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

I Have Gone to Windmill Painting Power

Windmill rotating arms.

All of the easels I have used over the last 30 years were cheap or free,wobbly, hard to use and generally unsatisfactory. I have know about a windmill easel for a few years but never had the nerve or the money to purchase one. After the demise of my four year open air tent art show career, I took the earnings and the advise of my artist friends and splurged on this:

Rotating mechanism.

Sturdy base on casters.

Hydraulic damper.

This easel suits my style of painting because I like to use the drip technique so turning the canvas or paper at different angles aids in getting  the paint to flow in any direction. I can easily set the easel at any angle (upright for acrylics and 45 or so for watercolors) and even lower it to a horizontal position for mixed media work. The windmill arms turn 360 in both directions.  I may not be the best artist in the world but this new invention makes painting my creations  more comfortable and enjoyable.
   

Value Added Exhibit

AFTER

AFTER

 All dressed up and    Nowhere to go!

My little Russian  Dolls were just sitting around but I have found a place to show them.

     Art Mundo had a call to artists to take an ordinary object and alter it creatively, thus making it  "value added".
     I think an ordinary gourd fits the bill, so please wish me luck.

BEFORE

                                         

Art in Public Places

     You are invited to see my entry into the Vero Beach Art Club Member Exhibit held at the Indian River Courthouse, Vero Beach, Florida.  Art in Public Places is supponsored by the Cultural Council of Indian River County and begins April 15  ending July 14, 2011.

     This year I am going big (25" x 31") or going home.

     Bodacious was an experiment with the color field genre. Some of the materials are iridescent and glitter as light hits them from different angles. It represents a modern geometric abstract using bold colors.