RedWine and Cherries

Hopefully this will be the last post of this decantur and cherries...sure has taken me longer to finish than usual.  I'll admit though, I was only working on this at art retreat, and that's a crazy place to do really delicate or focus needing work...we have too much giggling and talking going on.  I've darkened the burgundy colors considerably, but the reds are still a problem on my new monitor...they're not this bright in real life.  It's always a learning curve when you're not a "techie".  I needed to get this one finished so I could concentrate on the demos I'm giving when our PaintingFriends group meets again this summer in Florida.  They want to paint crystal again, and this round we're adding some silver, a bit of collage that Suzy Powell (from way out in West Texas came here to teach), and also some weaving techniques that Suzy taught.  It looks like I've got a busy few weeks ahead of me for sure.

Red Wine and Cherries

Things are getting pretty much wound up on this painting of crystal.  I have some value corrections and edges to clean up, but I'll live with the burgundy area of the decantur for a few days and decide just how much to darken the colors.  I'm thinking two or three values deeper in the burgundy.  It's amazing what we can see once the piece is condensed in the posting process...and it's right in front of me all along.  It's been a bit of a challenge with all the angles and facets, but I always love painting crystal and anything reds...with cherries and strawberries being my favorites.

Sweet As Sugar

Earlier this week I found a fabulous silver tea set at a little neighborhood antique shop (and my neighborhood is out in the country).  I was looking for a piece of silver to use in a demo for our PaintingFriends group when we go back to Florida for a week of painting and fun this summer.  Since I'm doing a demo of crystal, I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone by adding a piece of silver to the composition as my artist friends also wanted a silver demo.  Unbelieveably, I found this fabulous ornate set...coffee pot, tea pot, cream and sugar...price $37.50.  That is a wonderful price for a set of props that we all think we need to collect for our setups.  I have a whole closet full of glass and crystal, and now I have some silver.   This sugar bowl  has not been polished, so I just painted what I saw...next time anything is used it'll be bright and shiny.  I love the way the reflections move in crystal and glass and silver as you don't really need to explain anything...just paint what you see.  One thing...I did paint myself out of the reflection that was caught with my camera...didn't want to paint myself.

Monochromatic Exercise

Here is a little fun exercise I did yesterday for a challenge on PaintingFriends...a monochromatic painting using just one color.  I chose DS phalo blue and sorta cheated in that I just used one of the poppies I'd finished painting for another challenge.  Seems like we're always doing something on that forum.  It's funny how you see things easier when you've already painting a particular subject once.  I did have to think about what I was doing a bit more than my usual spontaneous way of painting in that the values must be done carefully and the glazes must be done on completely dry previous washes so they won't lift and turn grainy.  The yellow tint there on the left is my camera acting up.   This was fun.  Now...I really must get back to that crystal decantur...

Poppies

Here's the finished painting of my poppy challenge for PaintingFriends.  This was lots of fun as my palette was really limited, and I don't paint florals very much (I can probably count the number on my right hand...ha) so this was a switch from the crystal decantur that I've got to get back to now.  These poppies...along with some gorgeous red peony poppies...are near 4'-5' tall this season...and the larkspur in several colors are even taller.  Our winter rains really made all the difference.  As you can see, I've taken artistic liberties with the centers of these poppies, as they're really solid green at this stage, but I couldn't help adding a bit of interesting color.  Just wish they lasted as cut flowers...

Poppy Challenge WIP

I was hoping to get finished today at art retreat, but seems like something always gets in the way...like giggling and talking and girl talk stuff so maybe tomorrow will be the day.  My idea is to finish the bottom poppy and then see what I need to do in the way of balancing values and colors in the greens and background.  Don't want to kill too many of the whites until I see how glaring they are and deciding just how much I want to tone it down a notch.  I find that leaving lots of whites here and there is becoming a habit with me, but you can always kill them.  Gosh...sure hate to kill whites...

Poppy Challenge WIP

Well, I have 2 WIP's going right now.  On my forum, www.paintingfriends.com, I put up a challenge to paint some of the gorgeous poppies that are blooming in my yard right now, and since I put the challenge up I need to paint it myself.  I posted 2 photos of different poppies and combined the drawings into a quarter sheet.  Added some unopened buds and a seed head and leaves to the composition.  I'm especially having fun with the centers of these beauties.  You are welcome to take a look at the challenge and join in if you'd like.

I'll try to finish up today so I can get back to my crystal decantur and that one finished up also...