... just a quickie ...

my drawing

some work done last night ...

... and finished this afternoon
The Floss  11.5 x 10 inches

I had to get a card quickly whipped up for Pat [my good friend and landlady] for Christmas. Neither one of us  have much in the way of  Christmas spirit - left to our own, we would let it slide by, and happily wait for Spring. But Pat bought me a fantastic winter coat, perfect for walking the dogs and working around the barn in this cold weather. She knows me, so she didn't wrap it, just hauled the coat out of its box and had me try it on 2 weeks ago, and I've been living in it ever since. I bought my usual for her - a hefty coupon for a nearby garden supply outlet. Then she has all the joy [and she does love her gardening] of selecting her plants for the Spring, and planting and caring for them. And I have the joy of admiring and drawing and painting them. Perfect arrangement.
The painting is of her dog, Shayna. The name is something that sounds like it came from Xena, Warrior Princess. So she usually is called Flossy or the Floss. She'll answer to anything especially if there is food involved. She ate a bird seed ball I put out a few days ago, and is always on the prowl for granola I leave out on the ground for the birds. Yup, she's a hoover. But she is adorable, and loving, and Maggie's [my dog] BFF!

That's all for now ... feels like time for a long winter's nap.

I wish you all a wonderful holiday!!!!!

Winter ...

This was Maggie yesterday, having a blast in the snow, but glad to get in later by the fireplace.

I HAD to get a photo of this jogger  - wearing shorts at 8 AM at minus-I don't-know-what cold!!!

Bruno, showing off his new blankie. He has 2 older ones that were keeping him dry, but becoming heavy with retained moisture. He is warm and snug even at -10C.

Haven't been doing much serious painting - just farting around, trying different effects for some hollyhock leaves ...

   ... and trying some big swaths of paint to get the look of a forest's edge. I really do not get along with sedimentary paints.

Doing a lot of drawing though - trying to get the proportions and perspective right for a painting I am doing for Scott, my farrier. We initially started off with Scott, his horse and his dog, and, at Scott's request,  have moved on to including all his past Border Collies [three of them]. The only photos he has of the older dogs are not digital, so it's difficult to make them out from 4 x 6 inch prints. For the shapes, I am googling Border Collie photos on the internet; the colors will be fine from the old photos. 

Some sketches of coyotes - was thinking of putting them by the woods' edge in a painting.

Bill, aka psycho-kittie - my sister's cat, and he really is completely unpredictable.  He has this odd trait - his eyes turn from light green to a very dark almost black; it really looks as if he is possessed!

A LOT more coyotes.  I was getting frustrated - they were looking  like house-pets, not wild animals.

I quite like this sketch so far, but feel the horse at 3/4 profile [not full profile as this is] makes a more powerful image.

So here it is, at my least-liked time of year. And a close friend [his wife and I are very good friends] is in hospice. All one can do is to always continue trying to see the good and the beautiful in life.

As always, thank you for your visit! 

Guess I'd Better Get Back to Work ...

I am just going to play a bit of catch-up here, and post some of the recent paintings ...
The golden eagle I did for a friend at work; her husband is a big fan of birds of prey.  I think it was about 16 x 12 inches, and is now happily framed and hanging in their living room.

This is a 10 x 10 inch painting that stared off as a class demonstration. [Yes, still teaching and still really LOVING it] I decided to mount and varnish this and the cow painting below. 

The painting was based on some photos I took of a small herd of Jersey cows I passed on the way to the feed store. Miss Moo is varnished on a 10 x 8 inch cradled frame. 

I painted  The Nafco for a friend, who came to my aid when my car was totalled last year. He is a car dealer [Acura in Langley - I promised him the "ad"], and found a wonderful, almost-new VW for me to replace my Honda. His dad was a fisherman, and worked on the Nafco for years. Gary was thrilled, and said he would treasure it as a family heirloom. What a wonderful thing to say!

I thoroughly enjoyed working on Miss Kylie - what a fantastic smile on her face! I did another portrait earlier this year for the same client, and she liked it so much, she wanted to have one of her husband's very-much-loved dog.

