Genesis Heat Set Oil Paints

Tulips-Genesis Oil Paints

Boy!  Has it really been so long since I've posted here?  Life has a way of getting in the way of stuff you want to do, doesn't it?

I haven't been painting over the past few months as we did a bit of traveling over the summer then a friend of mine was getting married and I had promised to help with the wedding.

She's married now and I'm beginning to get back to painting!  Being the art supply junkie I am, I bought some Genesis Heat Set Oil paints some time ago but am only now painting with them.

The painting on the left is my first serious attempt with them and since I was concentrating more on how to use the paint than anything else, I hope you won't judge the effort too harshly.

So, what do I think of these paints?

I like them as they have a lot of positive points but they're also sort of "clumsy" to use.  These are not oils in the traditional sense but they do have a synthetic oil in their composition so are allowed to be called "oil paints".  There has been much debate on that point with traditional oil painters not wanting them to be classified as oil paints.

The fact is that the heat set paints are in a class by themselves.  As the name implies, they don't dry until they're subjected to a temperature of about 265 degrees F for several minutes depending on the thickness of the paint layer.  This can be accomplished in a home oven or with a hot air gun such as is used for stripping paint.

This fact is both a pro and a con for the paints.  It's wonderful to have a painting stay wet until you want it dry but because of the limitations of both a home oven and a heat gun, you can only paint certain sizes and on certain supports.  Imagine trying to heat a piece of paper to 265 degrees for 15 minutes or so without it going up in flames or at least getting seriously charred!  Even canvas boards - the kind with canvas glued onto a cardboard backing - aren't suitable as the glue used for these won't hold up in the heat and will cause the canvas to become loose.

Of course there are ways to dry a large painting but it can get costly (think of those large conveyor belt t-shirt dryers).  They do work on the most common painting supports such as stretched canvas and gessoed hardboard which is nice.  The caveat is that these supports have to be gessoed with an acrylic gesso and not a support prepared for traditional oil painting.

Since the paints never dry by themselves, you don't have to clean your brushes or do anything special to preserve your palette from one painting session to the next.  However, you do need to use either a glass, metal, or tile palette as these paints do not react well with plastic.  It's also advised that you cover your palette and brushes to keep dust from settling onto the wet paint.  Again, don't use any kind of plastic wrap for this.  I've been inverting a cardboard box over my palette and it's working just fine.

I'll try to post more about the pros and cons of these paints at a later time.  If anyone has any questions, just let me know!

One For Fun

Kurious Koi

Believe it or not, I'm still working in acrylics and just took this off the easel today.  Of course, like all my paintings, I'm putting it aside to "marinate" and see if anything else needs to be done with it.

This is painted on an all wet-media canvas sheet that I affixed to a prepared piece of hardboard with acrylic medium.  It's a painting surface that I really, really like and may be the reason I'm still using acrylic paints.  For some reason, they tend to go on smoother and handle better on this surface.

I'll try gouache with it next and see how that does and how it works with it.  I have a feeling it will do well but we'll see. 

Still have several paintings either in the works or in my head but have to admit, I'm finally running out of steam!  lol

You'll just have to watch this blog to see what else, if anything, I come up with!

Another Double Exposure

"Our Mother's Legacy" -  acrylic

A couple of years ago, I participated in a joint collaboration with our local camera club and area artists for what they called a Double Exposure Exhibit.  The artists selected photos from the camera club and painted their version of the photo they chose.  Then both the photos and the paintings were exhibited in the camera club gallery.

This time I'm not painting from the camera club photos but one from my professional photographer sister and we'll both show the results at an art show in her home town in Colorado in July.

We chose this photo because it has meaning for both of us.  Our mother was an avid gardener and had a green thumb that wouldn't quit!  After she died, my sister tried to rescue as many of her flowers as possible as my dad is sort of the type to mow the lawn in a straight line whether there are plants in the way or not!  (I do have to say that he's done a really good job of taking care of her remaining flowers though). 

