Autumn Glee

 An acrylic extravaganza

Hill Country Paintings

 I made this small group of paintings, and they have all ended up at our Hill Country home. 

I can take no credit for the Wild West wall. 100% Sam! 

Grandma time

 I try to nourish artsy-craftsy inclinations in my grandkids. We always have great fun! The product is not as essential as the good time. Here are some of this weekend’s efforts 

Wreath made with plastic flowers from the bin store. I still hope to hot glue seashells is to make a creamy, rich looking wreath. 

Aqua paint to help with the right shade. I had failed to mix just the right color, so I finally just ordered from Amazon. 

Found a frame! This lovely Post card-sized painting made by Asher in summer of ‘22. The gold frame was in a box of random unused stuff. It picks up the color in the grass and really provide a finish. 

Dean’s glitter wreath

Jack’s toy collage wreath

I promise, we had glitter everywhere. This work by Jack gave him such joy! He gleefully glued and glittered to his heart’s content. If you can’t make a mess in the basement, where, then? 

Basement essential! The mosquitos are ruthless and bloodthirsty this fall. How can they be so thick in December? They sneak in every time we step out to wash paintbrushes. 

Little black stool, will be my temp nightstand. I squirted Aqua, green, and white directly on the surface, then used a crumpled grocery bag to distribute the paint. 

Close up, Asher’s Tree

Christmas painting

 I'm painting a few new items.  Not doing a Christmas theme this year as such, just painting images for friends.  Also, these cute name tags! I will not lie, the aqua tones were so difficult to achieve that I ordered a premixed acrylic from Amazon. 

Begging for paint

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I can sketch my heart out, but the paint with have to wait for home. 

Sketching

"You can't do sketches enough. Sketch everything and keep your curiosity fresh. "

John Singer Sargent

Seasons

The habit of breaking up one's colour to make it brilliant dates from further back than Impressionism - Couture advocates it in a little book called 'Causeries d'Atelier' written about 1860 - it is part of the technique of Impressionism but used for quite a different reason. 

John Singer Sargent

Perspective

One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul and yet no one ever came to sit by it. Passers-by see only a wisp of smoke from the chimney and continue on their way. 

Vincent Van Gogh

People, more people

I have a request for a painting of the dancing at Garner State Park. There's a famously iconic oak tree in front of the pavilion. The sun sinks, the music starts.

Finished painting for sale, also prints

Avoiding overpainting

I'm the queen of overapinting, the mistress of myopia. I just watched a video on how to improve one's oil paint technique-- although my preferred medium is acrylic. And dang, I've been approaching it all wrong! Never mind. I can correct henceforth. 

Never mind that my people are all elongated like giraffes. At least they don't look Neanderthal. 

My husband looked yesrpterday and asked, "Are they naked?" No, no, that's the under painting! They will be fully clothed when finished.

Her goes the redo of my other River picture. I need to soften the sharp edges ands broaden the strokes. 

Try again

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I was really unhappy with my first rendition of dancers, so let's start this party over. Dang!  Those sheep are just weird and the people are stiff.  I like the happy little leaves, though.  

Summer

I'm starting this one. Eventually, there will be a boy swinging into the river. 

The painting below if of a sign for Neal's Dining Room in Concan.  A friend wants some pictures of Neal's due to all the fun they've had there. 

You can see more of this wonderful place HERE  

Hill Country Paint

West of San Antonio, the Texas Hill Country skips and spreads. Over those mountains and hills, bluebonnets come in the spring.  Goats, sheep, deer, cows, and occasional buffalo dot the hills. More and more, exotic deer, lavender, and grapes join the customary peach and pecan orchards.

The Frio, Comal, and Guadalupe Rivers run through the hills. All these features beckon travelers. 

I get many requests for river paintings. 

I have an unusual request for a buffalo painting.  

I have a less-usual request for a painting of the traditional Gardner Park Dance. So, here's the beginnings!  

Some parts of the Hill Country are dusty and desert-like, scattered with prickly pear and scrubby vegetation.  It's all wildly beautiful.

Tea pots

Have you ever tried Bengal Spice tea with coconut cream? If not, why not? 

I recommend brewing it in a paisley teapot. Or pouring it into a paisley cup. I'll post pics of all my pots soon. 

This has been a long, crazy day at school. Teachers are frazzled getting in final grades. Case managers are urging students to get their assignments submitted. Painting, tonight, is out of the question. So I brew some tea, finish dishes, then begin taking pics of my collection. 

