Yupo Demo for Jan 23 Florida class....

It's fun to re-visit a medium you have come to enjoy so much. This is done on a half sheet of translucent Yupo paper with white paper behind it.

One of the positives about the see-through paper is you can do a drawing and then lay it on top and trace so easily. Although this toucan was a pretty easy drawing...I like the objects in Yupo paintings to be fairly simple with lots of empty spaces for me to play and experiment in.

This is a demo I am doing for my Hawthorne Park friends for Monday's class. I am not done...it's so much fun to add and subtract some of the textures in the background.

And it is fun to pick a subject that has bright interesting colors. I am an avid fan of George James and I'll be showing the class about half an hour of the first of his 3 part series called "Mastering Yupo: Techniques for Synthetic Paper." You can find those wonderful foam rollers he uses at WalMart for about $2.50.

Fracturing Clematis

Clematis: (noun) a climbing plant of the buttercup family that bears white, pink, or purple flowers and feathery seeds.

Tip: When you put away paintings that seem to "have no future" be sure to tape the original photo references (if there is one) to the back.

I am in the process of a BIG New Year's cleaning of my studio. My experiment with this watercolor might never have happened without the reference photos...and it has been such fun. After Peg Furlin's workshop (fracturing wc on canvas) I decided to try the technique on regular wc paper.

The downside of this is the inability to be able to get back completely to white as you can with canvas. But I took the painting to the sink and used a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser sponge to it and took the painting down to a pale image of it's former self. I let it try overnight. (Left it on homosote board and I did not need to tape it down or staple it and it helps to soak out the moisture. It dried quite flat.)

Then I measured my imaginary mat (just as I did on canvas) and proceeded to draw fracturing lines lightly with pencil. The process of figuring out how to show the flowers and enjoy the fracturing and keeping a center of interest is challenging. I think as I critique it...I may need more of a third contrasting color in the painting which is mostly shades of rose and green. There is some purple in the painting which does not show very well in the indoor lighting. So this painting may not be done. Anyone have any suggestions. I think this is a very feasible way to re-do a painting that has fallen flat for some other reason.

My Drawing Class

I feel badly I haven't been posting very regularly. I can think of excuses...but they are not very creative ones. So I'll skip those.

Instead I will mention that I am in a 6 part drawing class (two sessions) taught by Lucina Roark here in Leesburg, FL.

SO much information! She is is really trying to give us a big general overview and allowing us a lot of freedom in different ways that we can respond through practice. We DO have homework! This one is to draw an egg (two times) in two different drawing media such as ink, pastel, charcoal or graphite. I took on ink crosshatching and right off the bat am in pretty rough territory. Leave it to me. Getting the nuances of shadow with cross hatching is going to be a BIG challenge (and I used a small pen too!). Uh oh. But we do have two weeks before the next class!

Our first drawing challenge included drawing our own hands. These are graphite 4B and 6B using a stump for shading.

Oh boy. These have a ways to go also! But it's a start!

I found some pretty nice Strathmore 400 series drawing paper "buy one, get one free" sale at Michaels up in The Villages on Monday. 14 x 17- 80# which I think will hold me in good stead during the classes.

Happy Birthday Matisse!

It's the birthday of painter Henri Matisse (1869), born in Le Cateau, France. As a child and a young man, he had no interest in art. He went to law school in Paris and never visited a single museum. Had it not been for a case of appendicitis, he might never have become an artist. Bedridden for several weeks during his recovery, he took up painting as a way to pass the time. It was a revelation. He said, "For the first time in my life I felt free, quiet, and alone ... carried along by a power alien to my life as a normal man." At 22, he quit the law to begin work as a full-time artist. He was a revolutionary who dressed like a bourgeois, and he once said, "It has bothered me all my life that I do not paint like everybody else." Article taken from Garrison Keillor's blog today.

Two Different WC techniques

This is watercolor on canvas.

I am using Peg Furlin's technique of "fracturing". I took my inspiration from a catalog I found showcasing interesting vases. One of my downfalls are vases and "containers". And I also love still lifes. I liked the idea of contrasting the linear painting with a few citrus tossed into the frame. And the flowers help to throw a little something more organic into the painting.

