SUNFLOWER PAINTING START

I went to Daniel Smith today for my watercolor class.  Great fun again.

While in the store I bought some stretchers and made up a canvas when I got home and made a start on my Sunflower painting, outside under the gazebo on the picnic table.

OIL ON CANVAS

So here is my attempt at the same painting, Cezanne's "Still Life with Milk Jug" using oil paints on canvas:

After the first day

Finished on the next day.

I think the painting I did on the fabric is nicer than this one on canvas.  The fabric seemed to take the paint better; there is no gesso on the fabric.  On the canvas you can see the texture quite obviously.

VALENTINE'S FLOWERS 2015

Here's this years Valentine's Day bouquet.  

Can't say I'm in much of a good mood, but I figured I'd soldier on and get it done...

I don't really like it, it looks amateurish.

But I'm done.

Hopefully, next year's will be better.

FORLORN

I've been working on a self-portrait for the last few weeks.  I didn't take any process photos, unfortunately.  I've been thinking about this portrait for a while now.  It represents how I was feeling about my job most of this year.  

I did something about it though, and now I have embarked onto a new and exciting career and consequently I don't feel like this anymore.

But, I had to get this selfie out of the way.

Yes, I know it's upside down...I haven't decided if this is the final version or not...probably not.  So I'll show it right side up when it's officially finished.

This is acrylics on a 10"x10" canvas.

VALENTINE'S DAY BOUQUET

It's been our tradition that on Valentine's Day my husband buys me a bouquet of flowers and I've been painting their portrait.  Here's this year's.  This is 11" by 14" acrylic on canvas.

29 FACES - NUMBER 23

A quickie:

Acrylic on a tiny little canvas 2-1/2" by 2-1/2".

29 FACES - NUMBER 21

I saw the photo of this interestingly round face in the newspaper.  I couldn't resist cutting it out and filed it.  I found it today and used it as one of my faces for the month.

He looked like he deserved a real painting - acrylics on canvas.  I decided to use a limited palette of some new colors I picked up because they were on sale - Quinacridone Violet and Yellow Ochre.  To that I added my faithful Prussian Blue and of course some Zinc White.

Let me just say, it was not easy.  They headed towards the greys really fast.  But, all in all, I think it worked out okay.  After all, it's all about the value.

This is 5" by 7" acrylics on canvas.  His name is Frank.

PORTRAIT OF CHLOE

A friend at work asked if I would paint a portrait of his Great Dane, Chloe, who had just recently passed.  I don't do much of dogs (I find it very difficult for some reason) so I was hesitant, but he kept asking, so I relented.

I've been fiddling with it off and on for over a month now.  I really didn't like it at first, so that makes it difficult for me to work on it.  But the guilt outweighed the dislike, so I persevered. I'm not hating it.

Here it is, acrylic on canvas 9" x 12".

Chloe, Good Dog.

6th & ROYAL WIP

I must have been extremely bored today.  I actually got out an old painting and started working on it.

No, I don't think it was boredom, as much as wanting to pick up the paintbrush and paint something...anything. And this painting seemed to be the handiest and easiest.

It was already laid out and started.  I remember being very tired of painting freeways at the time I set it aside.  But, I must say, I really enjoyed myself today.  I think I took it in a different direction from where it was originally headed.  And I don't think its done yet.  But I had a great day.

How it looked before I started.

At the end of the day.

PROCESS PHOTOS OF WEAVER

VALENTINE FINISHED?

This painting has been on my easel since February.  I've been messing with it off and on since.  If you look at the progress pictures you'll see I was not happy with it for a while.

So, I've been puttering.  I added some colored paper, then added some actual petals from the roses.

I had to abandon it for a time while I worked one week, then we went out of town for a week, then it was back to work for a week.  By that time the roses were long dead and Darrell had taken the black board I was using in the composition for it's intended purpose.  Needless to say, I was working without reference.

This week I got out my pastels and used those - then I sealed the pastels in with matte medium - which changed the colors.  But, it added some interesting texture and I found the medium will 'melt' the pastels and you can use them as paint.

