Yellow Headed Blackbird

Here's the other painting I've been working on in class this fall. I've always wanted a painting of a Yellow-Headed Blackbird.

When we were kids we spent summers at Lake Poinsett in South Dakota. The Yellow Headed Blackbirds hung out in the swamps near the lake. Grandma always looked for them when she came to stay with us.

So, here's my version. I think it's almost done, but will have to see when I go to class on Tuesday. This painting is 12x16 in acrylic. It started out with a very pale background, which was too pasty looking. I changed it to pond colors.

Cousins Painting Reworked

I'm taking a painting class again this fall. I took in my summer painting from the old snapshot and got some good ideas for making the background better.

I repainted the house and the window reflections. My teacher noticed the house eave in the window reflection on the original photo, so I added that. He also pointed out that all of my background house and ground textures were the same style and were too bright. They needed to be grayed down a bit, cleaned up, and shadows defined.

I retouched the figures too. I think this is getting better and almost done now. Although, seeing this on the screen, I realize that the clouds and the tip of the building corner all converge in the window reflection...I'll probably have to fix that. This is 16x20" in acrylic.







Here's the first version.

Hawaiian Flower Painting in Progress

(9/16) Here's my almost finished Red Ginger painting. Since the last picture, I worked on the flower, reworked some of the leaves, and put a few more colors on the leaf edges. I'm close to being done.










Here are a few close-ups:
















(9/12) Here's my most recent version as of Saturday morning. I painted the background a light Naples Yellow and put more shading on the leaves. I still need to do more work on the flower - it's not bright enough to be the focal point and the petals need work. I removed the bamboo stalks on the left side to open up space, but now the lower left corner seems too bare. The upright leaves are a bit close to center, which is not good composition. I'll figure out something to add weight to that left side...maybe more leaves or shadows or bamboo.

I found out that this is called a Red Ginger.


(9/7) Last night and today I finally got back to my Hawaiian flower painting that I started in early August. I had just blocked it in then. Now I'm working on the leaves, trying to decide colors, values, sizes, exactly where to place them, how many to include, etc.

It always helps to see a picture of a painting. Things become more apparent somehow...maybe it's a more objective look at the whole. There are a few things I like better in the original blocking (below) - the shorter front/left leaf and smaller leaf on the right of the flower. I made some of the leaves bigger and will rethink that. I have to decide about the bamboo on the left (keep it, lose it, change it?). Originally, I was going to try a more abstract look, but I'm too much of a realist!


(8/2) Original first draft of painting.

EDM #137 - Draw Something From a First Aid Kit

This week we had to draw things from a first aid kit. These are three items from my Hawaii First Aid Kit.

I take Bandaids, because I'm always cutting something, or stepping on something, or getting a blister.

And I take Bonine tablets for sea sickness. I used to think I had great "sea legs" but learned a very hard lesson about that one day!

And the tube of After Sun Gel was a freebie from the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. I picked up several tubes. It's great for sunburn.

I also take along drops to get water out of my ears and hydrocortizone cream. But I couldn't fit them into the drawing. ALOHA!

One Million Giraffes

Ok, so here's a fun thing....I just submitted an entry to One Million Giraffes!

Here's the link: http://www.olahelland.net/giraffes/

"My friend, Jørgen, doesn't believe I can collect one million giraffes by 2011. I'm gonna prove him wrong, but I need your help. You can create your giraffe(s) in any way you like, but not on a computer and no store bought objects. You must create your giraffe(s) yourself! Click here to read why. So far I've got 146 399 giraffes, so I need 853 601 more and I have 493 days left. Let's show Jørgen how amazing the internet is."

Ya GOTTA take a look and see all the creative giraffes! There's one made from an orange peel, a "Giraffe with a Pearl Earring", a "Last Supper" giraffe, a "Scream" giraffe, giraffes made of twigs/leafs/coins/fruits/potato chips/Legos/origami/clay.....from all over the world! It's amazing!! Whole classrooms of kids have submitted drawings.

I saw this on alissa4012's flickr account. She submitted two beautiful drawings.

fun, fun

EDM #237: Draw What's Under Your Bed

EDM #237 is to draw what's under your bed. Under my bed is where I store boxes of old photos, old cassette tapes, and other items that I periodically pull out to examine. It's also Emu's favorite hiding place.

She goes there when I vacuum, when the dog barks at her, when strangers come to visit, when it thunders, and whenever she hears the dreaded cat carrier.

She has such acute sensitivity to the cat carrier that I have to remove it from the closet and open it's creaky door several days in advance of her vet appointment. Then she forgets that it's out and I can ambush her.


Emu is our 12 year old tortoiseshell cat. Here's a photo of her on top of the bed. She was the baby of the pet group for a long time, but through attrition, she's become the matriarch. She used to be a submissive creature, but now she hisses, eats first, swats the other cat and generally plays the Kitty Diva whenever possible. She's a tiny thing but has a big personality.

EDM #236: Draw The Palm of Your Left Hand

This challenge was to draw the palm of your left hand, which sounds easy enough to do. But it was hard to hold my hand tipped over for so long! And I have more lines and wrinkles in my palm than I ever noticed before! And then I had to make a hand shadow.....

It would be an interesting task to draw my right palm with my left hand. Maybe I'll try that next.

EP

Crescent, Oregon - Roadside Attractions

Last weekend we took a loop through Central Oregon. We went camping at Diamond Lake, which is south/central, just north of Crater Lake. And then we drove north on Highway 97 to Sunriver. On the way we passed through the small town of Crescent, Oregon.

I'm a big fan of Roadside Attractions (some of the best are in my home state of South Dakota) and I like to take pictures of them whenever I can. Here on the main street of Crescent were four great examples!

At the Woodsman Country Lodge we found this Lumberjack atop their sign. It's quite clever because both sides have the exact same face, so travelers from either direction see the same view.



Next door is Ken's Sporting Goods and Liquor Store (because of course, booze, guns and recreational items go together). There's a large carved grizzly bear on the roof.

And it looks like Big Foot is holding up the north end of the porch.



On the next block is the Crescent RV Park.
It's graced with a very nice bronze/metal elk on some rocks.

















Later I'll post some other photos of our short trip.

EP

San Francisco Street Challenge

Today I learned about a blog that posts photos for people to base a painting on. It's called Different Strokes From Different Folks.

The current challenge is to paint a San Francisco street scene. It's due August 12th, so I didn't have much time. I just did a quick watercolor sketch in my sketchbook. Thanks to Leigh for the info on this fun project!

"A bi-weekly challenge for any artist who would like to join in - I'll post one photograph every other Wednesday evening and I want you to paint or draw or etch it your way." Karin Jurick

There are some beautiful paintings already posted on the blog