Tulip demo

So last week's class was great except for some serious technology issues. Curses for relying on technology! I should know better, seriously. Computers have always hated me. It's possible they have to do with the wrong side of my brain. But that aside, we looked at a bunch of extremely inspiring floral paintings on websites or blogs that I frequent, penciled in our new challenge and I demoed how to get started. Clearly all I did was get started, as there is a whole lot of white space left. But I chose this fantastic photo with such amazing lighting. I love it when the sun glows through a red flower, in this case a tulip, and turns it fiery orange and brilliant yellow. It's eye candy. The real challenge is translating that glorious awesomeness to my paper! Gulp.

A rose by any other name ...

There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted. - Henri Matisse
I'm no Matisse, but I do think the darks and contrast in the red rose make it pleasantly dramatic. I wish there had been more veins to paint! Those really captured my imagination but alas, I had to hold back as putting them anywhere else would've made it look old and dried out. No good. So here it is finished and full of life! Ta dah! 

A rose is the visible result of an infinitude of complicated goings on in the bosom of the earth and in the air above, and similarly a work of art is the product of strange activities in the human mind. - Clive Bell  
I always knew I was strange! Ha! Good thing I have art to let it out on! Otherwise it might spill out into other areas of my life :) Nobody comment on that please.

When I was finished with my rose, my hubby was still at work finishing up some things so I did a quick sketch of this lovely fella, not spending time worrying about composition or any of those other pesky problems. I don't really paint animals. Can't say I ever ever have in fact, so I wasn't ready to commit to an actual painting, but I wanted to play around and my poor, beautiful watercolor sketchbook has been rather lonely as of late. I did discover that it's paper has a major flaw. It doesn't allow you to scrub out areas to remove color. The paper partially rubs off with it. Bad news. Especially for the way I paint. Fortunately for the sketchbook, the outside and gorgeous-edged homemade paper might just be lovely enough to be forgiven for this serious flaw.
Only time can tell.

Super Close to Finished

So I should know better than to say that I'll finish something the next day. I did actually give it a shot and painted, so at least there's that. But it is not as done as I had planned on it being. Super close. Just a bit left on the leaves, and possibly adding a bit of depth to some of the background. For some reason it seems to lack a bit of umph, but that could be the late night talking. We'll see in the morning. Is it just me or do things always look a little better the next day? I almost wish I had cut it off above where the highest leaf hits the rose. It would basically make a square painting then. Do you think the composition is better that way? It does cut out a bit of the veins on that petal which would be a bummer because those are neat, even if they do possibly seem a bit out of place. See, I should just wait until the morning. We'll see what surfaces then.

Red Rose Continued

Yesterday I got a bunch more done on the red rose I had started as a demo. I fully expected to be able to finish it last night but then we took the kids on this monster bike ride and couldn't seem to move the rest of the night. And today it didn't happen either sadly. So my painting accomplishment of the night is just this quick blog post. At least it's something to motivate me to get back to work tomorrow and finish up this little beauty, reminding myself to not lose the light areas to all that deep, rich color I like so much. Especially because I need the lights and whites to make the deeps deeper and the richness richer. After a good night sleep - look at how good I'm being going to bed before 11 - I'll finish her up tomorrow!

Practicing to be Artists

 I used to draw a lot. I loved taking sketch books with me and being that quirky person that was sketching at a baseball game or orchestra concert or while lounging in the park. But probably due to my lack of free hands when I'm out and about, and my lack of time to pursue creative endeavors, I don't draw anymore unless it's a quick line drawing for a painting. But for some reason this morning, while it was just me and my second daughter hanging out, I decided to draw. Wasn't really feeling up to serious painting. My daughter grabbed a pencil too and her paints as well, and announced, "I gotta practice and practice because I want to be an artist when I grow up and I need lots of practice." I second that!
Both of these sketches are from old photos of my daughters. The first has since lost those pudgy cheeks that I adored, and the second would have a hard time getting that dress to cover the essentials, but I've kept those photos in my "people to paint" files because they make me smile. I sure feel out of practice, but I really enjoy sketching people.  It's relaxing. Feels like getting back to basics, to a comfortable old classroom or something.

I even got a little bolder for the second one and used a darker pencil (which I never pick up for my watercolors) ... at least for the dress. So they're not perfect but they were fun to do and we gotta keep practicing so we can be artists when we grow up!

Candy Corn Art

So I rarely get around to using creative energy on anything but my watercolors, but this weekend the girls and I decided to break out the hot glue gun and have some fun together. They're a little excited for Halloween, and have been begging to make decorations. I had seen this fantastic candy corn wreath on the cover of some magazine (don't even remember the name of it) awhile back and thought it looked absolutely delicious in every way. I couldn't really remember anything about it other than it was covered in candy corns and was adorable. To add a bit of drama we first wrapped ours in thick black ribbon, gluing and pinning it into our styrofoam wreath in the back. Then I managed the glue gun and the girls carefully placed their candy corns round and round and round, eating the broken ones of course.

When we finished it looked like it was still missing something so I added a bow to hang it from. And ta dah! I love it! So easy! So quick! So fun! Our door just looks happier, even if it does make me a little hungry.

2nd Class: Roses

So I figured I couldn't give a beginning watercolor class on painting flowers without doing roses, so here we are. These are my two demos. Everybody in the class picked one of two photos, from which I started these paintings. Because they really like to see what colors I use and how I specifically do what they're going to try to do, I went ahead and demoed both of them. Which is also nice because I never had to wait for anything to dry. There was always something to paint! As soon as class was over, we went out-of-town for the weekend, but now we're back, so back to work!