This beautiful clematis bloom is the result of the rescue of a start from Mom's original plant.  The photo of the bloom is lovely with its glowing back-lit petals and it was a challenge to capture that glow. 

You may not be able to tell, but this is painted on hardboard with another, smaller board glued on top.  After everything was completely dry, the whole board was prepped with a primer and several coats of gesso. 

The painting is acrylic (yeah, yeah, I know, not usually my medium of choice!) and is titled "Our Mother's Legacy".

Art Accessories

I know I said I'm painting and I really am but I'm a slow painter and other things have interrupted my actual painting time. 

One thing was the search for 6 inch square picture frames - not to be found locally and really not too many to choose from online.  But, I really like working with wood and decided to make my own frames for these small paintings. 

I've done pretty well with just a miter box and hand tools in the past but I ended up messing up one frame section this time.  My husband couldn't resist harrassing me about it and decided that he'd cut the frame sections.  Well, that meant 4 sections messed up and a trip to our local home improvement store where he bought an inexpensive compound miter saw, something I've wanted for ages.  He also bought this nifty picture frame jig that really works!

As you can see, the miters are about as perfect as they can be but the set-up to cut them took a while to accomplish.  First the saw had to be assembled and checked to make sure the angles were true.  That all took an hour or so.

Then we made a simple jig to cut the frame sections to the exact same length and then mitered each end.  I have to say that saw is really sweet but probably wouldn't be much better than the hand saw if we hadn't made the cutting jig.

So you can see one of those things "cutting" (pun intended!) into my painting time but I really think it will be worth it in the long run.  With just these four frames, we've already "paid" for nearly half the cost of the saw and I have at least 3 other paintings in the works that are not standard sizes so custom frames will have to be made for them also.  These are relatively large frames so the saw will definitely be paid for with them with room to spare!

And I'm also working on the tile coasters doing a little experimenting trying to find a more cost effective way to produce them so I can sell them reasonably. 

And I'm working on producing some notecards for the show in July. 

And, I really am painting!

Bison - Gouache Painting

Bison - varnished gouache

I'm still painting away but everything seems to take forever to do!  I'm still working on a collaborative effort between my photographer sister and myself but hope to finish it soon.  My sister took the photo and I'm painting it (in acrylic!  any wonder I'm so slow with it?)  and we hope to show both the photo and the painting at a show in her town in Colorado this coming July.  More about all that later.

In the meantime, I've painted a buffalo or bison for the first time and have to say it surprised me at how it came out.  Another painting that I actually like - maybe I'm finally on a roll!  This has been painted in gouache on a canvas panel.  I gave the panel a couple of extra coats of gesso primer and the texture was really good for painting.  After I finished the painting, I varnished it as usual so it wouldn't have to be framed under glass.  Varnishing a water media painting is a little controversial but is becoming more and more common every day.  The varnish gives life to the colors plus protects the painting from smearing and pollutants in the air.  Since I use several coats of a UV resistant varnish, it also helps protect from UV rays. 

And I have a couple of other paintings sketched out and waiting for their turn on the easel.  I won't say any more than that except it might be a few days before I get to them.

I'm also back to experimenting with the coasters (see THIS blog post) but will write more about that in a future blog post. 

It just seems as if I'm in a creative frenzy these days and don't have enough time and energy to get it all painted, crafted or cleaned!

Definite Final

I took Sue's (Pencilpix blog) advice and added some distant "somethings" to the right side of the horizon line.  I figure it's a stand of trees or maybe a jumble of rock - I'm not sure what it is but I do think it helps the painting.

I hope so as I varnished it and we went to Michael's and Hobby Lobby today to look for frames.

We bought two frames, one at each store, and we both like both of them equally!  I joked and said that since the painting is varnished and not behind glass, we could easily exchange frames every 6 months so both of them could be used!

Not only did we find frames we liked, but both were on sale.  Of course, both stores regularly have "sales" on their frames but Michael's sale was 60% off, plus, our son had given me a gift card for there so the one frame only cost me a dollar and 12 cents.  Can't beat that!

