Ain't It Funny How Time Just Slips Away

I was jolted out of complacency when my friend, Sue, from the Pencilpix blog emailed to ask if I'd been painting.  Well, I've done nothing but for the past few months but just haven't shown any on my blog!  Sue recommended that I remedy that so here are just a few of the paintings I've done recently:

The first one is a quick painting of my Dad who said he didn't want a birthday gift but would really like one of my wildlife cards.  Well, I figured there wasn't anything wilder than him even at the age of 95!  He was very pleased even if line and wash & especially portraits aren't my usual 'thing'.

The second two paintings are for challenges at a painting forum I belong to.  I was especially pleased with the ice cream cone as I usually have a hard time drawing hands/fingers but this came out better than usual.

 This bear is a painting I've worked on for nearly a year!  The medium is casein and even though I've really tried to like it, it's impossible for me to work with.  This painting was such a struggle that when I finished it, I bundled up the casein paints and donated them to our local high school art department!

 This crow is an acrylic underpainting that I did with the intention of glazing with oil over the top.  However, I had a bunch of people tell me to leave it alone.  There were two exceptions to this chorus though, including my husband and an oil painter whose opinion I value so I haven't totally decided what to do with it yet.

If you're a painter yourself, you know the inner argument where part of you wants to be done with it and another part of you wants to go with the original plan but worry about messing up what might be a good thing!

This last one of the eagle is a horrible photo as it was taken with my cell phone in really gloomy light as we've had rain during most of the month of July!!!  Suffice it to say it looks better in person.  It's gouache on board.

These are not all of the paintings I've done and I'm still working on several at the moment.  One, a fox, another crow and a couple of seascapes.  One of the seascapes is nearly finished but since this post is image intensive, I'll save some for another day!

Carolina Wrens and Other Things

A pair of my favorite birds, the Carolina Wren, have decided to nest in one of the houses we built for them last year.  After the nesting season ended my DH hung the house near the kitchen door as a reminder for me to paint it - as you can see, that didn't get done!  The pair of wrens don't seem to mind though and seem very content with the house as it is.  I've read that a pair will build several different nests before finally deciding to lay eggs and raise a family in one.  I'm just glad this pair chose this house.  Photo was taken through the glass storm door so may not be as sharp as it could be.

I was so tickled to have the birds nesting nearby that I decided to paint them.  The following is the result with many errors that I can see.  Also, if I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't paint such a close-up view.  Carolina Wrens are small birds and such a composition makes this one look huge.

watercolor on Arches 140 CP paper

One of my favorite paintings done recently is this rooster.  It was painted in watercolor on Yupo which is a sort of plastic paper.  Painting on Yupo is what I imagine herding cats is like.  The paint beads up and must be painted in more of a dabbing technique than what is usually used with watercolor.  Also, the paint will rewet very easily or even scratch when it does dry so this painting was sprayed with a UV resistant acrylic coating.

Watercolor on Yupo

 Have also been doing quite a few watercolor sketches/practice pieces as well as an exercise from an online forum.  The following is the result of an exercise to use contrast to help define the center of interest.  The reference was some of our daffodils (which are nearly gone now).

Watercolor on Paper

Both of these are relatively unfinished and I doubt I ever finish them.  However, I may do an entirely new painting based on this reference photo - someday!  It was a challenge for me to paint the same thing twice in a row so I'm not in any hurry to do it for a third time.

I think there are other things I've done recently but they either went into the trash can or are so immemorial that I've forgotten them!  I did work up a small sketch for a larger painting that I want to paint eventually.  My DH likes this one and calls the subject 'Barry' and you'll see why if you scroll down a bit!  (Yes, 'Barry' and not 'Beary' - don't ask!  lol)

Watercolor on Paper

I don't know when I'll actually paint it as I haven't worked out the composition I want quite yet. 

So, I have been painting but it's like walking and chewing gum - if I paint, I don't seem to be able to do anything else at the same time so you all don't get any blog posts! 

I do try to keep up - honest!