The Sunny Pea

Being away for a month from my paint supplies was a bit more trying than I thought it would be.  When I slopped the paint of the canvas this morning, by body let out a big ahhhhhhh, I am home!  What I have started here is going to carve itself into a portrait of a family member my sister Sheila, her husband Sam and their two daughters lost a couple months ago, their beloved dog Nex.  Nex had cancer, when they discovered it, he had a ruptured spleen.  It all happened so suddenly for them. Bear with me while I bring this canvas to life and in a way immortalize Nex for them.  I will be adding to this post as I add to the painting. 18 x 24"   I started with red oxide and cobalt blue that I mixed right on the canvas.  Red oxide, somewhat the color of blood, mixed with colbalt, the beautiful blue often found in the sky, makes a rich dark brown.  I think the colors are very symbolic in a way. After the paint dried, I gridded the painting and sketch...

Cleo Daisies digital painting *************

18 x 24" Acrylic on canvas "Winter White Lace" We ... well, I... complain so much about the seasons.  When it is hot I want cool.  When it is cold I want warm.  Well, I went away from the cold last week to where it was HOT.  Made me appreciate the beauty I came back to (well, it was 55 when my plane landed so it wasn't hard to appreciate!)  Since I got home, we've had snow.  A LOT of snow.  The 55 degree whether went away and it's been in the 30s.  It is pretty, though! I did this painting today knowing the snow won't be around much longer.  In fact, we are going to spend March in Florida so maybe it will be gone when we get back.  I will appreciate it for today.  As long as I am able to get out the driveway tomorrow that is! Terry is in Washington this weekend.  I am catching the bus to Boston tomorrow to meet him there. Then we will go on to FL on Monday via Memphis.  We have a guy coming by to take care of things at ...

Life's Fragility 12 x 16" Prismacolor Drawing ------------------------------ This a Prismacolor drawing I did several years ago when my son was still very young (he's now 27).  It is called "Life's Fragility".  I purposely focused on his hands so they look large and clumsy holding the fragile orchid.  On one hand he is admiring its beauty and on the other hand he, being a child, could get bored and crush it ... and it would be destroyed. We are all children.  Be aware of life's fragility and careful how you handle it.

This weekend is Valentines Day.  I will be in Puerto Rico with my sister so I won't be celebrating the day with my sweetie-pie.    We never really do anyway, as we both feel it is just a holiday made up for the card companies (plus candy, flower and now jewelry companies!).  It's just a silly holiday. In honor of silliness, I made this cartoon "valentine" for Terry.  Whether anyone else "gets it" doesn't really matter - he cracked up laughing!  And that was my intent!  It's been a running joke that I flap my arms like wings when I dance, and now I especially do when I try to entice him to dance with me.  He's never enjoyed or much chosen to dance, though when we do, it is close and very nice and he is a very good lead.   Anyway, in honor of him, our 30 years together, all the men who "don't" dance and the women that "do".  Happy Valentines Day!

Acrylic on 18 x 24 canvas "Going Against the Flow" I will come back to this blog later to add my thoughts.  I may also be adding to the painting.

I need to explain a little bit about the process I used on the last two digital "paintings" posted here.  I don't mean to bore anyone, but it may be a process not everyone knows about. I created these in a program called Photoshop, which was designed for photo editing, but I use it to create artwork from scratch also.  I draw like normal drawings, but without paper, and instead I open a window in my computer program the size of my choosing, and create artwork on that.  Usually, in this program, I will use a mouse or my fingers on my laptop touchpad but details and precision can be limited or hard to do.  The Bamboo pen gives me that control. There are others out there, but Bamboo is the brand name of the touch pad and pen I have.  It is a pressure sensitive "pen" that when placed on the pad or tablet that is connected to my computer through a USB port, will draw on my computer in Photoshop or another drawing or painting program.  A program called Corel Pain...