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!