A Goose-y Fairy Tale

I mentioned in my last post about wanting to paint geese again. When I drew this, for some reason [probably their positions and postures] a story started to come to mind.

It also served as a poured watercolor demo for last Saturday's class.  I started with thin pours of aureolin, quin. red and cobalt blue. I moved the geese a bit closer together than in the drawing   to have a continuous line of white.

When I bought it home and looked at it, I tried to imagine what they were doing, thinking, where they were going. The two geese on the left looked a bit lost. The goose on the right looked like he was trying to re-direct them ... but WHY? Because they were heading toward a haunted forest!!! Hence the old, gnarly tree in the background.
I did a bit of w/w on the geese, then masked them and did another pour, this time of indanthrone blue.

I gave the tree some color - quin. burnt orange, quin. violet and indanthrone.

Did a graded wash of indanthrone ...

... removed the masking ...

... and have started some work on the geese.

Thank you so much for dropping by ... the saga of the geese continues ... 

All Is Happily Busy in Class

I felt like a "real" teacher ... one of my students brought me roses from her garden!

And here is Nancy [of the roses fame] with one of her latest works.

Mark and Melanie [husband and wife who were curious about watercolor] very intent on their work.

Mark has had some art experience with acrylics, and is having a blast finding out what watercolor can do. And Melanie is fascinated with it. Yay!! ... converts! 

Ann always has her own floral projects.

I wanted to demonstrate the poured watercolor technique.  I also had a craving to paint some more geese. So I got this ready ...

 ... did the first pour in class, and took it home to work on it. I had no idea where it was going from here.

Thank you so much for dropping by! 

Just Because I Like Geese and Warm Colors ... Geese-in-progress ...

I thought this was too beautiful a composition to not finish, so I flipped the painting over, and traced the geese onto the back, and started again.

Using the same colors throughout ... hansa yellow, alizarin crimson and indanthrone blue

Removed the masking last night, and did a bit of touching up and detail work this morning ... VOILA! DONE! I really like the hot colors, and the shapes caused by sunlight on their feathers.
Hot Geese
9 x 12.5 in.
Available

Seagull Study
10 x 6.5 in.
Available

I did this quick [for me] study of a seagull earlier this week ...

... and prepared three images for the class on Saturday. I've done the daylily before, but the class liked it a lot, and wanted to try it, so I'll be painting it again. The two landscapes will be excellent practice for flowing w/w washes for the sky and water.

It has finally stopped raining. For a while there, I thought I might have to build an ark for the animals! So I am heading out to play with Bruno - YAY!!!!! And I have an old university chum coming over this afternoon, with her husband, to help me finally set up a web site for my art.

That's life on The Farm today. Thank you so much for dropping by!

Lot of Glazing Going On ...

Family Outing
11 x 13.5 in.
28 x 35 cm.
Available for purchase via paypal
Leave me a note if you are interested.

I think I am finished, but knowing how I work, I could continue nit-picking on this forever!
Since the last post, I have done a lot of glazing on the shadows on the geese - both dry and wet-in-wet, alternating between pure pigments and a grey mixture. It seems to have given a nice depth to the geese, while maintaining some lovely, soft colors. I also darkened the shadows on the goslings.

Thank you for dropping by! Your comments are always welcome.

The Honeymoon with Maggie Is Over

Ol' Kath is BORING ...

I'd rather play with my great new friend - we tussle, we dig holes, we swim, we chase things ....

Kath plays with BIG, scary animals, and they don't like me around too much when they play together.

Kath plays with noisy machines. This is her, after a long weed-whacking session.

But enough of Maggie's perspective,
I discovered the beauty of cropping. I think this iris looks so much better tightly cropped.

And I have slowly been moving along with this painting ...

I added a dark shadow - too dark, so toned it down ...

... and laid in a soft burnt orange wash on the foreground to alleviate some of the starkness of the white. I also masked an outline of the geese, and did some wet-in-wet applications of burnt orange and a dark brown to give the impression of long grass for the background. The next step will be to add some thin glazes of pink, orange and blue on the shadowed areas of the geese.

Started the knight, and I am not sure what to make of it yet. We'll see.

It's been rather hectic with the new dog. I find myself running around  making sure she is not in trouble, that Bruno has not stepped on her, that the two dogs are not chasing Bruno [though I think they all enjoy the romp], that Maggie has not found a hole in the fence through which to disappear [she's done that twice] Seems we are all going through a little period of adjustment!

Thank you for dropping by! Your comments are always welcome!

Here It Is - Warts and All ... A Bit of Planning Would Have Helped

I started darkening ...

... and darkening, but I cannot fix some of the composition flaws, so this is it for the geese. I may paint it again in the future, but only after doing a value sketch, giving more thought to composition, and creating a good color scheme. Live and learn!

Thank you for dropping by! Comments are always welcome!

So ... What Did I DO This Week???

... finished the Three Muses - I THINK. I'll leave them for a few days, and then take a critical look.

... am trying to hatch a robin's egg - don't know how successful I'll be using a hot water bottle

... for what it's worth, received my award for a painting

... groomed Bruno innumerable times ...

...I could stuff a pillow with what I have taken off this week ...

looking somewhat scruffy

...did a bit of work on the veggie garden

... left my lunge line and whip outside every time I used it

... cleaned out the flower gardens a bit

... and stopped to admire the tulip!
Thank you for dropping by! Your comments are always welcome!

Gaggling Along with the Geese ... Feathers, Beaks and Orange Feet

I started with some feathering and shadows on the geese, using a mixture of quin. burnt orange, quin. violet and indanthrone. The feet I painted with quin. sienna. 

More work on the feathers, using a warmer version of the orange/violet/blue mix.

They are starting to look somewhat like geese. I have done more shadowing and feathering, and placed a thin wash of indanthrone on the bills. I wanted to get color on the birds/muses before I returned to the background. My thought is to have the geese appear to be emerging from darkened mists. We shall see ...
Meanwhile, I just heard a loud neigh from the paddock - His Highness wants to play!

Thank you for dropping by! Your comments are always welcome!

BEFORE'S and AFTER'S

Studio light

Early morning light, pushing the cools

Early morning, pushing the warms
I've tried all different light settings, and I still can't get a true-to-life color with this painting. I think it must be the strong complementary colors of orange and violet. The values are a bit weak, too, because as soon as I increase the contrast, the colors look even more weird. Anyway ... I added some color to the ground and the goose peeking between the other's legs, to bring the focus more to the one with his wings outstretched.

I darkened the entire background.

And I intensified the shadow colors within the flowers. I also lifted some stem at the bottom. Again, it was difficult to get the actual values and colors, working with the complements of purples and greens.  

I deepened the background grass colors, as well as the shadows on the kid. I also deepened the pinks on his face. I thank you all for your input on these paintings. It really helps to have outside observations!!!

I've been up since 6AM, with Bruno hollering for breakfast. So I finished up some odds and ends with these paintings, and tried to get some decent photos to put up here. Now, it's time for a work-out with the Big Guy, and then hopefully into Vancouver to pick up my niece, and head out to get some photos and sketches of some old Vancouver homes.

I thank you for dropping by, and your comments are always welcome!