"A New Beginning", again

"A New Beginning", Pastel, "7x5"

I am delighted to share that I have received an Honorable Mention for "A New Beginning".  It is currently in the New Braunfels Art League show, "Small Works for Big Holidays", in New Braunfels, Texas.  The show has some beautiful art work on display and will be running until December 29, 2014, and it is a must see.  The show was judged on all media (no categories).

For the whole story, go to my blog of August 2014 (right column, Blog Archive).

"Lunch in the Garden", Finished

After squeezing in a day here and a day there, I have finished "Lunch in the Garden".  Yeaaah!!  Now I need to frame it so I will stop over thinking it and piddle.  Nothing else to add, except-----enjoy.

"Lunch in the Garden", Pastel on velour board, 12"x24"

"Lunch in the Garden", WIP #6

Well, I have been away from my studio for three weeks and I am so anxious to get back to this painting.  This WIP is where I left off.  When I had last worked on it, I had decided I wanted to put more blue violet in the flowers.  Somehow I had gotten them too red violet.  Plus, I want to work on the background to add more depth to it.  And here I thought I was almost done!  Really shouldn't take much more time :).  The last thing I will do is adding detail to the flowers of the top butterfly, a little at the middle one, and haven't decided about the bottom butterfly.  The hardest thing will be knowing when to stop.

So, my next post should be the finished painting.

Enjoy, and thanks for reading.

Pastel on velour board, 24"x12"

"Better Than Diamonds"

"Better than Diamonds"     

Fancy and I

Back in the earlier part of this year, I received an email with a pic/saying on it that said "Who ever said that diamonds are a girl's best friend....never owned a dog" (no author name). It was a pic of a little girl with her dog. I loved it, but wanted to personalize it. 

Well, around the first part of Oct., Jon, Fancy, and I were visiting Jon's long time friend, Skeet, who is now living with his daughter, husband, and a lot of animals, on a ranch near Wallis, Tx..  I saw a scene that was perfect for what I had in mind. I set it up, and Linda took the photos. Found my favorite and cropped it. Viola!!  I love it. It is now hanging in my studio--and I feel a painting coming on!!

p.s.  I also took a lot of good reference photos. 

"Lunch in the Garden", WIP #5

After a nice weekend, I am back in my studio, ready for the challenge ahead.  I did manage to peak at my WIP--to make sure it was still there :). bit really to see if anything jumped out that didn't look right.  My main work, now, is the background.  Found the left side of my brain arguing with the right, saying…"you know you've got to paint all those leaves, and in detail…", with a response from the right…"no, I don't--just make it look like I have."  That's an accomplishment for me, since I am a very detailed person!

I want to say that practice makes perfect, but let's keep it at better.  Starting to get a hang for the background.  I think I could do a BlueMist flower blindfolded.  I put a photo of the WIP in my ValueViewer app. and, to me, it looks good, but I'm still learning about how to apply Notan--so, I will say "based on my knowledge".

To Be Continued….

"Lunch in the Garden", WIP #4

I decided to do background from top to bottom.  I can keep track of my color trail and put the flowers in where I want them.  The flowers are named "Gregg's BlueMist" and have been told they are like a "high" for the butterflies.  They can, also, have a blue violet cast to them.  The day I took the referance photos, the garden was full of butterflies and they were all over the flowers.

I have decided to plant a butterfly garden in the spring and will be sure to include the BlueMist.  Have also read, they like zinnias and dill.  Just think of all the referance photos I can take!

To Be Continued...

"Lunch in the Garden", WIP #3

Did 2nd. butterfly.  So far, so good.

Did 3rd. butterfly.  A little harder to do because of flowers in front of it--bits and pieces.  Now for the background---WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO?!!  Who's idea was this, anyhow?  Oh yeah--mine!!

Next day--It is a good thing us artists have to sleep at night.  It gets us away from what we're working on and there is a fresh perspective when we view it the next time.  I saw that the butterflies needed more shading and highlights, to give them volume/form.

To Be Continued…..

"Lunch in the Garden", #2

After I did some of the top part, I decided to do the main butterfly--to get a feel for how the colors of it would go with the background.  I was pleased.  The first pic I took showed the rock a blurb, so I worked on it, tweaked some flowers, and took another pic.

I then decided to do the other two butterflies, so I could do the background to accent them and include my color trail.  Will post the second butterfly, soon.

To Be Continued….