Yellow and Blue

The Day of Sunflower Paintings

All set up and ready to start.

We had a light turn out for painting group today so I set all of my work in progress at the empty seats so that I could go back and forth between projects. This has 3 major benefits. 1. It keeps you from getting bored. 2. It gives you a fresh perspective on the work. 3. It saves on paint because any leftover bits you've set out can be used on the other paintings.

I found it helpful to have both a live sunflower and a photo to look at as I'm working. When you approach a subject from several different angles it seems to make your painting more alive and vibrant.

The ideas keep coming...

Altered Sunflower Photos

I love to collaborate on photo effects with my husband. We used to have a regular dark room years ago but are doing it all digital these days. In this case I grew the flower and took the original photo and Doug took it from there as we discussed the changes along the way. I'm seeing a LOT of possibilities for inspiration from these when the last Sunflower dies.

Photos of the last Sunflower

Outgoing Mail

Here's a little drawing I did on the corner of an envelope I was sending to a friend. I've been sorting through the rest of my art supplies and trying to organize my work space. I'm hoping to start several new projects and finish up some old ones as soon as I get a bit of sleep. Keep reading and watching...there will be new work soon.

Butterfly House, Birdhouses and yesterdays watercolors

I repainted the roof to the butterfly house, (Minnesota weather isn't kind to things like this and it's been out there for years.)

Yes, this arbor is a pretty busy place and I like to think that it brightens up the neighborhood a bit.

I was pretty surprised to see how well the new flowers I painted on it matched up when we put it back together.

I forgot to add this photo to yesterdays post. I had wet and salted watercolors EVERYWHERE !

A Pinch Of Salt

Watercolor Morning

Here's something I haven't tried in YEARS. ( I usually do landscapes and florals)

This was a card and envelope set I painted to write to an old friend.

Power Iris

Here's where I've finished with it for now but who knows what will happen to it next time the mood strikes. There's a lot going on in the painting because there's a lot going on in my life these days. It's one and the same, the art and me...at least with this project...

The Purple Project

Sometimes I just don't know when to stop which of course is why I keep this blog and welcome you opinions and comments to help me decide when to stop work on a painting or whether to follow the work in a new direction.

All the nice shades of blue and purple seemed like a good idea for background to some Iris I'm painting to be used as a round sticker design. There's still a lot of work to be done  but I wanted to show you what I've done with it so far. I'll be developing the flowers more and changing the colors and arrangements of the leaves so keep watching for more photos.

Art Recycle Challenge Painted boxes into other projects

These are panels from 2 different painted boxes. One in progress and the other completed about 4 years ago. The reason for the wide variety of subjects is that I was going to be teaching a community ed class and I wanted my paintbox to display the different types of painting that I'd be able to help the students with.

I almost sold one of the boxes once but the buyer complained that it clashed with something in her room. I still laugh when I think of it because my work is NOT something that you buy to blend in with your decor and I wasn't willing to compromise the concept of the piece by repainting some of the panels to match her place just to make a sale.
I'm glad I kept it now because it gives me a variety of artwork in one place that can be used a number of ways. I store things in the box itself but dumped them out today so that I could put it on the scanner and use the designs on a numbr of different projects that you'll find at http://www.zazzle.com/julia_art*

Back at it again...

Now that the sunflowers are blooming I can get back to work on this painting. Judging from the flowers on the table I think I'm on the right track, don't you? It will be easier to tell in the morning light but I think I'm about done with this. What do you think? I might change the background a bit...or not...

Sunflowers and Painted furniture

I don't have very many sunflowers this year (just 4 or 5 volunteers from last year) but I was really happy to find them blooming today. I'm starting with acrylics and who knows where they'll go from there...

Storage and display ideas for Art

I was hanging up as many of the paintings as I can to avoid the damage you get when they're just sitting around or stacked anywhere.

I decided to use that last little bit of wallspace to mount this magazine rack that I'd painted and it holds all of the 8x10 inch canvas panels that I'm in the process of doing paintings on.

This was an old magazine rack and an assorment of old wooden cut outs. The trim on the top is actually a row of hearts with the thin ones peeking over the back and the large one mounted on the front.

Today's Garden Photos and Fun with Watercolors

A bit of fun in the mail to brighten your day

This card contains bits of a card from a friend, a photo of flowers from my garden, a picture from some note paper and a bit of pen, ink and pencil. We find it kind of fun to write back and forth and keep adding things until the cards (or art, depending on how you look at things) get too thick and heavy to drop into envelopes to mail. This one is starting to get pretty interesting...and it's an idea that you and your friends might enjoy too.

Scrap lumber art for the garden

 C

Can you believe this was a 2x4 yesterday? We had an extra one laying around but you could go shopping and build a planter box like this for about $3.00. I painted it this way because it's going out by the roses and will be filled with daisies and there's no good reason for the trim except that I like to do it, it's fun and I think of it like quilting with paint.