April's paintings and sketchbook

last sketch for the month of april

The month of April, I felt like I was in a slump. I was not connecting or feeling inspired . But I reminded myself of my goals for the year to do the daily paintings and sketches and pushed myself to accomplish something. After gathering my work for the month together in the grids , I felt much better about my accomplishments.

the paintings don't fit exactly, so this just gives you a suggestion. You can see that the spring season had arrived and I really had fun painting the flowers.

I tried some different surfaces for painting, using mat board coved with clear gesso and fine pumice gel. The last 2 paintings on the right of the bottom grid are with this surface. It allowed me to play and not worry about wasting a good piece of Uart sanded paper. The iris painting on the top left was my last painting for the month. 

from my sketch book.

I can't say enough about keeping a sketch book. I like to use pencil and black pen and some times add some watercolor. I missed a few days but I put time aside each day to just sketch , some drawings are great and some not so, but I know my drawing is improving. Some sketches I used for paintings.

 Gail Sibley, an artist I follow on Facebook, had done some blind contour drawings. I was intrigued and remembered doing them in college! It's where you look at something but don't look on the paper you are drawing the image of. You really have to think about where things are in relation to other things. It was fun! I tried a self portrait and one from my courtyard garden.

 I was asked to show my work in the Whimsical Wares Art and Gift Show again, local to where I live. I'm excited to say that I sold 7 paintings! It's always good to get affirmation…… So I move on to the month of May. I'm taking a 3 day workshop with Richard McKinley!

"a summer's day"

"a summer's day" 12"x16" pastel on home prep mat board

 I have not been inspired to paint much these last couple of weeks, but still sketching every day.

in my sketchbook

On my iPad I keep most of my reference photos for painting. When using your own photos , I think you have a better connection. You were there, you took the photo, something caught your eye, so typically I paint from my own photos. I came across a photo on my IPad when looking for something to paint and found one  that was not mine. I don't remember where it came from, but I loved the photo. Not wanting to pressure myself, I decided to use the photo and did a sketch, it felt good….. 

I had fun with my last painting using mat board that I had prepped myself and decided to do this again.

 

I cleaned up my pastels and was ready to paint!

the board is white so I layer in the basic shapes with Nupastel and a turbenoid wash with a brush.

 It was feeling good, here is a progress shot. I got to this point and decided to let it sit for the night. 

Here is a close up detail. I'm liking the texture of this board, it forces me to be looser and get away from the details . I was constantly stepping back to make sure the painting was working. I finished the rest up this morning, working on the flowers in the foreground. I kept telling myself to forget about the detail and just suggest the flowers. I feel good with the end result.

"play of light"

"play of light" 14"x14" pastel on home prepared board

I have been trying to paint and draw everyday. My problem with this is having enough material to work from. I'm a;ways on the look out for images to paint from. Sometimes there is nothing that seems to inspire me, so I go back through my photo images and pull from there. 

Here is the image I have used before. I took the photo on one of my many trips to Gibb's Garden. I was drawn to the play of the light on the shrub in the right hand side of the photo.  I painted it before and actually sold the painting! Since I'm having a tough time painting right now I thought I would work from this one again.

As part of my #dailysketch routine, I worked in my sketchbook with a fine black sharpie pen. I really liked how the drawing came out and used this as my reference for the next painting. It was time to play, so I used a mat board coated with clear gesso and then a coat of fine pumice gel. Not my usual Uart 500 paper! I just let myself go….. I did a watercolor underpainting to lay in the shapes and cover the white board. Then came the pastel….. the texture of the board was rough and took more pastel to cover it than what I was accustomed to. I worked on it for about 2 hours and stopped, I knew it was not finished , but I couldn't figure out what was not right about it. So it sat for the night and when I looked at it this morning, I saw it. It was flat…. my play of light was not there. Simultaneous contrast…… it all came back to me! I spent another hour making it right. I will say this is not my typical painting, but it was a fun exercise for me and  I think I will explore more paintings with this surface.

getting inspiration….

