A short illustration of how to overwork & then save (sort of) a painting of an imaginary vase of roses.

blocking in the basic compostion:

further definition of shapes:

white highlights – faking it for the vase, but liking how the roses look at this point:

getting a bit carried away with more highlights & a pale blue-green:

toning down the white with blue & red, then black lines to re-define shapes:

a crop is perhaps more interesting than the entire painting:

…done with oil paints on a 16×20″ piece of yellow matboard.

V

A whole day in the studio!!

I worked on a number of things – this one has been “in progress” for over a year.
A few days ago I added some violet, and today I used a clear red glaze over most of the lower part & bits of the upper part.

When I first began sewing my canvasses, I was experimenting with different approaches and one of those experiments was to see just how much sewing one painting could handle. I think this one has a hundred little pieces sewn together!
It has been difficult to paint because, well, what do you do when the composition is all sewn up (ha) before you even begin to add the colour?

But finally, slowly it appears to emerge…
I refuse to give up on this canvas; it may take a long time yet, but one day this one will be beautiful, I just know it.

Then on to something more concrete – this portrait was made on a piece of 16×20″ matboard. Used the leftover red paint to begin with, then blue & a greenish brown, with a touch of white for highlights:

Lastly, a big thick brushful of pure red paint in the hair.

V

Today I sewed six more squares for the city quilt.
You can see where my inspiration comes from:

(those are 4 very close crops of various photos I’ve taken from our balcony)

I am looking forward to having the next 2 days free – no work, no classes, no commitments…. planning only to have some creative fun in the studio!

V

I like to make cards for special occasions.
Here is a sample of creative use of construction paper, scissors & glue, silver star stickers, and silver & blue pens.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there!

V

Made the next two rows of squares for the city quilt tonight.
Now it looks like this:

Of course, in my mind I can see the whole idea so it’s hard for me to tell what this looks like to you – but I am pleased with the progress so far. Adding some reds & darker colours gives it a little more depth.

V

Did this little drawing today at work during my lunch break. Used black & red pen, yellow & pink neon highlight markers on photocopier paper. Took me 10 minutes.

Then when I got home I decided to play with it in Photoshop, rather than try to make another drawing, or painting or whatever. I’ve never taken a graphics course of any sort, so it’s all trial and error for me, and tonight I discoved a lot of things about photoshop which I never knew I could do!
Hmmm, interesting…

This got me thinking about the differences between using the computer & using a paintbrush.
I like the ease of changing things in Photoshop, but I prefer the greater range of bodily movement required when painting on a canvas.
The main drawback of using a computer is that my eyes get really, really tired, even with this flat screen, after a couple of hours – but what fun tonight, discovering all the neat stuff I can do!

V

a busy busy buzzing day…

the jumbled lines & shapes in this little ink painting reflect the inside of my mind today.

V

Back to this quilt idea…

Decided to do a fabric version after all; started last night & did a bit more this morning. Each square measures 10″ (25cm) and the design is very simple, so they’re fast to make.

This evening I sewed & stretched the first of the city pieces. Here is my sewing machine in the studio:

I want to follow the original composition fairly closely but forgot to bring my sketchbook (where the first drawing is) so I used the little panel pieces from June 7 as a guide:

bouclé fabric gives a nice texture:

Worked on these next ones yesterday, photographed them today.

You can see the texture of the bouclé which I also used on the purple one, it’s like burlap but much cleaner to work with. These are actually new canvasses on the stretchers I used last year here on 30dayartist…. kind of appropriate in a way.

V

First thing I did this morning was to build stretchers for a canvas version of “a day in the city” – an idea I posted on June 6th.
I decided to use 7 canvasses because there are 7 days in the week; it just seemed to fit.

There is my neat little stack of cut pieces, ready for assembly:

I used to have to cut all the wood by hand, but we bought a saw awhile ago & every time I use it I feel lucky to have it – so fast & so accurate!
There is a certain beauty in stretchers built well and ready for infinite possibilities…

stretcher mandala:

just playing around & thought this was kinda neat:

Then I worked a bit on various paintings which have been in process for awhile. Didn’t photograph everything, but here is one.

before:

after:

still not finished, but at least a little improved.

How nice to have a whole day to spend in the studio! Not like yesterday, making a small ink painting between end of workday & going to evening class.

V

I did this one so fast!
And I really like how it came out, it looks like poppies:

It crops nicely, too:

I had about 20 minutes of free time to make art today…
perhaps sometimes that is the best way.

V