Wineglass Study

         

8" x 10" study in oils

Hi! I shared the photo for this in my last post. As I was painting this small piece, I was thinking about how to do it bigger and better. I like the simplicity of the color palette but next time I'm going to add a small hors d'oeuvre plate, or grapes? I'll experiment more with the compostition.

Here was the first step in the process of this 8x10. This is in acrylic. I like to get the composition down in one day if I can. 

This next one is after working over the acrylics in oils for a couple sessions.

I'm happy to be painting again! Gotta keep my creative muscles strong!

"Don't wait for inspiration. It comes while working." - Henri Matisse

Thanks so much for stopping by! Cheers!

Time is an issue - or is it me?

This is an approximately 4.5" x 6.5" oil painting on canvas paper. I did it because I had to paint something! Time gets away from you. It flies, it passes, it marches on, etc. It's always moving and I'm trying to get with the sands. (Of time - wink wink).

I would say I'm trying to get back to a younger version of myself, the one who was hanging paintings in exhibits and local art shows. But that's not really true. Time has passed and I'm different. Although I haven't stopped painting entirely, I did an over-ten-year-long zig-zag of learning more about being an illustrator. So, that's what I did. I didn't become an illustrator, I learned. A LOT. Possibly more than I would have if I had simply kept painting. Maybe I'll go back to exhibiting, but my work will be different. Hopefully, better. 

Time (life) takes you down so many paths, it's inconceivable. Some of them you choose, some are chosen for you. But if there's something you love - something you just have to do to stay alive - you have to make the time for it. It's all about time management. Figuring out how to put yourself first. I have a habit of putting my art on my daily to-do list and then saving it for last. That hasn't been working out for me.

I haven't even been thinking like an artist for a long while. Shame on me. When I say thinking like an artist, I mean noticing a beautiful object, or the way the light plays on something, and saying to yourself, "that would make a cool painting." I had stopped doing that! But . . . look what I noticed a couple of days ago:

Look how pretty the reflections! - all the stripes from the blinds and in the glass! I've already started a small painting of it - a study to maybe turn into a larger version. Yahoo!

Here's a couple steps along the way to the hourglass piece. Notice how the bottom right of the hourglass in the bottom image looks like it is lower than the left side. Turning the piece upside down when you're working on it, can help you see and fix mistakes like that more easily.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wet Paint Face Lift

 A facelift!

My blog has looked the same for several years, so I thought it was time to freshen it up.

A couple of weeks ago I was playing around with layout options, and I ended up losing my original! I wasn't actually prepared for that, and was in a mad scramble to get it back. I couldn't find my original Wet Paint artwork anywhere! I put up a couple of place holders for all of 15 minutes each, then in desperation pulled up Procreate and created this one below as a substitute until I had more time. 

I don't know if I've shared any process steps for my digital Procreate pieces yet, but here is how I built up my newest title page/ banner/ header.

I began with this piece of embossed paper (using an embossing folder from Spellbinders). I photographed it and cropped it to the size I wanted.

I then create new layers, playing around with different ideas. Below is one I almost went with.

Here I experimented with the splatter brush in the spray paints. I just threw different colors down and then went in with the smudge tool, and smudged it up a bit here and there. So, below, you're just seeing two layers - the original photo of the embossed paper, and the splatter layer. 

Next came the words (layer 3). I chose my typestyle and size in white. Then, copied and pasted the same text, but positioned it slightly below and to the right of the original. This created layer 4. Using the adjustments, I took the brightness of this second text layer down to black, and positioned it behind the first text layer.

When I had that the way I liked it, I merged layers 3 and 4 into one text layer so that I could do the next step - LIQUIFY. I love liquify! It is also under adjustments. I just "pushed" the text around to distort it a bit. I also dimmed down the brightness again because I wanted highlights to show up.

In the final, top layer, shown at the top of the page, I've added bright white highlights to the letters and to the water droplets.

These are highlights using the flare brush under Luminance. I created them on two different layers so that the second one could be turned vertically. I then moved the vertical flare over the top of the horizontal flare, and then merge them onto the same layer. After that I copied and pasted as many as I wanted. They all ended up on different layers, but that makes them easy to move around, and size-adjust as needed, and they can always be merged into one layer if I like.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Symbol of Gratitude

I came across this a couple of years ago - the universal symbol of gratitude, (with a fun background I created in Procreate). 

I would like to be able to tell you more about the symbol itself but, alas, could find no good information when I googled it. It is considered a modern symbol which as far as I know could mean it was designed in the last 20 to 200 years. It is believed the spiral goes back to ancient Celtic designs. If anyone finds or knows more information, please share in the comments and I will update this post.

I've kept a journal now for many years. Usually, a spiral bound notebook in which I can write all my deepest, darkest thoughts, and then tear into a million tiny pieces and burn when I'm done, as if I fear someone is going to pull the notebook out of my trash can and have me committed, proof that I shouldn't be out on the street. I insist to you that I am okay to be out on the street. As far as I know.

I used to do a lot of venting on the pages. Woe is me. Why me? Why not me? Poor me. I thought that if I wrote down my complaints, they would stay on the page and not in my head. Well, it didn't work like that. The more I complained about anything, the worse I felt.

So, I started practicing gratitude. At first, I wrote down 10 new things each day for which I was grateful. It didn't take long to start to feel different. Blessed.

I still do some venting. I'm human after all. But once my complaint is on the page, I try to counter it with seeing things from a different perspective, solving the problem when possible, or acceptance. Then, I switch courses and write about something good, and I sign off with the symbol of gratitude.

