Put your brush down..

"Put your brush down and step away from the easel", I said out loud to an empty studio. I lifted my gaze to take in the marbled blue sky, and new growth green. There's plenty of flower litter that didn't get processed before the winter. I can go out and do some snipping. The deck furniture can come out of the shed. Hmm, the shed. I've had to bang on the door, wait respectfully (ha!) then toss a rock through the open door. Nothing. Not a sound until I step through the door. That's when she flies over my head and I curse. I haven't seen her babies, but I know the nest is up on the top shelf, probably cozy in the car emergency kit carton. It's got a mylar blanket which the family of squirrels must prize as their ultra-modern winter rental. Well hopefully they're out now as I should be.
It's  time for me to stop messing around, put on my shoes and go outside.

My Millie

Andrea in Wanderland

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."
"I don't much care where –"
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland 

It had been an ideal Sunday. We meandered, we shopped, we sat outside as we ate our lunch.

"Sure, I'll do a little painting", I thought. "What shall I paint?" It didn't much matter as long as I could experience pulling the colors along the paper. I happily filled the larger-than-usual page with random images.

Gee-o

I'd been struggling with a painting of a fence and field of wildflowers in painting group. It was a tricky composition with perspective, lots of greens and large spaces to fill. I continued to work on it when I got home, but ended up tossing it after a half-hearted attempt to salvage it. I don't think I was very into it to begin with. In fact, it took me quite a lor of Googling before I settled on that photo reference.

It didn't occur to me until the next morning, that I might change the frustration energy by just sitting down to a blank page to play. I have found in the past, that making shapes, dragging colors around  the page, using a variety of mediums, is very freeing. Little thinking goes into my fun fest. Because I think of it as practice, there's no pressure to produce something frameable.
It's just like how I cook; I grab a little of this and some of that, and add a pinch or a dollop. It's a very intuitive process, and it always comes out delicious.

Building Birches

Well, I am loving this gesso and the acrylic white paint. I enjoy the lightness and ease of watercolor on paper, but am also attracted to the sculpting properties of oils and acrylics. Sooo-I had the beginnings of a bunch of birches not going anywhere. I gessoed the entire page of 200lb watercolor paper. When the gesso dried, I painted on top of it with watercolor, then proceded to heap tons of acrylic on it, which was very satisfying. The paper became heavier, less absorbent and textured almost like stucco.

Watercolor: Saving the fails

Gesso is used to prime canvas for oil paint or acrylic. I watched a demo using it on paper for watercolors and mixed media. It was applied as a wash over the paint to create texture and mood.

These two pictures hadn't worked out the way I had hoped and I had put them aside. Then I decided to apply a gesso wash to them to see what I would get. I had nothing to lose I was going to trash them.

I applied the gesso carefully over the whole page. When dry, the image had softened. It left a sort of white gauze over the page and a gritty texture. Then I was able to go back and bring up selected parts. I used watercolors, watercolor pencil, pastel pencil, and/or some white acrylic.

As watercolor is so unforgiving, this is a way to get new life from a picture.

Stepping Across

Wow! Where have I been? Dunno. Just know I haven't been posting. I have, however, been drawing and painting. I had an idea to paint stepping stones as a new subject. I like the metaphoric, multiple meanings. I found a photo online

and started from there. I sketched on my paper, 11 x 14, which is twice as large as the screen on my Ipad. I extended the sides, the top and bottom. . I did not enlarge the stones. It was not intentional; I just wasn't thinking. The very thing I wanted to be the focus of my picture, shrunk in relation to all that water. I also changed the scale by accident. It's real easy to change the whole composition, if that's what you want. I enjoyed making this piece, but if I do it again, I would address the issues I just listed. Oh well. I'll use this experience as a stepping stone to creating pictures closer to what I envision.

The Daily Dahlia

As you may know, I've been struggling with drawing/painting a big red dahlia from a not-so-great photo that I took last summer. I painted this one and it took so long and when I finished, I realized that I wasn't clear on what else would be in the picture. I began to doodle and so the spheres arrived on the page. I then remembered a video demo I saw recently where the artist used a wash of gesso on top of his watercolors. The result was soft, dreamy texture and muted colors. I'd been wanting to try it so here was the perfect opportunity. I wasn't afraid of ruining anything... So I put about 1/2 teaspoon of white gesso in a plasic cup, added about a tbsp of water, swished it around, then white washed everything on the page except the dahlia. Here's what it looks like. I really like the effects of the gesso background with the detailed flower in the spotlight. To make this piece I used watercolor, watercolor pencils, gesso, gloss medium to make the flower a little shiney, pastel pencil and ink. It's 1/4 sheet of watercolor paper or about 11"x14". Click the pic to make larger.

Hello Dahlia

I had a photo of a big red dahlia from my garden last summer and I wanted to paint it. I struggled and started over three times. It's amazingly complex and I continually overworked the paint. I was attempting to build up translucent washes of watercolor that would create a feathery scarlet hombre, with subtle shadows and accurate but impressionistic detail. Hah!

Since I hadn't mastered the painting of it, I decided to go back to drawing it. I enjoyed that, especially as I decided to use various pencils, pens and charcoal. Messy but satisfying. I think I'll practice painting the dahlia another time.

Back to Birchin'

I love watercolor. I love everything about it. I love that it's so challenging. I love that it's so easy to wreck a picture. Making mud on the page or putting in too much content is so easy to do. I respect that. I'll make a sketch in pencil, watercolor pencil and/or paint. Sometimes, if it's the first time I'm doing something, I have to do it over and over. Getting the pic the way I want it rarely happens on the first try. Of course, the hope is that I improve with each attempt. If it doesn't get better, if I'm no longer enjoying the process, I stop and do something else. I may or may not come back to it.

