Well I've been a busy camper this summer. Hope all is going well for you.

I was accepted into the juried fine art show, Great Lakes Art Fair for this fall in Novi.

And I've been busy painting. As I sit here typing this entry I'm enjoying the faint smell of oil paints drying. Ahhh....okay so they're probably bad for you, but I suppose we all have our vices.

Here is the red amaryllis that I've been working on. It's finished now. The last of the details were to paint the stamens and add some shadow detail. This really made it pop. I think this would look gorgeous on a white, blue, green or grey wall. It's very stunning and definitely an attention getter!

The next painting is one I did yesterday as a watercolor demonstration for my young student. I ended up having so much fun with it that I finished it up right after she left. It's mixed media - watercolor with pen and ink. Love it when things just come together!

And speaking of watercolors. I just had to do the next ones. They are of my daughters playing in Lake Michigan. It was a hazy cloudy sunset but that didn't keep them from having fun throwing and collecting beautiful stones by the lake shore. I credit my mom with taking the photos. This is not from one photo but several as I picked specific poses from different pictures to compose just the right image. Did I mention my mom too is an artist? She sculpts and throws pottery on a wheel. I grew up in mud :).

My most current work in progress is of a blue iris. This one has been a transformation. I'm usually one to do more realistic works, but needed to step out of that box. Here's the work in progress. I started with the plain soft blues of this iris. It's an oil painting on 30x40 inch wrapped canvas.

And now the transformation:

It's still a work in progress. I have much more to do with the red. So stay tuned!

Therapeutic Art :D

I just have to say this last month has been weired. We started out having water problems with out water softener. Hubby replaced it after a faucet above it broke and started dripping water. 2 days later we started having noticeable differences with our well so the well guys came out and we had our well worked on. Another day without water. Nothing helped so we ended up replacing our well... 214 feet later they finally got water that works. We enjoyed lots of water for 2 days. Then hubby went to get a shower and no water! He went downstairs to see what was the matter and another pipe burst! This time our hot water heater was in 3 feet of water - fried! So as I'm typing this we are once again without water. Amazing how we take water for granted. Today I ended up cleaning my brushes in a bucket and thought hmmm this must be how they cleaned brushes before modern plumbing. I didn't mind cleaning them from a bucket. I was just happy that I could paint today. Somehow it takes all the stress away. It's so therapeutic :D. I'm just hoping tonight I get a warm shower.

Curious as to what I'm working on? Well here it is! An update to the amaryllis I started last time I updated the blog. I'm really enjoying this one. I spent 4 hours on it today. The time just seem to fly by. That's why I think painting is so therapeutic. I didn't even think about being without water.



I've been busy doing another portrait. This is of Father Zeke - he's just retired. I painted this for a farewell present given to him at his retirement party last weekend. It was done with oil on wrapped canvas. Again I started out with a drawing, then transfered it onto the canvas. Then I started with blocking in darker colors, working my way up. He was a lot of fun to paint. Such a happy smile. He will be missed.



I'm really enjoying doing portraits. I think the best of all is to see the reaction I get from the people who receive them. Well so far atleast everyone's liked them!

Okay car shopping is done. Phew!! Back to the art world - much more fun! Ford F150 pick-up truck is on it's way. Now I'll have something to take art to art shows in. Anyhow I haven't spent all that time on cars. I've been busy working on paintings. I've also been busy drawing. Here's a work in progress I started last weekend. It's of an amaryllis. I took photos of this last winter. I had planned on doing one of the iris that are blooming in my garden, but couldn't decide which one. As I was looking at one of the files I have my flowers in I came across this one. I just love the composition of it.

I started with a yellow under painting and blue where the darker red will be.




After letting the under painting dry I spent the better part of today working on the the red. Here are the first two stages.






Yay! I finished the Hibiscus!! I think it was well worth the wait. So without further ado here it is...




Since the last time I posted I also finished the boys. I call them "Brothers in Arms". I just love how their cheeks rest against each other. Here is my sketch. I then started with a pastel painting. It came out really nice looking. I was rather happy with it ...then my kitten kept thinking it would be fun to touch....so thinking it was time to put some workable fixative on it, I sprayed it....well lets just say the whiteness disappeared from the baby and the blue paper background came forward! OPPS!! So since I goofed up I decided an oil painting might be a better bet. I just couldn't bring myself to doing pastels so soon after such a goof up!!Below the drawing is the finished oil painting.

Flint Institute of Arts

As some of you may know, I take classes at the Flint Institute of Arts. I recently took a portrait drawing class. During the last class the director for the Art School came in and saw the portrait I was working on of my eldest daughter. She asked if she could take photos and I agreed. Who wouldn't? So next class starts which is figure drawing. My instructor Alla Dubrovich -wonderful teacher! - tells me that my drawing was chosen to be put into the Spring FIA Art School Catalog. I'm rather excited about this honor! If you'd like to check it out here's a link: It's on page 9. Also if your in the Flint area - it's a wonderful place to take art classes, from beginners to advance.

