watercolor painting Archives - Page 15 of 19

Don’t Paint in the Dark

Where do the days go? It seems I’m awake at dawn and suddenly it’s time to sleep again. What happened in the middle? It’s dark too early now, too.

My days with the Princess are done for this week. As I have some things to do on alternate Thursdays, she’ll be visiting her other grandmother tomorrow. I will definitely miss having her with me. She’s such a comfortable baby, not a complainer at all so she is wonderful to watch her. And she smells really good!

Monday and Friday I have off from sitting with her so those days I try to get my own stuff done. When will I try to have an Artist’s Date? Who knows. Some where in those off days if I plan it right.

Since I’ve been trying to keep up with The Twenty Minute Challenge I think that’s the way to go for now. So while the Princess takes a quick nap, I run to do 20 minutes of watercolor painting.

Yesterday was a day that she was awake for a long while. We looked at dots, which she is fascinated by, talked to each other, had some tummy time, and had lunch together, sort of. Wide awake and alert, there wasn’t much time for me to paint most of the day. After Gorgeous came to take the Princess back home I ran some water in a tub and took out the paints. Just arranged the same items that are hanging around and started painting. Mind you, it was already 4PM! By the time I got going the sun was on it’s way down and I tried to work quickly.

Oh well, I did what I could in the twenty minutes I allotted for painting. Too much water and not enough dry surface so the paints ran. It’s fine. I told myself that it’s the process that counts.

The Princess has left for the day and I decided to return to this painting. Now that it’s dry I tried to clean it up, make it neat, and worth showing. Next time I need to paint earlier in the day because painting in the dark isn’t much fun.

Day Off Friday With Photo

Friday is my day off. I had a lovely three days of babysitting my amazing granddaughter and can’t wait for next week. Of course, I think she is the smartest thing at only 6 weeks old. She is alert as a whip, when she’s not asleep, which is alot of the time. You know, babies need sleep to grow, so that is cool. She’s adorable when she’s asleep. When she’s awake her eyes are wide and steady. She can and wants to raise her head and look around. I don’t remember my kids doing that this young. She’s a voracious milk drinker when she’s hungry, but right in the middle of her feeding she nods off to sleep! Then she’s awake and looking for the rest of that bottle. And her legs keep moving, kicking, pushing with a purpose.

She is very interested in her crib decor here at my house. Who knew polka dots would be fascinating? One side is lime green with dark brown dots, the other side is brown and white herringbone. It’s the dots that makes her excited. She turns her little head to see the herringbone for a few seconds and turns right around to the dots. Her arm extended, those little legs pushing in the air, she’s all into the dots. Her breath quickens and she starts to vocalize at those dots. So I do too!

Am I running off about this princess? I might be.

I think helping to raise a child is a huge responsibility. There is so much to learn about the world and themselves. I am thankful to have the time to devote to her. While feeding her I had Mozart and Frank Sinatra music playing. We looked at shapes and colors. We talked back and forth. I helped her push her legs and flip herself over for a few minutes. We took a walk in the carriage in the lovely fall weather. I walked, she slept.

And during one of her naps I sat at the dining room table for twenty minutes to paint while Mozart played. I had already set up a still life of the usual objects of late: rocks, leaves and apple. As I had pulled out the tomato plants from the garden and culled the small green tomatoes, I added one to the mix. Twenty minutes was enough to keep me in the painting mode. Twenty minutes and I was done.

I can’t wait until this baby can hold a paint brush!

Shaking up the Week-Friday Photos and More

After I posted to this blog on Wednesday I decided to try to upload these photos once more before I hung it up. Voila! One of the photos of the painting I did popped up. Go figure. The second wouldn’t upload again. Maybe by the end of this post it will work. So I’m writing this Friday Photos post to take advantage of the uploading.

Can you tell I’m painting on the dining room table? Yes, that’s been the spot for the 20 minutes paintings. The light is good from the large window and casts great shadows on the subjects. And it’s close to the kitchen! I’ve been getting to the painting late in the afternoon which cuts into cooking time. People around here need to eat!