I also try my best to live in gratitude. 

For example: I was very excited about the total solar eclipse that happened right in my own backyard. I lived in gratitude with the the anticipation. The anticipation was a fun and important part of the big event. The total eclipse itself lasted only about 3 1/2 minutes. There was so much more to be grateful for! The weeks, and months, and even years leading up to it. The fact that it was coming! It was going to happen! I was grateful for that too. Don't forget to be grateful for the experience of looking forward to something.

Lastly, our family moment of gratitude:

As the sun came back out, my niece, Tara looked at us and said' "should we do a group hug?"

Hell yeah! and God bless her! - Grateful.

We have this photo because our daughter Ashley, who wasn't able to be with us, suggested a time lapse video and this is a still shot I pulled from it. Grateful.

Thanks for stopping by! Grateful.

Tilly - Child Portrait in Oils

Here is Tilly! One of my beautiful grandchildren. I took the photo last April when we visited my son and his family in Tennessee. He's quite the model and had no problem striking the poses. I had a lot of shots to choose from. Haha!

Here's the first progress photo I took. This is acrylic.

Here I started with the oil paints. I was saving his face to the end. This is only a 16 x 20 so his face was going to very small to work on, and I was going to need a lot of patience!

More oil paint application, and trying to get the colors right.

Starting to tackle the face.

Getting the proportions right. At this point I'm nearly done. 

I just had details to work out (for example, finish his hand holding the bar).

As always, thank you so much for stopping by!

The First Pearl - by Tracy Onoz

 

Long, long ago, in the shallows of a vast ocean, a beam of light slipped in through the crack of an oyster’s shell, and tickled his eyelashes. He awoke with a start, and giggled.

The little oyster peered up through the dark water, to a beautiful face floating among the stars. 

He called to the old oyster beside him. “Hey! Have you seen the moon tonight?”

“I see her every night,” grumped his neighbor.

“But tonight she’s completely round! Isn’t she beautiful?”

“Go back to sleep!”

The little oyster was too excited to sleep. He called to his friend the seahorse.

“Hey! Isn’t the moon beautiful tonight?”

“Sure. I guess so,” said the seahorse.

“She does so much for us. I want to do something nice for her. I want to be her friend.” 

The seahorse scoffed. “She travels the world, and can be friends with anyone. Why would she want to be friends with an oyster?”

The little oyster pulled his shell closed. THUNK! What was wrong with oysters?

As he sat inside, wondering what to do, he picked off a grain of sand that had been irritating the sensitive folds of his skin. He wrapped it in some of the lining from the inside of his shell. It looked just like a teensy moon! That gave him an idea.

“Hey!” he shouted to his neighbor again. ”Look at this!”

“What is it now?”

“I’ve made a gift for the moon!”

“A grain of sand?”

“More than that. I wrapped it in the lining from my shell, and it looks just like her!”

“Hmmph!" grouched his neighbor. "Why would she want something so small and worthless?”

The little oyster again shut his shell. SLAM!  

Months passed as he worked to make his gift bigger and bigger. In the meantime, he continued to watch the moon. She was always changing. Some nights she was so thin she disappeared completely. Other nights she was round and lit up the whole sky.

Though she was busy pulling the great ocean waters in and out from the shore, she never

failed to notice him. Sometimes she would even play peek-a-boo with him among the

clouds.

After three years the gift had reached a size that the oyster was happy with. He was ready

to present it to her and waited for the seahorse to swim by.  

“Hey!” he called, “I need someone to take this to the moon!”

The seahorse swam closer and gasped. “It’s beautiful! But I cannot swim to the moon.”

Hmmmm. The little oyster hadn’t thought of that.

“But . . . maybe I can give it to a sea star to place on the shore. It will glow against the dark

sand tonight and I’m sure she’ll notice it.”

“Oh! Thank you!” said the oyster.

He handed the beautiful pearl over to the seahorse and pulled his shell closed. Click.  

That evening a beam of light slipped in through the crack of his shell and tickled his

eyelashes. He heard a knock. He opened his shell to find the seahorse and the sea star

waiting impatiently outside. 

“The moon is weeping and she wants to speak to you!” they exclaimed.

Had he somehow offended her?

 

The sea star picked him gently up in two of his arms and the three of them rose to the

surface.

Air washed over them as they broke the surface and looked up at the moon through her

tears. 

She spoke. “My dear little friend, no one has ever given me a gift before.”

“Do you hate it?” asked the oyster.

“Of course not. These are happy tears. I wanted to thank you.”

The moon had called him her friend. A giant bubble of happiness rose in his heart. He was

 just a tiny creature in a vast ocean, but he had done something very big.

To this day, oysters pay tribute to the moon by making beautiful pearls. If you’re outside 

some night and feel raindrops, though the moon shines bright, make a wish. That is the

moon sharing her happiness with you.

 THE END

    

     I hope you enjoyed my story. I've been meaning to post it for quite a while, and I thought that the week leading up to a total solar eclipse would be an appropriate time. The moon has a very important job to do on April 8th: entertain the masses!

     I live in the path of totality, so I'll have a once in a lifetime opportunity of experiencing it in my own backyard. 

     P.S. Have you ever experienced rain while the moon was shining? I remember experiencing it once, but it was before I wrote the first draft of "The First Pearl" (more than 25 years ago). It would be like experiencing rain while the sun is shining which does happen occasionally.

Thanks for stopping by!