POSSUM PALETTE

The other day I couldn’t stand looking at my palette – just had to wash it off and clean it up – which got me to thinking that I should share the following info with you:
Here is a photo (and this photo is of the cleaned up version, believe it or not!) of the palette I usually use – it’s called a “Possum Palette” – and is a bit more expensive than traditional palettes. I have been using this one for quite a few years.
As you can see, it has round cups that fit into depressions around the palette. The cups are plastic with attached lids – I have a few of them open in the photo. (The only problem with mine is that the cups will fall out if I tilt the palette – the newer models have a ridge in the cup holder area and they won’t fall out).
It comes with 22 cups, but you can purchase more (I think they come 8 cups in a plastic box).
There are a few things I love about this palette: (1) the paint tends to stay moist for much longer periods in the cups; (2) I am not locked into using paints previously squeezed out into my palette – it’s so easy to pull out one cup and insert another; and (3) since I sometimes paint on more than one painting at a time – it’s great to pull cups out and place them into a butcher tray for different paintings.
I am personally responsible for 30+ people buying these palettes – hint, hint to the company!!! If you want one you can purchase it from Daniel Smith or Cheap Joe’s (wait for a sale for a better price!!!)
I also like the butcher trays, but have recently found another product – it’s plastic and a bit cheaper and does not have that curve in the center that you seem to have with the butcher trays. It’s made by Mijello and is called a peelable palette – since you can peel off traditional acrylics. (That does not work for my fluid acrylics, though; I just wipe them off and hope for the best!). It works just fine for my watercolors, too. I’m pretty sure I got it at ASW (or maybe it was Jerry’s).
Anyway – just thought I would share!

P.S. - SUNNY (as my husband says he will be named) is doing fine - getting bigger - but I only see him in the evening when we take our gator ride and my camera will not take photos in low light, never has and apparently never will. So, for now, no Sunny photos!

IT'S A BOY . . . .

. . . . we think!

Here are photos of our new arrival – our first “grandcalf”. (I now have a “granddog” and a “grandcalf” – apparently the closest I will ever get to a “grandchild”).

Just a few minutes old and mama is cleaning him up. We were concerned about her mothering skills since this is her first calf – seems she knew just what to do.



A few minutes later – a bit more awake!


Trying to stand up, front legs first – not working for him! Trying again, back legs first – not quite there yet. I stood in the field several more minutes to try to get a photo of his first steps - until my husband decided he had better things to do, so I left with him in the gator rather than hike all the way back up the hill – we have A LOT OF HILLS to hike up and down. . . . .
. . . . which is why, several hours later, after he got his legs under him, the calf managed to fall/roll down a hill and wedge himself under the barbed wire fence. My son pushed him up the hill and he went to mama.
Then, yesterday, my husband informed me he couldn’t find the calf – then found him outside the perimeter fence (again, barbed wire, and my husband has the cut to prove it!) and carried him up and pushed him back under. This morning he said he can’t find him at all – one hopes he did not get carried off and eaten last night (we have coyotes, plus large neighbor dogs plus who knows what in them woods!) – I’ll keep you posted.
And, yes, I have now decided this must be a boy – a girl would have figured out the first time not to roll down the hill and under the fence – best to stay by mom for snack time!!!
If it truly is a boy – his name is “Sonny”. If it turns out to be a girl it will be “Sunny” – since mom is “Sunshine”!
p.s. Day 3 – Sonny lives! He was outside the electric fence laying in the tall pasture grasses – we were specifically searching for him and didn’t see him until we were about 10 feet away - the dog was with us and saw him too, but didn’t bother him and came immediately away from him when we called.

All of you real ranchers out there are no doubt laughing at us. All of the books on cattle that my husband has read and seminars he has attended – and he had to call two of the local farmers for pointers on baby calves! He had 9 cows years ago before we lived out here and we have seen the young calves laying in the fields – but neither of us realized that when they are first born the mother hides them. And since the area our cows are in gets eaten and trampled down there is no place for him to hide, thus he has to go outside that area in order to hide.

Guess we will be going day to day with him and hoping for the best until he gets bigger and more mobile.

I'M IN TROUBLE . . . . .

Well, I’m in big trouble with my husband. He’s upset with me that I have not updated my blog for a few days.
I’ve been busy.
There was the GCWS meeting.
There were two classes to teach.
There was homework for classes.
I attended a class over the weekend.
I’m getting ready to teach my first weekend workshop.
I’ve been elected to the Board of the Cincinnati Art Club and they put me in charge of the ViewPoint 2009 show (what were they thinking!) so there were some things to work on for that project.
And I’ve got 5 paintings in the works right now (I know, what was I thinking!) including 2 full sheets??!!!
So – I’ll try to take photos to show you soon on some of these paintings.
Hopefully this quick post will get me out of the “dog house” with my husband!
Meanwhile we are still awaiting the birth of our first “grand calf”. I’ll keep you posted!
In the meantime - Fred and I wish you and yours a happy and safe Fourth of July!

AGAVE

Here is my next try with Steve’s technique, again utilizing analogous colors, in this case thalo blue, ultramarine turquoise, sap green, rich green gold, bismuth, nickel titanate azo; quinacridone rose was added (all Daniel Smith colors).

Again, I began with the miskit pour, then poured analogous colors, then put in some darks.

Here are photos of the steps followed for this painting of an agave - some of the colors are a little "off" due to my photography skills!

Miskit pour.

First paint pour.

