Friday, October 16, 2015

Fall and Succulents


A beautiful display of succulents is fun to paint and layer. So many colors to play in. And I think I need more fun ultramarine blue colors to add to my palette. For now layering with what I had worked pretty well.





 A fall leaf arrangement along with my daughter's pumpkin and glassybaby make for a fun piece to put on her mantel.




Saturday, September 12, 2015

Painting "Rocks"

A new hobby sprung up over the summer and has turned into quite a relaxing and enjoyable one. Watercoloring!
Yes, this is  a knitting blog and it has long been neglected due to the busy life of being a grandma. Now it will be fun to add in some of the other artwork I have been working on in between grandparenting, and a little less knitting.
Painting during my long painting retreat, taught to me by my sister, Wendy. We painted into the late hours. She taught me alot about which colors to use and how to mix. I have alot to learn! Here's my palette so far:
 I have since learned you can rough up your palette with a bit of Bon Ami so it won't bead up so much as shown here:
These poppies were out of a watercoloring botanicals book that she brought over for me to try out first. Voila, my first real painting!
Next we moved on to painting the beach rocks, using a photo reference from a workshop done by Wendy with Mary Gibbs.


Tired from staying up late on our marathon painting adventures. But proud! Once finishing my first one, I was excited to do a second one!


This shot is showing the comparison of my first rock painting and my second. Both unique and fun to see how they came out so differently.

My next painting was based on a photo my friend took while in Varenna, Italy of her beach rocks:
 I also painted some pinecones that were based off the same workshop that my sister attended (mentioned above)


The next friend I painted for had visited Cinque Terre, Italy and had photographed these rocks she thought would make an interesting subject to paint. They had alot of interesting layers of color. The result!:


A teacher friend whose subject is geology, had quite a collection of rocks on her shelf for me to use for her subject matter on her painting:


Another fun one from one of our favorite spots on our own trip to Italy of a cute little red fiat on the streets of Montepulciano. Of course the doorways are charming:


Another magical place in Italy we visited was a castle in Tuscany and on the way down the hill we saw wild horses. Here was my vantage point from the top of the climb up into the castle tower. The lichen and the growth and color on the stone was incredible. Still some tweaking being done on this one:

A whole new world opened up to me in the artistic expression of watercoloring!
Oh, and the last few are of my beloved glassybabies that I painted for a friend of mine:



That was alot, as you can see for one summer. Wouldn't my high school art teacher be surprised?  I have begun to sell my prints also, which is really fun for me. So contact me if you are interested. Some are available in giclee prints.

I am still knitting however, and my Dad made me this fabulous yarn bowl: