Just. Plain. Fun.

Happy Drawing/Painting New Year!

I resolve to make drawing &/or painting part of every day. This will be challenging for me, but even if I pick up a book or view one of the myriad art blogs i follow, that too will be part of this resolution.
I begin by posting the quick sketch of my daughter, Hannah, drawn yesterday.

Lake Ewauna, Klamath Falls, OR, looking south.
Aceo pastel. 2.5" x 3.5"
Matt, Hannah & Jordan, and coots.

Mt. Shasta from Oregon

This is the piece i completed in time for our final critique which was today! It is oil, done mostly by palette knife, 12 x 9 inches. A study, but it stands on its own (very happy about that!). oh- and it is on Wallis paper.

Bean pot and pears, from my own photo. This was a little frustrating, but i think it is ok now.
oil on panel

Two apples. A study after Julian Merrow-Smith.

October abstract.

I have wanted to paint this photo for a long time. Not sure how successful it is, but at least it is out of my system. A small oil study, 8 x 10.

This is a little study of the cross on Mt. Roberts, looking North at the channel and Mt. Juneau. (The people are my friend Dayna and me.) Image below is still on the painting board and top image is "finished".

This is a small oil paint study of a pastel i painted awhile ago. This was done quickly on Wallis paper.

Crimson Clover

The semester is well underway and i am taking 4 classes! Anthro, English, Painting and Sculpture. All good so far...but there is lots to do. Here is one of the first things i did in painting class. Painting on Kitty Wallis paper, no gesso, small...trying impressionistic style.

This is a watercolour of a photo from a nature magazine, blatantly copied - of Bright Blue Pleasing Fungus Beetles (Gibbifer californicus). i just love them, so i painted them with my new Winsor&Newton watercolour set! Painted a few weeks ago in early Jan.

Here is the finished piece, more realist than usual, but i like it. Matt took the photo and was struck by the bright winter sun making such distinct shadows on the house.

New painting, begun Jan 3.

Allium painting progression

so cheap and juicey!

so cheap & juicey

Last night i drew this of two clementines on one of the plates i made. Am beginning to paint it today.

i didn't think the portrait came out that well, so, since i love Francis Bacon...

Last day.

This is the third day.

Today i am posting about our portrait lesson in painting class. We had a model for about 4 classes. This is the first one.

Painting on top is now officially done!
This is called "Hiding". Painted at home, but not quite finished. Need to work just a bit more on it. Palette is blues/violets and yellows/oranges. i made the juicer in ceramics last summer. It works!

i finished this last week. Title is "yoghurt".

Beginning of my gray palette painting.

My project for painting this semester is "limited palette". For still lifes, sp, landscapes, abstracts and this is my study in blues.

This is the finished painting. Took the photo today...it is not exactly photo correct for now. Someday i will take pictures of all my work and keep them organized.

This is the painting before the beginning of fall
semester.

My project this semester will be using a limited color
palette. i am beginning with a still life, using a range
of blues. Will publish the photo later.

i started this spring semester. it is based on a photograph from Iceland, i think (i just tore it from a magazine).

project

another idea is to use only one color scheme:
my favorites are - green, purple, orange

Making a Mark: smARThistory - an online resource with a difference

Making a Mark: smARThistory - an online resource with a difference
(this is an interesting Art History website that i will be exploring)

Well, UAS will be starting on Sept 3 and i am taking History of World Art II and Advanced Painting - both with my mentor, Jane Terzis. Looking forward to both classes.

i have to have a project for Painting class. The main thing i want to do is just ..paint paint paint... to get some oil(mostly) - pastel - acrylic, whatever - on the "canvas". Haven't been able to do much this summer with all the house stuff going on and traveling and doing ceramics (which i LOVE).

Have some ideas...finishing gift paintings, doing a new gift painting....not sure what this project will be called. Maybe "tying up loose ends"... experimenting with styles, collage, collaboration. AND getting ready for the March show with Timi and Carol!!!

i have a title for a painting "So you want a Rothko" ... see what happens ...

I will be taking Beginning Ceramics during June. Hope to take some photos of those creations. Am excited to try a totally new medium.

This little pastel is done on Pastel Card and the gray is the rough raw surface. The tomato was sitting on my laptop. Title is "tomato on an apple".

This is the final Cape Perpetua oil painting, done with palette knife and brushes on masonite. It got chosen along with two other paintings for the UAS Juried Student Art Show going on now at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center (JACC).

I have not been good about blogging....mostly because our computer died. But now i have a new one :)   Am still painting. Will show a couple paintings done this spring '09 semester. This is a painting from a photo taken by my cousin, Tim Srofe, of Cape Perpetua on the Oregon Coast. This isn't actually the finished painting. i will take a picture of the final work and post it here, too....for comparison. This was done part palette knife and part brush - oil on board.

First painting on panel

This is my first photo of a portrait study of our model Alex, using oil paint on panel. He posed for three sessions. Interesting to paint on "wood" panel, it is kind of slick with the first coat.




This is the finished piece and i
pretty much like the way it turned
out.

Finished Lamby

This is the finished painting....to see from the beginning go down the blog. Wish i knew more about how to work this blog!

After sky - 3

After sky - 2

Here is the second stage.

Assignment after sky

To learn more about mixing oils and painting texture, we were to bring in a stuffed animal to include in a still life, or however you wanted to paint it. i chose my "lamby" from childhood. She got her tonsils out when i did. Here is the first step in that painting....got the shadows in and color on the canvas.

Painting class

As beginning painters, we have assignments to help learn basic painting techniques. After our color chart, we painted sky and now we are painting a stuffed animal. My sky is almost out of our atmosphere, you can see outer space! I will put the sky painting here as I think it is nearly finished.

Returning to UAS classes!

UAS (University of Alaska-Southeast) classes started August 28. I am taking the History of Modern Art and Beginning Painting, both taught by Artist/Professor Jane Terzis.

First thing we did in painting was a color chart - so great for getting back (after a 38 year break) to mixing oils to see what happens.

Our next assignment is to "paint sky" which is sometimes very calming and in the next moment very frustrating.