This is another one that started off as a class project. Originally, it was very simple - just the snail and its reflection. Then I decided to play with some backlighting. I quite like the effect.

Just finished the barn swallows this morning [15 x 11 inches unframed]. I masked the birds, then did the background all in one fell swoop. I wet the paper in an irregular manner, and stroked in the two oranges and the blue, and let them mix on their own. I think that achieved the effect I wanted - that of light filtering in past some old boards. I want to do more work along this vein, with a very loose background just suggestive of shapes. In this, I am inspired by Morten Solberg's  wildlife paintings.

And, yes, Bruno and I are still an item, and Maggie is as busy as ever!
Thank you so much for your visit!

A New [and Better] Look for the Seiner, and Other Little Bits and Pieces ...

I quite liked the softness of the background colors in this photo. My niece's boyfriend took it at Spanish Banks.

So, I started again - masking the ship, and washing and glazing with aureolin, phthalo blue, permanent rose and cobalt blue.

I did the mountains with a thin w/w glaze of indanthrone, and added some more cobalt clue to the water.

I wanted to compare the look of the two - liked the newer one MUCH better.

Started adding the shadows to the ship ...

... and some of the local color.

More of the same, and added the rigging. 

Then finally the net. I took this photo in early morning light, so it's quite washed out and very blue. My next step will be to do some subtle wave action in the foreground, hopefully leading the viewer's eye to the people, and mast with the netting.

I also intensified the darks around Jules' face. I wet the entire previously painted are, then drizzled in some black.

This is the next project [along with some ducklings, too]. This is Miss Sophia, one of the animals to be added to the huge painting of eight cats. 

My trainer took these photos last week - Bruno and I chuffing around in the back field.  He's got a nice long and  supple topline, is stepping under well with his hind legs, and has a lovely frothy mouth - all signs of a relaxed, happy camper.

I'm getting a lot of painting and drawing done, which is good, but only because I haven't been able to ride. Some nasty flu virus saw me coming, and decided to take up residence, so I've been laid low for several days. I haven't yet quite established a routine that organizes me, so that I have time for Bruno and for art, and somehow Bruno always wins out ... but I'm getting there.

Thank you so much for dropping  by!

A Portrait's Progress - the Young Lad in Watercolor

Since the last post, I added Jules' hoodie, done very loosely in a wet in wet wash of violet, orange and indanthrone. I didn't want it to attract too much attention, so used the violet colors of the background, and kept the values in the light to mid range. 

Several thin glazes were done to his face and neck with mixtures of aureolin, permanent rose and cobalt blue. The hat was thinly glazed with the background color, painted to give it a bit of shape and depth.

The fedora was then done in three segments, painted wet in wet with a black mixture made of orange, violet and indanthrone. I think I'm done. It doesn't look exactly like Julian, but it's a good rendering. I really like the contrast of the looseness and softness of the background with the detail and depth of the face and hat. I will put this aside to give a thought to doing a bit more to the sweatshirt where it is close to the face.

Thank you so much for dropping by! 

Yes, I'm a Proud Auntie ... or ... a Portrait in Progress

My nephew, my model. I half expect my niece and nephew to run when they see me coming with a camera.

Drawing

Glaze of quin. burnt orange in the darkest shadows ...

... followed by a neutral grey of aureolin, pink and cobalt blue. I also started the eyes and lips.

Began the hair with two grey-browns - one with aureolin, alizarin crimson and cobalt blue, the darker with orange, violet and indanthrone. My tray on the right has the colors ]cobalt blue and alizarin crimson]I used to build up the face colors.

Added the blue to the shadow areas in a thin glaze and softened with a damp brush. I did the same with crimson for his cheeks, nose, chin and forehead.

Started to look human at this point :)

Once I finished his eyes and brows, I thought the portrait looked quite good [though not exactly like Julian].

This morning, I did a very thin wet wash with quin. violet and a bit of orange to warm it up. So far, so good ... I hope to get the black on there later today.

It was such a pleasure to paint something just because I felt like it [not a commission, not something for a class demo]. Also, it gave me some ideas on how to go about painting the dog portrait. I enjoyed playing with this portrait more than I done in months!!

Thank you for dropping by!!