We had a good Christmas with a minor snafu.  One son’s absence was very evident–a few minutes via video mail to Wisconsin had to suffice.  My other son, the host, cooked a prime rib again only not on the grill…  The propane tank had the wrong nozzle and, therefore, couldn’t be used for the grill.  The scramble was on for a roasting pan large enough to fit a 19-lb roast.  Pan located, rack missing.  Rack was at ‘the shop’.  A trip to the shop to retrieve the rack also bagged some coffee as there was none at home to serve invited guests.  Grazing on desserts, salsa, crackers, cheeses, guacamole and chips and creating festive trial “eggnogs” afforded us to embibe in more conversation than what otherwise would have been had.  Once everyone arrived, attacked the presents under the tree and cousins played for awhile in the playroom in the basement, the roast was finished and we were hungry enough to enjoy it.  More conversation ensued, cousins left and the base family’s home returned to normal…  Merry Christmas and may God bless you all.

Kate

I had forgotten that the book was on its way to me so when I opened the package, it was a very pleasant surprise to behold, indeed.  My dream since, well…  forever, has been to spend a month in Provence painting and living as the natives do.  Looking at Julian’s wonderful work has hastened the urgency to make it happen.  I spent about hours last night just taking each painting in, as though I was standing behind him watching him paint.  Oh, to be a fly on the wall…

I love that he paints with so much bright color.  In print, they are living beings.  In person, they must be overwhelming.  It has to be much like seeing Van Gogh’s The Cottage (1885) for the first time at MoMA in NY in the Van Gogh And The Colors Of The Night exhibit.  On-line and in the accompanying book to the exhibit, the painting is dark and unlikable.  But in person, it breathes.  It has life.  It lives.  I couldn’t walk away from it.  You HAVE to see it in person to know what I mean.  It’s the very same with Postcard from Provence.  I will spend more hours with it, just in awe.

I have only just started painting en plein air and Julian’s book has inspired me to explore more defiantly.  The book is an awesome addition to anyone’s collection, especially artists.

I was on Danny Gregory’s site and noticed he tweeted about Patti & Jack visiting Chuck Close and I thought I’d share my Chuck Close project with you.

This is my favorite picture of my sons when they were little.  I thought it would be a nice project to do as a keepsake for each of them.  It is not easy to do but it is very fun.  What I have finished here took me almost 30 hours to do.  You should give it a try.  Maybe start with a picture of your favorite stuffed animal or cup or something like that.  Here’s how I got started:

1.  Preparing the image.

I imaged the photo into my scanner and printed it out as an 8×10 on plain paper with the color exaggerated, in great detail, so I could get a good contrast between lights and darks as well as pick up on what colors to use.  In MS Word, I set up a grid with 1/4″ squares.  I put my printed photo page in the printer again and printed my Word grid right on top of the photo.  Then I penciled numbers along one side of the page and letters along the other side.

2.  Make sketches.

It’s always good to do a few sketches before you paint.  I find it’s like a pre-painting.  It forces you to look at the scene and dissect it into parts.  You’re made to figure out the lights, the darks, and the shapes, not only painting them in your mind but physically seeing what you need to do on the canvas.  It’s like you’re being “primed” in a way to get ready for this painting.

3.  Preparing the canvas.

I base coated my canvas with a colored gesso that I tinted with a little green acrylic paint.  When it dried, I marked out and lined a grid on the canvas with an HB pencil.  My squares are 1/2″.  I then marked the sides to correspond with my printed photo.

4.  Choosing the palette.

I usually use Jo Sonja acrylic paints for the special projects I work on.  They have some really unique colors, effects and finishes.  My palette for this painting is:  Warm White, Naples Yellow Hue, Yellow Light, Gold Oxide, Purple Madder, Ultramarine, and Jade.  I first picked out the colors I really liked.  To make sure they’d be combinations I like when blended, I do “mixture triangles.”  (See Johannes Itten’s book, The Art of Color.)  I did three different triangles and I really liked all the combinations and they matched all the colors, lights and darks, I think I see in the intensity of my printed photo.

5.  Paint.

Paint square by square and, only square by square.  If you look at your printed photo, each square will look different from the one next to it, above and below.  If you match the tone, value and hue when you paint, you’ll do well.

It seems like a lot of work (which it is) but it’s a lot of fun, too.  Just relax.  Enjoy and be surprised in the end!

My neighbor, Jill, had group of four potted pansies complete with a U.S. Flag on her front stoop and I took a few Polaroids of the vignette. This is the second watercolor painting I created from those photos.

Thanks to Marisa Haedeke of Creative Thursday, her In The Fishbowl e-course I took this summer and all “The Fishies”; and to Danny Gregory and the encouragement of his Everyday Matters Group, I am happy to return to start anew…

First, I am posting an impromptu painting I did this weekend at The SheArt Network show.  I got a beautiful bouquet of flowers on my birthday and these flowers are part of that bouquet that was so colorful.  Like some writers have a way with words, God has a way with flowers–I am always amazed at their beauty, it just takes my breath away.

And, Still Life: Blue Bottle & Rose is up for auction at Rhode Island PBS’s website which started today.  That answers that question.

Till tomorrow…