LADY IN WAITING-JINNY

Let me introduce my dear friend Jinny.  She is 92, still comes to open studio painting twice a week, plays bridge and she has spunk.

One of our fellow painters took a picture of Jinny waiting for her ride sitting on her art cart in the parking lot outside our classroom. We all volunteered to take her home but she said; No I'll wait, I'm just happy sitting here in the sunshine. Normally Jinny drives herself and we all meet at one of the local restaurants for more conversation and laughter. We all look forward to Mondays.

With this little painting I was trying out the new techniques that I learned in my Janet Rogers workshop. Some of the biggest mistakes I was making was painting as if I were doing an acrylic, using too much water and not dropping paint into moist areas for them to blend on the paper.

There is hope; I am teachable.

RED DOT, RED DOT....I GOT A RED DOT!

PERUVIAN DOLL BACK.

PERUVGIAN DOLL FRONT

Last week end was the Art on the Island show sponsored by the Vero Beach Art Club. I worked the sales floor on Sunday and I'm proud to say it was a beautiful impressive show with excellent 3D art.

Our 2D art members get numerous exhibits to show their work but this one is for 3D only and what a turn out.

Forgive me for being braggadocios but did you notice that little red do in the upper left hand photo? Yes, I sold my piece, what a tickle.

My husband brought home four super large gourds from a flea market thinking I would enjoy painting on them. It was a kind thought so the first two I made into Russian Nesting Dolls, one was a Russian Peasant Doll and this one became a Peruvian Doll.

There will not be any more huge gourd dolls. It was fun and I sold all four dolls.

white poppy

Now and then I can not find something in my own studio even if it is in plain sight!

I finally found the elusive abstract painting that I was looking for but in the interim I cleaned and reorganized at least half of my studio; "I know there is a pony in here somewhere", and I discovered another Terraskin painting.

This one I call White Poppy. It has acrylic paint as the base with oil pastel accents. Terraskin has been given a fair chance and it will be used for mixed media adventures only.

While searching I threw out a few "why was I saving this" works of art.
 Like I said in another blog session: Paint and Purge.

Paint well my friends.

HAS ANYONE EVER TRIED TERRASKIN?

RED FLOWERS IN A GLASS VASE

PASTE PAPER FLOWERS

Have you ever used Terraskin as a painting surface?
 I read about it in one of my art magazines and immediately ordered some. Terreaskin reminds me of Yupo which I find difficult to paint with watercolor but both are a great substrate for mixed media art work.

Red flowers has an acrylic base in bold bright colors with oil pastel to punch it up even more. Paste Paper Flowers I again used acrylics for the background then glued my hand made paste paper into a pop art creation.

The most important factor is that I let myself go hog wild and didn't worry about creating a master piece.

It felt great to work on these two paintings.

COMPLETING MY PAINTINGS FROM THE JANET ROGERS WORKSHOP

Finished painting.

Workshop start

Let it not be said that I do not complete my workshop homework.

Here are three of the paintings that I started in the Janet Rogers workshop and finished them in my studio. My little angel isn't perfect but I think I captured her essence and the flesh tones that Janet taught us. I am struggling  with using the white of the paper as the highlight value.

Workshop start

I rather like this one. I did add watercolor pencil to accent some parts of the finished product.

Finished

    Somethings can not be saved and this was one of the many that I create.
I was experimenting with hot press watercolor paper and found that I did not like it or maybe I do not know how to use it properly.  Either way it is history in my stash of art supplies.

Workshop start.

Awful!!!!!!

 I will try again to use Janet Rogers techniques because the lady can really paint people well! She also has a style that you can recognize the moment you lay eyes on her art work. 

VERO BEACH ART CLUB PRESENTS A JANET ROGERS WORKSHOP

Lunch with fellow artists

Hi All,

   I may have mentioned that I am co-chair of the Art Club workshop committee which presented a three day watercolor workshop with Janet Rogers. We had her hubby Steve Rogers last year. Both are outstanding artists and teachers, she left the students asking for a five day return workshop for next year.

     It was a sold out event and well worth the time to learn from Janet. My watercolor paintings had taken a sorrowful showing but now I am recharged to buy new limited palette wc paints. Cheap Joe will love me.

    Summarizing what I learned:
1. Don't be so cheap, buy new paint and put out a big blob of it onto a large palette.
2. If I use a limited palette I will avoid mud which haunts my artistic endeavors.
     Aureolin Yellow, Permanent Rose & Cobalt Blue for the transparent triad of colors.
3. Practice(warm up) before each painting by doing swatches of flesh tones & gesture drawings.
4.  Make the secondary orange, purple and green from limited palette triad.
5. After sketching flower, face or figure drop in a puddle of flesh tone then add other colors to create a  variety of subtle color changes. One straight color is boring.
6. A second triad was made by using; Qin. Gold, Alizarin Crimson & Ultra. Blue.
7. Use white of the paper for the highlights of the subject and use the cooled down flesh tone for the shadow areas. That was new to me.
8. Never use blue as the shadow color; they should be a warm color.

Flesh tone swatches.

     Here are my first attempts:

Grand daughter as an angel.

Flowers

Grand daughter on the beach.

    As you can see I am bad at flowers but do enjoy figures and faces. I was amazed at how many times Janet could add another color to "overwhelm" a mistake in color. As long as the puddle is still wet, all the colors are transparent and from a limited palette. I don't fear watercolors as much as I used to and I'm even fired up to paint with them.  

A wonderful workshop.

NEW PLEIN AIR TOYS

Is it true that if I buy just one more brush, tube of paint or equipment I will instantly be a better painter?

EASY L PLEIN AIR SET UP

First let me say that I have no bad habits so I totally deserve my splurge buying  some light weight , easy to lug around painting equipment. I will gladly donate my old wooden french easel to a student at a local school.

SEA GRAPE TREES
My first plein air of this season was at a local park  and it was an enjoyable experience. I did not invest in new equipment until I tried painting plein air last season to see if I liked it.  I DO!

I got my painting home and thought it was horrid so I let the oil paint dry and started over.

Sea Grape Re-do

I did repaint this in my studio so it doesn't really count as plein air but at this point in my art career I am not a purest. I was told the painting has to be 80% done plein air before it qualifies. 

As you can see the scene was simplified and I was concentrating on temperature changes. 

A for effort.