MY DEMO AND SLIDE SHOW OF FIRST PAINTINGS FROM WORKSHOP!

I did a quick demo showing how diluted mat medium coated paper works with watercolor.  Struggled with one eye forever!  I don't panic because I know students like to see that these things happen to all of us.  Here is a slide show of all the paintings so far.  I was impressed with how hard everyone work, how willing they were to take chances and do something different and the success they had.  Many had time to do a second painting.  Things get better and better as you try it again.  Once the drawing is established it takes no time to start another painting.

Enjoy the slide show!

WORKSHOP DEMOS

The giant eye is on a 5"x7" bozzetto.  I give workshop participants the option of doing some small practice pieces of facial parts and studies of color ideas before starting their first painting.  This is the demo of the structure of the eye I did showing some ways of introducing color into the area.  The other demo is an example of some interesting compositional ideas.  I like the composition, not very thrilled with the painting.  Worth doing again for a better outcome.  Tomorrow I should be able to make a slide show of the completed student paintings.

FINAL TWO STEPS

Here are the last two stages to complete this painting. I added white acrylic to the bleached painting, then started glazing and painting on top. It is a good idea to photograph the steps of your paintings for future reference. If you find you don't need them, it is easy to erase them. If you decide after the fact, that you wanted to document the steps, you can't go back!

Very little of the original bleached effect is left. Most likely it impacted the look of the finished painting, but it is pretty subtle. I'm going to keep on with this idea until I hit on the balance I am looking for. Can't quite say what it is, but I will know it when it shows up. The thrill of the hunt!

IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED, TRY, TRY AGAIN!

This was a piece of watercolor paper that I had put a band of textured gesso on as a demo. I decided to cover it with the ink. The ink is very blue in appearance on the gesso section. The ink will lift off of the gesso with water but the bleach changes the color to orange which gives both a warm/cool contrast and a blue/orange compliment contrast at the same time. I put two full strength coats of ink on the paper. Today I started playing around with the bleach. I was able to get the layering of values I wanted on the paper but it is too orange. It wouldn't lighten enough. I think I will go back to just one layer. I like how it looks on the gesso area. That area is totally liftable, so I sprayed it with acrylic fixative. Tomorrow I will go back in with some acrylic and see what happens. I put up some detail photos so you can see things more clearly. I was using a stick, a dip pen and all kinds of brushes. I went to Michaels and bought a bag of cheap brushes to use with the bleach. I was also experimenting with all of these ideas on YUPO. It moved around too much on the slippery surface, so I think I will move on. I guess Tyvek is next!

GONE WITH A PUSH OF THE WRONG BUTTON!

This was the demo I did for the workshop. Our old friend "Morris" on Tyvek utilizing the new Daniel Smith Watercolor Sticks. No additional paint was used. I have a few more surfaces to try out this new paint format. The jury is still out but I am having fun experimenting.

Sadly, this is the only photo I have left from the Valley Watercolor Society workshop! I had photographed everyone with their paintings, even taking several shots each to ensure that I would have a good one.

Sunday the entire family went to Long Beach to the Aquarium and the Queen Mary to celebrate, birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day, end of school, graduations etc. Took over 200 photos there.

We drove home yesterday and, in a tired state, I downloaded the photos from my camera, cleared the card in the camera, edited the photos deleting the blurry, redundant ones, and then emptied the "trash". Somehow I managed to delete EVERYTHING!!!!!!!! Its gone, all gone. Arghhhh!

Lots of people were taking photos during the critique, so I am hoping my S.O.S. to the group will yield most, if not all, of the paintings by e-mail. Hopefully I will be able to make a slideshow. Everyone did such a fabulous job, I wanted to share their success with everyone.

If anyone knows how to retrieve permanently deleted photos, please share.

SECOND SLIDE SHOW SAN DIEGO VARIATIONS WORKSHOP

I tried to create a slide show for today's paintings but the slide website didn't want to upload the photos. I got tired of trying so I am just posting them straight on the blog. Slide shows are so much more fun. I will try to create an entire slide show of the whole weeks work later. Just click on any of the images to see them enlarged and with more detail.

We worked on color combinations today. It turned out to be more challenging than anticipated. Tomorrow is the final element we will be working with....Texture (my personal favorite). It should be a wild and crazy time. A great finale! Stay tuned.

SLIDE SHOW OF SHAPE, VALUE AND LINE PAINTINGS FROM WORKSHOP!

Everyone really had fun with the LINE ELEMENT today. I shared painting on Tyvek and now I have ardent fans of this paper. Everyone is stretching, experimenting and growing. If you are wondering about some of the unusual color combinations, each person is limited to one red, one yellow and one blue selected randomly from their pile of each primary color. Some of the color combo's make for strange mixtures but others turned out surprisingly good. Part of the fun. Each day there is a random selection for some aspect of the painting. Tomorrow will be focused on color. The combinations should be more traditional but each person will have a unique color formula to work with. Can't wait to see what they come up with!

