painting – Page 4 – Daily Fiber

Fun Painting Dogs

Posted on December 5, 2024 by Laura Kate

Now that I am warmed up, I have been working diligently on the two dog portraits requested by a friend. It’s been satisfying work, with just the right amount of frustration thrown in, to make the experience authentic!

The black dog – Reggie – has the most progress:

Reggie is at the stage where I pause to consider more carefully what adjustments and final touches are needed.

Yesterday I started painting Daisy, the little white dog.

Beginning to add darks and various tones.

I’m enjoying watching their little faces emerge from the paper. My secret pleasure is to discover the dog’s personalities from studying their photographs and translating the shapes I see into colors.

Do you experience a secret pleasure while engaged in your craft? Do tell about it!

painting

Chasing the Sunset, Iowa

Posted on December 3, 2024 by Laura Kate

Returning home, yesterday, this is my quick warm-up painting. I wanted to try out a new pad of watercolor paper and my new imitation Kolinsky brush.

I did have a reference photo. It was taken by Bill, not this trip, but in a previous one. We were driving west on Interstate 80, east of Des Moines. Just after the sun went behind the clouds, we pulled off the road and stopped in front of a furrowed field.

Thanks for viewing.

hand embroidery, painting

This Week’s Work – mostly painting

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Laura Kate

My week was not typical at all. I spent 3 days in a watercolor workshop led by Sonya Terpening. It was a bit of a rollercoaster for me. On the one hand, my confidence seemed to improve. On the other hand, I found the environment a bit chaotic, so it was difficult to focus. I found myself rushing to finish instead of taking my time.

Anyway, here she is. I call this work Woman in a Shawl.

The reference photograph is mine. I had asked my daughter to serve as the model for a shawl I knit back in 2022.

Other sketches I completed this week, taken from lessons by Kateri Ewing in her book Watercolor is for Everyone.

Dream Feathers

Tiny Being of Light

And finally, I just finished the mid-tone layer on my portrait of Reggie the Dog.

I’m pretty happy with the dog at this stage. Darks and shadows will be added this week, if I have time before we leave for Madison.

I’m also happy that I finished embroidering a panel on my Dragonfly art quilt.

You will likely not be able to detect any difference from the photo I posted last week, since all of the stitching was in the background. Now I am moving on to this panel.

This one makes me so happy, because the background is a profusion of flowers and leaves. Embroidering it will be sheer pleasure.

Thank you for visiting, and please do share your own creative projects.

hand embroidery, knitting, painting

This Week’s Work – Branching out

Posted on November 9, 2024November 15, 2024 by Laura Kate

In week three, The Artist’s Way has me focus on Recovering a Sense of Power. The words for focusing are Anger, Synchronicity and Shame. In Watercolor is for Everyone, the daily practice work seems to be mostly representational, as opposed to abstract.

I am also sharing my fiber work from this week. Let’s start with that.

Knitting: I’m a bit errant in not posting about my newest project. I’ve chosen a cowl design by Andrea Mowry. It’s super lovely.

I’ll do a full post on this project next week.

I have also returned to an art quilt that has been languishing since last year. I call it Here be Dragons. This week, I spent my evenings hand-quilting one of the panels.

Bill’s photographs provided the reference for my dragonflies. The background and dragonflies were painted onto white cotton fabric with textile paint and micron pens. Next I embroidered detail on the dragonflies. The final step is to work embroidery stitches into the background as a way to marry together the three layers of the quilt. It is slow work, but I am determined to carry on and get this piece mounted and displayed before year end.

Here are the watercolor exercises completed this week.

This little landscape was based on a photo I took of a Wisconsin farm.

My magical hummingbird is inspired by Janet Weight-Reed’s beautiful hummingbird paintings. I used a photograph from this month’s National Geographic for reference.

Thank you for reading.

drawing, Living Life Well, painting

This Week’s Work

Posted on November 2, 2024 by Laura Kate

I am following simultaneously The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron and Watercolor is for Everyone, by Kateri Ewing. Here are the exercises and practice paintings I completed since Sunday.