New Work, Summer Break

I have been busy painting and being with family Here is my most recent painting:

painting


I have met the most wonderful professional model! She posed for me in my yard. More paintings to come.
My posts won’t be as regular for a couple of weeks. I will be checking in. Have a great summer!

Favorite Paintings: Gary Bukovnik

I love color, fine drawing, and watercolor, so how could I not like Gary Bukovnik’s work? Here is an example of his gorgeous watercolors taken from his site: Gary Bukovnik.

watercolor


He makes full use of the 3 primary colors: blue, red and yellow in a simple composition.

Read more at: Bonnard.

A Day in the Life: Oil Progress

stream


I have been slowly working on an oil of a stream in upper Pennsylvania. By the way, it is not the same stream as my previous watercolor sketch. I guess I am just smitten with streams!
Will keep you posted on my progress.

Read more at: Back to Summer.

Sketching

Initial sketch


Practicing one’s craft is essential to keeping up skills. When I started to seriously paint 24 years ago, I faithfully sketched almost everyday. Anything was a subject, a chair, bird, the person sitting across from me at the doctor, my piano, feet, oh, I sketched everything, it was a delight! It made my creative juices really flow. I came up with various designs and compositions for future paintings. It also gives your brain the time to center and focus about what you are looking at. After sketching, you get into the art mode, not the over thinking state.
Somewhere along the line, I stopped sketching on a regular basis. Too many things to make, not enough time. But I have promised myself that I am going to attempt to bring sketching back into my everyday life. I have added to my repertoire, watercolor sketching. These sketches I did last week by a stream. Many impressionist painters sketched in watercolor to give them a basis for a later painting. It is a free way to sketch with color.

2nd sketch


Wow, my creative juices are flowing again!

Read more at: Paint it and it’s new!

A Day in the Life: Playing

I have had fun recently with some of the new apps on my iPad. Many let you take a photo and make into a painterly version. This is from a photo I took of a still life.

Painterly still life


Isn’t this cool? I think it is a useful tool to get ideas for an actual painting. Are they any awesome apps that you would recommend?

Read more at: Painting on New Surfaces.

A Day in the Life: Floral Cuffs

Floral cuff


I have been going through the various art items I have made to get a feel for what to tackle next, and I love my brass floral cuffs! I have several of them in my boutique, Etsy, and soon to be offered for sale on my new online boutique shop. They each feature a floral watercolor. Since they are printed on brass, they have a vintage look.

front cuff


This is a painting of a hibiscus, aren’t they cool?!

Read more at: Give me anything blue.