Progressing

I AM making slowish progress on my Daylily- Mildred Mitchell. DH has not been well. I have hurt my back. It is a sad story but here's where I am.

Well.. here's where I WAS a few days ago!! 

And, bit by bit, Progress IS being made. I have had a LOT of interruptions and a LOT of drying time because of many layers of glazing washes but this is where I finished off before supper today. Now I have pretty much lost my light for the day.

I am really enjoying this and am VERY anxious to get a good long run at it but it has been very sporadic- and not the best atmosphere for keeping one's mind on the task at hand!

Some of these colours are BEASTLY difficult to figure out! I'm using a mixture of Winsor and Newton and Daniel Smith paints. I know W&N pretty well but DS colours are still relatively new to me and even though I THINK I know what a particular colour looks like and how it mixes, I get foxed... OFTEN!There has been a LOT of experimentation. I am learning!

I am hoping to audit a Watercolour Class in the fall if all goes well. The artist who runs it, Marney Ward is a SUPERB Canadian watercolour artist, specializing in florals. Check her out. She juries the people she allows to take the full course but, as I have virtually NO body of work ( in watercolour, anyway) this is not the year to apply to do the full course. However, I believe that as long as one pays, anyone can audit. I am VERY much looking forward to the course beginning. Meantime, I need to finish up, pick a new subject to do to follow along with the class and get my W&N paints in order. Marney is a W&N girl  with a few added DS colours and she works on W&N 140 lb paper. Assuming the class runs and that I am allowed to participate, I'll post progress as I go. Stay tuned.

Enough for now. It is a TAD cooler tonight. We have a mission to do right now and then home to put the garbage out for collection tomorrow. Cheerio all. Take care and keep on creating!

BTW, Fibre Content show will be starting very soon. I had three pieces selected to be shown- likely my Swan Song in Fibre Arts. I'll post the details shortly.

Mildred Mitchell and more

Hemerocallis Mildred Mitchell

I have a new Daylily in the Garden. Her name is Mildred Mitchell and she is STUNNING!! I have bored my Flickr Friends with her photos ENDLESSLY and finally decided  to try her in Watercolour.

Below,  is a VERY poor photo of Mildred, because the room was dark and I took it on my phone. In reality, it is the same as the one above but on regular paper. This is the one I used to draw my outlines... The original photo is on 8.5"x11" paper. Mildred will be twice that when she is finished- I HOPE!!!

A blurry picture of Mildred with the grid lines - Kind of like Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds??

Anyway, I have made my faint pencil outline and have a wee bit of paint on. This pic is very hard to see but if you try very hard, you'll see where I intend to go.

The paint was not FULLY dry so the paper is a WEE bit warbly. Nice and flat now.

You'll see the garish green bit in the upper right corner of the reference photo. That will NOT be in the final picture! It is slightly more than a half sheet of Winsor and Newton WC paper- 140 lb, cold press.

I have been spending a LOT of time drawing, messing with paint colours and generally getting back into my WC comfort zone. Mind you, I am SO used to working SMALL and now I am working BIG- or at least biggER that the Comfort Zone is not actually TOO close just yet. I have some trepidation about this piece as there is so much space with so little detail. I am just going to have to work REALLY hard!

However, Drawing feels great again and I keep picking up little things I find in the garden and playing with them...

I found this lovely little Amelanchier leaf on the front lawn and fell in love with it! Somehow, our trees seem to change colour quite early and this new tree is doing it too. It doesn't show too clearly, but the left side was almost all yellow, while the right side was various corals and reds with lime green veins! The other sketches are of a pink coneflower. 

So, you see, I have not been idle. I am not very good at Idle! We have very very hot, humid weather just now and I am VERY happy to remain indoors, painting and drawing. I hope you are all managing to remain cool, comfortable and SAFE. Stay hydrated and think cool thoughts. It seems not to matter where you are in the world, we are ALL HOTTT! Take care and Be Creative!