Here is a birch pic as an example.


#1 In this first try, I used masking fluid to keep the the trees white while I painted the background. The background also got some masking in random areas. I thought that might be interesting. It wasn't. It looked like the paper was torn. I also made mud out of the trees. So I decided to do it again.

#2 I can't explain this one. I just was not in the flow.

#3 Getting closer, but I went too quickly as I often do. I did not tend
to the little island part that should anchor the trees.

#4 Finally. I felt like I could live with this one. I like the more stark look
of the background and trees. I also like the little dots of red flowers. Less is more.

Need to get out more

Wow! Sitting in front of the computer is so hard on my brain and the rest of my body. After an hour or  two (sometimes I lose track of time), I'm exhausted, not to mention creaky when I finally stand.

The thing is, I'm in between websites. I don't have any place to send people to look at my pictures. I'm also leery of this blog program. I've used it for a while but it broke once and it could again. I would be very upset if I lost the hundreds of posts I've created.

There are a number of universal tools for designing on line, but each program has it's own rules and quirks. My teeth ache from even talking about it. There are thousands of details and decisions involved. It's like redoing your kitchen.

Oh well. I will keep plugging away. Hmm...I think I'm ready for a nap.

Birch Close Up

What shall I paint? As a fairly new painter, I sometimes get stuck in deciding what subject to use. The one area I've continued to explore is nature, particularly trees. They are right outside my window. But sometimes I feel too nudgy and want to do something else.  I want to try something that seems manageable, not that will make me feel too frustrated. If a painting causes frustration, I need to try something else. After all, the whole point is to enjoy what I'm doing.

Some painters use the same imagery over and over. I'm doing that myself lately. There's so much to discover and learn. No two painting experiences are ever alike. There are so many variables at play that choosing the subject is only a part of the process.

What colors will I use? What type of paper? What size paper? Do I want to try a particular style or texture? What should the scale be? Close up and magnified, a good distance away, or both?

If there's anything I want my pictures to convey, it's a sense of peace. The trick is to have a soothing creative experience.

Birchin'

Admire the birch.
She grows with enthusiasm under the harshest conditions.
Extreme climate nor little sunlight, will dampen her brightness.
A pioneer, she's the first to put down roots after the forest is leveled by men or by fire.
So bold and beautiful, yet she has her gnarly parts, too.
 

Birchin' Watercolor 11"x14" by Andrea Feldman

I LOVE Winter

Conditions: 10:00AM

-9^°F  Feels Like -28^°

 

Life's a birch

Slipped away from my blogging habit. I've got a closet full of reasons why. But I do miss it. One huge challenge has been trying to get my notices out via blogger again. For some reason it broke and none of my subscribers have been receiving anything. I am going to try doing it on my own with Mail Chimp. I would appreciate your letting me know that you received my notice. There will be a link for you to email me.

Meanwhile, I have continued to paint. Birch trees have tickled me, as you know if you've been following along. Here's an installment from a couple of weeks ago.

Life's a Birch 11"x14" Watercolor 

Last of the birches?

Probably not the last time I'll paint birches. I've enjoyed my time spent with these unusual trees. I will continue to learn how to paint them. Meanwhile, this is the final one I will do of this image. To see the earlier attempts go to blog post 'No Scrubbing', January 27.

I continued to run into difficulties with this painting. I had put so much detail into the background but when I finally put in the trees, I discovered they fought with all the foliage. I had to simplify the background to be able to see the trees.

I also wanted to find a way to make the branches lighter and thinner so they also wouldn't take away from the trees so I used watercolor pencil.

Going Around in Spirals

Techno? Not. Well apparently not techno enough. My frustration is escalating. Hence, 'spirals' instead of 'circles'.

I've been trying to sort out how to get Blogger and Feedburner to resume sending out email announcements to my blog subscribers. It stopped a couple of months ago. It's a long, boring story so I won't go in to it. Anyway, I hope to figure it out soon.

If you'd like to be on the subscriber list, send me an email and as soon as I get it sorted out you'll start receiving sporadic email from me.  Meanwhile you are welcome to visit the Blog at any time. You can access archives going back to 2013.

I like to show my watercolors and write about them on the blog. I started painting while I went
through chemotherapy in 2012. Painting has become my moving meditation practice. I love the entire process including preparing to paint and shopping for supplies.

No scrubbing!

#1

#2

I call it "scrubbing".  I think it's actually called that. It's when you paint over brush strokes, too impatient to wait until it dries. So you basically make mud and have to trash the piece because there are one or several areas on your paper that definitely don't look like they belong there or in any picture.

Tap on the pictures to enlarge.

#1 I was working on this piece in my painting group, but didn't finish. I wanted to add definition to the trees, and probably lighten up the background for more contrast.


#2 I softened the background a bit, but the trees did not stand out as I hoped they would.

#3

#3 Went overboard with the shadowing on the trees thinking if they were darker they would stand out more.. When you keep adding color when the paper is still wet you get mud.

#4

#4There was no going back, so I picked up the oil pastels to see if I could lighten up the trees by adding white. There was way too much dark paint on the paper and I was unable to get the effect I was after. Impatiently, I just colored in  everything. Oh well. Back to the drawing board.

Winter Haikus

Well, I can really get lost in a picture. I think it was actually finished maybe 3 or 4 times, but it was a new image for me and I'd never drawn or painted a birch tree before. This is about my zillionth try.

One has to know when to stop...

Winter Haikus

I'm home, it's winter

It's cold,  the wind is howling

Maybe it's nap time

Winter separates

Other seasons connect us

Can't wait for the spring

Dreamy Landescape

Don't know why I chose late summer for today's picture. Probably because the weather was so dreary and gray. I needed a little color pick-me-up. I can dream, can't I?