Happy Clients!

Two of my friends from the horse world, Iris on the left, and Jessica. Jess came over to pick up her painting of Misty today. And Iris came along as her GPS, because Jess is almost as bad as I am with getting lost. [When we first moved here, I took over an hour getting home from school; it was 5 blocks away.]
I also gave them a bit of an incentive to rustle up more clients; I promised 1/2 price on their next painting, if they came up with a new client. They left, chatting about who would like a painting, and what they would like done next for themselves!!! :)

Iris's horse, Maddy

Another painting of Maddy.

I also gave this painting to my nephew for his birthday this week.  He loves my car paintings, bless him!

Aeonium and a Birthday

I was here ...

... and now I'm here.
It is starting to develop a glow in the leaves. YAY! 

My aunt, sister, and the birthday boy [and Bruce, of the 9 lives fame, on the buffet]

Julian, playing with some non-digital cameras I brought over. 

What a handsome lad!!! And smart, too!


The aeonium is coming along nicely. I will continue to go s l o w l y...  

I had a wonderful time at my sister's last night - so good to see the family! Julian, devilishly handsome, witty and profound [do I sound like a proud aunt and godmother?] was pleased with his party and gifts. I had, a few years ago, given him one of my car paintings, and he loves it; it's on his bedroom wall. So I took over another yesterday. His reaction was an eye-popping "Wow, cool!" Jules and I have always been in tune, ever since I met him when he was 5 weeks old. I love it that we can pick up a conversation, and enthusiastically follow each others train of thought. He is special.
And since we are back to our usual B.C. weather - mild and WET, I am getting a lot of painting done. And Bruno is in his paddock wearing flippers and a snorkel. I'll get down later, and clean up the paddock, and give him a good grooming, and take him out for a hand walk.

S ... L ... O ... W ...

I can hardly see ant difference, but I have been putting some shading on the leaf tips in purple. I suppose it is hard to see, when I've been using a brush the size of 5 eyelashes!!!

When I'd reached my limit with the above painting, I moved to the hibiscus, and worked on the leaves.

As always, please feel free to leave comments or questions.

I am off to Vancouver this evening. My handsome, brilliant, wonderful [do I sound biased?] nephew, Julian, is turning 18 today.

Slowly .... Steadily ... Creeping On ...

This is generally where I am heading ...

Format size is about 10 x 12 inches.
I have almost all of the local leaf color down; now the FUN part.


This is going to be a long, slow haul. Almost of the painting is being  done w/w, using small to tiny brushes. It does make a difference to the quality of depth and the 3-D effect, so I will continue with it.

The Perfectionist Strikes Again ... or Once More with the Aeonium

To cover up the wubbles and lack of sizing, I had to go very dark, and didn't like it. So ... 

I started again. I masked all the leaves, and started glazing the background.

... and glazing

... and more glazing

... and yet more glazing, till I was satisfied I had a rich and noticeably-graded background.

I started the foliage last night [a midnight oil-burner]

And I am still getting the colors down on all the leaves.
I am sure they will need at least 2 more glazes.

I Hope I Am Learning from My Mistakes, because I Am Making a LOT of Them!

Nice subject - I was having fun, puddling in w/w.

Still having wet fun, but the reds may be too dark, too fast.

More work on the leaves.

Here's where it went wrong. I decided to mask all the leaves, and try to get a graded wash of several hues.
The edges, after 2 -3 washes, started leaving oozy marks from the stapled areas, leaking onto the painting area. I tried a desperate rescue attempt. I used a large, flat, soft brush to remove all the background I had done. It was removed reasonably well, but so was the sizing! I tried [no choice, really] to go very dark, and I did, but I don't like it. I will try again, changing the format a bit, making it narrower, and apply the lesson learned - MASK FIRST.    

I tried several washes of alizarin crimson and phthalo blue, but , to my eye, it does not look at all appealing.
Back to the proverbial drawing board!

Still Cold ... Still Snowy ... Still Painting ...

The view outside my front door this morning

"Hens and Chicks"
A photo I took at Western Gardens 2 years ago

This should keep me busy for a while

Another one from Western Gardens

I may pay for not masking completely, with slightly uneven washes, but the background is going to be very dark, so I might be all right.


I really needed something  warm and summery to paint, and a break from working with all the blacks and darks in Buddy's portrait. So I dug into my photo library, and came out with 2 photos I took [of many] at a local nursery.
Ahhhh, I can feel the heat!!!
As always, please feel most welcome to leave a comment!