Shades

Progress is going well on Shades. This is a fun painting to work on because the energy of the character. This would not make a good portrait for her to own however because it does not portray her as nicely as desired.

Thumb Sucker

My son says that this baby is picking his nose.  I am not sure that counts as a helpful critique.

Thumb Sucker

I am very excited to get started on this little thumb sucker. This pose really speaks to me because of about eight years of practice with it as a child. I think I started sucking my thumb in vitro and had a very hard time stopping after that. My parents tried putting a solution on my thumbs that tasted awful but I knew if I kept at it I could suck the yucky taste off after a while so I think It only made me suck my thumb more if anything. What finally squashed my thumb sucking habit was pure guilt.
My "nice" grandma knew that I liked music boxes so she promised she would give me one if I stopped sucking my thumb. I stopped but only when she could see. At bed time as soon as I knew she was not watching that thumb would go straight in my mouth. The ploy worked on her and before long she let me choose a lovely music box for my own. That is when the guilt set in. I knew I was lying to pretend I had quit. Before long I had the habit kicked because it was just not fair to lie to my grandma, and I did not want to have to give the music box back.

This painting is being a little difficult because the whole side of the face is so dark it is hard to show form with out greater tonal differences.

Is it finished?

The painting may be done. Need to look at it again in a few days to be sure.

Babes in progress

 I continued to work on "Babes in a Tide Pool" this evening. It is quite a challenge to paint fabric with flowers and plaid on it but it is working some and will need more development to come.

The back ground was fun to paint and very loose. I was grooving to classic rock on Pandora and my paint brush was going to town. I was amazed at how much paint it took to cover the whole thing. I put more paint out about 4 times each time thinking that that should be enough. I love having so much wet paint on the canvas right now. It just feels so great to add paint when everything is still wet and blends so beautifully and fluidly. This is exactly the feeling that made me love oil paints in the first place. It is nice to be able to look at the pictures of the work because it helps me get a perspective of what really is starting to work from a distance. I think that his clothes and her pants are looking very nice and also the shadows in the tide pool. Still work to do on her face and all skin and hair. Also with blending edges and all of the reflected light.

I have oil paints purchased when I was about eight years old that I am still using, and brushes that were bought well before I was born. Both my mother and my grandmother dabbled in some painting so those supplies were passed down to me. It is so amazing how long supplies can last.

I love the connection that I have to my grandmother when I use her brushes. I was in my early teens when she died after years of Alzheimer's. She never seemed to connect with me probably because I was so young when she was still herself. She was more strict than my other grandmother and we had conflicts over food. I was rather picky and it would become a big deal. There was a certain jello and fruit cocktail salad that she would serve on a bed of prickly lettuce, that I could not stand and it made an appearance at seemingly every dinner.

I like to think that my grandmother would be proud of me now and we would connect over the brushes we have both used and the art we have made with them.

Babes get fleshed out

I started painting Babes in a tide pool during the kids nap and got a first layer of skin tones laid out. After they were put to bed I worked some on the clothes. Painting seems to be going well.

Finger Paint

In an attempt to get my son to loosen up a little with his painting I decided to try finger paints with the kids today. I have a recipe for homemade finger paints I wanted to try and my son always loves a cooking project so we set to work. He loved seeing the mix on the stove and things were going well until my daughter peed on the floor (OK admittedly not the best time to decide to try potty training). In the time it took to whisk her off to the potty and clean up the puddle my finger paints were boiling vigorously. So my paint turned out a little thick but thankfully still usable. Both kids and I enjoyed finger painting however I should have taken more stain prevention measures. My daughter was laying across her painting in an effort to reload her little digits with brightly colored goop.

On my projects I think I have finished up the ship painting and while it turned out reasonably well I don't really like it for several reasons. I do not like copying someone else's work, ships are not what I like to paint and I had no idea what I was doing when I started trying to paint it so I do not think it is my best work. At least I hope there are better things to come. I had to get the painting finished so that I could hang it up and have more room on the top of my dining room hutch for wet painting storage. This can be a problem when one has little space and two small kids who want to touch and help color everything.

I also finished drawing the babes in a tide pool and toned the canvas so it should be ready to begin painting tomorrow. I am nervous about starting because I really want this to turn out well and am doubting myself some.

Red Lilly

I started this painting yesterday during nap time and wanted to complete it in one day. After bedtime I got back to work it is now done except for perhaps a few finishing touches when I look at it in a week or so. It was only 12"x12" so not a very large painting.

I also started laying out a 24" x 36" canvas for the babes in a tide pool painting, that I had hoped to paint while in Florida.

The kids were excited to see a new painting underway when they got up from nap time, and promptly got to work with art creations of their own. My daughter colored one page green, along with her hands, face, and jumper. Thank heaven for washable markers. My son started out trying to paint a flower but as he told Daddy its now "Just a black and blue picture." He is very realistic in his analysis of what he paints.

I would like to start getting the kids into different kinds of art and am currently browsing the Internet for ideas. This was one interesting article.

http://www.pbs.org/parents/supersisters/archives/encouraging-young-artists/

http://www.familyplayandlearn.com/ToddlerandPreschool-PaintingArtActivities.html

Time in FL

I went to Florida with high hopes to get some art accomplished but lack of proper equipment and timing just did not seem to work out. I wanted to try to complete a painting of both kids on the beach but we barely even went to the beech and I never got good pictures.
I did get some beautiful pictures of the sun rise over the ocean but Nathan was golfing with Pop and it was during high tide, so there was no room for Amelia to play in the water.

I  very much enjoyed time with family but was dissapointed that I did not find or make more opportunities to work on Painting.

Halloween was fun, I think it is one of my favorite holidays.