FARMALL - 6

Continuation of the process.

FARMALL - 5

Continuation of the process.

ENTER VIEWPOINT!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled painting to bring you this (un)paid advertisement.

If you have not already done so, it’s not too late to enter ViewPoint 2011! (Deadline: Entry Postmark August 31, 2011)

Check out my sidebar for more information on this National Show, chaired for the 3rd (and last) time by Yours Truly.

And no, just because you are my blog buddy, I cannot promise that you will be included in the show if you enter, but, if you feel your work is worthy, I’d love to have you enter the competition. Especially if you work in watermedia – it’s my mission to get more watermedia paintings than oils and pastels entered – so I’m really, really (shamelessly) trying hard here, folks!

Go to the Cincinnati Art Club website and download a prospectus today!

You will be competing with some of the best painters across the nation (and Canada, Eh!). Our prizes are great and each year it’s an excellent show.

Hope to see your entry soon!

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming!

FARMALL - 4

Continuation of the process.

FARMALL - 3

Since the painting was begun in the “3 stages” mode, I continued working it this way, gradually adding more color and bringing in more detail.

FARMALL - 2

This photo shows how the painting looked for the demo. You can see my process from right to left: in the beginning stages with some light color added; in the middle with more color added; on the left as I begin to bring portions to completion.

FARMALL - 1

Like “All Mixed Up”, this painting began as a photo taken at the local farm show.
Since I intended to use this painting as a demo, I worked it in 3 stages to use as a “prop”. I began, as usual, by wetting the paper all over and dropping in color. I used simple red (quin. rose), yellow (hansa yellow) and blue (French ultramarine and cobalt).
When that had dried, I began adding more colors to the left and center, gradually building up some definition in layers.

OH $#!+

I hope this post will not offend anyone, but after seeing what my son brought home, I couldn’t resist!

So many quotes to incorporate into this post!

Here are a few that come to mind:
What a load of $#!+
What the $#!+ is that??
Full of $#!+
Holy $#!+!

Yes, folks, what you are looking at is a very big pile of $#!+ on the right.  My husband is standing there so that you can have a reference for the size of the pile. The small pile back on the left is wood chippings from tree trimming.

My husband is composting and has found two horse farms close by who are only too happy to have him come to truck away their horse $#!+

So a couple of times a year he and my son become long haul truckers of $#!+

Composting THIS large pile of $#!+ is going to be different than the way my husband has done it for the past couple of years. Then it was placed in “wind rows” – long skinny ropes of $#!+ that were turned periodically. But because that had to be done on flat ground (of which we have very little!) apparently that took up too much of the pasture area. This large pile is a different technique. So we shall see what works the best. The pile will be turned periodically and will gradually break down and shrink; when it becomes black and crumbly it will be spread on the pastures.

This is a truly amazing thing – to be making earth! When the process is complete you can pick up the compost and it will be soft and moist and have a lovely earthy scent! It’s good for the soil and good for the environment – no chemicals.

Not to sound too preachy, but there is a movement across America to get back to the basics of agriculture. The new words are “permaculture” and “sustainability” but I call it getting back to the basics, just like our grand- and great-grandparents did it. Of course, my husband is using tractors instead of horses, but you get the idea! In the few years he has been working at it, his pastures are becoming lush!

Next step will be to start slaughtering and eating our very own grass fed beef – sometime in the distant future, I believe!!!

I’ll keep you posted! (but not com-posted!)

I promise that my next post will be about art!

ALL MIXED UP - 4

Colors used were (mostly Daniel Smith): cobalt, quin. rose, raw sienna, cobalt teal, burnt sienna, Venetian red, Indian red, French ultramarine, payne’s gray.

I must remember to ask my daughter if it “needs more detail”!
All Mixed Up, watercolor, 22x15

ALL MIXED UP - 3

The beauty of this painting was the small spaces; I could paint a portion of the painting and then go back in the same sitting to fine tune some of the details since the paper would already be dry. I also incorporated quite a bit of dry brush.