FIRST PAINTINGS FROM "VARIATIONS" WORKSHOP IN SAN DIEGO!

Well, finally the internet was connected at my son's apartment this morning, so I am now back on line! What an addiction to these mechanical devices I have developed! Withdrawal was becoming acute. We have done two days of the workshop so far. Yesterday was all drawing and today we attempted to complete two paintings. That was a little ambitious but we should be caught up by tomorrow at the close of class. It is a small but enthusiastic group and everyone is doing great work. I only had a chance to photograph my demo and two other paintings by the two Kathy's in the class. We started with "Shape" paintings and I have assigned "Morrie" as the image we all are using for the entire week. Tomorrow I hope to post a slide show of the work so far.

My son's apartment is right down the road from the Mormon Temple in San Diego. It is a spectacular edifice and I hope to be able to photograph it tomorrow or the next day and share it with all of you. San Diego is balmy and gorgeous.

STILL COUGHING BUT BACK ON THE BLOG

First of all, I want to thank all of you for your expressions of empathy and sympathy over my cold. I am almost never, ever sick but once in awhile something takes hold. I am in the lingering annoying hacking cough stage which should continue for a few more days. In the meantime, I have been busy working on some sketches for the upcoming workshop, finding and printing examples, creating handouts, outlines, yadda yadda yadda. I didn't feel much like painting and I am not at all motivated to finish the painting I started in the workshop. It has serious mistakes, which is fine, but not worth spending more time and paint on. After waiting so long to learn the secret of Karen's technique, I find I have moved on and don't want to paint in such a realistic manner! One of life's little ironies. I did gain a lot in watching her. I think what I will take away is how purposeful each brush stroke is in execution and deliberate color.

Two new books arrived from Amazon which I am anxious to work with but that will have to wait until April when I will have lots of time to experiment and really play. The books are Creative Paint Workshop for Mixed-Media Artist by Ann Baldwin and Rethinking Acrylic. .. radical solutions for exploiting the worlds most versatile medium by Patti Brady.

My turn to sit at the Gallery again tomorrow, so I should have a chance to read and flag all the things I want to go back to when time permits.

SLIDE SHOW OF THE DEMO ON TYVEK FOR ALLIED ARTISTS WEST!

Here is the demo painting that I did this morning for Allied Artists West, a group of very talented and accomplished women artists. It can be intimidating to work in front of a group like this, but it went well and everyone was very gracious. I enjoyed it very much and have fun when I do these type of events. Jane Ferguson was very kind to photograph the progress of the painting and she sent them to me, so I have made a slide show. I think you can see how I draw with the "oiler boiler" from Cheap Joe's to establish my image. I just draw directly and what ever happens, c'est la vie! This sequence was done in an hour. Because the paint will run uncontrollably, I am working flat the whole time. After I got the painting home, I set it up and looked at it. There are a number of small adjustments I am planning to do before it gets stored away. I was thinking of doing that this evening after I finish this post, but I need to get another boost of energy!

I always try to share a lot with the group I am demonstrating for and they often share in return. Today I learned that Tap Plastic has the "oiler-boiler" bottles with the thin needle. Wow, that was fabulous information! Of course, they don't call it that cutsie name. I headed straight for the plastic store on my way home and got 8 more bottles. Now I can load them up with all kinds of colors ready to go.

I want to put some white lines in this painting. I went all over looking for white ink to no avail. I did get some scrapbooking gel pens that make a nice fine white line, but I would like to be able to use dip pens and sticks, etc. If anyone knows of a source, please let me know.

I almost forgot....I wore two of my orphaned earrings today. They were an interesting mismatch but fun!

PAST DEMOS OF MORRIS ELLIS!

This is Morris Ellis, an artist that I photographed (with his knowledge and permission!) at a major art show. His hat and beard were so interesting to me that I used him as my demo for about 5 different workshops. I started using other faces but Morris has a special place in my heart. Here are 3 of the 5 paintings. I never photographed the other two. I will take care of that when I return home.

We had a great first day today. Everyone is working quickly and really doing a great job. Jerry and I spent the evening tonight at Peggy Stermer-Cox's home. It was exciting to meet in person someone I met on line. She and her husband were great hosts and we had a very lively discussion over a delicious dinner. You would not believe that this petite 4 foot 10 woman has spent 20 years in the military and has done 5 parachute jumps and rappelled out of a helicopter! We were really impressed. It was wonderful to be able to see her unique and beautiful paintings in person. Things always look even better in person. Peggy is really a special person and artist. Check our her blog and website.

What an adventure this art path has become.