The studio in the basement is okay, but the hydrangea painting is down there and I just don’t want to look at it for a while. My large watercolor palette is there too, but I’m having too much fun with the travel set, even though it’s supposed to be for painting on the go. Good thing I purchased plenty of half pans of Windsor & Newton paints on sale because I’m going to run out soon. The large palette is filled with the MaimeriBlu paints. Something about the colors with those paints, but if I really should use them. Next time.

I Still Hate Computers

Why do I always have to encounter problems at the computer? Huh? Why me? I’m going along my merry way, checking my pages, shop, blogs, surfing around reading interesting things, and when I’m ready to write up my blog post BAM! I can’t upload photos. Nope. Not happening. Why why why?!

(Stomping my feet and holding my breath).

It’s okay, what can I do about it? Absolutely nothing. Just like the weather, all you can do is talk about it. So that’s what I’m going to do, because I can’t upload to this blog now. Lovely Blogger is disabling uploads for two hours due to maintenance issues. It’s supposed to begin at 5PM Pacific Daylight Time. What’s that got to do with little old me here in New York? Am I wrong, but isn’t it 5PM here before it becomes 5PM over there on the west coast? Huh? Is it me? What?

Besides the weather turning cloudy and cold, my day was pretty quiet. Couple of small things on the list. Like yesterday, I decided to add ‘Paint for 20 minutes’ at the end of the list and that’s what I wanted to do. It felt so good yesterday I thought about painting all day today.

Again, I had a plan and followed through. Pretty good for me! Had my leaves, my rocks, added my apple and set the timer for 20 minutes. When I was done I took a couple of photos to upload here. No luck. Server rejected. Waaaahhhhh! I tried again, and again the same notification. Now, I think I’m in time before the maintenance thing begins, but no, it won’t work. Blah.

Just take my word for it, my little watercolor painting came out nicely. I feel good about it, but I can’t show it to you. One more time for good measure….nope, no good.

I’m sorry. I was so happy I painted something and finished it. Maybe I gave myself the evil eye, a jinx, a canary? I will try again tomorrow. Get back to you then…

Time Out From Busy

Did I say busy? Yes, really busy doing all sort of things on the never ending to-do list. Trying to cross things off the short list takes forever. What about the long list? Fuggetabottit! That’s NY-ese for forget it. Not going to bother. The long list can take a long hike off a short pier. And in these times, the long list is never going to see the light of day if this keeps up.

The short daily list is about all I can focus on. However, there are alot of things on this “short” list. I know I complain all the time about no time, but what else can I do? Who cares if I have lots of things, everyone has things!

Today I had to double track because with all the things I had going on yesterday, I left some important things off and they just had to be done today, like hitting this blog. Mind you, there are plenty of things, but Surprise! they’re not going to get done because, well, I think I might want to ignore them. So there. Hah!

Besides the usual errands, I need to arrange Son #1’s old bedroom to accommodate his new baby’s crib! Now THAT I don’t mind doing, it’s a fun thing! I get to purchase new baby bedding and such, for when Gorgeous goes back to work and I get to babysit. Fun! So you know the to-do list is getting shuffled around to accommodate the fun stuff. Who needs to make doctor appointments and other phone calls, fix the light in the studio, call the dishwasher repair guy, organize the computer desk, shred old papers, etc. Who really cares about those things? I’m hunting around baby items!

Ok, so not to look like I’m a complete jerk, leaving important things off the list of to-do’s I found time to paint yesterday afternoon. The opening in the day was there, the rocks and broken shell waiting patiently, arranged as they were on the dining room table, yes-not in the studio. Out popped the travel watercolor set and a half hour of freedom!

I think I’m on to something with this “no time” business. Things seem to get done and I find a small window of opportunity to paint. This must be an omen, or a directive: have still life items strewn around, the small travel paints and paper pad out and available. Is the small set with mini brushes and paper less intimidating? Maybe. The long to-do list certainly is intimidating and possibly costly. All the better to ignore it, my dear.

Need to Schedule Time

Taking my time doing things here today. Had a list and needed to stick to it. Posting here early, which I really would rather do, just was impossible given the length of the list. To-do lists are never popular things around here. Rarely do I cross off everything needing attention. As time goes on, I’m going to have to stick to the list as my services will be needed “elsewhere”. How exciting! I can’t wait!

