Still Life Shelf and a New Plan of Attack

Contour Drawing of Classroom Shelf

This is a small painting of about half of the high shelf that runs the length of one wall in my classroom. I keep my still life props here.  The walls really are orange  -  I know  -  very inappropriate for a studio/classroom.   It makes us happy, okay?

I'm still going through a stack of papers that I piled up as I weeded out things a couple of weeks ago.  Some of the things are inspiring, some are loose ends, some just need to be filed, and some could really just be tossed.  The problem is I never get to the bottom as I sort, so it all gets stacked up again if I get interrupted.  So, I see something here  -  the organized way of sorting into categories of action is not working for me.  Now I am going to take one paper at a time and do whatever needs to be done with that paper, right then and there.  Okay, we'll see how this new plan of attack works out.

Persimmons and Tea

Hachiya Persimmons and Mint Tea

The angle of these persimmons doesn't really show their elongated shape.  Apparently, there are two commercially available types of persimmons  -  the kind of round, flat ones, and these that are wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. The color is fantastic.  That is what I bought them for  -  the color.  This shape is edible when it is very soft.  I guess. I've never eaten this kind.

In class tomorrow we are going to play around with these colors.  Using different triads (variations of the three primaries) we will mix the fruit and the stem color from the same three colors.

I LOVE the Cotswold Cottage Mint tea container.  My brother and sister-in-law gave it to me because of the colors.  They didn't know if I like mint tea (I do!), but they knew I would like the container. I can't hide it away in the cupboard  -  it sets out on the kitchen counter.

If you ever get to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan, spend some time in and around the Cotswold Cottage.  Bring home a container of tea to paint.

Onions and Vinegar

Yellow Onions in Ridgways Dish and White Balsamic Vinegar

This is done on Arches Cover Cream.
Couldn't seem to loosen up on this drawing, but I like the way it turned out anyway.  The painting was loose enough  -  I just swooped through with a big brush, using the same technique on the onions that I used on yesterday's plant -  painting them as one shape. I threw in a little red and yellow and softened it out a little lighter in places, and then went back with some shadow color.

I'm listening to Christmas songs and it's snowing.  Sooner or later I am going to have to bake a few Christmas cookies and shop! Maybe this weekend we will do our tree.  Maybe.  Don't want to rush into anything.

There's That Plant Again

A Quick Little Demo for Class

I painted the leaves as one shape (not each leaf) and then went back in, when it was dry, and added some darks and detail.  I kept the detail simple  -  just enough to show that there is some pattern on the leaves.

Snowy, cold, windy here.  No, I won't say that every day all winter  -  just until I get used to it.  Actually, I never get used to it.  I need to embrace it! Get some snow shoes.  Drink more hot chocolate.  Buy some more candles.  Make more stew.  Bake more bread.  Do you notice how everything after the snow shoes is an indoor activity?  I don't think that's embracing winter  -  I think it's hiding out.  Hibernating. 

I have decided for the month of December I will sketch/paint dinner ingredients, bottles, jars, and labels.  Stay tuned.

Green Plant in a Blue and White Pot

Painted in my Sketchbook on Arches Cover

I may have mentioned before that Arches Cover is not a watercolor paper, but I often put it in my sketchbooks because I like the color and the way it takes watercolor.  Some of the papers I like to use for watercolor in my sketchbooks wouldn't necessarily work on a larger scale for a serious painting.  Sketchbooks aren't meant to be serious, right?

Tomorrow it is back to classes as usual.  We are going to be working on dominance and contrast of certain design elements.  I am anxious to see what the students have been sketching over the Thanksgiving holiday. Did they do their homework?

Home Grown Apples

Red and Yellow Apples

This is a contour drawing.  I started with the apple in the front, on the left, and worked my way around. It went very quickly, and when I got back around to the left again, they all matched up.  I always wonder if everything really will fit together in the end  -  and it always does.  It just happens like magic.

The man that came to see about helping us finish up the bathroom brought a large bag of apples from his trees.  He got the job.  You see, it's not all about the lowest bid.

Acorn Squash

What More Can You Say About an Acorn Squash?

The shell is a dull green, the flavor isn't the best in its family, but those seeds!  I love the way they look!  All snuggled in there with all those negative shapes.

Pretty soon I had better cook up some of the squash I have around here that I bought to look pretty.  It isn't pretty anymore.

Quiche

Leftover Quiche for Breakfast

A quick little sketch of my breakfast this morning.  Also working on a couple of cloud paintings, but you know  -  those can be pretty boring to look at day after day (not that I have really been painting them day after day), so I think I will post them in groups of three or four.  That still might be boring, but anyway . . .

It is warm and sunny here today, and I am heading out to the farm market for squash and gourds. Maybe some apples and pears.  Potatoes. Mums. Pumpkins. And I claim to not be a fan of Autumn.

Geranium Still Life

Still Life for Class

I did this watercolor sketch in my journal "as is", with no regard to editing or composition. What ya see is what ya get. When I set it up for class, I didn't really arrange the objects, but left it to the students to come up with the composition that worked best from their positions around the table.

