor light. 8 x9 in. 21 x 23 cm. I am pleased as I usually am not. [that sounds awkward] The background brings Missy forward just enough. As always, your comments are very welcome! |
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| I thought I'd post from start to finish, what I have done today ... |
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| I had to lift her left nostril a bit here, as it seemed to be a bit off kilter. |
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| At this point, I think I may darken the ears and nose, touch up the dark points around her muzzle, and darken the shadowing on her left side. Then I am considering using the mauve color I've used in the shadows of her face, and dropping it w/w on the side of her face and body in the light, to bring it out of the paper. As always, your comments are so welcome. |
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| I am here with Missy now. She seems to be painting herself, it is coming along so easily and well. This feeling is rare, and I am LOVING it! I just hope Pat finds it looks like her sweet Baboo. I just realized I've been painting for over three hours, other than quick forays out to the barn to feed Mr.B. I must take a break, and take the lad out for a hand-walk. Yesterday, he had moments of brilliance [he was trying so very hard] and then moments of awkward stiffness, so I really don't want to put a saddle on him today. But a walk in the glorious sunshine is definitely in order. As always, your comments keep me going. :) |
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| I felt compelled to do this painting. It's of Pat Elliot's much-loved rescue terrier, Missy. Quite often, Pat will post a note about Missy's adventures, and this latest one had such an adorable photo of her. Pat gave me permission to paint her, and she is coming along beautifully. :) Thank you, Pat. |
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| This one might be considered a bit grisly, but I feel driven to paint it. One of the baby barn swallows fell from the nest onto an old towel I had covering the hay under their nest. [They do poop a LOT.] I hope you can see it. I've just done a very light sort of drop-wash, to suggest the very fine downy feathers. I am going to call it "The Fragility of Life". |
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| I took a photo of the bridge painting alongside a meter stick. It's a big painting. There was paint and water running everywhere yesterday when I blocked in the sky and water. And those are my toes, in my oh-so-grubby barn shoes. :) I must end by saying a very big THANK YOU to all of you who have written such kind and supportive words. You help me so much to get over these artistic hurdles we all have. |
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| It really is a lovely, art nouveau styled bridge - the colors at sunset are glorious. |
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| Started out with some very, very thin washes ... |
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| then drizzled in some more of the same colors, a bit more dense ... |
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| Made the mistake of darkening the water TOO much |
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| Played with this small version, to see if more vibrant colors would work ... |
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| not bad, once I get the shadows in ... This painting has become the bane of my artistic self. I so much want to do something vibrant and different. I've been reading up on landscapes, looking at landscape artists I love [ Michael Reardon and Thomas Schaller are at the top of my list.] I do believe I am even dreaming about painting it! I have these wonderful ideas floating around in my head, and when I try to put them to paper ... YUCK! But I have another plan, simpler in a way than what I've been trying, so we shall see. As always, your comments are welcome and much appreciated! |
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| Both above photos were taken in filtered daylight, with slightly different adjustments. I think if I overlaid them, I'd be close to having what it actually looks like. So, it's almost finished. I'm having a small niggling thought about maybe painting some soft, barely-there branches at the top of the doorway. |
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| I've started the smaller of the two bridge paintings. I suppose this is something of a practice run. I painted a very w/w drizzly wash, using aureolin, quin. pink and cobalt blue, and encouraged it to run vertically. |
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| This is the second w/w wash - same idea, but I also used quin. siena. I think the next wash, I will focus on the water, using the same technique. I had two very intense days at work. I think most people believe their hygienist is a heartless soul, but I care very much about my patients. I woke up early this morning, thinking of my last patient yesterday - an extremely difficult case from all dental perspectives. I had to call the office, to ask the receptionist to check on her. But now I have two weeks of painting and horsing around and planning for an open studio in August ahead of me. As ever, your comments are most welcome! |
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| Had a great lesson with the lad this morning. Rhonda really pushed me on more than I have done in a long while. I ignored the little voice in my head saying, "time for a break". We both need to move forward again. |
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| Tootled around Aldergrove, picking up food supplies for me and all the beasties. It was a gorgeous day!! |
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| Took some quick photos of some of the locals. A lot of people are keeping a llama or two with their goats and/or sheep. We've had a lot of very brazen coyotes lately. My friend with all the chickens has lost 14 since March. |
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| This evening, I was crawling around the rafters of the barn, trying to get shots of the baby swallows. Here's their nest - empty- built on an old light fixture. |
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| They were having flying lessons! That's why no one was in the nest. This little chap had been on the floor, and then made it onto an old feed bag to get away from me. The parents were quite agitated that I was in "their" barn taking pictures! I've also started the bridge painting again, hopefully in something strong enough that I find expresses what I feel about the old structure. As always, your comments are most welcome. And get out and enjoy the SUN!!! |
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| I decided it needed some more shadow on the right and definition below both figures, so I painted a w/w with a brown mix and a blue-black mix, keeping it loose. I had a question from fellow artist/blogger Vicki Wood [or St. Vicki, as I think of her, for her great care of rescue dogs] about lighting when photographing paintings. The above was taken under my regular Verilux studio light. |
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| This was taken with the "daylight" bulb alone. |
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| This photo was taken under lighting of the Verilux and a "daylight" bulb. It's an unbelievable difference. As always, your comments are most welcome. |
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| I think I left off here, with just some light washes of color in the two moons. |
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| I darkened the "wall" in front of the horse, and started intensifying the colors in both figures. |
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| More color. This photo was taken in studio light. |
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| Same stage, in overcast daylight. Again, I must apologize for the color variations. It's so frustrating, and neither photo is accurately showing the colors nor the values. Is is the camera? the editing system on the computer? I was hoping to ride today, but it is so incredibly wet. Apparently, we in B.C. are having the coldest and wettest June ever. OH BOY!! Yes, Bruno has his snorkeling gear on, and would like another pair of flippers, as he wore his out last summer. And I did manage to get over to my vet's, and scale his dogs' teeth. Yes, sometimes this hygienist makes house calls. Anyway, I'm working on this painting, as I still don't know how I will approach the bridge painting. Considering the weather, I should have a lot of indoor time to think about it. As always, your comments are most welcome. |