So I must be prepared and organized every day. Don’t laugh. I’m trying to keep it together so my things get done daily. And maybe now is a good time to develop that schedule I’ve been thinking of making. Time for everything and everything in it’s time.

But the sun was out today again, and the warmth felt really comforting on my face, if not just a little windy. You know how I feel about a warm sunny day? The one thing I had left off the list for today was to paint that hydrangea painting and get it over with. Finish it and move on.

When I returned home, having done the required things, I noticed the Montauk daisies in the front garden. They were twinkling in the sunlight. Wednesday I took photographs of them and wished it was warm enough, and dry enough, to sit out and paint them. After putting away my things I thought I would take a walk outside and think about what I could do. No, it was just too cool with the wind to stay out long. However, idea! Get the photo out and paint from the camera. Just a quick sketch, twenty minutes maybe, at the kitchen table, without my reading glasses on so the photo is sort of fuzzy. And away I went!

It was a nice idea and by using the small watercolor pad I use for the beach trips, I could get away from the hydrangea and just doodle in color on something new.

Just Not Feeling It, So I Plod

Here’s a look at the hydrangea painting as I plod along on it. What is it about working from my own photos that just brings me down? I seem to like the photo more than I do the painting.

Maybe that’s the trick. My eye sees what it needs to see while composing the photograph. Is it then not meant to be a painting afterwards? I just see too much in the photo and my brain tries hard to replicate the details in paint.

I’m starting to get annoyed with this thing. The colors I’m using are annoying, the way I’m applying the paint is annoying, the composition is annoying. There’s nothing I am happy about with this piece. That’s happened to me before so I keep plugging at it.

I did a watercolor in the spring of the daisies in my garden. Yes, I painted it from life not a photograph. Anyway, I wasn’t thrilled with the result, but I kept thinking in my head “It’s the process.” I was going to ignore the result and move on to the next thing. Well my DIL, Gorgeous, loved it and wanted it for the baby’s room. That cemented the idea that maybe I don’t know beans about my own work. So I plod through this watercolor too. Push to finish it and think about what’s next.

Fighting resistance every step of the way with this painting, I plod.

Painting in the Wild vs the Studio

This new computer stuff is just taking up alot of time that I could be doing other things. I visited the Apple Store yesterday and asked a few questions about the iphoto thing. The wacky salesman, yes he was wacky and all over the place..very upbeat, high energy guy, went to a computer station and tried a few things. He said he really wasn’t that informed about specifics with iphoto. I watched in rapt awe as he brought up a photo and per my thoughts, resized it. Amazing.

At the time of purchase our sales person asked if we wanted to add lessons. I didn’t think it would be something I’d have time for so we opted out. Of course, Son #2 has it all down already. Kids! Now I’m thinking maybe lessons would have been a good idea. But when? I’ve got enough on my plate as it is, but then, if I knew what I was doing all this wouldn’t take all the time I do have.

It’s a dilemma.

I came home and tried to copy what the high energy crazy salesman did in the store and I did figure it out. It just took me a while. So maybe that’s what it will take, a while.

Later on I visited the watercolor of the hydrangea on my desk and got to work on it. I don’t know how I feel about it. Painting from life at the beach is so different from painting in the studio. I think I like the life painting better. I can’t be sure what it is about the out-of-studio painting. It could be that I’m outside. It could be that I’m working live and don’t have all day so I have to be quick. Maybe it’s that working from life leaves out the possibility of going into too much detail. If I work from my photographs I see too much detail and paint too tight. Working in the ‘wild’ I paint more freely, only adding enough detail to tell the story. We’ve been down this road before, I know, I know.

Maybe it’s good to have different styles of painting? Maybe I should just paint and keep quiet?

If I find that I’m really a plein air painter, winter is going to be a tough time! I can’t even think about it from now. Back to the easel!

I Need a Sunny Day

What do you do when the weather outside is not perfect? I get Artist A.D.D when it’s rainy. Yeah, I’ll just call this “Artist” A.D.D. because I don’t want to say how really blah and unfocused I feel in weather that’s not my opinion of good.

Last week I was somewhere and was asked what do you need to feel good? The thought that immediately popped into my mind was that I need a sunny day. Is that dumb or what? No one can change the weather. You get what you’re going to get in that department. Sun, rain, snow, it’s out of my hands. But I can imagine it, right? So that’s what I try to do. When things get crazy I try to remember to go to the beach on a hot sunny day, in my mind. Sometimes it works.

