Sienna Strutter

It seems like a while since my feathered friends came

out to say hi! Thanks for all the lovely comments...

I'm in the studio getting ready for various shows and

matting prints, making cards and cleaning up...the last

part is my least favorite! I'm finding that the studio is

getting a bit full and the walls are closing in on me..so time

to sort, sort, sort and dump, dump, dump! We asked Charles

Reid during the workshop if he ever has any "dogs" and what he

does with them...he said, yes he does and takes them to the dump.

Someone wanted to know which one he goes to!

The Yellow house

Since this week is ending with a holiday...I found the one and

only painting I've ever done with the U.S. flag in it! I did some

sketches last year in my journal of a flapping flag and maybe

I'll photograph and post those some other time. You can also

see from the photo that I clip my paper to a board and I'll

stretch it and re-clip as the paper gets wet with pigment. I tried

my hand at soaking the paper and stapling/taping it to a board, but

that's fairly labor intensive...plus with the rain and humidity it takes

forever and a day for it to dry!

Pansies and tomatoes

Today is my 300th post! How is that possible? Where

did the time go? I must say the blogging world has put me

into this whole art community that is so supportive and

encouraging and filled with so many talented people...

It's alot of fun...okay a few words about the painting...

this is again an older piece and I photographed it through

the glass, because it was already framed..so you see this

weird reflected texture on the upper left side. Makes me

want to go out and look for new fabrics to use in my work.

Still life

This is another still life done during the workshop..one

of the first ones..see I've omitted the decoy in this piece..okay

I admit it, I was a little scared of the duckies...just afraid to

paint them at first... Charles actually said if something is too

difficult, just leave it out..very sage advice that I'll remember!

Duck a la Reid

Another workshop piece..this time a still life

a la Charles Reid. He loves his duck decoys and

ofcourse I had to give it a shot...managed to get

some flowers in there, though. He called this a

"masterful" duck..I really enjoyed it, but I don't

think I'll rush out and pick up a variety of decoys

to start using in my set-ups..I'll stick to fruit and

flowers.

Follow the Sun

"Follow the Sun" 22" x 30"

For those of you on my (snail)mailing list..you should have

gotten a postcard with this image on it announcing all

my upcoming events. I haven't done a full-sized painting

in a while, so this was really fun to do. Break out the big

brushes...actually I did this painting with a size 12 round.

By the window

This will be my figure painting of the week.

I did this during my workshop with Charles

Reid last week. It was a great time in a very

nice setting at the Southern Vermont Arts

Center in Manchester. I've been a member there

for over 15 years and have my solo show coming

up this August/September! Workshops are such a

great experience...you always come away re-energized

and with a new outlook on your creativity!

Plus you get to meet fellow bloggers...click the link to see

who else was there...

knife and orange, take two

Another teeny still life..the size of this one is approximately

3"x5". They are great practice. Divide your full or half sheet

of watercolor paper with masking tape and just paint a bunch

of these using different color combos and slightly different

views or angles. Use different sized brushes, new to you pigments

and a "loose" attitude. Just for fun.

orange segments with knife

Small, close-focus still life...I did a whole series

of oranges with blue-ish backgrounds..working with

the complements. I'll post a few of the others later.

Another exercise I did was with oranges and then a green

background...oh the small challenges to keep our brains

entertained and s t r e t c h e d. . . .

veggies 4 dinner

The latest dsfdf challenge...I didn't take a really long time

to commit to this week's assignment..treated it more like

a quick sketch, but that happens sometime. Overall I'm happy

with the vivid tomatoes and the texture of the corn...the grey

background shadows leave something to be desired, maybe

it's the paper in my new sketchbook that is reacting differently...

yeah blame the tools!

P.S. If you want to see what I'm up to this week click this LINK..

so much for staying anonymous! Blogger unmasked!

Quebec City sunset

This is a sketch from my travel journal of

the view from our hotel room of Quebec City's

skyline at sunset. It always amazes me at how

relatively fast you can capture an impression

of your environment. Unfortunately taking the

time to just do it is what takes up the most time

and keeps you from spending the time! Do you

know what I mean?