For me, taking the still life from three dimensions to two, makes it easier to compose. I can see more clearly what I need to move around and edit when I'm looking at the journal page.

I could have just done some thumbnail sketches and called it good, but color is better! Better, as in more fun.

I have a lot of class things coming up, starting this week. Let the fun begin! One of the things is being a "presenter" (?) at a Young Authors Day at an elementary school near by. Looking over the schedule for the day, I see there is no nap time! What the heck?

Editing

Editing Still Life Objects on the Table

In class this morning we worked at getting some quick impressions of some objects on the table, and then we did some sketches to determine the best arrangement for a painting. One of the objectives was to figure out what we would do for a background.

On the left I drew the objects just as I saw them on the table in front of me, and on the right I rearranged and simplified, working out a composition for a small painting.

In the blue and white vase were some purple tulips. I liked the way the purple worked with the colors of the fruit, but as you can see, I didn't get that far. Maybe tomorrow.

Only about ten more pages to go in this sketchbook. It's fun to finish one and it's fun to start a new one. It doesn't take much to excite me.

Still Life Objects

Still Life Objects Used for Today's Class.

Today's class did some quick contour drawing and painting in their sketchbooks of these objects. They spent five minutes on a drawing and five minutes painting. We did two or three, and then set them up for a more "serious" still life.

There is something about the quick sketches that seems to give us permission to leave out details and concentrate on what it is that makes a thing ~ vase, bottle, plant ~ what it is. Then when it comes time to do the serious painting we already know how simply we can "say" that.

We have a winter weather advisory for tomorrow!!! That isn't at all unusual for this part of Michigan, but I am SICK OF IT.

Ivy

Ivy on the Coffee Table

I think I have painted this pot of ivy before. This is the last watercolor page in my red sketchbook. So tomorrow I have to decide whether to go back to my summer class sketchbook (the spiral I use because it is the same format as the sketchbooks my students use) OR break out the brand new spiffy handmade book I made a few days ago. Sounds as if I have made up my mind, doesn't it?

This painting is really pretty dull - not too much of a grand finale for the little sketchbook. I drew it quickly in ink, and when I do that I tend to fill in the color in a color-book style. I just woke up from a little evening nap (I had to try out a new queen size fleece blanket which was really too large and twisty for couch napping), I was blurry eyed, the light wasn't good . . . and so on.

Tomorrow in my spiffy new sketchbook I intend to do a masterpiece. Well, maybe not tomorrow, but it's coming.

Rainy Day Still Life

"Baby" Fruit from the Backyard.
A Rainy Day Still Life.

I was painting one day after school with the California grandkids. It was too rainy to go out and paint, so we picked some very small citrus fruit in the backyard, along with a trumpet vine-type flower, and set up a little still life on the coffee table. It was very colorful and we had a great time.

For my class this morning I did a demonstration using the Grace Cathedral watercolor sketch in my previous post. I had worked out a value sketch and had it ready to go on watercolor paper. I was just going to show a few things to get them started on their own projects, but they wanted me to keep going. That class! They ask the best questions, and really make me think about what and how I am painting. Sometimes I just paint along without giving it too much thought, but when I have to give them a reason - that's better yet.

I'll post the painting when it is finished.

While I painted, we talked about California and listened to music from China Town in San Francisco. I'm stretching that vacation out as long as I can.

Kitchen Still Life

Another kitchen subject in my journal.
I love that red whisk.

Today was the last day of this session for my Thursday class, but we start up again next week.

It was so dark today that when the class left at 3:30 it felt like evening. I thought about curling up with the cat and a good book before I started dinner, but I decided to do a journal page instead.

So now I think I'll go read my book. Something by Ruth Rendell - a murder mystery.

I have a play date tomorrow with some artist friends. If we do something creative, I will have something to post tomorrow. If we don't, I'll post anyway. This is day 13 of blog-every-day-for-a-month. It doesn't get any easier. How do people do it that blog everyday all the time? Why do any of us blog anyway? I've decided it is like any hobby - it really doesn't need a good reason.

A couple of wet into wet unfinished demonstrations for Monday's classes.

I should try to finish one of these before the flowers are gone. However, at this point it is more about what is good for the composition than what I see in the set-up. So I'll stack it on the shelves with all the others that are unfinished. It is fun and carefree to start them - there is something about proving ourselves in the finishing that makes it a little more serious.

It rained yesterday right about class time. Someone said it has rained 5 out of our 8 Monday class sessions. We were going to paint in Karen's garden - Monday's class hadn't been there yet. Poor Monday's class - they had all the bad weather. Well, maybe not ALL. They did seem to have fun with the wet-into-wet lesson. They did a great job, as always.

Today's class met in the park downtown and the weather was wonderful. Hoping for the same tomorrow. This week wraps up the eight-week summer watercolor class. I always HATE to see it end. I still have another watercolor journal class in Bay View, and I am putting together a composition class that will start the 2oth of August. So - we aren't done yet.

I am going to take a little class break for a couple of weeks. The California grandkids will be here . So right now I should go to the grocery store, finish up some laundry, pick up the house so they don't think their grandma is a complete slob ( oh dear, maybe their mother already told them).