sketchbook continued

A high mountain trout pond.

weekend trip

A quick trip to see the Colorado mountain colors this past weekend. We hiked to eleven thousand feet to see the grand views. I sat in the sunshine on a rock and painted in my little sketchbook. I brought my pencils and tiny watercolor box, but forgot a paintbrush. You can see I filled in the trees, sky and brilliant golden aspen colors by improvising with my fingertips and some rainwater. Ah so natural!

Lots of  fresh air and sunshine in the mountains to revive and inspire.

progress

Progress today on a very large sunflower painting. 48"x36" acrylic on canvas. I finished my line drawing from live models (lots of sunflowers posed for me). Now it is washed with some coats of a warm undertone and ready to begin painting.

update: Merit Award

My painting now displayed at the DuPage Art League in downtown Wheaton, Illinois has received a Merit Award. Nice! A few more of these awards and they will let me have a solo show.

The theme this month is "Memories". I titled mine "Memories of a Tropical Vacation in Midwinter". Surely I would hold on to such a memory if I had one.

 

It is of course a Hibiscus flower painting, acrylic on canvas, 24"x30". And it is displayed prominently in the window as you enter the gallery. The window is facing the street, (Front Street, Wheaton) so that even at night it is lit up and quite noticeable as you drive by. I am pleased.

progress and process

Here is what is on my easel today. My process; drawing sunflowers from life, using a brush and watered down black acrylic as ink. I washed the canvas with a raw sienna tone, and am constantly adjusting and  re-arranging my composition as I use my living reference.

folk music concert

Now on display

 At the DuPage Art League Gallery, this painting is now displayed in the front window. This month's theme is "Memories". I have titled this "Memories of a Tropical Vacation in Winter".

almost six

"Now We Are Six"

When I was one,
I had just begun.
When I was two,
I was nearly new.
When I was three,
I was hardly me.
When I was four,
I was not much more.
When I was five,
I was just alive.
But now I am six,
I'm as clever as clever.
So I think I'll be six
now and forever.

 Author: A.A. Milne

flowers bigger than my head

My next big project will be a commissioned painting of sunflowers on a 48 by 36" canvas. 

Yay hooray.

A good friend brought these giant sunflowers over to my house to have for reference. The flowers are bigger than my head, the stalks are thicker than my arms, each one weighed so much I had to drag them around. Finally I trimmed what I wanted and arranged them in the biggest jars I have and set them on my desk.

My work is right before me! I love those great big leaves and all the tendrils and curling shapes.