Progress

 

I managed to work on one of my paintings yesterday after all. It's by no means finished, but I am happy working on it as the spirits move me. I wish the light were better in the studio today so the photos would be truer, but it's pouring rain and dark out. 

It's interesting to see the progression. As you can see I added thins and then painted them out again. It's quite a forgiving process. I haven't moved on the first painting this week. I am not sure what I want to do with it yet. I have another blank canvass sitting here and I may just lay some paint down on that one later tonight.

I forgot to post this photo of all the 15 little quiltlets I stitched for a exchange I am in. It's for a Teesha Moore style project. It was a true labour of love making these, as it's really difficult to stitch with hands you can't feel. Imagine trying to thread a needle wearing oven mitts and you'll have some idea what it's like. 

Despite the challenge, it was fun to pick through my collections of vintage celluloid, Bakelite and mother of pearl buttons and to find that perfect scrap of lace for each one. I used mostly Aunt Gracie reproduction 1920 and 30's fabrics. I sent the whole lot off and am now awaiting the returns. I am sure they will be beautiful! 

Finding A Sweet Spot

This is the second canvass I worked on last week. I started by laying down some purples and greys and didn't like it at all. The good thing about painting is that if you don't like something, you can paint over it, again and again...and again and again if need be. Yes, that actually happens. As I was painting over the displeasing parts for the umpteenth time, this small section of yellow/orange was left and I decided I really liked it.

I had this old photo of a lifeguard which I love-just look at that bathing suit-what's not to love!?! I wanted to create a rough circle around the sweet spot where the photo would go, so I ran to our cupboard and stole the lid off an unopened tin of my husband's coffee. (Fortunately, he's used to me doing this sort of thing and didn't mind when I mentioned it later.) I mixed some red paint with a hint of black and then ran the rim of the lid around in it before using it to "stamp" the circle onto my canvass. I wanted it to look rough so I twisted the lid as I pressed and then added some circle lines afterwards with a stabillio pencil.

That's as far as I went because I wanted to wait and see what techniques we'd be learning this week. There are four new ones, so now I can move on. The only thing is that now I am in the middle of a miserable hay fever attack so I haven't felt up to painting yet this week. I hate losing momentum, but it is what it is. In the meantime, I'm couch surfing, drinking tea and watching documentaries on Nextflix. As soon as I feel better, I'll be diving right back in.

Laying It Down

The 6 week online class Daring Adventures in Paint started today. I spent the morning laying paint down on my first canvas. As I was doing it, I kept reminding myself not to get too invested to anything that was happening because I knew I was building layers and things could change. This was very freeing because if I did something I really didn't like (and yes, that really did happen!) I could simply paint over it. What you see above is where I called it good.

I kinda liked the weird little purple cloud that appeared so I wanted to keep that part and I added some raindrops. Unfortunately, I took this photo at night in my studio, so the colours look washed out, rather than vibrant like they are in real life, but you get the gist. I'll try and remember to get a better photo tomorrow before I continue working on it.  I also added the chevrons, which are actually quite textured. They built up from the surface of the painting. I like that too.

I decided to stop here for today because there is a lesson every day this week and I don't want to get so far ahead that I can't try things as they unfold. Sadly, my day tomorrow is taken up with medical stuff. (I am half temped to fashion a bumper sticker that says "I'd rather be painting." and plaster it across my forehead when I go to the neuro's...truth in advertising people!) 

Tomorrow my goal is to get back to the studio as fast as I can.