Long Horn Steer

I finished the steer finally but still not convinced it's actually completed.  I like the light and shadow effects, so I did learn some valuable lessons on that, but I'm not crazy about everything behind the fence.  Will need to put it away for awhile and give it a rest.  Then I can pull it out again and see it with fresh eyes.

Sharron Bell's Crystal Workshop

I had the privilege of attending a workshop on how to paint crystal this past Saturday and I finally put on the finishing touches yesterday and removed the masking.  When I heard that Sharron was going to teach a workshop on crystal I was intimidated at first, but knew I wanted to attempt a painting.  Sharron provided us with an exquisite photo for our drawing and I got creative from there.  After transferring the drawing onto my watercolor paper, I proceeded to paint in the darkest of darks to establish my values.  I used a permanent black acrylic ink than masked out the few white areas I wanted to retain.  The painting was done during the workshop and I finished it yesterday in my home studio.  The background was originally too busy so in order to focus all the attention on this beautiful crystal, I chose to darken the entire background except for one streak of purple which helps to ground the image and lead the eye to the focal point without being distracting.  Sharron's workshop was very interesting and it has inspired me to get creative with my own crystal still life for the future.  Thanks to everyone who made the day very special, who provided us with a catered lunch and for the Sandy Senior Center for allowing us to use the facilities on an off day. 

New Work in Progress

I love getting to a stage in a painting that allows me to remove the mask to expose the white.  I knew I had covered too much of the fence posts but they will look beautiful once I refine them.  Needs some work in the middle behind the steer as well.  Maybe lighten what's there and add a few more receding, rolling hills.  It's coming together.  ☺

New way to post

I am testing out my options for using the new Galaxy Tab 4.  I am hoping to be able to post to this blog directly without any technical issues or posting problems.  Here we go.....

Success!!  Just terribly slow to process and post.

Welcome to the Artistcellar Blog Hop!

It is my privilege to participate in this current Artistcellar Blog Hop and Thank You for joining in on the fun.  I hope you have had a chance to visit all the other blogs on the list of participants (see below if you missed one!) and I hope you left comments along the way to be entered for a chance to WIN this amazing stencil set!  If you leave me a comment before midnight, Oct. 31st, I will enter your name in my drawing as well.  Please be sure to leave me a way to contact you along with your comment.  (If I cannot contact you, I have to disqualify you and I want everyone to have a chance at WINNING!)  Please visit the Artistcellar website to view many more designs and get your creative Mojo on!  The other Participants are:

Oct. 25^th – Lisa Cousineau (Artistscellar) Official Start Date of this wonderful Blog Hop!
Oct. 26^th – Effy Wild
Oct. 27^th – Lisa Chin
Oct. 28^th – Cheryl Sleboda
Oct. 29^th – Paula Phillips
Oct. 30^th –Cindy Powell (YOU ARE HERE)
Oct. 31^st –Cecilia Swatton

My technique for using Cecilia Swatton’s “Kaleidoscope Series” of stencils involves something unusual.  It involves the art of watercolor.  Much like acrylic painting, watercolor is a fascinating medium in that it is usually transparent and can be removed. 

 

In order to design backgrounds in a free form painting, I like to incorporate a variety of techniques but one of my favorites is removing paint through a stencil so that it leaves an imprint of the stencil behind.  (Similar to a ghost image if done correctly) 

 

Since I am using a 140 lb. watercolor paper I must be careful not to scrub the paint off, but gently remove it with a slightly damp sponge.  If the sponge is too wet, it will seep under the stencil and create an undesired effect.  (Just like too much paint on your brush). 

Another way to remove watercolor from the paper is to use a baby wipe, but these are moist towelettes, so if using them, this process needs to be done carefully.  Moisture from the towelette will seep under the stencil, but if you blot it on a paper towel first-like a sponge, it can be used with wonderful results.

 

I have used Cecilia’s stencil collection for many art projects including of course the Gelli Printing Plate to create background pages for art journals.  I won’t go into details as there is an over abundance of information out on the web about this topic.  But I will give you a tip:  I paint a lot of paintings on some of the most fabulous papers, but, not every painting is a keeper.  I never throw them out; I recycle them into awesome art journals by applying acrylics & stencil patterns over them.  Once bound, they become books full of ideas for future projects and experiments.