I was also looking for some small (6") square frames but they didn't have any.  Or at least Michael's didn't have any - I forgot to look at Hobby Lobby!  Oh, well, guess that means another road trip!

In the meantime, I need a title for this and for the other cowboy (pastel on black shown below).  While the other cowboy won't be framed, I did enough to it to get a decent scan so I can offer prints at FAA.  I'll offer prints of both of these as soon as I can title them.

One of my BIL's suggested Campfire Thoughts for the cowboy on black and I've gotten quite a few suggestions for naming this painting but none really click.  Any ideas out there?

One of THOSE Days!

Here it is about 3:30 in the afternoon and I'm still in my pajamas!  Seriously, this is ridiculous, I know, but I usually get up before my DH and this morning I went right to work in the studio trying to rework the dark cowboy and give some interest to the light one!  lol

I'm just now realizing what time it is and crawling out of my den (er, studio) - good thing I have clean pj's for tonight.  I think I'll just stay as I am at this point and take a shower and put on my clean jammies right before bed!  Thank God we don't get many unannounced visitors!

I think I made some progress on the "almost" portrait of my husband but I really spent the most time on the dark cowboy that I posted yesterday.  I really worked on it but I think I'll just repaint it - I re-worked it then sprayed it again and this time the spray (SpectraFix) spattered and left those little splotches on the painting even though I saturated it well.

It also darkened the painting again after I'd worked so hard to lighten it and give it a bit more life.  I think I'm going to concentrate on painting with gouache and just play with pastel as pastel is just one of those mediums that really doesn't do well if you don't get it right the first time around.  It's pretty easy to overwork and muddy up colors whereas gouache can be overworked and muddied BUT you can usually wipe off an area and completely repaint if need be.

In the painting of my DH, for instance, I was following some advice from my friend, Sue, from the PencilPix blog and trying different things in the empty space to the right of of the figure of my husband.  I finally settled on some far away trees and painted them in only to discover the color I used wasn't exactly right. Since I was painting over an area of the sky, the under color was mixing into the new color and I actually got some mud.  It was a relatively easy fix to just wipe out what I didn't want (I used a damp cotton swab/cotton bud) and start again.  I'm not posting any new photo of it just yet as I'm waiting to see if it actually does help the painting.  I also tweaked some of the values on the jacket a bit and I just want to let the painting sit to see if it needs anything else.

Anyway, it's a gorgeous day here and I haven't been any further than the back porch when our dog wanted out!  It's supposed to rain for the next day or two so I guess I blew the opportunity to get some sun for a while!

Hope you all are enjoying the spring and that it's beautiful where you are too.

Pastel Play

Pastel 8"x10"

This is a somewhat quick play with pastel on Colour Fix Suede.  I was beginning to think that I would have to spend a lot of time relearning to paint with pastel also but this wasn't too bad.

Of course, I wasn't 100% happy with it and will need to re-do it anyway as I sprayed it with fixative which really made it dark and grainy looking.  I lightened it in my graphics software but that just pointed up the shortcomings of the painting!

One of these days!

Adult Portrait WIP 2

I worked on the portrait of my western dressed husband yesterday afternoon and this morning and am very pleased with the quality and handling of the Schminke gouache so far.

I had already made a start on the denim jacket (back and sleeve) before the new paints arrived and had had trouble making the fabric look like denim.  When I repainted some areas, the bottom layer re-wet and mingled with the new paint layer.  That's a quality of gouache that can either work for or against the artist.  In this case, it is working somewhat against me as the new color is mixing with the old and it becomes a color I don't really want.  But, I'll be able to solve that eventually.

What is concerning me right now is the value of the different sections of the jacket.  Some of the highlights are very bright while others read as white but are very subdued.  With other paint media, I would use a wash to control the values but, as I've said, gouache lifts any previous layer which then mixes with the new layer.  This creates a new color and a new value and it's kind of tricky to get it right.  Also, gouache will either dry lighter or darker than the applied color and that also throws another problem into the mix.

