Sheer Blue

Sheer Blue

Was after a sheer feel to a fabric and loved the effect of being able to somewhat see through the material.  This was done with watercolor and ink and I had to be careful not to overdo the watercolor washes at the bottom of the skirt.  Liked the light feel to this piece.

Fashion Statement

Hibiscus

I've been challenging myself with portraits   I liked the floppy hat and the idea of only putting color on the flowers.  I call it Hibiscus.

Pixie Sketch in Progress

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Pixie

I have determined to conquer my fear of drawing people.  I think that it is because there are little or no right angles but then again, most of my work does not have right angles so maybe the fear is a bit unrealistic.  I actually remembered to take photos as the work progressed, something I usually forget to do, so that others can see the process and perhaps not be as intimated as I have been.  I know there are formulas, eyes three widths apart, ears between eyebrows and nose and the spacing rules.  Of course each face is slightly different, which gives us our own unique look but the rules do help unless you are trying for a Picasso.  Personally I think just diving in and giving it a go is what works for me.   This drawing started with pencil, then progressed to charcoal and then watercolor.  Hope the stages help someone out there.      

Pencil Sketch "Perrrrfect"

Perrrrfect

I am trying to draw daily, sometimes I do well and others......life just has other ideas!  I usually take some time each morning, when my household is still quite, grab my cup of coffee and get out my pencils.  I am working on people, they are the most intimidating to me, so that is the area I want to practice the most.  This image was done with pencils and a few lines of charcoal.  I had fun with the hair and her pose made me think of a cat, thus the name Perrrrfect.  

Charcoal and Pencil Sketch Midnight Escape

Midnight Escape

 I got my first charcoal sticks and decided to give it a try.  I have loved the loose drawing other artists have done and thought that is what I would end up with.   As you can see, the finished product did not turn out very loose.  The nice thing about the sticks is that you can get a very dark value and they smear nicely. I did also use some pencil as it is hard to get any fine detail with just charcoal sticks. The woman in the image I imagine fleeing into the night under the cover of darkness.  She is alert and has a frightened look in her eyes.  What is she running from?  That is up to you, imagination is a wonderful thing.  I will try these again and see if I can come up with a looser image.

Circle Quilt

Now and then I get a desire to work with fabric.  My grandmother used to quilt (one of her artistic endeavors) and I have one of those quilts that have pieces of fabric from grandpa's shirts and grandma's dresses.  My grandmother had to care for her family  during the depression and saved every usable scrap of material. She would even cut buttons off of shirts and unwind the threads holding those buttons, then carefully wrap the thread around a small piece of cardboard.  Today, in our disposable society we are so spoiled.  It never occurs to most of us to use items we already have to make a quilt.  Like most people, I go to the fabric store and buy the fabrics I need.  This quilt I decided to do a little differently.  I had a child's dress in pink, orange and gold and used that color pallet to create my quilt.  I cut out as many circles as I could, using different sized bowls and bottle caps as my pattern.  I then went to a second hand store to find a nice big piece of fabric or sheet to use as the backing.  I found a pink striped fabric that worked perfectly and saved me money.  I used a plain muslin for the front backing and did buy some small pieces of coordinating fabrics for the additional circles.  After I cut out the circles I used an iron on fused backing to adhere the circles to the muslin then did a tight zig zag around each circle.  Once the quilt top was finished I used a batting in the middle and used a random stitch pattern to put it all together.  Running my wavy lines down the quilt vertically so that I could fit up to 1/2 the bulk into the space beside the needle and the machine. Overall, it is a fun quilt and a bit out of the box from the traditional quilt patterns.

Back from Vacation / Maureen's Wedding

Maureen and I 

Maureen's Wedding Painting

Had a wonderful trip to California with friends and family.  A dear friend of mine just got married and I decided to paint her something that would have meaning to her.  I was shocked when I arrived at her home to see she still had some of my original artwork from 20+ years ago.  The wine bottles each have both her maiden name Kennedy (and yes she is related to THE Kennedy's for all of you that have to know) and Cain (her name to be).  The date on the house is her wedding date.  I have such fond memories of our girls together and as I helped her pack found lots of things to bring tears to our eyes.  Congrats Mo.