I'm almost done with my hibiscus. I know I keep saying that :D. We just got back from a trip and now I'm busy car shopping so leisurely painting is on the back burner. Good news though I am working on a commission of two cute brothers. One's a gorgeous teen and the other in his arms is his adorable baby brother. I'm at the sketching phase. Once their mom approves I'll move on to the painting part. I'm thinking of doing them with pastels. Then I'll post an update.

Catch ya later! Stay safe and enjoy spring!

Busy busy busy, it must be srping!

Lots of busyness going on with the business. First and foremost I've finished my eldest daughter. This has been quit the work in progress. My first start was with a different pose. I wasn't happy with the way it was coming out. What started it all is when I flipped the image in photoshop so that when all three portraits are together they are looking at each other. Well being that I've had 16 1/2 years to look at her, when I looked at the photo it was like looking at a close replication of her but it wasn't her. So after sketching the photo and starting on a painting I scrubbed that one and took some more photos, in the right direction this time. We both agreed on one,,,I know shocker! So I got to sketching and drawing it and finished with this painting.

My middle daughter has her confirmation this weekend and I've been busy painting banners for the church. The director approached me for help on one subject and now I'm doing three more banners :). The art is more mural type art. I painted them on cloth so they can be wrapped up and easily stored away in a small space until they are needed again.



I think this is a great idea for people who want a mural on their walls but may be renting or moving soon and want to take it with them. Imagine if you wanted a mural for a baby's room but know the child will out grow it, or if you want to move furniture around but you can't because you'd block the mural. Well why not have a painting done on a fire retardant cloth? The child can enjoy it for many years and when they outgrow it you can take it down for a keepsake. I'm open for murals! P.s. they also ship easily.

I'm also taking figure drawing classes. These are so fun. I love the challenge of drawing the human figure. The models we have in class are so good too. It amazes me how long they can stand there without moving. The one the other night did so good that I was getting antsy with standing at the easel wondering if she was ever going to take a break! I told her how restless I was getting, when she finished and she started laughing.

I've also taken on a private student. She's great. If there are other artist out there reading this I would strongly suggest you do this. It's amazing how much you learn about yourself when you teach others.

So with all that's going on I still am working on the hibiscus. Hopefully this coming week I'll get to putting the finishing touches on it.

Thanks for checking in :).

Spring feels like it's here today! Wow the warmth and sunshine are so intoxicating! But I wanted to take time from outside and be sure to post my most recent happenings :) . So I'm still working on my Hibiscus but it's coming closer to completion. It's true what they say good things come to those who wait. Well it'll be a little longer...as I sound like a broken record, or do kids theses day say CD's that skip, any rate, it's oil and it takes longer....but here is the most recent update:


And as I said I've been working on my daughter's portraits. Here is my youngest. Funny comment about this one. When I showed her it she said "Wow, it looks like me. I like my hair." Then her sisters commented on how "that's not Niki, her hair never looks that neat." Ah, sisters.
Here is the sketch.



I saw some issues with it once I got the sketch done that I wasn't happy with so I pulled out my artistic license and changed things around. The first being her hair. She doesn't always put it up so I preferred to keep it down. The other is that the lines on the face weren't spot on. So I switched those around. Next I created a the watercolor painting.



I've started on my eldest daughter. That will be my next to post. The plan is that their portraits interact with each other on the wall. Individual portraits but also one when all together. They are beautiful girls and they generally get a long well. I say generally as they girls and sisters and 2 are teenagers.

Portraits

Well here is Sabrina's portrait. I started out with a detailed drawing, expect for the hair. In real life she's got beautiful hair not "crazy witch hair" as I've been told I drew. Well what really happened is she was tired of seeing her face without hair. So I spent oh, a good, 30 seconds throwing some hair on the bald goddess. And it shows :). My real goal was not to have a finished graphite drawing but something I could paint from.

I choose to do watercolors on this portrait. I enjoy watercolors. I haven't worked with them for a while but it hasn't slowed me down. I like the fact that you can blend colors easily without the wait for the drying time. Another favorite medium I like to use are pastels. I enjoy them for pet portraits.

Here's the finished version of Sabrina's watercolor portrait.



Next I'm working on Nichole's portrait. She's been drawn up but I'm not exactly happy with her eyes...yet. Or I'd show you the finished drawing. I was going to start painting her portrait in watercolor the other night when I looked at the paper and thought, wow this looks like hot pressed but It's off a block of cold pressed 300lbs. of Arches. That's high quality stuff, what's going on here. Duh....it was the back board oops. As I live far away from an art store it was off to the www to get an order for paper in. Well now I'm waiting for my Blick order to show up so I guess you'll get to wait too.

After I finish with the Nichole portrait I'm going to do one of Cassie. Then I'll have a complete individual portrait of all three of my daughters. I'm composing them individually but so they can interact, or look like they are interacting on my wall. Then when they are all grown up they can take their portraits with them.