Taking the Days One by One

Life sometimes gives us a jolt unexpectedly! Sometimes? Questionable.... there is always something, but some rattle more than others.

Lily, my dog has been diagnosed with Glaucoma! Out of the blue, she is just 7. Dr says one eye is already blind. So far the drops, 3 types, 3 times a day have been able to get eye pressure to normal. When first diagnosed she had to have an infusion to lower the pressure. Some days I cope better than others. Luckily one of the best eye-vet clinics EyeCare is in my community... 2 minutes.  Tomorrow another check-up.  She is quieter than usual, sometimes wants to take walks and sometimes not. Taking each day as it comes.

That and the long month of holidays have taken their toll on my creativity. This week we started the workshop but sadly that may not continue a long story.

Finished my abstract landscape. The first layers can be found here. Added pieces of Gelli printed scraps. Really trying not to overwork. A lesson learned from Jen.

Getting Lost in an Imaginary World

Oils Cold Wax Collage

27.5 x 20 "

Cut Canvas

After a Long Summer

Can't believe that so many months have gone by without blogging. It's been a long and very HOT summer. Workshop vacation for 4 months and creativity has been low except for my daily doodles that I have posted on Instagram. I did do some PYHAS work and a few mono-prints which are also on my Instagram feed.

September and workshop has started on a low key. Not a full class because of the holidays and travel plans of some artists, but it was so good to get back. We will only have about 5 sessions in the first 2 months, the rest hopefully will be joining in November.

Reuven gave those that wanted a Cezanne project. To paint as "if" we were Cezanne. I love Cezanne so jumped in and chose one of his paintings of bathers,

Cezanne The Bathers

Cezanne The Bathers Cropped

 Decided to a monochromatic version.

First Layer

Cezanne Bathers Inspired

13.75 x 19.5"

Oils and Cold Wax

Cut Canvas

Started an abstract landscape. 

WIP First layer of thinned oils

28 x 20"

Cut Canvas

WIP Second layer of oils and cold wax

28 x 20"

Cut Canvas

Another Great PYHAS Lesson

I am beginning to pick and choose the lessons on PYHAS otherwise I am totally becoming overwhelmed. One of my painting goals is portraiture. Really loved this lesson and the process so much different from the way I use my oils. What I really loved with this demo was the calm soothing voice of Dominique Medici .  It really helped to keep my stress away.  This exercise was done with the Zorn palette. Black, my chromatic black of raw umber and ultramarine blue, yellow ochre, white, and cadmium red,  I dove straight in so my mixes aren't what I would like so I will go back to do a color study of the paints for my next portrait. Dominique builds the portrait in 4 majors stages each timed to about 20minutes. All done alla prima, wet on wet!  First, the proportions of the shapes and angles with thin black paint, next blocking in the darks. third blocking in the colors, and last, what she calls the edges, which include highlights and darks, soft and hard edges, textures and additional drawing with paint. When the buzzer buzzes... done! Now, how cool is that. You now know when you are finished. Dominique says that 1.5 to 2.5 hours is great for this practice. The demo was filled with lots of encouraging words. The key is to build your skills slowly. 

I think I got some of his essence. This is one process that I will practice again for sure.

Thinking of Times Gone By

Oils on Gessoed Cardboard

14 x 14.5 "

stage 3 & 4

Stage 1

Stage 2

Not complete I see

Reference

Now I see that I got his tilt wrong. Can't seem to shut up that inner critique!