Since I've not used this new paint color before, I'm just having to try one thing or another to try to get the look I need.  So, while I'd hoped to be finished with this painting by now, it's going to take a while longer.  I'll try to post updates along the way but I may just get into the "zone" and finish it all quickly.  I hope that happens but I'm not holding my breath!

Oh, I also played with the new color, Titanium Gold Ochre, in the background and I think I'll want to re-paint the background, at least partially.  We'll see how that goes when we get there.  Funny how one small change affects the whole painting!  This may turn into a totally different and unexpected painting!

They've Arrived!

Well, the new Schminke Horadam gouache paints arrived a little while ago and I've been busy playing with them.  The first thing was making a color chart which I've posted to the left here.

I've also painted some on my painting just to test how much they'll lift if another color is painted over the top.  I need to let that dry thoroughly before I attempt to add another layer so will let you know about that at another time. 

As you can see, the colors are very rich and it's evident that a lot of pigment is used in these paints.  I wanted the Dark Blue Indigo for my painting and I ordered the other colors because Roz liked/recommended them in various posts, especially the Delft Blue.  Actually, I have a blue that's very similar to it in another brand but as this is supposed to be a single pigment color, I'm sure it will stay clear and not get muddied as easily. 

That Titanium Gold Ochre is luscious and you can take that to the bank as I am definitely not a fan of the colors of yellow or orange!  This color is somewhere in between yellow and orange and just glows.  Yellows and oranges are the least used colors when I've gotten sets in any media but I'm sure this will have a permanent place on my gouache palette.

And the Helio Turquoise is gorgeous - wish I'd had it a few months ago as it reminds me of clear tropical seas and warm climates!  After the winter we've had, it could easily become my favorite color!

Of course, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and the proof of the paint is in the painting!  I plan to do some quick paintings and also get back to work on the cowboy painting to see how the paints work in the real world!  I have a feeling I may have to take back any whining about the cost of these paints and may even be tempted to order some more!

I Must Be Crazy!

In my efforts to learn more about the gouache medium, I've been reading the blog of Roz Stendahl, http://www.rozwoundup.typepad.com/.  Now Roz has some pretty definite ideas of how gouache should behave and there are only two brands that meet her standards - Schminke and M. Graham - both of which are pretty pricey.

Since I've always believed that you should use the best artist materials available (that will do what you want them to do), I decided I wanted to try out the Schminkes when I recently ran out of some colors of the gouache I'm currently using.

So I placed an order for 4 tubes (15 ml size) which were on sale and I nearly had heart failure when the total came to well over $60 even before shipping!  Would you like to see what four tubes of that size look like?

You can click on the picture to see it larger but please be aware that these aren't the gouache I ordered but some watercolor I already had.  (The actual gouache won't arrive until tomorrow or the day after.)

I'm well aware of the quality of the Schminke Horadam brand but I guess I haven't really had to order art supplies for quite a while and just got a case of sticker shock.  These are four relatively small tubes as gouache goes and I can only hope they're of such quality that they go a lot further than the brands I currently use!

I've just about decided that gouache is my current medium of choice as I like that it's water soluble but I can use it on just about any substrate.  It can be used either as a fairly transparent wash or very opaque like oil or acrylic.  But, cleaning brushes after every break or interruption isn't necessary - a quick rinse and the brushes are fine until I need them again.

While they do dry quickly like acrylics, they lack that plasticky look that acrylic will sometimes have.  And another plus is that even though the paint will dry quickly on the palette, it can be re-wet like transparent watercolor and isn't lost like acrylic paint.

Anyway, now that I'm over the sticker shock and both my heart rate and breathing has returned to normal, I'm ready to get those bad boys here and start playing with them!  The one color I really needed was over $20 a tube on sale so I'm going to look it over very carefully to see if there's gold embedded in the binder along with the other pigment!

These paints had better be far superior to other gouache paint brands and I almost expect them to paint the canvas for me for the money I spent!  I'll let you know how they work!  Maybe they'll even finish that portrait of my other half in his cowboy gear!