I thought I would try a different triad of color this time. Quin gold, several shades of brown, and aliz. crimson. At first I used a kind of Quin Sienna for the red but my hubby critiqued it and he said it needs to be punched up with RED. I think in this case he was quite right!!! I punched up the center of interest with black.

Originally, in the first wash I went too dark. (I am learning as I go along.) So all the white (slightly stained white) was the same color as the color strips leading out of the interior of the painting. Pretty colors but not what I was looking for. So I used a Mr. Clean sponge to wipe out as much as possible. I got almost back to white and didn't mind a little staining at all. I think one of the things about "fracturing" that pleases my eye, is the "mat" look of having an interior painting. Making the mat too dark makes you lose this. However, there are no set rules about it and there is no reason the mat couldn't be dark and the interior light. To try another day?

This little painting is a demo I started in my wc class a few weeks ago...using a John Lovett video for inspiration and also using one of his paintings for inspiration. I traced my drawing and handed it out to the gals and we all painted the same scene this time. I don't like to do that too much but sometimes it's nice to have a drawing that includes a lot of the techniques you want to teach. This had old bricks and stones to paint and then to "ink" and bleed. And it fit well with that gesso or gouache technique of softening the edges with a hake brush. I used "opera" for the curtains in the window to pop that center of interest. It's a tiny painting...just 7 x 11". (an 8th of sheet of Arches.)

I find this a pleasing little painting. Something nice about the slightly open door too, don't you think? Inviting?

Saving my Lizard Painting

This painting that comes first is the "touched up" version. Scroll down below to the original painting.

I used a John Lovett technique to soften the edges of this too-busy painting (using white gouache and a hake brush).

I also darkened the center of interest and added a little more pizzaz to the redder of the lizards. And a little yellow green to the larger lizard to make him stand out a bit more.

This original painting was "okay" but awfully busy and with no center of interest to draw the eye to.

Watercolor on Arches 140#

11 x 15 (quarter sheet)

Note: These are little gems are actually called

Green Anoles

Ginny on Steve Humes CD jacket

I posted about this once before...but now the album (Exit 32) is out and for sale! My little sketch is on the back.

Steve has a sort of "Jimmy Buffet" sound (in my opinion) and uses guitar, banjo, flute, fiddles, etc. Really a nice sound. What fun!

You can find out how to order here. $10.

Steve manages to capture such diverse human experiences as living out of grocery carts near Interstate Exit ramps, to interpreting the songs of Cuckoo birds on overhead wires. A talented ensemble of musicians are also heard in this artful collection, including his effervescent wife, Leigh, who has an impressive list of accomplishments of her own in the bay area music community. Other familiar names include Rebecca Zapen, Tami Wingard of Hannah's Whirl, the legendary Joe Lala, the nationally recognized songster who "digs rock and roll music" Jim Mason, and Guitar Sal Belloise, who in this case is showing his skills on the Flute. A healthy assortment of other artists also come together to give Steve an easy off ramp at Exit 32. With stories of the heart and human aspiration, this Steve Humes collection of songs should earn him recognition as Tampa Bay's Musical Poet Laureate.

Fun Ways to Share Art

The Seno Woodland Education Center is now offering products to raise $ for the environmental center in Burlington, WI.

All the products feature my watercolor images! How cool is that?!!!

Here you see a kitchen magnet, a tile coaster and a framed tiles. But there are tee shirts, hats, bags, mugs, etc.

Click here to see the array of very nice products at very reasonable prices.

All the sketches were either en plein air or studio paintings from photographs at the Seno Center in Burlington, Wisconsin.

You can find out more about the center by clicking here.

Fractured

Based on Peg Furlin's workshop...I did a demo for my wc class today...watercolor on canvas. We only have about two hours to work together...these gals REALLY catch on fast. I hope to post some of their work in a couple weeks.