Workshop demo

These are the peonies I did as my demonstration painting

for the peony workshop last week. I worked from a photograph

and put in the darks after lunch when everything had a chance

to really dry. I find that if we don't practice patience...we can end

up with mud quite fast...I also work all across the painting and

compare that to "spinning plates"...staying ahead of drying washes

and being able to scrape back or drop in more pigment at the right

time before the "plates" crash to the floor...or in other words

the washes dry.

Bucket full of blooms

"Bucket full of blooms" 11" x 10"

After my last workshop someone mentioned that they've

been steering clear of Payne's gray lately and trying to

incorporate Indigo Blue instead...might be something to

try...I do find myself going to the "dark" side every once

in a while and not being too happy with the outcome..so

maybe a switch in pigments is in order...any other "dark"

favorites out there?

House and Barn

I did this painting on site during a Garden Tour in Southern

Vermont. They had used my watercolors for their posters

to advertise the event and in exchange I could come and paint

in some of the various gardens on the tour. It always made for

a nice weekend, meeting people and enjoying beautiful surroundings.

Peonies

"Posing in Pastel Pink" 15" x 22"

Had a very fun painting day yesterday at my peony workshop.

Mother Nature didn't want to play with us, so we were inside with

lots of bouquets of peonies and photographs. Had a great group

of painters and they really pushed their pink pigments on paper!

Perfecto!

Color and more color

"Tulips wet and loose" 24" x 18"

Texture, texture...saran wrap and bubble wrap, maybe

even some salt? This painting is a study in colors. How

many different mixes of purple, greens, teals and pinks

can you put in one piece? Keeps the eyes bouncing around

don't you think?

Tall tulips

We'll post this week with some tulips! All of them

are pretty much done for around here. I didn't

see too many great displays this year, although

I did snap some pix of a nice gathering of purple

and pink tulips. This is another piece from the earlier

years...tulip shapes are so satisfying to paint..those

lovely colored "bowls" with spiky greens and sturdy stems.

Sunflower textures

I guess I played with texture more than I thought. Here

you can see some bubble wrap pushed into the wet washes

down in the olive green part, lower left. Experimenting is

something that can only help you figure out how things will

work for you. Different papers, surfaces, brushes, palette knives,

paints, different brands of paint etc..etc.. I have tried Yupo, but

couldn't quite grasp that...maybe it's time for a retry...sometime.

more, but different

"Peony within peonies" 10" x 14"

I painted this piece as a result of being a demonstrating

artist in the gardens of Hildene, the summer home of Robert

Todd Lincoln in Manchester, Vermont. They have beautiful

gardens in a fantastic location. I did this a number of years ago

when they sponsored a peony painting contest for a festival

and corresponding art exhibit...this painting won the award.

Peonies poppin'

"A view on Peonies"

Another oldie from the vault! I have peonies

on the brain, since my peony workshop is coming

up next week. I just went to the site and they are

pop, pop, poppin' out all over! The weather has been

a little cold and might have slowed progression a bit, but

they promise to be quite spectacular! I'm digging in my

paint piles and pulling out all my pinks...

Iris time is now

"Iris Abstraction" 11" x 15"

As promised another floral image...great comments on

my DSFDF entry everyone! Thanks so much. I am eagerly

anticipating what the next challenge will be. It has certainly

made me more diligent in keeping a sketchbook, which was

definitely a goal of mine. I can see the steady improvements

it has made in the way I put down lines and color.

DSFDF latest

"Protecting the Farm"

I really wasn't going to start off another week with a rooster..

but since this is my latest entry for the Different Strokes blog,

I kinda had to. I'm returning with flowers tomorrow. This image

was based on another white rooster in front of a landscape that

I did two weeks ago...when the assignment came through for DSFDF I

thought I'd incorporate the landscape from the picture with one

of my crowned cluckers!