Then I naturally want to sketch or paint the pot. 

There is something domestic and comforting about antique teapots. 

I think about cast iron stoves and crocheted doilies, dainty teacups, and petite fours. 

My grandmother's best dishes and Mom's rose China. 

A student asked me today whether I paint daily. No, just on the calmest days of my life. A still life of nostalgic kitchenware might be very calming. 

Just add goats

I'm working on a painting designed to take me to the Hill Country of Texas.  Picture April, before it's so stinking hot that you want to sit in the AC and never venture out.  The bluebonnets are parading around like Southern bells aware of their charm.  Even goats look endearing in all that vivid blue! 

I've barely painted in their outlines, but I'll be adding horns, highlights, the whole works. 

And I have a request for buffalo. So behold the buffalo taking shape!  

Painting over the long haul

TI've gotten back into painting in the last 4-5 years.  It has been quite an episode, and I've gleaned wisdom from the process.

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Here are some of the lessons: 

*It's more important to paint frequently than to set aside days or weeks to paint. 

Who really has hours a day to paint?  Or do any beloved hobby? Most of us snatch moments in between work, fixing meals, cleaning house, and connecting with family.  Daily life is not an obstacle but a vehicle for art.  Our lives lend reality to painting. 

If I put my paint brush down for weeks on end, my skills will degrade.  

Keeping a small paint corner set up helps. Painting daily for 15-60 minutes keeps me sharp and focused. 

If I can't paint, I sketch in a notepad or color.  But as important as frequent painting is, knowing the motivation for putting color on canvas is crucial. 

(Notice the addition of rocks and shadows.)

*Find the Motivation

Painting is the best therapy for my busy, overwhelmed, creative mind. 
I have a challenging job and a busy life full of family and friends.  So many days, I don't even stop to breathe. 

When I paint, I can breathe.  The same is true of my other hobbies and loves--reading, cooking, travel.  When I pick up a paintbrush, I'm envisioning myself in that landscape--breathing the air, swimming in the water.  It makes a complete and total vacation for me--for the duration of the session!  

Then when I hang the work at school or in the house, I just have to look at the picture to recall that small holiday. Those who buy my paintings get that same vacation feeling!  

(partially done field of bluebonnets)

*When you paint, you must see. 

Painting is all about seeing, and seeing beyond the canvas and the photos.  Sight is different from vision. Just as reading is about imagining and inferring, painting infuses a scene with life. There's interpretation and emotion along with the images.  Otherwise, you could just take photos and print them on canvas--ta daaaa! A short cut. 

To really see, you need good light--literally!  Daylight is best, but in daylight, there is usually a lot of wind or heat.  I put a powerful lamp stand in my tiny studio so daylight is simulated when paint fever hits. 

To see, I need to cultivate vision.  I need to take some lessons from a master on this.  How to compose?  How to shade?  What is it that makes one photo or landscape breathtakingly balanced, while a similar piece is just a little off? 

I remember spotting a Van Gogh in a gallery full of exuberant expressionist art. It beckoned me.  The strokes were small and obsessive, colors were bold, and the composition compelling.  I knew what that small painting was from a great distance.  At the same time, I know his story, and that he was seldom satisfied and rarely marketable. That brings me to my final point: 

*Allow yourself to fail and to learn more every day. 

Have fun and enjoy the learning curve. 

Three Day Siege

Due to 20 inches of rain dumping on the Houston area in a single day, we are home for the third day in a row.  

We've played Star Wars in the Hallway and I've painted a little while doing a lab safely training online. My daughter the science teacher laughs at the thought of me being responsible for flammable chemicals. Of course, I'm painting trees.  I could do that blindfolded.  There is something so sensible yet romantic about the parade of leafy maples showing off their best dresses. 

I keep trying to paint this Portuguese fishing village.  The persepetive is tricky, because the viewer looks up at the hill and down at the water.  I've also never explored all the shapes and colors of small watercraft presented in the photo.  But I can picture sitting there fishing or swimming and hearing the lapping of waves.  In the photo, people cluster all along the sidewalk.  With so many dwellings together, I'm sue you can smell cooking, hear chatter, and see small children running around. 

I also took a moment to be appalled at the state of my flowerbeds. 

I love the contrast here.  The dusty Miller plants are quite pushy and crowding out all the others. 

More Inspiration

I brought coloring books, sketch pads, and pastels this time rather than my paints. But just look at these photos! I'll have to paint when we get home: 

Such drama! The play of light on water makes any ordinary scene a delight.