Peg has coined the term "fractured wc" for this technique. What I need to work on now are ways to make the colors choices I use more harmonious and interesting. Peg is currently working with a lot of grays, browns and blacks...very limited palette. Hard for me...I LOVE color.

This old truck was photos in Key West and I have painted it before with the bed of the truck planted in lost of wild bushes. The truck itself slowly rusting itself into the ground. It sits outside a restaurant...some old fish shanty type. I call this "The Lemon". I did use some stamping on this. But found it way too distracting for a beginner in this sort of technique. A lot of the stamps got lifted off. I also used a lot of Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to lift off the white areas. Peg's tip.

The wc canvas is very forgiving. You can wash it off and start all over if you wish.

I have two others started I'd like to work on this week while it's all fresh in my mind.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.

This is the week my hubby has his second surgery to connect the deep brain stimulation to the battery operated pacemaker. Friday morning is the big day! Wish us luck.

Peg Furlin's WC on canvas workshop

We all arrived in a downpour at the Center for the Arts in Leesburg, FL for Peg's class. But by noon it was hot and sunny again!

Many there had not painted on canvas before. Peg talked alot of about using canvas. Several brands are available and they are all slightly different. Fredrix WC canvas got into the game early and have patented the name WC canvas. But there are others now: Paramount, Yes, and Edge were 3 others she mentioned. All are available in the online mail catalogs. She mentioned she gets her's at Jerry's Artarama.

I worked on two different ones. The palm tree was a 16 x 20 gallery wrapped canvas by Paramount.

And the little boat scene was an 11 x 14 YES canvas on board. The Paramount required that I scrub the surface before priming in order to reduce the "puddle" effect of the coating.

But YES canvas on board should not be scrubbed (which I did not know) as it is cheaper and the scrubbing removes all the sizing and then the watercolor "bleeds".

Lucky for me, the subject matter of the smaller painting made the "bleeding" issue just part of the watery look. I have already made some changes to the boats...adding darks and making a connection to the edge at the bottom. More photos later.

Although I have worked on canvas many times before...I learned SO much in this one day workshop.

Peg has been working a lot lately on abstracts. This was one she brought along to show. Check out Peg's website gallery for a variety of subject matter.

She will be showing in the Mt. Dora, Florida Art Show the first weekend in February.

En Plein Air again!

Our hostess today was my friend, Dawn, who has lovely home on Lake Eustis.

8 or so artists gathered there this morning starting out in overcast but ending in beautiful sunshine. Dawn gave up painting to be our hostess making chili and cornbread! Oh yum.

Despite the fact that it was 85 degrees...the chili tasted great (it IS November after all.) and a slight breeze kept the temperature just about right all day and there was SO much lovely shade from her huge trees filled with spanish moss.

We had birds calling around us all morning and butterflies galore. She says they have a wonderful huge owl who sings to them at night. The lake reflected the sky as white which is the way I painted it...but as the clouds cleared to show more blue, then more blue appeared in the water....so I am going to have to go back and touch up the water a little.

This was done in acrylic. And I haven't done anything in acrylic for many many months! Can't even remember the last thing! Surely something back in August up north!

I started with my usual orange prime coat (for tropical scenes). And I worked 16 x 20 which is really too large for en plein air!

But I just felt like working with big brushes today!

I was tired afterwards...4 hours (broken in half with lunch) on my feet in 85 degrees. I'll sleep well tonight!

Susan Lansdown 75 day sketch complete

Susan is one of our Sassy Sketchers...and since we all started together last August, we are all ending together in October!!!

Susan also sent a picture of the first substantial snow fall in Minocqua, Wisconsin (where Greg and I summer).

Susan and Leslie are "holding down the fort" until the rest of us snow birds return.

We had close to 80 today here in central FL.

A slight cool down around 70 tomorrow but back up to 80 by Monday.

I admit her yard looks more like two weeks to Thanksgiving than my yard. But I have learned to adjust!. Over the river and through the woods still applies. Just not a sleigh. We go by golf cart here!

Receiving my Artistic License!

How totally fun is this!