First Adult Portrait (of sorts!)

Those of you who know me or even read my blogs, know that I just don't paint human portraits!  I've done all kinds of pet portraits, of course, and one of our granddaughter as a baby and one of a toddler. 

Grown up adult humanoids are a whole 'nuther story!  However, I convinced my darling other half to dress in his western clothes so I could take some photographs to possibly use as painting references since we're going to participate in that art show in Colorado this summer.  It's supposed to be a show of Western art but this year it's open to all kinds of subjects.

Anyway, I wanted some western type art and that was the reason for the photo shoot.  My idea was to maybe use my husband leaning against the gate but paint him full length from enough distance to be able to blur his features.  In other words, I wouldn't have to paint a realistic portrait!

But I liked the photo with this close up of him and figured I could fake what few features are showing!  And I plan to fake the background and add a few head of cattle since we've long since sold all of ours.  So far it's going pretty well but there's still a ways to go with it.  BTW, this is gouache and 11 x 14 inches in size.

I'll keep you posted on the progress!

Angus Calf - Finally Final!

Black Angus Calf - gouache

I wasn't really happy with the background of the previous photo so I changed it again!  I'll still let it marinate a bit before varnishing but I think this is it although I may add some darker color in the corners.  This being gouache, any paint put on top of paint already there will soften that paint layer and blend into it so I'm naturally a bit reluctant to do any more to it.  We'll see.

Backgrounds are the bane of artists and one fellow artist said she switched to painting landscapes just to avoid them!  I don't think I'm quite ready to do that but backgrounds certainly are a PITA!

3/25/14  Hi all!  I've come back a day later to say that I added some darker color to the corners which made the background pop more.  While I did like the blue background, I thought it was too bright and intense and overshadowed the calf.  This gold background makes the painting look a bit flat in this photo but looks much better in real life.  It complements the blue in the calf (which also doesn't show well here) and I think the painting is improved. 

Black Angus Calf Revised

Black Angus Calf - gouache on canvas panel

I changed the background on the calf and think it looks better but am still not sure about it.  I'd like to be able to varnish it today since the weather will be unsettled with rainy patches for the next several days but I'll just wait until I've had time for it to "marinate".

In the meantime, I've let the house go since I've been painting and really need to give it a good cleaning.  I remember back in the early days of television when it was predicted that our homes would be "self-cleaning" by now - ha!  Don't we wish!

That's the dilemma for me - I'm not "ambidextrous" enough to paint AND keep up the house and if you don't keep up with either, you tend to get so far behind that it seems as if you'll never catch up.  We did have a cleaning lady at one time but my husband decided that since I wasn't painting pet portraits any longer, that I would have time to take care of the house myself.  He also said he would help and the money saved could purchase more art supplies.  It turns out that he doesn't like to clean any better than I do, plus, he doesn't have a clue as to how to do it!

His idea of cleaning is to buzz through as quickly as possible and just make it look good.  I like the house to look clean but it has to be clean as well.  He does the same rush job when brushing the dog - she looks really good but there are still mats and tangles under that top layer of fur!  What is it with men?

But I won't complain too much - he's very supportive and as hard as it is to live with him sometimes, I would hate to live without him.

So, I guess I need to go get started cleaning!

Mooooving On To Another Cow

Black Angus Calf

I just hate not being able to do something I want to do and right now, I want to paint a cow.  I know practice makes perfect so I tried again.  This is still not quite finished plus I'm debating the background and whether to change it or not. And I think I want to add the brand of my sister and brother in law's ranch to the ear tag.  Those are the major things plus a few tweaks here and there.

I really like the background as it is as it helps to show the calf plus it echos the colors in the ear tag.  However, I certainly don't want it to appear as if there's a fire behind the calf or become the focal point instead of the calf!

Decisions, decisions!  If any of you think painting is easy, I invite you to just try it!  BTW - this is gouache on a 6" x 6" canvas panel.

