Mystery Build Contest

This is what came in the mail.                       

                                                                          

What have I gotten myself into? Another brain exercise, like learning to use my new I Pad; keep those brain cells working. I found the Mystery Build contest on line and thought it would be fun to do.

Opening the tin I saw what I have to work with:

Contents of the tin.

    



Contest rules state that I must create a piece of art  from only the items found within this tin. Oh, the theme is my favorite movie!


As always I figured out the movie and the design in the semi sleep state as I was falling asleep at night. This is a critical time for me to solve problem areas in a painting or project that I am working on.

Now aren't you at least a little bit curious as to what on earth I will come up with? This project is not due until September but I should have it done long before that and I will share the results. Do you remember my Cinderella Wore Prada? That should prepare you for the creation of my fertile imagination. :)

Cinderella Wore Prada- made of paste paper and scrap fabric, etc.

              

Lost Orchid Painting

LOST ORCHID

     My reason for setting up my own still life was to paint what was visually in front of me. I don't want to rely on magazine or book pictures and when they are necessary I will only use photos that I have personally taken. As I stepped back to view this painting; I fixed the things that I could see were  wrong and then after all that time and effort I determined it was trite and boring.  It just was not me!

     My painting made some of the classic basic mistakes:
 * using all hard edges; no soft edges to show the perspective of background objects or the lack of simple variation of technique
 * very little change in value; everything is competing for visual attention.
 *no major focal point; again everything is competing for attention.
 * lacks life or movement
What does one do when a project bombs out? Either destroy the evidence or start over.  I started over.

     Gesso was re- slathered over the canvas much like Huck Finn did to Aunt Polly's fence. At that point the Orchid painting was lost...gone.... simply another evanescent image.

Fear not, another image entered my mind. Here is the first step for Some Like It Hot! My style took a 180 degree turn but this one feels better to me. Wish I had a good answer as to why one feels better than the

STEP 1

 other but I don't have a clue. My son is developing a recipe for a spicy meat rub and I may of been thinking of him as he designs his product label.

STEP 2

Viewing from a distance I noticed that the pepper and hot fire of the drip technique looked too much the same. The addition of more yellow and oranges to the drips makes the pepper stand out more. With black Gesso the letters and pepper outline were tidied up a bit. I experimented with highlights and shadows but I was not impressed. Sometimes a painter needs to exaggerate and kick it up a notch.

To get into the mood I always have appropriate music in the background; this time is was Caribbean music with the up beat sounds of the steel drums.

STEP 3

 A complement touch of green was added to the stem, plus I mixed the red with a gloss gel medium to make the pepper the shiny focal point. Using a palette knife added texture which does not show up well in this photo.

My last thought is to add some black down in the lower portion of the painting to disperse the color throughout the painting. OK, here goes......the final painting.

This one is for you Braden!

FINAL PAINTING

Final touches were highlights, shadows that flowed down the page to unite the painting.

Lost an orchid; found a Hot Pepper!!      :)                                                  

Frozen Reflections- An Abstract Realism

     Abstract Realism, Jumbo Shrimp; yes I get the oxymoron but I did it anyway. This is going to be a "you suggest the ending" to a thriller mystery painting saga. Please look at the painting stages as my thought process developed and help me find a final work of art.
                                                               I am not yet pleased with the outcome!

STEP 1

 The canvas is 40 X 50 inches so it makes a large statement. Using my knowledge from a Dorate Muller workshop, I toned the canvas in a warm color and pasted torn  rice paper strips and gold leaf sheets onto the canvas. I had nothing in particular in mind for a subject matter or color choices. From a distance the blue, green and gold papers reminded me of islands within an Arctic Sea. 

Step 2 shows the softening and cooling of the background with the water showing reflections of the sky and islands. Thanks to Maya Baynes' workshop for reminding me of these principles.

STEP 2

In order to find the compliment of all the cool colors I added an abstraction of warm tones. At that point the painting suggested to me that the water of the sea were spilling down the remaining 2/3 of the canvas.



 

STEP 3

STEP 4

 In step 3  I see my vision and maybe I should have stopped but I didn't, what can I say! Thinking that the bottom was too busy and undeveloped I continued on trying to develop larger areas of blue to reflect the sky and give the eyes a place to rest which would then bring one's eye to the focal point.








