Carrots, Anyone?

I found a MUCH better reference pic for a little girl.  This is the first, rough layer of paint.  She'll get better (hopefully!) as the layers get added.

This guy however...

I told you I needed to work on his face.  And I DID work on his face, but clearly not enough!  He still needs some serious help!  Did You hear that Lord?  I need Your help!

I was reminded the other day, that I always SAY that God is faithful.  That He never changes.  That what was true yesterday is still true today.  So, if I've seen God's kindness in helping me paint in the past, why do I tend to doubt that He would help me today as well?  He will, and He does.  Because He has given me this love, and this talent, and He will use this to glorify His name.

"Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth."  (Psalm 115:1)

Moving Forward, Slowly

Progress feels good!  Even if it's not yet perfect...not yet finished...having the guitar player sort of fleshed out, and the guy with boxes back on the canvas is a good thing!  I'm learning (did you catch that? LEARNING) that I'll need to do the hard work of having more than one layer of paint.  It's ok.  It'll make for a better end product.

A very wise and skilled artist friend reminded me that if these paintings will be seen from a distance (and they will), then it's perfectly ok, and even better, to have them remain loose.  Even in the details of the face.  So I'm attempting that.  It looks a bit freaky up close:

Just big huge blotches of paint, but the hope is that they'll communicate well from across the room!

This guy's face is a MESS, and I'll have to work on fixing it as soon as the paint is dryer.  And the work goes on!

One Step Forward and Several Steps Back

Notice anything different?  Not a lot of forward progress, that's for sure!  The box carrying dude is now covered over, and the little girl is completely missing!  They needed help.  A lot of help.  It's better than chucking the canvas and building a brand new one!

I'll also have to admit to my guitar playing model that I made him a lefty.  Ambidextrous!

Step Three

Phew!  Progress.

I painted the cook twice.  The mechanics face was also painted twice, and I'm seriously considering a third pass!  Today I do the guitar player, and being the central focal point, he's supposed to POP.  We'll see!

Step Two

Next?  Get the images all drawn out.  It took forever.

Then start painting!  I prayed a lot at this point!  There's something exhilarating and almost scary about putting on the first dab of paint.  Silly, but true!

Step One

Remember...waaaay long ago...I mentioned painting a set of paintings for a church in Wisconsin?  Well, I'm FINALLY getting started!  This is just the background for one of the canvases.  That's a bit of a repeating logo ("Re") that the client wanted to fade away, almost like a watermark.  There will be a whole crowd of people on top of this, and most of the red will completely disappear.  I think!  We'll see how it turns out.  Clearly, I paint by the grace of God!

A Few Ink Sketches

These are the only ink sketches I produced out of two weeks worth of travel.  I'm actually quite pleased, because normally I would be tempted to just take pictures and not do any sketching at all!

The top one isn't anyone in particular.  I was just having fun with circles and curves.

Basically that's what all of these are:  me just having fun!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

Home!  I just spent the last 12 days in Phoenix, where the temps were in the high 70's.  It was a little difficult to come home to 30's!

These are some of the mini-watercolor sketches I did while I was gone.  ROUGH, to say the least!  But great practice!  The two of Kristy are not at all complimentary, and certainly not accurate!  Remember, I'm learning!  The third one is the view of the back yard area of the home we stayed at...they let us put the camper in their driveway, which was a huge blessing for us!  Thanks John and Lisa!

I have another watercolor and several ink sketches that I'll post in a day or so.

And Another One-Liner

Evidently I'm in one-liner mode.  There's not much time for bigger projects because I've been consumed with getting ready for a ROAD TRIP!!  Oh Yeah!!  I'm leaving the boys behind and going jaunting with my girl friends.  Arizona...desert skies...desert colors...desert temperatures...

I hope to sketch and plein air paint A LOT.  We'll see!

Another One-Liner

What do you do when you want to keep your hubby company, but he's watching MotoX...which isn't really all that riveting?  (he'd STRONGLY disagree with that statement).   You sketch!

This is a one-liner.  I did a faint pencil sketch first, just so I wouldn't lose my place.  Curious how I seem to have a tendency towards drawing all yankee-goglin!  I don't know how to tell my computer to straighten it out, so you get it the way it looks in the book.  Certainly not straight and upright!

Clouds of Glory

Way back in 2005 I was playing around with some pastels and came up with this.  I dearly live a huge cloud, piled up tall and brilliant in the sun.  It always reminds me of my beautiful future:

"...and they will see the Son of Man coming

on the clouds of the sky

with great power and glory..."

and

"For the Lord Himself

will descend from heaven

with a shout,

with the voice of the archangel

and with the trumpet of God,

and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive and remain

will be caught up together

with them in the clouds

to meet the Lord in the air,

and so shall we always be with the Lord."

(Scripture from Matthew 24 and 1 Thessalonians 4)

Just Killing Time

Today I found myself by Garden of the Gods with time to kill.  What a shame!  Did I have my moleskine?  Did I have my pencil?  Did I have my pen?  I only struck out on the pencil, but I can draw with ink!  Maybe  not as accurately as I'd like, but it's still fun!

It was a delightful way to spend 40 minutes!

Finished!

Chives.  Certainly not my favorite thing to eat, but great fun to paint!  I started this yesterday and just finished it this morning.  Now my easel is full of wet paintings, so I have to wait before I can paint more.  Maybe I need to get my brilliant hubby to build me a drying rack!!

Get to Work Already!

When you're waiting to start a project...when you're waiting for supplies to arrive...when you're WAITING...it's not good to just sit around twiddling your thumbs.  Really not good.  The longer you twiddle, the more convinced you become that this whole painting this is just a little silly.  And then, the longer you twiddle, the more convinced you become that you can't paint worth a hill of beans, and WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU THINKING?!

So!

I HAD  to paint.  Just to silence my own silly brain!

These three are all small (6" x 6" and 8" x 8"), and they all used the same colors, so I didn't end up wasting any paint.  I really haven't made up my mind if I like them (especially the one in the middle), but they did their job.  I'm painting again.  

I'm currently working on painting chives.  Notice I'll paint them, but I won't eat them!  I'll post a pic when it's done.

And ONE OF THESE DAYS my supplies will arrive and I'll be able to start on that commissioned piece!