Path Through Village Point Preserve, Daphne, AL

Back to painting acrylics again. I'm really enjoying it. This is painted from a photo I took at a local park - Village Point Preserve, in Daphne, Alabama. I love painting natural foliage and strive to find scenes with both value and color contrast.

Rose's Dresser

This was an adventure in faux painting a piece of furniture. My sister, Rose, used this dresser when we were growing up together. But at that time it was pretty ugly - white laminate with wide metal triangles around metal drawer knobs as well as metal legs. After changing the knobs and legs, I painted this with a ragging off technique using scrunched up pieces of old flannel sheets. Paint used is acrylic house paint in shades of white and blue and also mixed with glazing medium. Finished with acrylic sealer.

Light of My Life - Colored Pencil

Here's a drawing I created with Prismacolor colored pencils, Prismacolor Art Stix and black PITT pens on Canson Vellum Bristol paper. This started with a colored "doodle" which I decided to work with to create a finished drawing.

First, I strengthened the drawing with black PITT pens. Then I used Turpenoid to blend/melt the colors and a battery-operated eraser to add highlights and effects. I fussed with the colors a little at this time for balance and then blended some areas again but this time with a blender "pencil". The final design is small, about 5x7.

Wings - Pen and Ink Drawing

Yesterday I pulled out my Prismacolor Art Markers, Faber Castell PITT artist pens and a sheet of 9x12 Canson Vellum Bristol paper. Armed with the drawing supplies, I sat in my recliner to watch the 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony in Beijing. The ceremony was so spectacular I couldn't keep my eyes off of the TV. I did get in some drawing during commercials and then after the ceremony ended. Finished it up today.

Acrylic Fun

I took a class titled "Fast and Loose Acrylic Painting" taught by a local artist in Fairhope, Alabama. I wanted to learn both the medium and how to loosen up my style. I really enjoyed it and now feel comfortable with acrylics. Here's one of the paintings I created from a picture I took at the Fairhope Beach. Notice the duck in the middle with the pompadour - something I've never seen before.

Black, White and Red all Over

At the Eastern Shore Art Center in Fairhope, Alabama I entered the July show called Black, White and Red all Over. Over 50 local artists using different media chose to limit their vast color palettes to those three colors – black, white & red.

Here are my paintings - they're all acrylic on canvas. It was a wonderful exercise! I never knew that limiting my palette could release creativity. Also, with a limited palette we can't get caught up in colors and instead focus on the very important aspect of value. I remember the comment I've read in more than one place: "Value does all the work and color gets all the credit."

Watercolor on Yupo

I recently took a one-day class on painting watercolor on Yupo "paper". Yupo isn't actually paper - it's plastic. A synthetic material with high durability, it's also pH neutral and 100% recyclable.

The class was an exercise in learning basics and our final paintings were essentially a sampler of these. I set it aside for a while then wondered, why not see if there are any abstract designs in it that I would like to frame? These are some that I came up with.

I'm eager to practice more with Yupo as it is great fun. The paint stays the same color as when you place it - so what you see when you lay down the paint is what you get. I'll be ordering George James' DVD "Mastering Yupo" so that I can have more fun and create more paintings.