fairy wren

(4x6)
What a beautiful bird! Common to southeastern Australia ... so lucky me to have the Internet and see a bird I'd never see otherwise.

Went on a bird walk Monday with the local Audubon group and saw my first flicker and just missed seeing my first cedar waxwing; they're here, I just never see them! Also saw, among many other kinds--gadwalls, wigeons, mallards--two beautiful ducks: hooded merganser and ring-necked duck.

boats

 

(5x7)

Back to the beloved subject for a bit ...

 

(5x7)

cats

 

(4x7)

What a pleasure it is to draw: I always seem to forget ... It can be very meditative, exploratory ... It would be nice to bring some of that into my painting (and reduce the panic).

(4x6)

more colorful birds for fun

 (5x7)

Violet-eared waxbill

Visit Facebook's Paint Colorful Birds for Fun to see some really gorgeous paintings of this beautiful bird!

I'd like to paint them again (and again) ... more loosely next time, and bigger, maybe.

 

(5x7)

Great-crested Grebe

laysan albatross

 (5x7)

(5x7)

Once again, I find I've neglected my blog ... I didn't do much painting over the holiday season for one, and for two, I  seemed to have a lot of technological problems.

So, once again, trying to get back on track.

I made these little paintings for the FaceBook page Paint Colorful Birds for Fun: each week they choose another bird. There's some spectacular work there!

World blog hop

I want to thank Rhonda for asking me to join in the world blog. Rhonda and I have some things in common in our art, a desire to learn and birds!

Rhonda and I had a chance to meet and spend some time together, painting and having fun, at a Carol Carter workshop, during which Rhonda, in addition to everything else she had to do, took care of me too, picking me up the airport, getting me to my hotel ... I even got meet her Sweetie!

So, here are my answers to the blog hop questions.

1. What am I working on?
I'm working on working. I started my blog because I figured it'd keep me painting, and I hoped that, if I kept at it, I'd grow. 

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

This is not something I give much thought to. Like Rhonda, I paint for myself. And am maybe just beginning to realize what a wonderful luxury that is. I'm not particularly interested in being "different"--or in not being different--I just enjoy the actual painting: putting the paint on the paper and seeing what it does. Of course, I'm happy to get something I like, but I've found that feeling doesn't last long, so I try (with varying success) to concentrate on the doing, which is always good.

3. Why do I create what I do?

That's a tough one. Subjects catch my eye or interest me, or I will be inspired to try a technique or subject by another artist's work. I get too caught up, a lot of the time, in representation, but I try to remind myself, as I read in a Hazel Soan book, that no matter the subject, the painting is about the paint. I'm in awe of artists who make a serious study of the paint itself, and find I am not methodical enough to undertake such a study ... Each time I paint it's like learning all over again. I never seem to know what I'll get!

 

4. How does my creative process work?

My creative process is not a good worker! It's often tardy and somewhat lazy and may be a little schizophrenic. Seriously, I don't think I have a process. Sometimes I draw first, other times not; sometimes I paint alla prima, sometimes I glaze; sometimes I paint on location, sometimes at my desk. Maybe it depends on the subject, or on how much time I have, or on my mood? I don't think I'm very process-oriented. I'm a bit more willy-nilly. It's just something I want to do.

 

Now I'm supposed to bring in two more bloggers ...

But I'm sorry, I have to postpone that bit for a bit. My computer's in the shop and I'm composing this on my iPad mini! (I had put most of this post together before the computer went out.) I hope you understand I am not up to undertaking all that navigating on my iPad! But, in the meantime, I'd like to mention the blogs of artists I've been following longest, from when I first began blogging, like the Red Shoes, A Sketch in Time, Mineke Reinders, and Barbara Paints (all in my blog roll). Through their blogs (and others, a couple of whom are no longer posting and who I miss), my experience of the blogosphere expanded and I found--and continue to find--the many other artists and bloggers who inspire and encourage me and who provide such a wonderful atmosphere in which to blog.

holiday cards

 Spent Thursday painting with my friend Mike, working on some holiday cards: snow, evergreens, pine cones.

winter scene

 

(11x15)

This is from a photo I found on Paint My Photo ... I was drawn to the very limited palette. I tried breaking the image down into 5 values, then started painting with the second-lightest value (the 1st is the paper).

I used Bleed-Proof White for the snow on the trees.

practice: birches and evergreens

 

(4x6)

Just a little practicing ... I love the neutral color of the trunks: I started with a light wash of yellow, added a bit of a cool, transparent red; then a touch of cerulean, and mixed it together just a bit.

