New Sketchbook

Here's a picture of the lovely new sketchbook that my husband bought for me.

It's a reproduction of an antique so the cover is really an interesting design.

I began with that garden photo that hadn't quite worked out for me in my last post and went on to sketch it again.

As you can see this paper handles watercolor much better and I was pleased with the results this time.

I went on to ink the outlines and my husband fixed the image so I can use it on the computer and to design products with.

step by step sunflower painting

Becoming the Sunflower

There's something special about living with art as it grows and changes and I find myself wondering if I ever would want a separate studio even if I could afford it.

The easel that this painting lives on is right behind where we sit at the dining room table. I sit on the side of the table where my eyes wander to it from time to time during pauses in conversation. Seeing it from a different vantage point and in different lighting  always gives me more ideas as the canvas draws me back to it.

I decided to eliminate one of the leaves because I felt that it threw the balance off. Here's a detail view as I work over that section.

It feels like an improvement to me but you never know where the work will take you and I'm always looking forward to see where it's going next.

It's always interesting to see and feel the image seem to emerge from bits and smudges in the paint... still, my mind wants to interfere and choose a background color instead of allowing it to happen.

I like it best when the art becomes more of a meditative practice and comes from a calm center. Mindfullnes and mindlessness at once. As always I can't wait to get back to it.

Painting again

I'm not sure what I can say about  this. It's been several finished paintings over the years but nothing I've ever been really satisfied with. I continue to relax, dream and apply new paint with a number of different things (hands, fingers, brushes, palette knives and old silverware) as I wait for a clear direction for the painting to take. In the meantime I'm just enjoying the process and always walk away relaxed and smiling.

I may be wrong but I guess I've still got sunflowers on my mind so I figured I might as well grab one of the photos I shot in my garden last summer and go with that...at least for a while.

Small Sunflower Painting

I was pleased with the way this painting turned out and even more excited about it when I saw how it looked on merchandise in my zazzle store: 

I started with a postage stamp and then went on to greeting cards, stickers and address labels to match. I'm back to work now to see what else I can do with it. The creativity just keeps on coming, I can't wait to see where it goes next.

Painting 'til dark

Today's Sunflower painting in progress

I'm using a 11x14 inch canvas panel and acrylic paints to attempt to capture some of the sunflowers that I grew and photographed this summer.

I shot these photos with and without a flash to see which would show the colors more accurately but I've forgotten which was which
.

Here's a scan of the painting at the point that I stopped working on it for the day. I'm STILL worn out and may not get back to it until tomorrow.

I'm happy to say that it appears that my technique has improved quite a lot from the sunflower paintings I did last season. I'm not the best judge of that so I'm hoping you'll comment and share your opinions on the subject-Thanks

Watercolor Sunflowers

Painted Envelopes

Progress on the Sunflower painting

Back to the Sunflower painting

This was the point that I started at this time. As you can see I was still having trouble resolving the background and had tried several different ideas.

I grabbed my painting knives and relaxed into my old style. There's something about moving tiny bits of color around. When done slowly it's calming. Working faster and a bit wilder it helps you blow off steam. I guess that's why I go back to it time and time again. It's less about what it looks like than how I feel while I'm doing it. I guess in artspeak I'm what they call a "process person".