Today's Challenge

 I'm starting with the remains of my last group of experiments and seeing what I can make from those. I only finished one but am pleased with the results.

                                                    Before

                                                   After

This time I used 2 different types and sizes of palette knives, one round brush and one liner. The sizes didn't seem to make much difference in the results and I used it to make a card for answering my mail today.

I can't wait to see what the results of the next painting will be. This one is going overseas to an old Friend who is also an artist and may enjoy the texture and composition of it.

 I hope you enjoyed the progress of today's project and will pull out your paint's and join me next time to

Paint Yourself Happy,

Julia

Changes to the Composition of the Painting

  I've begun to reshape some of the flower petals and the leaves...even removed a few.

 The biggest change of course was reworking the lower front flower. I haven't finished with it yet but I think it's off to a good start.

It will be nice to see where it goes next.

Brush stroke practice project

Pick any easy shape and divide it into sections.

Paint sections in with a few simple colors.

 I aim for 3 or 4 main colors to keep the focus on the brush stokes themselves without worrying too much about what sort of picture I'm actually painting.

Have fun practicing a few simple brushstrokes or just lay down a lot of dots to get the feel of your brushes. The harder you press, the larger they will be so practice a light touch and see just how tiny they can get with the same round brush.

Asiatic Lily Project

 I was pleased with the way the painted lily looks and am looking forward to trying it again with the last 2 if these lilies in the garden.

I spent this morning painting in the dishes that I'll be painting more of my flowers on this season. I'm trying to give them some dimension without making them too big a part of the overall design-I want the flowers to be the stars here and don't want the dishes to compete with them. Balance is an important part of any painting-don't you think so?