Tag Archives: lehigh valley art lessons

Being an artist; part 2

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Hey there, I finally had a chance to print the two pictures I want to take this new watercolor from. IDK why I am so afraid of my photo printer? Anyway, I have two pictures I am going to pull from. I decided it is time I start to enter juried shows. The show entries’ fee can be expensive and it adds up quickly. Who really has an extra hundred dollars lying around these days? I am gonna bit the bullet so too speak and enter a show coming up by the end of July. Who knows maybe my lucky stars are with me and I can win something right? As soon as I get this new watercolor drawn out I will start to post the progression.

Prepare for art.

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Life can be busy sometimes if we let it …..

and a bit overwhelming. If you are an artist and I am assuming you are even if you don’t actually have the time to sit down and paint/draw, but have a great idea for a piece of art…… keep a drawing journal. Jot down small thumbnail pictures or quick sketches for later when you have a bit more time. Look around you there are beautiful pending pictures or ideas everywhere. Last night I had a few hours of silence in this house and it was a welcomed quite. I took the time to sit on my porch and just listen to the birds and watch the sun set. I like to spend the time listening for God to speak into my life [heart]. I worked on my fountain and tried to get it not too leak! I am adding a few pictures of the water, which looks amazing up close. It’d be a hard watercolor I think, not sure what medium I’d use? I will look again tonight to see how the sun comes in over the water. I just love these pictures.  I also photographed a bowl of hard-boiled eggs; fabulous shadows and value study. I believe I will work on a drawing of the eggs, maybe wc. The water photos I will work on in the near future; I just want to catch the water when there is more colorfull light. God is so good.

My Studio!

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One of the best decision I ever made was to make a space for myself to work on my artwork. I like to call it my studio, makes me feel inspired to create. If I added my sewing machine it would be an old lady’s craft room! Anyway, I cleaned my space tonight and of course I wish it was larger…..but I am grateful for what I have.  My dollhouse is in the other corner to the left. I was thinking of trying to turn my dollhouse’s large table somehow thinking I would have more space…….but I love to look at Zanadu Mansion in all its unfinished splender. 

Watercolor portrait

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This is how far I was able to get on this watercolor of Audrey. I just started to paint in the foundation for the patterns. I am not following the actual photo pattern, using the photo as a guide. There are about four layers at least for the realism. At this point I am happy with the progress. I am changing the age and face lines some as well.

Came home a bit early from Life drawing to put another layer of color on. The scarf is coming along well. Once this dries well I will go back into it to finish.

Bubbles

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This following watercolor I painted a long time ago and had it in a large portfolio just tucked a way. I never really knew where to go with the bubbles and background or the Mom? Now, I think it is time to tackle the painting since I have been working hard on my artwork and definitely taking my work to the next level. I welcome constructive criticism, so please feel free to comment. I titled this, “Mommy, one more time!”. I have photos of bubbles I did once in college in a color film photo class, now I need to find them. I guess I can look on-line, but I prefer to work from my own work unless I have the artist’s permission first. If I can’t find my worksheets of bubbles I suppose I will be playing with soap bubbles and my digital camera!

I believe part of the problem is I need to take my time and actually look at each bubble and it’s reflective quality before I just paint any line. The background needs to go darker though, but  I truly love the expressions on the girls faces. They are very anxious for the next set of bubbles. The Mom I need to find this pose in life drawing class and take it from there. I will keep posting updates as I paint on this. I started to add some sort of background and add updated bubbles. I have a long way to go! The background is so blue?…..I have no idea why I went this route. I will give it a go to add yellows and daytime light ad see how this effects the background. For the bubbles I just added white in a wash and it is a lot easier to have the background in first.

Color study

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This color study has been a “Hoot” experimenting with color. I had an idea about what I wanted it to look like, but I really enjoy the colors and play on light. The colors are so more vivid in person. I have no idea why the colors here are not as bright as shown below. The size is a bit large for me as well, I usually paint wc in tight realism. I am not completely finished….I need to work up the  door knob and detail a few things yet. But, for the moment I am going to sit this aside in my studio and just look at it for a while before I go back into it. The title will be “December shadow”. I looked to see if I could re-photograph this shot and the light  and shadow are not there at this point in time. The angle of the sun changes the shadows. I took this picture in December, so the name is perfect..This painting has become a color study of sorts.  I came across these English watercolors from the 40’s and 50’s and they are extremely translucent, transparent and bizarre to work with. Not what an experienced  watercolor artist would expect from the medium. The pictures do not capture the brightness or vividness that the colors really are. I want to work this to a point where all colors can be seen through a monotone color palette. I rarely paint so freely; not sure if I like this or not? What do you think?

Photography

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Here are two pictures I took Monday on my way home from Kutztown, Pa. I have been working on my portfolio and loving every minute, meeting other artist and enjoying the artist God made me. This first picture is nice, I enjoy the composition and light.  My one drawing Professor Peter Taugott was all about “Where’s the light source?” so you better of had one!  I seem to be finding my way into “Show me the composition”.

There is one orb or light aura spirit in this photograph. Isn’t it interesting that there are orbs in these photos even on different days?  Every time  I  pass this gravesite it always seems to be unkept and just simply forgotten. It is so very sad to me, makes ya think. There is a run down farm house close by so the people must belong to the farm-house and farm that once flourished. I want to walk up to this gravesite and just put flowers on the grave. I believe there are spirits there, I always capture the orbs in the photographs.