"a glow in the shade" 12"x16" pastel on Uart 500

I have been feeling very uninspired this last week or so. Maybe I needed a break. Maybe it is from trying to paint and draw everyday. I mean… how do you find that much inspiration? I need to feel a connection to what I paint, it has to come from my heart. So I went to the Atlanta Botanical Garden. We are in full bloom here in GA and the trees are turning green. Of course the pollen is so thick , that if you suffer from allergies it is hard to be outside. Any way, I just brought my camera along with me to the garden. I didn't want to feel pressured to paint, I just wanted to enjoy my surroundings and took a lot of photos. When I got home I went through the photos and picked a few that I really liked. I remember walking through this patch of bright green euphorbia walking through the shade, it really caught my attention. I took the time to think out the painting.

I converted the photo to black and white so I could really see the values and did a notan to block in the simple shapes. There is a lot going on in the photo and it's easy to get caught up in all the detail.

 

I decided to do an oil stain with alizarin crimson. There was so much green in the painting and the toned paper would help the green work. I worked on the painting all day (off and on), taking my time. Stepping back a lot and really looking at the painting as I progressed. I'm feeling better about my slump.

a word about sketchbooks

from my sketchbook

I have always kept some type of sketchbook. I still have the one I started when I was in college 40 years ago! I think of them more as art journals, because it shows a progression of my growth as an artist.  This year I was inspired by an artist, Gail Sibley, to keep a daily sketch book. She had kept a daily sketchbook with black pen drawings. I was so inspired by her drawings and looked forward to her postings on FB.  I decided to make the commitment myself this year.  So far I have to say , I have missed a few days, and try to make up with 2 drawings the next day. I chose to use black pen or an HB pencil to start, but I may add some other mediums as I move along.

These are some drawings from January. Sometimes I  would just draw things I saw around me and sometimes from my own reference photos that I might use later for a painting. I was uncomfortable at first, because some of the drawings were not great, but I knew that I would grow from this exercise.

January and February drawings

 and here almost up to current.

This is one of my favorite drawings. I have started a collection of vintage purple bottles. I really want to paint them, but glass is hard to paint! Drawing first…… then hopefully a painting will follow

January and February paintings

4"x6" watercolor

I have made a commitment to myself to paint and draw everyday. So I have been busy and hence no time for blogging. I won"t include my daily sketching in this blog , but I thought you might like to see my paintings from January and February. I missed a few days…. but I am still continuing to push myself to spend 4-5 hrs each day in my studio.

January paintings

more January paintings.

I ended up having to crop into squares to fit the paintings into this grid, but I think you still get the gist of the painting.

February paintings

 Oh…. they are all in pastel except the cow in the entry.

8"x10" pastel  on Uart 500 "daffodils"

I'll end February with this one, as we are almost into the spring here in Georgia!

my fruits and veggies

"pineapple" 8"x12" pastel on toned Uart 500

I have been having fun painting fruits and veggies! I was looking for other subject matter to paint when I saw posts on FB of Steph Clark. She was doing these beautiful fruit and veggie paintings that really inspired me! So I headed over to Whole Foods and what a feast for the eyes! For some of the paintings I worked with the reference photo and some I set up still lifes. It's always good to work from the real thing (aka plein air) where you see the true color. 

Today's pineapple I used a reference photo, I wanted the painting to be fun and easy. Yesterdays painting was far from easy!

"3 plums" 8"x 8" pastel on toned Uart 500.

My first attempt as this was frustrating ! I worked from life with a strong light. I wanted to get the colors right….. the painting fast turned to mud and I ended up washing off the Uart paper ( because I hate wasting it) and started again……. more mud!  I tossed the paper and started again. I was determined not to give up and think the final painting shows my determination.

"golden beets too" 10"x14" pastel on Uart 500

Another one where I worked from life. The color had to be right and this was fun to paint. I love the purple and orange.

"one potato, two potato, three" 5"x7" pastel on Uart 500

Ah,  brown potatoes, but that is not what I saw.

"asparagus" 9'x12" pastel on Uart 500

This one was from a reference photo and I really just had fun painting it.

"garlic" 8"x10" pastel on Uart 500

This was another one of those frustrating paintings, I couldn't get the color right and there was mud! I washed the Uart paper off in the sink, blocked and dried it. The shadow that was left was perfect for the underpainting and it just came together.

"orange" 8"x10" pastel on Uart 500

 This was my first painting in the series. I worked from life and pulled it together on my first try. I don't think it was my best painting in the series but I was off to a start and having fun painting.  These were all about the color……something is starting to click in my head with color and value.  I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed painting them.