Susan Abbott class

              

I started a Susan Abbott class today, one where we will construct a painting by combining references of a landscape and of people.

These are my first ideas ... The next step is to turn them into a notan, but I think first I'll have to find some large dark and light shapes in them.

I liked the idea of combining the man and his dog with the fishing boat, but he may be better without it. Or I may try putting the boat further back in the distance.

I really enjoy Susan's classes because I get to do a lot of drawing and a lot of thinking through various stages of making a painting. Usually I just jump in, and sometimes that works. But it's also good to have the option of planning. 

And Susan's a great teacher.

palms

A couple of attempts to, loosely, copy a Winslow Homer painting. I wanted to try to get the shape and the gesture of the fronds ... My results are not awful but I feel they look like I tried too hard, which I did.

And below, another go, from a photo.

leaves

A spray of oak leaves from my yard.

amaryllis

                    11x15

Last year I had several amaryllis that bloomed, Very conveniently one after another. 

This year I only have one bulb that's put up a bud and it's starting to wilt already; The others are just all leaves, no bulbs. I made some kind of mistake over wintering them ... Back to the drawing board.

bittersweet

                    11x15

Been in one of those places where I can't clear the space in my mind to paint. Every time I have some time to paint I have so much other stuff going on in my head that I rush and end up feeling discouraged. 

Maybe I broke the spell yesterday painting these branches.

arya

                        @9x10

I got a nice photo of one of my cats, Arya, the other day-- her face and head are perfectly set off by the tree.

Here's another I'd like to try:

classwork

                       10x14

My final but perhaps not finished painting from class last night. It got very wet and so I struggled to keep any darks. I like the few passages in this painting but it somehow just doesn't hang together or give any sense of space ...

These are the four 6x8
warm up paintings I did before tackling the final one.

I think you can almost see me running out of energy!

another poinsttia

                   11x15

Also unfinished! I felt I was getting a little too fussy, so I thought I should take a break.

outside my window

Another couple of small brush pen drawings of things seen in my yard. The tree sketch has some white acrylic ink added. 

This is just a fun exercise: picking the tree or limb of a tree and drying it in whatever manner you can manage... I think I made devote one of my sketchbooks to this practice.

poinsettia

                    16x20

This is about 2 hours of painting. I was getting tired of painting the bracts, so I stopped. About 2 hours to go?

rook

                     8x12

I started painting this rook some time ago. I thought the head turned out well but then became intimidated by all the colors I saw in his back feathers. Picked it up today and did the best I could ... I could probably go back and pick out a few more darks and maybe I will. 

We saw a lot of rooks when we visited the Scottish Highlands, about a year and a half ago. It was my first time being there, my first time in Europe actually, and I can't stop thinking about how much I want to get back to the Highlands.

Also saw my first partridge in Scotland. I looked out the window and there were a whole bunch of them. I thought they were huge pigeons!

birds

A page of pen drawings. These are so relaxing and enjoyable to do.

1 minute paintings of crows.

2 gouache English robins, about 6x6 each. I don't usually paint in gouache--I have a hard time handling it. But maybe little bird paintings will be a good way for me to practice.

eco printing

I took an online eco printing class with Kathy Johnson a couple of months ago and it was so much fun. Kathy made so easy because as part of the class she sent the plant material we'd be using--lots of gorgeous dried flowers.

I wanted to do some eco printing with my friends so we collected some leaves--mostly pear, oak, and maple leaves from my yard, also tried some leaves from my rose, hydrangeas, and purple smoke bushes--and had a session earlier this week. 

There's so many variables in ecoprinting as I guess in any kind of printing. We got some great prints and some weak prints, but we had fun and we're all really looking forward to doing it again.

homework

                        11x15

              ink and watercolor

I've fallen behind in my homework assignments from my art classes.

Above is a sketch of two trees outside my window, influenced by Japanese tree paintings.

It needs something more ... Maybe.

                  7.5x11 sheets

And, for my meditative washes class with SaltyWayerArt, some practice putting down washes and not tampering with them.

Now that they're dry I could go back and try to turn them into more developed scenes ...

But I have other assignments to catch up on!

misc.

Sketches from an east meets west class

And a few photos from walks

amaryllis

                     11x15

An amaryllis painted in class with Megan Swoyer. I always have fun painting with her and her group.

I added one of my cats, Arya, inspired by Elizabeth Blackadder.

.                     11x15

My friend Robin is visiting this week and she joined us and painted this lively painting.

landscapes

Painted from photos I took: above, Hawk Mountain, in Pa., and below, a view from Espanola, NM.

Trying to convey space ...

still life

A small messy still life.

emily carr class

Took a London Drawing Group class on Emily Carr, a Canadian artist maybe best known for her idiosyncratic paintings of trees. Her work reminds me a bit of American Charles Burchfield.

It was a fun class, with timed drawings done with a brush.