Hmmmm?

I found a scrap of this picture in a box of old family photos.  It is a small little torn piece that is probably about one and one half inches square, in very bad shape with the bottom of the photo not even there.  It has been folded and refolded over time so there are some bad breaks in the paper.  It intrigues me though and unfortunately I have no idea who it is.  My mom was the last person who could have identified it and she passed away almost three years ago.  I made a copy of the photo and started this painting.  I am doing it in the style of Ted Nuttall and am pleased at the progress.  I have placed it on my bulletin board for now so that I can see if I think it needs anything else.  What do you think?  And if there are family members reading this and you have any idea of the identity of this child, I'd love to hear about your thoughts on it!  BTW, this is on 300# Fabriano Artistico paper. 

A Word in Private

I have not been blogging lately due to holiday commitments.  I know everyone can relate.  The title of this post is what I have decided to title the latest painting I have been working on.  Below you will see four pictures of the progress.  It is not finished but I am very pleased with how it is turning out.  This is my first time to ever do an animal.  Plus even more intimidating, is the fact that this is on a full sheet of 300# Arches cold pressed paper, 22 by 30 inches.  Seems huge to me!  This painting will be for sale when it is finished.  Surely living in Fort Worth, it won't be hard to find a buyer!  Wish me luck!

In this first shot above, I had started working on the figure and laying in warm tones as under coat colors for the horse and saddle.

Then I added richer colors on the horse and saddle.  Sorry I don't have a shot of the rest of the under colors before I started adding the texturing on the horse and saddle.

Above you can see the beginning of the textures on the horse and the saddle leather.  Also there is a pink-coral wash on the background.

More work on the texturing as well as adding a violet blue wash over the background and adding salt for texture.  Still more work to do on the figure, horse, the mane and other parts of the leather pieces.

Absent!

I have been absent a bit lately.  I had a week long visit from a very dear friend who now lives in North Carolina.  We have a great time and I did not paint for that week.  I have done some painting since then though and also got my new camera!  Hurray!  A Nikon D5100 with two lenses: a 18-55MM and a 55-300MM.  Now I can get those great candid shots of folks to use as subject matter.  In fact the camera does so many different things that it will take me a while to really explore all that I can do with it.  Anyway, that is my birthday, anniversary and Christmas gift for this year and I couldn't be more pleased!

I have done a bit more work on this one of Brazos.  I was not liking how the clothing and hat seemed to not be a part of the whole, so I added some loose colors and strokes to the background as well as letting the colors overlap on his clothing and hat.  I like it better now. 

And more work on my sweet little shot of Freddie when he was four.  I really like the way this is turning out.  I want to do a bit more work on the background, add some richer colors to his hair and then call it finished.  I'm going to shock everyone and do a painting of how he looks now soon.  With this new camera, I have lots of motivation to get some new photos to use.

Hope you have all been well and are enjoying this marvelous early fall weather!

Freddie at four years old

Well, I can't even count how many times I have used this old photo of my son as subject matter.  Charcoal, pastel, graphite and at least four watercolors!  I love this shot of him.  He's now 43.  Guess I should get some current shots of him to use, huh?  Anyway, this is on Arches 300# cold press, quarter sheet.  I work mostly on quarter sheets especially for portraits.  Somehow those faces drawn on a half sheet look so overwhelming to me!  Huge!!

I think this fellow is finished

Time to call this one finished.  It is so hard for me (and I guess lots of other artists) to know when to stop.  I was thinking of doing more on the background but I think I'll let it be.

More work on Jim

So here's what I like on this one : the hair and sunglasses.  What I don't like is the outline of his goatee below his lip.  I need to soften that and lose the edges there.  I did a bit of wash for the background but I will add more later.  Same with his shirt.  I want to keep it loose but the area on our left is not finished.  For now this is on the wall bulletin board for a rest and a fresher outlook.

A couple finished pieces

I'm pretty happy with the way these boots turned out.  This is one of the pieces where Soon really focused on having me add LOTS more color and pigment.  I really like the look.  My son of course has already said that he wants the one for his next gift!  Still spoiled at 43 years old!

Here's the completed piece of the little African girl.  I'm anxious to do this again on my own and not in Soon's class.  I want to see if I learned what she was trying to impart.  There are a few changes I would make such as cropping most of the clothing out.  I think I would like the focus to just be on her face.

