Continuing On....Day 226-227-228

It seems that distractions tend to get in the way of me posting to this blog, but I am determined to finish the 365 days, even if it takes me 5 years.  :-)  I have been doing a lot more watercolor painting because this is the busiest time of year.  There are at least 5 shows I would like to enter, including the lifetime 2-star membership, of which I recently was awarded.  Photography plays a major role in my painting, as I use my photos to paint from.  They are my inspiration and so I will share the most recent photos I took that have influenced my art.

A wagon wheel that I had not noticed was made of metal instead of wood....original photo followed by a digital enhanced imaged and finally the finished watercolor painting that was juried into the UWS Spring Show-2015 and is now on its year long exhibition journey.

 

 

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Day 217-218-219

Liberty Park: Plein Air Painting Group
What an interesting tree trunk.  Lots of faces in this one.  Must be over a hundred years old and withstood some crazy weather.


















This photo is of the new Koi Fish pond that was installed and still being built.  The problem is the bottom of this pond is like mud, so when the fish move around in search of food, it stirs up the silt and clouds the water.  I did get some pretty awesome reflections and water ripples.









This photo is my favorite of the night.  These amazing people stopped long enough for me to take their photo, when I asked them to please pose for me.  I hope to use this one as a reference for a future painting. 

Later today we head over to the county fair, so hope to have some really great photos to share with you tomorrow. 

Day 214-215-216

Liberty Park: Plein Air Painting Group
Here is a shot of Linda's palette before she started painting.  I love the colors she uses.

These ladies were suppose to be our models who were supposed to be in costume, but the main character/model was ill and couldn't make it.  Thank goodness they showed up and everyone had a subject to paint or photograph.








 A lot of new faces in the group last night.  Usually we have the paint outs on Saturdays, so having one on a weeknight seemed to help boost the turnout. 

Day 208-209-210

Liberty Park-Plein Air Paint Group
There was a lot to see at the park last night, including these amazing flower beds and the glass hot house where all the flower seedlings are started for the park.  The park is a very large park, one that I visited often as a child.  It takes up several city blocks in all directions, has basketball, volleyball, horseshoes, bouche, water parks, pool, amusement rides, Tracy Aviary, etc. etc.  

Day 206

Well I'm caught up again.  I get busy working on new projects and this blog takes a backseat.
I have been working on a new series of watercolor paintings and trying out some different techniques.  This is coming along better than I had imaged it would and I try to work on it several hours each day.  It's too hot outside to even consider "Plein Air" but when it starts to cool off, I'll be outside painting more.  The plein air style of painting seems to be so much harder to do, for many reasons, but I enjoy it.

Day 147

"A Fishing Hole"-Over Memorial Day Weekend, we went to visit our favorite place in Idaho again.  Lava Hot Springs, but not to enjoy the hot artesian wells, but to let hubby get in a day of fishing, while I got in a day of painting with a friend.  It was my first actual day of painting outside and of course I had to choose something even harder, moving water!  Needless to say, my painting fell into the trash bin when I got home!  LOL!  It was an enjoyable learning experience and I will continue painting outdoors.  If you have never painted outside, you should, even if it's only for an enjoyable afternoon in your own backyard. 

Day 144

I have fallen behind in my posting because I have been working on getting my art studio ready to host my newest "Hands-On Water Media" workshops.  Combining watercolor with other wet media is super fun and has endless possibilities.  This is a work in progress and it's coming along nicely.

Day 127

I attempted to try my hand at a challenge that was offered for the month of May in one of the watercolor yahoo groups I joined recently.  The image was supplied and the challenge was to do values of one color + use one color.  I selected to use red of course with my value being grays.  I should call this; "The Leaning Pagoda".  While I was drawing this, it looked straight.  LOL!  I do need new glasses! 

Day 123

Yesterday was a big day for me because after decades of self-study, I finally decided it was time for me to go back to school to learn perspective drawing.  You may be wondering why I would want to do that since I have half a dozen software programs that will do the drawings/sketches for me.  Well, when you are out in the field, "Plein-Air" painting, you don't have the luxury of a computer & printer handy.  It's totally up to you what your painting will be.  Perspective has always eluded me.  Not the vanishing points, the horizon, or even the vertical lines, but the angles and pitch of a roof, an over-hang or fence post in the distance all need to be in perspective.  Our eyes can detect the smallest mistakes in placement, relative sizes in comparison to each other, depth of field, etc. etc.  In the studio I rely on my photos and that is OK.  This first painting I did is from a beautiful photo of Enchinacea flowers also known as: Cone Flowers.  They could also be "Black-eyed Susans", one of my favorite flowers, but because they are abstract, they could be whatever I want them to be, so I call this painting: "Shasta Daisies".  

Week 17-Day 113

In keeping with all the beautiful flowers of the season, I used Fushias as the subject for my first watercolor painting.  It is the first watercolor I ever finished because this medium has been so frustrating to me over the years.  Not any more.  Every day I learn something new about this medium and I love it even more.  Learning how to control the paint is not easy, but learning when to stop is even harder.  I altered it with an app but only with a tad bit of a gray texture. 
Word Prompt for this week is: "Blooming".