The Rose on Fabriano Continues ...

Here are the results of two W/W washes of dropped in color - quin. rose and aureolin.

I then went into the greens, a mixture of phthalo blue and quin. burnt orange.

 I did a second W/W wash with the same mixture.

At this stage, I can see that it will need a lot more of the dark green, as well as colors to intensify the rose petals. I worked on it a bit last night, but stopped when I found myself becoming impatient. I had a strong urge to mask the rose, and dump on the dark green.
I was hoping to finish yesterday, but thankfully checked my inner voice - the one saying "let's get it done NOW".  And as I am working for the next two days, I thought I would post the progress today.

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

A Process on Fabriano Paper

Reference - one of my landlady's gorgeous roses

Sketch I did while working at the gallery on Sunday. It was a very slow day.

Yesterday's efforts ...
I picked up some Fabriano paper a few weeks ago. It is quite different from my usual Arches - undecided as to a preference.  I always soak and staple paper, and I found it to be very soft, much more like cloth than paper. It seems to take longer to dry, but that could be because the weather is much cooler.  That is better for working W/W, especially as the paper does not allow the pigment to explode across the page; it needs a bit more encouragement to move, and that characteristic can work either way for you in a painting.
My colors for the petals are aureolin and quin. rose,  and for the leaves quin. gold, phthalo green [yellow shade], phthalo blue and quin. burnt orange. The stem is alizarin crimson and quin. burnt orange.

This is as far as I got this morning.  And this is definitely NOT going to be a "quickie"!  I find I am doing a lot of glazing. Another asset of the Fabriano is that you can more easily lift lines in the damp wash, and they stay lifted.
That's all for now. Bruno has started neighing for attention!

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

Curiouser and Curiouser ...

my sketch

first w/w washes - quin. sienna and quin. burnt orange
I previously did a thin glaze of pink & phthalo blue for the shadows.
Then I tried to get as much pigment on in the washes as possible.

phthalo blue gradated wash for the sky

Curiouser and Curiouser
10.5 x 7.5 inches/ 26 x 19 cm./ unframed
$115.00
Available through my blog via paypal

quin. gold and some weird green [I don't remember the name, but it granulates nicely] for the grass
I thought "Curiouser & Curiouser" was an appropriate title. When I was taking photos of the heifers, they were all but crawling through the fence to see what I was doing.

The middle one is my reference.

Up close and personal! :)

I met with the owner a few weeks ago, and have, since then, been carefully darkening Krystie. The top photo shows more of what the background is really like, and the bottom one shows [somewhat] the darkening. If I leave the painting here much longer, I will nit-pick it to ruin, so I had better get it to the owners this weekend!

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

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!