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!

More Watercolor Paintings

I'm still playing with watercolor - painting some on Graphix DuraLar Matte and some on some cheap Canson watercolor paper that I bought at WalMart.  No great masterpieces but I am learning and that's the whole point for me.

Holstein on DuraLar Matte

This first painting is watercolor on DuraLar Matte.  It was the first painting on that support and it shows!  However, DuraLar is not usually used with watercolor so I guess it's not bad for what it is!

Apple on DuraLar Matte

This apple was done from life and the colors aren't quite as bright as you see here.  I experimented with painting on both sides which worked better than I'd expected.  I wanted to wash out the shadow but that didn't work out as planned!

Watercolor on Canson

I call this one "Blowin' in the Wind'.  It's an experiment in negative painting as well as color washes.  I need to get some decent watercolor paper if I'm going to continue with this medium as the Canson doesn't work very well.  You'd think it would be a decent paper since I think Canson makes the much preferred Arches watercolor paper.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I am painting and a real masterpiece is on the way!  lol

Buying From An Artist

I don't know from where the above graphic came or who made it, but it really struck me as being so very true.  I just wanted to share it with you and if you know the origin of it, please let me know so I can give credit.  That person certainly hit the nail on the head!

Jumping Around Again

I was arranging stuff in my taboret and found my watercolors.  Actually, I knew where they were but for some reason they caught my attention and I painted this ginger kitten.

There's a good reason the watercolors stay put away for long stretches of time (although I will use them in conjunction with gouache from time to time).  I just don't have the light touch and patience required for those beautiful, transparent watercolors that I admire so much.  Waiting for an area to dry completely rarely happens with me so I end up with more streaks, hard edges and cauliflowers than the average bear!

Anyway, I tried------------------------

Another Alcohol Ink Painting

Sue Clinker, from the Pencil Pix blog, asked how the alcohol inks were applied.  I mainly poured, or dropped the ink with the last painting I posted here but did use a brush to push the ink where I wanted it.  I also sprayed the inks with plain alcohol which gave a lot of the texture.

The following painting was mostly done with a brush which gives a little more control but I don't think it's nearly as pretty.

The background was done by dropping different inks onto the Yupo, then the painting was sprayed with plain rubbing alcohol.  I don't have a lot of colors so the coneflower center didn't come out as dark as I'd wanted but I was able to darken it some with some Bic colored markers that I had.  However, I think that ruined it so I'm not posting the revised painting! 


There are tons of tutorials for the inks out there with a lot of them on YouTube.  Some I'd like to try are:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icjFa1UsaDg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAEhf24ZczI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p9D0KVWswk
The above shows what can be done.


And I definitely want to try this one:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r6yiPWJ41s

Hope these show a little of how to work with the inks.  If none of these appeal to you, just look around the internet!

So many things to try and so little time!

Art Supply Junkie

Alcohol Inks On Yupo - 5x7"

I said in my last post that I was fickle when it came to art media but I think it's more that I'm an art supply junkie.  The truth be told, I like experimenting with various arts and crafts supplies and yesterday I finally got around to playing with the alcohol inks.

It was the perfect day for it as we've been pretty much iced in since last Friday as the so-called big storm hit us before making it's way further north and east.  Since we knew the storm was coming, we went out on Thursday and I was able to buy some Adirondack inks at Michael's.  Fortunately, my DH & I both had a coupon and I still had money left on the gift card the grandchildren gave me for Christmas.  I still didn't get all the colors I wanted but got enough to play with and I also had the homemade inks from last week.  I didn't use them much in this painting but they seemed to work as well as the purchased inks.

Not great by any means but I had expected it to be a whole lot worse.  These inks are somewhat like watercolor in that they have a mind of their own plus you rarely do well the first time out of the gate.  It didn't help that the Adirondack inks were marked with esoteric names like "Stream", "Wild Plum", "Citrus" and looked different on Yupo than they looked on either the label or in the bottle.  I need to make a color chart so I'll know what's what!

This is my first alcohol painting and I'm fairly pleased with it.  Can I see room for improvement?  Definitely! But I hope to learn how these inks work by practicing and hopefully a masterpiece will eventually emerge!

Just Plain Fickle!

I've not done much painting lately as wood carving (yes, wood carving!) caught my fancy and I tried my hand at that for a while. 

I really like learning new things, seeing if I can 'conquer' a new craft and, well, just being a very fickle woman!

But wood carving!  You all know how much I like working with wood so carving would seem to be a natural progression but I have to admit - I totally suck at it! 

This is what I accomplished after many days and several sliced fingers!

This Santa figure was from a beginner tutorial that I found on the internet.  Notice I said beginner tutorial!  Who screws up with a beginner tutorial?  Well, I did.  I admit I don't have the best or most in the way of carving tools, but still, I shouldn't have all the fuzzy wood fibers left after carving.  Unfortunately, the tutorial didn't tell you what to do about them or even how to avoid them in the first place. 

And this is my excuse for neither painting nor updating my blog.  Sore, bleeding fingers aren't the best for either painting or typing!