After the Storm (Sold)

Poster Study, Grisaille, Etc., Oh My!

Wow!  Where did the time go?  I haven't had much to post because I had been getting ready for another workshop with Todd Casey, which was held this past weekend.  I wanted to be pulled together so I could make the best use of my time with Todd.  Got the drawing done, images transferred to panel and canvas, a poster study almost complete, and a very weak grisaille.  It was good enough to be in a good place for Todd's instruction.  I scrubbed in a little color and got an "ebauche"going...mixed a color string for the apple and started to roll some form on the apple.  Not too shabby for a lady that didn't know what the heck this stuff meant four months ago.  Todd, thanks for your patience and perseverance.  It is sinking in.  Now I just need to reconcile what I see visually with the conceptual knowledge in my head.  Painting what I know and not what I see is my next challenge. Oh, my!

Splash at 7:22 PM

(8 x 10 pastel)

Since I was having so much fun playing with my pastels on the winter scene and had only days left to get a piece ready for the Clinton Art Society show, I used pastels as my medium of choice.  As I flipped through my source photos, I kept coming back to the wave that I had done one year ago.  I got really positive feedback from that painting, so why not do it again for someone else?  With nothing to lose, I just went for it.  Lulled by the ocean music on the sound system, I was transported to the beach.  Everything came together nicely.  I was really pleased that I had something to enter into the show.  Hope the juror likes it!

Can't Part With It!

(8 x 10 Pastel)

Every year at this time I am usually frantic getting ready for the Clinton Art Society's Summer Show.  Instead of putting pressure on myself this year, I decided to wrap up a pastel that just needed finishing touches.  I was so proud of myself that my entry was framed and ready to go many days in advance.  As I filled in my entry form, I had a sudden surge of emotion.  I fondly remembered taking photos with my husband that morning last winter.   It was a special moment, and it has become a special place for us.  I decided that I couldn't part with this piece.  Damn!  Now what am I going to do?

An Evolving Process

After posting "Grandmom's Teapot" yesterday, I started to put away all of the related materials for this painting.  As I gathered my sketches, notes, reference photos, and multiple painting palettes, I sat down to reflect on what worked and what didn't.  I've always been a careful note taker when it comes to painting, but when I realized that I had misplaced my trusty notebook, I knew my system needed to change.  Why not use my blog to capture my thoughts and process?  I learned so much from Todd's class, so now is a good time to change my process moving forward.  Here are some of my thoughts and new systems (I guess I'll always be a process person).

I created a "Todd" binder with all of his handouts and reference materials.  I also added additional info from the web and other resource materials. I need to print out photos that I took during various stages of painting to add to the binder. Until form painting becomes second nature, I plan to keep this binder next to me as I paint.  Since I have a tendency to misplace things these days, I also need to scan this info into the computer.

My new filing system... I had a lot of hits and misses with mixing paint for the teapot in "Grandmom's Teapot." As I mixed paint,  I saved all of the pieces of palette paper with color notes written in Sharpie.  I normally would throw them out and just write notes with color swatches in my notebook.  Why not save them? I just hung up all of the pieces of palette paper to dry thoroughly. Once they are dry, I plan to put paint palettes, sketches, and photos in an oversized manila envelope.  I just created an envelope for "Grandmom's Teapot" with the date.  I affixed a photo on the outside and wrote my notes directly on the envelope.  If I ever want to paint this painting again, or something similar, I won't have to recreate many of the steps.

Grandmom's Teapot

(8x10 oil)

I finally completed "Grandmom's Teapot" which I worked on during Todd Casey's class.  I am very pleased with the results.

Nestled In II

(8x10 Oil)

Nestled In II was sold during the silent auction at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's  30th Annual Hearts and Heroes Gala held May 12, 2012.