When the Sassy Sketcher's signed up with Brenda Swenson on her blog to do the 75 days challenge of doing a pen and ink sketch for 75 days....Brenda promised to send us a license at the completion.

SO...it came in the mail today. All the way from California to Florida!

How nice is THAT!

And all in plastic so you can carry it around and show it off. :-)

Here I am after just opening the mail today (with my studio behind me).

Check out Brenda's wonderful blog posts here.

Joan Stephens Finishes up her 75 Day Sketch Challenge

The Sassy Sketchers are gradually coming to a finish on this particular project!!!

It was great to hear from Joan (pronounced Jo-Ann) and hear that she made it through too!

The holidays are just around the corner now...can you believe it? Our art group here at Hawthorne is making plans to decorate a tree with home made ornaments and Christmas music is in the stores.

My hubby is doing well in his recovery now from surgery and will have his staples out next Thursday. We are on the count down now to Surgery Part II where they will connect now the wires to the stimulator. That will happen on Dec 2.

It is his early Christmas present!

I am busy with my art class here at the park in Florida. I have done a second pour on the watercolor...it's not look too great at this point...but I plan to carry on.

Photo to follow.

Pouring Watercolor Part I

Actually I am posting this for my November 14th watercolor class here in FL.

We are preparing to do a little pouring of watercolor ala Jean Grastorf.

Doing this in a 3 hour lesson won't be easy so I am trying to give the gals a heads up so that they not only have the proper supplies but can have paper ready and a drawing in place by the time we start next Monday.

Here is the basic supply list:

• 1/4 sheet cold press 140# wc paper, stretched.
• at least 3 clear plastic cups for color mixing
• a triad of transparent red,blue, yellow (I plan to use permanent rose, cobalt, and aurolin yellow. But there are many triads.
• a spray bottle
• plastic cloth for table
• something to catch the paint (a jelly roll pan? aluminum throw aways kinds from Publix work okay) also an old terry towel and paper towel.
• a drawing in pencil
• hair dryer
• masking fluid of your choice and some synthetic old small brushes for application
• a rubber pick up
• soap (liquid or solid)
• pencil/eraser
• tape

I am going to use one of Jean's examples from her book Pouring Light. I think we have her permission to use it for practice. If any of the class members would like to use the same drawing, I'll be happy to share the line drawing so you can trace it before class. I will bring copies to the Fine Art Meeting tomorrow morning. I am also going to put faint x's on the first layer of masking. Remember, the masking cannot go on until the paper is BONE dry. Here is a little masking demo that is pretty good (click here) but I would recommend that when using a paint brush that you wet your brush, dip it in soap or rub on a bar of soap, dip in water again and then put on the masking. It will make you brush last a LOT longer.

If you click on Jean's name above and go to her gallery you will see the drawing as a completed painting there.

You might notice in the picture that I have a "sharpened popsicle stick" in the supply photo. It is one of my favorite applicators for masking fluid!

If you have not ever stretched paper. I'd recommend you click here and look at Cheap Joe's video of how to stretch paper. (note the drawing is on it first!!!). At the end of the process, you will want to staple the paper down starting at the four corners and then in the middle of each side, and then every 3" or so. Then let it dry at least overnight before you come to class.

I think we will all have better luck with the pouring having the paper tightly secured to the board. Tune in for more art!

Leslie Johnson completes her 75 day sketching Challenge!

The group of gals (The Sassy Sketchers) who started out about at the same time on this challenge in August...are, of course, finishing up at about the same time. We were all in the north woods of Wisconsin at that time.

Some of us have fled to FL now but Leslie and Susan stay on through the winter and brave the cold but often beautiful forests and lakes of Wisconsin.

Congratulations Leslie!

Here is Leslie's lovely False Solomon Seal with red berries...one of her favorite final sketches.

I posted one of her sketches much earlier (the Jelly Jars). Here is what she says she is doing with that sketch.

I did make copies of my jelly jars, colored only one in in red for interest, and then ran them off on 4 x 4 cards with ideas on the back of each card of what to do with the various jellies I am giving my family for Christmas. I'll put a card in each of their baskets. Fun!

