And now I'm playing

This is a monotype - I think. I don't know why I am so fascinated by monoprints/monotypes, they don't make a lot of sense if you think about it. What has a one-time thing got to do with printing? Anyway, I want to try more. This was more or less the first one I have ever done - that means it is the first one I would make public. The others were just smears. So this week I think I will fool around with monoprints a bit.

Maybe I'll set some goals for '07 - or maybe dig out the list from '06 - it hasn't been used.

Also need to clean up the Christmas mess. Where does all that stuff come from!? We pulled all the Christmas boxes out of the attic, only opened one, and we are still stepping over the others. At least we don't have as much as usual to put away.

It was dark and rainy here and we had the flu!!! Everyone had the flu - grandmas and grandpas, babies, and everyone in between. At least when everyone in the family is sick, no one expects much of each other - like wrapped gifts or meals! But somehow our son and daughter-in-law managed to pull off a wonderful Christmas evening meal and a great family get-together. We actually did have a VERY nice Christmas.

I have been following Belinda DelPesco's blog, and now I feel like experimenting a little. If this monoprint thing works out at all, I will post it with some very simple instructions - because that is all I'm going to do - something very simple. You CAN try this at home.

Yes, I am working.

I am getting a few boxes of cards packaged up for the book store's order. That's about as creative as I seem to be right now. I am working on a sketch for a commission, and I'll post that soon. It's not a big deal difficult sketch, but Christmas panic has set in and everything seems like a big deal.

I wasn't sure my printer would make it through the order, but it did. I think it is related to the energizer bunny. Even when it says it is out of ink, (for a long time now) it keeps printing in full color. It makes horrible noises and just keeps spitting out the prints. I have to babysit it and tell it it really isn't out of paper. I don't think it is worth getting new cartridges for, so I'm squeezing all of the ink out of it I can. But I think this is its last real job.

I know you were all just dying to hear about my printer, huh? But I haven't posted a real painting in so long, that I had to post some kind of work related subject.

Pear on a Blue and White Plate

Back a couple of posts, I showed a photograph of this pear, and told of my intentions to paint it and the linens it was on. As you can see, the linens took second or third place when it got right down to it. I was really taken by the colors of the pear itself and really liked the reflections cast by the pear onto the plate. So I spent most of my painting energy trying to get the rich colors of the pear, and then working on those reflection on the plate. I love the pattern in the plate, but wanted to show it as simply as possible. By this time it was all about the pear, and the linens fell by the wayside.

Maybe next time.

Last week when I went to the grocery store, they had a large bin of beautiful red pears. They had gorgeous gold undertones, and now, as I remember them, they were a bronzy red that looked as if they were glowing from within. You know, actually, I think that isn't true. Our produce department does not have wonderful lighting, and unless they really were glowing from within, which I realize wasn't really the case, they were probably just pretty pears. I have made them so beautiful in my mind, that I really don't want to go back and see just plain old pears there. I'll stay away from the pears for a couple of weeks. It would just be too disappointing.

A Corner of my Studio

A few days ago I said I would post some pictures of my studio. It is a small room - about 11X11 with a nice, large, north window. If I have a large project to work on, I can always take it downstairs to my classroom. I am finding that this space is a nice cozy place to work, and I have those caster or glide-y things on the legs of my drawing board and tables, so I can easily push things around into any configuration I need. Not the wheely kind of casters, but those hard, flat, smooth things that stick on the bottom of the legs.

I certainly can't contain all my stuff in this room. Instead of saying I have my studio in our home, I really must say our home is in my studio - paper and paintings stacked in the living room by the studio door, paintings and mat board in the bedroom, framing equipment in the back porch . . . .

Note the apple green color of the old floor boards. It's such a happy color and I just love it!

This is a great place to hide out today. It has been snowing like crazy, and I decided to stay here and work on a sketch for a commission instead of running errands. I've got my Pandora station playing, and I'm feeling creative.

A couple of months ago I moved my studio from a very small room conveniently located between my classroom and the kitchen on the main floor of our house, to a little bit larger room upstairs. I didn't exactly do this voluntarily, but like so many things in our lives, this has turned out to be a good thing.

I actually never paid much attention to this room - yeah - we have so many, Ha! Our kids used it now and then for a summer or a brief period between other living arrangements, and it was a good place to stash stuff. And the grandkids liked it when we made it into a dormitory for over-nights.
When I moved everything out and painted the old uneven floorboards apple green, the room began to "speak" to me. Everything fits in here pretty well, and the light is great from this large (about 6 feet wide) north window - and here is my winter view. That's the Bay out there in the distance and I look across the rooftops of the neighborhood and downtown. I love it. I feel warm and cozy and creative and nurtured and . . .

