A Day's Work

First of all I would like to dedicate this blog post to Lucy... who basically demanded I blog more.
And I would like to dedicate my day's accomplishment to Evi... who basically asked me why the holy hell I wasn't finished with those paintings yet. And also to the 100+ degree weather outside for forcing me to do something indoors with the kids, painting.


So after months of sitting in various places in my house I thought I may as well get back to these paintings that are supposed to be hanging in Cayce and Scott's house by now... or by last Christmas (oops).

Here is my before shot, taken in the afternoon...


And a few hours later, here is what I accomplished.... more windows, doorways, some shading and detail and a little more water color...


Now if I could find a few hours a day, these suckers might be done by THIS Christmas!

Ok Lucy, now comment on that! Ha!

Venice Triptych Part 4

Yesterday Kirk took the kids to his Mom's house all day! So after some Target and St. Louis Bread Co. I painted for the entire rest of the day. It was awesome! Unfortunately I have little to show for my efforts other than a few windows, a brick wall and a sore shoulder. I only worked on Panel 2: Waterway. It was the least worked painting in the set.

Here is my progress so far:


At this rate this is gonna be one hellofa Christmas present!

Venice Triptych Part 3

All about the color this week! I posted Seeing Red(sauce) and The Color Purple, now I'm finally getting around to showing you the color I've put on my paintings. (well, Cayce's paintings)

Here's the window, which is the least painted. Basically a few layers of washing for the background... That's it. But! I did find the perfect window at the Zoo to correct any perspective mistakes I may have made in this one... and I'm sure there are some. I took a picture of the window on the Bird House (which is probably not the official name of the building) for a reference. So this painting may change a bit before the next time you see it.


And we have the middle painting, very much color blocked in. The very beginnings of details down in the bottom left corner is about all I've done here... I'm noticing my lines and angles are slightly - off. So I need to possibly put it up high (like it would be on a wall) and check the angles before moving one too much further. And don't worry - the colors are only the first layer, there won't be bright yellow or red buildings.


And we come to my most completed - the Doorway. As with the other, the angles all need to be checked for proper perspective and adjusted slightly... But I like the colors this one has so far, even though who knows how many more layers and colors will find there way onto it before it's all over.


So there are the first inklings of color. I threw out my back over a month ago and was out for a week - yesterday I re-injured it. Not as bad as the first time, but I don't think I'll be sitting at an easel for several days. So it may be over a week for another progress report. And even though it's been a long time since I last posted about the paintings, this is only about 4 days (2 hours at a time max) worth of painting.... I wish I had more time....

Venice Triptych Part 2

I finished all the sketches for the three panels. Here they are.
Panel 1: Window
Panel 2: Waterway
Panel 3: Doorway


And now that they are all finished and ready for some real painting to begin, I don't like the Window. The other two are angles and use lots of perspective, the window is flat facing and not as matchy matchy with the others.... what to do? what to do?

Flip the board over and do it all over again!
Here is the new and improved Panel 1: Window:


This Window is on an angle, which also angles toward the middle panel, as the Doorway does. It uses persepective, and let's face it, it just looks better. I was trying to think of the last time I painted (not in finger paints or tempera) and I think it was when I was pregnant with Nola (she's almost 4 people!)... so I guess the first side of panel 1 can just be chalked up to practice...

Here are the three panels, together at last. These are just sketches so lots more will go into them as the colors go on. I can't wait until after the kids go to bed tonight so I can get out some colors!

The Painting Begins!

So I'm finally going to start the painting project I mentioned a bazillion years ago (or last month - whenever). I'm going to paint a picture for my sister Cayce. It will be in her living room for all to see... assuming it doesn't turn out looking like yesterday's trash...

We finally (we meaning them not me) decided on size, layout and content.
And the verdict was a triptych!
A 30 x 30 middle square with 15 x 30 rectangles on either side. The painting will be a romantic Venice theme. Scott, the brother in law, went to Italy at some point and took lots of photos, some of which were at strange angles for some odd reason (inside joke folks, ask Cayce about her husband's photo theory). Anyway - we went through the photo album and found lots of pictures for me to reference for the three pieces. I think there will be some sort of passage way in the center square, a bridge over a water way flanked by buildings. One side piece will have a doorway above the water. The other side piece will have an arched window on an interesting wall. All in very romantic Tuscan colors and hopefully it won't suck.

So to begin the documentation of the project I will include for you the very first stage... the FINALLY cut boards!


And here are the paint sketches for the first two panels:

***Cayce: please feel free to critique or dictate changes if you see something that isn't to your liking - this will, after all, be large and in charge in your living room.***

Possible Painting Project

So I may have a painting project in my future. I'm just not at a place in life where I feel I can get out all my 'stuff' for painting when I have no reason to paint. Yeah, yeah, I know... painting is for personal pleasure - I get that... and I agree. But with children running around and messing with my stuff, and no where to put whatever painting I produce, I'm just not inclined to start a painting just to store it in the basement with all the others. So then Cayce, my sister, (Everyday Adventures with Allyson & Molly) said she needed a painting for her living room. She found a painting in a catalog that she really likes. Here it is:

this is from http://www.homedecorators.com/

So I will use it as inspiration to paint her something for her living room. Once she buys me the canvas that is. If I had one laying around I would use it - but I don't.
I'm excited about starting a new painting... and one like this will be fun. There's nothing I love more in painting than shading and shadows! Hours and hours of the same colors that magically transform into a three dimensional space.

Old Friend

Old Friend
~my travel easel~

I have decided that I should start to paint again. Because I really need another thing to keep up with - Ha! But seriously, I haven't painted anything in years that didn't involve construction paper or tempera paints. And I think it's about time I give it a try.
I went down into the dark corner of the basement and unearthed my old friend. The Travel Easel. I bought this with my own money (it wasn't cheap) back when I worked at an art supply store for just above minimum wage. It was a major purchase. And I love it. It's sturdy, compact, and portable. It even has a drawer for carrying all my paints (which I have yet to find in the basement).
I brought this upstairs to the great interest of my kids. They wanted to inspect it, open it, mess with it, break it. So we opened it up and I gave them a tour of the extend-able legs, the opening latches, the remains of what was left in the drawer - they loved it. Then I banned them from touching it and put it away in my bedroom. I know I will not be able to paint with them awake until they are used to this new object being around but maybe I can get some time with my old friend after dark. And if I do I will try and photo document my painting attempts.