Waiting in the Wings

Recently, I've been having some fun painting ballerinas in palette knife.  Since I usually paint with a brush, the product is very different from my typical work, but I've been enjoying the expressiveness and freedom to explore color as well as the human form.  Above is my most recent piece, Waiting in the Wings, a 24"x36" oil on canvas.  

Sometimes I get asked where I get my inspiration from, and typically it's in the form of a picture.  This time, however, I actually posed for the picture!  You know what the best part of using yourself as a model?  You can shave off pounds with just a few strokes.  HA!!!!!!  I didn't don a tutu or anything, I just needed an understanding of how the hands would look fixing a bun.  Very simple picture but it was enough to get the painting going!

Hope you are having a great day!

Taking Photos...

Happy Monday!  Today I started a new piece, which I should hopefully have a picture to show some progress this Friday.  In the meantime, I spent some time taking pictures of a few pieces I have completed.  So much time can be spent on taking pictures, professional photographers are no joke...they have some mad skills.  As I try to learn all about white balance and photoshop etc., etc., I feel a little overwhelmed at times!  So here above is a far away picture of the ballerina I've been working on.  Palette knife is especially difficult to photograph due to the texture of the piece, but I hope at this point I've gotten it down.  I've been working much of the evening at it and hope to have the final image soon, I just need to check it on a couple different computers to make sure I don't have it totally off!

I hope you have a happy, productive week ahead!!!!  See you Friday!

Happy Friday!

Oh man, Friday again?!  This week felt like a blur.  This week I finished up framing a commissioned painting and touched up an old painting to change the palette to a brighter one.  I don't have pictures unfortunately, one because the commission is a surprise, and the other is not yet done.  I'm hoping Monday to show more progress, so with that, I'll just say Happy Friday!  I hope your weekend is wonderful and hope to have more fun for you Monday!

All Done! Phew!

Italian Coast, 24x36 oil on canvas

I am really excited because I finished the Italian Coastline scene!  I haven't created an Italian scene for awhile, and I realized how much I missed it.  It's sort of like going on vacation in the sense that it's relaxing and eye catching, just a lovely view to engross myself in.

So here it is!  Next up, I'm changing up an already complete piece to brighten up the color palette, and then hopefully onto the next scene.  Stay tuned!

Happy Monday!!!!!!  Hope you're having a great day!

So Close!

Bon Bons...yum!

I am SO close to finishing up this Italian coastline scene...in fact, I am technically done with it, and it's going through it's first round of editing.  I call this finished painting my "first draft" since it's not ready to frame but it's pretty much done.  What needs editing you ask?  Well, I don't like the shape that the sea makes, so I need to change the curvature of it.  After that, I think I might be done barring no other editing!  I hope to post it on Monday!

In other news, I had the fun opportunity to check out an Amish Farmer's Market in Maryland today.  It was faaaantastic.  Everything was fresh, from the bread to the pastries to the fresh baked donuts. YUM.  Also, I love the Amish.  Even when I was little, my mom said I used to get a huge smile on my face when I'd see them, and today was no different.  I don't know what it is!  Maybe it's the pureness of their lifestyle and faith, or their work ethic, or calm demeanor, but they're just amazing to me.  I started rattling off questions to my mom and mother in law that I was curious about, but didn't have the heart to ask since I didn't want to appear nosy. 

So of course I ended up googling later, and while there are different sects of Amish, I learned quite a bit about the sect that runs this market.  First, as with most all Amish, no photos allowed, as it's believed a photo is a graven image, and is considered vain. So therefore the photo you see above is simply of bon bons, an inside joke between my husband and I about what I must eat all day. Ha!  Second, the women dress according to their age...the younger you are, the brighter the colors.  I was wondering about that this today, as I saw a wide variety of shades, most really beautiful!  They also apparently leave at 4 a.m. to get to the Farmer's Market by 6 a.m. to begin work for the day.  Wow!  As a natural night owl, I'm not sure I'd make it as an Amish person!!!!

Have a great weekend!  See you Monday!

Painting Progress!

Progress so far!

I'm getting closer to finishing up this Italian coast scene, and hate to admit it but I am getting to an antsy point in the painting.  This happens with some of my larger detailed pieces...I start to get excited to finish it and feel so close but so far at the same time.  Usually this is a good sign that I'm closer than I realize to completing the piece, although it doesn't feel like it.  We'll see what Friday holds for my post and if it's done!

As far as the progress, you might be able to tell that I changed the color of the middle mountain.  I wasn't digging the blue-green color and decided instead to warm it up with a more yellow-green.  Right now I'm working on the building in the foreground, and then plan is to fill in the sidewalks, then the ocean, and then the beach.  Woo hoo!

Happy Fourth!

Hubby and Baby celebrating Independence Day!

Happy Fourth of July!  I've been busy working on a couple things, including the Italian coastline painting I showed a couple pictures of the other day, and hope to have a picture of the progress for you on Monday.  In the meantime, the plan is to have a low key fourth of July; eat some burgers, watch some fireworks, wear some red, white, and blue.  I am not sure what it is (maybe it's the blog forcing me to jot down my thoughts!) but I'm especially grateful to be an American this year. It's a blessing to grow up in this country, to have so many opportunities and freedoms, to be able to paint just about whatever I want whenever I want.  It's a wonderful, wonderful thing and I just feel grateful!

On this July 4th I hope you are feeling grateful for the freedoms you have, and if you're reading from abroad, what do you love about your country?!  The world is full of fabulous places with their own wonderful culture, I'd love to hear about it!

::Hugs!::