Christmas

Last week I showed you the White Doves painting.  That image is from a wetcanvas.com weekend drawing event photo by my wetcanvas friend, Connie van Winsson.  Connie is an artist in the Netherlands and I love her colorful work and thought you might enjoy it too; here's a link  http://home.kpn.nl/henni107/_sgg/m2_1.htm

This week I want to share a decorating idea.  We recently held the annual Christmas by Candle Light Program at our church.  It's for the women in our church and consists of a program in our sanctuary, this year we heard the very talented Grand Haven High School Choral Ensemble, followed by dessert in our reception center where several of us act as hostesses. 

Usually two host a table.  In my case, for the past 30 years it's been one of my dearest friends who co-hosts with me, I do the table and she does dessert.  This year she is going through chemo so my dear husband made the dessert for us.  Our table theme was gumdrops.  I found some gumdrop ornaments at the Muskegon Museum of Art last year and that was my inspiration.  This summer I dipped a zillion gum drops in acrylic, let them dry and screwed in an eye so they could hang from trees I sprayed white.  Another zillion gum drops went into styrofoam balls with toothpicks.  Here's the result.

and the inspiring ornament

Watercolors, the old fashioned way

Od Fashioned in that I didn't pour these, I used a brush which is something I did for the first time in a long time when I took the Charles Reid Workshop.  I'm now teaching a beginner watercolor class so using a brush is a good thing to get in the habit of.  This fall scene is one I did as a demo for that class; the doves are from a Wet Canvas weekend drawing event some time back and I'm just getting around to doing it.  I can see some problems with both of them but nothing insurmountable.  I need to add a bit of color to the water just left of the birch and one of the doves is a bit too hidden. 

A Deer And A Work In Process

Sheri Woodard has made some adorable small deer out of sticks and she brought them to Gallery Uptown to sell.  We had a pile of larger sticks from yard clean up and I thought, why not a larger deer out of those sticks...

Pretty skinny and I may shorten those back legs.  I'm also going to paint him because he's screwed together and I don't want the screws to be quite so obvious.  Then I have to figure out what I'm going to do with him, perhaps he'll just live on my patio this winter.

My other work this week has been a demo for my watercolor class.  I wasn't going to post it until it's done and I can't finish it until the next class; however, I missed posting last week so two projects this week seemed fair.  I'll post the finish on this and the house drawing later.

A Wonky Baby Quilt

Some things I've learned this week... putting a quilt together using old flannel shirts is probably not the best idea I've ever had.  No two shirts were the same weight flannel and old flannel just doesn't stay straight to cut which means nothing is going to be straight if one stitches on one of the lines in the plaid.  It's also impossible to match the plaids when all the plaids and the fabric weights are different.  On top of that, it's been a long time since I've sewn anything that required precision stitching and I need some practice sewing a straight line.

In spite of all that, I'm happy with the quilt because it's for my grandchild due in January and the flannel shirts belonged to my son, the future dad, who wore a flannel shirt every day when he was in high school.  He's now 31 but I still had some of those shirts.  My camera didn't get the full quilt it... there's a blue strip at the top too.

Another from the workshop and a work in process

This was my first portrait at the workshop.  I wasn't thrilled with the result but felt satisfied with parts of it.  The gentleman did have those bags under his eyes and before this workshop I probably would not have gone that dark with them.   I like drawing people, I also like sketching people.  The problem has always been painting them, whenever I do everything ends up extremely tight and the life of the piece is lost.  The only time that doesn't happen is when I'm padding a wash to a sketch.  I have a better idea how to go about doing this now that I've watched Charles work and worked on a couple myself; however, I have a long way to go.

Meanwhile a house in pen and ink.  This is something else I enjoy doing and I have an order for this one so better get to finishing it...

I have to walk by again to have a closer look at the porch.  I should be able to finish it in a couple days, then the buyer will decide if she wants a color wash on it.  Some houses are easier for me than others, because I love the house... this is one of those.

A Charles Reid Workshop

 

I had the good fortune to study with Charles Reid all last week.  I've taken a lot of workshops through the years and have to say, this was the best one I've taken.  I actually produced some work that is worth keeping and learned much that I will be incorporating into other work that I do.  Not the style, but simple things like brush work and color.  Interesting to me was that no matter if you were a beginner or very advanced, you could learn from this man and he really wanted you to get it.  The first three days we worked on still life.  My first one was not so hot but there was a part of it that turned out very nicely... I've blown that part up.

Day two was better, there are parts of it that I don't like but overall it's not too bad.   I especially like the wine bottle and glass.

I still have much work to do on brush stroke and  connections but overall am happy with where I am.

Days four and five were spent on people.  I have my own way of drawing people and don't have a problem getting a likeness; however, when it comes to painting that drawing... that's a whole different ball game and I'm rarely happy with the results.  His method of drawing made painting much easier because his drawing is looser... much like my sketches but more controlled.  My first attempt left much to be desired though he was kind and found some things he liked about it.  I can't find it on my computer right now so I must have really hated it.  Anyway by day two I was doing better, slow but better.  She isn't complete but this is our model, Tracy... in real life and in my work in process....  I have her mouth too small but this is what I got done in two hours.

I wish I could have brought him home with me to look over my shoulder while I work.  I'd love to have his wife along too as she is a delightful lady.  If you're a watercolor artist and haven't already taken a workshop from this man.... do if you have a chance. 

I'm off to a workshop

My spouse and I will be passing in the night.  He's returning from a weekend away and I'm leaving for a week away studying with an artist I've admired for a very long time, Charles Reid.  The second book I bought on watercolor painting years ago was Painting What You Want To See by Reid.  I love how loose he works.  I don't want my paintings to look like Charles Reid paintings but I know I'll be able to learn something from him.  I'll post something from the workshop when I get back.