Whatever medium you use, stencils can add such interesting depth to your work, so I hope you will give this a try in your art journal or fine art piece.  Experiment and have fun with these unique stencils by Cecilia.  Don't forget to leave me a comment below to be entered to win one of these wonderful sets.  Or browse the Artistscellar website for more designs.

Starts Today!

A Blog Hop!
It is a great honor to be selected to participate in this Artistcellar blog hop that is introducing this wonderful NEW set of stencils called: “The KaleidoscopeSeries”.  My friend Cecilia Swatton is the featured artist/designer, who has created four unique abstract stencils called: Trillium, Sunflower, Black Orchid and Lily, for us to use in our art projects.  You could win a set of these amazing stencils if you visit the blogs listed below on the days that are posted and leave a comment on their blog.    Please be sure to leave a way to contact you in case you are the Winner! 
These stencils are of the highest quality and can be used for a variety of art projects.  If you would like to see some unique, inventive ideas for using stencils, scroll down to earlier posts on this blog, to see how I’ve used stencils in the past or come back to this blog on October 30^th, 2014 when I will be sharing a unique way to use these stencils for Fine Art paintings.   Leave me a comment on my Oct. 30th post or before midnight on Oct. 31st and you will be entered in my drawing to WIN this fabulous set of stencils!  Go check out these artists fun and inventive techniques for using the Kaleidoscope stencils!
Here is the list of participants. 
Simply click the name in the list below to be taken to their blog:

Oct. 25^th – Lisa Cousineau (Artistscellar)  Official Start Date of this wonderful Blog Hop!

Oct. 26^th – Effy Wild
Oct. 27^th – Lisa Chin
Oct. 28^th – Cheryl Sleboda
Oct. 29^th – Paula Phillips
Oct. 30^th –Cindy Powell (YOU ARE HERE)
Oct. 31^st –Cecilia Swatton

Flowers Winding Down

I can't believe it is already the middle of October, makes me wonder what did I do to make the time go by so fast.  Oh yeah, I know, I was studying a new art medium most of the time.  Watercolor.  I am so engrossed with it that I barely came up for air this year and I promised myself that I would start reposting to my blog.  I have ignored it long enough.  These rose buds are the last from my garden.  They were pruned way back this past week to encourage them to produce more roses next year.  They were absolutely gorgeous this year so I can imagine them next year.  The variety of colors, has been wonderful.  The rose hips were gigantic this year too, so I'm wondering if this is a sign of things to come.  The weathermen/women are predicting a harsh winter ahead.  Time will tell. 

Blind Contour Drawing

I recently challenged the Friday painting group to have a little fun with me.  Way back when, I had an interesting assignment that allowed us to use a model in class.  A model who was dressed in a silk kimono, sitting a wicker peacock chair.  The assignment was to draw this image using only blind contour drawing.  In other words, do not let your eyes move from the model.  No looking at your paper until you were done with the whole drawing.  I simplified my challenge to just one thing.  Either a sunflower, a lotus seed head or a small group of rosehips.  Each participant could draw all three or just one, but they had to draw without looking at the paper.  Here is one of the drawings I made:  I did the rosehips first and followed it with seed heads.  The next step was to add splashes of color, which I have not done yet. 
In my original challenge, our next step was to create a collage using magazine pages and I think I might do a collage instead of splashes of paint for this as well.  It's a long time since I've done a collage and it might be fun.  Next week we will exploring watercolor painting without the aid of a drawing.  We will be focusing on flowers, specifically the sunflower. 
If you live in the Salt Lake City valley and are over 60, I would like to invite you to join the group.  We met at the Taylorsville Senior Center every Friday from 9 'til noon.   

Updating This Blog

Our recent move has been completed and we are finally-well almost-settled into our new home.  We are loving the new location, which is central to the whole valley and closer to most of our friends.  We have changed a number of things over the past few months, downsized a whole lot and I'm able to devote more time to my beloved passion of painting.  I have started a new "Open Studio" paint group at the Taylorsville Senior Center on Plymouth View recently and it has been well accepted by the community.  Each Friday AM we have a small group of artists get together, but the group will be growing as the word spreads that there's a new paint group opened for seniors to join.  You don't have to live in Taylorsville to use the beautiful facilities, but you will have to be a member of at least one local senior center.
We recently went up to the canyon to grab some pics of the amazing fall colors.  This is a shot of Bonnie getting a shot of our darling hubbies taking a break in the shade.  An interesting photo, the shadow from the trees looks cave like.  There were so many people that we ended up parking in a no parking zone and of course, anticipating the outrageous crowds of illegal parkers, the state raked in the bucks from all the tickets that were issued!  Probably met their whole yearly budget!  LOL!  Seriously though, the parking needs improvement! 
We ended our day by having the experience of watching a D-box movie: "The Maze Runner".  If you have not had the experience of a D-box movie, save your money!  The chairs were the most uncomfortable chairs ever in a theater!  They were suppose to move, but ours rarely did.  They actually kept me awake the entire movie though.  I liked the movie but you can tell there will be a sequel because it leaves you guessing about what's next. 
I will be updating and working on this blog again in the near future.  I also will be participating in a new blog hop in October, so I hope you will follow the blog to get updated as the fun approaches.  I will have a stencil tutorial to share with you and there will be a blog giveaway!  Add your email in the sidebar to follow....

