Working on daffodils for a commission this week!

I have one of my busiest weeks so far this year.  This weekend is CRAZY!  My youngest son makes his 1st Communion on Saturday night and Sunday is my daughter's 16th birthday.  Besides that I have some art to do!

One of the pieces that I am working on is a long overdue commission for my cousin.  I am posting just a glimmer of what it is going to contain.  I haven't been able to wrap my head around this project.  Yesterday, I spent the afternoon drawing daffodils in Prismacolor pencils on mixed media paper.  I like how they are turning out.  Daffodils are hard to draw not because of their shape because I have a hard time distinguishing the different colors in the shadows. Thus, I have been doing a lot of experimenting.

I am hoping to work more on the daffodils today and I am making an effort to post more on this project!

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Tess on the Water, Water on Aquabord, 8"x10".

I used to work in watercolors many years ago.  When I think about it the last time I did a watercolor painting I think it was probably about 16 years ago.  I much enjoy acrylics and doing mixed media pieces more.

I was recently given a bunch of art supplies by my in-laws that used to belong to my husband's 2nd cousin Ginger who passed away some time in the 80s.  One of the items was a John Pike Palette that was filled with dried watercolors in all different colors.

All the colors were vibrant once I added water to them.

I thought it would be a good time to use them to work on a request that I had many years ago from one of my best friends. She wanted me to paint a portrait of her dog using watercolors.  I had done another portrait of a different dog of hers and she wanted one to go along with it.  I had been putting i off because most of my watercolor tubes were dried up and useless.  Also, I just wasn't excited about doing watercolors again.

I soon got into the portrait using Ampersand Aquabord which I am assuming wasn't a product when I last did watercolors.  I didn't have to worry about stretching paper and I loved the way it felt using it.  It was strange switching from doing acrylics to watercolors because you have to think opposite when painting.  I couldn't put dark colors in right away with the watercolors knowing that it would be hard to lighten up if I changed my mind.

I finished the painting and my friend was thrilled with it.

Tess on the Water, Watercolor on Aquabord, 8"x10"

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"At Rest", Charcoal on Pastelbord, 5"x7".

I have a confession to make:  I'm an art supply hoarder.  I have so many art boards and canvases that I can't get track of them all.  Imagine my surprise when I came across 7 Ampersand Pastelboards.  I really love working on this this surface for charcoal drawings.  It is so much more sturdy than working on traditional charcoal/pastel paper.

The above drawing was inspired by a free image I found on Morgue File.  The first night I did the drawing, I just did it strictly black and white.

I liked it but I was thinking I wanted to add color to it somehow.  Thinking about it yesterday, I decided to make the cushion red.  I love it so much better.

I framed it in a double-matted 8"x10" mat and put it in a 8"x10" frame.  I like the way it looks when it is on the wall.

I am selling this item for $65.00 plus $5.00 shipping to USA addresses.
Click the PayPal link here to purchase:

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Kids Art Lesson on Henri Matisse

After searching Pinterest and the internet for a couple of weeks, I put together a lesson plan for my K-5 Homeschool art students on Henri Matisse.

List of Supplies:

• 12"x12" or 11"x14" Stretched Canvas(one for each student)
• Colored Cardstock
• Sponges
• Foam Brushes
• Mod Podge
• Plastic Plates to use as palettes
• Scissors
• Sample cut-outs to trace if needed

I had set up a display of children's books on Henri Matisse. My library had a wonderful selection to chose from!  The title that I liked the most and pertained to our lesson was this book:

After I read the book to the kids, I brought out my laptop and showed them this video of Henri Matisse working.  The kids couldn't get over his large scissors!

I let the kids pick any colors that they wanted from my stack of colored cardstock.  Most did not have a problem jumping right in and cutting away.  I did have some cut-outs of organic shapes that I had made for students that seemed stuck but I only had one child use them.  Each shape was attached to the canvas via Mod Podge.  They used cut-up sponges to do this.  I have to emphasize to the kids that the Mod Podge would dry clear.

Here are some of the works that the students did:

Rebecca, age 10

Genivive, age 10

Lily, age 8

Joseph, age 8

Lynn, age 10

Joseph, age 8

If you are interested in learning more about Henri Matisse and what he dubbed "his second life", this short video gives some good background info.

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"Lexie", Acrylic on Panel, 6"x6"

Well, I finished the "Lexie" painting last night.  I couldn't decide if I was happy with it and kept on working and working on it.  Sometimes I suffer from "detailatis" where I venture on trying to create every individual hair on the animal.  I end up hating how it looks when I do this.  I tried not to do this on this painting.

I will be sending this off to my friend.  Hopefully it will help to heal her heart a little.

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Winter Blues

I have been a funk for a long time now and I just can't snap out of it.  I would be worried if I didn't have the prior knowledge of knowing that I always feel this way this time of year.  Everything is so dead looking and the weather has been cold that it has been hard to drag myself out of bed in the morning.

Add to the fact that I know it has been a good solid 2 weeks since I have gone out for a walk.  I pretty much walk every day in the woods near my home.  Even if it is a short walk I still feel like it does wonders to my mental outlook.  This weekend it has been so cold that I can't fathom going out for a walk.

I was laying around yesterday and I finally convinced myself that I needed to have my mind engaged to temporarily get myself out of this funk.  I find that even if I spend a small amount of time in my studio using my hands to create or focus on something creative that it keeps my mind off of other things.

A typical view in my studio.  It's daylight though; I rarely have the luxury of painting during the day.

I have been meaning to paint a dog portrait of a good friend of mine's dog who passed away a couple of weeks ago.  I always feel better when I do something for someone else that I thought it would be a win-win situation.

My walking companion is down and depressed too!

I scanned her photos on Facebook to come up with some good pictures to work with.  Here are a couple:

Lexie Reference Photo #1

Lexie Reference Photo #2

I am finding that I am having more success working with bad reference photos then I did a few years ago.  I actually tried to paint "Lexie"about 6-7 years ago and absolutely *hated* the results.  The only thing that I liked was the Persian rug that Lexie was laying on.  Hence, I ended up trashing the painting.  I ended up choosing Reference Photo #1 to work with.

I am working on a 6"x6" panel which I glazed with Prussian Blue and then Quinacridone Red

I got a good start on it and started getting into it.  I worked out all of the major areas and took a break in order to make my kids dinner.

The start of my dog portrait

My plan is to finish up this painting this weekend.  Check by the blog tomorrow and I should have the finished painting.  

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"Taylor", Acrylic on Wood, 6"x6"

Finished and delivered another commission this week.  This is a cute portrait of a precious dog named Taylor.

I have been experimenting by adding glazes to the canvas before I draw in the dog.  I like the effect it is making in the white areas of the subject.

I have been working in my studio on a few pieces that I hope we be completed shortly.

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