Brazos

Ok, so I have some issues with this.  First I don't like what is happening with the scarf and clothing and I'm not sure what to do with that just now.  I like the face.  I liked what was happening with the hat in the last post.  Then Soon decided that it should be darker.  After darkening it, I feel like it doesn't have much character now.  I'm really in a flux between Soon's methods and style and those of Ted Nuttall.  I love his loose looking style and the very painterly look.  Soon's work is much more detailed and tight looking, which I really love for some subjects and I am anxious to incorporate that into my own style.  I know that if I ever get a commission for a portrait, that her style would probably be the one most folks would choose.  I know I have alot to learn from Soon and she is already getting me to use more pigment and not do such pale and weak colors.  That is a good thing!!!

So I'm thinking that I need to do some portraits on hot press paper in Ted's style and keep on improving on learning to do that better.  At the same time, I want to really work on learning as much as possible from Soon so that I can paint in her style too.  Good thing I don't have a full time job!!!!  LOL!!  I'd never get to accomplish all that I want.

Progress on Brazos

I'm really pleased with how this is looking.  I took the masking off of the hair against his hat and did a light wash of a lighter version of the hat.  I think it looks pretty good.  First time I have tried that!  I have also done some work on his clothes.  This is on Arches 140# stretched cold pressed paper.  My intention was to do some of the pattern in his scarf but I have changed my mind and erased the pencil drawings I did of those designs.  Before I attempt something that detailed on a real painting I think I will do some practicing on scrap paper to see the results. 

My husband, Jim

Thought I'd take a stab at doing a painting of this shot of Jim from one of our vacations a few years ago.   Of course I still have work to do but I think it is turning out pretty well. This is on 300# Arches cold pressed.

Gavin and Lucah Finished

I have finished these two paintings and will be matting and framing them this week.  I'm pleased overall and think I learned a few things along the way.  I have to thank my fellow blogger, Bob Witte, for critiquing and helping me to adjust certain areas.  Always nice to have another set of eyes to see something.

Brazos

Brazos is one of the cowboys I photographed back in May in Fort Worth.  I have done a painting previously and posted it as a WIP on June 25.  I really like this picture of him and decided to take another stab at it yesterday.  I'm pleased with it so far.  I can really see the improvement I have made when I compare the two.  I used a bit of masking on the wisps of hair against his hat.  Hopefully that will work out OK.  Didn't think I could successfully paint around those little grey hairs.  I also made an attempt to depict the rough texture of his skin. I also want to get some of the detail in his scarf and that will take some time and detailed drawing.  As usual I couldn't wait to get started on his face and hat so this is where I am at this point.  This is on 140# Arches stretched cold press.  Not my favorite weight paper but it is fine if I take the time to stretch it.  I have a bit of it in my stash and need to use it.  Good paper is by no means inexpensive but well worth it in terms of results. 

Thanks for reading! 

More work on these two

Well, I have done a bit more on the two of these.  The African girl is coming along.  Soon is helping me get the detailing done.  She did the eye on your left in class last Thursday and I did the one on your right.  I also have added more color to her face and hair as well as her clothing.  Clothing I'm not too happy with.  I'm not great with fabric.  The masking is still on the hair fringes around her head and will not be removed until I am finished with the background.  Then I will remove the masking and detail the little strands of hair. 

The "railroad man" below has had a first wash added to the background, cobalt blue.  I have worked on adding color and dimension to his arm.  The hair on his arm is still masked.  Need to do more work to the hat and shirt.

Boots



I took a picture of a cowboy with these interesting boots and spurs on his feet back in May when I attended an event in the Fort Worth stockyard area.  Lots of folks in costume as well as the cowboys who drive the Fort Worth herd.  The Fort Worth herd is a herd of longhorn cattle and they are driven down the main thoroughfare of the area daily.  It is a very popular tourist attraction and basically I really love the stockyard area overall. 

While snapping pictures of interesting cowboys in their very authentic dress, one pointed out his friend's boots and spurs.  I agreed that they were unusual and snapped a few pictures of them from different angles.  I chose this one to start and drew it onto 300# Arches cold pressed paper a couple months ago.  Then I couldn't decide how to start or what I wanted to end up with so it just sat on a shelf until yesterday.  I liberally used masking on the metal parts of the spurs in order to save the highlights.  I know I don't want just a pair of brown boots, so I have added some washes that include plum and blue shades along with the brown.  I have also started adding a few details, working slowly so that I don't mess it up.  I often get in too much of a hurry and add other layers or details too soon.  We all know how that turns out!

Gavin and Lucah progress

Gavin above, Lucah below

I have held my breath this morning and started laying in color for hair.  Geez, I hate doing hair!  I never feel very comfortable with painting hair and I'm always afraid that I will ruin what otherwise might have turned into a good painting.  Anyway, not finished as you can see.  Also not sure what I will do on the background of each.  Decisions, decisions!

