Shepard State Park

Today I went to Shepard State Park with my friend Mary.

We painted, and hiked through the park.  Here are some pictures of things we saw!

Feathers and a Barnicle Covered Stick

This painting took a lot longer than the others to do, but it felt good to have something to come to work on every evening.  I am obviously not making something every day like I set out to do on my birthday.  But, I am ok with this.  I will be working towards that goal still.  I still want to make one thing every day.  Maybe in my second month, starting today, I will be more successful.  Here is today's painting.  Technically I have been working on it for a week, but I finished it today!!!!!!!

Horn Island Findings

Here is my newest painting.  It is a small collection of findings from Horn Island, and a branch with berries from my yard.

I really liked painting the branch.  It was fun watching it pop off of the page when I put the shadows in.

I am definitely getting more confident with the watercolor paint.  I am really enjoying it.  I am so excited about my next painting!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Available here at my etsy store

Camellia Pt1 and Pt2!

So, Camellias are one of my favorite flowers.  They are the state flower of Alabama, and I have fond memories of climbing in my family's huge camellia trees as a little girl.  I love these flowers.
When I saw some flowers in bloom outside my little cottage, I was so excited!  I picked a perfect red camellia.

I brought it in, and started sketching.  I immediately got lost in drawing the petals.  But, I thought I would stick it out, and try to get a pretty painting out of this, and definitely learn something!  Well, I failed at getting anything pretty out of the first try, but I did learn a lot.

So, I tried to paint a camellia again, and this time I selected a pale pink one.  It was not easier, but I was able to make out the different petals a bit more clearly, and so it was more straightforward to draw and paint.  It turned out a lot better.

I will continue painting these flowers until they fade for the season, but I am going to give my self a bit of a break from them for a few days.

Here is an image of the "Angry Camellia" that I am giving to my friend Britton, because he says he likes it, and I don't!

 

The Pink Camellia is available at my Etsy Shop.

A Quick Painting.

Thursday night, I was loosing energy, and so I decided to paint a quick painting.
I painted my default for drawing: a house tall, on stilts.

I was going to classify this as a fail, but this was a fun painting to do.  I was just playing and I was not treating it as a precious object as I have been the other paintings.  There was very little care, or precision, or craft.  It was all just fast and messy. I like things like that some times.  I will do more of these for sure.  Why? Why do them when they are not as good and careful as my still life paintings?  Well, I think that is the point. It is nice to have that contrasting the slow calculating paintings of the other nights, even if it doesn't come out as clean.

Available in my  Etsy store!

Peilican Feathers, Vertaberries, and a Button

Birthday Resolution Fulfillment January 25, 2011

This is a painting of brown pelican feathers, verteberries (vertebrae) and a button.
I picked up the feathers and verteberries on my last trip to Horn Island off of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  There will probably be several of these paintings with my findings and curies from the beach. 

I am definitely liking the evening painting times.  It is a great way to end my day.  I am also learning so much as I go. I can't wait to make my next one.  I also get to revisit the happiness of finding my treasures with every brush stroke, exploring the color, texture and shapes of each of the curies.

This is Sold! 

January 24, 2011 - Watercolor painting #1 Feather and notebook.

Today, I did my first watercolor.

Well this is not entirely true.  I played with crayola watercolors as a kid, and some times as an adult.  I also did two Beaus Arts style water colors, one of the Greensboro jail as a student of the Rural Studio and one of my friend's trailer as a Christmas present.  Beaus Arts style is a wonderful way to paint, very labor intensive, but also very forgiving.  It is a method where you use three jars of very watered down paint:  red, yellow, and blue. You make colors and darkness by layering hundreds of washes.  It is such a relaxing way to paint.

Todays painting I guess I did the more unforgiving way, mixing colors on a pallet, and painting.  I think it turned out pretty well for the first try.  I learned a lot as I went, and I cant wait to do my next one.  Maybe tomorrow!

This one is for sale on my etsy store!