Second pour and miskit removed.

Completed painting above; once again, I’m happy with the result utilizing this technique.

Agave, 11x15, watercolor on Lanaquarelle 140 CP

SUNFLOWER - Part 2

After the pours (see previous post), I then traced my drawing onto the paper, trying to incorporate some areas of the white miskit area into the petals, etc.
Then I began to direct paint areas to separate petals, etc. Per Steve’s method, I used the paint left in my pouring cups, rinsing my brush each time I changed color. Steve says this is a “clean” way to paint – meaning that you (a) do not contaminate your colors and (b) you do not have to use your palette.
Steve has a very unique way of using his brush – it makes me think of watching a Chinese brush painter – he tends to hold it loosely at the tip and kind of wiggles it around and gets a very neat effect with it. His brushes are sable, or sable blend, while mine are synthetic nylon, so was not sure if that would work for me, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t try! (NOTE: nope, I sure don’t have the hang of that!!!)

Some areas have several layers on them to get them darker, but the entire painting was painted with hansa yellow, quinacridone gold, quinacridone burnt orange, permanent rose, hooker’s green and pthalo blue. Up close and personal the miskit lines are more obvious, but muted. I may feel the need to darken a bit on my petals on the left side, but I’ll wait on that. Overall, I’m happy with it. I’ll let it sit on the piano for a while, allowing it to be critiqued, and perhaps make some adjustments.

Steve, if you see this, I’ll take any comments and suggestions you care to make!

p.s. Well, failed mission, since it looks like I didn’t necessarily get any looser with my painting, did I!

Memorial Sunflower, 11x14, watercolor on Arches 140 CP

SUNFLOWER - Part 1

Here’s my attempt to use Steve Blackburn’s technique – and modify it to my way of painting. Instead of the board I’m using Arches 140# CP, ¼ sheet – (sorry Steve, just gotta do it my way!!!) I think that you should incorporate what you learn at a workshop into your own style and way of painting – I don’t believe in copy-catting the style of another painter - just incorporate what you learn into how you paint.

If you follow this blog at all, you know that I paint with a lot of hard edges and would like to learn to get a bit softer and looser. I’m not sure what those hard edges mean about my personality – I don’t think of myself as a hard edged kind of gal (I see the “gray areas” in life, not just the black and white decisions and I like to be surrounded by soft and fluffy items) but maybe deep down I am??? Anyway . . . . .

A lot of times when I begin a painting I wet the entire paper and drop paint here and there just to get something down – I call it a “modified pour”. Then I allow it to dry naturally and find that the paper will be flat the next day – in essence I have just “stretched” the paper and at the same time I have gotten the first layer of paint down. I do not normally use the hair dryer. I am convinced that the heat sets the paper into some “hills and valleys” since it won’t dry evenly overall, and I am also convinced that the heat changes the colors of some of the paints, in particular the browns. (This is probably all in my head, but I still think drying naturally is the better way to go).

However, since I wanted to stay with Steve’s technique on this painting, I started with the miskit pour. Steve marks his paper where he basically wants things to be, so I did that, too – but I sort of cheated by laying my drawing down over the paper and then just putting some light pencil lines where the sunflower head, the top leaf and the bottom stem would be in the finished piece. Then I poured the miskit. (This miskit pour creates lines running through the entire painting, creating a unity to the piece – however, in a more organic way than John Salminen’s white shape paintings). I then allowed the miskit to dry several hours.

You can see the drawing next to the miskit pour. I could see a couple places I didn’t like in the initial pour. In particular, you will see the open areas surrounding the center of interest (the sunflower center). Those areas had been full of miskit so I “opened up” those areas by removing miskit after it dried. There were a couple other spots where the miskit had made a short, straight line, so I also removed those, along with a “blop” of miskit!



First pour - I used hansa yellow, quin. Gold and a touch of permanent rose and was happy with the result. I allowed that to dry overnight, then had a decision to make – leave the miskit on and pour some darker paints, or remove the miskit and pour again, knowing that some of the lines would be lost early on. I opted to REMOVE THE MISKIT EARLY ON (this is an inside joke, since those of you who know me know that the miskit stays on until the bitter end on my paintings!).
Then I poured some of the green areas – using hansa and pthalo blue in some areas and hooker’s green in others. You will see a light spot on the upper left that I really didn’t like,
and decided to try to get rid of it now –
but can’t really notice a big change – it was a spot of pthalo blue that went around a dry spot on the paper, but later on I may like it. I also like that I was able to keep my spot of rose clean! While this pour covered up the white lines of miskit, they are still slightly visible. I also did a quick, light spray of water in the top left for texture – Steve does this in place of salt.

So far, by pouring judiciously, I think I’ve accomplished getting some of the greens that will be leaves and background and still have a good feel for the sunflower shape.
Right now, I’m in love with the colors in this painting and could call it quits! I very rarely use greens, but for some reason I’m loving these colors!

ART IN THE COUNTRY WORKSHOPS

Throughout the year I will be offering affordable weekend workshops - beginning with Watercolor Batik! (Since so many people commented on the painting I had in the GCWS show, I decided to give a workshop on that technique first).
You can request a registration form via email (see the sidebar).
I'm located just west of Cincinnati, OH in beautiful southeastern Indiana - an easy, uncomplicated drive via the local interstates - just a few minutes and 4 right turns from I-74 .
Come, bring a friend, learn a new technique and have a great time!
Hope to see you soon!