So, here it is, finished (or not).  This is this year's Valentine's Day Flower painting, as is.

Ten roses - ten years.

STEEL PLANT #1 FINISHED - ?

I'm loving it!

This is Steel Plant #1 

acrylic on canvas

24" by 30"

FIRST IN THE STEEL PLANT SERIES

OMG!  Did I just say I was starting another series?  You'd think I'd have learned my lesson, but seriously, I've been wanting to do some paintings of the Steel Plant.  I'm not going to say I'm doing a bunch of them.  I'm just going to nonchalantly say this is the first.

When I drove a truck every day I was going to Vashon Island a lot, mostly to haul the leachate runoff from the landfill with a tanker.  I would cross over the West Seattle Bridge (elevated above Spokane Street) in the early morning and see the Steel Plant and just be enthralled.  I can't say what it is exactly, but the way the sun hit all those pipes and metal buildings with steam coming out.  There are piles of rusty scrap outside, railroad tracks and cars, cat-walks, chimneys and occasionally, if you were lucky, you could see red-hot bars of steel coming out of one of the buildings.  The ground around the plant is black, there are mud puddles that reflect the light and the men are driving equipment around the yard.  It's all very.....I don't know....industrial?  

Now that we live in West Seattle I really need to put what I see on canvas.  Here is the beginnings, the underpainting - mostly I was using up what was left on my palette.  I really like it just like this, but knowing me, it will get too real-looking very soon.  This is 24" by 30".

My husband and I recently went on a tour of this place, the Nucor Steel Plant with a group from Historic Seattle.  I thought I'd be able to take pictures from the inside, but alas, it was not to be so.  They said I could take all the pictures I wanted....from outside their fence. Phooey!  Once the tour started I began to question why I was there!  It was scary, dirty, hot and smelly.  We had to walk on the cat-walks- metal grates suspended over the yard.  I hate walking on something you can see down through.  I have a very great fear of heights.  So, needless to say, I had a death grip on the hand railing, which was filthy with who-knows-what kind of dust.  By the end of the tour, most of that dust was either on my face or on my jeans.

It was a very interesting tour in that we learned a great deal about how steel is made.  Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and generous.  Almost all of the steel made in America is made from recycled materials, hence the big piles of rusty scraps in the yard.  Nucor is very proud of the fact that they are 100% recycled material only.  We got to see the cauldron where they mix the metals and melt them down to make the steel.  It was a little like I would image Hell to be.  Hot, loud, dirty and it even smelled a little sulpher-like.  There were so many things I wish I could have photographed, but I restrained myself.  I'm going to have to walk down around that area a little more and see just how close I can get with my long-lensed camera.

NEXT STAGE FOR "SITTER"

It's coming along...

Still needs a lot of work.

WORKING ON THE SITTER

I was able to put in several hours on my new painting "The Sitter" today, which is always so relaxing.  I seemed to want to use a little brush and work on details.  The painting wasn't really ready to go into the details, but I did it anyway!  You gotta go with what's working for ya, I guess!

I haven't even started on the overhead 'things' - I don't know what to call them and they are the reason I keep painting this building.  Hmmm.  I need to find out what they should be called. 

Now that I see this little thumbnail image, I'm rather pleased with it.

Still a long ways from finished.  Stay tuned.

NEW PAINTING STARTED

A painting on my easel!  It's been a long time since I started a painting.  I've committed to hanging my paintings in August and I thought I might see if I could get a few more big ones done before that.

Here is the first roughing out of another scene of 17th & Roxbury.

This is acrylic on canvas 20" by 30".   Wish me luck.

VALENTINE'S DAY FLOWERS

Here's my first draft of the Valentine's Day flowers my dear husband Darrell got me.

It's an annual thing.

I'm not happy with a few things.  It needs tweaking.

NEXT DAY:

Here it is, after I tweaked it:

Yes, I did change the background color.

EXHIBIT AT WINDERMERE REALTY & WEST SEATTLE ART WALK

I want to thank Windermere agents Kim Tingley and Barb Ogden for inviting me (and for being such gracious hostesses) to exhibit my paintings in their offices for the September WEST SEATTLE ART WALK. Thanks to my husband Darrell for helping hang my canvases and to my various friends and family members for supporting me with their attendance. It was really a pleasure visiting with you.