My Passions

Most of you know that I have been studying the art of watercolor for several months now, I think it's going on like 9 months and I'm still overwhelmed with all the information that I have yet to devour.  LOL!  I recently purchased a video of Soon Young-Warren's painting water and have watched it several times now, trying to get a feel for the methods she uses in her own work, while incorporating a few of my own tricks along the way.  I haven't been sharing any of these paintings with you only because they were either not good enough, or barely good enough to be juried into a local show.  I have 2 currently hanging at the Sandy Senior Center here in town for our Spring Show-2014 and one waiting to see if it will be juried into the UWS Spring Show in Provo this year. 
Anyway, this little painting is of a photo I took of a koi down in the pond at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vega, and using some of my mixed media techniques, I was able to get a pretty good likeness of the real fish.  To do this again on a larger scaled painting will be the challenge! 

Carving Stamps

Are you a Pinterest Addict?  I sure am!  I had to set a daily, limited, time allowance so that I can actually get things done each day.  One of my boards is for hand carved stamp patterns, which is an art project I love to do, especially when I see the end results.  A couple of weeks ago I carved a few small stamps to use for my other addiction---art journals.  I had to experiment with adding color to these stamped images, so I decided to use watercolor.  I stamped the image on a Strathmore "Toned Tan" sketch paper first, then I painted an area with cobalt turquoise and stamped again.  I have to say I like the painted background image the best.  It's more dramatic!

Left Behind

Whenever I go on an adventure to a park or a road trip, I'm always on the look-out for things that people have left behind.  While on a recent road trip down by St. George, we ventured out into the middle of nowhere, in the Arizona desert, where we found a single picnic table.  There wasn't much to be found but I did bring home some interesting rocks and some great photos that I will be using in the future as painting references.  Photo opts can be fun, when combined with what is now a 2-year series, of "Left Behind" photos.  You can see more on my photo blog listed in the right hand side bar.  Just click the link and go....

Kandinski Circles

I recently found a new project that inspired, motivated and relaxed me all at the same time!  Kandinski Circles.  I painted these with watercolor but you could color these easy designs with just about anything.  A great art journal project or a wonderful way to spend a rainy afternoon with the kids.  They're simply circles drawn inside of circles and colored in.  When drawing these move your hand to the end of the pencil and loosely move your wrist to get some interesting shapes/circles.  Follow up with crayons, watercolors, pencils, markers, acrylics, etc.  Relax, listen to music, talk to friends, and just have some fun!

Trip to Denver

Most of you know that recently my daughter had a house fire and I rushed to Denver to give her a hand with the grandkiddos.  While I was there, we ventured over to a rodeo one Sat. and I spotted this amazing long horn steer.  He was so docile that these cowboys were taking photos of rodeo guests sitting on the steer.  I wasn't too worried......LOL!

2014-The Beginning of a Great Year

On New Years Day we started our very short-but felt really long, trip down south to explore and take photos.  After 1110 miles and over a 1000 photos we arrived back home, exhausted and sore from all the miles of hiking, climbing and dragging our feet through the snow.  It was a wonderful adventure to kick start the new year.  Lots of inspiration for new projects, workshops & some experimental photography thrown in.  Here is a star trail (composed of three-10 minute time lapse images).  My first attempt at doing this didn't work since I didn't have my camera settings correct and the time lapse remote control would not work, but the second night, it worked like a dream.  Loved the experience, the dinner picnic in the dark, and the scary stories we told each other while we were waiting for the exposures & processing of these images. 
NOTE:  It's really dark and scary out in the middle of nowhere with not a single light visible in any direction!  Makes you think of zombies for some strange reason!  :-D