Year of the Fairy Tale break or... scratch and stipple :-)

Year of the Fairy Tale is on a short break.  Perfect timing because Diane Culhane's online workshop, "Paint Your Garden" started on Monday.  Last year I took a class from her called "Between Speech and Silence" that I enjoyed immensely.  Understandably I was eagerly anticipating this latest offering and I have not been disappointed :-)

Monday - some quick, small studies:

Scratching an imaginary plant.

And then another one...

Next, some fun tree shapes:

A gold one....dab, dab, dab.

A red tree (my favorite)

And finally, more stippling to create the purple one :-)

Studio time is best when the work is all consuming and I lose track of time. But on the other hand, regaining a foot hold in the unfolding day is necessary.  Fortunately I have this guy -

Good dog, Remy.

who reminds me that it's time to take a break and get outdoors for walkies :-)

Assignments done, yay!

The base paintings from a few days ago now look like this:
Yellow red base:

Funny birds, huh.

Blue red base:

This would have to be Romy and Remy with me!

"Between Speech & Silence" assignment

Diane Culhane's "Between Speech and Silence" online class ended last Friday (!) and I have the final two paintings to complete. I tend to do either controlled graphicky things or large, non-objective swashy pieces, but this final assignment is somewhere in the only recently explored "middle". I am thoroughly enjoying this class - it's so freeing to experiment.
So, here is the first base painting:

Light

And here is the second:

Dark

I have some collage elements to add and then I get out the brushes, pens and acrylics. Hm-m-m, I have no idea what will happen :-)

Collage, sticky but true

I can't help it; when I "collage" I become a collage. I have paper bits stuck to my fingers, elbows (really, elbows!), clothing, scissors, brush pens, whatever I have close by. It's fortunate that Remy isn't under my work table or he'd have sticky bits all over his fur!
I'm  in my fourth day of Diane Culhane's online class (a lot of collaging) and I am enjoying it very, very much and also coming to terms with being in the "state of glue" :-)
This is my random placement collage painting class assignment:

I see dogs (a lot) in random elements...

Uh oh, a day late...

with my drawing assignment for the new online class I started yesterday. Carla Sonheim got together three other artists to also do online classes (www.carlasonheim.com/2013-summer-camp/).
I am taking Diane Culhane's "Between Speech and Silence" (www.dianeculhaneart.com) and I am enjoying it...a lot!
Day 1 assignment was to make 3 drawings following certain guidelines. Of the three, this one is my favorite:

Drawing with identifiable objects

Nothing subtle about colored pencil application - just use a lot of pressure :-)