It was FUN!

I did this little 5X7 in my class with Jini James. I had a lot of fun with it. Some imperfections exist but I intend to just let them be. I love the intensity of the look.

WOW Time Flies!

Hi, I can hardly believe a month has past so quickly. Thank You! Thank You, to John Wright. I received your lovely print of the winter scene as few days ago. What a nice thing to do. I am still painting but seem to get so far and the painting becomes a toned canvas. My learning curve does seem to be leveling off but I am rarely satisfied with the final product. Perhaps someday. I am going to a workshop as I have decided to settle down and do still life as that is what attracts me.
In the mean time, I am posting one of my earlier paintings of a bridge in Central Park that I did for my daughter and her husband. Their initials are actually carved on the tree trunk, only a mom would do that. Hope you enjoy it.

Surprise!

I was talking with someone about the upcoming exhibition that I was thinking of entering. I read the jump off inspiration for the contest was a small Chinese takeout carton. They actually meant for the carton to be part of the art work. So I am left with a painting with no where to go. BUT, I love it. I am happy with how it turned out and decided not to do it in color. Let me know what you think. My husband gave me the original idea as he remembered bait worms came in the carton. P.S. I also spent 5 hours researching and finally getting permission for my reference photo.

I'm Back from Blizzard Country!!

I am slow to get back into the swing of painting although I did just finish a painting for a potential competition but I will have to wait to publish it. I was delighted when I received the wonderful news when I got back that I won a lovely signed limited edition of one of John Wright's latest painting. (http://johnwrightart.blogspot.com/). Interestingly, it is a snow scene and I just got back from Denver. Denver had a blizzard the day I flew so I had to lay over in Fort Worth. Needless to say my grandkids were disappointed but we made up for it once I arrived. This will remind me of my trip as it snowed three times while I was there. Something Florida rarely sees.

I finally took a picture of Rachel's print of Zinnias she sent me. Thank you again for the lovely print. I am also posting one of my first oils. I love the bright colors, the tulip radiates. Tulips are a glorious harbinger of spring.

Hope to be posting on a more regular bases as I am more a peace with my art work and not striving to learn everything at once before I start painting. I have found in my past lives that when I am face with a new challenge, I tend to go on a frantic search for any and all information related to it. For two years, I have been reading voraciously, trying to cram in all the art of the century, trying different approaches, going to workshops...Rather like turning over the pieces of a new puzzle, once the pieces are all turned I start putting all the ends together to frame the problem. The final stage is to fill in the center. I think I have arrived at this stage and can focus on actually painting and not worrying about not doing something right or missing a piece. I can enjoy the process of painting and stop obsessing on the knowledge of painting. Have a great day. Honor

Where did it go?

I first want to thanks Rachel. I received my print and it is lovely. As soon as I recoup all that time that just flew by (Where did it all go?), I will take a photo and show everyone how lovely it is. Meanwhile I am posting a bouquet of flowers I painted a while back. I am actively painting but mostly experimenting and wiping it off. I had my watercolor sketching class today. What a blast! Love it when my little girl can come out and play! I am headed for Denver next week so will be out of touch for about three weeks unless I can carve out time on my daughters' computers. with 6, 3, and 1 year old grandsons climbing on grandma begging to play, it might be difficult. Have a wonderful, joyful day and week. Honor

Sushi anyone?

This is the DSFDF challenge and I think I got in under the wire. My cold delayed me a bit, but to be truthful I found this quite a challenge. I actually did my first in Alkyd Oils and did not care for them, they seems too loose. My second attempt seemed better in regular artist oils on a 5x7 canvas board. I am glad I did it as I learned a lot. I am currently taking a watercolor sketch book class and this afternoon was just what I needed as a reward after the Sushi challenge. Fun!!! Doing watercolors I revert to my childhood and play!!

Keeping on, keeping on

I am still not 100% recovered from the cold but I am painting or should say attempting to paint. Yesterday I tried DSFDF challenge of sushi in the alkyd oils and had a hard time matching colors and applying a thick coat. So today I am trying to use my regular oils and it is going better. I spent a lot of today posting a painting to my new Etsy store. Thank you again Carol Schiff, I used your site as a model and a learning tool. I do believe in not reinventing the wheel and giving credit to the inventor. So Thank you, Thank you Carol. I did get one painting posted. I am going to post a picture I did a while back of a Hibiscus I snapped at a golf course. My daughter who was visiting from Denver at the time snatched it for herself.. Enjoy your weekend!

