Color and not

Beautiful spring-like weather this morning.  Remy and I were sitting out on the deck listening to the birds and taking in the sunshine.  He likes to flop over and lay his head on my leg and snooze; this being springtime, I come away with a covering of dog fur - major shedding.

This is photo of Remy from earlier this year taken in harsher light:

He's interested in something in the distance.

I've been working away daily in my art journal since early last November.  I am experimenting with the format; the Draw and Misc sections have increased in size.

Here is some color:

Copic markers and gel pen

And some black and gray:

Gel pen

Time for some COLOR :-)

The other day I was out for a brief walk with Remy.  It was a blustery day, a bit chilly, with dried leaves and bare branches in gray and taupe.

Undoubtedly this is why, when I returned to my studio,  I was in the mood for colorful flowers and fruit (an apple and a couple of pears).  I brought out some Copic markers and ink pads to spread some color :-)

Copic markers and ink.

Ink.

I feel better now :-)

Watercolor with music

The Year of the Spark lesson with Lynn Whipple is a further exploration of responding to music in the creative process.

Watercolor paintings with loose drawing... to music :-)

Mixed media - watercolor, graphite and ink

Glazing is amazing :-)

I enjoy using a couple of techniques (a lot) - glazing and sgrafitto.  My focus on these techniques came straight from "Table Top: Drawing and Painting", an online class taught by Diane Culhane.

A few days ago I completed a Table Top-inspired still life.  It began like this:

From "Transparent Layering" blog post

(transparent layering blog post http://darlenecranna.blogspot.com/2015/01/layering-transparent-colors.html )


The next phase is about adding color - layering glazes:

At this point I was unsure of how I would develop this painting differently from previous ones; time to put this aside for a while.

Some days later I came back to it. Next steps:

• Add more glazing. 
• Add definition with opaque layers.
• Sgrafitto for revealing earlier layers and to add texture.

And the finished piece:

"Three Vases with Flowers"

For more about Diane's class, here's a short video http://vimeo.com/77735037

Layering transparent colors

New still life where I used layers and layers of transparent paint.  I have always loved transparency even way, way back when I used an air brush to create colored screens and glass-like panels in imaginary landscapes.

This time I incorporated the techniques of glazing, sgraffito and painting negative shapes that Diane Culhane demonstrated in her online class, Table Top: Drawing and Painting.  For more about Diane Culhane, visit her website http://www.dianeculhaneart.com/

For my still life I chose vases; here is the beginning phase:

Basic line work

An interim phase:

Glazing.

An the finished painting:

"Five Vases" :-)

It's Still Life :-)

A bit tardy, the final painting for Table Top: Drawing and Painting is finished.  Class was so enjoyable and I explored still life painting, a subject that never caught my fancy before.

Here's the still life:

"The Oval Table"

This is how it began:

Whoa, something is different...

The table changed, the flowers changed and some of the veggies became fruit.  How did that happen?  As I think back, I was focused on the paint and I let go of the power of the "line"; the application of paint and the colors indicated the direction of the painting.

As odd as it sounds, relinquishing control is empowering :-)

Table Top Paintings

More still life work from Diane Culhane's online class, Table Top: Drawing and Painting.  I am finishing up the painting assignment.

The emphasis again is on laying down transparent layers and then building more layers, both transparent and opaque, on top.  I became so involved with the technique, I let my improvising slide (see this post).  I figure I will get better with practice :-)

Beginning with a graphite drawing (on a birch panel), transparent layers of primary colors are quickly applied, a nice way to get the paint brush moving and paint on the panel:

Initially two green peppers and a pear...

However, after laying down more and more paint, I decided that apples were calling me more than peppers, hence:

"Pear of Apples"

Mixed media, glazing

The world outside has gone cold and snowy white, but in my studio it's color-wow time :-)

Glazing (the current Table Top: Drawing and Painting lesson), layering transparent color upon color is a lot of fun and perks up this gray day.  Choose some acrylic color, gel medium.  Ink a simple still life sketch and then go...

 

The colors glow.

Improvise

No color this time, simply graphite line work and smudging - and still life, an assignment from Diane Culhane's online class, "Table Top: Drawing and Painting":

I love to sketch.  Vellum is a fabulous surface.

This drawing was fun.  First placing some objects, playing with a variety of line weights and levels of intensity - basically improvising the foreground and background :-)

Vellum-luscious

Ink and colored pencil on vellum - so enjoyable.  There is something about the application of either medium that is rewarding; very smooth, not slick, which results in a nice amount of control.

More class work from Diane Culhane's online class, Table Top: Drawing and Painting:

I have a greater appreciation of bottles :-)

Still life as subject matter... its appeal is growing.

Hatching(s)

Usually I don't gravitate toward still life drawing; and that is why I wanted to explore it.  When Carla Sonheim offered Diane Culhane's online class, "Table Top: Drawing and Painting" for a second time, it was an opportunity I had to seize :-)

I have taken two other class by Diane, Between Speech and Silence and Paint Your Garden and I thoroughly enjoyed them.  I like Diane's whimsical, exploratory approach to drawing and painting and her teaching style is fun.

So on to some drawing.  This is a warm up sketch, wonky lines and all:

graphite and charcoal

Next, all kinds of hatching...here, begin with a quick sketch for placement and then just let the colored pencils go:

colored pencil on black card stock