Merry Christmas

It is snowing at 7 AM on Christmas Day.

May you have a wonderful holiday, holy day, whatever it means to you. Click on the photo enlarge it and see the ornaments.

It's still snowing...

Snow sculpture helps clear the driveway, and is easier and way more fun than shoveling the snow. This snowman doesn't really have red eyes - those are carrots, (which I later stole back to add to the pork roast in exchange for bark eyes, nose and buttons). My massage therapist traded me a bottle of Chateau Neuf du Pape for a few dozen Xmas cards. Such a fine wine goes well with a slow-cooked pork roast drenched in carrots and onions with fresh home-made French bread. And for dessert - candy canes. This may not sound very spiritual to you, but really, it is, in a 2009 kind of way. May you look forward to wonderful great and warm new friendships in the New Year. The Times they are a'changing. Again. Thank God!Save your buttons because you just might need them.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It's snowing again...

These hungry Steller's Jays are invading the bird feeders and scaring the smaller birds away. I let them feed a while, long enough to get several picures. I added the red cotoneaster berries to the painting which are more food for the robins than the jays. They were hard to paint - I added the snow using a toothbrush which spattered all over my tiny studio tv. It's ok because it soon won't work anyway and it is only black and white. I am out of birdfood and must get to the store soon.

Looking out the studio window at the snow

Making time for a quick watercolor study -

Darker leaves add contrast to the delicate flowers.

My teachers have warned me to avoid the tyranny of reality, and I have tried to omit unnecessary detail here, not so easy. I like the complementary colors of the Christmas season, red and green, or any variation thereof. This is the beginning of the painting - to be darkened.

Christmas cards are starting to arrive...

Here are two imaginary horses, one a show horse and the other a pleasure horse. I am now painting more in watercolor than sumi because it is much easier. I will get back to sumi in the new year to prepare for my next show at the Gallery, in April.

A thank you gift

I helped my friend Betsy set up a blog; look at the beautiful cyclamen she gave me in return.

Too busy to paint or blog right now

If you have time for a quick break, go here. The puppies are really fun to watch when they are awake (this site is good for another couple of weeks or so). Enjoy:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/shiba-inu-puppy-cam

Pears and grapes

Painted in 3 sessions, flat color, unfinished watercolor. I might finish it in pastels or acrylics...

Drawing

"Work of sight is done.
Now do heart work
On the pictures within you."

Rainer Maria Rilke

Radish study (click on image to enlarge)

"Painting is a great mystery. No one has ever learned quite how to paint. No one has ever learned quite how to see." Robert Henri, (from "The Art Spirit")

Camera work

I still am having trouble figuring out how to get a clear photo with the correct light and colors.

These two photographs are taken in different lighting situations - flash vs daylight. I hope to learn something helpful from this post. The camera manual is not very helpful in practice. The top one is daylight only and the lower one is flash in a florescent setting. Niether photo shows the correct colors (too washed out). Oh well. Must keep trying to improve the photos.

Lucky find on the short cut

Driving to the gym the day after a stormy night, I took the back way, and came upon two huge sunflower plants blown over by the fierce winds and heaped onto the road. Two gardners there hired to remove the storm debris, and they said that the person who owned of the little house with the sunflower garden wanted them removed, at least the fallen ones. So I changed course and took them directly home, put them into water and painted them. There are too many layers of paint here for a watercolor, (click to enlarge and you can see that). It would have made a better painting in oi, and I can use this as a study for that when I have more time.
I finally did get to the gym after painting.

Walking in Discovery Park

These black and orange feathers were in a pile in the grass; there had been a skirmish of some kind, but I hope that the colorful bird escaped the jaws of whatever was chasing it...a hawk or maybe the eagle whose nest is nearby. It was difficult to capture them in paint so the feathers themselves are included in this photo. They seemed much brighter out in the sunlight than here in the studio under simulated sunshine lights. Could they be from an oriole?

Gallery partners

Just for fun, here are two of my business partners on Halloween at our monthly meeting.

Today's "artwork"

No candy for us - just a Halloween centerpiece tonight.

These are the kinds of paintings I do when I am at the Gallery and business is slow. They are watercolors on cotton paper, about six inches square. I left the best one there - maybe it will sell...and help pay for parking.

Play date ponies

This painting is sold.

Experimenting with different paper and brushes means many surprises.

Morning turn out

On a crisp October day...

A quick morning sketch before heading over to the barn to watch a lesson and pat a horse.

October colors

Today a friend came over to paint with me. We both experimented with greens in particular.

Another fall motif

Radishes painted in watercolor and sumi onto Chinese silk. 6"x8".

Sumi on rice paper

Crows are all around these days - looking for trash to eat. They keep the street clean...

Chinese Lantern plant painting

It is hard to paint for a show, but I am making an effort today to do a painting for the Puget Sound Sumi Artists group which will have a show in November in a library gallery. They have rejected my work in the past as being "too western", but I will try anyway to participate. It is kind of tricky changing from painting in oils on canvas to painting in sumi and watercolor on rice paper. The challenge teaches me to understand the many differences in these mediums.
Image size is 17"x12" (unframed).

Another autumn motif

Two versions of the honesty plant, also known as the money or dollar plant. 5"x7" watercolor.

Cool nights ripen the grapes on the arbor

watercolor on rag paper.
This painting was sold at the Seattle Beaujolais Auction fundraiser.

Lanterns in watercolor

The finished oil painting of Tapdance & Peanut

This painting is sold.

Preliminary sketch and underpainting

Working on an oil portrait of Tap Dance and Peanut which is 9"x12" on canvas. This is only a rough start, and the painting will go through many changes before it is finished. It will take months to completely dry. There is a lot ot tweaking to be done (ears, eyes, etc.), as well as top color overlay and outline adjustments.

Today's experiment:

These paintings are sumi and watercolor on rice paper that has been treated with a wax resist to create an interesting effect. There are also some glitter bling flecks on one which did not photograph enough to really see. Fun to push the envelope a bit to see what happens.

Breakfast for sure...

Crow puzzling over a piece of trash

A sumi art supplier friend has sent me a gift of rice paper called Waterwave. It has tiny distinct lines over a creamy beige surface throughout. I am experimenting with this paper today while being aware of the crows outside.

First day of Fall

and the holidays are coming soon.....

time to get organized. Make a list.

Change of seasons brings new work

The studio clean-up is almost complete, (is it ever really, though?), thanks to my helper, Allison, who is a super organizer and helps me part with stuff I don't and won't need. Since recent visits to the barns I frequent, I now have some horse portrait commissions for oil paintings to start working on this Fall. Ever busy....but still enjoying the end of summer sun breaks in Seattle.

Run-in shed - value study

Not much time to paint lately because it is studio clean-up time. More to come, later...

Experiments with color on silk

Trying to paint the gesture and stay away from realism, this primative pony is painted in ink and Japanese watercolor. The sizing (glue) in the silk creates unexpected & interesting results. Much more to learn about silk-painting.

More experimenting...

Linoleum block and acrylics printed on bark paper; it helps to change mediums and mix it up every now and then. Going back to sumi painting is refreshing after trying other mediums and grounds. After working with a knife, block of plastic, and acrylic paint, a soft brush & ink on rice paper will be smooth and easy. Changing mediums gives perspective and sometimes grace.