The road less traveled is lined with beauty

8x10 on Uart

Decided to try one larger so it took a little longer, but not much.  There is a purple underpainting - wish I kept more of it showing through.  Most likely will paint this one again!

An Inspiring Quote

"The man is a success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had."
-Robert Louis Stevenson

Daily Painting - Day 23

An Improved Poppy
5x7 Pastel Quick Study

The sun is shining!

Daily Painting (ok, missed a few days - was on a weekend getaway for my birthday thanks to my wonderful hubby.)  Day 22:

JUST DO IT!

The Sun is Shining!
5x7 Quick Study

I painted this scene a few days ago and while I liked it, I felt it lacked a variety of color.  See below.  So back to the drawing board.  It's funny, I always felt like once I painted a specific scene, I was done, especially if I was happy with the end result.  If I didn't like the end result,  I was hesitant to do it again.  Oh, that darn fear of failure.  Or I perhaps I'm just not sure how to approach it differently.  Or, I'm frustrated.  Until, I realized "JUST DO IT!"  I have to admit, I am really enjoying painting the same scene over again.  It is fun to see how different the result are.

First attempt at sunflower scene
Its ok but I'm no't happy with limited colors

Below are examples of the scenes I have repeated.  The first image in each grouping is the first try at the scene.

What comes from experimentation

Daily Painting - Day 21

In early January, I had a request from a customer on my etsy site to paint St. Anne.  She was in no hurry so I saw this as my opportunity to try to combine my current style with the Saints in acrylic with my new found love of pastels.  I explain some of my process and my discoveries below.

St. Anne with the Blessed Virgin Mary
9x12 pastel and mixed media on Uart sanded paper

I began by exploring just what you could do on sanded paper.  Below is the underpainting using watercolor, acrylics, ink, stencils and stamps (similar to my process that I use on canvas boards)

After the initial sketches, I began to lay down large blocks of color in pastel.  I ran into a few problems.  I found that pastel does not like to stick to acrylic paint.  I worked with it as best as I could and fortunately there was not a lot of it in the underpainting.  The areas where the acrylic was used that had been watered down as in a wash seemed to work ok.

As you can see I struggled.  I put down too much pastel.  So, I set it aside and the next day, with fresh eyes, I still felt the same and decided to remove some of it.  I found a stiff brush in my studio and I gently brushed off areas I didn't like.  I also used a gummy eraser to remove some other areas. The Uart sanded paper is great for this - very sturdy and holds lots of layers of color.  Still plenty of tooth to work with.

After this removal, I decided that I like seeing some of the designs, textures and prints that I had originally created in my underpainting and decided I would try to allow them to show through and work with and around them (see St. Anne's garment - the triangle area in the center).  Also the celtic stamp that I carved and stamped is a symbol of the mother/daughter bond, certainly had the shape of a heart.  This shape made me think if the image of the sacred heart so I went with it.

I learned a lot from this and I think the final result is more than acceptable.  We will see what my possible customer has to say.  I will take what I learned from this, along with some other ideas that came my way while working on it and try some more new things.

Please feel free to comment and ask any questions you may have!

Be Like A Sunflower!

"I want to be like a sunflower so that on the darkest days I will stand tall and find the sunlight!"

Daily Painting - Day:20

Be Like a Sunflower
5x7 Quick Study

Trying something new today - Sunflowers.  May try it again.  I can see why Monet did the same scene many times.  Yes, he was painting the scene as the light changed it.  In a sense I am doing the same by changing underpainting to give the scene a warmer or cooler feel, perhaps changing the composition to see which is more effective.  These are, after all studies.  Someday I plan to go back and paint them larger incorporating what I have learned from these quick studies.