Backyard - Work in Progress - Finished

I worked on the flower bed today, and the shadows. It was more difficult than I realized to get the depth. She must have taken the reference photo from her upper deck.

Steph's Patio - 8 x 10" acrylic.

Added the patio furniture. Shaded in the entire area. She's has a new place to landscape now. Hope it's as peaceful as this one :) (I'm never painting gravel again!)
You can see the entire work in progress on my home page

Backyard - Work in Progress

I've started the second painting for Steph today. Another 8 x 10" acrylic. This one will be of her back patio of their first house. I should probably point out that although I always work from the back to the front, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's the right way of doing it. I am self taught and simply use methods that work for me. Things that I have picked up from other artists and mentors.

You can see the reference photo on the right (or maybe you can't see it....it's kind of small. Anyway, I'm just doing the rough background to get the colours and the "lay of the land" sort of speak. I have discovered that I really really dislike painting gravel!

Just working on the raised flowerbed and then I can move on to the details of the flora and fauna :) More work will have to be done with the shadow too.....They are proving to be challenging.

Trellis/Flowerbed WIP - finished

Steph's Flowers - 8" x 10" acrylic - Finished
I finished the last garden light and adjusted the shadows a bit and I think I'm done. I thought about adding some more flowers, but there wasn't more in the original reference photo so I think I will stay true to the flowerbed. To see the WIP start to finish you can go to the home page here

One more painting for Steph (her back patio) and then 3 more paintings and I'm caught up on my obligations. (one is quite a big project though and will take some time....another one that I've been putting off)

flowerbed/trellis work in progress....day 3

Day 3 -- getting there. I have filled in with all the flowers. Added a couple of garden lights. I only have one more garden light to add to the foreground, some cleaning up to do on the painting and then I think I will be done. I will finish it up later today or tomorrow. You can see the whole process by going to the home page here

trellis/flowerbed cont'd from home page - Work in Progress

worked on the brick today. I did all brick in various shades of grey and then gave them a light red wash. Started preliminary flowers and shadows....why the heck did you plant so many Steph! They are all my favourites. Delphiniums, daylilies, and tiger lilies :)

Trellis/flower bed...commission

This will be an 8 x 10 painting of the flowerbed/trellis in the reference photo. Steph looked after our cat (a couple of times) and I've promised her any painting she liked. (This is the first of two) This is a flower bed where she used to live. She had put a lot of hours in on it, and wanted a remembrance of it. This is bigger than I normally paint (I like very small) but not as big as we first talked about....(it just didn't look right). I have started the sky and the hedge of trees across the street. As usual I am working from the front to the back. Notice I did the entire painting as sky before adding the hedge. This way I can put foreground wherever I want.

In the middle photo I have painted the "grey" in for the street and stones...and have now transferred in a really rough sketch to determine the layout. I hate the paving stones....they are piddly and wish they were just straight lines LOL, but I'll manage......one brick at a time :)

The bottom photo...I'm just working out some of the shadows......Lots of sunshine that day so there is a big contrast. I think I'll leave it for today. I can't decide whether to move on to flowers or tackle those bricks!

Mischief in the Tulips

EBSQart's flower of the month show for April is Tulips. I wanted something a little different so I painted "mischief". Do you think she'll eat them? Or just smell them.......my bets on eating them.

Painted with acrylics this 3.5" x 2.5" aceo can be found at the EBSQart show here
but I also have it listed already on Ebay here

Spring Salad (not art - or is it?)

Asparagus Salad (yummy)
Yes, I know this is supposed to be an art blog, but I just couldn't resist posting this one. After all....food preparation is an art form isn't it? Spring has finally arrived and asparagus is in season. The dressing on this salad is to die for. I make it and then eat half the dressing (to test it of course) before it gets to the salad!