I've spent most of the year reading World War I histories--The War That Ended Peace and To End All Wars (still have Catastrophe 1914  and Sleepwalkers to read!)--a depressing thing to do; it makes you very sad for humankind. Today's a day for remembrance.

this week ...

 

(7x11)

Homework (I'm barely keeping up, and definitely not getting any work done for extra credit) for Sketchbook Skool: a tanager and a warbler.

This week's teacher was Cathy Johnson and the subject was nature drawing/journaling.

As much as I like to look at other people's journals, I can't journal: can never think of anything to write.

 

(6x7)

 

A sketchbook page of things I picked up along the Delaware Bay.

white-out

 

Looking ahead to doing some winter- or holiday-themed painting ... I have a few photos of sledders, and painted this little boy intending to add the "scene" after, though now I think I may leave it as is.

 

Two more drawings for Sketchbook Skool. I'm trying to figure out a little setup that I can, in a challenge I'm doing with a friend, draw or paint 20 times. My friend has already completed about five paintings, and I haven't decided on the setup yet!

sparrow

 

(3x3)

Ink and watercolor.

And here, at last, a bit of an assignment for Sketchbook Skool: a continuous line drawing.

 

Next, I need to add another object or two, draw, and paint.

,

ponies in snow

 

(7x9)

Still managing to spend a bit of time in the art room, nearly daily ... 

I also signed up for a session of Sketchbook Skool, which is now in it's third week--and I haven't done a single assignment yet. 

song sparrow

 

(8x10)

Many sparrows--mostly song, house and tree--at my feeders lately. I won't see white-throated and fox sparrows until it's colder.

buddies

 

(11x15)

 Another cat photo from Paint My Photo, this one by Dracaena.
Trying to show the details and form but not add so much that I go beyond freshness. I could specify more, add details, but I think I'll leave it as is.

 

(4x4)

...It was fresher before I started trying to delineate all the reflections and shadows in the water! What a mistake to try to do in such a tiny space!

profile

 

(7x10)

I saw this photo in one of my knitting pattern books ... I usually shy away from profiles, but I'm attracted to ones like this: where a big knot of hair at the back of the head forms a visual counterweight to the head ... Reminds me of Renaissance portraits.

I was going to leave the background white, but I was trying to "fix" or refine the under-nose/lip line.

How many times do I tell myself, Don't "fix"? But I don't listen.

Maybe a little darker behind the neck?

artu

 

(11x15)

 From a photo by Cheri Speri on Paint My Photo. 

I'm not sure this is quite done; now I think I need to adjust the line of the back (in the photo there are more leaves back there, but I decided to leave them out) and tone down the pinkness on the nose. I may add a little detail to two or three leaves, some veins perhaps.

Enjoying these cats: giving me good practice on painting loosely and on mixing grays.

 

(6x9)

Persimmons.

cat nap

(7x9)

From a photo by Farbenhexe on Paint My Photo.

So far, I have been managing to get into the art room daily, even though I spend as much (or more) time puttering around as painting when I do. 

resolved ...

 

 (7x9)

As happens now and again (actually, with enough regularity that I should be able to anticipate and compensate), my life, or at least the allocation of the time that comprises my life, has gone all out of whack. Such that I'm surrounded by undone things: piles of work, skeins of yarn, uncooked vegetables and unpainted ideas.
I figure I can do something about at least one of these, and have resolved to spend one hour a day, five times a week in my studio--painting, drawing, or just organizing and planning.
This sketch of a cat, from a photo by Lorenz at Paint My Photo, is the result of my first hour.
I have had cats all my life, but find them hard to paint, so I was pretty happy with this sketch.

Next day, I tried another, also from Paint My Photo, by Janina Suuronen, which I'm not too happy with (he looks awfully grumpy).

 For my hour today, I started another of this ginger kitten, which is coming along much better, I think--definitely looks more kitten-like; I had put the eyes up too high on the first attempt.

 

And here are a couple of photos I took today: a yellow-rumped warbler in my yard, mute swans at Cape May Point, and some weeds at the marina.

 

Back to birds. My trees are full of warblers.

 

There's a persimmon tree at the end of my street that always looks so lovely in fall as the fruits ripen and the leaves wither. Painted this branch, but thought it needed something, so I added a little sparrow-type bird--totally out of proportion; should have made it a hummingbird.