Red Angus Painting Update

Here is the latest update on the Red Angus cow painting!  lol  It just wasn't working so I scraped the paint off the canvas and covered the "ghost image" with a coat of white paint.  One of these days I'll go green, recycle or whatever you want to call it and paint something else on this canvas.

When my husband saw that I had scraped off the cow, he said he was glad.  He said he hadn't said anything before because he wanted to give me time to either fix it or realize it wasn't fixable.  But since I've "erased" it, he admitted he thought it looked very amateurish and almost as though a kindergartener had painted it. 

Please don't hold back, my love!  lol  But he was right and nothing I was doing to it was helping but seemed to make it worse.  I've always said he's my best critic!

Narcissus Flowers in Water Soluble Oil

Although I haven't done any more to it, there was some paint leftover from the Red Angus cow that I wanted to use but didn't want to paint anymore on the cow.  Did you get that?  lol  In short, I was bored with the bull but didn't want to waste paint!

I had a photo of these narcissus so decide to see if I could paint them.  This is still the water soluble oil paint but on a 6 x 6 inch canvas panel.  It came out a little better than the cow, or at least I thought so.  Maybe I should just stick to painting flowers in the oils or maybe I should just practice painting animals!

Thank You, Anastasiya!

Anastasiya Malakhova at Cat and Bear Studios ( http://artpicks.catandbearstudios.com) has selected some of my art to appear on her artpicks page http://artpicks.catandbearstudios.com/selection_03_11_2014_1.html.

Thank you Anastasiya for considering my paintings worthy enough to appear on your website, I do appreciate it!

As for the Red Angus cow painting that I showed you all yesterday, it's still sitting on the easel as I just haven't had time to do any more on it yet today.  To be honest, I'm hoping for a mighty blast of "Oomph and Inspiration" as I think I can finish it in just a few hours if I just knew what to do next.  It will come and I will be patient!

As always, watch this blog!

Finally Back Painting

It's been something of a long haul getting back to painting and I'm not feeling too successful with the comeback!  I have all these ideas floating around in my head but it's as if I'm learning to paint all over again when I try to get them down on paper or canvas.

I saw this photograph at a public domain photo site and immediately wanted to paint this big girl (well, I think it's a cow and not a bull but I really don't know!)  It's on a 12x12 inch square gallery wrapped canvas and I'm using the water soluble oils as I got some new brushes that I wanted to try.

The brushes are great but the person trying to use them is more than a little rusty!  After much time, work and a few less than nice words, I just got it out of the really ugly stage to this "it's getting there" ugly stage!  I know I'm on the verge of finishing it but I'm already tired of working on it!  I know the number one problem with artists is they tend to quit too soon.  I know I need to push on with this and get those lovely twirls of winter fur tamed and she really, really needs some eyelashes!

OK, someone give me that kick in the tail that I sorely need and make me finish this!  Or, is it so bad that I need to scrape it all off and paint something else?  So many of my recent paintings have ended up in the circular file - it would be so nice to paint something that works!

Winter! with that nasty 4-letter word!

 We don't normally get a lot of snow around here and when we do, everything just about grinds to a halt!  It snowed all afternoon with about 2 - 3 inches accumulation and now the snow has turned into sleet or freezing rain.  I can hear it hitting the windows - ugh!

Fortunately, all our children are finally home safe and sound or, in my granddaughter's case, waiting it out at a girlfriend's house.  Our son got into a relatively minor accident going home from work but is fine and safe now at his home.

Our feathered friends have drained the bird feeders at least twice today.

 And not only that, but they've been fighting for position and lining up for an opportunity to feed.  We have a covered porch and there's been a "welfare line" all day!  It's the same with the feeder in the yard.

I don't know if you can see it or not, but look closely at the middle photo.  We watched as at least 10 Eastern Bluebirds crammed into this tiny bluebird house seeking shelter from the snow!  Not only that but others come and go trying to get in too.  Fortunately we have several of these houses scattered across the property and I hope they all can find shelter. 

