F....uschia. Floral.

Yesterday was busy... my hubby and I took my pet praying mantis (one of them) to the county fair to compete in the "Novelty" category of the pet show.  She got 3rd place, and it was a lot of fun.  Then we went over the Cultural Arts center to check out the lots of stuff I entered over there... 1 piece of jewelry, 3 paintings, my famous French bread, and an assortment of canned goods -- I just started canning this year and I kind of went hog wild.  

The results:  not bad!  I was really excited that, unlike last year, this year I had to compete in the Professional category (woot!), and still got 2nd in the Animals category with my painting of my little dog Dink:

And 3rd in Still Life with my violin painting.

I got first place in Jewelry with my wire wrapped turquoise ("Anshar" on this page), and a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd with canned stuff.  And my pretty dried hot peppers got Best in Show in the Miscellaneous canned goods category.  Sweet!   

At the pet show and later that evening at the Western Horse Show, I sat and practiced drawing from life (oh my god, do my skills at that need work....!!)

So that was yesterday.  Needless to say, I didn't get a chance to paint, but I drew a whole lot, filling pages and pages of my little sketchbook with gesture and contour drawings and quick sketches.  

So back in the studio today, I finished up a couple of paintings I'd base coated.  It's back to oil with the henna impasto for these.  I'm happy with one of them.  Guess which?

I might like the hibiscus better after it dries and I can make the central stamen more interesting.  We'll see.

By the way, these are 4x4 on hardwood panels.

I thought about doing journal pages with watercolor chronicling my fair adventures... that may be tomorrow's (or the next few days') painting.

Oh, almost forgot!  The fuschia is my "F" painting for the alphabet challenge with Crystal Cook., and I'm officially caught up for the 30/30 challenge  :)   Progress!

Day One: Night Falls

Yay, it's Day One of Artists Helping Artists Podcast's 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge!   I had the groundwork laid out for this one and since it's going to be a busy day I thought I'd finish it off.  

"Night Falls" 4x4 Acrylic on Hardwood Panel $30  - Click Picture to Purchase

This was done in acrylic in the reverse of the henna impasto style I use in oil; i.e., the textured henna part was painted on first, and then I used Golden High Flow acrylics thinned with water to get the watercolor-y effect.

The nifty thing about this is that I could probably get one done in a single day, although in this particular instance I painted on the texture and left it sit for a couple of days before I finished it this morning.  Or, I could theoretically finish one and start another.  When I paint in oils I can almost never finish a painting in one day even if it's small, because I don't paint alla prima.

While I like this technique, I've decided I don't care much for acrylics for traditional painting and I think for my spirit animals series I'm going to go back to oils, after the bison is done.

Anyway, I'm pretty excited to be doing this again this month... I was kind of surprised at how much I've blogged since January because it didnt' feel like as much as it was, but at the same time, it sure is nice to get into the studio every day, even if you don't finish something every day.  So this is just the kick in the pants I needed.

If you're doing the challenge and you drop by, please leave a comment so I can reciprocate the visit... one of my favorite things about doing it is getting to see what everyone else is doing!  Happy September!

Arbor Vitae

This is a first layer of one of another acrylic "henna impasto" style painting.  It made my hand cramp.  Next layer tomorrow.

It has kind of a nifty texture :)

PtesanWi

"The medicine of Buffalo is prayer, gratitude and praise for that which has been received.  Buffalo medicine is also knowing that abundance is present when all relations are honored as sacred, and when gratitude is expressed to every living part of creation."  -- Jamie Sams

Bison Spirit Animal Painting, Work in Progress

I want to do a series of Spirit Animal paintings.  Buffalo is not one of my animals, but because she symbolizes abundance, she has some meaning in my life at the moment, and this is where I was inspired to begin.  A few months ago I sketched this with detailed notes about the meaning of Bison as a Spirit Animal.  To the Lakota, there is no animal more sacred than a white buffalo.  It was a symbol the Great Spirit was taking care of them.  They have a legend about White Buffalo Calf Woman (PtesanWi) that I will relate with the next (last?  maybe..) layer of this painting.

This is acrylic on 8x8" panel.  I think for the next one I will return to oils... definitely like the way they move around on the canvas better, even though I bought an extender to use with the acrylics.  Sure is nice to have the layers dry so quickly, although I have a feeling it's not going to make me paint any faster because once I'm done with a layer I feel kind of done for the day.  I got the background pretty much done here, just have to put detail on the buffalo, and the circle, which will be painted with impasto designs.  

I'm Playing Hooky

I'm supposed to be typing. I'm also supposed to be finishing jewelry orders. But...

... I got new toys. YESTERDAY. And didn't have time to play.

So I transferred this image onto a panel..

Sort of. What the heck, transfer paper?

And then loaded molding paste (acrylic) into a henna cone. Because henna can be messy I feel a little bit more comfy with an acrylic medium on the other side of that cellophane.... way less toxic.

And here he is henna-fied, white on white. Gosh, I kinda like him just in white... The base coat now needs to be touched up but once the molding paste dries (this stuff holds texture!) I'll go back in with the high flow paints and either try a wash or fill in some color.

And hey, there's not a thing to clean up right now, and if it wasn't bedtime I could finish this guy today!! Which is awesome because a new painting a day challenge is looming on the horizon! I'm excited!

Art Therapy

Full Gallop

My son Brandon, who as of this fall will be a fine art major, had a painting date today. It's so nice to have another artist to look at what you're doing when it stops making sense to you.

Anyway I had painted the background for this black stallion a few days ago and thought I'd finish him today.

I'm amazed at how different the light is in the first one, from a few days ago, and today.  I really need to get some good consistent lighting in my studio.

While I was working on this Bran did a nifty one-point perspective drawing.

This boy is for sale.  He's done in a textured knife-painting impasto technique on 11 x 14 gessoboard (Masonite type) panel.

I went and visited my own horses yesterday, now that I'm feeling a bit better from the cough that has plagued me for the last three months.  My girl Storm (Arabian) put on a show for me.  She went down to get a drink of water and then raced back up tossing her head, and ran directly to me, skidding to a stop.  I even got a picture, which I may need to paint -- it's not often I manage to get a decent picture of either of my girls running.  Abbey the chunky monkey doesn't run unless absolutely necessary, but Storm enjoys it. :)

Challenge! Day One

 

I finished the cherry blossoms. Yay! So this is my painting for the day, but because I did most of it last month it feels sorta like cheating... I really need to chill, I guess.  

 So, since the Sakura painting went very quickly I thought I'd play with some alla prima (wet into wet) painting, just to see how the paint behaves and how to get it on the canvas without muddying it.

This is the result. I pretty much hate it. But, I did learn from the experience, and that was the point. I want to let it dry and paint on it some more, but that kind of defeats the purpose of the exercise... I might do it anyway.

I painted in the background, then the tree, then used a dry brush to try to create the effect of wind in the branches, which succeeded for a while but then looked like I just smudged the paint (which... I guess is what I did). I'll come back and look at it tomorrow and decide what is to be done with it.

I made a page on my website for this month's Challenge paintings! 

Sakura Sakura

A little more definition on the foreground blossoms. I'm headed to Hobby Lobby to spend my Christmas gift card from my son Brandon on painting stuff, and maybe some fiber stuff.  :D

Sakura

A little work on my cherry blossoms. I darkened the lower corner of the sky, defined branches, filled in some background blossoms, and defined the shapes of the foreground flowers a bit.