Today is a cloudy, rainy, but warm day. Not my favorite, but I can live with warm. I’d rather have hot and humid. People don’t understand it. I don’t care, I need it. I could get myself down for the day if I think about how the winter is creeping up on us, but don’t tell me to move because that’s not happening. No matter that I live in the New York suburbs on Long Island, I need to be in close proximity of the city of Manhattan. I may not be going there often, but nearby is good enough. I know it’s weird, don’t ask questions!

Last week was great hot and sunny weather for September. You bet I took myself to the beach for some R&R. Yup. I packed the essentials, (food and iced coffee) and drove out there. In fifteen minutes I was sitting in my chair in the hot sand with very few people on the beach. I remembered my watercolor set and found some broken shell pieces for when I was ready to paint. But first I breathed a nice long sign of relief that I had arrived! Yes!

I fished around in my bag for my camera so I could take a couple of pictures. It wasn’t in one pocket, not the other, not in the bottom of the bag. Well, OK, I’ll get the phone out and shoot a few pics, I thought. I couldn’t find that either. So I was without a camera or any device of communication. Let me tell you that was kind of scary! What did we do before cell phones? We were free. But in the 21st century, being free is not an option. After a little bit of panic and anxiety I decided I better get it together, paint and go home.

Thank goodness I found those bits of shells otherwise I didn’t have a good subject. This beach is so long there’s just ocean and sky, no little bay or curve of dune to be interesting. I hadn’t eaten the apple I brought so I arranged it with the shells in the sand at my feet. There’s just something magical about painting things in the bright sunlight with the reflection off the sand. The shadows are sharp and the bright light evens out mid tones so there’s no need to squint.

It’s a good feeling to work with color and form, to be able to forget where and who I am. Some people have the ability to be out of their body at will, their mind off in another world. For me, it’s this moment that I’m gone. Nothing exists but the brush moving against the paper. I don’t have to speak. I have no thoughts in my head, no worries, no concerns, nothing but an empty brain. I might not even be me. I almost don’t exist. It’s great.

I sketched out the apple and shell bits in watercolor paint only. Blending in straight color, making the shapes take form and moving quickly enough to get it done, I finished and was able to lay back in my chair to let it dry. Breathe in and breathe out, and sigh. I was there, I painted and I was done.

Moving On To The Next Thing

After I had my lovely beach day a little while back, right now it feels as if it was a year ago, I decided to look over some of the photos I took in my garden and elsewhere. Some of those photos stand on their own as photographs. Did I really need to work them up as paintings? Some of them just didn’t feel right at that moment. None of the landscapes were pulling me in.

Then I printed out the hydrangea photos I took in the summer when they were at the height of deep blue color. I even flipped the photos upside down to see if a spark would come. Well, I did feel something click and I sketched out the big petals into some kind of composition.

I lightly painted in some shadows on the petals and went in darker with the background. I’m still using the MaimeriBlu watercolor paints and not so sure I’m that thrilled with them. The colors are not the same as the Windsor & Newton paints I have used in the past. So I can’t even tell you which blues I dipped my brush into. I’m just going on instinct and mixing and applying to the paper, which I’m enjoying working with. Thanks to my artist/blogger friends’ suggestions, the Arches paper is making a difference in my work, but I haven’t been able to get going on this piece.

Shall I rant about now? Why not.

The new baby excitement has calmed down and all is well in that area. OK. The idiot light in my studio went out a while back and hasn’t turned on again since. Has it finally decided to quit? Just watch when I call the electrician to fix it, the thing will light. Isn’t that how it always is?

There’s my issue with the watercolor paints, as I mentioned above. Not that happy with them, but spent the money and now I have to use them up. When I think about it I feel discouraged. Move on!

Then there’s the technology thing. On the old PC I knew how to change the size of my photos, enhance the colors, etc. Now with this iMac things are a little different and it just takes me longer to get what I want out of the photos, and from the computer. Cut/paste, new tabs, skipping around looking for help, more to learn. It’s tiring.

Rant over. Time to get on with it.