I'll get things straightened up some day and get it all cute and take some pics of the room itself. Don't hold your breath - I'm pretty slow at straightening up and making cute.

I'm going through a stack of old linens. Even ironing a few - ironing old linens is quite therapeutic. Try it.

These belonged to someone in my family, and even though I'm not sure who, there is just that strong family connection when I handle them - who washed and ironed them before I did? I think they are only a couple of generations old, and these don't appear to be hand-made.

I keep picturing these cloths in small still lifes. There is something about the simplicity of the lace with a single small plate and a piece of fruit that keeps calling to me. I enjoy doing what I call "personal still lifes" in my classes. Everyone uses no fewer than three objects, places them right in front of them, and really zeros in and crops the composition. A view finder works well for this.

Now that I've said I want to do some, maybe I had better get busy and show you that I DID some. Of course, I do have a few things to do this week - cook a turkey for one.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Relax. Eat a lot. Enjoy your friends and family!

Check out the November/December Watercolor Classes

This is a small (5X7) watercolor. I want to have some small paintings done for the Christmas shoppers! It's mid-November and I am still thinking summer. Isn't it great to be able to "beam up" a summer day just by going through your sketchbook and reference photos. I was painting this while a gray drizzle just hung there like one big drippy cloud all day.

It's still summer in my sketchbook!

This is the periwinkle cottage I keep trying to paint. Yes, I know it isn't periwinkle. There isn't anything wrong with your monitor. I just couldn't bare to cover up that sparkling white.

Awhile ago I posted a photograph and a watercolor journal sketch of this cottage, and I was also working from a value sketch that I wanted to post, but just couldn't get a good image of it. I did it on the Bogus Rough sketch paper and that doesn't scan well, and I am getting a glare when I try to photograph it. The value sketches I work from are, I think, the most important reference tool I use. The accuracy in the details and the colors don't do as much for a painting as the contrasts of the lights and darks. Maybe that's just my opinion - maybe that's what works best for the kind of painting I want to do.

I was very frustrated with this painting - and a few other things in my life. It was wishy washy, the center of interest was not working. . . . I had some very dark paint in my brush and I thought it would feel good just to smear it all over the painting!!! But at the last minute I put a streak of dark down the left side of the tree trunks and then some darks in the background, dark in the windows, dark in the foreground foliage . . . Okay, I felt better then.

Some day I will paint this cottage again and I WILL paint it periwinkle. I guess it isn't just the color of the cottage that speaks to me, it's the setting and its attitude. Now I'm gonna work on mine.

Now I'm sure it's a gourd.
Not that it really matters, but. . .

Awhile back I posted this
Today on the same vine, I found this little guy. He's a gourd for sure. I don't know why it is so different - short and mostly green instead of long and yellow. I wish we had a long enough season to grow some more - who knows what we might get!

I have three beautiful pears sitting on my work table. Pears and gourds seem to be very attractive this time of year. I think it's because we aren't ready to give up on the "real" things we've been able to paint all summer and start working from sketches or still lifes now. I do have several things I am anxious to get going, and I have some commissions I really need to do. So do 'em already.

This is colored pencil on Bogus Rough sketch paper.

One last sketch in Bay View?
I only had a few minutes and it was pouring rain. I'm just not ready to give it up yet - I want to get a few more sketches in before the season is over. Well, face it, it is over.

I had my moleskine, my little altoids tin paint box, and my water brush. I sat in the car, and it was raining so hard that the raindrops were actually distracting. Sometimes it doesn't take much!

As far as the composition is concerned, there is a lesson here - do as I say, not as I do - a tree covering up the corner of a structure is VERY awkward - and here I have two. They look as if they are holding up the corners of the porch. This is a very interesting cottage with all kinds of porches, rooflines and doors, windows and railings every where.

When I look at this little watercolor now in my sketchbook, I am reminded of a nice escape, doing what I love, even in the pouring rain. It was fun, and I like the colors. It captured, for me, the feeling of place.

Wesley's Lane Rooftops
As usual, I did the sketch first, then took a photo for reference before I left.

In the finished painting I simplified some things and added color.

I used the sketch as reference, not the photo. I like to use a sketch because it doesn't lock my brain into any colors - just the lights and darks. The colors come from the way I felt about the subject as I was sitting there.