Completing the 75 day challenge

Well, I knew when I started back in August that I was doing a "count down" to my husband's DBS surgery (Deep Brain Stimulation).

It seemed only right to make this last sketch right in his room as he rested up from a very emotional few days!

The surgery was VERY successful and Greg was able to feel how it is going to be when the second operation happens on Dec 2. He was able to write his name, draw a circle and hold a cup. Things he has not been able to do with that hand for over 10 years!

He was up and walking in the room 3 hours after surgery!

Day 74 was done in the waiting room looking out toward the street in front of Shands Hospital (U of FL) in Gainesville.

Greg will have a second surgery on Dec 2 to implant a stimulator device (somewhat like a pacemaker) with a battery that will activate the wire now in his brain.

It is all science-fiction stuff to us!

So many kudos to the staff and doctors and nurses at Shands. They are fantastic!!!

Greg did not feel much pain but is very tired.

Thanks for all the kind messages we have received.

Watercolor Class #1: Masa Paper

We had a fun time at watercolor class in the Fine Arts room at Hawthorne Park this morning from 9 to noon. About a dozen of us experimenting with masa paper (rice paper) and wc paper.

It was so nice to see folks again and be painting together!!!

This was my demo this morning.

Geraniums in a window box.

Sheila suggested maybe showing "lattice work" on the bottom of the painting. Behind the long strings of leaves. I think that has a lot of merit, don't you?

Tune in later for my finish up.

Cynthia Edmonds demo (oil)

Cynthia is a Winter Park, FL artist.

She did the demo for the Leesburg Art Association October meeting last Saturday.

Although she works in oil mostly she also has experience in acrylic. I have signed up for her two-day workshop in February (in acrylic).

She tones her canvas in yellows and golds first. Draws in with oil and then begins.

You can see some images in her gallery here. The house painting was done previous to her demo. Almost all her work is en plein air.

Note: I am now on Day 72 of my 75 day Sketch Challenge. Greg and I leave for Gainesville to prepare for his surgery tomorrow night so the last 3 days of the challenge will be Monday, Tues and Wed. Wed is the day of his surgery. It will be sort of amazing to be finishing up at the hospital. But I have known for a long time that the final day would be this special event. Watch for more in days to come. Keep us in your prayers.

75 day sketching Challenge Day 63 & 64

The scenes are Fl scenes now.

As I fall now into the last weeks of the challenge. The corner of my Florida room on a sunny afternoon and a tiny bit of the patio out back. Actually yesterday was day # 65 and that one is done also. So 10 sketches left in the challenge. It's been a pretty interesting "journey" and I know that I have seen artistic growth!

The interesting thing (to me)...or ONE of the interesting things is that this challenge turned out to be a "count down" to my husband's surgery date. I knew this when I started. The last sketch will be while he is in surgery.

On Oct 26 Greg is having DBS (Deep Brain Stimulation) surgery to help alleviate the severe tremor in his right hand from a genetic disease called Essential Tremor. The surgery will be done at U of Fl hospital (Shands) in Gainesville, FL. Anyone who could throw a few prayers our way, it would be welcome! There is a fascinating 45 sec video of how the procedure goes that you might like to view if you have no idea what DBS involves. He will be awake during the whole thing! Click here.

Every time I look at this video tears come to my eyes. The correction that happens at that moment is JUST what we are praying for. Greg will experience this during the surgery BUT he will have to "detached" from the electric stimulus after surgery and he won't be re-connected until he has a pace maker stimulator gets put in on Dec 2. So we need to pray for patience too. We wait and wait and then wait some more!

Meanwhile, my faith and my art has been my saving graces...they hold me and center me and set my my mind in peace.

I am currently preparing for a watercolor class I'll teach one week from today. And still trying to find things in my studio, get unpacked here and organized.

My en plein air FL friends are trying to set up some dates to paint together again too. I think we are going to try to get together on Nov 11 at the Eustis Sailing Club to do some sketches! They are getting ready for a regatta there! If weather cooperates.