Daily Painting 5: Experimental

Yesterday was Sunday and I decided I will not be doing daily paintings on that day, so here is today's painting. I chose to do a little portrait; 

 size 3.5" x 2.5"

Title: A Red Head

It is done in watercolor, and I used the same technique that I used on Daily Painting #4

Fancy Ewe

This art card is available for sale 

$25

Here

Free shipping in the US

Daily Painting 3 - Disaster!

I was so discouraged with my painting yesterday that I didn't post it. I had a busy schedule with tending my grandson, taking my daughter to the airport, and going to an opening of a friend's show (more about that in a bit!).

For my painting subject I picked something that I thought would be fairly easy, a sheep. I have painted many sheep over the years and thought it would fit best in the amount of time I had to paint.

It is a watercolor, and I thought I would do a sussex sheep image that I had taken at the State Fair a few years back. I felt in a colorful mood so I started painting the sheepy's head in purple and windsor blue rather than shades of black and grey. I also thought a few flowers would be nice.

What I ended up with is a very pastel looking painting, and it was awful! It was time to go and tend my grandson, so I had to leave it. Painting something you don't feel good about is really a downer!

Thank goodness I had a reception for an artist friend of mine to go to! Jeff Clay is a wonderful photographer who really puts the art into his photographs. Here's his link:  Jeff Clay PhotoBlog

Jeff has recently returned from Cambodia, and he has photos from there that are featured in his show, along with international scenes as well as the amazing shots of New York, the beauty of southern Utah, and it's northern deserts.

Looking at good art always cheers me. Jeff had 75 images in his show! If you want to see it here is the info: Jeff Clay Exhibit

Ok, so back to my 3rd day of Daily Painting. I woke up this morning kind of blue... like my sheep. So I went to my desk and looked at it. Now if you are an artist, you know you can't keep your hands off the painting if something needs to be fixed. So I spent about 20 minutes with it and I think I can post it now.

It was a bit whimsical to start with but when I finished touching it up, it is now definitely whimsical!

I darkened some of the colors as it was pretty low on contrast. Then I scanned it in... On the computer you can often get a good idea of what needs to be fixed next. It was still too pastel. So I did a wash of a golden brown over the whole painting. I knew I needed a pretty wide brush so that I wouldn't wipe out the painting with a lot of small brushstrokes. I grabbed my trusty Sterling Edwards flat brush and painted a light wash over the painting. I love those brushes! It's a must have. Visit the link, Sterling also has a bunch of free painting demos too.

Ok, back to the painting. After the wash was dry, I lifted some of the white in the sheep and surprise! A halo also developed! So suddenly I had a title as well: Angel of the Morning.

Angel of the Morning

8" x 10" Watercolor on 140 lb. WC Paper

$100

Click on price to purchase. US shipping free

Contact me for international shipping costs.

Now on to the daily painting for today! What to paint? I am doing watercolor all this week, now for the subject matter...

Day 2, A Painting a Day

Today wasn't my usual schedule. Even though it is only day 2 for my painting a day, I found I had to really make an effort to get my painting done. Here it is 9:30 PM and I am only posting it to my blog now! If I wasn't trying to do a painting a day, I probably wouldn't have finished it today. So see, it's doing me good already! 

This painting is 11" x 6" on 140 lb. watercolor paper. It is painted to the edge. It is titled

 "A Girl and Her Dog". 

It is available for sale here:

 $85

Free shipping in the US

Contact me for international shipping

Arches Watercolor Paper Disappointment

A few months back I moved. Which means I was forced to go through and organize all my art supplies. This past week I needed to paint a watercolor to enter into the Utah Watercolor Society Spring Show. This year we have the amazing John Salminen to jury our show.

Determined to use some of the supplies I had in store, I found some Arches 140 lb. cold press watercolor paper. I haven't used Arches for several years now but my memory was soon refreshed as to the reason for that.

Starting the painting with the first couple of washes was fine, but then as I applied more layers of color, the paper acted very weird and the colors would not blend properly. Frustrated, I kept on going; I had a deadline to meet and no time to start another painting! If you have read my blog at all you may have gathered that I tend to procrastinate painting for shows til the last couple of days before it's due.

The painting ended up ok, but I wasn't pleased with the face of the girl. Painting skin tones can be delicate work, and this paper would not let me blend the colors as well as I wanted. *sigh*.

The title of this painting is "Then It Dawned On Her". Kind of a poetic tribute to why I will never buy Arches again. Yes...

NOW I remember why I switched to Fabriano WC paper.

An Award From Robert Burridge!

This month the Utah Watercolor Society held it's Fall Show at the Michael Berry - Utah Artists Hand Gallery in Salt Lake City. The juror was Robert Burridge. If you are not familiar with him, you should do a search. He is a delightfully funny guy as well as an outstanding teacher and artist.

My painting 'Adoggio' was awarded a juror's award by Robert. At the reception I went up to him to thank him for the award. He asked which one was mine. I told him and he smiled. He said "When I saw that, I laughed my @$$ off."

My joy in painting is to bring a smile to the viewer, and if they happen to lose a body part in the process, well, mission accomplished.

See the show! 163 E. Broadway (300 South). October 3-November 1, 2013

Enter To Win This Painting

“Flying Below Radar” illustrates how people (dogs are people too)  often think they are content to stay just below their full potential because it’s comfortable. What they don’t know is how amazing they are just to be flying!
(how's that for symbolism?)

On Friday, March 16th Local Colors is holding a reception for myself and two other artist; Cheryl Glenn - ceramics and Melody Johnson - collage. The theme of our show is "With a Whimisical View".

Along with the reception I wanted to do a little fund raiser for the gallery. I am donating a painting "Flying Below Radar" for a drawing.  You probably noticed that I said fund raiser. Well, my first thought was to sell raffle tickets for $5.00 each, but then one of our artists pointed out that raffles are a form of gambling and therefore illegal in Utah. Unless you are a non-profit organization. Which we aren't.

So I had to come up with another plan.

 So here it is... Imagine owning your very own personal 4"x6" print of "Flying Below Radar" that comes with the added bonus of  having YOUR NAME entered in the drawing for the original painting! All this for only $5.00!

The drawing is for a 16"x20" acrylic painting on 3/4"gallery wrapped canvas with sides painted, wired and ready to hang. Valued at $600.

There are two ways you can you can participate.

Go into the gallery between March 2nd thru March 16th

 and purchase this little print

of "Flying Below Radar"

1054 E. 2100 So.

Salt Lake City, UT

OR

You can purchase it right here through paypal!

Your print will be mailed to you upon receipt of payment. (I have a history of selling online since 2001 with a 100% positive feedback) No additional charges for shipping.

The drawing will be held on Friday, March 16th at 7:30 PM. If you are not present and you WIN, you will be notified on Saturday, March 17th. Shipping is free anywhere in the U.S.

Either way you choose to buy your print, your name will be entered into the drawing for

the original painting "Flying Below Radar".

DRAWING UPDATE:

Thanks to everyone that entered! Congratulations to Susan Daniels who won the painting.

 Please note that the colors of the original painting may vary from that shown on your monitor.