TWO DAYS IN A ROW AND COUNTING

This is an 8x10 and took about 1 1/2 hours. I actually did a paint by number and used rubbing alcohol to "paint" the dry pastel background. Love this approach! Used soft pastels over the dry wash to add detail. Definitely going to do this more often.

RED EYED AND BLUE

I think I will try the daily painting experiment that has been done by many artists trying to dig out of a rut. An exercise in discipline...a painting a day for 365 days to get the creative juices flowing. Any bets as to how many days I will actually go?!?!? (Can I bet on myself, the overwhelmed procrastinator? ) One small 3x5 picture a day...doesn't matter what medium...just GETTR DONE!

Something totally different for me and an exercise in color. This is 5"x7" and the first "Painting a Day" in a series of small works intended just to get me to paint EVERY DAY, no excuses. It only took 10 minutes to fill the sheet with color, another hour to make all the lines flow and put in an abstract design. Wow, that's out of my box, for sure. The title reflects the song I was listening to when inspiration struck, and also my mood on a rainy morning.

SHUT UP AND PAINT

This is going to be my new motto. Quit talking about it and JUST DO IT!

Sometimes last minute plans work out the best. I was invited to so on an art related "FIELD TRIP" and didn't think I could go because of morning children's activities, namely soccer practice. Well, things worked out...and I'm all the better for the experience. Three amazingly talented artist friends of mine and I ventured to Clearwater/Dunedin area this past Saturday for an Artist's Open Studio Walk where we were able to tour several working studios. I now know what I want to do when I grow up...or should I say aspire to be and to have. (really, all I want is the SPACE to create!)

Patty, Diane, Jana, Me

Our fist stop was the warehouse studio of Robert Schoeller located off Drew St. This converted space had a gallery up front where we met Schoeller's son, Tim. He actually welcomed us and took this lovely photo. He then gave us a tour of the entire place...WITH the press team from The Tampa bay Informer Newspaper. Good timing! We were brought in the back where the rest of the public was NOT invited. Actually, Tim was so busy with the Press, we were left on our own and on our honor to explore...and explore, we did.

Tim resembles Jesus a bit and his father used him for the model of this amazing piece entitled JUDAS' KISS. He crafts all the handmade elaborate frames...from resin. They look like wood...

GOT BRUSHES?

HANDMADE FRAMES

This workspace is bigger than my living room and kitchen combined

The most amazing lifelike portraits...

This is an underpainting. It could stand on it's own as a portrait...that's how amazing it is. There were dozens of these laying around waiting to be finished. Mr. Schoeller has a waiting list of about a year and a half, with portraits costing in the tens of thousands. He was in Austria ( his homeland) at the time, painting a dignitary and having free room, board and entertainment until he was finished. He will be back to give a talk at the Clearwater Ctiy Hall on November 20.

I was just in awe at the size of his warehouse space...room after room after room of creative space. And, of course, the artist spends so much time there, they've made it into home sweet home, complete with witty posters...see below. Also, outside the converted ice house and train depot next door, there is a secluded fenced garden. Once inside, you have no clue you are in downtown Clearwater. While a bit rough in places, it is home to many fruit trees and exotic plants. And a cherub I intend on painting one day...

MORE TO COME...

ALMOST FINISHED

I have moved the right eye over and am happy now with how it is lined up. I have added lights and darks and now have more of a 3d effect. It is hard to see in the photo, but the highlights are made up of many light colors including pink, blue, lavender and white. Mid tones are pinks, oranges, tans. Darks are blue, purple, green, reddish brown and some black in the very darkest areas. I have only the finest hairs and details to add...and to put a bit of color variation in the light blue background and Mr. Lee will be finis.

RISING SUN RECEPTION

LEFT TO RIGHT

Lynne Simone, Evie Harper, Robert Hernaiz, Patty Ritter

A great time was had by all...still waiting for more pictures to post!

ANATOMY OF A DOG PORTRAIT.... SIRIUS-LEE (NO, REALLY !)

I decided to do a portrait from start to finish and document the progress here...this is a commission of a chocolate lab that I am currently working on. First, I choose an appropriate color palette of pastels...

I start by enlarging the picture I am working from, then use it to block in the general shape of the animal. I check and recheck measurements, here. If this preliminary sketch is off, it will be harder to fix it down the road. I have 5 reference photos for this animal, each with a closeup of important parts, such as the nose and/eyes.

I block in the first layer of color, careful not to completely go over the outline sketch. At this point, think paint by number. This is also known as the "UGLY STAGE." (where you would think that this could NOT POSSIBLY turn out to be the likeness of the animal that it will become) Good placement and depth of the eyes is what my goal is. They must resemble two marbles, but be three dimensional and have enough color variation. I put the highlight in for the 3d effect. All other lights go on last.
Then I slowly begin to build layer upon layer of color to get the right shading. I do blend with my little finger and sometimes remove excess pastel with a chamois. At this point I take a step back and measure again. I am finding that the eyes are a bit too close together and will work to widen the space inbetween them without totally redoing them. Also, the head needs to be widened at the widest point, where the ears are the pointiest...

I'll add to this when I have more time....

FINDING INSPIRATION

I see things everyday that I want to capture on paper...

lucky for me I carry my trusty digital camera with me just about everywhere I travel...

and that is why I have a closet full of tupperware containers overflowing with inspirational photos. SOME DAY... they may be transposed to paper and turned into art. For now, they occupy a compartment in my brain and I access them every so often when I need a reference for a picture. Here's a sampling of the last week's inspirations....

there is no lack of inspirational subject matter, only a lack of time to actually put pastel to paper. Maybe if I stopped blogging so much.....

The sand hills are regular residents of High Point where I frequent about once a week visiting my multitalented friend and fellow artist, Mary Alice Queiros. She is an amazing inspiration herself, a story for another time. The tree photo was taken the same day while I chauffeured MAQ (Mary Alice's nickname) around Brooksville shooting photos of buildings she would like to paint murals on. She actually does the most amazing pen and ink drawings and this tree is perfect subject matter for her.

The next batch is from an impromptu trip to Treasure Island last Sunday. The waves were a little bigger than usual due to Ike and Joe was inspired to take the kids body surfing.

I was, well, not so inspired to be in the ocean because there were A LOT of creatures and whelk shells all in the shallows and I could not get myself past them to the ocean deep because I kept getting knocked over by the larger than normal waves....SSSOOOOOO I read a Nicholas Sparks book on the beach, waving to the fam every once in a while. That's my idea of a relaxing day at the beach! I wandered around the seagrass, snapping shots from all angles.

So many ideas, so little time....