The Latest Changes

 The old tomato plant has regenerated to the point that has set flowers. It will be interesting to see what sort of tomatoes we'll have this time around. The blossoms seem smaller than the last bunch so time will tell. I'll keep you posted.

I've finished the changes that I was making to this lily painting and so far everyone who's seen it agrees that it is much improved from the way it was before.

Next I plan to go back to that large Iris Garden painting. The Arrangement of the revised paintings has really brightened up the living room.

Of the hundreds of paintings that I've done since the 1970's I've got to say that these last 3 have become my favorites. 

Re-working a Lily Painting

Here's the point where I stopped working on this painting a year or so ago. It's the BEFORE of this session.

This time I decided to look at the lilies as though I was looking across the garden at them so I began to lay in a bit of blue sky.

The next step was to lay in a dark background to give the feeling of soil to support the grass and other plants I would be adding.

This Is as far as I'd gotten with it by the end of the first day.

I couldn't leave it alone and kept at it until the next morning. Yes, I'm happy with the results.

My Favorite Changes to My Living and Work Space

One of the things that I love to paint are my odd assortment of Blue and White dishes. Affording a regular china cabinet was completely out of the question  but my Husband came up with an excellent alternative that I just Love. Best of all the lighting is completely adjustable.

The centerpiece of the unit is a simple and inexpensive PLASTIC medicine cabinet.

The other 2 cabinets were MDF flat pack kits which he assembled in just a couple of hours. They were on sale though a local home improvement store.

The real magic comes from strips of color changing LED lights installed along the sheves and the tops of the units which run by remote control.

Drawings and Sketches

Home Bound Diversions, Garden and Mail Art

One of the really important things to do when you're stuck at home is to at least pretend to go somewhere else once in a while.

On a recent day when I had company I pulled up a background ASMR of a nice tea room and arranged our own elegant snacks on my favorite 3 tier plate which as you can see blends nicely with the background I'd chosen and was much nicer to look at than the medical equipment around the room here.

I'm still hoping to get enough donations for a wheelchair van.

http://www.gofundme.com/wheelchairandwheelchairvan 

In the mean time my mail is my lifeline so I stay in contact with everyone and practice my drawing and painting all at the same time.

Here's a selection of recent envelopes and cards that I did this weekend.

I'm also working on finding the best ways to use pencils and markers to get the look that I want.

I've also got some gardening going on here. Hydroponic mini tomato plants.

Over the weekend we made ourselves a self watering planter from an old juce bottle and a cotton rag.

First you cut the juice bottle in half with a sharp razor knife, then pull the rag through the neck of the top bottle half. (this will be the wicking planter) and then you set into the bottom of the bottle.
the water is put in the lower half.

This one is planted with leftover green onions.

Feb.24,2020  As you can see those onions are making a quick come back . I really enjoyed clipping a little over my scrambled eggs this morning. How's that for a way to chase the winter blues?

I was also wondering if there would be a different rate of growth so I started one green onion in the hydroponic grower and was surprised to find it has doubled in height only 2 days later.

Speaking of the hydroponic grower. The other things in there are one mini tomato waiting to get ripe and one mini tomato plant that I'm allowing to regenerate. All of the leaves and buds on it are new since I picked the tomatoes and cut the plant back.

Changes to the Iris Garden Painting

This painting was started over 18 years ago and for much of that time everyone said "don't touch it, it was their favorite painting". But I always felt that it could be so much more than it was.

Before

Yes, that Is one of my Zazzle products in front of the painting. It's the same image printed on the front of a nylon wallet.

After

Now I'll show you some before and after detail views so you can see the steps I took along the way. Most of the major changes took place in the upper right hand corner of the painting.

Before

After

Before

Next, I removed the red and coral Iris. Painted a red gerbera daisy over the lavender tulip and turned the pink tulip into another pink flower.

After

Quite a change, isn't it?

Before

Do you see the red tulip on the far lefthand side?

After

Now it's Gerbera Daisy to balance the one I put on the right hand side.

ALL THE STOPS ALONG THE WAY:

I started with a mix of hookers green burnt sienna and a bit of umber to block out parts of that large Iris.

Next it was time to re-touch the hosta leaves that had been covered by that large Iris.

When adding that red daisy I painted more grasses around the area where that purple tulip had been. Then I added the daisy leaf with part of a purple Iris poking out behind it.

Doodles and Flowers

I painted this in gouache this morning.

And drew this in marker.

I was very pleased at how nice this wallet turned out that I had Zazzle make from one of my paintings.

More leaf doodles on a card and envelope set.

Leaf and Flower Doodles are becoming habit forming. They're such an easy way to dress up my mail.

The more practice I get the easier they will become.