New paintings of Gavin and Lucah

I am working on these two new paintings, using the techniques that I am learning from Soon right now.  Very different than the Ted Nuttall paintings I have done of these two snapshots.  Those are in earlier posts.  I really like both methods.   Ted's method has a more "artistic" style while Soon's is more realistic. 

Both of these are on Arches 300# cold press paper.  I used masking fluid on areas where I wanted to save the whites.  I sometimes just paint around those areas to save the white of the paper but don't always succeed.  Hence the masking this time around.

Progress on a few paintings

Thought I'd post my progress on these three.  They are still not finished but coming along. 

Work with Soon

Well, I wrote all of this just a bit ago and somehow lost the whole thing!  Yikes!  So here we go again,

I have been attending watercolor classes with Soon Warren the past two Thursdays.  I want to bring you up to date of the things I am working on in those classes.  Below is the reference photo of a sunflower in a crystal bowl, which is the group project, and my WIP on this project.

I started with Arches 300# cold press, which works best for Soon's techniques.  After transferring the drawing, I did a TON of masking to save the whites in the crystal.  Next I wet the entire sheet and did pale washes of a mix of aureolin and cad yellow on the upper parts of the paper and permanent rose on the lower part where the cloth is and lower areas of the bowl.  When all of that was dry, I did the next wash on the flower which is a stronger mix of cad yellow and aureolin.  That is the extent of the progress at this point.

Next is a painting of a young girl in Africa, the reference of which is a photo by Babasteve.  Steve generously gave his permission for me to use this image.  This work is on Arches 140# stretched cold pressed paper.  After transferring the drawing, I used making fluid to saves whites in her eyes, on her hair, a few places on her face and the zipper on her jacket.  Then I began the washes.  First a thin wash of cerulean blue on the wood on your left against which she is leaning.  Then washes of a mixture of aureolin and cad yellow over the rest of the painting.  Once that was dry, I began to add stronger mixtures of those colors along with quin gold, burnt sienna and permanent rose, developing shadow areas and hair patterns.  This is a totally different technique and look than what I learned with Ted.  I'm thrilled to have two techniques that I love and can use depending on the subject and feeling I want to convey.

This morning I started on this painting of a railroad worker.  It is on Arches 300# cold pressed paper.  After transferring the  drawing, I masked the whites of his eyes, a couple places on his ears and the fringes of white hair on his arm.  Once that was dry I proceeded with washes of aureolin and cad yellow on his skin, adding darker mixtures that included quin gold, burnt sienna and permanent rose in shadow areas.  I also did a mixture of cobalt, mineral violet and burnt sienna for the shadow areas of his cap.  I'm pleased with this so far.

Cooler weather!!!!

I can't tell you how much I appreciate this weather after the summer we've had!  This morning I took my daily walk in 52 degree temps.  What a relief!

I have been painting but have not gotten things posted here.  I also started my watercolor classes with Soon Warren last Thursday.  She teaches weekly at the Hobby Lobby in Fort Worth and rarely does she ever have an opening.  However, I'm thrilled that she was able to find a spot for me in the afternoon class so now I will be trying to learn every little tidbit I can from her.  If you are familiar with her work, you know how exciting this is for me.

I'll try to get some new things posted this week so that you'll know I really have been painting!  LOL!!!

Enjoy the beginning of fall no matter where you are.  Thanks for reading!

Where I spend my days

Thought it might be nice for you to see where I spend most of my days.  The dogs join me there while I paint.  I spent a bit of time today re-organizing.  You know how things get when you are in the process of just creating and tend to just shove items wherever they will fit.  Pretty soon it's a mess and either I can't find what I want or there's no more room to just "shove". 

In the top photo you will see my tall metal shelving from Costco on the right, next to that a tower of Elfa drawers from Container Store, my computer in the corner, my painting table with Emma asleep on a pillow just beneath it.  That little pillow is their favorite napping place in the studio. 
I sit with my back to the window which provides good light.  I also just replaced the bulbs in the ceiling fan with "daylight" compact fluorescent bulbs and I think they make a big difference.

The second photo is of the opposite wall, where I have my sewing machine cabinet, another set of Elfa drawers in the corner and four bulletin boards that Jim installed on the wall so that I can tack up pieces of my work, some completed and some in progress.  I love having the bulletin boards.  So handy!!  They also save wear and tear on the walls!

