Landscape or Landfill?

I'm very excited about the series of paintings I'm calling "Land Scopes".  Naturally, there's an occasional 'practice' piece. Watercolor is not forgiving; it's easy to make mud. I always try to salvage the picture by adding another medium, so I applied oil pastels. The colors were vibrant, but it still didn't do it for me. I was getting ready to pick up the scissors and make a collage out of it when I turned it upside down to look at. I liked it. Ha

What do you think? Do you like one? Which one? What do you like about it? Should it just become 'Land Fill?'

This is the original

Night and day photos

This is the same painting photographed in morning daylight and night time by lamp light.
It was startling for me to see as I tend to be rather casual around taking pictures of my work. I generally just do a quick snap with the Ipad for ease of posting on the blog. I like both of these, but might actually choose the warmer, lighter one (lamplight).

Grapes Alone

Very interesting Mindfulness Art Group this week. The prompt was about simple vs complicated.

We were asked to start with a simple drawiing of an object. There were grapes in a bowl on the counter. There were raspberries as well. I decided to simplify by only drawing the grapes

I also did not belabor making the picture. It was very fast.  Simple. I tend to overdo warercolors. They can get very muddy. Not pretty. Click the pic-this is the good one.

The Paper Makes the Difference

I've been noticing how the kind of paper I choose for each picture makes a difference in the work.
I'd been using a lot of inexpensive paper. It's 140lb., cold press and it's
got some texture in it. But more often now, I'm using a better brand, and the paint is not absorbed as readily. I'm also using larger paper again. It really makes a difference in my posture, the way I hold the brush, and the subject matter. I don't always have the energy to paint small and with great detail, on a paper about 5X8.

What's It To You?

The only concept I had here, at the start, was to do something with layers. I enjoyed  working with these colors, and I used the better paper which I left unpainted in parts. It is meant to be abstract, but I think it looks like ...something. What do you think it looks like?
Click the pic

Happy Birthday Millie

The rhododendrons were so beautiful this year. Too bad the rain trashed them. It seems that many beautiful flowers bloom for a short time. We must enjoy them while they're here. I made many sketches of the rhodies, always finding them a challenge. I tried different paints trying to get the color. I tried wetting the paper; dry paper, dry brush. I drew with pencil, marker, watercolor pencil.
I finally came up with this ink and wash that I like a lot. It feels kinda loose and has an ease about it.
Millie liked it too, as I used the image for her birthday card. (It's today, June 12th) Click the pic

Happy Birthday Millie

Earthly Delight

Haven't been able to get the idea of an over and under at the same time image out of my head. I'm also fascinated with cross sections. It's all about layers. Waterccolor requires layers of another sort: washes of colors on top of each other build the picture. As I've done in the past, I start at the bottom of the page and build the layers going up. What does it all mean? Not sure, but it's deep.
Click to enlarge.

Mindless Mindfulness

 Had a wonderful Mindfulness Art class with Deb.  The theme was "adding". We were exploring the concept of how drawings (and life) change when we add something. Sometimes in class I feel very philosophical and conduct experiments and think a lot. In this class, I was feeling rather laid back. There was a bowl of beautiful strawberries out on the table and everyone chose to make them the subject of their pictures. Here's my contribution. In the first piece, the black and white, I used pencil for the drawing, then added pen. In the second, as you can see, I added colors. It was all very pleasant for me. It was a mindless, mindfulness session. Click on the pic

Look At It This Way...

Inspiration for making pictures can come from just about anywhere. I’ll tell you how this one came about.

I saw some absolutely fabulous photos capturing life above and below sea level at the same time.  http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/matty-smith-over-under-ocean-photos

Knowing my friend, Kay Canavino, loves this kind of thing, I sent her the link. We had a lively discussion about the pictures. Shortly after, I Googled some phrases like above and below ground and clicked on ‘images’ at the top of the page. I found a photo that I liked and used it for a reference for this painting.

It’s actually not the first time I’ve painted layers. I have painted many. Here are some:
http://andreafeldmanstudio.blogspot.com/2014/01/for-love-of-layers.html

Circle Game

I often look to painting as a moving meditation. Just getting my materials set up can help to calm me down. Sometimes though, I stall when I face the empty paper, because I don't know what to paint. When that happens, I paint circles. That's my default. It's very useful in getting directly down to painting, rather than having to search for inspiration. Once I get started, I become absorbed in the process and enjoy the soothing benefit I was seeking.
Click to enlarge.