I felt as if I had fallen down a bit on the perspective on the right side in the sketch. By the time I got to that side I had had enough of figuring out rooftops and I was getting a little distracted by the time. I figured the photo would give me all the information I needed to get the rooftops correct. But when I went to work out the composition, I wasn't crazy about the right end of the rooftop anyway - it still felt awkward to me, even in the photo. Not really awkward as in incorrect, but I felt it really didn't need to be there at all.

I have been trying to get used to a new brush - Cheap Joe's Silver Black Velvet Oval
I think I'm going to like it. I have seen some people do some pretty nice things with it - SO I AM GOING TO TOO. It holds a lot of water and pigment, but also does a nice dry-brush.

The painting is 11X15, watercolor on Arches 140 cold press. The sketch is done on Bogus Rough Sketch paper with drawing pencils and a white prisma color pencil.

I hope there are no art critics or "gallery scouts" lurking around my blog. Good or bad (yes, I know which) it was a fun little painting to do. I was trying out some Aquarius II watercolor paper and a little ink crosshatching. I am not a good crosshatcher and I have never used this paper before - I don't even know where it came from. I found it in my studio while I was moving things around.

The bowl is pretty crooked and the perspective isn't what I would want my drawing students to do, but if you try to do everything perfectly, you'll never grow as an artist. Playing is learning! Just keep the brushes moving!!!

So, the Aquarius paper. I don't know. In the Cheap Joe's description it says it is a cold press finish, but it feels smoother than that - more like a hot press. It is 80lb, so it doesn't feel real substantial, but because of it's content (cotton and Fiberglas) it doesn't buckle. The colors stay pretty bright. I wonder if it would work as a watercolor sketchbook paper. I don't think I have heard of anyone using it for that. I am going to ask around. I'll get back to you. You may not be interested, but I'll still get back to you.

The Morning Sun in Bay View

This is a small painting meant to be a study for a larger painting.

Done from this sketch

The mid-morning sun on this building made very strong shadows. By afternoon, it's just any ol' white building.
I'm still trying to decide if I want to do this in acrylic or watercolor, and right now I am leaning toward watercolor on 300# paper. But I am seeing it in a horizontal format, not vertical like this one. I would have more of the building showing to the left and right. But then - I like the vignette style of the sketch rather than the watercolor finished to the edge.
I don't know - acrylic on panel? Or watercolor on clayboard . . .
Just do it. Whatever.

Squash/Gourd

I know what you're thinking -
"after three weeks of not blogging, she posts a moleskine page of a gourd/squash thing???!"

Yes.
Things have been a little out of kilter here, and I am trying to get back to normal. So, maybe to some of us sketching an unidentified growing object is normal.

A loooooonnnng vine grew all summer by the back door. It had a lot of blossoms, but this is the only squash/gourd it produced. I think it's a gourd - although not one I am familiar with, but I am really not familiar with gourds. So, whatever. It is a great New Gamboge color - Gamboge right out of the tube.

It's the simple things in life.

Isn't this the cutest cottage! I have tried many times to capture this. I think I did get the feeling of the setting when I was over there painting a few days ago, but missed the color by a mile. Doing the small journal watercolor sketch at least gave me the feeling of the setting. Just being there working on the sketch for awhile imprints something in the brain that helps when a serious painting gets underway at a later time. So now I have some sketches and some good photographs. So sometime soon I will get going on it.
While I was painting this, there was a very cool breeze coming off the Bay, but when I walked down a ways, in the shelter of some cottages, it actually felt like a hot summer day. It was a great day to be sitting out there sketching. We may not have too many more of those days. I don't mind cozy indoor studio work - once I get into the swing of a new season's routine. Routine - did I say that?

A gorgeous day and a great group of painters!
And a wonderful view to paint.

I spent a very enjoyable day teaching a watercolor workshop at Harbor Cove, a private association on Little Traverse Bay. It was hot! And sunny! With a cloud or breeze now and then to give us some relief. Perfect. Everyone there had a successful day of painting. Painting on location is not easy, and the Bay is not an easy subject - changing colors, changing light, no focal point, toooo much water, toooo much sky, toooo much distance . . . Every single person there did a great job of handling all that.
Thanks, Ginny, for once again, making the location available to us.

Sketching in Bay View

I had planned to get so much done during the couple weeks between the end of summer classes and the beginning of Fall classes. Best laid plans. Well, no, there were no plans - that's why nothing happened. But does something really NEED to happen? Isn't it okay to just BE? The problem with that is, you have to give yourself permission to "just BE" before you do it or you'll think you AREN'T doing something else that you are SUPPOSED to be doing . . . .

