Lil' companion piece- "Bird seeds"

"Birdseeds"- 6x6 acrylic, felt marker, seeds

   In follow up to the previous multi-medium piece on texture, I created this 6"x 6" companion piece on white board. In this challenge instead of using a bold sharpie, colored pastels and acrylic paints on the brown of the board, I narrowed it down to pen, acrylic paints and seeds. Although this image does not do justice to the dimension of the seeds worked into the owl's feathers and beak, the mix is intriguing. Now I contemplate whether to finish the piece in acrylic mediums to play with matte for the  tree and gloss for the bird seeds. Hmmnnnnn...

Work in progress-texture

sharpie marker on cardboard

     I don't normally show the progression of a piece unless I find the journey worth sharing. So I am in a "share project" and developing a criteria based exercise. The theme is "Texture times three". The challenge is to use 3 mediums, specifying a foreground middle ground and background, and use the 3 primary colors in a split-complimentary piece.
   On a 12"x12" piece of cardboard (Because if you mix the 3 colors you get brown) I used white to sketch out the big shapes. Then I dropped in sharpie marker to mark some darks and begin to establish texture feel to remind me to keep thinking texture... texture... texture!

adding in arcylic wash and pastels

    Then I mixed a thin blue acrylic paint wash to color the tree intermediately with medium and soft edges for the texture as I gradually roughed in the white of the trunk allowing the blush (brown of the paper to peak through. I did the same with orange (complement to blue) for the inner bark gashes before working to the bold solid orange of the eyes. Finally I broke up the background with blue and white pastels mainly in soft edged mass.

rendering the owl with acrylic and sharpie

   The remaining mass efforts were to drop in the range of oranges to blues in the body of the owl with acrylic paint. Meanwhile I adjusted the values and edges of the remaining sky and tree with pastels and washes. Although I could work the piece more to relieve the contrast, I believe that the mission has been accomplished and the criteria met.
 

They growing out so fast!

sunflower #7 2014 6x8 oil on linen

   Amazing what a few days will do to a flower. Nearly unrecognizable from the last entry, the petals have fully opened and the center almost fully bloomed to hide the green center.

Good company

sunflower #6 2014 11x14 oil on canvas

The sunflowers paint on with this 5 pack in the new green vase. Early in their bloom the centers lay a nice directional green pattern within the straw colored texture surrounded by the raising buff colored outer circle. There is much to learn about these flowers.

Sneaky lil lilly

Lilly post arrangement 12x12 oil on canvas

   It was a lovely lone Lilly I added among the remaining flower arrangement that had past it's peak. While pulling faded blooms, I snuck in the  yard cutting that only had a day left on the vine... smelt up the entire sunroom-wow!!!

Summer of sunflower

Sunflower study #1 in progress 12x16 oil on canvas

   It my wanderings I adopted a new table perfect for my flower studies. What better way to break it in than with a new sunflower study? So I guess I am back onto my flower studies. Usually I don't paint sunflowers until end of summer but.. what the heck? So it begins...

sunflower #2 study 9x12 oil on canvas

Local cali-color

Cali lilies in progress

   Getting practice on flower painting I thought to challenge working in open air and it occurs to me... I haven't painted a cali lily and what an unusual shape they are! This work in progress at least keeps me in practice with nature's models.

The long and winding path

Dunes to Longbeach 6x8 oil on linen

   In a recent trip to paint lighthouses I had some down time to wait out a morning fog. Thinking I would test drive the materials while I waited, I retreated to the balcony to try and get the jest of what was between the ocean and I. As I was putting on the final details I spotted a deer making its way through the tall grasses- how I love my job!

Port Townsend- another day another lighthouse study

9x12 PWLH study 2012

9x12 PWLH study 2011

Perhaps one of my most frequently painted lighthouses, (I believe I am up to #6 now) I had the pleasure of visiting an old friend this weekend, Point Wilson Lighthouse, after dodging the annual rhodie parade and celebration. phone) is all I got. 

Since the forecast rain had somehow missed Port Townsend, I was blessed with perfect weather so retrieved my mini guerrilla paintbox (6x8 only 3 colors and raw umber) and painted again outside the lighthouse from a slightly different angle and was happy as a clam.

6x8 PWLH study 2014

   The motivating factor was not so much tp paint it but to get my lighthouse passport stamped which entails visiting the inside of the lighthouse, an event which only happens for 3 hours, once a week during the summer. I was so happy to finally get my stamp that it didn't occur to me that I would be going up the tower to an incredible view of all the surrounding islands. Since I don't paint from photos, I didn't have a camera so my recollection (and a very poor image taken with a 4 year old phone).

Tradition: Birthday out of town.

 It was birthday as usual... on the road, out of town, practicing my gypsy ways! It was like heading over the rainbow when I arrived at  RoozenGaarde as tulips of every color (and then some) where in bloom. 

painting the tulips 6x8 oil on linen

It was absolute eye candy for the artist I plotted a patch, out of the way and broasted in the 80+ degree record breaking temperatures beside the minimal shade of the windmill. I snuck a quick minimal study (6x8) with only raw umber, white and the primaries yellow, red, and blue. Not bad for a first attempt of the year. After a couple of hours painting my 1st plein air of the 2014 season, I closed my mini guerrilla box to go tip toe through the tulips. The day finished with good friends, good food and good memories. It was a happy birthday!