Wave Buster - "she ain't afraid of no wave"...

Just had to include a picture of Rainey taking on a wave at the

beach yesterday - she had a blast :)

struggling with a drawing...

It seems like I'm always and forever struggling with drawing...I know, I know - just means I haven't done enough drawings yet.  So tonight after I finished drawing for the night and was taking a picture to track my progress on this painting I decided to play with the negative feature on my photo editing program - I like the negative image.  So - it might be interesting to approach drawing from the concept of adding light instead of adding darkness to a white paper.  I was just reading about applying pan pastel to the whole surface and then starting the drawing with charcoal, an eraser and a soft cloth... might be an interesting experiment.  Random art thoughts on a Monday night :)

Waiting for Low Tide

This is an 8"X10" watercolor painting a did last night to help raise money for animal rescue through an organization a belong to called Artists United for Animal Rescue.

 

This is the first painting I've done of Dusty since he died and it was hard but also

therapeutic.  I was telling a friend of mine about how I still

miss him so much and she sent me an email back last week

that said "I just talked to Dusty and he told me to tell you to BE HAPPY."

And she was so right - so it felt good to bring him to life

through a painting - especially one to raise money to help other dogs.

I bought a Belinda Del Pesco print/painting and my house is transformed...

This gorgeous piece I just bought from incredible watercolorist / print maker  Belinda Del Pesco arrived today.  I can't say how thrilled and delighted I am to get to see her work again in person.  I'm the proud owner of three paintings and each one I add I am more thrilled with!  I am so drawn to her work - especially the portraits.  Her sensitivity, wonderful colors and fine attention to detail make for a delicious treat for the eye and the soul.  I couldn't be more delighted!

Check out more of her work here:  http://belindadelpesco.blogspot.com/ - including a link to her etsy shop.

This month's Nibblefest painting...

Last night I painted from a graphite sketch I did on my lunch break at work.  The photo seemed too boring as it was so I just let the colors all run at the bottom.

This is being offered this week on ebay as part of the Nibblefest contest.

"One Fine Day"

My husband and I went for a wonderful boat ride today - this is a little watercolor sketch from our trip.  This red sail boat was departing from Bowman Bay and I just loved the red against the blue, blue water!

Also - for you watercolor enthusiasts I watched an art video early this morning and learned something new - again.  When your watercolor is very wet you can add lines with a toothpick, or the back of your brush if the brush has a pointed back and the grooved areas will collect more water and add lines to your painting.  The artist in the video added some fine little background branches to great effect using this technique.  I used that for the initial washes for the wake lines in this painting. 

Sold 

Screw housework - I needed to do another painting...

Yes - I should be doing my housework - but I'm so enjoying painting today that I just had to try another one...  laundry can wait but this painting couldn't :)

Watercolor and pastel

Here's one more pastel painting with a watercolor underpainting.  I see a few corrections to make before I finish my housework to get ready for another work week.

"Solo"

This morning I watched a video demo from pastel artist Richard McKinley.  It was about doing a watercolor underpainting for pastel.  Well, I had to try it.  I started with a little sketch in watersoluable graphite...

The next step was doing a very loose, very watery, watercolor painting - right on the sanded pastel surface.  I did this underpainting with a stiff acrylic brush instead of my delicate watercolor brushes to avoid having my expensive brushes eaten by the sanded surface.  The challenge was to do this watercolor painting with the mind of a pastel artists - not as a watercolor artist.  At his suggestion I painted this on an upright easel instead of my normal flat surface - without concern for the paint dripping.

My hands were literally shaking as I started applying the pastels...it's been so long since I used them that I wasn't sure I'd remember how.   This was such a fun painting - I think I need to do more!  I find the very best thing to do when I've reached a plateau or block with my art is to try something new - a new medium or a new technique.

"Untethered"

This is an 8"X10" watercolor painting for a dear friend of mine who has had a very rough year.  I'm wishing for her to see this painting and feel the peace and contentment she felt at the moment the reference photo for this painting was taken...floating in sunshine.

NFS