I read several artists' blogs and it seems many of them are trying to use this time to plan classes and clean studios. Come to think of it, I planned classes, and I sent out info. I had intended to plan the rest of the year(!) and recap the summer - close enough. And it is not too late to clean the studio. It took three months to get these stacks of paper scattered everywhere, so I can take awhile to clean it up. If I am missing something urgent - it is probably already too late. That makes it not urgent anymore. Right?

This drawing was done Friday in beautiful morning sunlight in Bay View. Now I am anxious to paint it!!!! Nice dark, bold shadows. Watercolor? Acrylic? Watercolor on clayboard?

Memorial Garden Again

Another nice evening to paint in Memorial Garden in Bay View.

The garden is so well tended and there are so many views that would make a good painting subject - sitting outside the garden, painting in - or sitting inside the garden, painting out. This little painting was done from inside the garden painting out. There are many inaccuracies. The main one being distance - the cottage was actually not this close and the tree was closer. I was looking through more flowers . . . . AND SO ON. After a busy day, just sitting there, soaking in the colors and the quiet with my good friend and painting buddy, is almost enough. But I was there to paint, and I wanted to capture what I could see of the cottage and get the colors down the way I "felt" them, and I did that.

Just before the sun set into the Bay we walked down the street along the water. We really wanted to see the sunset from our friend's garden, so, uninvited, we walked through their beautiful yard, to the water's edge. Thanks Bob and Elaine - we enjoyed the sunset and your wonderful garden immensely!

Is it possible? Is summer almost over? I'm feeling a little sad about that - I didn't do all the summer things we think we are supposed to do. I didn't picnic enough. I didn't even get my feet wet in the Bay. I didn't grill at all. I didn't pick enough flowers . . . . .

But you know - it was pretty great after all. I don't like getting wet. I'm not that good at grilling. I enjoyed my cutting garden just growing there and looking beautiful. And we did have a couple of really great family picnics.

I did what I do - I had lots of summer classes, and I had an absolutely wonderful time doing them. I met soooo many nice people, renewed old acquaintances, and kept the momentum going with year-round students.

I had an email today from someone who said I had given her the courage to participate in a plein air "paint out" and exhibition. Wow - how nice of her to tell me that! And how nice for her that she did it! I'm proud of her! I'm proud of everyone that took a painting class even though they found the idea a little intimidating, and I'm proud of everyone that takes a sketchbook out there into the world and DRAWS and PAINTS! If you have an interest in painting, just doing it enriches your life in ways you wouldn't have dreamed. But that's another post - maybe the next book, huh?

This little painting was done in my Aquabee sketchbook in Bay View Memorial Garden, the last day of the last class . . .

Sunset

Now I have to get back to work.

I love this picture! It is of part of our gang watching the sunset and disturbing the peace down at the waterfront. We had a farewell picnic with our four generations before the California kids take off for home. The sunset couldn't have been more gorgeous, or the weather better, or the kids cuter. . .

After farewells today, I gave myself permission to do nothing, but now I must get my schedule together for some new classes and get it posted. I'll work on that tomorrow.

A few more summer classes to go - it's not over yet!

Geranium in my moleskine.
My geraniums have been pretty scrawny this year. They actually did much better in the house all winter. Maybe they are old and tired. Maybe they didn't get enough fertilizer. Maybe too much. Maybe they have BUGS. I really do like the shape of them when they begin to sprawl a little - like this one. However - this is one of the better ones.

Mid-August already. The summer schedule has calmed down a lot. I have had a few classes the past couple of weeks and lots of family time. Nice how that worked out.

I have a few classes to go to wrap up the summer season, and then I will get going on a schedule for Fall. I will post it as soon as I lock in some dates.

FLIP FLOPS

This is what we've been creating.

We have been decorating our flip flops with pot holder loops! I think we bought the last of the flip flops in Petoskey - perhaps in the whole country. Our daughter searched the Bay Area in California before their trip to Michigan.

I thought it would be simple to take a picture of the girls to show off their creative work - but just try to get three little girls to stand there a second with their feet lined up!

We're having a great time!!!

I conducted a watercolor journal class today for a great bunch of talented ladies. One of them set up the whole thing, hosted it, and arranged for us to paint in two very pretty and interesting gardens.
Everyone brought a dish to pass and we had a delicious lunch with a beautiful view. Can you tell I had a good time? I hope they all did too. They sure had some nice journal pages to remember the day, and I hope they also have some inspiration to keep painting.