There were a plethora of robins just yesterday but they have utterly disappeared!  I don't know where they shelter in bad weather but I hope they stay warm enough!

I know people who are used to this kind of weather laugh at us but 1) we rarely get snow and just don't have the kind of equipment necessary for dealing with it.  2)  most people aren't experienced with driving in it nor even knowing how to help keep their homes warm, prepare for power outages and that sort of thing.  Then too, now that we're getting ice, our multitude of trees can add to the possibility of power failure let alone just the build-up of ice on the power lines!

So, hope you all just stay home if you're in the midst of this mess - just stay home and feed the birds!

One good thing is that my very last eye appointment was changed.  It had been scheduled for today but with the imminent snow storm, they worked me in yesterday and I finally got a contact lens that enables me to really see well!  It's been a little too chaotic around here to paint today but I hope to paint something while being so house bound!  I just hope we keep the electricity on!

Fine Art America

I finally took the plunge and joined Fine Art America.  My gallery there is still a work in progress but I thought I'd give you the link so you can bookmark it.

FAA offers high quality prints on a variety of supports - canvas, art papers, metal, and acrylic and they also offer cards and phone covers.  These are all offered at very reasonable prices and are perfect for decorating both home and business.

I hope you find something you love at my page but, if not, look around the site as there are many wonderful artists with thousands of pieces of art - you're sure to find the perfect piece of art for your home or business.

Here's a link to my page:  http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/jan-gibson.html.  Stop by for a visit any time then come by again as I plan to add lots of art in the future.

Still Trying To Paint

I'm still trying to paint and am using watercolor as I can do so without much fuss or muss.  Mainly, I use it because I can paint for a few minutes, just give my brush a swish in water and walk away until next time.  However, watercolor is a bit tricky for me in the best of times and I'm sure this could use even more work (& skill!). 

I'm quitting with it though as I don't want to overwork it and I'm tired of it.  It's a relatively simple painting but has taken me forever not to mention the fact that yellows and oranges are not my favorite colors to work with. 

They're favorite colors for my husband though and he really likes this. He says it brightens up our dreary, rainy, winter skies.  Well, he's right about that so I'll just put it aside for now.  In the future if I happen to see that it needs more done to it, I'll maybe work on it again.

Cardinal Rework

"Winter Cardinal"

I have been having a very hard time with not being able to paint so I've worked on the painting of the cardinal again.  Nothing major - it just didn't look finished so I added some snow flakes.  That was within my grasp as they didn't have to be placed exactly nor did they have to be perfectly detailed.  Not a major painting but it did help with the restlessness and frustration of not being able to paint what I want to paint.

However, I did start a watercolor painting.  That is also within the realm of things I can do as I can work on it in small increments of time. 

Also, watercolor is by nature somewhat looser than other media (most of the time) so I don't have to have perfect vision to paint.  Not much done on it so far as I'm working in very short periods of time to avoid headaches.  Watercolor is nice as I can give my brush a quick rinse and walk away from everything.

I'll post it when I finish if it comes out well.  There's not enough to show you anything right now but I'll tell you it's a flower.  Not only am I fed up with not being able to see well, I'm also fed up with our gloomy weather!  A bright flower seemed the perfect option - hope it really is!

We Missed It!

Happy New Year everyone!  I regret to say that I just couldn't make it to midnight last night so missed ringing in the new year.  What an old fuddy-duddy I've become!  Or maybe it's because I've seen so many new years in that I now need to catch up on my sleep!

And the new year is not the only thing we missed.  Every year we have a tradition of going into the tiny, tiny town next to us on Christmas Eve to see the lights and Christmas decorations people put up.  Our granddaughter from Maine was here with her husband so we spent much of Christmas Eve day with them and honestly forgot about going out after they left. 

We went out last night to see if there were still any decorations left up but they were few and far between.  I guess people started taking them down soon after Christmas this year.

So, I guess 2013 could be classified as the year of missed opportunities - we'll try to do better next year!