Now for some painting time!  Thanks for reading!

more work on David

I'm at the point of just looking at this and evaluating what needs to be done next.  I have done a light wash of Mineral Violet on the background and added more shading on the shirt and face.  More work to do, once I decide what!  LOL!!

Freddie in high school - WIP

This is from a photo that was made during Freddie's senior year in high school.  Everything I have done of him has always been when he was a child, so this is a departure.  There is still alot of work to do but I'm pleased with the progress so far.

I am looking at new cameras and have settled on getting a Nikon D3100 for Christmas from my wonderful husband.  Everyone should have someone so supportive of their endeavors!  Not only do I need to be able to take better shots for posting on this blog and on Wet Canvas, I want to be able to take my own shots for reference material.  I have a really nice Olympus pocket camera that is wonderful to carry in my handbag everywhere.  However, it is really slow to use for capturing those fleeting expressions of people.  Takes forever for it to be ready to shoot again and by then the moment has passed.  Great for flowers etc., just not for candid people shots.  I plan to really study up on how to use the functions properly.  I've never had an SLR camera, so this will be a fun project. 

Thanks for reading!

David - WIP

This adorable little munchkin is the son of our neighbors across the street.  While he was in the front yard recently playing with his mom, I went over and snapped several shots of him.  
I still have work to do as you can see but I think it may turn out good.

Lucah

A portrait of our grandson, Lucah, when he was much younger.  It is still in progress.  I am playing around with the background and have more to do to hair.  Hair always seems to be difficult for me.  Thanks for reading!

Gift for Freddie

The painting that I posted on July 9 of Chandler became a gift for my son for his 43rd birthday, which is today.  43!!!  How did that happen?  Aren't I only 43 or so?

I have found time to paint this past week and will be posting some of that maybe tomorrow.  I worked on the portrait of Ted a bit more and made alot of progress on a painting of our grandson, Lucah.  These grandchildren that you see paintings of are now 14, 13 and 11 (Chandler, Gavin and Lucah respectively). I just love some of these little snapshots of when they were younger.

I'm also planning to do a painting of my husband Jim, that includes our first yorkie, Zoe.  Before I tackle the painting, I have been doing small practice paintings of Zoe but not with much luck.  I am having trouble doing a dog.  I can do them in pencil but watercolor is another story.  Geez!!!

Ted

In March of this year, I attended a five day workshop with Ted Nuttall.  I have mentioned several times in this blog how much I learned from Ted during that week.  I feel that my painting took a big leap forward under his instruction and my subsequent almost daily practice.  Here is the snapshot that I took of him during one of his lectures and the painting I am doing of that picture.  The first shows some of the early washes and a bit of detail emerging.  The next is how the painting stands now.  I still have work to do.  Ted paints entirely on Arches 300 pound hot press paper.  He encourages his workshop students to use that paper during the workshop and I have been using it almost exclusively since then.  However, I wanted to try this portrait on 300 pound cold press and I am pleased at how it is handling.  Different, to be sure but actually quite a pleasure to work on.  I think I will be using it more and more along with the hot press.  And I can't say enough how much I LOVE the 300 pound paper!  No warping, no stretching!  A bit more money?  Yes, but I work mostly on quarter sheets and usually use both sides, since I am in the practice stage and not the masterpiece stage!  LOL!!!  So that makes it a bit more affordable.  From my days of sewing, I learned that nothing replaces quality materials.  If I am going to spend my time doing something, I don't want to be trying to accomplish good work with inferior or bargain materials.  Thanks for reading!

Been a bit absent!

I've been a bit busy with other life happenings lately so the painting time has been scarce.  We are having our back patio enclosed to make an all weather room and the workers have been here for a few days with that project.  It will only be 11 feet square but will have two walls that are all windows plus a full view glass door.  The windows are all operational and match the ones in the rest of our home.  When the weather is nice, we will open them for some great fresh air.  When it is too cold or hot, there will be an A/C vent so that we can use the room year round.  We are both very excited about it and the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors without the bugs, heat or cold. 

Also, on July 20, we flew to Kansas City to pick up our new little female yorkie puppy, Emma.  Two and a half pound of wriggling love and heart! We lost our little Zoe to cancer in March and that was just heartbreaking.  In April we got Cooper at the age of 6 1/2 months.  He's a peach!  Gorgeous and pad trained to boot.  Best little personality.  He comes from a breeder in Kansas City who shows yorkies and has had over 70 champions in her career.  Both Emma and Cooper have generations of champions in their pedigrees.  So life is a bit more exciting here with a new little one.  Emma is five months old and though she is pretty good with the pads, she still has accidents now and then so we have to be pretty watchful.

