Too many Irons in the Fire!!!

There we are! This is where I REALLY am at the moment. Sorry it is fuzzy focus but you get the idea!

Making great progress on the Kale but it is on hold now for a bit! I started my eight week online course on Wednesday past and need to concentrate on it and on getting set up for this upcoming surgery adventure. So far though...

Still lots to paint at this stage

This is where I was earlier in the week. It took a goodly long time to get the rest of the first basic paint colours on and THEN......!!!!!! Over a day to get the masking off all of the frills and the veins! It worked well for me though and I have stopped at this point. I PROMISE to get a better pic in decent light as this was a phone shot in artificial light. The painting is NOT yellow!!!

HORRID photo but you can see that I have almost finished the basic painting this at this stage. I have ALL of the colours in place now and all of the masking off and will get a better pic shortly. 

Meanwhile, I have started my course with Marney Ward online and have chosen and cropped this photo to work from...

This is my crop and I will be drawing from this version ...

And painting from THIS version

Why two photos? Well the one I am drawing from is easier for me to see as the colours are lighter. The second one is a bit richer in colour and I like that better. It will be on a half sheet of 140 lb Winsor and Newton paper- well, SLIGHTLY wider than half. I may add more to this post eventually but DH is awaiting my assistance.

BTW, I am now, FINALLY on Facebook if you are interested. I am just running out of time. Three weeks and two days till surgery! YIKES!! SOO much to do ;-o

And so it continues!!

Earlier this afternoon

 I have spent the afternoon painting, waiting for paint to dry, waiting for DH who's been at the dentist for a surprise root canal and enjoying back and forth iMessage with an overseas relative! All VERY enjoyable, with the possible exception of the root canal! I am starting to lay in some basic colours in the individual leaves of this little Kale plant! How exciting that ALMOST every leaf is slightly different colours with an underlying grey greeny blue!

Rounding the bend with the lighter coloured leaves. It BEGINS to look slightly Kale-y/Cabbage-y. 

I am getting excited to lay in some of the delicious dark shadowed areas here and there and especially in the CENTRE! That SHOULD make it POP!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Talk soon!

Some small progress is being made but I have lost the good light for tonight

This house needs a few more light bulbs and a lamp or two repaired!! I have LOST any light that would help me so I am blogging instead of painting.

Here's the photo on the painting for reference. Actually, this version of the photo is a bit wishy washy so I am using the iPad for better colour.

I have been working this afternoon, mixing vein coloured paint and beginning to paint the veins. I will do them and a few pale or white highlights as well and then use masking fluid to cover those bits so I can paint my background freely and not destroy the details.

This is so much fun!! I have just gotten my receipt for payment for the course with Marney Ward! I am VERY excited and can't wait to get started. Unfortunately, I will miss two days in the middle for a pre op and then surgery on 19 Oct. Not to worry. Marney says all the material will be available ... so I am NOT worrying!

I feel like progress IS being made on the Kale. The drawing for this one was hard because it is so big- 22' x 30". I don't normally work that big. It's killing my back. When I put the masking fluid on, it will lie flat on the diningroom table. The easel is GREAT for painting but I want the whole thing flat and easy to turn around so I don't drag my hand or anything over wet stuff!

Here is the overview with no distractions. It is coming along and I HOPE to finish this part and let it dry tomorrow ready  for the masking.

My "homework"for Ms Ward's course is to either TAKE a floral photo or FIND one to use as a reference photo for my painting for the course. Do ya think I have enough floral photos???? ;-)I made an album on my Flickr of potential candidates! I have soooo many that COULD work! Just have to settle one the ONE that moves me the most at the moment! That'll keep me out of trouble for a while!!

Hope you are all well and gainfully employed! We have had/are HAVING rain today which is a true blessing. It is pretty darned cool too- another blessing!! OK, I am off. Take care everyone and stay tuned. 

Moving right along

If you want a treat some time, look up Elizabeth Tyler's paintings. She works in Acrylic and Watercolour and she has become one of my muses. She's an amazing woman, just a tad younger than I, widowed fairly recently and sailing SOLO for six months a year in the waters around Greece!! I will NOT be doing THAT but her painting, particularly watercolour and her methods, graciously shared on You Tube, and also an eBook($19.95 USD) that I have purchased are teaching me a LOT!!!

