Palette Clean Off Abstract Poppies

 So, this is kind of another abstract made from cleaning off my palette of extra acrylic paint. I use half of a sheet of disposable palette paper for acrylics on a damp sponge to lay out my paint on. When I'm finished and ready for new paint, I turn the palette paper upside down and stamp onto a sketchbook page, sometimes two or three times, sometimes once.

Here, poppies showed up. Three of them, two already with black centers. I added watercolor stems, darkened the center of the middle poppy, made a few black gel pen lines, added some spatters, and let them be. Maybe not a masterpiece, but I love poppies, so I kind of like it!

A Couple of Mini Acrylic Landscapes

 I had more leftover paint, so I did a couple of quick mini landscapes from imagination in my sketchbook, using only the colors left on the palette. The photo didn't pick up all of the little nuances of color in either one of them, but you get the idea. The paint didn't go to waste and I got some practice!

This one is possibly a work in progress, also using leftover paint, but it is from an old photo, and mostly memory, of the year we moved to Alabama for a year for my dad's job when I was in second grade. My parents and I lived in a little three room house in the woods, which had a living room, one bedroom, and a kitchen, all small, and it had red shingle siding on the outside. Many happy memories from that year before we moved back to Tennessee!

Fun stuff! Thanks for visiting!

More Meditation Stones

I've done some more practicing on the Meditation Stones from the 12 free classes leading up to Christmas on Ivy Newport's site, inspired by Stephanie Ryan's class on flowing watercolors. I still used the Kuretake Japanese watercolors, but this time on watercolor paper, which helped about the buckling, which occurred on the mixed media paper. They look better, I think! I added the dark speckles just for fun! 

These are quite mesmerizing to paint, watching the paints flow into one another, creating different colors and shapes. I will be doing more!

Stay safe from the weather and the viruses, and keep being creative! The world needs all the pretty it can get right now! Prayers for us all!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS CARD!

Memory Portrait-Harlequin Violin

Okay, here is what started out as a timed 20 minute painting for the group at the Trodden Path (see sidebar for link), but the phone rang before time was up and I lost my train of thought on the painting, which, by the way, is on an 8"x10" mixed media board.

The "roses" were made with rolled up paper dipped in acrylic paint. I wasn't liking where the painting was going, so I added some stenciling with a harlequin pattern stencil, some white gesso, and some umber drips and runs, then turned it upside down and decided to make a memory portrait (inspired by Heather Murray's class at the Trodden Path) out of it...

These are the same figures from the other two portraits, because I had already printed and cut out extras, and I didn't want to take time to find something different right then. Only part of the girl in the bathing suit got printed, so I drew her a skirt...

I tried out a butterfly stamp on her peplum style gown and added touches of acrylic paint here and there...

It was too bright and busy for me, so I add a wash of white gesso and gel medium and let dry...

 

Too much whiteness for me, so I took part of it off with an alcohol pad, along with some of the bright colors, then added more paint...

 



Still a little too bright, so I took some more paint off the dress and added the oversized rose, plus a few other details, and called it finished. The girl is me at age 10 (the fifties), an ancestor from the turn of the 20th century, and my Pekingese, Kibbles, from the eighties. Music transcends generations, centuries, and species, after all.

 

If you look closely, you can still see the butterfly image in her skirt and the harlequin pattern and paint runs amidst the layers. I like it!

 

The next one will have totally different figures, and I am choosing them at this time. If you want to see more of these memory portraits from other students and the teacher, go to the trodden path (link on sidebar). I am also sharing this on Paint Party Friday, Creative Every Day, and my FB page (links also on sidebar), where you can visit and see a lot of wonderful art by many talented artists.

 

I have also finished my first two woven rugs, which I will be sharing in another blog. I am loving weaving almost as much as painting and writing!

 

Hope you all have a wonderful creative week! Thanks for visiting! :)

Rose Bleu-20 min Painting

A twenty minute painting inspired by the group at the Trodden Path (link on sidebar). I used alizarin crimson and indigo blue plus white gesso on a 6x6" gallery canvas, set the timer and let loose without thinking too much about it. This is what I had when the timer went off.

 

I have since gone back and darkened the area by her neck a little. I just love her!

PPF & CED - 20 minute Paintings (Heart of Green and Rose Bleu)

I am sharing for the first time on Paint Party Friday (see the link on my sidebar), which I discovered on a blog that I follow. I am also sharing it on Creative Every Day (link also on sidebar). Both sites have a lot of wonderful participants and you can visit their blogs to see their creativity in full bloom by going there and clicking their names on the list, which is new every week.

This is a 20 minute timed painting that I did a couple of days ago, in which I used glass bead gel medium and open acrylics on a 6x6" gallery canvas. It's an unusual color for a heart, but I like it! :)

I did this painting the same day, also timed for 20 minutes. The title is "Rose Bleu" and she is painted in gesso and acrylics on a 6x6" gallery canvas, and I can see that she has some spots that need to be a little darker. She is from my imagination, and I think I may write something in the grey space by her head. We'll see! :)

Both paintings were done for a group called "20 Minute Paintings" at the Trodden Path artists' social network (link also on sidebar). A wonderful place with all kinds of classes, groups, and fabulous creative people. Free to join!

I am tortoise slow, so to do a painting, even this small, in 20 minutes is quite a feat for me! :)

I hope you enjoyed your visit and will come back soon! :)