I also had the great pleasure of meeting a friend at DFW this morning as he flew from Arkansas to his new home in San Francisco.  Robert and I met in an on-line art community, Wet Canvas.  He's also a follower of this blog.  We've been Wet Canvas friends for over a year but had never met in person.  What a pleasure to be able to spend a bit of face time!  We will be able to Skype when he gets settled there and I'm so excited about that!  Big hugs, Robert!  I'll be glad when you are up and running on the net again!

Hopefully painting will resume within the next couple days.  Thanks for reading!

Gavin in her Dallas Cowboy fan gear, WIP

I'm not totally happy with how this is turning out but I'm determined to try some things I normally don't succeed with, like using more colors on the face.  When I go back and review Ted's work, I see that I am far too concerned with local color and not so comfortable in adding other colors.  I also seem to soften edges much more than he does.  I need lots more practice!!!!

Chandler, another WIP

Another from a cute little snapshot when Chandler was maybe 18 months old.  Watering flowers with a spray bottle.  My usual paper for my portrait work is Arches 300 pound hot pressed and I've grown really fond on that paper.  This is on Arches 300 pound cold pressed and it is really different!  Need lots more water in my brush or it behaves like a dry brush.  I'm also not accustomed to doing flowers or foliage in the background so this is quite an experiment for me.  I'll post more stages as I go along.  I have to keep telling myself that I am learning and there will be bummers along the way.  I'm pretty much Type A when it comes to wanting things correct from the beginning.  Wrong attitude for a water colorist, huh?

I think this may be finished

I have added a loose background to this.  I started with just a light wash of cerulean blue.  Considered leaving it at that but it appeared unfinished to me.  So I added touches of cobalt, mineral violet and cad orange.  I think the cad orange picks up the color of her hair and pulls the background together with the figure.  What do you think?

I intend to work on some new things this week and REALLY try to add more colors and a looser look.  Wish me luck on that! 

The temps here remain in the triple digits with no relief in sight.  Come on Fall!!!

Chandler, WIP

I just love the  expression on Chandler's face here.  It is a snapshot taken when she was about 18 months old, or so.  I worked on it this week and think I have the figure about where I want it.  Now the dilemma is the background!  It seems that I am often unhappy with the background and therefore, ruin some of my paintings.  Poo!!!! A perfect example is the painting in an earlier post titled "Farmer Gavin".  I was pretty happy with the figure and then could not get a background that I liked.  Hence, I will probably not post the finished version of that and will try again from that same photo of her. 

We are attending a family and friends reunion party today.  I hope you all have a marvelous Fourth!  Stay cool and enjoy!  Thanks for reading!

Another of sweet little Gavin

Here is another I did recently of Gavin.  I think she was maybe four years old here.  I had a lot of trouble with her hair and finally resorted to scrubbing most of it out and trying the technique that Jan Kunz uses.  My wonderful husband is great at googling and finding stuff for me.  That was the case when I was ruining her hair!  Anyway, I'm mostly pleased with this one but I do plan to do another painting of this same pose.  Mostly this is the method that I learned in Ted Nuttall's workshop in March.  http://www.tednuttall.com/  That is the method I generally use but I am beginning to experiment with other techniques and combine some of them to see what the outcome is.  Practice, practice!!

Some great instructors!

I have had the great good fortune to study with some great artists.  The two I want to bring to your attention today are Soon Warren and Linda Lucas Hardy.  I studied watercolor with Soon back in 2002 and 2003.  Her watercolor work is really breathtaking.  The scull painting is a piece that I did in her class as a gift for my son.  (I must appologize for the photo quality.  This painting is professionally framed and I had to take the photo through the glass.  That is why there is a shadow of me snapping the pic.)  It was the first of several pieces I have done for him.  Later, I studied colored pencil with Linda.  If you ever see any of her colored pencil work, you will not believe it could be colored pencil.  Amazing!!!  The boots are in colored pencil and completed as a gift for my son again.  The boots are his first childhood boots.  I'm surprised that they still have soles!  He almost never took them off his little feet!

A couple of cowboy WIP's

Back in May I had the opportunity to visit the Fort Worth Stockyard area and snap some photos of some folks in character at an old fort exhibit.  There were some great subjects and they were all so willing to pose for me.  The first is "Maverick".  The second is "Brazos".  As I say, neither of these are finished.  They are posted on the bulletin board in my studio for further evaluation.  Takes me a while sometimes to see what else needs to be done.