Coming Soon: Mini Santa Hats!

I'm going to be working on these today, along with glittery poinsetta fascinators...It seems like the season comes earlier and earlier every year!

New Watercolor Experiments

Here are some new techniques I've been working on in watercolor and acrylic:

Happy Fall!

Black Daisy Hat

And Happy Halloween Arts and Crafts time! I've added this hat to the Shoppe and there will be more to come in the next couple weeks, including paper mache skulls and Halloween ish wood blocks.

Catching Up With Sketchbook Project

Pages 55 & 56

So I've fallen way behind in my brilliant plan to keep to a reasonable schedule for the Sketchbook Project. Today in class, I did what I could to catch up. I now have 6 fully finished pages (double page spread style).

Pages 44 & 45

Pages 26 & 27 (added to)

Ahoy!

"Apollo's Adventure" 12" x 24" Acrylic on Canvas

I be wishing ye clear sailing on this here Talk Like a Pirate day me mateys!

On Etsy!

"Marianne" 4"x4" Embellished Wood Panel

I have officially opened up my Etsy Shop and there are actual things for sale in there! For now I only have the wood panels available, but I hope to get some prints up on there in the next month or so. I'll keep you updated!

Caged

Messin' around in watercolors for Illustration Friday.

Sketchbook Project 1

First official entry for the Sketchbook Project!

2 down, 68 to go.

Breakfast!

At last! An Illustration Friday entry! Hopefully I'll be doing some more...likely in this style and entered into the Art Book as a daily doodle.

Almost Done!

"Woodscape" Acrylic on Canvas 24"x48"

I think I might actually finish this in a reasonable amount of time. And really, it actually hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be. It's just taken a certain amount of patience and persistence and a clear understanding of when to be done for the day before you put your foot through it. Just needs some touching up...hopefully I'll have it all finished up for next week.

Art book entries from this week that threatened to drain the life from my new pens. On the left, my impression of Black Jack Cove, a floating restaurant on Old Hickory Lake with an awesome fishing vibe. On the right, Paul, the soccer match predicting octopus. I hear he now has his own theme song.

The latest Art Class assignment. Using crosshatching. Not my favorite, but a good exercises nonetheless.

And finally:

The Sketchbook has arrived, looking ominously and excitingly blank.

What Was I Thinking?

This is what I've been up to. And that's pretty much it. But it is 4 feet long and 2 feet tall, which might make it bigger than I am. It certainly seems that way. But I'm making good progress and I'm determined to finish it. So there. Take that giant painting.

Blog Fail

"Seaside Tryptich" 3 12"x24" Canvases

So there it is, finished. It's not my favorite painting ever, but it was a good exercise and I do think it came out pretty well. I like how the waves ended up looking ribbon-ish.

And meanwhile, I've started a new art journal. This time I've vowed to make a doodle a day. I think that will keep me in art shape better than my previously vague "something art related" a day. Also, I'm making it look pretty:

I also made these little tile paintings. They're 5"x5" each and I think I will make one more of each and hang them in my bathroom. Bathroom art is important. People have lots of time to look at it:

And a third abstract clover pattern painting. These I will hang vertically in the guest room which has a lot of black and whiteness going for it:

And last, but not least, the Father's Day Present:

"Donald with Margarita" 11"x18" Watercolor

Triptych

So I decided to add on to the previous (and newly edited) sunset picture and make a triptych. I'm not quite done with the people silhouettes.

Bit of a Dry Spell

"Wild Rhododendron" Acrylic 18"x18"

So the art train has been a little slow going. We've been doing a lot of short range travelling, including a trip to the smoky mountains. I did get a lot of pictures, one of which inspired the above painting.

"Wise Owl's Mean Look" Acrylic on Wood Block 6.5"x9"

A quick little painting I did in class.

And a pirate princess caricature for Art Class

Back Again

"Twin Falls" 18"x24"

"Hands" 9"x12" for Art Class

"A Portrait of the Quiet Gardener" Watercolor 12"x18"

For the Quiet Gardener

Eh.

Seaside Sunset 12"x24" Acrylic on Canvas

So, I had no idea how this looked at all until I had stopped working on it and came back to it later. Overall, I think it's not bad. But the colors look to me like cheesy postcard colors. Like a picture that's been super-saturated without any regard as to whether or not the colors look good together. The couple in the front don't help with the cheesy-ness factor. But I didn't want to overcrowd it with more figures....All in all, I would not hang this on my wall. Well, I did mess with the colors a bit, and I think that what I want to go for is something more like this:

But I'll make the clouds lighter.

Here's my Art Class assignment from Sunday:

"Mom" Unmeasured Graphite on Paper

I also made this quickie, mostly to see how I could play with color in faces:

"Scared" 5"x5" Acrylic on Canvas

Quality Over Quantity?

"Beeches and Blackberries" Acrylic on Canvas, 18"x24"

So, I happen to be very proud of this painting. For one, I've never tried to paint trees. Mostly because my experience trying to draw trees has ended in serious frustration and a general feeling that all this art stuff is a waste of time, given the obvious lack of talent. But when I was going through my picture archives and I found this one of a bike path in Watershed Park (Redmond, WA) I had an idea of how I might paint the trees. And it worked! Probably it has something to do with Mom's recent tree painting class and her amazing paintings from said class. And I had Hazel's yelling at me for making the distant tree tunnel too dark. But I think I did darn good. And while I still see a couple of things I could improve upon, I feel redeemed.

The only other thing that I finished this week is the Pooh with Coffee:

Which I forgot to take a picture of before framing him. I got myself a new set of real watercolors, so it was easier to make him all nice and smooth looking. And I like the coloring. So here they are together in Coffee Corner:

Art Machine

"Spring Box" 10"x10" Acrylic on Canvas

Played with more abstract above, and it really is like playing. It was a lot of fun to do and I got some intriguing flower techniques. I painted it on top of the tree picture.

"Seaside with Seagulls" 8"x10" Acrylic on Canvas

Hazel was giving me trouble for never doing landscapes, which isn't entirely true, but sometimes it's just easier to do what she says. And I needed a bit of change. I couldn't quite get the lighting right. It's supposed to be really bright on the waves and the wet sand, but I just couldn't get it there. I might work at it a little bit. If I got that part right then the seagulls wouldn't look so much like cheating.

"Parker" Graphite on Paper...didn't measure

Mom's got us doing assignments for Art Class, so here's lesson 1.

And then I decorated a couple of wood blocks for Project Etsy.

Purple with Envy 4"x4" Mixed Media on Wood Block

"Is There Something on My Head?" 4" diameter Mixed Media on Woodblock

Things of the Week

"Beehive" 12"x24" Acrylic on Canvas

So I started a new dandy in class and got most of it done while I was there. I've been working on touchups throughout the week. Soon it will be time to add the bees!

I also went and took some pictures so I could practice working with textures and patterns. I decided to start with some clover, but when I got the shadows in...well it looked too cool to keep going, so I cleaned up the lines, blackened the shadows and voila:

"Patterns: Clover 1" 10"x10" Acrylic on Canvas

I decided that it was maybe an even better practice in patterns if not textures and I've decided to do more. Yesterday, in fact, I finished up another one with a lesser zoom. I think I like it bigger, so I think I'll do a third that's zoomed way in...

"Patterns: Clover 2" 1o" x 10" Acrylic on Canvas

And I did a quick little wood block:

"Blue Block" 4"x4"