1 lb of fresh thin asparagus cut into 1 inch pieces (give or take) I'm guessing that much...I use 1 1/2 bunches sold in the store.
1 cup of sliced English cucumber (I leave the skin on)
3 green onions sliced or 1/2 small onion sliced into rings
1/4 to 1/3 cup fresh ground Parmesan cheese (or to your taste)

dressing:

2tbsp Dijon mustard (less if you aren't a Dijon mustard fan)
2 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp rice vinegar (you can use white vinegar, but I like the mildness of the rice vinegar)
1 tsp dry mustard
4 tbsp vegetable oil (I use canola)
1/4 cup fresh dill weed

cook the asparagus for about 2 minutes, rinse in cold water to cool. Drain well
when cool add sliced cucumber, onion, and cheese chill for at least one hour

whisk the dressing together....chill at least 1 hour.

Just before serving add the dressing to salad, salt and pepper and toss. Enjoy

Ship in a Bottle (or is it a bottled storm?) aceo

"Bottled Storm" acrylic aceo 3.5" x 2.5"
I can't imagine a tall ship just sitting calmly in a bottle. This is my take on what really goes on.

The Hunter -

The Hunter - 2.5" x 3.5" acrylic
Watching, waiting. This is the Spirit of the Hunter. Out on the prairie where buffalo once was king.

It's been ages since I painted Northern Lights. I painted this today when I was just fooling around seeing where the painting would take me. Have you ever seen a buffalo robe? They are super big and heavy. It must have been a challenge to carry them around, but you would have stayed super warm. I painted him wearing one wrapped around him. I also tried to give him a mysterious aura..because he is a spirit, a ghost.

Round Robin 2 - finished project

You may remember some time ago, I posted that I was taking part in a Round Robin with 3 other artists. Each submitting a "start" and then passing it on to the next artist and so on until we received our back finished. This was my "start"

I got it back in the mail yesterday finished. It has been on quite a journey and what a story it tells. Many thanks to the contributing artists
Susan: Beasnbeacons (on Ebay), Isa: Isablue123 (on Ebay) and Debrah: ArtzzeeOne (on Ebay) and the big ACEO group for hosting.

WIP - Pine Grosbeak ....miniature

Pine Grosbeak - 2.5" x 3" acrylic

Well here it is. I can't decide what else to do with it. I covered one clump of berries, but that was to be expected. I did slip it in the frame, and am not sure what I think of it. The frame is quite "heavy" but this painting was done to size of this particular frame....I will look at it again tomorrow and see what I think about it. I haven't put the acrylic sealent on it yet, and that tends to make the colours "pop". Maybe I'll like it better then.

Work in progress - Pine Grosbeak

I love "works in progress". There is something very satisfying about watching a dull lifeless form turn into something right before your eyes. It seems like just a jumble of colour and then all of a sudden you start to see where the painting is taking you. It doesn't matter if it's mine or someone else's I just love looking at them. This is going to be very small. 2.5" x 3" I am framing this one, so it may end up 2" x 3". (That is framing it if it turns out ok)

The above photo is the "start". I always always do the entire background before I paint anything else. It's the only way I can do it. In fact I had a terrible time with the round robins becaue of course all the foreground was done first. To me that's all backwards.

These are mountain ash berries. I took the rough sketch and started painting in the berries. Personally I don't think many birds like mountain ash except the waxwings, but they (the berries) are pretty much the only ones that hang around in "clumps" all winter in Saskatchewan.

Now that I have the background under control I have to sketch in the bird and then start painting it in. I have only seen a grosbeak once, although they are native to here, so I had to go searching to see just exactly how it looked. It's a very pretty bird. A Choctaw friend of mine (Char) says that to see a red bird in the winter will bring you good fortune.

Please check back to see the progress.

Members Choice - EBSQart One Word Concept: Beverage

A few weeks ago I posted my work in progress on this painting depicting these ladies hauling water (you will find post here)

I entered this miniature in EBSQart's show One Word Concept: Beverage for the month of March. I just received word today that I received the "Members Choice" for my painting. I am thrilled to death about this :) You can see mine and the other winners at EBSQart here