I had a really good time. The evening started out a little slow but it soon got really lively! I couldn't believe all the people that showed up (and thanks to the weather gods for such a pleasant evening). I had planned to take pictures when there were a lot of people there - but I got so busy, I forgot!

The most enjoyable moments were hearing all the generous and meaningful comments about my work, it meant a lot to me.

But the really interesting stuff is listening (or should I say eavesdropping) without people knowing I'm the artist. I heard some great (and very helpful) comments:

"I like the style, but not the content"

"I recognize that building" and "I recognize that freeway"

"But the buildings are all run-down and depressing"

"I want to see more of what's in the shadows"
(my art instructor Julia Hensley has been saying this too!)

"I like the close in shots of the freeways best, they are more abstract"
(I heard this comment quite a few times - and Julia also said the same thing to me several times, hmmm. I noticed people were drawn to the small grouping of paintings representing the structural details probably because they are more just shapes and colors, not the freeways they drive to work everyday!)

“These are the only paintings my husband (the architect) enjoyed in the Art Walk”

But my favorite was:

"I vote this one 'Best of Show'"
(I want to know - is that for the best of just mine or all of the West Seattle Art Walk?!)

If you are interested in seeing my paintings in real life, they are display through October 7th at:

Windermere Real Estate
4526 California Ave SW

Seattle, WA 98116

SELF-PORTRAIT 2009

I had a few hours to spend working on this painting this afternoon. I think it's coming along just fine. Of course, as John Singer Sargent said, ""It seems there is something wrong with the mouth! A portrait is a painting with a little something wrong about the mouth."

And, compared to some of my recent past self-portraits this one is not so dark and gloomy. I have a better outlook on life. That's good.

This is Self-Portrait 2009, acrylic on canvas 11" by 14".

PROGRESS ON STUDIO AND NEW PORTRAIT

I've spent most of this week putting coats of paint on the studio cabinets and flat files. Here's what it all looks like at this point.

I prefer using oil-based paints on the wood cabinets. Oil can be a pain, but I like the looks and feel of it after its on. And I really enjoy opening up the cupboards to find the nice white finished insides. It makes me feel good! And they are easy to keep clean.

I've learned some good tricks over the years, such as - freezing your roller and brush instead of cleaning them. If I'm going to be painting every day this works much better than dealing with paint thinner. I always wear non-latex latex gloves when painting. I'm using a foam 4" roller and a good China bristle brush. At the end of the day, I wrap the brush in plastic wrap, making sure there are no air bubbles. I do the same with the roller, except I'm using a small plastic bag (originally for dog-doo!). I'm using two colors, so two rollers go into the freezer for the night. The next day I just don the gloves and unwrap the roller, stick it on the handle - good to go.

The last few days I've just been doing the shelves (seen on top of the cabinets) so I don't even need a pan. I just dip the roller into the can and slop it onto the horizontal surface! I did this on the inside of the cabinets, too. I could start on a horizontal surface and get the paint evened out on the roller before I went vertical. Cool, huh?

At the end of the job, I'll just throw these cheap foam rollers away. But, I always take very good care of my good brushes.

And, here are the paintings I've been working on this past week:

This one, Leslie, I touched up and re-worked a few times and I think it's finished now.

The top one is the same picture I posted a few weeks ago. I went back in and in an attempt to even out the color, obliterated most of it! So, I had to then add some color back in. You can see the final version at the bottom. This is Leslie, acrylic on canvas 11" x 14".

Since I am kinda into portraits at the moment, I thought I'd start another self-portrait. Here it is after a few days work. It's VERY ROUGH. As you can see I like to go in and first describe the lights and darks and some rough patches of color.

Later I will go in and even it out and make adjustments. [Hopefully I won't ruin it!] I do tend to overwork things. It's a constant battle for me to loosen up and let things be!

Anyway, this is Self 2009, acrylic on canvas 11" x 14", just the beginning!