"The secret is not to fly in the air or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth. -Chinese Proverb

Friends

Just before I came down with this lovely Sinus cold and began to hibernate, I finished this painting. I think of it as a study and may make a larger painting of it. I want to try it in a portrait rather than a landscape format to emphasis the height of the trees. I also think I would like to make the path narrower and not line it with rocks. It was fun putting in the people. Have an enjoyable day. Honor

Returning for down under

I am slowly returning from a bout of sinusitis and head cold. My husband tried hard not to pass it on but "that's life". As you can imagine, I have not been painting (my brain just would not cooperate) but I am able to keep up with all the new postings from other bloggers. They encourage me. I finally got up the nerve to post a still life I did at my last workshop. I think I still need to do some work on it. It was painted plein air which was the first time I did a still life outside. I am determined to do more. I welcome feedback as it helps me grow. Enjoy you day. Honor

Still Life with Fruit

Hi, Finished my 5x7 of a Pitcher with Fruit on Friday. I finally felt like I was more in control of my stroke. Jini James, who has been teaching me drawing and has been a great encourager for me, told me about using a Mongoose (synthetic) brush and what a difference. I also got a burst of energy and reorganized my studio area. All ready to start back painting on Monday. I went to an Art Fair in New Smyrna Beach and stopped by Brevard watercolor artist's show "Splash" ...it amazes me how many talented artists we are fortunate to have in this area. I hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend. Honor

I WON!

Just received notice from Rachel that I won one of her paintings!!! WOW!! I am excited as I rarely win, so my luck has changed and in such a wonderful way!!! This morning, I went Plein Air painting with our local guild group ---- not quite so lucky as I am still having trouble with varying my greens and contrasts. However, I had a marvelous time, the weather was delightful and I to think - I almost didn't go thinking it would be too cold (68). After I returned home, I started a still life and used only C.Red Light, UltraM Blue, Alizarin Crimson and White. Needless to say it challenged me as I tried to duplicate exact colors.... I am going to repeat the exercise again and again and again until it becomes second nature to mix correctly. In the meantime, I am posting a painting I did of a tea set my brother brought back from Nam. I call it "Zen Moment". Have an enjoyable night. Honor

Workshop update

Just recovering from a three day workshop with Gay Faulkenberry. I felt better when I realized everyone was as exhausted at the end of each day. It was a valuable experience for me and I feel like I have made some commitments.
1. To establish a set palette and stick to it for at least six months so I master color mixing... duh!!!
2. I need to beef up my contrasts so they can be seen from a distance. It became very obvious in one of my paintings that I need to almost exaggerate the contrast especially when doing plein air and greenery. The canvas ended up a toned canvas.
3. I need to pay attention to warm and cool temperatures...
4. Most important, I need to paint everyday, maybe not complete a painting but PAINT.

Most of my paintings were studies and so I decided to post a still life I did a while back. I think doing still life for a while will help me immensely. Have an enjoyable day and include some fun in it. Honor

Oh My!

As I was arranging this set-up, the yellow pepper fell over and I was stuck by how the green and red one seems to be looking down on it. So I grabbed a knife and Voila!. However, I did not take into account that, as I painted away the yellow pepper would start to relax and the angle would change.... Too late, I took pictures but couldn't get quite the right angle on the camera. In addition, the angle for the camera and the way I looked at the pepper had to be very consistent when I turned my head back and forth between the easel and the still life. I persevered and I am happy with the results but learned some very valuable lessons in painting from life. I am off to the workshop tomorrow to learn even more lessons. Can''t say I am not exercising my brain. Have an enjoyable day. Honor

Oriole and Orange

Birds have always been a wonder to me. They seem so at peace with nature and to see an eagle or osprey soar on the currents is fascinating. I was at an outdoor jazz concert last week and an osprey soared for overhead for 4 minutes never flapping his wings against the cloud free blue sky. What a treat! I finally finished my birds but the blue bird didn't turn out as well so decided just to post this one. I wish I could say I took the photo but it came from the wet canvas reference image library which artists may access for reference photos. http://www.wetcanvas.com. I still have another painting of peppers but it will have to wait for another day or until I can get a good photo of it. I think I can detect an improvement in my photo skills but then a snag occurs and it is back to the beginning. Have an enjoyable day. Honor

Annie Leibovitz

Was fortunate to see Annie Leibovitz: Women exhibition at the Brevard Art Museum and I was totally impressed. Hope every gets to see her work at some time in their life. I am currently working on finishing three painting so am going to post a still life I did at Stacy Barter's workshop a while back and one I did at Susan Sarback workshop. They are two totally different approaches as at Susan's I only used a palette knife. I look back at my work and find I am more and more attracted to still life so may decide to settle down and focus on it for a while. Will wait to see my direction after my workshop this weekend. Have a marvelous day filled with peace and joyfulness. Honor

