Finally ... a Moment to Post ...

Continuing with the hydrangea, here I have finished the petals, and done light w/w washes on the stems. Throughout the painting, I am using cobalt and indanthrone blue, quin. burnt orange and quin. violet. It seems to be my favorite color combination. I forgot to mention last time, I am using a different paper - Arches 300 lb. CP. It's quite nice. The washes are not quite as wet and wild, and it takes more force and deliberation when painting.

I did two separate variegated washes of a greyed violet mixture. I did not do one darker wash, all at once, as I was not sure what it would look like. After they dried, I wet again where I decided to place the branches, and drizzled in thin lines of dark violet grey with a fine brush.

Here it is finished.
"Beauty even in Winter"
10.25 x 10.25 inches on 300 lb. Arches cold press rag
$160.00 Cdn.

I have reached this point with my niece. It's good, but it's NOT Paulina. So I will be doing this again in the future.

I also had some time to figure out what to do with this hollyhock. The middle flower was not right. I added more of the violet in the left center area, and now it looks like a proper inverted, not everted, blossom.
White Hollyhocks
11.5 x 7.25 inches on Arches 140 lb. CP
$155.00 unframed

It's been a busy week. Since Tuesday, I have been taking care of a neighbor's menagerie [3 dogs, 2 cats and 2 horses] while she and her husband are at Spruce Meadows in Calgary. Spruce is a huge horse facility outside of Calgary, and annually hosts a large series of show-jumping events. It is an international qualifier - horses and riders from all over the world. I heard that Germany won the team event this year.
The extra animals are pretty good. But one of the horses is a yearling, and as cheeky as all get-out! I think he looks for trouble. He's taken down one area of fencing three times. It's no wonder that he is a bit banged and scraped.
And I had to take one of the chinchillas to the vet on Friday after work. He was not moving around much, though otherwise looked well. Then I noticed him limping. He is the more active of the two, and he must have banged his leg, or strained it somehow. Thankfully it was not broken, and he is gradually moving more again.
Here's hoping the coming week is a bit less busy, and I find more time to paint.

Thank you for dropping by, and your comments are always welcome.

Divertissement

To keep myself from fretting about world events, I am working on four paintings. 

The portrait is of my niece, from a photo taken earlier this summer. I am trying a different technique [for me] - painting with the easel in an almost upright position.

I am making another attempt with hydrangeas. I think the painting is half-way done.

The cocker spaniel is also getting touch-ups. Her owners and I met again last week, and I saw that her coloring is very dark, only her face has touches of white on the chin. And I have started a landscape; so far, it is only streaks of color indicating sky and trees. 

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

Sweet Peas

I left the painting at this point ...

... and after several glazes, playing warm against cool [using alizarin crimson and W/N red] I think I am done. I want the red to be the complete focus, so I won't put in any background.

Sweet Peas
7 x 8 inches, unframed
$80.00 [this includes shipping cost, too]
Please leave me a note if you would love to be able to hang these beauties.

The source of my inspiration - sweet peas on the left, red runner beans on the right. My landlady grows them every year.

Bruno, and GATE #1

I hope you can see the sweet peas on the far left on the patio, and a bit of GATE #2 on the far right.

There is a story that goes with the painting. Of course!
Bruno has had a sporadic case of gate-phobia. Whether it's a hold-over of his days racing or something else, I don't know. But more often than not, I have to spend a fair part of our ride schooling him past and through gates. Lately, because the ground is so dry and hard, I have been using the entire back lawn, riding out of the gate to his paddock, up the hill, around trees and through the main gate of the property. He has become a bit more stubborn at the main gate lately. He absolutely turns to stone, and will not move - other than tossing his head, or trying to run away from it. MUCH patience is needed on my part! We were schooling on the lawn a few days ago, and it was frustrating. And then, all of a sudden I was enveloped by the glorious aroma of the sweet peas. Wonderful calming effect. :)  So that is the story of the wonderful sweet peas.

Thank you so much for dropping by, and your comments are always welcome!

A Day at Arts Off Main Gallery

This is the new home-away-from-home for my art ...

This is my wall of infamy. :)
I think there are eight artists involved in the coop as members. We each have a wall for display, and the wall spaces are rotated every two to three months, so we all get different exposure. I also have some of my work at LUT, a clothing boutique, about a block away. There is so much wall space there, and the owner loves to have art on the walls, so we sell there, too.

Acrylics, encaustic, photography, ceramics and pottery, jewelry ...

We all print cards of our work - the shop is very popular for really different cards.  You can see my little red hen and Pigaro on the upper right.

This is looking down the length of the gallery.

Love the tiles. I think I'd like to try making some.

Beautiful silver jewelry ...

... and some fun polymer earrings.

We also have a fabulous framer on site. Liz is there Wednesday to Sunday, from 11:30 to 2:30. She framed my latest chicken painting, did a wonderful job [and you all k now how fussy I am] and charged maybe a third of what I have been paying at the larger galleries.
Arts Off Main is literally just off Main Street in Vancouver, on 28th Avenue. It is in quite an arty area - lot of antique stores, cool boutiques, coffee shops ... almost anything. It is a true cooperative. There are eight members, and probably twenty artists there on consignment. We all take turns working in the store, which is open Wednesday through Sunday, 11:30 to 5:30. I believe the hours and days are extended in November and December. I must admit, I am learning a lot about art presentation, promotion and sales working there. And the atmosphere is, for me, energizing and artistically stimulating. If you live in or about Vancouver, or if you are visiting, I highly recommend a visit to the gallery!

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

It's Windy Enough to Blow Me Out of the Saddle, So I Paint

The scent of the honeysuckle and the sweet peas right now is absolutely divine. So I grabbed my camera yesterday, and got a snootful of the glorious aroma while taking a few reference photos. These are two relatively small [about 8 x 8 inches] paintings I am currently working on.

Our superb summer weather is shifting a bit, and a strong wind has come in overnight, before rain tomorrow. I'll have to see if I can muster the courage to ride Bruno today - he tends, like most horses - to get rather full of himself when the weather is like this.

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

Are We There Yet?????

I left Miss Krystie here ...

And, believe it or not,  I have done a fair bit of glazing, both wet-in-wet and dry-brush. I darkened all of her left side in shadow, and touched up the face. I also lightly painted some strokes of thin black on the perimeter of the painting. And I am appalled at how poorly this portrait has come up on the screen, I am almost considering not posting! It is so lacking in richness of color and depth. Never mind. I will take her to Peggy for approval tomorrow.
Sorry about the rant, but there is no comparison between the screen image and the real thing.

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

Background ... Here I Go!

Miss K. before I started ...

This was a variegated w/w wash of aureolin and quin. burnt orange. It seems to have softened her look quite nicely.

Another varied w/w wash, using quin. burnt orange and quin. violet. 

More of the same technique, with quin. violet and alizarin crimson.

Now, I am subduing the colors a bit. I lifted in a few spots, with wet sponge and paper towel, and then did a thin wash of quin. burnt orange. The next glaze will be a very thin one of indanthrone blue.
I read an article about Rogger Oncoy in the last issue of The Art of Watercolour.  He tends to paint his backgrounds last, and said that it was at this stage that many paintings were ruined. I couldn't agree more!

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

I got the blue done faster than I thought. Here she is ...