Color Bouquet Grouping

These four 8x10's are a continuation of my fun from yesterday. I'm on a roll!

Color Bouquet

Christmas Eve dinner with family was a success, we all had fun being together, but it was a bit too much for my feet. So, today seemed like a good time to sit down and splash some paint. A good friend bartered some wonderful colors of Daniel Smith paint for me if I would help her with some computer tutoring and this is the result of the new paints. Thanks, Norma!

This was such fun that I think I will do a series of small ones to be matted to 8x10 size to sell at the next ArtChix sale in January.

Studio Build - Insulation

This morning the insulation was installed on the ceiling and exterior walls. Now we wait for the inspection of this before the wallboard can be installed. The construction company closes down operations between Christmas and New Years, so it will be over a week before that gets done, but that is okay. These guys deserve time with their families over the holidays, too.

At least it should be a bit warmer than it has been with some insulation providing a barrier. We have had a very cold house since the beginning of the build so I look forward to keeping some of the warmth inside.

From a Grandma Artist

Pardon my diversion from this being an art-related blog by including our Aubrey's Christmas photo. If this doesn't put you in the holiday spirit, nothing will!

Nothing much going on with the studio build, so preparations for Ms. Aubrey's visit continue here today. I know she is too young to eat three kinds of cookies, but I am exercising a Grandmother's perogative and baking them anyway.

Have a Merry Christmas all,

Aubrey's Grandma

Latest SWAP painting

I belong to an online art group called SWAP (Sharing With Artist Partners) and we send a painting to another group member (secretly assigned by the group moderator) four times a year. This is my SWAP painting which I received this week. It was painted by a Phillipine artist, named Linda. I like the colors and compostion of this a lot, it looks very tropical. When the studio is finished I hope to have wall space for a gallery of my SWAP paintings, I think I have five or six now.

Roof Tiles and New Paint

Yesterday brought the near completion of the roof tiles over the studio. We were planning on having the entire house exterior painted by the builder when the job was completed, but the painters' schedule opened up so they began painting the old part of the house yesterday. We have the same color, but a satin finish instead of the flat. What a difference that makes! No more work now until Monday to finish up the roof, continue with the exterior painting and then wait for the next inspection.

Remote computer test

Monument Valley Demo

This is the second of my class demo paintings that I am submitting here today. I submit them not because they are necessarily worthy of display, but rather that I am showing my students who peek in here how I tried to refine them after class. I intended to show how to illustrate the depth of field in a landscape painting by value shifts (light to dark as you move forward), temperature shifts (cool to warm as you move forward), and size shifts (smallest in back, largest in front). I missed a bit on the temperature shifts in that I ended up with a cooler foreground foliage clump than I intended and the middle ground butte could have been warmer. But, I think the students for the most part "got it" and their paintings showed better shifts than mine! Onward and upward. My next painting will be a floral that I have been waiting to paint, we'll see how that turns out.

Mission Bougainvilleas

Today I am finishing and refining a few of my watercolor class demo paintings. This one I chose because I liked the composition and how it demonstrates dappled shadows, the suggestion of bricks and mass foliage techniques. I had everyone use masking fluid for the flower clusters and wish I had shown them how to do them without the masking. I plan to redo this one, but use a stucco-walled mission and do the bougainvilleas without the masking. Next class, new approach. But, I still like the composition on this and learned a lot myself when doing it. I still think that teaching watercolor helps me learn more than ever before because I have to organize my thoughts and break a painting down into logical steps instead of just diving in and splashing paint around.

Most of my demo paintings are less than successful because of trying to hurry them through a three-hour class, but most can be salvaged to some degree.

Studio Build Electrical and Pre-Stucco

Well, today brought many changes to room addition. The electrical lines have all been run inside. The painters arrived to wash down the old part of the house and prepare it for painting, awaiting the completion of the stucco for the new part to paint that part of the house exterior. The stucco prep is almost finished today, too. Lots happened! It shouldn't be so cold inside the house tonight since so much of the cracks and crevices have been sealed with the foam insulation, should be much better anyway. More to follow tomorrow night!

New Aubrey Photo

Since the building inspection won't happen until tomorrow and I won't have any progress photos until after that, I decided to share one of the latest Aubrey photos. Apparently, she mimicks what she sees now and they caught her with this funny face. We will have her here with us starting December 22nd for a few days, I can hardly wait!

My latest artwork consists of printing more cards and prints as I prepare for the next ArtChix art show, December 16 and 17. We had a successful show in November and will hope for the same. prior to Christmas.

The roof is ready for tiles

The roof is ready now for the roof tiles. Hopefully, the inspector will be here on Monday, then the roof tiles can go on. We are thankful for the warmer temperatures currently. It has been cold in the house with this open space without insulation.