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| The reference photo was a lovely, brooding, foggy scene of Verona by the old Roman bridge. I have tried to maintain the misty look. I am using suitably subdued mixtures of aureolin, brown madder and indanthrone blue. |
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| This is as far as I'll probably go with this painting. I could darken the bridge, and lift some spots to be more precise about the reflections but the latest pair of shoes is grabbing my attention. Thank you for visiting. Your comments are always welcome! |
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| I've been playing around with landscapes. I wish I could be doing this in some hillside Italian village, but ... This is on "0" Avenue, the road following the U.S./Canada border. At one point, there is a fabulous swampy area. I drive by it several times a month, and have always found it quite attractive - in a marshy sort of way. When starting something new, I tend to be quite tentative. You can see this in the photo. |
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| I've strengthened it a bit, but it still needs oomph. |
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| Another view of the swamp. I enjoyed painting these two, and I have another more complicated one on the board to paint, as well as another pair of shoes. Thank you for dropping by. Your comments are always welcome. |
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| The photos came up in reverse order. However ... I took this and the one below of Fat Bastard [her favorite] to take in when I visited my aunt. She is still in the hospital - hopefully set free today! |
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| Hoping for a raisin ... |
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| You KNOW I made some touch-ups - can't resist. It's signed, and cropped to about the size it will be when mounted on the cradled frame. [still waiting for the wood stain to dry] |
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| This one is done, too, and will also be mounted on a cradled frame and varnished. |
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| While waiting for the stain to dry, I've been playing around with some landscapes. Both are renderings of La Specola observatory in Padua, where Galileo made some of his brilliant, paradigm-shattering discoveries on our place in the solar system. Thank you for dropping by, and your comments are always most welcome! |
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| I have darkened the greens with a thin glaze of the same violet I am using on the petals. To bring the eye more to the upper right, I am glazing the petals with a warm [more pink] or cool violet - permanent rose and indanthrone blue. This is another painting I want to mount and varnish, to show at the gallery in Vancouver next month. The allusion to Nero is that I feel it's too much time spent on something this small [6 x 8 inches] and that won't sell. Yes, I am having a bit of a bad day with regards to my painting. Probably a good time to leave this, and go play with Bruno! |
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| This poor clematis was planted about five years ago, and never bloomed till this year. It is really making up for lost time. The blossoms are huge - probably ten inches across - and profuse. And the flower itself, as you can see, is gorgeous! It must be all that good composted horse manure. :) |
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| This is my reference photo for a smaller painting - 6 x 8 inches. |
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| I start with the greens - the background colors are a mix of quin. gold and phthalo green[YS]. The inner color is aureolin with a touch of pink and cobalt blue. |
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| For the shadows, I am painting all w/w, using cobalt blue and pink. I use a grey mix [cobalt blue, aureolin and pink] for some of the darkest areas, then glaze over with the pink and blue. I am darkening the greens with phthalo green, quin. gold and alizarin crimson. |
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| Here, I have put a mat around the painting to see how it looks. |
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| And here is where I am now, still playing with the pink and blue to get more depth. A few people have asked me if I intend to varnish all my watercolors. This one will certainly be mounted on a 6 x 8 inch cradled frame and varnished. And I am just staining the frame to mount the sexy shoes. I don't think I'll varnish all the work I do, but some of the fun, smaller paintings - yes. As always, it's great that you visited, and your comments are most welcome. |
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| I left these this morning as the black stripes were making my eyes wonky. I went into town to visit my aunt, and when I got home, the urge came on me to finish them. There may be the odd touch-up [you know me :)] but essentially the wild shoe painting is done! As always, your comments are most welcome! |
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| I've worked the shadows using a "dab and blend" technique because of the roughness of the paper. |
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| Next, I've done a thin glaze of the pattern I want. In the original, it was leopard-like spots, but I didn't think that was a good idea considering the state of the surface. |
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| I think there is hope for this!!! The zebra stripes are striking, and are going on well. I have to leave it for now, as I am going cross-eyed painting the stripes. :) As always, your comments are most welcome! |
