CIVIC GARDEN CENTER - CORAL BELLS - 2

After adding some more color on the leaves, I removed the misket.

Once that misket was gone, the painting took a whole new turn!  Makes me think of a messed up spider web!  As you may suspect, this may not be turning out as planned!  Or, as my daughter would say "needs more work"!!!

I'll work on this some more and let you know whether it's a "go" or a "throw"!

This Friday will be the ViewPoint opening and awards reception at the Cincinnati Art Galleries in downtown Cincinnati.  I'm excited!!!  Then I'll be leaving on Saturday morning for my annual painting retreat - can't wait!

So I won't post anything until I return home, sometime in mid-August.  See you then!

CIVIC GARDEN CENTER - CORAL BELLS

This plant called out to me as a possible poured painting, so I just went with that thought in mind. I tried to get the colors more vibrant than the actual plant.

I misketed the dots where the white flowers were and then poured swirls of color in layers, allowing some to drip off the side of the canvas.

After the paint dried, I poured some misket and allowed some of that to go off the canvas edge.

I then drew in foliage, approximating the location of the leaves in the photograph, but using shapes that had appeared in the paint as edges of some of the leaves. 

Then I added more paint and began adding some darker paint to define the leaves.

CIVIC GARDEN CENTER - BITS AND PIECES 2

I added some more color to the background and brought in some blues and grays to define the "x"s.  Obviously, I added more to the leaves and brought green into the window, as well as the black inside the window.

 Finally, I removed the misket and added dimension to the flowerets, put some more darks in the window area and added some white highlights.

I think this represents some of the elements of the Civic Garden Center - so I'm calling this one FINISHED!

CIVIC GARDEN CENTER - BITS AND PIECES

This painting is inspired by design elements that I saw as I walked around the facility. Lately I’ve been basing some of my work on patterns and when I saw the pagoda I thought it had some great patterns in it that I could work into a painting – ditto the windows of the stone hut.

I decided to combine those design elements into a little "painted collage" - hope my ideas work!


I drew a design from the pagoda around the border of the piece and added the window from the stone hut - that building fascinates me!  I also liked the hydrangea bloom and added it in, taking one "floweret" and placing it into the window space.  Then I misketed the whites, wet the canvas and swiped on blues and yellows and browns, then as the piece dried I spattered various color with a toothbrush.

As soon as I started defining some of the "x" shapes, I realized I'd forgotten about the ones inside the window area, and quickly added them.  I also began adding some yellow to the flower center.

I began adding greens and some shadows.

SHOWS

See my sidebar for upcoming shows.

I was asked to juror the Bethesda North show this year and I'm a nervous wreck about it.  Since I've so often been on the receiving end of a judge's decision, I'm well aware of how an artist feels if their work is not accepted into a show.  This is a huge responsiblity and I take it very seriously - and I don't want to mess it up!  

If you are interested in entering the Bethesda North show, it is for artists within a 50-mile radius of Cincinnati, Ohio.  You can click on the link for more info or to request a prospectus.

Two of my paintings were accepted (one each!) into ViewPoint ("Flights of Fancy") and the Ohio Watercolor Society show ("Oriental Roses").

We have two Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Society shows coming up.  The first is at Kennedy Heights Arts Center, located about 2 miles south of Kenwood Mall, and I hope you will be able to either attend the opening or drop in some day while the show hangs.  This is a great facility and I'm so looking forward to this new venue for our Society.  The fall show will be at Evergreen Retirement Center and we will have 3 cash prizes.

And, last but certainly not least, my painting "Ying Yang Mums" (April 25, 2012 post) was accepted into the National Watercolor Society 92nd Annual Juried Exhibit!  YIKES!  I had to pick myself up off the floor for that one and re-read the email twice to verify what it said!

CONVERSATION - 2

Again, a quick transfer of the image and some texture to the mulch and background, then some shadows were added, along with some background “stuff”.

Then I mixed a black for the chairs and painted them. I added white for the highlight.

Again, after a review, I added a bit of light blue on the tops of the chair seats.