CORNY

I have wanted to paint corn for years and never have been able to get what I wanted. This year I took more photos with the digital camera and finally seem to have gotten the hang of it - although I’m not sure what my neighbors thought when they saw me “up close and personal” with the local corn stalks! Perhaps they thought I was a “stalker”!!
Anyway – as you can see, this is a heck of a lot of lines!

The first step was to enlarge the photo and trace it to the paper with Saral. Then the painting was taped down to a plastic board – which I love! – purchased at either Jerry’s or ASW.

Even though there were lines traced on my watercolor paper, they had to make sense to me, so I found it best to utilize a viewfinder which I made (upper left side of photo) to go over the photo (like a grid). I carefully checked out the lines which had been traced – some lines were erased, some added – until I felt comfortable with the image. This was a process! I could only do a small area, about a half hour at a time, so it took several hours over the course of a few days. Then I let it sit upright on my drawing table so I could check it out periodically. When I was finally convinced it looked like corn (!) to me, I began the painting process.

PS:  I'll be out of town a few days and won't post again until next week - I know you will miss me!  I will try to check in from time to time, tho (gotta get my "blog fix"!)
TIP! When I use Saral, sometimes I get a lot of graphite on the paper - if I leave it on the paper it will mix in with the paint and make it look gray-ish. My solution is, after retracing all lines with a pencil, to put my paper in the stationery tub and use a sprayer - that extra graphite goes down the drain before I begin painting.  This also gives me a wet surface to begin pouring or dripping paint - then I let it sit overnight to dry and all the "peaks and valleys" flatten out, leaving a relatively smooth surface (my own version of stretching paper).

DEARBORN COUNTY REGISTER NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

I was pleased to see a feature newspaper article about me that ran in our local paper. You can click on the link here or on my sidebar if you are interested in reading it!

http://thedcregister.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4182&Itemid=106

A correction would be that I was in the Georgia Watercolor Society Member's Show and the Richeson International Still Life & Floral last year.

BLUE PITCHER AND PEARS ON LACE - PART 5

Then I darkened more of the pitcher reflection and shadows, and went over the background again.
I consider it finished! How about you?

P.S.  My husband told me that I do not give him enough credit for his critiquing expertise - and that I must tell all of you that it is due to his great critiquing skills that this painting turned out well, since he told me to darken the reflection on the pitcher - and that I (the artist) am "merely the paintbrush in the hand of the critic." 
Any comments on this????

BLUE PITCHER AND PEARS ON LACE - PART 4

That pitcher was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO blue - had to “dumb down” the blue and darken the shadow side – and hoped I didn’t ruin it.
I also began the background – my “nebulous” background, as I call all/most of my backgrounds.

BLUE PITCHER AND PEARS ON LACE - Part 3

Then the blue was added to the pitcher – man, oh, man – is that BLUE!!! (Very scary!)

BLUE PITCHER AND PEARS ON LACE - Part 2

Then the reflection was added to the pitcher.

BLUE PITCHER AND PEARS ON LACE - Part 1

Started this one a while ago (in October!!) and let it sit while I worked on some other things. Then thought I better keep it going or it will look like two different artists painted it!
Gee – lace again – and pears too! “Who woulda thunk it!!!!”

This is fluid acrylics on watercolor board. I began by wetting the lace area and dripping in some raw sienna and let it dry. Then I started on the lace holes – which took time, of course. I’d do some and then play with the pears, just go back and forth until that portion was finished.

OUT WITH THE OLD (2009) AND IN WITH THE NEW (2010)!

Of course we will be seeing many New Year’s resolutions posted in the next couple of weeks. I decided to start with my accomplishments of 2009, such as they are, before I set my next goals.

This past year I:
• was the chairperson for the GCWS spring show for the second year in a row;
• took over part of the membership duties for GCWS;
• had 2 pieces accepted into the Miamisburg Art Guild regional show;
• had 1 piece accepted into the Middletown Arts Center area show;
• won 1st place in the Southeastern Indiana Art Guild spring show;
• was involved in other local groups who each had a spring show and a fall show;
• taught three Saturday classes for DHAC;
• sponsored a workshop for Stephen Blackburn;
• was voted onto the Cincinnati Art Club Board and am Chairperson for the ViewPoint show from 2009-2011;
• taught a series of workshops in my home;
• taught a series of classes for the Cincinnati Recreation Commission.

In addition to being in the shows for the local groups that I belong to (KHAC, GCWS, SIAG) I also had:
• 1 painting accepted into the Woman’s Art Club of Cincinnati 116th Annual Exhibit;
• three of my paintings accepted into the Richeson Still Life and Floral show;
• three of my paintings accepted by the Bethesda Foundation to hang at the Mary Jo Cropper Family Breast Center on the Bethesda Hospital Campus;
• one watercolor accepted into the Georgia Watercolor Society members show.

In between all that I managed to head to Tennessee for my annual painting retreat and take trips to Atlanta and Kentucky with my husband.

Good grief – how does one go from doing nothing to doing too much?????

My last year’s resolution was – and the result is:
Become a better blogger – (a partial success) - thanks to Rhonda I’ve learned a few more things, but have not put them all into practice – hopefully as time goes on I’ll add a few more “tricks”!
Learn to paint portraits – (a total failure) - yep – this one follows me around like a bad penny and is on the top of my list again this year!
Post two blogs a week – (a success) - pretty much managed to do so – and some of you may have noticed that I quickly snuck 4 blogs into the last two weeks of the year just to make my 104 for 2009!

My 2010 resolutions are:
1 - Learn to paint portraits!!!
2 - Make more time each week to paint - it should be my JOB!!!
3 - CLEAN UP and STAY NEAT!!!
4 - FOCUS and COMPLETE!!!
5 - 104 posts for 2010!

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

P.S. I already feel like a failure for numbers 3 and 4!

GOURDS - FINISHED AT LAST?

Here is the gourd painting - after several more hours of "fiddling" - finished I think.
I've tried to put these in proper order so you can see the progression.

The beginning - miskit poured, then yellows.

The second pour.

Then more miskit applied and more pours. The miskit removed and beginning to pull out the gourds.

Almost done!And finally - finished at last??????

AND THE HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY WINNER IS . . .

As promised - on Christmas Day the names of everyone who left a comment on my blog were jumbled up and one was picked to receive the Holiday Giveaway.
The lucky winner is . . . . . CHRIS BECK!
So, Chris, please contact me with your home address so I can send it to you.
Oh, I didn't mention what it is, did I? Well - it will be a surprise until Chris receives it!
I really appreciate everyone who takes time to stop by and comment.
Thanks to you all!