Autumn Glee

 An acrylic extravaganza

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. 

Fence posts

Every year, I paint some things to give family and friends.

 Michelle requests a Cheesehead snowman this time around.

My paint room smells like cedar!  My husband

bought these boards at Home Depot and cut them to size. 

I'm using inexpensive paint as the wood soaks up the 

acrylics like a dry desert after a short rain. 

I'm playing around with landscapes, too, as the rough wood

makes an interesting texture. 

These evergreens will sprout lights and snow and glittery

ornaments soon.  

See my FineArtAmerica Website

Colors,of Autumn

This turned out to be an easy paint with a simple, clean look. The one below was more ambitious. I did a little sponge work on the leaves. The mossy stones were harder. I still have some shadows to fill in. 

Sleepless in Texas

So I'm on a roll with the moons.

A bout of Insomnia allowed me extra time this morning!  The moon was shining into my bedroom window and woke me.  So. . . sort of a tribute, I suppose.

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/insomnia3-beth-waltman.html

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/insomnia3-beth-waltman.html

Cypresses at the Frio River

This week, we were painting at the Frio in the Hill Country.

We were painting the outside of our double wide trailer, not daubing at canvas with Acrylic.  Nevertheless, I took a swim and also a good look at the cypresses in summer.

Their greenery is unexpectedly lush and soft looking.  The cypress height is alway the most stunning, compelling feature, but in summer, their leaves--needles? --are so feathery.  Bare branches extend beyond the green.  It's very hard to capture in paint.

The really great feature of this is that there is water in the Frio!  Texas has suffered through several dry years.  We've had a lot more rain so far this summer. 

I noticed that the tips of the cypress are darker than the trunk.  The water reflections are usually smooth and calm, but if there is wind, it's wavy. 

There is something soothing about sitting by a stream. Or painting a stream, or viewing a painting of that body of water!  It's as if cares are being washed away relentlessly.  

The water is the Frio is always cool.  You can look up the flow, river temperature, etc. 

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?site_no=08195000

We also saw more inspiring flora and fauna: 

Prickly pear--my intrepid friend borrowed her husband's pen knife, and we tasted the meat.  They taste sweet, but seedy, like pomengranite. 

I would like to paint the cacti, too! 

Sunsets and wild flowers

I am finishing these in the wake of a visit to MFAH, which had an exhibit featuring the watercolors of John Singer Sargent. His work is so joyful that I wanted to emulate the feeling.  I noticed that his watercolors are very sketchy and look a little unfinished around the edges.  I often get carried away trying to complete every frond and leaf.  

Texas Hill Country Art

So--it's okay to stop, and a crime to go too far. 

These acrylics are a mix of Blick  studio acrylics, Liquitex basics, Winsor and Newton Galeria paints--mostly the greens.   

 

My new paint finally arrived!  I tried Zinc White from Golden, then Dick Blick's brand of Blick Artist's color.  My question was whether the pricier paint is superior to the students' acrylics. I'm thinking that it's a tad smoother and more blendable, less opaque.

I really had very little time for painting today.  I cleaned house, did laundry, grocery shopped, wrote some IEP goals,  compiled PLAAFPs from teacher input, etc.

And I watched the Mermaid, A Body Found special.  I was very tempted to put some mermaids in the sea scape!

More golf

Beauty on the Green

In the photograph, here dress matches the clouds. 

Since I did the two golf course pics, I'm

enamored of the look of golf courses

Fall foliage

This weekend's finish

Waterfall

Added some shadows; creating depth and coolness.
Last night, there was nothing much to do except paint and relax.  School had been hectic and tense.  As I dabbed on the paint, I felt myself unknot, muscle by muscle.

Painting the Ocean

I'm finding this to be a challenge.  You have sun (or moon) and waves and water.  You want to paint some people walking on the sand.  The sand has wet places, dry places, and foot prints.  There's the shoreline where the foamy little wave puddle slightly.

    It helps if you've recently seen those waves, dug your feet into the sand. If you can still see that the movement is constant and dynamic.  The clouds float, the surf churns.  I'm trying to paint this convincingly.  I want to hear the pounding and swish of the water, feel the wind on my face.  I want my little figures to brace slightly against the wind.  Their hair and clothing should be a little mussed.
     We saw a semi-professional photographer shooting a pretty female showing a lot of skin on the morning we snapped these photos.  The girl's hair was stiffly sprayed, her clothing carefully arranged.  I'm not going for that.  (Ahem!) I want to portray normal people having a good time chatting and slogging through the sand. They are enchanted with the sunrise and each other.  Then, there's the guy under the palm trees who is raking up the seaweed and debris blowing around.  He's amused by all the tourists, but this is a job to him.  He's willing to work at it, enjoying the coolness, maybe, but this is where he spends all his mornings.  His head is down, looking at his work.  He's thinking about his workday, and is a little immune to sunrises.

Bridge in the woods

I'm putting away all my paints as we're expecting company with small children in the coming weeks.  However, I started this water color-style painting. Can I really abstain from painting during this trip, then in the ten days afterward? I packed my sketchbook, then unpacked it.  Too bulky. And will it be too windy to sketch? 

Less Ambivalent

This is a quad I created for Dr. MG.  I like it better as time has passed.  Initially, I really disliked the red panel.  It was too...red. Loved the creamy yellow leaves and the blue morning glories.  I will have to revisit this in a similar project.

Holiday fun

I painted a lot over the holidays.  I painted for fun. I painted to relieve stress.  I also learned how to upload to FineArtAmerica.com.

So maybe one day, I'll also paint for profit--or at least to keep my hobby from infringing on my bill money.