      I do believe it shows better in person but here is my photo of the final stage at this moment in time. Did I lose my vision or did I make a well designed painting? How would you complete this mystery within a painter's mind?

Hope to hear from you.

FROZEN REFLECTIONS

Thanks.      
              

Maija Baynes Painting Workshop

    January 24-26 were three days well spent in a painting workshop with Maija Baynes. It has been a while since I blogged about a class that I have taken and enjoyed so much.
For some reason I have not been able to get the feeling; "Oh I really want to paint that!"; therefore I paint nothing. Even my paint something silly did not get me out of my blank canvas block. The painting passion always returns but I never know how long it will take.
     I tried reading; Artist's Way, Color Choices, the new Acrylic Artist Magazine and Fill Your Oil Paintings with Light & Color.      Nada.

     Maija was a guest demonstrator at the Vero Beach Art Club meeting where she painted a still life. It dawned on me that part of my problem was that I have to visibly see the landscape or subject in front of me to be able to paint it. My brain had just shut down to printed subject materials. During the workshop I learned totally new painting techniques to paint a landscapes, cloud/skies and water/ reflections.
This gave me some new ammunition to move forward.

     Using a  tinted canvas and a limited palette we were instructed to sketch in the simple shapes of the subject's outline. No drawing, just take an old brush and scrumble in the basic shapes. I had to relearn scrumbling and to use a small amount of paint. My outline shapes had too many hard edges and my paint layer was way to thick. Maija paints from dark to light which threw me off a bit. She showed us how to combine a limited number of colors to get the full landscape palette. The logic was that a blending of a small number of colors  would  unifying the total painting.

Maija's palette

   

    The colors of the background contain more blues and grays, they are lighter with softer edges. Next she added red to the shaded areas of the paining and then proceeded to add mid and light tones of greens. The sky was done last which is the opposite of my technique.

      Maija deomonstrated how to mix the sky/ cloud colors before painting the sky. Note there were six different tones to the clouds! After that I had the knowledge to tackle my own sky. Pure white cotton ball clouds are a no, no from now on.

Maija's final painting

      The second day dealt with clouds and the third day focused on water reflections. Who knew reflections should be painted in the mirror image direction of the object? How can I miss little things that are so obvious?

Maija- Clouds

Maija's water reflections

     I know it was a good workshop because the time passed quickly and I was struggling which means I was learning and out side of my comfort zone!
Here are my three uncompleted attempts at landscape, a cloud scene and water with reflections:

My landscape

My clouds

I will finish these and post the final results for the world to ponder.

My water reflections

A Play House for Laurel

     Being a grand mother to a little girl is so cool. I adore inventing "girlie" project to share with her and my newest venture was to make a play house which is like sewing a huge pillow case that will fit over a card table. As always, I under estimated the time and sewing challenges.

Completed Play House.

     I would like to present the newest house on the block, Laurel's Cottage. As the builder of this fine abode I would like to point out it's special features:

     There are three windows with curtains and a mirror hung on the wall for our 18 month old princess to check on her beauty. The exterior of the house boasts of a mail box, porch light and house numbers. I even made fabric letters addressed to the home owner. The ruffles under each window are imaginary flower boxes and along the bottom of the cottage is a garden of roses planted up against the house. The next time I go to the flea market I will  search for a mini kitchen set to go with the mini pots and pans I bought.

     Now you may be wondering where I got the blueprint for such a lovely English Cottage. I purchased a card table and faked it, sewing myself out of one situation after another. Patterns seem to stifle my right brain so I don't use them.

     Oh, I almost forgot the stars and mini mirrors glued to the under side of the card table so Laurel can gaze at the heavens as she plays in her cottage.

     This will be a Christmas present for my darling grand daughter and she is worth all the hours of sewing and figuring out how to make this project work.             

Another Ta da moment.

Summer in Sunny Florida!

     All my beloved activities cease for the summer and boredom, hot  humid boredom sets in. Well this summer I am fighting back. I took on a local community project, signed up for an acrylic workshop and a day of Mixed Media Paste Paper Collage class. A little travel, a little gardening and I am good to go until September. Add to that list a sewing project for my grand daughter  and I am content. My mind is planning a card table play tent with all the charm of an English cottage.
     The results will be posted as they are completed. Wishing you all a great summer.

Original Art Koser: I Have Gone to Windmill Painting Power

www.verobeachartclub.org: I Have Gone to Windmill Painting Power