Here is part of the group at Kauffman Flower Farm

- all cozy on the porch, journaling. I always say it never rains on my journal classes, however, it has rained twice this year on our journal classes up at the flower farm. The view from the porch is beautiful, there are nice little groupings of pretty things on the porch, and it smells like lavender. Everyone was a good sport and they all painted up a storm - they had some beautiful journal pages to remind them of the day - which I think was a nice day in spite of the rain.

HOT HOT HOT These journal pages were done at Three Pines Studio and Gallery in Cross Village. It was unbelievably hot - for Northern Michigan anyway. We were in the shade of a canopy and there was a great breeze, but the heat did, eventually drive us indoors.
These small journal paintings were done as a demonstration. A nice group of people showed up - Thanks for coming!
My show will hang at the gallery until August 19th.

The Show is Ready

Walk by the River

No, I did not take off on vacation after doing the Flower Farm Luncheon/Journal Class. I have done 5 watercolor classes, 4 afternoons of advanced drawing classes, an afternoon of poster signing, AND I got ready for my show up at Three Pines Studio and Gallery in Cross Village. I have the paintings finished, framed, delivered, and they are hanging. The show opens tomorrow (Saturday, July 29th) at 2:00 - until 7:00. I'm wearing a cute little (it's all relative) summer dress and non-birkenstock sandals.

There was an article in the local paper about my show and opening, but to tell you the truth, I haven't read it. Those things make me really nervous! AND the pictures! How disappointing to see (and have the whole world see) that I should have had my hair trimmed, I should have smiled more, and I should have been 20 years younger! They (the newspaper) used a file photo. A FILE PHOTO! You know you live in a small town when the local paper has your photo on file.

Actually, I am very grateful for the publicity, and someday I will actually read the article instead of just taking my husband's word for it that it was okay. But that will be after the fact, when it doesn't matter anymore - everyone else will have forgotten it.

I will post pics of the show and of the painting demonstration I will be doing to promote it on Monday afternoon, July 31st.

A Wonderful Day

This is a beautiful spot to spend the afternoon.

Monday afternoon I held a watercolor sketchbook journal class at Kauffman Flower Farm north of Harbor Springs. Mary Kauffman and her daughter served us an absolutely delicious luncheon on the porch (top picture). After lunch we painted out in the gardens, but took shelter back on the porch (middle picture) when a thunderstorm moved rather quickly through the area.

In spite of the heat and a little thunderstorm action, the group painted a lot of beautiful journal entries.

I would just like to say thanks to the class for making my day such fun, and to the Kauffmans for their fabulous hospitality.

POSTER SIGNING

Celebrate the beauty of this season Up North and the inaugural printing of the Kauffman Flower Farm's annual poster featuring the watercolors of Catherine Carey.

Saturday, July 22
1:00—4:00

Kauffman Flower Farm
2897 North State Road
Harbor Springs

I will be signing posters from 1:00 to 4:00 at the Kauffman Flower Farm and would love to see you there. If you have been out to the Flower Farm, you know how beautiful it is. If you haven't, you are in for a treat!

Hope to see you there Saturday, the 22nd.

The garden next door is always beautiful, but right now I especially like the blue bachelor buttons in front of the red hot pokers (the orange spiky flowers).

I've been working to finish up some more paintings for the art fair - Petoskey Art in the Park - this coming weekend. If you are in the area, it is certainly worth attending. It is a well juried show in a beautiful setting.
It is a one-day show, Saturday, the 15th, from 10-6.

I am also getting ready for a show at 3 Pines Gallery in Cross Village on the 29th. I will be doing a watercolor demo there on Monday,the 31st.

And . . . Monday the 17th, is the luncheon and watercolor journal event at Kauffman Flower Farm
I will also be doing a poster signing there on Saturday the 22nd.

Well, I just wanted to post something new, and I got a little carried away ( with a little bit of panic creeping in) looking over my calendar as I make lists so I'll be ready for everything. It'll be fine. I do have six classes this week also. Yes! - it'll be fine.

Another Beautiful Day

It was too wet this morning for the watercolor class to paint outside. I brought in a few pots of flowers and the class did a great jog of painting with analogous colors and applying rich, juicy colors.

In the afternoon the Watercolor Journal Class met at Memorial Gardens in Bay View. There are lots of things to paint there - flowers, birch trees, cottages, the Bay . . .

