Working on a quote by Lily

When Lily relapsed with leukemia last September, she told Larisa that she would do whatever she had to do in order to reach her dreams.  After going through treatment once, she knew that relapse treatment would be all that - and so much more - so much worse and more intense.  So she knew that the battle would be rough - and with no guarantees.  So, to honor her fighting spirit, I wanted to paint something with her quote.

This is what I did:

Just a quick little painting.  I don't know what I will do with it.  Looking at it now, I realize, I need to give the poor girl some arms.  Ha ha!

Later note:  I kinda screwed it up by adding Lily's name underneath the quote with a Sharpie.  The handwriting/pen doesn't match the quote; so it doesn't really seem to fit.  Lesson learned: Be careful going back over paintings months later! 

Art Lessons Ahead

I will start two new art classes this week.  Each one is 6-weeks long - one class a week.  Tuesday afternoons I'll be attending Kevin Menck's "Fundamentals of Landscape Painting" at Warehouse 521 in Nashville.  Then on Thursday mornings, I will be attending "The art of Landscapes" by Rachael McCampbell at Owl's Hill Nature Center.  Should be interesting.

Mostly I'm a little nervous - like I'm going to be revealed as a major novice painter and will be so far behind everyone else in the classes.  However, one of the benefits of being older is that I really don't care that much about what other people think.  I AM a novice, and I'm there to learn.  I know I'm not a great painter - I don't have what some call a "talent" for it.  However, I can learn - and I get a lot of satisfaction from it.  So I will continue.

I'm glad both classes are on landscapes.  That something I'd really like to get better at - both en plein air - and alla prima.  I want to get to the point that I can see values more easily.

Onward and Upward.  LOL!

Update:  I discovered that I actually DO care what other people think - especially when the other person is someone who teaches art and described my art as "naive."  I cancelled my participation in all the classes I listed above.  I need to work on my art for my own enjoyment.  I can take online classes and lessons.  And I KNOW that "naive art" is an actual thing - and that some artists aspire to paint naive art.  However, when you AREN'T aspiring to paint naive art (art that looks like a beginner/child did it), then calling it naive is definitely not a compliment.

However, with that said, I have to work on not being so sensitive about my art.  I certainly don’t want insincere compliments.  I see people online post some truly dreadful (to me) art, and people praise it and go on and on.  I also see art that simply doesn’t appeal to me, regardless of how well it is painted.  I’ve had to “eat crow” a little after my flare-up of insecurity when the art teacher called my art naive. You’d think at the ripe old age of 67 (at the time) I would know to wait out knee jerk reactions a day or two before taking actions or responding.  But no - I had to respond while I was highly emotional.  LOL!  Age doesn’t necessarily bring wisdom!  I’m human - and that’s life.  No biggie.  Moving on . . . . 

Another try at a turtle

Since I started Weight Watchers about six weeks ago, my mantra has been that I am a turtle. Because of my age and other factors, my weight loss will be slow.  I won't get discouraged and give up with small losses, extremely slow losses, plateaus or even gains. SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE!  I wanted a drawing of a turtle that I'd see often to remind myself to persevere. 

This is done in oils - a Sharpie used first to do the wording and outlines.  Then filled in with transparent colors and then opaque colors - with plenty of transparent colors showing through.  It's a quick and easy painting - a fun piece.

"Persevere!"  Oil on 6x6 gessoboard

Steeples instead of Churches

Today my sister, Beth, and I traveled to St. Mary's bookstore and gift shop in downtown Nashville. Beth want s to get a First Communion gift for her granddaughter, Emma.  While there we noticed a display of painting on one column of the store. All the paintings were of steeples.  And we thought why try to paint an entire church building?  Instead let's start with just the steeple.

Remember this painting I started a week or so ago.  I can look at it and know it's my church - Hillsboro United Methodist Church in Leiper's Fork, TN.  I roughed in the basic shapes but then was not sure how to proceed.  So I stopped.  So we are thinking of doing just the steeple with enough of one side to make sure the identity of the church is clear.  

Two new paintings - green angel and white hydrangea

Two new paintings finished - one yesterday and one today.  I'm not particularly happy with either one. 

First the hydrangea.  I tried to follow a Nancy Medina video as closely as possible. Even with following a video to do it, it doesn't look very good. I think I will give up on flowers for awhile. I don't know why they stump me so. I want to be able to paint them well - but so far I don't feel I've done a good job at all.  This hydrangea is one of my least favorite paintings. However I DID learn something about how the darker underpainting with transparent colors make the lighter opaque colors really pop.  I had done the painting yesterday and disliked it so much, I scraped the paint off and started over today.   

 

Now the green angel:   I LOVE the green background - the colors and the textures.  The wings and dress are done with "Brilliant Yellow" rather than white, and I like the softening it gives them. However I see some clumps that I didn't even notice yesterday when I painted it.  

 

Blue Angel

I started working on an angel a couple days ago and only succeeded in getting a background done.  So today I got it back out and did the angel.  It literally took only a few minutes.  Now that I look at it, though, I'm thinking I need to add more dark blue to the bottom and top left.  So I will do that later and then add the finished photo.

This one was simple because the wings and dress are straight strokes of the brush.  The only detail work is her hair, and since it is a back view, there was no worry about facial details.

I went back to my studio to look at the painting and in person, the blue is plenty dark enough.  So I will let it be.  I like the free feelings of the painting.

 

Another Barn Painting

I DO enjoy country scenes.  This is a painting I started yesterday and finished today. I tried not to get too bogged down with details, and I guess the fact that I finished it in a 24-hour period is a testament to the fact that I didn't worry too much with details.   This is the "almost" finished photo.  I added yellow flowers to the bushes next to the barn - and I think that added some interest.  Done and done.

Here is the finished photo.  I think the added flowers make it prettier.