Squirrely Whirrely

4 x 6 watercolor pencils 

This was another one for the all media challenge. I'm not sure how to handle the pencils to create a realistic texture, so he's a little rough around the edges. I need to get back to my 120 paintings.

December all media photo challenge

4x6 watercolor & watercolor pencils

Haidyn
4x6 watercolor

11x14 pen & ink, water color covered with oil pastel, a bit of a mess if you ask me

Not one of the 120

18 x 24 pastel

This was another attempt for the All media Photo Challenge on Artist Daily. It took a few days, the last of it I was just creating more dust. The photo is cropped a little on the right. I'll be back to the studies again today. I have several small decorative pumpkins I'll be putting in the light box.

No Great Pumpkin

11x14 oil on canvas

I limited myself to one hour and stopped. During that time, my son called, the neighbor came over, the dog got upset and went crazy, but one hour is one hour. Maybe I'll finish it later. I decided I probably shouldn't sign these 120 paintings.

Creepy Halloween

This is study #2. I seem to be missing the point. The point is to work efficiently, limiting brush strokes and making every one count, but I can't seem to make myself stop correcting. But I suppose it will get better...

My box is a little bigger than the one Larry Seiler made and I'm not sure the shadows are as pronounced.

120 paintings

I'm trying to participate in a webinar study on Wet Canvas with artist Larry Seiler, but his technical difficulties to present them have left me a little at sea. At any rate, he claims that you have to paint 120 paintings before you paint a good one.... So I decided to start from scratch, I built a light box to help with focus and here's my first study (emphasis on STUDY) of 120. I spent about 2 hours, which is longer than he recommended, but I'm sure I'll get faster. And I could have picked at it much longer, to get the base of the mannequin right, but that wouldn't have been the point, so here it is. I'll be doing the studies in oil. This one's 11x14 out of a 7-pack I think Mom gave me a few months ago. Be prepared, this may get ugly.

Rainy Days are for Ducks

The thing about pastel is it's messy. Dust everywhere. 

This was another one for the Artist Daily All media photo challenge.

The Challenge

The Artist Daily website has been an encouraging place to post and share with other artists. I've been participating in the challenges for about the last 9 months and the "sweet deers" who join me at the All Media Photo Challenges have helped me along. This is my most recent work to share. It's a little different than usual, in that I used my own photo rather than the one posted in the challenge. 18x24 pastel on prepared hardboard.

The Trade

So I suppose if I profess to being an artist in 2011, I must have a blog, and post my profound (snicker, snicker) musings, as well as my successes and, occasional stumbles. So....here goes. I'll just comment about today and work backwards and forward from time to time. Stay with me, please. I'll try not to ramble too much.

This is a photo of my friend, Andre von Olszewski's 16x20 acrylic painting. I saw it and fell in love with the colors and composition. I'm a big Kandinsky fan, and it seems to have that beautiful Kandinsky-like rhythm. I told him I'd make a trade. He brought me the painting and after he'd left, I realized he hadn't signed it, so I said, "I won't frame it until you sign it and I give you something in return." Knowing he loved his dear greyhound, I asked him to send pics so I could work on some sketches.....many months later..... 

I finally came up with this 18x24 pastel from a picture he had posted on facebook. Ron Green#1. I'm pleased, and he seems to like it, so we'll make the swap this weekend.

I thought the picture expressed his pup's personality, and was an interesting and fun image, unlike the usual head shot, or the regal but leggy pose of the typical greyhound. The foreshortening was a little challenging, but I think I pulled it off. The complimentary colors seem to work, too. In the photo, his left front paw rests under his chin but it didn't work in the painting. My friend and professional artist, Joyce Cambron said, "just get rid of it." So I followed her expert advice and it turned out much better.

This is a fairly new medium for me. I usually work a lot with postcard size watercolors and I'll make an attempt at a larger oil (16 x 20) from time to time, but this may be a regular standard for a little while to see what I can come up with.