Negative Space Deer

I started painting the background for this painting of a deer in the woods. Not very long into it, it seemed like painting the negative spaces would be a good idea. Plus, it gave me the opportunity to be super fussy with little paint strokes and mixing up way too many variations of color!

I am going to let this sit for a few days before I tackle the deer. I think I would like to finish it with  long paint strokes that only suggest the deer.

Getting Closer

The face shape is not quite right, but this is a much better rendition of Ella than the last time. I also have independent confirmation of this, since my hubby wants this one to bring to his office. (Smile).

#183 - Ella - 8" x 8" - hardboard - alternative palette

Also, here is last night's drawing. This has a lot of tricky shapes and angles. While my drawing is wonky, I would not have been able to tackle something like this 6 months ago.

Drawing And Watercolor

If I don't document, I can't go back and compare where I was at various stages in the journey!

Currently, drawing has been less of a focus, although I still drawing everyday. Most times, it's right before bed and I'm just drawing something in the house which caught my eye. Most nights (unless I am really tired!), I pick something which allow me to work on capturing the relationship of multiple things to each other or the parts of a complicated thing to itself. Truthfully, I'm not doing much measuring or checking of angles and most of the time, I don't finish the drawing. Ever so slowly, I see improvement in my eyes and hand working together better.

On the watercolor front, I am being stretched. The class is really, really good. I am learning tons, but  I can't really do any of it, yet. Here is what I did for the most recent exercises. We were doing small, simple value studies. The top two pages were from pictures the instructor provided. The bottom one was from a picture I took of Split Rock Lighthouse. 

It is going to sound silly, but the idea of the idea of doing an entire scene in these exercises (even in a simplified form) filled me with angst. However once I was done, it unlocked something in my brain which caused me to be in the right frame of mind to see things differently on my ride to work early this week.   

Peony

I really wish that I hadn't tried to add the portion of the second flower at the bottom of the photo. That was an unfortunate choice.

#182 - Garden Peony - #182 - 5" x 7" - paper - alternative palette

I have a long history with this particular plant. It self-seeded in the yard and I had to wait 3 growing seasons to see what color the flowers would be.

This Morning's Drive

My drive to work this morning was glorious. I took River Road to get to my client in the North Loop. There was snow on the ground. The sun was shining. The sky was blue. Visually, I was just trying to take it all in. I was hyper-aware of the beautiful scenery and wished I had time to try and do a couple of sketches. I kept thinking things like "is that snow a warmer color or a cooler color". I noticed a biker (bicycle, not motorcycle) bundled up in the way you would expect when it's 15 degrees outside, but this person made an impression because of the beautiful scarf that caught my eye. I wish I could have taken a picture to try and sketch from later. Some day, I would like to have the skill to try and sketch something like this in the moment.

It made a regular drive to work a much more enjoyable experience.

Tee Hee

It's Chandler my, high-strung and sweet, over the top, cat.

#181 - Chandler - 8" x 8" - on hardboard - standard palette

If only the whiskers were better! There are a lot of colors and a lot of paint strokes in this one, but they were all more deliberate. As a result, I don't think it looks as overworked as the one of Ella. I am pleased with the color of the background. Since the colors in the cat were more muted, I just went for pure Pthalo Blue (RS), plus white for the background. While the color is dark, it's not muted. So many choices! So much to learn!

That led me to take another look at my painting of Ella. Her eyes were too light in value and the background was too dark and muted, so I went back and adjusted them. This doesn't elevate it into the same class as the one of Chandler, but it did help. 

I'm glad to be doing some paintings on hardboard, so I can hang them. 

Start And Finish

This one had a strong start, but got lost in the middle and got to a place I did not like. I re-gessoed in the area of the nose, eyes, and forehead and had a second go at these parts. Mostly, I think I was fighting with my expectations. The fact that I wanted to do a good painting of Ella kept getting in the way.

The end result is okay.  It clearly is Ella and I will hang it on my wall.

#179 - Ella - 8" x 8" hardboard - standard palette

I would like to play with bigger, bolder strokes and not filling every crevice.  Maybe, next time!