Elizabeth REALLY inspired me with a watercolour of a big Red Cabbage- google it! ( some day, someone needs to teach me to make links!!!) As I had recently bought a little Ornamental Kale for my front door urn, I have decided to try to paint it. Here is my reference photo...

I just love this little Kale plant. There are soo many glorious colours in it. I HOPE I can manage to do it! I am VERY motivated!

I have gridded the photo in one inch squares and transcribed the drawing to a full sheet (22"x30") of Arches cold pressed 140 lb paper. Hope I do not regret not using the Winsor and Newton paper!!!

So, now I have my drawing all done except for tidying up and making a few spots clearer. This is hard to see but here's a quick pic from my phone...

Sorry it is so wispy but I NEED the drawing and don't want the pencil lines TOO obvious. I could NOT do this one without pencil guidelines!

The next job will be to paint then mask the veins and some of the leaf edges. I have not had great success with masking to this point but in this case, A- I am VERY motivated and B- I have pens, nibs, a ruling pen, GOOD masking fluid (W&N), and a number of different brushes I can use. Wish me luck and remember me in your prayers, please. I THINK, that if I can get the veins and edges painted and nicely masked, the rest should be easier and actually FUN! I LOVE colours and look how many there are in the ref pic! GLORIOUS!!!

I have also started working on choosing a palette. The vein colours and that VERY deep shadow colour are my biggest concerns at the moment. Very exciting experimenting though. Did I mention at all how much I am enjoying this???

A really wretched pic but Elizabeth Tyler's palette is down the left side and my auditioned colours and mixes are starting along the top

A bit clearer view- I AM liking some of the very darks!

And ET's palette. I will play with these colours and try some mixes although Elizabeth's final outcome is quite different colours than my little plant and my reference pic so I may be on my own!

I plan on visiting Fibre Content on Tuesday coming with my Aunty. From the catalogue, it seems like a nice show. If you are in the vicinity, do drop in! It is at the Art Gallery of Burlington, runs every day until 16 September. See you there perhaps!

The end and the beginning

Good morning All! It is a brutally HOT , HUMID morning here today. I'm just getting ready to take my three quilts to the Art Gallery of Burlington for the SAQA show, Fibre Content 2018. I submitted and had juried into the show, three quilts- "Ruby Dangles", "Bug Lunch" and "Unloved, That Beech Will Gather Brown". Almost 250 pieces were submitted by 123 artists and 90 pieces were juried into the show, representing 60 artists. I feel fortunate to have had all of my pieces accepted. The show runs from 06 Sept to 16 Sept. Drop in if you are in the vicinity! If I can find pics of my pieces, I'll post them.

The Daylily finished but not signed here- it is now!

This was a lot of work but I learned a TON and know a lot of things I'd do differently another time. I had a hard time with background-

This was just too high and busy so I washed as much of it away as I could and tried THIS...

...and I found this just TOO dark, though it doesn't look badly here.

Eventually, I washed some of the dark away and added three overglazes of yellow to "sunny it up" a bit. Here's the final look-

I like this a lot better. The yellow picked up the glowy centre and it made the greenish pistil more obvious too

I was having a hard time working as I have lost my good lamp in the diningroom where I used to work. I moved to a small table in front of a big northfacing  bay window in the livingroom and it is much better. I searched for , and FOUND a great little compact table easel so now I am SET!

FYI, the easel is called a Ravenna Sketchbox Easel and I found it on Amazon.ca. There are lots of versions of the same thing. LOVE the drawer but DH is going to put a wee knob on it so it is easier to pull out. Other than that, it is FABULOUS and REALLY makes a comfortable place to work.

There we are, Mildred Mitchell, done, dusted and in situ in the window on the easel!

I shall look for pics of the three quilts and post them later but have to get ready to deliver them now. Tirra, all. More later!

Well, I found them. Here are MY quilts and the cover of the catalogue....

Ruby Dangles- it is a bit brighter than it looks here

My Beech Leaves- it is much bigger than Bug Lunch in reality

Bug Lunch

And I got my own, personalised copy of this year's catalogue!!!!!

So there you are! Dates for the show and some of the work. Nice to be a "Cover Girl"!!

Now, I need to make lunch and then shop. The larder is almost bare! Tirra, once again.