San Francisco Pink Lady

Hi everyone, I finished the challenge on DSFDF and started three other paintings. I am signed up for a local workshop at our art museum. The artist is a Gay Faulkenberry who is quite a well know artist. Therefore, the next two weeks will be spent painting and painting and painting, so I can have a better handle on mixing especially with the colors she recommends. My drawing teacher, Jini James, mentioned that we all have to put in our 10,000 hours ( from the "Outlier") I figure I only have about 9,900 hours to go. We will also be doing "plein air" as part of the workshop. Hopefully the cold snap that Florida is experiencing will be well over. I know it will be fun and expect to learn a lot. Peace and joyfulness to all. Honor

I'm trying

Am working on the photo for (DSFDF) but have to wait for the oil to dry. I have a bit of finishing to do. I haven't tried to do two paintings at once before but decided to multitask and do another painting. Oh course, I have to try something new. I used a prepared smooth panel board and attempted to do a bird.... The paint just slid around and I was not happy with the results so will do a comparison on a canvas panel.
So... am going to post an earlier painting just to keep my promise to myself to keep blogging. This is a portrait of my niece. Hope everyone is having a great day. Honor

Self Critic

Hi, Tried to experiment yesterday and again not satisfied with the results... I guess I am learning to be my own critic. More importantly I am learning that I must have some passion about the what I want to paint or it becomes just a painting. So to keep up with my promise to post often I am posting a painting I did months ago. I would appreciate any constructive criticism as I am determined to grow as an artist. Off to a live gesture drawing class. I am fortunate we have a guild that allows me to draw from a live model at an affordable cost. It is really helping me with my drawing, especially proportions. Have a great day!!!! It's the only one available today. Honor

Surprising myself.

I am surprising myself!!!! Did another small 5x7 oil painting of a pear. Started out trying to perfect clouds but did not do so well so switched to the pear. This is becoming fun. Have a drawing class tomorrow with Jini. Have a long way to go. Honor

Having Fun

I just love doing these small pictures ( 5x7 ) as it gives me a chance to experiment, learn my brush strokes, improve my color choices, and learn about composition. They can be completed in a relative short time. Somehow just practicing on scrap canvas is not the same. The Tree was from a photo I took while visiting my daughters in Denver and the Sunrise was from my imagination. I am finally learning not to be a slave to a photo but to use it as a reference....duh!!! as the young would say. There is so much to learn that I have to keep reminding myself to enjoy the journey... So happy journey everyone. Honor

Changed

Hi, Thanks Carol and Karin... I retook my picture and reposted. I think it is an improvement but have a way to go...Honor

Finally

I finally finished my painting for Different Strokes but not in time for entry so next time I will prioritize better.... best of all, I'm painting!!!!... I think I let too many other things get in the way. Now all I have to do is learn how to photo and adjust my paintings..so I can post. I am going to post the Jefferson Memorial but will have to give in and take a course or read a book on photoshop...Another distraction??? Have a good day and thanks Carol for getting me started. Honor

Happy New Year

I am determined to learn more about this blog.... especially as I ended up commenting on my own post and not posting a new message... guess I just rejoined the human race and enjoyed a good laugh on myself. My next lesson will be learning how to post or rather upload a photo. I joined the Different Strokes blog and am going to try to do the latest challenge. I hope to upload it so everyone can help me grow by giving me constructive criticism. My skin is fairly thick!!

Again I have to thank Carol Schiff . I read her latest blog and was inspired to do a challenge.

So Happy New Year to all. Honor

Happy holidays

Would you believe, my new computer is on its way to the manufacturer. Hopefully, I will be getting it back within ten days but not holding my breathe. In the meantime having to borrow a computer so online time is restricted. I hope all are having a wonderful holiday season, mine was lovely. I started reading "The Art Spirit" by Henri and am enjoying it tremendously. I do believe the teacher appears when the student is ready..... Man am I ready!!! Happy Holidays. Honor

A New World has opened

I just changed my home page and up popped a blog from Carol Shiff. She is an artist in Melbourne whose blog I accessed and sign up on. Lo and behold it appeared on my home page and reminded me I hadn't kept up with it. Well the old adage that "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" just doesn't hold water these days. As I read her blogs again I realized there is a whole new world to explore with fellow artists! As a novice (two years) artist, I have a thirst for information that blogging just might help fill. I love to look at others works and hear their story as it inspires me to keep on striving to improve my own work. Thank to all for being there. Honor