Experimenting with Texture

Well I love it when I can experiment with something new. I bought some crackle texture and applied it to a canvas, thicker in some parts so that it would crack deeply and thinner in some areas where there would be less cracks.  I left some of the canvas not covered so the texture of the canvas would show through.

Then I used a stencil to put a thicker layer for a fleur de lis in the lower right corner.  Using acrylic (Americana) paints, after it dried thoroughly I base coated the canvas, did my painting of grapes &; then antiqued it at bit with burnt umber. But that made the grapes look darker so I rehighlighted the middle grapes so they stood out more.

I found this old frame I had laying around the house and it was perfect because it has a raised design in it.
I call this piece Tuscan Memories......what do you think.

Happy Paint Party Friday.

For more Paint Party Features visit: http://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/ 

What Did I Get Myself Into?

Ya'll know how I love to paint. I am a pretty prolific painter and I always see things and think I want to paint that.

Years ago (must have been at least 15 or so) I saw a painting of the Holy Family in a china painting magazine and tore it out. I have had it for years thinking one day I'm going to paint that.  Well the day has come. LOL.

I'm not crazy about portrait painting...skin tones, etc. Oh and how I hate clothing folds...I struggle with it but it's like landscapes I hate to paint them and I think I suck at it but I make myself do it. You can't  paint all the cutesy stuff  forever and you can't grow as an artist if you don't push yourself.

Soon after I started it, I could see that this piece was going to take many paintings and kiln fires. The whole time I'm praying to the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph & Infant Jesus! I need big time help!

 In this photo I was just starting the 2nd fire (painting) process.  I was working in the face area (where the colors were being darkened). You can see the rest of the plate is very light, that was the first fire area.  Yesterday I  finished working on the 2nd fire painting and it's in the kiln now. It looks much better. Things are more defined and taking shape, however, it's got a very long way to go and the background....well to get the depth of color I want...more fires. When I get it out of the kiln I'll take another photo of it...so stay tuned folks.

Some Interesting (and entertaining) Sights in the 'Dena

Making the walk this morning I had some interesting sights. It was almost along the Three Bear Storyline..one was very pleasant, one was very aggravating & one was just funny.

The photo to the right was the pleasant sight. I walk past this lady's yard every day. She always has the prettiest flowers coming out of her fence. I think she plants them so they will go out of the fence into the sidewalk. It really softens the look of that fence.  Last couple of years she had sweet pea plants with these black eyed susans...it was really pretty. Wonder where the sweet peas went?

Then there was the aggravating sight. Why can't people pick up their dog poop. I almost stepped in this mess. UGH!!!!

The reason I almost stepped in this was because I was looking at the next sight...I had to laugh!  A neighbor's house had a fire and for the past couple of months they have been working inside. The port a pot outside there for a while but today it had an addition....I wonder how many use the outdoor toilet? I guess that's it's the back up plan for a dirty port a pot.

Well looking at the flowers above remind me. I had 2 pots of flowers out front....they both had flowers like the ones on the left.  Actually the other pot had even more flowers on the plant. The other morning I was outside talking to my brother's girlfriend and I said "whoa look at that". It seems that something had eaten the flowers and part of the leaves off the other plant.....Megan said, "Well atleast it was neat about it."  That cracked me up. Well hopefully it will grow back.

I Won --- Woo hooo!

Debbie & her turtle

Yesterday my son's sister in law, Debbie, and I went to Polish Pottery Bingo at Savage Mills. I ran into a friend from my Hat Group, Deb Talbot. It was nice to run into her. She didnt win but she had some close encounters.

But Debbie and I were another story.  The last time I went  to this bingo, I didn't win....didn't come close but it was a lucky day for both of us. We won multiple times but they did a call off since others had bingo as well.  But we did come away with some loot!

First Debbie won the turtle. It's so darn cute.

My condiment bowls.

Next I won and picked the 2 little condiment bowls. It was a hard decision because they had lots of things to pick from. I picked them because I am always using little condiment bowls. The thing I wanted (a plate with bunnies on it) was already taken.

Leaf and bug for Brenda.

 Then Debbie won again and selected the leaf bowl with the little bug which she plans to give to her mother in law, Brenda who usually goes with her to bingo.  So what a great day it was. I was tickled to be a winner! :)

Sunday Sketches

It's been a while since I've done Sunday Sketches but I'm back! LOL So this week I thought well if I'm going to do this I need to do something new! And I sat down and did 3 little ACEO colored pencil sketches.

I had planned to scan each one individually but I really like how they look together since I used pretty much the same color pallette. I wasn't as happy with the one at the top. I need to redo that one at some point. The angle of the flower on the left drives me nuts for some reason. Or maybe I need to just darken that flower to put in the background. Well it will give me something to think about.

I was inspired by the beautiful flowers I see along my morning walks. Recently I have been trying to walk to the 7-11 and back (stopping of course for a sugar free mango slurpee to bring on the walk home). It's about 1.1 miles -- just right. So I guess when I walk past those flowers I'll have to take a look at the values again.

Have a wonderful Sunday. Enjoy the Sunday Sketches and for more awesome art visit http://bluechairdiary.blogspot.com/

Madagascar 3

Yesterday I took my grandson Mason to the movies. He wanted to see Madagascar 3. I hadn't seen 1 or 2 and had no idea what to expect. The movie was so cute.

It was fast moving with a great sound track. Mason was chair dancing and singing through out the movie. I don't know what was more entertaining him for the movie.

The story line is about the 4 main characters (Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the Hippo, and Melman the Giraffe) who are trying to get back to the zoo where they lived in New York, But instead they end up getting chased through Europe by an  French Animal Control Officer taking shelter with a group of travelling circus animals going by train to Rome where an American promoter will be watching to see if they are good enough to go to NY. It's absolutely hysterical & action packed. I jumped in my seat a couple of times! Watch the trailer.

It was so much fun. You've got to go see it.

Painting Outside the Comfort Zone

I belong to a China Painting club, The China Painting Artists of Maryland.

After business meetings we generally do some sort of painting or demonstration. One day we did this new technique with our china paints. Instead of mixing the paint pigments with oil, we used sugar water and then painted the tree design. Then it was fired in the kiln.  The next go round I used lusters dabbed on as leaves and then a luster to indicate the ground.

It's different from the kind of painting I'm used to. I like the traditional painting and I'm not much into abstract or modern art but this was a fun experiment.

Happy Paint Party Friday.

For more Paint Party Features visit: http://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/