The small journal page (above) is the demo I did today. We worked on "Blob and Smoosh" (it's in the book!) and talked a little bit about composition. The people in the photo are the wonderful artists in the journal class.

SUMMER CLASSES ARE IN FULL SWING

I have it all mapped out so I know where to go and when. If I lost my color coded calendar with all the little stickies on it, I'd be sunk. Or if the stickies fell off!!!! Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and wonder if I have forgotten anyone - forgotten to return a phone call, didn't answer an email.

Anyway, I'm having a great time with a wonderful bunch of talented people, and I hope they are having as much fun as I am.

These are watercolor sketches from my journal done as demos in this week's Watercolor Sketchbook Journal class in Bay View This class is doing some great little paintings! They will have some nice painting memories to take home. My Tuesday morning watercolor class painted in our backyard. The weather was perfect, and they were really tuned in to it. Nice job!

This is a quick little sketch of some poppies next door. They lasted quite awhile - we hadn't had rain. They are gone now, and so are the giant iris.

Watching the flowers come and go remind me of how precious some things are. How fleeting. Each flower has its time to blossom and then another takes over. If they never changed, we wouldn't pay any attention to them.

This was done on hot press paper which doesn't seem to scan as well as cold press. Some colors wash out as they soften.

After a long day of planting I just plopped my weary body down in my periwinkle-blue Adirondack chair with my sketchbook. It was fun, and I like the drawing, and I really enjoyed the process. And sometime next winter when I look through my sketchbook, I will be reminded of the warm sunshine on my back and that wonderful smell of the soil.

Have you sketched a memory lately?
I used a fine Pitt pen on Bogus Rough sketch paper.

It was a beautiful evening to take supper down to the waterfront. This little painting in my Moleskine is certainly a contrast to this one done only about six weeks ago. While we were sitting there we were watching the gulls as usual, when we realized they were not gulls. They looked like gulls, but they didn't act like gulls, and then we noticed that they had orange beaks and black caps. When we got home I looked them up in the bird book, and they were definitely Terns. I know absolutely nothing about terns, but am very curious to know what kind of tern they might be. For some reason, I need to know this! So - if you happen to know what kind of tern we have here on Little Traverse Bay, please let me know. Are they common here? Are they migrating?

LOOK OUT, SUMMER - HERE I COME!

I wrapped up my Spring classes this week, and will start the summer ones in a couple of weeks. I will try to use the time wisely - getting the garden ready for painting, ordering supplies for summer classes, packaging up prints and cards, and getting some small paintings done for the summer sales opportunities. Bring on the opportunities!

This is yet another small painting of our back door. I love painting this door (it actually does NEED painting. It is sanded and ready to go. Should I paint it white again or a color this time - maybe periwinkle?) I couldn't wait for the flowers to bloom. This spot in the sun in my big Adirondack chair was just too inviting, so I used my artistic license (you all have one too) and threw in the blossoms that will be there soon.

Okay - this is what I mean when I say the little paintings I bring home in my sketchbook are much more meaningful to me than any photograph I could take. My friend, Karen, and I took kind of a quick trip up to Mackinac Island yesterday. My first trip up of the season. The day started out with a forecast of fog and possible thunderstorms, but by the time we got off the boat, the sun was shining and it was beautiful all day. I painted this in my Arches Carnet de Voyage, hot press paper 6 X 10. I just used my tiny Altoids paint tin and my water brush. The photograph doesn't turn me on. The painting has everything to do with the way the sunshine felt on my shoulders, the sounds of laughter coming from the Grand Hotel, the smell of the flowers, and the dappled shadows along the path. It was just a beautiful place. We had a great day!

Lilacs

It is that time of year - the promise of summer, but what's with all this RAIN!!!??? I am SICK of it.
I picked these lilacs for my Wednesday and Thursday classes to paint. They did a wonderful job. Some started out with wet paper, some with dry. Some of them did one of each to compare the two techniques. This was my demo, done on dry paper - it is done on Fabriano paper - something different for me. I always use Arches and I'm not sure where the Fabriano came from, and I'm not sure if I like it. It is okay to paint on, but I don't really like the look of the texture. It's just different.

These lilacs grow beside our house along the curb, and the neighbors say they see lots of drive-by-pickings. They are irresistible, and as long as they leave the blossoms alone on our side, I won't complain too much.

When I was a kid daisies and sweet peas were in such abundance at the cottage, that I still have trouble realizing that all of the sweet peas and daisies in the world aren't mine for the picking.